October’s Must-See-At-the-Movies List!

October is by far my favorite month out of the year for all things scary with Halloween bringing up the tail end. There is just something about the combination of rustling tree leaves, cool breezes and long shadows as daylight leaves earlier each night that sends a veritable chill down the spine (and not just due to the temperature drop). Fall marks the pending arrival of winter when all things living slumber and the darkness comes out to play. It also marks a great time for horror films at the movie theaters and I wanted to share my picks of what’s coming out (with a few action flicks thrown in for good measure).

October 5^th starts off the month with a bang as Liam Neeson returns to his role of retired CIA operative Bryan Mills in this sequel, Taken 2. As one friend of mine snidely commented, what…does his daughter get kidnapped again? Nope…this time around tides are turned and it is Bryan and his wife who are taken hostage and the daughter who must help them escape.

Why see this is? If the trailer doesn’t grab you certainly Liam kicking tail (and what promises to be fantastic action sequences akin to the first movie) ought to grab you. But alas, I am a sucker for sequels, as my name implies, so this is one film that I won’t want to miss.

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Aside from hoards of candy seeking children dressed in costumes, October is also sure to bring us a movie from filmmaker Tim Burton and 2012 is no different.

Frankenweenie is Burton’s newest 3D black and white stop motion-animated comedy horror film (now there’s a mouthful) that is sure to please viewers of every age.

Victor isn’t handling the death of his beloved dog, Sparky, and gets an idea to bring him back to life after one science class on electricity and the animation of dead flesh. Of course nothing is ever that easy to keep as a secret. Enter: the merry band of misfit secondary characters that reap havoc in town.

If the name sounds familiar, it should. Frankenweenie is a remake of his own short film by the same name that was released back in 1984. Both films are parodies of the classic film and book Frankenstein. This movie will also mark the very first black and white stop-motion animated film to be released in IMAX 3D.

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V/H/S is also released on this date starting off the month with a horror film reputed to be so scary it made viewers sick. Watching the trailer I am quite certain the sickness could be due to the shoddy and shaky POV filming akin to The Blair Witch Project (been there, done that a thousand odd times *yawns*).

The premise copied from imdb.com:

When a group of misfits is hired by an unknown third party to burglarize a desolate house and acquire a rare VHS tape, they discover more found footage than they bargained for.

First thought: Ringu? What we get to watch are 6 shorts woven in the midst of the main story arc. There have been many positive reviews of this film but this viewer will wait for it to be available for instant streaming on Netflix. I have just gotten very tired of the handheld shaky filming and find it annoying and not scary in the least.

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October 12^th brings us a movie that I cannot wait to see: Sinister. I will admit, they had me at the movie poster but after viewing the trailer I was convinced that my first impression was dead on.

Sinister stars Ethan Hawke as a true crime novelist who moves his family into a home where a brutal slaying occurred in the hope of writing a bestseller. He finds a box of old home movies in the attic and uncovers something…well…sinister. As he investigates further his children are drawn into the nightmare and it’s a race to save his family.

I will say it’s nice to see Ethan Hawke in this and also there is something to be said creepy kids.  Here’s hoping they pull it off.

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October 19^th brings us another sequel: Paranormal Activity 4.

This one takes place five years after Paranormal Activity 2 and centers on Katie and Hunter (now named Robbie) who have moved to a new house. The new neighbors are the ones who start experiencing the strange, paranormal events in their home.

I will not be seeing this one. I only made it about 30 minutes into the first movie and finally turned it off after nearly falling asleep. It is another poorly filmed, shaky handheld POV topped with night vision security camera type footage to tell the story. Nothing new nor scary here for this viewer.

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October 26^th brings us with Cloud Atlas. It is not a horror film, nor an action movie but rather a science fiction mystery based off of David Mitchell’s novel by the same name. Starring Tom Hanks and Halle Berry the film centers on the idea of reincarnation and how the “actions and consequences of our lives impact one another throughout the past, present, and future.”

From the trailer the movie looks visually stunning and worth seeing on the big screen. As for all films based on books, I always recommend the movie first and then the book. This way if you like the movie, the book should be a lot more enjoyable.

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October 26^th also brings us another sequel yet one worth checking out (in this movie lover’s opinion). Silent Hill: Revelation 3D is being released just in time for Halloween. The movie is a sequel to the film Silent Hill and is an adaptation of the video game Silent Hill 3.

The story picks up on the eve of Heather Mason’s eighteenth birthday. Having moved around a lot with her father, Heather has been plagued by nightmares her entire life. When her father disappears, she discovers her identity is false and is ultimately led to an alternate dimension in Silent Hill.

Heather is played by Adelaide Clemens and Sean Bean returns to the role of her father. Deborah Kara Unger also returns and we get to see Carrie-Anne Moss and Malcolm McDowell added to the cast. The only thing I see wrong with this movie at first glance is the fact that it is filmed in 3D. As with the hand held camera filming I lamented about previously, this is another trend I will be more than happy to see end.

That’s the round-up for what is coming out in October. In between releases be sure to catch up with some classics and celebrate the month in true horrific fun!