Okay, my last post listed 5 classic horror movies for those interested in such things.

This time, I’m gonna briefly list some more contemporary works that many people haven’t seen, and everybody who loves a good scare needs to.

1. Pumpkinhead
This movie is a frightening little folk tale by way of awesome monster movie. A group of partying teenagers accidentally causes the death of Lance Henriksen’s son, and Lance goes to the old witch in the woods seeking a reckoning. And a reckoning, by God, he gets. Pumpkinhead is a frightening little jewel of a movie, full of suspense, and ultimately quite moving. And the creature, designed and built by master monster builder Stan Winston (who also directed), is awesome. Don’t bother with any of its sequels, but do not miss this movie.

2. Ravenous
A cannibal Western starring Guy Pierce and Robert Carlisle. If blood bothers you, stay away, but if you like smart, funny, mythic, scary, beautifully made movies, this is one. Every part of this movie works.

3. The Descent
This may be the single scariest fucking movie I have ever seen. An all-female group of spelunkers drops into a mountain cave and a  world of blackness and death. Good God, this is a scary movie. Did I say it’s scary? Yeah? Well, I was right. It’s scary. Make sure to see the unrated director’s cut, because the cut they showed theatrically in America slices the actual very creepy end off of the flick.

4. Jeepers Creepers
I know, a monster movie starring Justin “I’m a Mac” Long, right? But this is not your average modern piece o’crap monster flick, this is a good old fashioned creeper with another of those “we’re totally screwed because we’ve wandered into local folkore” premises, and a monster that’s all sorts of weird and unsettling. I love this movie. Love. Right to the end when it plays some old big band song about the Boogie Man (and if anyone can ever find an mp3 of it, please send it along, I’ve tried finding it a bunch of times with no luck). By the way, I haven’t seen it, but the sequel apparently sucks.

5. Ginger Snaps
In the earlier “classic” list, I cited An American Werewolf in London and The Howling as two of the three best werewolf movies ever made. This is the other, though it’s arguably the best of the bunch. Catch me one day, I might say American Werewolf‘s the best, but the day after, or maybe even later that very day, I might say Ginger Snaps is tops. Either way, The Howling, cool as it is, is a distant third. Ginger Snaps tells the tale of two teen sisters, goth-nerd Brigitte and redheaded hottie Ginger, who have a close encounter of a lycanthropic kind. Ginger is bitten, and as the tale progresses we get a smart, witty, terrifying look at sort of a hyper-puberty, as she starts having these unsettling desires, nay cravings, and sprouting hair in new places. Just a wicked damn good flick, really scary and entertaining, with, for once, a couple of sequels that do it justice. You know, now that I think about it, Ginger Snaps is the best damn werewolf movie ever made.

That about does it. You folks have a great Halloween, y’hear.