Halloween

It was "The Night HE Came Home," warned the posters for John Carpenter's career-making horror smash. In Haddonfield, IL, on Halloween night 1963, six-year-old Michael Myers inexplicably slaughters his teenage sister. His psychiatrist Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence) can't penetrate Michael's psyche after years of institutionalization, but he knows that, when Myers escapes before Halloween in 1978, there is going to be hell to pay in Haddonfield. While Loomis heads to Haddonfield to alert police, Myers spots bookish teenager Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) and follows her, constantly appearing and vanishing as Laurie and her looser friends Lynda (P.J. Soles) and Annie (Nancy Loomis) make their Halloween plans. By nightfall, the responsible Laurie is doing her own and Annie's babysitting jobs, while Annie and Lynda frolic in the parent-free house across the street. But Annie and Lynda are not answering the phone, and suspicious Laurie heads across the street to the darkened house to see what is going on.... ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi

Ernest (Jim Varney) gets into deep trouble when he decides to build a treehouse for the neighborhood kid and accidentally digs up an ugly, evil-tempered troll who hates all children and shows it by promptly turning the five kids helping Ernest into wooden sculptures. This is the fourth entry in the Ernest series and is filled with the goofy humor that has made the films popular with preadolescent kids. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In Halloween 5, one of the less successful of the series of sequels to the original Halloween, the infamous Michael Myers (Donald Shanks), returns to stalk his niece and kill her. Jamie (Danielle Harris) is hospitalized and unable to speak because of her trauma during Michael's last killing spree. She has visions of where Michael will appear and kill again, and he intends to stop her. Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence) is working with Jamie to help her find Michael and lock him away. But, there is also another mysterious stranger following Michael. Halloween 5 is a routine slasher film and adds little that hasn't been done before in this series. It has its moments, though, as well as a gory, flashy ending that will be remembered. ~ Linda Rasmussen, Rovi

Fran Drescher, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Tony Danza are the most notable aspects of this forgettable teen drama that features a gang of youths in a car club who decide to battle it out with the establishment in Beverly Hills. It seems their favorite haunt, the last drive-in restaurant in the neighborhood, has been forced to close. Their rebellion is marked by tactics that might be embarrassing to any serious rebels: they turn a high school banner into an X-rated statement, sabotage a police car, ruin a manicured garden, and urinate in a punch bowl. These shenanigans take place on Halloween in 1965, a time when practical jokes are usually in the hands of elementary school kids -- and that level of maturity is maintained here. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Masked serial killer Michael Myers makes his seventh appearance in the eighth installment of this long-running slasher series. Although the climax of the previous installment, Halloween: H20, depicted heroine Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) finally finishing off her brother/tormentor, the opening sequence of Halloween: Resurrection reveals that Laurie actually beheaded the wrong guy. Now confined to a mental institution, she quickly falls victim to her brother and longtime foe (played this time out by Brad Loree). Cut to Haddonfield, IL, where a sextet of college students is assembling for the production of an online reality show in which they'll spend the night locked up in the killer's childhood home being filmed by dozens of cameras and broadcast over the Internet. Presided over by fast-talking producer Freddie Harris (Busta Rhymes) and his girlfriend/business partner, Nora Winston (Tyra Banks), the players range from fame-hungry Jen (Katee Sackhoff) and food-obsessed Rudy (Sean Patrick Thomas) to rakish Jim (Luke Kirby) and cerebral Donna (Daisy McCrackin). As these photogenic youngsters hunt for clues about Michael's tortured childhood, engage in on-camera sexual escapades, and discover the phony props planted by Freddie and Nora, Michael arrives to stalk them relentlessly one by one. To complicate matters, Freddie himself is skulking around in a Michael Myers mask hoping to scare up some ratings. As the bodies begin to pile up, thoughtful cast member Sara (Bianca Kajlich) manages to survive thanks to wireless email instructions from high-school dork Myles (Ryan Merriman), but even the latest technology might not be enough to outwit Michael Myers. Halloween: Resurrection was directed by Rick Rosenthal, who previously helmed 1981's Halloween 2. The cast also features Thomas Ian Nicholas of American Pie and Billy Kay of L.I.E. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

The conventions of the slasher movie genre get a new twist in this independent horror story. It's late October, and Eddie (Dylan Fergus) aspires to be a cop on the West Hollywood Police Force's roster, though a vision problem has kept him from passing the physical. Eddie gets the assignment to look into a grisly murder in which two men were found decapitated in a car parked on a remote lover's lane. Eddie tries to put the crime out of his mind when he heads out with three friends -- Joey (Hank Harris), Tobey (Matt Phillips), and Chaz (Andrew Levitas) -- for West Hollywood's over-the-top gay Halloween celebration. While festivity is in the air and hunky guys abound, Eddie soon discovers that the same killer he's been looking for is on the prowl at the block party, wielding a scythe and lopping off heads with aplomb. Can Eddie stop the killer before he murders his friends? And who is this fiend and what is his motivation? Hellbent received its world premiere at the 2004 San Francisco Lesbian & Gay Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Agoraphobic Laura Kove (Jillian Byrnes) is forced to choose between facing the supernatural or confronting her greatest fear when the apartment she has locked herself in reveals itself to be haunted in this gripping tale of terror from director David A. Cross. Desperate to rid herself of her ghostly tormentors, Laura enlists the aid of ghost hunter Elizabeth Dean (Jennifer Servary) -- in reality a scam artist who preys on the public's common fear of the supernatural. Thinking that she has stumbled across an easy mark when she first meets the terrified Laura, the non-believing, confidant woman soon finds good reason to believe in life beyond the grave. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A suburban home has become physically animated by a vengeful human soul looking to stir up trouble from beyond the grave, and it's up to three adventurous kids from the neighborhood to do battle with the structural golem in this comically frightful tale, directed by Gil Kenan and featuring the voices of Steve Buscemi, Nick Cannon, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Kevin James. DJ Harvard (voice of Mitchel Musso) lives directly across the street from a most unusual house. A malevolent entity that longs to feed on the energy of the living, the once peaceful house that looms ominously outside of DJ's bedroom window would like nothing more than the chance to feast on the children of the neighborhood. As Halloween begins to draw near and the children of the neighborhood prepare for another long night of trick-or-treating, it appears as if it may be the house that is in for the biggest treat of all. Now, with the adults turning a deaf ear to DJ's strange findings, it's up to the brave young boy and his faithful friends Chowder (voice of Sam Lerner) and Jenny (Spencer Locke) to break through the barrier of the supernatural and defeat the powers of darkness before the house grows too powerful to fight. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Creatures of the night find new prey on the scariest night of the year in this horror story. It's Halloween night, and four friends -- Allison (Vanessa Horneff), Elliott (Wil Horneff), Trevor (Karl Jacob), and Brian (Sean Reid) -- are on a road trip en route to a friend's wedding when their car breaks down after running into something. Looking for help, the four happen upon the farmhouse of an elderly couple, Elvin (Richard Little) and May (Barbara Wilhide), which is located next to a huge barn. Elvin and May have already become lost in the darkness of the barn, and soon two of the lost travelers are suffering the same fate as they search for friendly strangers. However, while they can barely see a hand in front of their face, they discover they're not alone in the barn, which has become home to a huge swarm of bloodthirsty bats. The Roost is framed by an introduction and postscript from a television horror show host, played by Tom Noonan. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Gothic magician Criss Angel astounds a captivated audience with his compelling brand of visual trickery in a Halloween special designed to give viewers the fright of their lives. Fellow magicians Penn and Teller drop in for a special guest appearance, making this installment of Mindfreak the perfect combination of trick and treat. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Prolific director Bryan Singer takes a turn towards horror as the producer of this Halloween shocker directed by X2 and Superman Returns screenwriter Mike Dougherty. With four interwoven tales concerning a high-school principal who moonlights as a vicious serial killer, a college-age virgin who's saving herself for that special someone, a woman whose hatred of Halloween is only exceeded by her husband's love of the mischievous holiday, and a callous group of teens who carry out an unforgivably cruel prank, this fall frightener mixes Tarantino-style storytelling with the kind of chills that can only occur on the darkest day of the year. Brian Cox, Anna Paquin, Dylan Baker, and Leslie Bibb all star in a Halloween treat that's sure to deliver a few nasty tricks. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A simple Halloween prank turns deadly after a group of teens ditch Homecoming to explore a grapefruit orchard with a dark past in this campy fright fest featuring Jedd Nelson and Jennifer Tilly. The fall winds are blowing, and the harvest moon is high in the sky - what better time than to cut out of school for a little midnight mischief? According to local legend, the reclusive caretaker at the orchard doesn't take kindly to visitors. Few have seen the mysterious figure and lived to tell the tale, and the opportunity to catch a glimpse of him is too tempting to resist. If they can just ditch their randy teacher (Tilly) and an overprotective parent (Nelson) long enough to reach the orchard, the teens will finally be free to get into the Halloween spirit. But the Caretaker has a special surprise in store for them, and when the gag gets the axe they'll be begging for their lives. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

The ultimate Halloween party becomes the setting for a terrifying night of satanic slaughter when seven teenagers become trapped in a mansion filled with rampaging demons in this remake Kevin S. Tenney's influential 1988 horror classic. Everyone in New Orleans knows the dark story of Broussard Mansion, but none of the locals have dared set foot in the notorious estate...until now. Angela Feld has chosen Broussard Mansion as the setting for this year's annual Halloween bash. No one throws a party quite like Angela, and when her friends catch wind of the plan, curiosity takes precedence over fear. Later that night, the party is packed and the music is blasting when the police show up to spoil the fun and send everyone packing. The only ones left behind are Angela, Maddie, Lily, Suzanne, Colin, Dex, and Jason, and they're not ready to call it a night just yet. Upon venturing down into the basement, Colin and Angela make a grisly discovery that sets into motion a diabolical series of events. There is no escape from the fear that follows next, because as the doors of Broussard Mansion mysteriously lock, a horde of ancient demons rise from the darkness to unleash the infernal powers of Hell on the desperate teens, who will fight to the death to protect their immortal souls. Shannon Elizabeth, Monica Keena, Edward Furlong, and Tiffany Shepis star. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi