by CHRISTINE JANINE T. CORTEZ and JOHN PATRICK A. MAGNO RANARA
IF ONLY we would take a moment to turn away from all the jingle and twinkle of the Christmas season, then we may realize that there is one other important holiday that needs to have its fair share of celebration.
The month of October should be the time for chilling scares, eerie screams, and spooky customs. However, since the dawn of time, it has always been outshadowed by a more favored holiday.
It is in the unspoken tradition of Filipinos to start celebrating Christmas as early as September. Colorful carols and festive songs permeate the streets in four long months.
Perhaps the lack of love for Halloween is rooted in our religious conservativeness and that celebrating such a spine-chilling holiday may instill unpleasant values among Filipinos. However, Halloween isn’t simply about the shallow act of implanting fear in the hearts of others, but it is also a time for remembering the unfortunate, thrilling, horrifying, and sinister events in our lives and realizing how brave we are to have faced them.
To get into the spirit of All Hallows’ Eve, here are a few horror movies to watch in the dead of the night. And to end October with a thrill, you can also venture outside of your cozy blankets and gaze at the rare second-in-the-month full moon that will appear on Oct. 31.
The Invisible Man (2020)
Straying away from the supernatural tropes of the horror genre such as vengeful ghosts and possessed children, The Invisible Man draws its premise on true to life horror: domestic violence between married couples.
The Invisible Man follows a woman who escapes a marriage with a wealthy entrepreneur. Initially believing that she is safe after hearing the news of his suicide, she then begins to experience his wrath as he uses his acquired ability to become invisible.
This recent addition to the horror library raises the prevalent issue of the beating husband and the battered wife into slaughterous, suspense-inducing levels. It captures the desperation that abused people experience in trying to free themselves from their suffocating relationships.
Adding to the horror is the film’s use of the common fear caused by the things unseen by the naked eye, which may be a symbol that even if the abusive partner is no longer there, the trauma caused will forever haunt the victim’s mind.
Terrifier (2016)
If you thought Pennywise was the scariest clown to ever terrify the silver screen, then perhaps watching Art the Clown mutilate and dismember his victims in blood-splattering glory would make you think otherwise.
Terrifier brings back the atmosphere of the golden age of slasher films with its psychotic villain of black and white attire. Its story revolves around doomed characters who become trapped in an abandoned apartment building and now must escape before they suffer a grim demise at the hands of a murderous clown.
While the film itself isn’t entirely inventive, its portrayal of gore and violence carries every problematic narrative and transforms it into a visually disturbing flick that is sure to lurk in your mind even after October is over.
Eli (2019)
There’s nothing more infuriating than when people treat you differently, especially when these same people make you believe that there’s something wrong with you when the problem is with them along.
There was nothing wrong with Eli. Like other kids, he just wanted to experience what it was like to enjoy the outdoors the same way other children do. The problem is that Eli suffers from an auto-immune disorder, which is an illness that prevents him from being exposed to unfiltered air as it makes it difficult for him to breathe and causes his skin to turn itchy and red.
One day, his parents decided to send him off to an old medical institution to get him the help that he needs, or that’s what they thought.
The place is a secluded and outdated mansion with squeaky floors and broken lights. It looked nothing close to a hospital.
At that time, Eli was their only patient. Audiences will undoubtedly question the parents’ decision as no one in their right mind would ever trust their children’s lives to a strange place like that.
Eli came in there thinking that he will get cured, that these pretend doctors are the only ones who could save him.
That is until they situated him in a dark room all by himself.
Lo and behold, it’s only the first night and yet he’s already starting to feel as if he wasn’t the only patient in there.
Relic (2020)
Relic is everyone’s nightmare come to life. It resonates with everyone because of two salient realities. That at some point in our lives, death will inevitably come and invite itself to our doors. Next to the fact that, whether we like it or not, we inevitably lose the people we love.
The story revolves around the life of a mother and daughter— Edna, a mother who is at the point in her life where she could no longer remember the last thing she ate, much less the name of her daughter, and Kay, a self-made woman who went out of her way to build a life for herself.
One day, the police called Kay to inform her that Edna had gone missing. From there, Kay along with her daughter Sam, went immediately to Edna’s house to find her. Days have passed and Edna is still nowhere in sight.
Three days later, Edna appeared in her home with bloodstains on her dress and no memory of the days she was gone. Little did Kay know, her mother Edna is already suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. But with Edna’s return, suddenly the whole atmosphere of the house changed and, one by one, unexplainable things began to happen in the house.
Halloween is not the most cheery nor awaited time of the year, but it is a tradition for a reason. Whether it’s carving pumpkins, trick-or-treating, or just merely binging horror films, the season of scare will happen and it will always be celebrated. F
