It’s Thursday, which means it’s time for the Thursday Movie Picks feature. This series is hosted by Wandering through the Shelves and offers you a weekly prompt to post some movie recommendations/talking points according to the theme. Usually, you are supposed to post about 3-5 examples, which I find a very manageable amount.
The entirety of October is dedicated to a special Halloween Edition, meaning we’ll take a look at themes through the lens of Spooktober! Today, though, is all about School! I’m not the best at scary movie stuff, which is intrinsically linked to Halloween for me, but I’ll try my very best! I’m not even sure if slightly scary movies will be enough, or if it should actually be set during Halloween. We shall see what I can come up with …
The Covenant
People say this movie is really bad. I know a couple of actors, who don’t exactly love to talk about it, but I was obsessed with it back in the day. Maybe, I just liked looking at those boys, but it was mildly scary and the most I could do without being terrified. I hope you’ll grant me this pick.
Carrie
I know people didn’t love this version of Carrie, but I didn’t hate it? I loved the marketing for it though, that was AMAZING. If you haven’t seen it, I’ll post the video below as well.
Halloweentown High
Halloweentown movies were my jam as a kid. There’s technically also one set in college, but we don’t talk about that one, because they replaced the main actress? I’ll never truly understand.
Freaky
I haven’t seen this one YET. I really, really want to though, because it seems like such a fun take on the Freaky Friday concept and the cast is super fun as well.
Life and Other Disasters 
I thought Freaky was very good.
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That’s what I keep hearing! I’m looking forward to it!
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Great list! I loved watching the Halloweentown movies as a kid!
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Thank you! I think they are such a fun movie series.
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I thought The Covenant was dumb as dirt, actually so dumb it was funny. My nieces went on and on about how cute the boys in it were though.
I watched the entire Halloweentown series for Debbie Reynolds who had a great time playing the grandmother of the main character. The movies were fluffy and forgettable but painless fun.
I haven’t, and won’t, seen this version of Carrie. The original with Sissy Spacek was fantastic (with great performances by Sissy and Piper Laurie) even for a non horror fan like myself so I’m sure they didn’t improve on it.
Freaky doesn’t look like it was made with me in mind so I’ll give it a pass.
Don’t feel bad that you had to do some creative picking this week, I did too and even more far afield than yours. With the exception of my second mine are more psychological horror stories.
Child’s Play (1972)-Paul Reis (Beau Bridges) returns to St. Charles, the exclusive Catholic prep school he graduated from a decade before to teach. Almost immediately he finds himself caught in a dark power struggle between his former mentor, the popular English teacher Joseph Dobbs (Robert Preston) and the detested autocratic literature teacher Jerome Malley (James Mason). What starts as a cold war of barbed insults between the instructors gradually escalates into cruel mind games that pulls the students into a rash of malicious hazing and ritualistic violence.
Cutting Class (1989)-Freshly sprung from the nuthouse troubled Brian Woods (Donovan Leitch) returns to school where the other kids give him a wide berth. Enamored of fellow student Paula Carson (Jill Schoelen) he attempts to win her away from bad boy Dwight Ingalls (Brad Pitt-looking impossibly young). Their rivalry takes a back seat though when students begin disappearing at an alarming rate with Brian the prime suspect, but is it him? Exploitation junk worth seeing only for baby Brad in one of his first credited roles.
Toy Soldiers (1991)-Seeking to leverage a judge’s son life for the freedom of his drug kingpin father Colombian terrorist Luis Cali (Andrew Divoff) takes the entire campus of the Regis prep school hostage not knowing the boy has been relocated. Since the school is a haven for rebellious students, often expelled from other schools, the main troublemakers-Billy (Sean Astin), Joey (Wil Wheaton), Snuffy (Keith Coogan), Ricardo (George Perez) and Hank (T.E. Russell) find that they are better equipped to deal with the threat than the mostly ineffectual government agencies sent to rescue them. With resourceful Billy as their leader, the students struggle to defeat the terrorists and save the school!! As preposterous as it sounds but still actiony, a little scary at times and fun in a mindless way.
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The cute boys in the Convenant were a really huge argument for a lot of people haha I like that quite a few of them had a prosperous acting career since.
For a moment, I thought I knew Toy Soldiers, but I was confusing the title with something else. I watched this movie where an action figure comes to life and there’s evil and good ones. I can’t remember the actual title though.
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You’re going to find this incredible, but I agree with you on some of these! I actually used to love The Covenant. It felt like there was this great amount of worldbuilding hidden within its story, and I honestly found the plot to be compelling. Plus, that opening with “More Human Than Human” by White Zombie was my jam in high school.
As for the Carrie remake, I honestly prefer it to the original 1976 film. The special effects aren’t just better, but I find a lot of things about the gym revenge scene makes more sense in this movie than in the original. If you look at the original, for example, the students start panicking because they suddenly can’t open the doors. Not because they’ve connected it to Carrie or any threat to their lives. The doors just can’t be opened for some reason. They haven’t confirmed if there’s an earthly, let alone unearthly, explanation, like a person on the other side. It’d be like me standing in front of a door of a store that’s closed and suddenly freaking out, because that’s the progression. At least with the remake, everyone sees Carrie’s power first and realizes they’ve crossed a line and they’re going to die because of it.
No thoughts on Halloweentown, because I’ve only seen clips of the movies. However, I did see Freaky, and it is good! The right balance of humor and slasher gore, and really well told. I hope you get to see it soon, because it’s just that good.
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Ooooh, that’s a twist I wasn’t expecting! I wonder what I will come up with for the prompts for the rest of the month and whether you’ll agree with some of those as well.
I would have adored seeing more within the world of The Covenant. I always liked what they hinted at.
Not sure, but I think you are maybe the first person who isn’t telling me that the Carrie remake is worse than what came before.
I really can’t wait to watch Freaky myself! I think I’m going to like it!
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Actually, a lot of people from our generation like the remake. It’s the older generation and their influence that make it seem like everyone thinks it’s trash.
Let me know what you think of Freaky.
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Will do!
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I completely forgot Carrie had a remake! I never saw it. I do have Freaky saved in my HBO Max queue, I need to watch that this month.
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The remake really wasn’t as terrible as some people made it out to be haha We both need to watch Freaky then. I’ve only heard good things.
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I have seen The Covenant but can’t remember much other than 4 warlocks. It’s one that I do want to watch again.
Not really a fan of both Carrie movies, but I think that Sissy Spacek fits the role more. Moretz is just too cherubic to be an outcast. I had seen the marketing for the new Carrie movie too when it came out…they were really going for virality…it was fun but wonder if it worked?
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I like the Covenant in a way that only a teen girl who crushes on 90% of the actors can like a movie haha
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A school setting for horror movies is indeed something quite common, probably because we’re already in a setting that we generally don’t like to be in too hahah Nothing like amplifying the horror by adding some sort of crazy lunatic in there! 😛
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That is totally true, but because I watch so few horror movies, it was a bit of a struggle haha we shall see how I’ll fare with the remaining tropes for the month!
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