One week till Halloween. Should you whip together a last-minute Michael Jackson costume or buy the Kate Gosselin wig? Go to your neighbor’s Halloween house party or brave the fratty masses at a Lincoln Park bar? Oh, to heck with it. Just go see a slasher flick or check out one of the latest vampire/zombie entries. Here’s a quick guide to the recent horror releases.
Zombieland (R)
Tag line: “Nut up or shut up.”
Released: Oct. 2
Stars: Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg
Villain: An army of the undead
Gore factor: Very gory, but Newsday also describes it as a “gory, funny, endearing, romantic zombie movie.”
Reminds us of: “Adventureland” meets “28 Days Later”
Paranormal Activity (R)
Tag line: “What happens when you sleep?”
Released: Oct. 2
Stars: Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat
Villain: Your own mind (eep!)
Gore factor: Minimum, but Roger Ebert says it’s “so well made it’s truly scary.”
Reminds us of: “The Blair Witch Project”
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant (PG-13)
Tag line: “Meet Darren. He’s 16 going on immortal.”
Released: This weekend
Stars: John C. Reilly, Salma Hayek
Villain: The Vampanese, a pack of loud, throat-ripping vampires
Gore factor: Minimal and very theatrical
Reminds us of: “Twilight” meets “The Vampire Diaries”
The Stepfather (PG-13)
Tag line: “This fall, daddy’s home.”
Released: Oct. 16
Stars: Penn Badgley, Dylan Thomas
Villain: A stepfather with a serial-killing past
Gore factor: “Less gore and more suspense,” Syfy reports.
Reminds us of: “The Stepfather” (1987 version) meets “Disturbia”
Saw VI (R)
Tag line: “He helped me.”
Released: This weekend
Stars: Tobin Bell, Shawnee Smith
Villain: Jigsaw, a torture-inflicting madman who’s supposed to be dead.
Gore factor: Maximum
Reminds us of: “Saw,” “Saw II,” “Saw III” …
