Silver Screams

Steve: As we dig through discs and tapes for a frightful-film marathon this weekend, we thought we’d share some of our ideas with you for your own at-home horror movie festival.

Universal Monsters

Steve: Halloween wouldn’t be Halloween without the creature films that Universal Studios produced, beginning in the 1930s. “The Mummy” is my favorite of the era.

Andrea: To me, “Frankenstein” and “Dracula” are to the horror genre what the Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” is to rock music.

Steve: I love the fully restored editions of “Frankenstein” that have been released; the long-missing scene where the monster accidentally drowns the little girl changes how you view the story.

Hammer Horror

Andrea: England’s Hammer Studios was an on-again, off-again operation during the 1930s and 1940s, producing documentaries, thrillers, dramas and a few sci-fi films, but with 1957’s “The Curse of Frankenstein,” the studio got into the horror business full swing.

Steve: Soon director Terence Fisher and actors Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee were lending their names and talents to films with titles like “The Revenge of Frankenstein,” “Dracula Prince of Darkness” and “The Gorgon.” Overall, Hammer films were a bit more risque than most of their peers; putting lots of provocatively clothed girls in distress was a trademark.

Andrea: And that’s why you have so many them on our shelves, I’m sure. As the 1960s turned into the 1970s, Hammer’s horror films became increasingly over-the-top “B” movie blood and gore fests. Depending on your perspective, that’s either a good thing or a bad thing. With titles like “Taste the Blood of Dracula” and “The Satanic Rites of Dracula,” you can’t help being curious.

Steve: Surprisingly, a lot of Hammer’s pre-1965 catalog has yet to be put out on DVD — some have never even made it to VHS, at least in the U.S. But there are a few shlocky gems worth tracking down.

Slashers

Andrea: I’ve lost count of how many “Halloween,” “Friday the 13th” and “Nightmare on Elm Street” sequels and “prequels” there are now.

Steve: There are now eight “Halloween” films, 10 “Friday the 13th” movies and six “Elm Streets,” plus of course the hybridized “Freddy vs. Jason.” But there’s a reason why the original films spawned so many spin-offs — each was, and is, a watershed moment in the horror film genre.

Andrea: And when is the last time you actually saw one of these films uninterrupted in its original theatrical format, without commercials and ridiculous audio and visual censoring?

Steve: I remember seeing Friday the 13th Part III in 3-D at the theater… that was eye-popping —

Andrea: No pun intended, I’m sure.

Hauntings

Steve: For those who like a good ghost story for Halloween, one of the most terrifying horror films of all time, “The Haunting,” is noted for what you don’t see. It leaves everything to the imagination — something more modern horror films could take a lesson from.

Andrea: A more recent ghost story worth revisiting is “The Others” with Nicole Kidman as a woman who becomes convinced her house is haunted. It’s ethereal, atmospheric and truly creepy.

The Best Horror Films You’ve Never Seen

Andrea: I’m always surprised when I mention “Lair of the White Worm,” “Prince of Darkness,” “The Brood,” or “Suspiria” to other horror film fans — not many people seem to remember these films. Which is too bad — despite all being directed by some of the world’s best filmmakers, they were all underrated at the time of their original releases. Today they are only slightly more appreciated, probably because they aren’t easy to categorize.

Steve: I know what you mean about categorization. The creepiest movie I’ve ever seen isn’t even a horror flick. In 1955’s “The Night of the Hunter,” Robert Mitchum doesn’t need makeup or a cape to scare the daylights out of me.