Hallowe’en movies

Hallowe’en is coming around again. For the next few weeks, we’re going to be bringing you the top horror movies, books and games and more to get you in the mood. We’re starting with the top five movies to really get the heart pounding.

Altered

Dir Eduardo Sanchez

2006

I found this one a few years ago. I was sharing a house with 12 other people, quiet time was hard to find (yay, college!). And one night, at stupid o’clock, I finally had the tv to myself. I didn’t care what I watched, so I just flipped around looking for something. That something was Altered, directed by Eduardo Sanchez (who also directed The Blair Witch Project). Many years ago, some kids were abducted by aliens and experimented on. They didn’t all make it back alive. Now, years later, the four survivors have captured one of the aliens and they have a very long night planned for it.

It’s nasty, brutal, and sharp, with a focus on physical effects. The monster spends most of its time trapped, trussed up, and hidden. Even its eyes are covered to protect the hunters from its psychic abilities. The big problem with many similar stories is that the creature doesn’t live up to the hype and expectations, or else its abilities are too abstract to provide that raw physicality to be impressive. That doesn’t happen here. When trapped, it’s terrifying in its silent attempts to escape, and when it all goes south (as these things inevitably do), it lives up to the reputation established through the film.

Dog soldiers

Dir Neil Marshall

2002

A platoon of soldiers go on maneuvers in the middle of nowhere. They want it over with quickly so they get to watch the England-Germany match. Then they get attacked by werewolves.

Usually monster movies have a powerless protagonist who is completely at the mercy of the monster, surviving only by luck. Here, we have a platoon of highly trained special forces taking on the monsters. Despite their disbelief in what’s happening, the simple fact is that they are under attack and must defend themselves, even if it is from 8 foot tall monsters with a taste for long pig.

Closer to Zulu than Hammer Horror, it’s grounded, gritty, and bloody scary, with trademark British humour throughout.