Last night on TMC, they showed the black and white classic movie The Most Dangerous Game.  Based on the 1924 short story of the same name by Richard Connell, the story is about the hunting of man by man.  At the time, the ultimate human predator was a human being, so the story has a ring of truth to it.  A big game hunter bored with hunting animals, turns his focus to hunting man.  The movie is perfect and one of the first examples of spooky cinema, a horror movie classic.  

Instead of doing another list, I thought that I would pick some of my favorite, lesser known scary-type movies and give a brief reason as to why I love it.  My favorite black and white monster movie is definitely The Wolf Man with Lon Chaney.  This movie has everything: gypsies, tons of fog, a monster (Werewolf), prophecies and lore, good acting, and a plot that still holds up today.  The movie also featured the legends of the Monster Moviedom, Lon Chaney Jr. and Bela Lugosi.  This one is Universal’s best monster feature.

Goofy as it might seem, King Kong versus Godzilla still stands out as a favorite Halloween treat.  Yes they are wearing funny suits and smashing toy tanks and buildings, there is something really great about this movie.  The characters are humorous and relatable. The plot is simple but solid, and the match-up between legendary Kaiju, Godzilla, and the American classic monster, King Kong, is ultimate battle.  This movie is so bad sometimes, it’s good, even great at points. Totally worth the watch.

Not all of these movies are black and white, but they are still lesser known.  Mystery Men is a superhero movie about the other guys, the not-so-super heroes. Originally featured in the oddball Flaming Carrot comic, these inept non-heroes are forced to save the city against real super villains.  The cast is perfect and this movie has more laughs than almost any movie I have ever seen.  This perfect parody has action, great mood, and stunningly good acting.  Mystery Men and will set the tone for a perfect spooky evening and will send you to the diner for fries!

It’s clear I don’t like shock and horror - the ability to disgust or scare me gives me no pleasure.  Instead, the movie that I think about after leaving or watching it, to me, is the scarier experience.  Salem’s Lot was a movie that scared the hell out of me, and left me sleepless that night.  This is the best vampire movie ever made and it pulls no punches. Written by the master of horror, Steven King and cast perfectly, this story about a small New England town and it’s newest residences is chilling! Watch with a friend and some Holy Water!

Lastly, I must go weird.  The Mad Monster Party was a stop-motion animation movie made by Rankin and Bass. Featuring the voices of Boris Karloff and Phyllis Diller, this lesser known holiday special was a favorite of mine when I was young.  It’s zany, strange, and funny and somehow works.  It features all the monsters and a breakneck pace like all Rankin/Bass productions, and of course, it had music - silly, silly music, and I love it! 

My ultimate fright isn’t being scared by a homicidal clown, or getting chainsawed by Leatherface.  It’s a about a mood and a tone and stabber movies lack tone or feel, which they make up for with gore and violence.  The suspense before the act is the scary part and the lore is the interesting part. These movies perfectly combine them both.