The 5 unmissable films to recover on Halloween

Halloween is getting closer and closer, and what better time to recover some cinematic gems while remaining perfectly in tune with this particular period of the year? It doesn't mean, of course, that you only have to watch horror movies or atrocious and scary stories. Of course, horror and fear remain sovereign at Halloween, with all its most classic symbolisms, masks, and that typically American "trick or treat" culture that has taken root in our own land in its own way, but there are many films that they are well suited to the typical spirit of these days. If you are looking for a memorable evening you are in the right place, below you will find the list of what we believe are the 5 unmissable films on Halloween. But be careful, as specified above, the list, while also feeding on the horror genre, will be outlined by a series of choices that are cult, especially in this period of the year, fundamental in returning some sensations that you can experience especially in these days. So make yourself comfortable and enjoy the journey.

The 5 unmissable films to catch up on Halloween

The Shining The Mystery of Sleepy Hollow Donnie Darko Dracula by Bram Stoker The Witch

Shining

In a list of 5 unmissable films Halloween absolutely cannot miss an author horror, and in this case we are talking about a real legend in the sector. Also because Stanley Kubrick's Shining made the history of cinema and even today, after many years, it is studied in universities all over the world and analyzed by critics, always discovering new details and new interpretations to be linked to the work of this iconic director. . Based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, The Shining tells the story of a writer named Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) and his work in the Overlook Hotel as a caretaker. When the hotel closes following his period of work, in fact, it needs a person who remains in it for the following months as a supervisor. So Jack, once he accepts the job, decides to take his family, his wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and his child Danny (Danny Lloyd) with him. The months of total solitude in the structure, however, together with some strange presences inside a hotel with a very particular and violent past, will push Jack more and more towards an abyss from which it is almost impossible to go back, turning the situation in one direction. totally unexpected and hard to digest at all.




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The Mystery of Sleepy Hollow

You can't talk about Halloween without mentioning, at least once, Tim Burton, and this says a lot about his presence in our list of our 5 must-see films for Halloween. The Mystery of Sleepy Hollow is configured, as a story, at the antipodes of The Shining, if we were to make a forced comparison, in the sense that it is not a horror story, or a film that aims to frighten and distress the viewers, rather of a dark tale that preserves, despite the passing of time, the perfect mood for this time of year. Loosely based on The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, a short story by Washington Irving, the film tells the investigation that Ichabod Crane (Johnny Depp) made in the town of Sleepy Hollow with the aim of shedding light on a series of heinous murders carried out by the infamous Knight headless.


The Mystery of Sleepy Hollow A sort of supernatural thriller therefore, in which elements and symbolisms coming from the most classic dimension of the horror genre are mixed with the very recognizable style of the director. If you are looking for a film that plays its cards in a dense and dark mystery, The Mystery of Sleepy Hollow is what you need, also because one of the greatest advantages of this film lies in its very recognizable aesthetic and perfectly consistent with the Halloween period. Burton's cure immediately becomes a brand but also a context, in this village stopped in 1799 in which the scariest legends seem to come to life in the shadow of a forest that constantly whispers something ... The Mystery of Sleepy Hollow is currently present in the Prime Video catalog .

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Donnie Darko

Donnie Darko On the night of the crash, however, something happens particular, following the visit of a mysterious being with the features of an anthropomorphic rabbit, a mask, Donnie gets up from his bed and in an episode of sleepwalking escapes death, finding, however, some numbers on his arm: 28:06: 42:12 (28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes and 12 seconds). Those numbers represent the time remaining before the end of the world, which will happen right on Halloween night. The film, therefore, develops from here, staging a journey that alternates criticisms of American society, even heavy ones, with dreamlike, philosophical and literary moments, binding to the vision of a protagonist who is not very clear about the reality that surrounds him. The direction of Kelly, who also works here as a screenwriter, does not align with any easily recognizable narrative standard, transforming Donnie Darko into an experience in which everyone has tried to read something, constantly getting lost in an experience that is still difficult to decipher. , while remaining extremely fascinating. You can catch Donnie Darko on Prime Video.

Bram Stoker's Dracula

Here we go to the classic. Everyone knows Dracula and the story of him, he is still a character transposed in thousands of different ways throughout history, while maintaining some of the most iconic characteristics of him. We could not fail to include his 1992 film adaptation in a list of the 5 unmissable films on Halloween. If you are looking for a classic yet romantic experience, Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula is for you. In this film we find the literary myth of an iconic and immortal character, even if reinterpreted by the hand of a director who has very clear his origins, but trying to translate everything into an authorial experience.

Interpreted by a masterful Gary Oldman, in the film we find the story from which all the legends about Count Dracula originate, even if Coppola decided to cloak them with a very particular romanticism that also returns in the general aesthetics. A monster consumed by an impossible love, personal and unbridgeable suffering, hunger, chance, and horror, are just some of the prominent elements of this story, drawn by both strong scenes and memorable moments in the history of cinema. In all of this we find the falling in love and obsession with the character of Mina (Winona Ryder) and the unbridled hunt for a monster that must be stopped at all costs by Professor Van Helsing (Anthony Hopkins).



Dracula by Bram Stoker The value of Bram Stoker's Dracula, however, as mentioned above, can be found in the sumptuousness of its aesthetics, in the composition of certain shots, in photography and in the choice of costumes, alternating a particular attraction for his images and for the way they were shot, to the horror of a character who frightens us and continues to fascinate at the same time. Bram Stoker's Dracula is currently available on Netflix.

The Witch

Here we enter the dimension of pure terror, with a director who has been able to play with the most classic elements of the genre, drawing from them an original work that not everyone has been able to fully digest after viewing in the hall. Robert Eggers' The Witch deserves every right to be included in a list of the 5 must-see films for Halloween, both for the story behind it and the formal ways in which everything was modeled. We are in New England, in 1630, and William (Ralph Ineson) is removed from the Puritan community to which he belongs, along with his family, due to his extremism in reading the word of God. This will lead the family away from the inhabited area, moving their existence into the ravines of a wood where something horrible awaits them behind the branches of the trees. The disappearance of the newborn Samuel will open an impossible gash within a family that, scene after scene, will lead to a completely unexpected dissolution.



The Witch Going beyond unanimous acceptance positive, The Witch represented a turning point in the career of its director who, according to him, was looking for a film that would appeal to the general public. The general formal care, the shooting in natural light, the acting with an Englishman belonging to the past and the distressing writing made the film a cult right from the start. You can currently find it on Prime Video.