October = Spooky Time

For a lot of people, the month of October means a month long Halloween celebration. It’s generally the spookiest month of the year. All of the most important horror movies and books come out around this time and it’s also a great time to dust off old favorites. Some people really enjoy the horror aspect of Halloween. Other people, not so much. Personally, I fall somewhere in the middle. I can read horror books just fine, but horror movies make me cry and sleep with the lights on. However, I thought I would share with you a few horror movies that are pretty good, even if they were frightening (to me). If you’re reading this on our social media sites, feel free to chime in with horror moves that you like.

  1. The Ring. So, I saw this one in the movie theater when it came out. The basic plot is about some teens who find a mysterious video tape and watch it. If they don’t pass it on to someone else to watch within seven days, a creepy kid crawls out of the television and kills them. I haven’t been this afraid of television static since Poltergeist. I know I’m easily scared but I thought this movie was well done and the fear factor comes from a lack of control. How do you make someone else watch this movie? And how do you live with the responsibility of putting a potential death sentence onto someone else to save your own life? I still don’t trust video tapes because of this movie and I don’t think I turned on my television for weeks after I saw it.
  2. Saw. I really like this movie despite the fact that it’s gory as all get out. The gore doesn’t bother me as much as the premise. This movie asks what you would do to save your own life. Like The Ring, Saw puts its characters into tricky moral situations. The gore is like a bonus. Saw is about a serial killer who doesn’t actually do any killing. He forces his victims to commit crimes against others or themselves to force them to value the lives they have. I like this and The Ring because of their psychological aspects.
  3. Pan’s Labyrinth. This movie is only kind of horror. Parts of it are definitely scary, but it’s very much a character based story and it’s a total tearjerker. Pan’s Labyrinth is about a little girl who is sent to live with her new step-father who is a captain in Spain’s army in 1944. Her life is… not that great. But she has a fantastical world that she can enter. She is told that if she completes three gruesome tasks within this world, she will be declared a princess. Do not watch this movie without tissues.
  4. 10 Cloverfield Lane. This movie is plenty scary without relying on gore or jump shots or other major staples of horror films. It’s a slow burn with this air of menace that you can never really be sure you should be feeling. This is the story of Michelle, who gets into a car accident and is rescued by John Goodman (his character’s name is Howard). Michelle wakes up in a room, chained to a bed. The situation only gets more bizarre from here as John Goodman/Howard explains that she’s in a bunker with him for her own safety as an alien attack is currently going on above-ground.
  5. Get Out. This is another movie that I saw in the theater and I loved it so much. What makes this movie so terrifying both in real and existential terms is that there are a lot of moments that are almost funny. This movie tries to trick you into laughing at it. This movie wants you to feel like you’re watching one type of movie but then switches things up. It works, too. Get Out was written and directed by Jordan Peele, a modern king of comedy. It follows Chris, a black man, who travels with his white girlfriend to meet her family for the first time. Chris gets to his girlfriend’s parent’s house and things seem a little off. Or do they? Is he being paranoid? All these little weird things happening can be laughed off later, right? Nope.All of these movies are available for checkout or hold – so enjoy!

    Post by Carey Gibbons, Reference Specialist

     

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Welcome to #FDL! #FDL is a twice weekly update on all things Fondulac District Library and East Peoria. Twice a week, library staff will make posts that highlight some aspect of library life and relate it to you – our readers. Have you ever wanted to know which Dewey number represented a certain topic? Are you looking for book recommendations based on your favorite television show or television recommendations based on your favorite book? Have you ever wondered about the secret details of librarian life? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then #FDL is for you. We look forward to writing posts that are informative and entertaining and hope that you enjoy getting better acquainted with Fondulac District Library.