It’s the most wonderful time of the year! No, not that time. I’m talking about Halloween. Or Hallowe'en, or All Hallows’ Eve – whatever you call it, and however you celebrate it, the fact that we basically have a holiday commemorating demons, vampires, slashers, and monsters of all creeds and persuasions is pretty, pretty great.
Which brings us to IGN’s Festival of Fear. As horror fans, every year we roll out a bunch of articles and videos on IGN about the genre, but this time we had so much to say – from retrospectives to lists to deep dives, new interviews, and beyond – that it just made sense to do a full week of gruesome celebrating. A Festival of Fear!
We kick things off with our list of the 25 Best Monster Movies of All Time, and man, was that a tough one to narrow down to just 25. From the various Draculas to the little kid vampire from Let the Right One In to the awful shape-changing thing from, well, The Thing to zombies, Brundleflys, and much, much more, we think we came up with a pretty solid ranking in the end.
Then we also have the latest version of our Best Horror Video Game Face-Off where you, the IGN reader, can vote for your favorites. The latest, greatest games have been added to this Face-Off, so be sure to cast your ballot (or ballots). Also this week, Chucky creator Don Mancini reflects on how the infamous toy doll is now a senior citizen slasher (and why Mancini is loving it). And we’re looking back at the most traumatizing villains from kids’ movies that still haunt us. Judge Doom, man. Judge Doom…
We’ll also be investigating what the deal is with the new Five Nights at Freddy's movie. Oh, and are you looking for an hour-long discussion on the original The Exorcist? Our Cinefix Top 100 crew has that. Need to savor the beautiful depths of despair of John Carpenter’s Apocalypse Trilogy? We’ve got that too. We even talked to some of the major players in the field right now about why horror is the most important genre of them all.
We’ll have new stories and/or videos every day from now until October 31, so be sure to check back often and keep an eye on the index below for some of what’s coming up. And as Conal Cochran might say… happy Halloween…
Talk to Executive Editor Scott Collura on Twitter at @ScottCollura, or listen to his Star Trek podcast, Transporter Room 3. Or do both!