Artwork by Chloe Leeson

Hubble Bubble. Hang up your witches’ hat this Halloween for a spooky night in, armed with Trick or Treat goodies and a few scary movies…

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)

“How about a shave?”

Why not attend the tale of Sweeney Todd this Halloween? From visionary director of darkness; Tim Burton comes the bloody brilliant adaptation of Sondheim’s deliciously gory musical. The story surrounds the Demon Barber (Johnny Depp) and his bloodthirsty rampage for revenge; slitting the throats of unsuspecting customers while his partner in crime, Mrs Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter) bakes the remains into tasty meat pies. Based on the grotesque fable that has haunted London’s Fleet Street for centuries, Sweeney is the ultimate bogeyman.  A gruesome concoction of tragedy, redemption, black humour and unrequited love, mixed with a dash of Gothic horror, cannibalism and a Victorian Bonnie and Clyde… Why not come in for a pie, sir?

‘Sweeney’s waiting…’

Silence of the Lambs (1991)

“You scare easy Starling?”

Halloween wouldn’t be complete without the presence of Hannibal the Cannibal… one of the most menacing villains to ever grace the silver screen, he’ll casually slip into the conversation that a census taker once tried to test him; he ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti…. Believe me, you don’t want Hannibal Lecter inside your head. Winner of 5 Oscars, this nail biting thriller/horror is one of the most unsettling picks you could make for your Halloween movie marathon. Agent Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) reluctantly seeks the help of incarcerated psychopathic psycitrist Dr. Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) in order to catch a ruthless serial killer who skins his victims, the infamous ‘Buffalo Bill’. Accompanied by an eerie stillness and unforgettably grizzly moments – this film perversely toys with your worst nightmares and leaves you reeling from a stifling tension that… bites.

“Well Clarice – Have the lambs stopped screaming?”

The Others (2001)

“Sometimes the world of the dead… gets mixed up with the world of the living.”

Are you sitting comfortably? Well you won’t be for long… With a chilling, curdling intensity, The Others will thrill, scare and spook you into a sleepless night! Set in the 1940’s, Grace (Nicole Kidman) a strict mother, runs an oppressive household; protecting her photosensitive children from invasive sunlight within the stifling confines of a creepy mansion that they call their home, rimmed with an eerie graveyard and foggy woods. A supernatural presence lurks in the shadows of the house, urging Grace’s horrifying past to catch up with her. Blood and guts are absent, but this ghoulish tale subjects you to a nerve shredding roller-coaster ride that somehow manages to make you scared of curtains! A perfect choice for Halloween that begs the question… do you believe in ghosts?

“Sooner or later… they will find you.”

The Omen (1976)

“Look at me Damien! It’s all for you!”

There’s always a child at the centre of a good old fashioned horror story –but none can out-do sweet little Damien Thorn who just so happens to be linked with the anti-Christ. The Omen tells the story of wealthy ambassador; Robert Thorn (Gregory Peck) and his wife Katherine (Lee Remick) who become engulfed in sinister and unexplainable deaths that all seem to trail back to their angel faced, five year old son, Damien. Were they accidents or coincidences? … Or was it an Omen? Brimming with suspense, gory murder and hysteria; The Omen fulfils the chilling expectations of a Halloween movie night… and also make you incapable of going upstairs in the dark after watching it. Watch out for impaled vicars, vicious baboons, suicidal nannies, decapitated heads, savage Rottweilers and blood curdling, sadistic smiles. The ominous Oscar winning score alone roils with a sinister gospel air that is enough to set your teeth on edge.

“This is not a human child… make no mistake.”

Corpse Bride (2005)

Look, there’s been some mistake – I’m not dead!

Not in the mood for something scary? Look no further than this whimsically macabre animated film, sprouting from the imagination of the director who reigns over Halloween; Tim Burton. A quirky love story that follows the journey of a shy young man called Victor who, when practising his marriage vows in some gloomy looking woods at night, inadvertently awakens a dead bride from her grave; she innocently thinking that he has married her. Victor finds himself sucked into the miraculously colourful, wild underworld that is the ‘land of the dead’ surrounded by unexpectedly friendly corpses and skeletal creatures. Goofy and surreal, filled with witty humour and topped off with a surprisingly cute romance that defies science; The Corpse Bride is a dark fairy-tale with an all-star cast who breathe life into these endearingly weird and bizarrely proportioned characters. Another classic Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter reunion, accompanied by the voices of Richard E Grant, Johanna Lumley and Christopher Lee. A Gothic bed time story.

Can a heart still break once it’s stopped beating?

By Angel Lloyd

Angel Lloyd is 18 and lives in Newcastle though is currently studying at University of York. A graduate of Northern Stars Documentary Academy and the BFI Screenwriting Academy, she is known amongst family and friends as a film fanatic, her infinite list of favourite movies including: Rear Window, Across the Universe, Pulp Fiction and Silver Linings Playbook. Stuck on an island, she would be content with her two favourite albums, T Rex’s The Slider and The Beatles’ Revolver. Whilst making short films, designing movie posters, blogging at gentlysleeping.tumblr.com , film reviewing at  fine-wines-available-to-humanity.tumblr.com and occasionally quoting Withnail, she also finds the time to obsess over Breaking Bad, Sweeney Todd and Baz Luhrmann films.