The following article was written by Matt Mottl, a Public Services Assistant at the Manitowoc Public Library.
October is the time of year where spookiness reigns and terror is behind every corner. It’s the perfect time of the year to cuddle on your couch, hiding behind a blanket to watch scary movies. Horror movies seem to have a huge appeal that lures people in and then snatches them. And once you’ve been snatched, there is no going back! Growing up I never was a fan of horror movies and I constantly tried my best to avoid them. But, as I got older, that all changed.
I remember the first horror movie that I was brave enough to see in theaters. It was “The Conjuring 2” and I admit that I was extremely scared. However, as the movie went on, I began to enjoy myself from the adrenaline I got from all the jump scares and the overall spookiness.
Presently, I cannot get enough of them and now horror is my favorite genre of film. I have seen and explored almost every subgenre of horror there is. I proudly refer to myself as an aficienado of the genre now!
With the programing I do for Manitowoc Public Library, I wanted to share my love of these scary movies and incorporate them into a program for October where horror movies reign supreme. With this mindset, I created the Horror Movie Fest that will highlight seven chilling films at Manitowoc Public Library throughout the entire month of October!
I wanted to use different Decades of Horror as my roadmap when choosing the movies. As such, we’ll start with the1960s and progress through the present so that people can choose from which decade—and manifestation—they prefer to watch. All genres of horror are valid, so in this Horror Movie Fest, here’s what you can expect to find:
- A supernatural look at a haunted house in the classic film The Haunting and a haunted barn house in The Conjuring, which feature plenty of ghostly scares
- A classic slasher film featuring a road trip gone wrong with an encounter with one of cinemas most infamous villains in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
- A science-fiction horror film set in the barrens of The Arctic and a terrifying alien entity in The Thing
- A pair of psychological horror films that feature horrific traps and mental health—Saw and Smile
- The fear of the unknown and what we cannot see is represented in the found-footage classic, The Blair Witch Project
You can pick-and-choose from these seven films or take the challenge and see them all. The choice is yours on how you prefer to scare yourself silly.
Movie show times will be on select Thursday nights in October and for the first time ever in “Now Showing at MPL” history, we will have a Double Feature on one of the weekends! Click HERE for all the horrific specifics!
I encourage all horror lovers to make this Horror Movie Fest an October destination and fearlessly show your love of horror movies. Head ton Manitowoc Public Library for a scary good time!
In conclusion, an adequate final quote to end this this article from the horror film, The Fly: “Be Afraid. Be very afraid.” Happy Viewing!