Movies I Recommend For This Halloween Weekend

      It is a tradition in my family every October to watch as many scary movies as we can in the month, especially the week/weekend before Halloween, finally giving the actual day the "Holy Grail" of Halloween movies. Here is a list of our favorites!!!

    

      This, believe it or not, is a SHORT list...good luck fitting them all in this weekend!!!

• The Exorcist: The Version You've never Seen
• The Skeleton Key
• Jeepers Creepers
• Wind Chill
• Bram Stoker's Dracula
• Pan's Labyrinth
• Hocus Pocus
• Walt Disney Cartoon Classics: Halloween Haunts
• The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
• Psycho series (including 1998 remake)
• Cape Fear (1991 version)
• Amityville Horror (both versions!)
• Mothman Prophecies 
• From Dusk Till Dawn
• The Grudge series
• Saw series
• The Entity
• American Psycho
• Summer of Sam
• Signs
• War of the Worlds (2005)
• Misery
• Dreamcatcher
• The Hills Have Eyes
• In the Mouth of Madness
• Spawn
• The Descent
• The Cave
• Nightmare on Elm Street series
• Identity
• Thinner
• The Mist
• Hannibal Lecter Series (Hannibal Rising, Red Dragon, Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal)
• The Shining (both versions
• Predator
• The Ring
• The Eye
• The Thing (1982)

       
       For a list of the 50 films declared the scariest ever, go to:
       http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/gallery/top_50_scary_movies/        
 

Remakes

        The current trend in film making seems to be remakes. Although it can be an exciting prospect to see our favorites re-invented on the big screen in a new way, it is also bittersweet. While sometimes it seems preposterous that they would ruin what we already know with a new, less iconic rendition, our curiosities are also peaked. In most cases, to me anyway, it is just sad that the original players of the film are almost being tossed away for a new model. 
       One such film that was recently remade is Footloose. Originally filmed in 1984, the classic included such stars as Kevin Bacon, John Lithgow, Dianne Wiest, and Chris Penn. The 2011 remake however, only has two worth-while actors-- Dennis Quaid and Andie MacDowell, who I quite frankly think sold out in accepting roles in this attempt to recapture brilliance. 
        Although I don't have many details on it, it has also been announced that Ben Affleck will be doing a new version of the classic Stephen King story The Stand(originally filmed in1994). This movie, was already about as perfect as it could get. Granted, a new version could bring new technologies to make better special effects--But come, on! Gary Sinise, Molly Ringwald, Ruby Dee, Rob Lowe, and Ossie Davis? You don't get better than that! Not to mention the fact that Jamey Sheridan had the PERFECT ass for a devilish figure, and the attitude to go along with it! So I am begging you, Ben Affleck--Don't massacre my favorite King movie!
        On a better note, there is one remake I am looking forward to...Leonardo DiCaprio is currently filming a remake of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, set to premiere in 2012. In 1974, Robert Redford inexplicably portrayed a charming Jay Gatsby in the film, whose screenplay was written by Francis Ford Coppola, which sets a very high bar. However, I have no doubt in my mind that if the remake has to be done, DiCaprio will be as brilliant as anyone in modern day who's who of acting.