Spooky Sixteen

Spooky Sixteen: Day One

While I would have loved to do a full scary-movie-a-day for the month of October but I just don’t have the time, so I’ve adopted #SpookySixteen instead. Sixteen spooky movies peppered throughout the month, in no particular order. Some are classics, and some I’ve never seen before. So with no further ado…

John Carpenter’s, The Thing.

There is no doubt this one still holds up. And while I love CGI, there’s something to be said for amazing practical effects. Blood and gore, for sure, but that’s not where The Thing shines. Recent horror movies rely too much on shock value and jump scares. It’s fine if that’s what you’re into, but to me a good scary movie is the one that utilizes all those things AND leaves you guessing what’s around that next corner? Tone and mood are set using light and music—a huge upside here since it was scored by Ennio Morricone—and the use of foreshadowing and parallels to the Swede’s story are just icing on the cake.