We aren't that scary but these movies are.

So I'm told it's Halloween, and as you all know that's the best time of year to scare the crap out of yourself, and with my self appointed title of "Biggest horror movie fan in Early Next Year". I thought I'd use this day to recommend a few good horror movies for you to check out tonight and really whenever you wanna feel uncomfortable for an hour and a half. Some of these you've probably seen and some of them maybe you haven't, but they are all worthy because I said so.

1. High Tension - This one came out of France a couple years back and ended up doing really well enough to warrant an American release (and it must have done AMAZING over there for Americans to release something from France, but that's another blog entirely) and I'm glad they did cause I might have missed out on it otherwise. Anyway all the elements for a great horror movie are here. Slowly rising suspense that builds to the boiling point by the climax of the movie. Fantastic gore, special effects make up, and a twist ending that would make M. Night Shyamalan realize that it's just time to give up (seriously dude, you made 2 and a half good movies hang it up). So this one tops my list for this year.

2. Audition - The director of this film, Takashi Miike(whose work was considered so extreme that Showtime refused to air his installment into their Masters of Horror anthology) has been been unfortunately omitted from the flood of Asian horror to make it's way to America in the past 4 or 5 years since "The Ring" came out and made people think it was OK to make horror movies that were rated PG-13. Not that I didn't enjoy "The Ring",I did, but the movie itself better be damn good to cut gore in favor of tickets sold at the box office to 14 year olds looking for a way to spend their paper route money. Alright enough with that rant and back to the business at hand. Takashi Miike's "Audition", this is the most uncomfortable a movie has ever made me feel. If you'd like to see where Eli Roth got the inspiration to make "Hostel", look no further than "Audition", and prepare to cringe during the final act. This is probably the most famous of Miike's films but a very honorable mention also goes to his "Ichii The Killer".

3. Halloween - King of all the slasher movies, the title is Halloween, and there isn't much scarier than a mental patient with a butchers knife in a William Shatner mask. Need I say more?

On a side note the original Halloween is playing in certain theatres tonight (Oct. 31st). If you have one of these screenings in your area please do me a favor and go see it for me. Early Next Year is going to be in the studio tonight, thus rendering me unable to be there.

4. Dead End - Who says direct to DVD movies all suck? Well, normally I would and this one is definitely the exception to the rule, and it's fantastic. Here's a quick synopsis. A family is driving to grandma's house for the holidays when Dad decides to take one of his famous "shortcuts". The family ends up on a road that never ends, and strange stuff starts happening. A good portion of this movie is set inside the car which really gives sort of a claustrophobic mood to the whole thing. Scary stuff. Rent it wherever you do that sort of thing.

5. Alkaline Trio: Halloween Live at the Metro - Ok this DVD really isn't scary at all, but this is the Trio at their best in their hometown. This was filmed on Halloween of 2002 I believe so all the songs are predate the band's two most recent albums "Good Mourning" and "Crimson". So if you've gotten into the Trio more recently pick up this DVD and brush up on their early material. Great B-sides and rarities are peppered into the setlist some highlights include "Hell Yes", "Queen of Pain", "My Friend Peter", and "Private Eye". I wish they would have done "Enjoy Your Day", but that just wouldn't be appropriate for a Halloween release now would it? If you are asking yourself right now if I'm aware that I'm typing over the head of anyone who isn't an obsessed Alkaline Trio fan like myself, the answer is yes I'm aware of that, and no I don't care.

So there you have it. Five DVD's that will make for a bone chilling and face rocking Halloween. If you start finding them and watching them right now you should just be able to finish up before the clock strikes midnight.

Happy Halloween everybody!

Doug