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A&E
October 12, 2009
Top Halloween films for holiday season By Joshua Rouse Collegian Staff The air begins to turn cooler, pumpkins show up in stores and a strange man who looks like he escaped from a Tim Burton film walks pass the door every night. It must be Halloween time. The best part of Halloween isn’t the costumes, or the candy that may or may not be laced with drugs or the annoying kids banging on the front door for all hours of the night — it’s the chance to break out some horrible movies to watch without feeling guilty. Of course, any selfrespecting movie fan has to watch the gambit of classic Hammer pictures like “Frankenstein,” “The Wolf Man” and “The Mummy,” but what about more modern films? Let’s face it, in today’s world, getting someone to watch a horror movie that doesn’t involve Barbie-looking teenagers with breast implants trying to have sex in a place where they know mass murders have taken place is not popular with many fans, unless it’s called “Saw.” In that case, let’s have the token sequel that’s been rehashed since “Saw II” and let’s see how many disgusting ways we can kill a person this time. If you’re like me, you want something a little better this Halloween. Perhaps some “Evil Dead?” You can’t go wrong with Bruce Campbell, no matter what he’s in. How about something a little more family friend — say “The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad?” The headless horseman is always a classic. If you’re having trouble deciding, here are an assortment of 10 Halloween movies that can help you block out the children beating on your door. 10. “Hocus Pocus:” Ok, most of these movies aren’t that great, and neither is “Hocus Pocus,” but it’s a fun movie. Three witches are resurrected in modern-day Salem and renew their quest for immortality. The only things stopping them are some teenagers and a talking cat. It sounds bad, and it
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actually is, but it’s a classic film that can be enjoyable if you’re in the Halloween mood. 9. “Van Helsing:” Before you start hissing and throwing tomatoes, hear me out. “Van Helsing” was meant to be an homage to the classic Hammer productions of the 1930s. It was campy, over-the-top and poorly acted. That sounds like most movies released in Hollywood these days anyway. Besides, in what other movie, other than “Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man,” can you have Frankenstein’s monster, the wolf man and Dracula in one movie? Add in a stunning Kate Beckinsale for the guys and a rugged Hugh Jackman for the ladies, and you have the perfect guilty pleasure Halloween film. 8. “Ernest Scared Stupid:” Ernest was a guilty pleasure of mine growing up as a kid. Most children loved Pee-Wee; well, I loved Ernest and this movie was one of my favorites. The dimwitted Ernest unleashes a troll and has to get him back before he creates even more havoc. It’s another one of those dumb movies that can be watched without feeling guilty during the Halloween season. 7. “The Mist:” Granted, this movie has nothing to do with
Halloween whatsoever, but that doesn’t mean it won’t creep you out and cause at least one sleepless night. A strange mist encompasses a town while people start dying in very gruesome ways whenever they venture out. Stephen King’s hopeless tale is haunting, disturbing and perfect for Halloween. It’s possibly the best adaptation of his work since “The Shawshank Redemption,” and it just happens to be directed by the same guy. 6. “Young Frankenstein:” This is Mel Brooks at his finest. Forget “Spaceballs;” this is the premier spoof movie. There’s not much to say except it’s vintage Gene Wilder spoofing an iconic horror/Halloween classic. “Young Frankenstein” is, handedly, one of the must-see movies this Halloween. 5. “Sleepy Hollow:” Traditionally, I’m not a fan of Tim Burton outside his definitive “Batman” vision, but it’s hard to avoid “Sleepy Hollow” this time of the year. It’s bloody, it’s intriguing and it has Christina Ricci and Johnny Depp before they were really big stars. Not to mention, Christopher Walken gives one of his best performances of his career as the
horseman. It’s a brutal retelling of the legend of Sleepy Hollow when the headless horseman rides, killing anyone on his path to get his head back. 4. “It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown:” I’m a sucker for anything with the Peanuts gang and this could be the definitive family Halloween film. Charlie Brown sits with his friend Linus in the pumpkin patch waiting on the great pumpkin to arrive while the rest of the gang celebrates Halloween the old-fashioned way. You don’t have a heart if you don’t like Charlie Brown and Snoopy and this is, quite possibly, the best of the trio of Peanuts holiday films. 3. “Bram Stoker’s Dracula:” Forget “Batman Begins” or “The Dark Knight,” this is the movie that cemented Gary Oldman as one of the greatest actors of our time. His performance of Dracula is haunting and tragic, at the same time. Keanu Reeves manages to be less annoying than he’s ever been, even though he has a contrived British accent. Frances Ford Coppola brought Dracula to life like no other director has ever done. Ignore the “Twilight” garbage; if you want a definitive vampire film, look no further. 2. “A Disney Halloween:” This will be almost impossible to find, unless you were fortunate enough to own it on VHS or DVD. Mickie, Minnie, Donald and his three nephews and the rest of the gang partake in several Halloween-
inspired tales. Lock the doors, close the blinds, grab some popcorn and enjoy classic animation before it turned into soulless CGI. This is the best family Halloween experience one can have. It’s a shame it’s so hard to find these days. 1. “Halloween”/”Halloween 2:” This is probably a copout answer, but who didn’t see it coming? It’s named after the holiday, it’s not like there were many other choices for the top film(s). It might be cheating to have two films at the top, but John Carpenter did such a fantastic job filming the movies where they were back-toback that you can’t discuss one without the other. Before Freddy, before Jason, before Rob Zombie, there was Carpenter and Michael Myers. Forget all of the airheaded audience-insulting teen slasher film tripe that fills theaters today; this was the original and the best teen slashing film of all time. Sorry Wes Craven, “Scream” compares about as favorably to “Halloween” as Carpenter’s “The Thing” pales in comparison to the classic “The Thing From Outer Space.” However, Carpenter was on his toes with this one. It manages to avoid most of the pitfalls of sexy teenagers obviously ignoring common sense to have sex in dangerous places. Jamie Lee Curtis plays a disturbing role as Michael Myers’ sister, trying to stay alive as her brother goes on a murderous rampage. The movies need no introduction. Make sure not to substitute it with a viewing of the Zombie remakes. The only thing they’re fit for is an episode on “Mystery Science Theater 3000.” Granted, there are dozens of films missing from this list, including “The Thing From Outer Space” or “Poltergeist,” but it’s hard to go wrong with this selection. Watch these films and weep when you discover what Hollywood calls horror now: buckets of blood and guts combined with useless nude shots of teenagers having wild sex. MCT Campus
‘Oklahoma Review’ reaches 10-year milestone University Department of English and is run in its Newswriting Student entirety by students. It is published once each semester The Oklahoma Review, an and is only available online. electronic literary magazine, “This is a student run will soon embark on a production,” Dr. significant milestone, reaching Hodgson its 10th said. “The birthday this students December. “We will continue to solicit, Established publish good quality select, edit in the spring literary fiction, poetry, and put of 2003, The Oklahoma and nonfiction without a together the material, Review political agenda and for and it has features nothing more than the been this poems and both pleasure of reading, and I way since its inception.” fiction and hope that this will carry The nonfiction us on.” magazine work from will accept national and international — Dr. John Hodgson anything writers. Associate Professor of written in English, According English provided to Associate that it Professor is good of English quality Dr. John work, Dr. Hodgson said. Hodgson, the main goal of the Submissions are open to any magazine is to make quality serious writer working in literature available to the English. public. According to Dr. Hodgson, a “Our motto is that we have no particular agenda other than call for submissions is sent out to promote the reading of good twice a year, but the majority of the entries are a result of the literature,” Dr. Hodgson said. magazine’s good reputation and “So we base our decisions on word of mouth. that.” “We are very selective The magazine is produced with what we publish in the through the Cameron
By Tori Strecker
magazine, and that is one of the reasons for our reputation,” Dr. Hodgson said. “We try to encourage writers whose work we reject, instead of sending them a form rejection letter. If a particular piece has merit and might be publishable, then we try to work with the writer and give positive feedback.” Having the liberty to do this is one of the many advantages of having a group making decisions rather than one individual, Dr. Hodgson said. “We constantly get a steady trickle of submissions from all over the world, so obviously we can’t publish everything,” Dr. Hodgson said. “But by taking the time to give the writers good feedback, we are not just developing a good literary magazine, but we are being good citizens of the literary community as well.” Another reason for the magazine’s good reputation came three years ago. According to Dr. Hodgson, there were two great pieces of fortune that bumped the magazine up in the literary world. One of which was a mention on “Writers Almanac” on National Public Radio. “ ‘Writer’s Almanac’ showcases a different author during each show, and one day they happened to feature a writer we had just published,”
Dr. Hodgson said. “Then, as people began to Google her name, The Oklahoma Review popped up in the results.” The second great piece of fortune came from Milda Devoe and her retrospective of 9/11. “She wrote an amazing piece, and we happened to be the first magazine to publish it,” Dr. Hodgson said. “It was a huge success, and in an interview on CBS radio, Devoe talked the magazine up causing other writers to hear our name.” The magazine has seen much success thus far, and Dr. Hodgson is optimistic about its future. “We have built this magazine up and kept it going for 10 years now, and as we learn, I think it gets better every semester,” Dr. Hodgson said. “The reputation will continue as long as we remain selective about the content and continue to be good citizens.” The upcoming anniversary
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is significant in many ways; however, Dr. Hodgson believes that this is just another step in the right direction. “In December readers will see volume 10 issue two of The Oklahoma Review, marking our 10 th year,” Dr. Hodgson said. “But I feel that as long as we are doing what we should be doing, then the number shouldn’t matter. We will continue to publish good quality literary fiction, poetry and nonfiction without a political agenda and for nothing more than the pleasure of reading, and I hope that this will carry us on.” For more information about The Oklahoma Review, students can contact Dr. John Hodgson at 581.2934.