Haunted Halloween Classics

Mackenzie Connor, Staff Writer

Among the digitally advanced horror movies of today, there are still a few gems of Halloween classics from back in the day. They may lack 21st century production skills, but they’re still entertaining spooky stories.

One of these classics is the Disney production Hocus Pocus, released July 16, 1993.This film is based on a fictional story set in 1693, Salem, Mass. This story portrays a boy named Thackery Binx who watches his younger sister, Emily run away to a house where three witches live. The witches cast a spell on Emily that make themselves younger, while killing her in the process. Thackery then attempts to stop the witches, and they transform him into a cat.

The movie then jumps ahead to Halloween on 1993, where the new kids in town; Max and Dani Dennison adventure to the cottage of three witches. While exploring the area around the cottage, Max lights a special candle that ultimately resurrects the witches. The witches plan to continue their goal to steal the souls of all Salem children before sunrise, and Max Dennison plots to stop them with the help of a few friends.

The graphics in this movie aren’t the most realistic, and the music score is far from original, but in 1993 (over two decades ago) it was probably considered above average. Although the plot may seem a bit far fetched, this is an enjoyable movie to watch with your family and reminisce about a time when it first came out. The director, Kenny Ortega, does a good job of combining humor and horror to make for a classic Disney Halloween movie.

Another fun Disney Halloween movie is Halloweentown High, released in 2004. The plot is centered around 17-year-old Marnie Piper who proposes the plan to incorporate Halloweentown students (teenagers with magical abilities), into a traditional High School setting. If this plan of Marnie’s does not work by midnight on Halloween, she and her entire family will lose their magical powers. To pursue this ambitious idea, Halloweentown students go incognito as average humans in order to fit in with the crowd. These students in disguise face many strange challenges while attempting to live a mortal life in a high school setting.

Similar to Hocus Pocus, Halloweentown High is not so much a scary movie, but one that incorporates humor and a few aspects of Halloween. The graphics still aren’t as realistic, and appear tacky. The soundtrack appropriately includes more upbeat, fun music and deeper horror music during the scary scenes. Overall, this movie is an entertaining children’s Halloween film that provides an interesting plotline.

Scarier than these first two movies,  A Nightmare on Elm Street is definitely a classic that bears watching every October. Every aspect of this 1984 film is meant to send you to the edge of your seat. It begins with 15 year old Tina Gray being stalked through a boiler room and attacked by a man with blades as hands. She awakens from her dream to find slashes on her body. As the movie progresses a series of attacks on teenagers in their nightmares occur. Main characters, Nancy and her boyfriend Glen (played by Johnny Depp), attempt to unravel the puzzle of the boiler room man, the infamous Freddy Krueger, before it’s too late.

Especially for an older movie, director Wes Craven, successfully did the job of creating a horror film. Most of the scenes are not believable due to lack of technology in that generation, but besides that factor, the plot and characters are portrayed successfully. The soundtrack along with this film fits the movie well. Classic Freddy Krueger music, and other horror music adds a overall fear factor to the movie.

I would recommend Nightmare on Elm Street to those looking for a scary film that keeps you enthralled, but not too petrified afterwards.

Around the time of Halloween, if you are ever in the mood to sit down and watch a Halloween film I would suggest these three classic films to keep you watching until the very end.