Thread: Movies for a Hallowe'en party

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I suppose this fits in either horror or party. I thought it would fit better here.

I want to show a couple of horror movies at my party but I'm struggloing to hit the right tone, ya know? I want a movie that makes people jump, but isn't gory or too difficult to watch, is quite easy to follow but still creepy and will give my guests a couple of good scares.

Any ideas?

I was thinking about posting something like this.

I'm doing a vampire theme and need some good movies to play... my friends don't tend to appreciate black & white stuff so none of that. I just need a vampire movie thats easy to follow. Like if you come in and out of it... you won't be lost.

Awesome! Our Halloween party is just basically going to be a Halloween version of our regular monthly movie nights...

I'd suggest getting a good number of movies and having your guests vote on which they'd like to see. If you don't have a specific theme in mind, then I think you ought to go with the "classics," favorites that you know most people have seen and love... Things like:

Halloween (original)
A Nightmare on Elm Street (original)
Friday the 13th (original!)
Ghostbusters (funny, but still spooky!)
Sleepy Hollow
Poltergeist

Originally Posted by Stochey

I'm doing a vampire theme and need some good movies to play... my friends don't tend to appreciate black & white stuff so none of that. I just need a vampire movie thats easy to follow. Like if you come in and out of it... you won't be lost.

Ohhhh, so many good ones...

The Lost Boys
Once Bitten (old school Jim Carrey - hilarious!)
Vampire's Kiss
Interview With The Vampire
Queen of the Damned
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Dracula, Dead and Loving It (Oh, come on! You have to have some fun!)
Blade
Vampire In Brooklyn
Fright Night (my personal favorite!)

If you are looking for simple story lines and little gore but still sufficiently jumpy, go with ghost movies. They tend to be less gorey but still have that scare factor to me. For a party I would definitely avoid the torture porn and slasher flicks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ghost_films

Originally Posted by stormygirl84

Awesome! Our Halloween party is just basically going to be a Halloween version of our regular monthly movie nights...

I'd suggest getting a good number of movies and having your guests vote on which they'd like to see. If you don't have a specific theme in mind, then I think you ought to go with the "classics," favorites that you know most people have seen and love... Things like:

Halloween (original)
A Nightmare on Elm Street (original)
Friday the 13th (original!)
Ghostbusters (funny, but still spooky!)
Sleepy Hollow
Poltergeist



Ohhhh, so many good ones...

The Lost Boys
Once Bitten (old school Jim Carrey - hilarious!)
Vampire's Kiss
Interview With The Vampire
Queen of the Damned
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Dracula, Dead and Loving It (Oh, come on! You have to have some fun!)
Blade
Vampire In Brooklyn
Fright Night (my personal favorite!)

Oh Dracula Dead and Loving It is the PERFECT vampire party movie. It follows the traditional story line but it's hilarious. One of my faves!

"Oh no not another enema!"

I'm deeply old fashioned.

Play creepy music and visit with your friends. Leave the television off.

I have never understood going to someones house and everyone is staring at the tube. I can do that at home. Prefer to do it alone or with the wife, no commentary from the peanut gallery.

I know, I'm a grumpy old cadaver, but rigor mortis makes you short-tempered.

Look - have people tell you the scariest thing that ever happened to them, or have them describe their favorite vampire movie. They need to be prepared to debate why it is the best film, why "Vamp" is a lesser film than "Near Dark" or why Barnabas Collins was a better vampire than Lestat, or what have you.
Have some vampire trivia - force them to answer in cheesy translyvanian accents.

Originally Posted by Spats

I'm deeply old fashioned.

Play creepy music and visit with your friends. Leave the television off.

I have never understood going to someones house and everyone is staring at the tube. I can do that at home. Prefer to do it alone or with the wife, no commentary from the peanut gallery.

I know, I'm a grumpy old cadaver, but rigor mortis makes you short-tempered.

Look - have people tell you the scariest thing that ever happened to them, or have them describe their favorite vampire movie. They need to be prepared to debate why it is the best film, why "Vamp" is a lesser film than "Near Dark" or why Barnabas Collins was a better vampire than Lestat, or what have you.
Have some vampire trivia - force them to answer in cheesy translyvanian accents.

Yeah I have never understood watching a movie at a party although I have had parties that were SPECIFICALLY for it and didn't bother with decor but that's different I think. I have a projector that I plan on showing an assemblage of video clips like this one, without the sound to ad to the ambience http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwHblLwlsEo I have a twisted fairy tales themes

Originally Posted by Spats

I'm deeply old fashioned.

Play creepy music and visit with your friends. Leave the television off.

I have never understood going to someones house and everyone is staring at the tube. I can do that at home. Prefer to do it alone or with the wife, no commentary from the peanut gallery.

I know, I'm a grumpy old cadaver, but rigor mortis makes you short-tempered.

Look - have people tell you the scariest thing that ever happened to them, or have them describe their favorite vampire movie. They need to be prepared to debate why it is the best film, why "Vamp" is a lesser film than "Near Dark" or why Barnabas Collins was a better vampire than Lestat, or what have you.
Have some vampire trivia - force them to answer in cheesy translyvanian accents.

Yeah yeah, we've tried to get people to do the scary stories thing. No-one ever participates, even when we offer a prize for best story. Trust me, we've tried it several years running and it's a non-starter.

I feel like you've made a lot of assumptions, and now I feel like I have to defend my party. Ugh. Did I say we would be watching movies all night long? Did I say there wouldn't be other activities before that? I completely agree with you about interaction, and that will be happening earlier in the evening, and for the majority of the evening. But I always end the night with a horror movie. A lot of people do parties that are exclusively movie parties - it must work for them. Clearly that's not your thing but no-one is forcing you to participate, and clearly it works for them. I don't believe in one size fits all. Different groups of people like to do different things.

I always end my parties with a movie as well. It's just a way to cap off the evening. For years now, our friends have gotten together randomly through the year to watch old episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000, or RiffTrax http://www.rifftrax.com/. RiffTrax let's you provide the movie, and you play their soundtrack synced with it, so you get the joke track along with the movie. We really like making fun of the movies and with all of OUR comments added to theirs, it's a pretty fun event. It's the only way I would ever watch the Twilight movies . This year, I'm thinking of doing it for the Halloween party and showing Drag Me to Hell. Since it's one of those movies that's a combination of scary and funny, it should be pretty fun.

Spats - I just wanted a movie on in my small living room to kinda give people something to look at and comment on... conversation starter really and kind of a mood setter. Most people hang out in the second living room (blacklight, music and lots more sitting room, no tv) or outside. Some hang out in the kitchen by the food and booze. I just wanted to give people an opiton for something else to do.

I definitely don't want everyone to surround the tv and 'be quiet' so everyone can hear whats going on or anything (so I get ya there).... most of my friends come in from 2hrs plus so I want to talk to everyone and such...