Travel through the decades for some frightful fun this Halloween season

Noah Molenda, Staff Writer

With Halloween coming up, it’s only right to take a look back at some of the great horror movies made throughout the years.

House on Haunted Hill is a thrilling horror movie, made in 1959. Millionaire Frederick Loren (played by Vincent Price) offers five guests $10,000 if they survive a night in his haunted mansion. The movie also includes some humor to keep the audience entertained, but is an all-around great horror for the Halloween season. Available for free on Tubi.

Moving up to the 1960s, we have The Haunting from 1963. Dr. Markway, played by Richard Johnson, is attempting to prove that the 90-year-old Hill House, known for its long history of death and murder, is as haunted as people think. He is accompanied by Luke Sanderson, Eleanor ‘Nell’ Lance, and Theodora. Luke is part of the family that currently owns hill house, and he is looking to inherit it. Nell has experience with past supernatural experiences, and she feels somewhat connected to the house. And Theodora has ESP, also known as the sixth sense. Immediately, they are overwhelmed by the strange experiences in the Hill House. Available on Hulu.

The beginning of the infamous Halloween series began in 1978. On Halloween night in 1963, 15 year old Judith Myers was stabbed to death by her six year old brother, Michael Myers. Myers was sentenced to 15 years in prison, but the night before the Halloween of 1978, Myers breaks out of prison and plans to come back to his hometown Haddonfield, IL., while beginning the search for his next victims. Available on Amazon Prime Video.

What some may call the scariest movie ever, we have the 1973 film The Exorcist. When 12-year-old Regan MacNeil is possessed by an unknown entity, her worried mother reaches out to get medical help, but doesn’t receive much assistance. Her next choice is to perform an exorcism, using a local priest who believes Regan may be possessed by the devil.  Available on Sling TV, and free on AMC with Cable TV.

The Shining is a great horror movie from the year 1980. Jack Torrance takes a job as the winter caretaker at Overlook Hotel in Colorado in an attempt to fix his writer’s block. He is accompanied by his son, Danny, and his wife, Wendy. Danny begins seeing disturbing and frightening visions in the hotel, and Jack starts to discover the terrifying secrets of the hotel. Available on Sling TV, Amazon Prime and free on AMC with cable TV.

Beginning in 1980, was the frightening Friday the 13th series. In 1957, 11-year-old Jason Voorhees drowned at Camp Crystal Lake. A year later, two of the camp counselors were mysteriously murdered, and from there on the camp began to seem cursed, experiencing random fires and other mysterious things. When a descendant of the first owner decides to reopen the camp in 1980, the counselor murders begin again, one by one. Could the killer be seeking revenge? Available on Hulu.

In 1996, the horror movie Scream was released. A year after her mother’s death, Sidney Prescott and her friend group started receiving disturbing phone calls from a serial killer. After some of their classmates are killed, Sidney and her friends begin to believe they are the killer’s next target, and the only clue they have is a white ghost mask. Scream also includes some humor, but all around keeps you intrigued with the murder mystery going on in the small town of Woodsboro. Available on Sling TV, HBOMax, Amazon and free on AMC with cable TV.

To start the 2000s off, we have the horror mystery, Saw. When two men wake up in a room with no remembrance of how they got there, they soon figure out that they have been captured by a serial killer who goes by the name of Jigsaw. To come out alive, they must survive his puzzle. Available for free on Peacock.

On the more recent side, we have the popular 2017 movie It. In the town of Derry, Maine, several kids have mysteriously disappeared, including innocent 6-year-old Georgie Denbrough. Georgie’s older brother, Bill, and six other teenagers, called The Losers’ Club, unite to find the killer, an evil clown named Pennywise, who uses your greatest fears against you by shapeshifting into what you are most deeply afraid of. Available on Hulu and HBO Max.