October has arrived and San Diego State University is ramping up to celebrate the beloved holiday of Halloween. What better way to appreciate the season than diving into the spooky and scary slashers and cult-favorites!
Whether brand-new or a familiar favorite, Halloween movies are one of the highlights of the holiday. Not sure what to watch this year? Fear not and grab the popcorn, the Daily Aztec is here to spotlight the films that members of the SDSU community love most.
David Coddon, a professor in the School of Journalism and Media Studies, said the original “Night of the Living Dead,” “The Exorcist” and “Get Out” are among his favorites that he and his wife watch every Halloween.
Coddon admires how “Night of the Living Dead” can still be “claustrophobic and terrifying” despite being an older black and white film and mentions how Jordan Peele, the director of “Get Out,” is “the best horror movie maker today” putting out “intelligent but scary stuff.”
Devin Deynata, a fourth-year Television, Film and Media major and A.S videographer, also admires Peele’s work and said “Us” is one of his favorite movies to watch for Halloween, along with “Dawn of the Dead” directed by Zack Snyder and “Late Night with the Devil” directed by Cameron and Colin Cairnes.
“What makes a horror movie scary to me is the realism of it, as if what I’m watching on screen can actually happen,” Deynata said. “The concept of these horror movies were very unorthodox, yet interesting for their respective time periods.”
Temple Northup, the director of the School of JMS, said he loves watching “Hocus Pocus” during the Halloween season, as well as “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” saying that he “will find any excuse to watch (it), but will definitely watch it around Halloween.” In addition to the two, he’s also a major fan of the original 1978 “Halloween” directed by John Carpenter.
“(Halloween) is the very first horror movie I ever watched,” Northup said. “It scares me today as much as it did back then. Michael Meyers is a classic bad guy and never quite seems to die.”
Jayla Lee, a lecturer in the School of JMS, shares a similar film taste to Northup and said “Hocus Pocus” and “The Nightmare Before Christmas” are two of her favorites as well, along with the Disney Channel classic “Halloweentown.”
“I grew up during the ‘Golden Age’ of Disney Channel movies,” Lee said, “I still love watching them during the fall and Halloween season!”
On the more recent side of Disney, Lee also cherishes the animated film “Coco,” mentioning how she was able to experience Día de Los Muertos in Old Town last year and excitedly anticipates participating in the festivities again this Halloween.
Samantha Arciaga, a third-year kinesiology major and enthusiastic film-watcher, is also a big fan of “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and “Halloweentown,” which she says are nostalgic to her and core films from her childhood.
“I do enjoy watching Halloween movies that are more thriller, but these movies always have a place in my heart because I grew up watching them,” Arciaga said. “I can vividly remember grabbing a pillow from the couch and placing it in front of the living room table, laying in front as I (watched) these movies play.”
Michael Rapp, a lecturer in the School of Communications and instructor of the universally-taken COMM-103 class, says he has no favorites because he hates scary movies.
“I hate movies where things jump out at you and scare you (and) where I throw my popcorn in the air because I was startled and screamed,” Rapp said.
Despite his strong aversion to horror films, Rapp said he is oddly okay with films like “The Shining,” “Speak No Evil” and “Silence of the Lambs” which he says are creepy, but not scary.
“I do not like to be scared,” Rapp said, “so I really do not want to pay to see a movie where I am scared.”
Both new and old, scary and fun, Halloween movies are for everyone! Be sure to check out these staff and student recommendations and have a very happy Halloween, Aztecs!
