Halloween movies date back to the late 1800s, and they have been a fan favorite ever since.  In the 1950s, the movies, “Creature from The Black Lagoon”, “Horror of Dracula” and “The Giant Claw” hit the box office and as the years went on more and more horror movies were created with more real-life scares and the horror level increased.  To this day, horror movies are more popular than ever and are getting more and more popular by the day.

The first ever horror movie was “The House of the Devil ” or “Le Manoir du Diable” made in 1896. It was released in the United States as “The Haunted Castle”, it is a short silent film. It is a story where the main character has occurrences with the Devil and many different phantoms in a medieval castle. 

The most popular horror movie was “The Exorcist ” made in 1973 made by William Peter Blatty. It is about the demonic possession of a young girl and her mother’s attempt to save her, it is based loosely on real-life events. Throughout this movie, they try to save her, and they request to perform an exorcism on her with a priest involved. It is a terrifying movie. but not in a gory way. It makes us wonder if this can happen to us.

A great example of a more recent horror movie is “Midsommar” made in 2019 by Ari Aster. A couple takes a trip to Sweden with their friends to visit a Midsommar festival and it ends up being a ritual and a form of a cult. It is a very gory and violent movie. It shows the events of a cult where people get killed, smashed, burned, and other disturbing ways to die. This movie is extremely horrifying and may keep you awake for nights. 

A very popular movie series called “Halloween” has been coming out with scary movies for the last 40 years. The main character Micheal Myers on Halloween night murdered one of his family members. Although, he gets put away and ends up coming back. He starts his killing in a small town in Haddonfield, Illinois. Even though it isn’t a real town it can still look like any other suburban town, it is a movie that shows us that this can happen wherever even in a small town. 

“Friday the 13th” is another scary movie, made in 1980 by Sean Cunningham. This movie is based at Camp Crystal Lake in New Jersey, even though the campsite has a rough past the site is still open for kids. As the stories go on Jason Voorhees finds his way onto the campsite as the camp counselors try to save the camp. This terrifying movie leaves you on the edge of your seat wondering what’s going to happen next. 

A movie that isn’t so scary but is still a Halloween movie is “Hocus Pocus’. This is about a group of 3 sisters who are brought back by a teenager. This movie is based on Halloween time in Salem, Massachusetts. It is more of a kid-friendly movie that doesn’t have any gore and horror. 

People love horror movies, some examples are, “Insidious the storyline is super interesting and it’s super suspenseful the whole time and it’s creepy and is really good” says Mikayla Piantandia a senior at Saugus High School. Another example is, “Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I like it because it is based on a true story and it’s crazy how people’s minds work.” Says Charli Smith, a freshman at Saugus High School.

Overall, Halloween movies are loved by many and will continue to be loved and created for many years to come in the future.