10 Horror Films To Get You In The Mood For Halloween

If Christmas cards and mince pies can go on sale in September, then it’s not too early to begin thinking about Halloween, which let’s face it is the only notable calendar event standing in the path of our annual deification of crass commercialism.

Modern Halloween traditions probably evolved from Samhain (pronounced sow-in), an ancient Celtic festival that was subsequently Christianized by the Church. Meaning “end of the Summer”, Samhain was a celebration of the end of the harvest and the start of preparations for the coming winter, and not even John Carpenter can convincingly explain why it was written on a blackboard near the end of 1981’s Halloween II.

To a modern crowd, however, Halloween is a different kind of celebration: it marks the end of a frankly rubbish summer movie season where uninteresting would-be blockbusters lined up to take our money in exchange for conveying thirty minutes of plot in two and a half hours.

It’s also the last chance for interesting films before the preparations for “Star Wars Month” lay waste to the competition with the kind of heartless efficiency you’d expect from a megacorporation, so seek out the following horror films while you still can.

Former Playboy cover girl Barbi Benton plays the lead in this early 80s slasher movie, which provides a new benchmark for over-the-top direction, unbelievable storylines and performances so broad they qualify as camp. Fortunately, not only is Ms Benton a great screamer, but she can take a nude examination with the best of them.

You see, Barbi’s at the hospital for a check-up, but her records have been altered by one of those heh-heh-heh psychos you only ever see in movies like this. Said alteration is enough to make the doctors and nurses detain her, remove her clothes and restrain her, which is pretty much how she spends the rest of the movie.

Riding in on the coattails of Halloween II, only without its ‘subtlety’ and ‘sophistication’, X-Ray proves Cannon Films’ dedication to pursuing the lowest common denominator. The director is Boaz Davidson of Lemon Popsicle fame (he later produced The Expendables films), so if you’re looking for a sleazy romp along those lines, help yourself.