2017 was a great year for horror movies. Last year, audiences had the chance to reconvene not only with Stephen King’s scary clown Pennywise in the remake of “IT” but also to witness the horrors related to serial killer “Jigsaw”, and “Get Out”, Jordan Peele’s 2017 horror movie, won over the love of critics and audiences alike, pocketed two Golden Globe nominations, and might even be shortlisted for some Oscars this year. This year will also be great for horror fans (we hope), but instead of looking ahead, let us take a walk down memory lane for a while, and take a look at 5 great scary movies to scare your socks off that turn 30 or 40 years old in 2018.
Halloween
It’s hard to believe that John Carpenter’s classic slasher will turn 40 in 2018. It was just yesterday when “Halloween H20”, the movie’s 20th-anniversary sequel was released. This year, the adventures of Michael Myers will continue with a new anniversary sequel, set to be released this October. Once again, the masked killer will be reunited with Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis).
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
On the surface, Philip Kaufman’s “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” is an exciting horror movie about aliens invading Earth one human at a time. But behind its surface, we find a bit of contemplation about the importance of emotion in making us human. The movie, starring Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, and Jeff Goldblum, was released on March 22, 1978 – which makes it 40 years old this year.
Piranha
Satire and horror often go hand in hand – and this is why Joe Dante’s “Piranha” will always be remembered. The movie is as much a parody of “Jaws” as it is a tribute to the genre as a whole. The film received positive reviews from Stephen Spielberg himself (who called it “the best of Jaws ripoffs”) and achieved a cult following later.
Child’s Play
One of Tom Holland’s iconic creations, 1988’s “Child’s Play” tells the story of Charles Lee Ray, a serial killer that, on the brink of losing his life, transfers his soul into the body of a “Good Guy” doll using a Haitian Vodou spell. The doll is then purchased by Karen Barclay (Catherine Hicks) as a birthday gift for his son, six-year-old Andy. Later that night, the babysitter is hit in the face with a hammer and falls to her death… and that’s when the nightmare begins.
The original “Child’s Play” collected four Saturn nominations, and spawned six sequels, with the latest being “Cult of Chucky”, released in 2017.
They Live
Last but not least, let’s return to the work of John Carpenter. In 1988’s “They Live”, he tells the story of “John Nada” (Roddy Piper), a drifter who finds a pair of sunglasses that allows him to see behind the veil generated by an alien race that has subdued humanity through subliminal orders that make them blindly consume, obey, and reproduce.
Although it was initially a commercial failure, the movie achieved a cult following later on, becoming not only an influential but also a highly appreciated work of fiction today.
