Jason’s Top 10 Spooky Season Movies

Jason gives us his top 10, well, TOP 13 movies for spooky season, because would it be any other way?

1. Trick ‘r Treat – The best horror anthology to date, and one of the greatest horror icons in Sam. Every scene is perfection, and you discover something new with every viewing. This is a Halloween must.

2. Re-animator – Very loosely based on a short story by H.P. Lovecraft, this Stuart Gordon directed masterpiece has been my favorite horror film for most of my life, and will probably remain so for the rest of it. 

3. Frankenstein – My absolute favorite of the Universal Monster films, and my favorite portrayal of a “monster” by the legendary Boris Karloff. This film remains as beautiful and horrifying as it was upon its release. 

4. In the Mouth of Madness – John Carpenter, who is in my opinion the greatest horror director of all time, giving us the greatest Lovecraft story not written by H.P. himself. This one is a terrifying Descent into madness and has everything that any horror fan would love. Tell me, do you read Sutter Cane?

5. The Autopsy of Jane Doe – The scariest film I’ve ever seen, and one of my favorite to show friends. Based on a simple premise, this one horrifies in all of the right ways. 

6. The Return of the Living Dead – Every good horror list needs a zombie film, and this one is head, shoulders and brains above all of the others to me. Equal parts horror and comedy, but without descending into the silly, and capped off by the greatest zombie resurrection music in history, this is an absolute must watch. 

7. The Witch – I love this movie so goddamn much. With mere glimpses of the true horror, this film is haunting, beautiful, and pervasive with a grief of watching a family lose everything, topped off with the greatest moment of Satanic Cinema of all time. Watch it and live deliciously. 

8. Pet Sematary – This movie scared the shit out of me as a child, and remains my favorite of the Stephen King adaptations. Even if nothing else happened during it’s run time, Zelda alone would haunt the dreams of most that viewed it. Many have tried to recapture it’s brilliance, but the original remains untouchable.

 9. Friday the 13th Part VI – The beginning of Zombie Jason, and an absolute comfort film. As a child,  I went to the dollar cinema every night for two weeks straight to watch this repeatedly, and still view it at least once a year as an adult. The top tier of the slasher era, and a hell of a lot of fun.  As a bonus, you also get cool Alice Cooper songs. 

10. Night of the Creeps – Tom Atkins, alien slugs that turn their hosts into zombies and a endless stream of one liners makes this a pivotal film of the 80’s. Directed by Fred Dekker, who also gave us The Monster Squad, this film remains a yearly tradition in my house. 

11. Hellraiser/Hellraiser II – I’m counting this as one as the only proper way to watch them is back to back. Based on the book and directed by Clive Barker, these films get my vote for the most unique of the 80’s films. Having spawned several sequels, none even come close to the perfection of these original two, which never get old. 

12. An American Werewolf in London – The greatest werewolf movie of all time (slightly edging out The Howling, even though I prefer its werewolf design) and one of the greatest films of all time. This script is perfect and the film is expertly directed by John Landis. Possibly the only movie to contain several scares, multiple laughs and that still manages to break your heart by the end. 

13. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre – The original slasher and still undisputed king of the horror films. The film manages to illicit shock and disgust without showing much blood at all, and taught us that chainsaws are fucking cool. Also, watching Franklin die is one of my favorite film moments in all of history. 

Jason Kuykendall has been a horror fan since the age of two, when his mother sat him down in front of When a Stranger Calls, so she began using horror movies as a babysitter. His favorite job was a mom and pop video store that he worked at when he was sixteen. He runs Creepy Bat Book Review but is thinking about firing and replacing himself due to how slack he’s become in his work. He’s made of 85% tattoos, 35% compassion, and 69% spite, and he also doesn’t understand math. He won’t pet your service dog, but he really, really wants to.

PLEASE NOTE: The views and opinions of the staff of Memento Mori Ink do not necessarily represent those of Memento Mori Ink or Crystal Lake Publishing. Thank you for understanding.