Terrifying Tuesdays: Week Three of My Scary Movie Recommendations from the 1970s-1990s

From Amazon

Week Three of my scary movie recommendations starts with "It" (1990), the television miniseries adaptation of Stephen King's novel of the same name.  I know that the 2017 film is considered very good and is highly recommended, but this version will always be my preference, as it stars many favorite actors from my younger days.  I could not find this free online, but it is available on several streaming sites for a price.

Is there anyone who has not seen or at least heard of the Steven Spielberg movie "Jaws" (1975)?  Based on the Peter Benchley novel of the same name, this film probably kept more people away from the beach than all other reasons combined (and also gave poor sharks a much worse reputation than they deserve).  The movie is always available on cable networks around the Fourth of July, but I could not find it online for free right now, although it is available on streaming sites.

If you are a fan of underwater horror movies, then you should enjoy "Leviathan" (1989).  Workers in a deep sea mining facility are just about to wrap up their mission when they discover the wreck of a Russian ship, with disastrous consequences.  While this one is not available for free online viewing right now, it will be streaming for free on Tubi starting November first.

For a completely different change of pace, watch Tim Burton's "The Nightmare Before Christmas" (1993), a stop motion animated film which is an homage to both Christmas and Halloween!  Spooky and fun at the same time, this movie is suitable for all but the youngest viewers.  It can still be viewed on FreeForm's "31 Nights of Halloween", on October 27th at 5:40 PM and on Halloween Day at 4:40 PM (check your local listings for exact times).

From nightmares to the devil himself, my next movie choice is "The Omen" (1976), an absolutely chilling tale of a Satanic child.   A diplomat and his wife are expecting their first child, only to have it die at birth.  Unbeknownst to the mother, the hospital persuades the father to instead secretly adopt the son of a mother who just died.  After a few years, it becomes all too apparent that this switch was a very bad idea.  You can watch the film on YouTube here.

Next on my list is "Phantoms" (1998), based on a Dean Koontz novel of the same name.  While this movie does not generally receive high ratings, I like it because it is set in a small Colorado town and I first saw the movie when I lived in Colorado.  The setting reminds me of the small town of Ouray, which I passed through once but never had the chance to actually visit, although I would still like to some day.  I think it is very effective as a horror movie, and the concept is unique.  I could not find it available free online (except supposedly on Pluto TV but I could not get it to run) but it can be found on several streaming sites.

"Poltergeist" (1982) has been on the cable networks quite a bit this month - it is on AMC right now as I type this, and will be on BBC America on Saturday, October 26th/27th (6:15 PM/12:45AM on the east coast, so check your local listings for your area), as well as on many streaming services.  This is another movie that probably almost everyone has seen or heard of, but it is still worth re-watching even if you have seen it multiple times.

Last up for this week is "Predator" (1987), another movie that is most likely familiar to almost everyone.  This film can be watched on FX on October 24th at 7:00 AM and on October 28th at 8:00 AM on the east coast - check your local listings for times in your area.  You can also watch a rather mediocre copy on YouTube here.

Next week is Halloween week, so I will post descriptions of all of the remaining movies on my list, even the ones that will not have been added to the list yet, since I post on Tuesdays and Halloween in on a Thursday this year.  If you are a horror movie fan, from now until the end of the month you should be able to find a plethora of films to watch, so have fun and see you next week! 👽👻🎃💀👿