1. Jennifer’s Body: This movie will bring you back memories of your high school frenemy. Written by Diablo Cody, Jennifer’s Body is one of her masterpieces along with Juno. The film is directed by Karyn Kusama, starring Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried, making a powerful women-led film. The movie was released in 2009 but just recently has been recognized for its genius.
When the film first came out there was harsh criticism for it being a movie for men to drool over. While there is sex appeal, there is also discussion of insecurities teen girls face, figuring out sex, and questioning sexuality. There is no man to save the day, just a geeky girl named Needy, who has been in the shadow of her best friend for too long.
Oh! And did I mention this movie completely defies the “dumb hot girl” horror trope? In Jennifer’s Body, the hot girl becomes the ghastly monster terrorizing the town!
The most praised girl in school, Jennifer Check, is gorgeous, athletic, and confident. What’s her secret? Eating men!
On a night out Jennifer and Needy go to a dive bar to see a band perform, then a horrific fire breaks out. Jennifer and Needy escape the fire along with the band. In her shock, Jennifer leaves with the band, while Needy goes home. Ever since Jennifer left with the band she’s been acting differently — she has a hunger for man meat! Jennifer uses sex to lure her targets for an attack. Needy must find a way to put a stop to Jennifer.
This horror-comedy uses witty and catty teen girl humor that will have you laughing while simultaneously scared for Jennifer’s next move.
2. Corpse Bride: The movie’s color palette of grey, green, blue, and black will set the tone for the upcoming fall nights. Corpse Bride, directed by Tim Burton and Mike Johnson, depicts a Jewish folklore through breathtaking stop-motion animation. The story of a bride murdered on her wedding day coming back to life by mistake is told sometimes musically by eccentric characters.
The main character Victor is set up by his parents for an arranged marriage, he falls in love with his bride-to-be instantly. Upset with his nerves Victor sets off into the woods to practice his vows. Victor, practicing for perfection, slips the wedding ring on a tree branch which happens to be the ring finger of a corpse!
This corpse, Emily, comes to life and is giddy being Victor’s wife. Now Victor must figure out how to get rid of his dead wife to wed his living fiancée. Corpse Bride is a movie to watch on a particularly cold October night. A quirky spooky love story!
3. Scream: Scream is the perfect horror movie for the people who aren’t keen on horror (if you’re squeamish to gore you might have to look away a few times). This slasher horror was directed by Wes Craven who also directed A Nightmare on Elm Street.
Contrasting the Freddy and Elm Street, Scream is intended to be a dark comedy. Craven exaggerated horror tropes to poke fun at the horror franchise. His efforts were somewhat overlooked by his talent of directing horror, which makes the film both hilarious and scary.
Scream is based in California suburbia, a small town that turns upside down when a killer in a ghost costume sets off on a killing spree. The masked killer specifically targets a girl, Sidney Prescott, a year after her mother’s death.
The killer taunts Sidney and others with cryptic phone calls. The killer goes after the girl and her friends, picking off the cast one by one. As the killings happen a reporter and a cop investigate with a hunch it was the same killer who murdered Sidney’s mom. Scream is an excellent movie to watch if you want horror, but also in need of comedic alleviation.
4. Monster House: It’s almost two days before Halloween and in this neighborhood there’s more to fear than the boogeyman. Monster House is an animated film where three teens are convinced that their recently deceased neighbor is haunting them and determined to prove it. Horace Nebbercracker, a grumpy old man, who lives across the street from the main character, DJ, verbally or physically attacks anyone who steps foot on the lawn.
One day, while DJ and his friend Chowder are playing basketball, the ball rolls into Nebbercracker’s lawn. DJ tries to prove his maturity by retrieving the ball. Nebberracker comes out and berates DJ, in the old man’s anger he falls over and has to be taken away in an ambulance. Since then, weird instances have been happening to DJ, he thinks the house across the street will have answers. This movie will take you back to your childhood of running around the neighborhood, while playing into the scary imaginations of your most hated neighbor!
If you live in a place like LA, or a place where there are not many falling leaves, Monster House will give you the beautiful fall feeling through its gorgeous animation! The writers who made Monster House, Rob Schrab and Dan Harmon, also worked on acclaimed TV-shows like Community, Rick and Morty, and Solar Opposites! Monster House uses silly kid humor while also sneaking in some complex adult jokes.
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