Well, folks, it’s Halloween weekend–not only is this inherently prime time for horror, it’s also the start of the full horror movie season, which will run until sometime around summer movie season in April. Long, cold nights make for prime time for scary movies, and as such, this top five list is going to consider the top five horror films of the 1990s.

5. Night of the Living Dead 1990 Theatrical Rerelease

This one makes the list for several reasons. Not only was it endlessly exciting, it also offered up a terrific experience and stands, at least as far as I’m concerned, as the prime example of how a remake should go. Sure, there were differences between this one and the original–Cooper, I’m looking right at your crazy psychotic self–but for the most part, the remake of Night of the Living Dead stuck to the plot of the original. I’ve always been in favor of remakes that stick close to the original, and Night of the Living Dead 1990 was all the proof I needed of that.

4. The Frighteners

Part one of two of the great Peter Jackson horror train–on this list, anyway–this was also the one that showed us that Michael J. Fox could do just about anything. Between some terrific special effects and a great plot, this is one that should pack at least some good creepy surprises for the ages, and has a few good laughs to boot.

3. Dead Alive

Dubbed a “splatstick” title, and parenthetically part two of the great Peter Jackson horror train, not only did Dead Alive effectively show us that you could blend horror and comedy (which is pretty much the definition of splatstick), Dead Alive also gave us some absolutely amazing scenes, like the Giant Mother Fight, I Kick Ass For the Lord, and of course, The Zombie Foyer Meets The Lawnmower scene. That last one is actually on YouTube if you want to check it out, but I warn you, it’s a good idea to have not eaten for at least two hours before checking it out.

2. From Dusk Till Dawn

From Dusk Till Dawn gave us a look at what Robert Rodriguez could really do, and this one got us a great start toward what would eventually be the sweet slice of video joy that was Planet Terror. It was a terrific combination of horror and action, with just enough comedy in the mix to make this well worth watching.  Vampires, vampire brawls, and a whole lot of unexpected ways to kill them add up to make this one eminently watchable.

1. Scream

Scream is an important movie. See, all you need to do is look at a list of horror movies released in the 1990s and you’ll notice one common thread: there weren’t many of them from about 1992 to 1996. The horror market wasn’t in the best of shape back then, and some had even suggested that horror was dying. It was starting to look like we weren’t going to get much new horror…until 1996. And then, Kevin Williamson and Scream showed up, and the genre got a shot of new life. That was about the same time that the direct to video horror phenomenon got going in earnest, and frankly, I credit Scream for both. Aside from that, it was also a pretty clever title that did a great job of warping the great horror tropes of the day by making the characters aware of them.

And there you have it, five great horror movies from the nineties, in plenty of time for your Halloween viewing. Get a little retro and have some fun with it.

Hollywood had a problem. Stephen King’s epic novel The Stand has been hot property for a long time. It’s a massive, sprawling story involving dozens of characters, so how can it be squeezed into a feature film, and who is the man for the job? Apparently, Warner Bros thinks it’s Ben Affleck.

According to Deadline, Affleck has pretty much agreed to make the book adaptation, and just has to sign on the dotted line. But is he the right choice? Gone Baby Gone and The Town both received positive critical reception, and the latter was an immense box-office success. But, the former couldn’t handle its small set of characters and its gritty portrayal of Boston came across as cluttered and pretentious. And The Town couldn’t even develop its two main characters well. Perhaps his next film, Argo (about the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis), will instill enough faith, but surely there must be better directors. Frank Darabont has already adapted King’s novels quite well (AND was involved in post-apocalypse series The Walking Dead). Or what about John Hillcoat or Duncan Jones?

For those interested, The Stand deals with the world after a devastating virus kills most human and animal life on the planet. Survivors wander in groups in an attempt to find a new home, but mysterious forces appear. Groups must decide whether to join the seemingly benign Mother Abagail or the tyrant Randall Flagg. The novel has already been adapted into a 1994 mini-series. Making it a single feature film is an almost impossible task, though many suspect it could become a trilogy of films.

Man, but the folks at Lions Gate have been putting out a lot of terrific titles of late, and though there’s a fair chance you’ve already seen a couple of these, with Halloween coming out, it’s a great time to cover some of the stuff that makes for a great party. And the crew out at Lions Gate sent over copies of Scary Movie 2, Scary Movie 3, and The Crow for us to cover.

Scary Movie 2 rejoins the crew from the original Scary Movie, and this time they’re off to college. And while they’re there, they’ve enrolled in a study geared toward studying sleep patterns. But the study turns out to be of something entirely different, and this is going to put the crew in some reasonably deep trouble at the hands of a sociopathic professor and his belligerently-abled disabled assistant.

If you have a tolerance for–or enjoyment of–movie parodies laden with dick and fart jokes, then you may rest assured that you will be very, very well taken care of here. In fact, it’s safe to say that your enjoyment of Scary Movie 2 will largely hinge on your tolerance for or enjoyment of dick and fart jokes because that’s primarily what’s in here. Of course, horror buffs should have a pleasant time spotting all the in-jokes and subreferences–the bit with Ray and the clown doll is a riot–but there’s going to be plenty in the crass and juvenile department for anyone.

Scary Movie 3 follows the events of Scary Movie 2, sufficiently so to put them in the working world. And while some of the cast has found jobs and is out to set up their lives, larger events in the world threaten to take them away before they can actually begin. There’s a lot more going on than meets the eye, and by the time we find out what’s going on, we find out, in the grandest Scary Movie tradition, how little of it makes sense.

The thing about Scary Movie 3 is that it’s probably the biggest of the series so far, even beating out Scary Movie 4. Any time you bring in Leslie Nielsen to a comedy title, well, you know you’re going for full on over the top. However, in their rush to take refuge in sheer audacity, they lost a lot of what was good about the previous two, notably the depth of parody (this one seemed lighter), and the jokes (lighter here too, it seemed). Still, it’s not without its laughs, just not near so many as you might expect.

Lastly, The Crow takes us out to a world that seems significantly Darker and Edgier than our own–thank you TV Tropes for coining that wonder of a concept–and nudges a bit toward the Crapsack. As a rock star and his fiancee were killed by a gang of thugs, the rock star returns from the dead, aided and abetted by a crow who keeps his spirit tethered to the mortal plane. Kill the crow, and by extension, you kill The Crow. And while The Crow is up and operating, there’s going to be plenty of killing to go around.

If you were around when this movie first came out, you know a whole lot of disaffected high-school loners went totally bughouse nuts over this movie, and as a history lesson (or if you just want to remember what all the fuss was about), you’ll be able to get it in full digital remastering. And yes, this is indeed Brandon Lee’s last film, as he was killed in an on-set accident involving a prop handgun. The end result is rather gritty and stylized, but the story itself is actually pretty well done if you don’t mind a colossal downer in the middle of your day.

So there you go, a fresh set of three titles that ought to put a little extra jump in your Halloween viewing.

The folks out at The Asylum sent out a copy of The Haunting in Salem for us to cover–especially appropriate what with Halloween closing in on us and all–and I usually have at least some trepidations going into an Asylum title. But when I realized I couldn’t immediately pin down just what movie they had Asylumized this time, I realized it was something unexpected: one of the Asylum’s rare unique titles, and that perked my interest.

The town of Salem, Massachusetts, has a new sheriff, and that’s largely because the old one’s entire family was murdered under mysterious circumstances. But the new sheriff quickly discovers that he’s going to be part of something much, much larger: a curse going back several hundred years. But can this newest sheriff and his family survive the curse placed on him? Can they find out what’s behind it?

I have to admit, this is some pretty decent stuff. The early going offers some great tension building opportunities, and does a reasonably good job of releasing that tension. Sure, some points are stranger than others, like the ghost that communicates by instant messenger, but it’s all doing a very nice job of being ominous and then throwing out a few good scares every so often, and that’s half the point of watching a horror movie in the first place, for a good spooky time.

Sadly, the movie only gets stranger the farther in you get, but thankfully, there are still good scares to go around, almost in spite of the lackluster script. The strangeness does add to the suspense of the proceedings as well, because you’re never really all that sure of what’s going on, your connection to it, or how any of it at all relates to the rest of the movie. There will be quite a bit left unexplained by the end here, and in all honesty, that just makes things a bit scarier.

The Haunting in Salem, supposedly based on a true story (likely the Salem Witch Trials, which were quite true indeed) is a pretty strange little title, but it’s not without plenty of creepy scares that make for a fairly worthwhile time. If you’re having a party and want something low-grade scary for some horror neophytes, then you should do just fine here.

The Screenhead Ten Scale gives The Haunting in Salem a seven out of ten for doing a reasonably good job putting out the frights out there, though it’s not without its problems, largest of which is a sublime lack of rational thought put into the narrative.

Another exciting bit comes our way from the crew out at Bloody Disgusting, who sent over a copy of Atrocious in their Bloody Disgusting Selects line for us to review. And Atrocious promises to be a pretty good piece indeed as it’s one of my personal favorite subclasses–a found footage title. It’s not going to be without its problems, but it will manage to deliver the scares in a reasonably believable fashion. You’re not going to be able to get your hands on this one until this Tuesday, but when you do, you’ll be in for a somewhat flawed treat.

Atrocious joins us up with Cristian and July Quintanilla, a brother and sister who have gone out to their family’s summer home in a bid to investigate a local legend while spending time with the family on vacation. But what they’ll find in the midst of their investigation is a whole lot more dangerous than they ever dreamed.

I admit that Atrocious did do a terrific job of building tension, mostly because I had nary a clue just when something was going to happen, or just what we’d see from one moment to the next. The problem here, is that they didn’t do a whole lot to release all that tension for about the first forty minutes. This wouldn’t be too terrible except that the movie has a run time of just seventy four minutes. You lose four sevenths of a movie to boredom and you’re going to have to do some bang-up stuff on the back end to keep things worthwhile.

Thankfully, Atrocious delivers that bang-up on the back end. Oh, does it ever. Frankly, the last twenty minutes or so of this thing are going to be patently monstrous. It’s just amazing stuff, actually, and that’s something. The entire first half of this movie does not so much as hint at the aggressive, terrifying roller coaster that the last half will soon become. It’s going to hit you from out of nowhere, and while there’s plenty of appeal in something like that, it doesn’t exactly bode well for the folks who like coherent narratives.

Still though, it’s a pretty impressive piece of footage, and you’re likely going to enjoy it if you want a horror movie that will give you a few good jump scares.

The Screenhead Ten Scale gives Atrocious an eight out of ten for putting on a great show, even if it takes its sweet time getting the real horror action started. A decent addition to most any Halloween horror lineup, Atrocious should do a nice job of scaring you.

MobileWhack is sponsoring a giveaway of Atrocious if you are interested in winning a copy of the DVD.

A long-unexpected revival comes our way, folks, and just in time for Halloween. You won’t be able to catch The Howling Reborn until this Tuesday, folks, but we’ve got a special advance look thanks to the folks out at Anchor Bay. And what we’re getting a fresh revival of is no less than one of the last such untrammeled franchises of the eighties: The Howling.

The Howling Reborn joins us with Will Kidman, who’s about to graduate from high school. Sensing he’s got precious little left to lose, he makes a play for the brass ring, a pretty classmate he’s been interested in for years. But this idyllic young love is interrupted when we discover that Kidman is part of a line of legendary monsters, namely, werewolves. And now, a load of werewolf hunters has recently arrived in town sensing that Kidman is about to come into his full lycanthropic destiny. Now, with young love on one hand and certain death on the other, Will’s got to fight back against enemies both within and without to save his dream girl and land his happily ever after.

This may well be one of the strangest horror movies I’ve seen in a good long while. Not only do you have the sheer massed ranks of weirdness that this movie relentlessly puts up–the bit with Will taking on the school bully, who for some reason has brought a gun to school to take on a nerd, is nothing short of preposterous–but you also have the strange amount of downright Williamson-esque teen drama that gets shot into this thing like adrenaline into a seized heart. In fact, large portions of the movie won’t even make a whole lot of sense even when viewed through hindsight. That and I’m getting kind of tired of watching movie monsters who think they’re superior to normal humanity because they’ve got a few extra abilities and absolutely nothing resembling restraint or decent moral behavior. I got enough of that with the vampires, I sure don’ t need to see it with the werewolves too.

Though even I have to admit, the last half hour of this one really does pick up, and it represents a big improvement over the previous hour. This by itself is somewhat odd–it’s not every day I see a movie manage to overcome a horrible sludgy opening hour to become a worthwhile, killer last half hour. The end result is a very mixed bag that, while somehow managing to be more teen-angst-whiny than anything that came out of the nineties, still has a little good old fashioned horror punch to it.

The Screenhead Ten Scale in turn gives The Howling Reborn a seven out of ten. It’s got its share of problems, but man, does it manage to put on a good show. Stick around after the credits for extra surprises on this one, and I think you’ll find it’s worth your time.

Well folks, with Halloween rapidly approaching, and the prime season for horror in general along with it, I figured it would be a good time to take a rundown of five great titles you may not have heard of. And why have you never heard of them? Because they’re old enough to drink. We’re going to check out the top five horror movies of the 1980s.

5. Clownhouse

A little known title, and an early Victor Salva besides, Clownhouse pitted three brothers, home alone, against a set of three homicidal clowns. The film itself was good enough for three, as it brought in a lot of great suspense. There’s a reason some called this Home Alone with killer clowns, and this combination should be horror enough for most anyone.

4. Leviathan

Combine a monster movie with the claustrophobic horror of being several hundred feet under the surface of the ocean, and you’ve got a great idea of what you’ll be dealing with in Leviathan. It’s got science fiction and horror elements all at the same time, and bringing the two of them together in one convenient package makes it well worth adding to any horror watching party. Add in a great cast like Peter Weller (better known as Robocop) and Daniel Stern, and that’s just icing on the cake.

3.  Monkey Shines

One of George Romero’s lesser known non-zombie titles, Monkey Shines brought out a terrific combination of claustrophobic horror (most of it took place in a house with a quadriplegic guy) and the sheer bizarrity of a monkey who develops not only supreme empathy, but also a stalkerish love for said quadriplegic whom she’s been assigned to serve as a helper monkey. Though it was a box office flop, it took on cult status, and was plenty scary, especially the nice little jump scare they throw in at the end.

2. Evil Dead 2

It’s not hard to pass up a shot of one of the greatest cult films ever made, Evil Dead 2. More than a match for Evil Dead, though not quite as much fun as Army of Darkness, Evil Dead 2 not only brings in some good old fashioned scares with a whole lot of demons running around the back woods, but also brings in a whole load of funny. The possessed furniture scene alone is worth the cost of admission.

1. Scarecrows

A personal favorite of mine, Scarecrows pits a group of paramilitary bank robbers against a field full of surprisingly sneaky stuffed scarecrows. And despite that alliteration, it’s actually much more suspenseful than you think. Not only do the thieves pack some night vision, but there’s even a nice B-story in which one of the thieves actually tries to cheat the rest. Couple these together and you’re looking at some prime horror.

And there you have it–five great horror flicks you may not have heard of, straight out of the big-hair eighties. Should make for some great Halloween–or after–nights to come.

We have picked out winner for the Scream 4 giveaway. Janette is the winner and she says, “I love the first 3!” I am sure you will love the fourth one too Janette, congratulations!

The horror movie is directed by Wes Craven and stars David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere, Anthony Anderson, Shenae Grimes and Lucy Hale.

The DVD is now available to buy and rent. The movie follows Sidney Prescott (Campbell), now the author of a self-help book, who returns home to Woodsboro on the last stop of her book tour. There she reconnects with Sheriff Dewey (Arquette) and Gale (Cox), who are now married, as well as her cousin Jill (Roberts).

Unfortunately Sidney’s appearance also brings about the return of Ghost Face, putting Sidney, Gale, and Dewey, along with Jill, her friends (Panettiere, Culkin) and the whole town of Woodsboro in danger.

Here’s what the critics have to say about Scream 4: “Pure genius.” (Richard Roeper, RichardRoeper.com) “The Best ‘Scream’ since the original! Funny, clever and scary as hell.” (Dan Jewel, Life & Style Weekly) “Full of surprises!” (Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald)

It’s Dawn of the Dead meets High Noon in the bloody, action-packed film The Dead and the Damned, on DVD wherever they are sold.

We have our winner for this scary movie giveaway with a Western twist. Ron O. is our winner, and he says, “The mere mention of the Dead and the Damned has gotten me into the Halloween spirit! It would be spooktacular to win and enjoy! Thanks!”

You are welcome Ron and we hope you get scared watching this movie and make sure you don’t watch it alone.

Hot on the trail of a renegade Apache warrior, gun-slinging bounty hunter Mortimer passes through an 1849 California gold rush town, where local miners direct him into the mountains to track his prey.

Following a ferocious battle, Mortimer triumphantly returns to town with his Indian captive in shackles … only to find themselves surrounded by a ravenous horde of the undead. Now the two enemies must band together if they are to escape the horrors of The Dead and the Damned!

The movie sounds like the perfect feature to be watching during the Halloween season. I just hope it is not too scary.

Something special for you today, folks–you’re not going to be able to get hands on this one until Tuesday, so settle in with us so we can fill you in. We’ve got a movie called The Sylvian Experiments today, and the folks out at Lions Gate sent a copy over for us to review for you. And while this won’t be the best movie we’ve seen in a while, it’s going to represent something much more important, and still provide a worthwhile show in the process.

The Sylvian Experiments follows a neuron scientist and her husband who, while in the basement of an old hospital, find a 16 mm film print. And when they go to see what’s on it, they discover that someone was staging experiments into the Sylvian fissure of the human brain in a bid to access something called the “forbidden territory”, a realm between life and death. And now, the neuron scientist has decided to take up the gauntlet dropped with this 16 mm film print and begin her own exploratory surgery. Her guinea pigs of choice? Her own daughters.

It’s reasonable to assume that this will not end well. In fact, what caught me most by surprise on this one was the trailers before the movie began–a whole slew of old, like five or ten years old, Japanese horror flicks. It proved later just why all these old trailers were running; as it turns out, The Sylvian Experiments is a rare treat indeed, the resurgence of a line that I had thought long since dead: the Lions Gate J-horror importing system. For background’s sake, after The Grudge (the remake of the Japanese film Ju-On) hit theaters, there was a bit of a surge in Japanese horror. People wanted to see what else these guys could bring out, and so we got stuff like Infection, Isola, Premonition, St. John’s Wort, and a host of other titles under various banners going direct to video in the United States but having survived Japanese theaters.

As I discovered after watching several of these, there are really only two kinds of Japanese horror film: the bombastic, thundering nightmare with loads of kills and action, and the chatty, slow sludgefest. Most Japanese horror fits into one of these two, and this one falls into the chatty and slow pile, though admittedly, it does do a reasonably good job of building suspense. Thankfully, unlike many slow and chatty Japanese horror titles, it also has some moments in which that tension gets released. Not the best releases, of course–they’re very subtle in the normal Japanese style–but they’re still releases of tension all the same.

Still though, as someone who deeply missed the crap shoot that was Japanese horror importing, I was glad to see The Sylvian Experiments, and more than ready to give them a try. The end result could have been better, but it was still relatively welcome nonetheless.

The Screenhead Ten Scale gives The Sylvian Experiments a seven out of ten–it’s not the best movie you’ll see, but if you’re a fan of subtlety in your horror, it’s definitely worth a rental if nothing else.