The Best Helloween Movies
by Sandy Petersen

It's almost Halloween! While we might be too old and vile to trick or treat, we can at least watch a scary movie over the weekend in celebration. So, without further preamble, here are Sandy Petersen's picks for best horror films by category:

BEST VAMPIRE MOVIE
The Last Man On Earth (1964)
There exists a fairly simple proof that there could never have been any vampires. You see, vampires spread their infection by biting other people. If it took a week for one vampire to create another vampire, then by the end of the next week there would be four, then eight, and so forth until long before the year was out, everybody in the world would be vampires. Duh. Take that, Goth fans!

Well, this film is (sort of) based in such a nightmare universe - everyone in the world is dead or a vampire except for the hero (Vincent Price), whose hellish existence is shown day by day. It's very thoughtful, well-done, and quite creepy. I recommend it without reservations.

Availability - it's hard to rent. Most video stores don't carry black-and-white films from the 60s. However, it's available on both DVD & VHS tape pretty cheap (the DVD version includes House on Haunted Hill), and I think it's worth owning.


BEST WEREWOLF MOVIE
Company of Wolves (1984)
Didn't all werewolf stories originate with Little Red Riding Hood? This film takes you back to those roots. It is basically a series of fairy tales, all of which are involved with wolves and shapeshifters and the like. NOT for kids.

Availability - readily rented in almost any video store.


BEST ZOMBIE MOVIE
Cemetery Man (aka Dellamorte, Dellamore) (1994)
If you are a zombie film fan, this movie will take you by storm. The hero works in a cemetery. Seven days after they are buried, the corpses in this cemetery rise and walk the earth. So the cemetery man, as a logical extention of his job, has to shoot them in the head. He doesn't know why it happens. He doesn't know if it's happening elsewhere. He's just a working man. But when he falls in love with a beautiful mourner who dies, and his obese imbecile assistant falls in love with a severed head, and he starts losing touch with reality, and wonders if maybe he should shoot living people in the head right off the bat, and save himself a step and ... you get the picture. Well, maybe not, so let me spell it out. This is possibly the funniest and most romantic zombie movie ever made. Its only potential rival is Peter Jackson's terrific Dead Alive.

Availability - not so easy to get ahold of. I managed to find it in Rockwall, so it's not impossible.


BEST MOVIE TO WATCH WITH YOUR DOG
The Hills Have Eyes (1977)
Mutant weirdos up in the hills take on the vacationing Carter family in a series of confrontations and killings. The "good guys" become more violent and evil in response, and as you learn more about the "bad guys", you realize that they are not just stereotypical heavies, though they do want to eat the Carter family's baby. The Carter family dogs "Beauty" and "The Beast" are portrayed just like main characters, which is how it is in real life in my family. The dogs get important scenes and when they are threatened, it is treated the same as when the humans are threatened, which is a nice change from most horror film treatment of pets.

Availability - easy to obtain. However, do NOT under any circumstances settle for The Hills Have Eyes Part II. It is bad, really bad. Not only is it monstrously horribly bad, but it will ruin the original Hills Have Eyes movie for you because about a third of it is flashbacks. Even the dog has a flashback.
Sandy´s Webtipps

A Shoggoth on the Roof 30.01

The Yellow Sign Movie Trailer 19.01.
The Yellow Sign Movie trailer - Clicketh on ye Chicketh

Stop Alien Abduction 07.01.
This site explains how to keep aliens from stealing your brain. Obviously useful.

Silver-Fish's Picture Encylopedia of the Animal-Anima 22.12.00

The Cabinet of Dr. Casey 16.12.00
The Cabinet of Dr. Casey...

I love Zombies 09.12.00
Sandy: "The ´I-Love-Zombies´ website! "

Uncle Selrach's web site 03.12.00
Sandy: "This guy is cool...  I think we all now need a Chrismas Village diorama set..."