Top 6 scary movies as picked by Lehigh Valley film personalities
If you’re in the mood to watch a scary movie or two on Halloween, we’ve got some suggestions for you.
With help from a pumpkin patch full of area actors and movie programmers, here are some picks guaranteed to raise a goosebump of two.
Oakes Fegley, Allentown native and star of “Pete’s Dragon” and “The War With Grandpa”: “I’m not a big fan of scary movies but ‘It’ was scary to me personally. And I enjoyed the characters so much and enjoyed the way the cast members portrayed them.”’
Madison Reyes, Allentown resident and star of Netflix’s “Julie and the Phantoms”:
“My pick is ‘Alien.’ I used to be so afraid of scary movies, but I love Sigourney Weaver [as Ripley.] She just owns it. She’s so cool. My Dad has really gotten me into classic horror movies. I have watched a lot of them with him, but ‘Alien’ is the one that sticks with me.”
Mark Nelson, manager at the Mahoning Valley Drivein: “For me, the number one go-to film that I always recommend when someone asks what my favorite scary movie is, is ‘The Haunting’ (1963).
Based on Shirley Jackson’s novel ‘The Haunting of Hill House,” this quiet, black and white widescreen spooker directed by Robert Wise takes a small yet diverse group of paranormal investigators and skeptics into Hill House, a mansion that was ‘born bad,’ and proceeds to make every creak, every bit of wind whistling through old shutters, every flourish of old-world interior design CREEPY. It has a few blood-run-cold shock moments (‘Whose hand was I holding?’), but overall it’s just tone, acting, dialogue and Wise craftsmanship that makes this my go-to creeper feature, my favorite film to watch in the night … in the dark … ”
Ja’Siah Young, Easton resident and star of Netflix’s “Raising Dion”: “My favorite scary movie is ‘Halloween’ because I just feel like it could really happen in real life. [It could happen] to me and that’s crazy scary!”
Ryan Hill, programmer at Frank Banko Alehouse Cinemas: “My pick for this year is ‘Wait Until Dark.’ I waited until too long to see this film, finally checking it out in the early stages of quarantine. I went in with low expectations, as you just don’t hear people talk
about this film even when they’re talking Audrey Hepburn and this may be her most wellacted role … I didn’t know that none other than Stephen King hails this as the scariest movie ever made and Alan Arkin’s performance as ‘maybe the greatest evocation of screen villainy ever.’ His character is diabolical and I’d recommend this to anyone who wants their scares without gore.”
John Hedges, the former Managing Director of Allentown’s Civic Theatre and star of HBO’s upcoming “The Gilded Age”: “‘The Ring.’ It’s a smart, psychological thriller. It’ll scare the hell out of you.”