Midnight manglers & killer dolls, 5 horror movie classics to watch this Halloween

Dolly Dearest was released in 1991.

Dolly Dearest was released in 1991.

Published Oct 31, 2018

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If there's one horror movie that scarred me as a child, it's the original "IT" movie — watching the drain during showers was a top priority. Next would be 'Nightmare on Elm Street"'s Freddy Krueger and "Sometimes They Come Back". Oh, let's not forget "Friday the 13th"'s Jason Vorhees and Damian in "The Omen".

Looking back — and considering that I wasn't even 10 years old when most of these movies were released — makes me wonder what my parents and four older siblings were thinking when they let me watch these movies...

Here are our top 5 horror classics to watch this Halloween.

1. "Friday the 13th" — 1980 

Crystal Lake's history of murder doesn't deter counsellors from setting up a summer camp in the woodsy area. Superstitious locals warn against it, but the fresh-faced young people pay little heed to the old-timers. Then they find themselves stalked by a brutal killer. As they're slashed, shot and stabbed, the counsellors struggle to stay alive against a merciless opponent.

2. "Child's Play" aka Chucky and "Dolly Dearest" — 1988,1991

Charles Lee "Chucky" Ray is a fictional character and the villain of the Child's Play slasher film series. Chucky is portrayed as a notorious serial killer whose spirit inhabits a "Good Guy" doll and continuously tries to transfer his soul from the doll to a human body. 

While "Dolly Dearest" tells the tale of an American businessman, takes ownership of a doll manufacturing company in Mexico, strange things start happening to his family. Most notably, his young daughter, Jessica, develops an unusually close bond with a doll she has found. The doll, possessed by an evil spirit, proceeds to terrorise the household and exert its influence on Jessica.

3. "Sometimes They Come Back" — 1991

High school teacher Jim Norman (Tim Matheson) reluctantly returns to his hometown with his wife to pursue a job. Jim is haunted by the childhood memory of his brother being murdered by a group of teenagers, who were then struck by a train before they could kill him, too. 

To Jim's horror, he finds that the teenagers have returned to town as they appeared before they died, and are transferring into his class. When his students start dying off, Jim becomes the prime suspect. The sequel, "Sometimes They Come Back Again," was released in 1996. Followed by "Sometimes They Come Back for More" in 1998.

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4. "The Shining" — 1980

Jack Torrance becomes winter caretaker at the isolated Overlook Hotel in Colorado, hoping to cure his writer's block. He settles in along with his wife, Wendy, and his son, Danny, who is plagued by psychic premonitions. As Jack's writing goes nowhere and Danny's visions become more disturbing, Jack discovers the hotel's dark secrets and begins to unravel into a homicidal maniac hell-bent on terrorising his family.

5. "Nightmare on Elm Street" — 1984

In Wes Craven's classic slasher film, several Midwestern teenagers fall prey to Freddy Krueger, a disfigured midnight mangler who preys on the teenagers in their dreams — which, in turn, kills them in reality. After investigating the phenomenon, Nancy begins to suspect that a dark secret kept by her and her friends' parents may be the key to unravelling the mystery, but can Nancy and her boyfriend Glen solve the puzzle before it's too late?

And if you haven't seen the original "IT" or "The Omen," watch the trailers below.

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