Let's Set the Scene for Halloween

We could list a bunch of Halloween movie recommendations, and they would all be great and wonderful picks for any Halloween lover’s watch list, OR we could all pick one of our favorite films and tell you the exact part of the film that made it such an epic pick for Halloween.

We went with the latter.

Tyler’s pick: Trick ‘r Treat

Most Halloween films start and stop with atmospheric tropes like pumpkins and costumes, but Trick 'r Treat goes further and fully embraces the rich mythology of the holiday. It smartly spins interconnected tales of horror, and reminds audiences that sometimes the trick is the treat.

Hilary’s Pick: Ghostbusters

Only picking one great scene from Ghostbusters is tough because it’s a fantastic script. I think the library scenes right at the beginning are important. It isn’t just Venkman who needs convincing -- the movie needs to have the entire audience believe in ghosts and the supernatural in a short amount of time. I love how Ghostbusters juxtaposes mundane, real-world aspects of life (often missing from sci-fi and fantasy stories) with the bizarre and paranormal elements of the film, to great effect.

Jesse’s Pick: This is the End

This is the End is an obscure movie where the stars play themselves (or a version of themselves) during the apocalypse. If you’ve seen the movie, you know how many dramatic, hilarious and memorable scenes there are. No doubt, this is up there on the list of most quotable movies. But by far, the scene that sets up the actual stakes of the movie, even after the end-of-the-world plot is established, is the introduction of Danny McBride. His entire montage, from the bathtub to the breakfast table, creates so much tension in the house and between the characters. Without his antics, his selfish tendencies, and literally eating all the food, the plot would have nowhere to go.

Makiah’s Pick: Twilight, Breaking Dawn Part 1

This is one of my favorite quotes from the movie series, simply due to the internet. Gen Z made this scene more comedic, years after watching the movie. I didn’t even realize the scene existed until it became a meme. In memes, people would change the sentence, but keeping the “Bella” and “Loca,” where it was.

The Twilight Saga gets a lot of hate, but growing up watching this, no one else was creating visual stories like this.

The Vampire narrative is now considered cheesy and easy to make, but before Twilight made it symbolic with pop culture, I only remember Dracula and Nosferatu, both dramatic and exaggerated examples, whereas Twilight more so personified the vampires.

My favorite is Breaking Dawn Part One because Bella was pregnant with a vampire baby! That was never a thought of mine and seemed so creative at the time. I feel like if this exact saga came out now that it may not be as successful. As a young girl who always obsessed over love stories, I found this movie super romantic. I always thought Bella should have chosen Jacob, because he was cuter, but looking back I’m happy she chose Edward…even though their CGI baby looked weird.