[Exclusive Column] SCARRED FOR LIFE – October 2025 – Tony Timpone

If you haven’t yet overdosed on horror films this season, our latest column offers a few newbies that you must add to your Halloween screening list, posthaste.

In addition to these favorites, be sure and check out Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, in select theaters this week before dropping on Netflix November 7. Plus, Black Phone 2 arrives this Friday as a more-than-worth sequel. And New Yorkers should head over to the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival (October 16-25) for a comprehensive deep dive into the latest independent fright flicks. What better time of the year to be Scarred for Life than Halloween!

Alexandre O. Philippe, writer/director (78/52, Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist, Memory: The Origins of Alien and Chain Reactions, on VOD October 20)

“The one horror movie that scarred me for life was Georges Franju’s 1960 classic, Eyes Without a Face. I have a distinct memory of walking in on my parents watching the film late at night. I was very young, but the brief glimpse I caught of Édith Scob’s haunting face (or lack thereof) stayed with me for years. I finally watched the film for the first time in my late 20s, thanks to the Criterion DVD release (which I eventually upgraded to Blu-ray), and I’ll never forget the way I felt watching those terrifying images again. I was instantly transported back to my childhood … to that fateful night … my first movie-induced nightmare. In retrospect, it’s rather strange that the two images that haunted me as a child were from Vertigo and Eyes Without a Face—both written by Pierre Boileau & Thomas Narcejac (who adapted Jean Redon’s Eyes Without a Face novel for the screen).”

Jas Summers, writer/director (Stay, now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+)

“The horror film that scarred me and left a lasting impression of unease was Angel Heart [1987]. I watched it as an adolescent, drawn in by Robert De Niro’s presence, completely unaware of what I was about to experience. What unfolded was something deeply unsettling—haunting and disturbingly intimate. It affected me so profoundly that I couldn’t bring myself to rewatch it for another 10 years, and even then, only in daylight.

“What set Angel Heart apart for me was how raw and authentic it felt. These weren’t stock horror characters—they felt real, as if they had lived before the story began. The film was drenched in an atmosphere of eroticism, mystery, and moral decay. Its violence was graphic but never gratuitous. It was impactful, seeping into my subconscious in ways I didn’t fully understand. Often, it was the absence of what was shown that haunted me most. My mind would wander, imagining horrors worse than what was on screen.

“But what truly stayed with me—what burrowed into my psyche—was the story and the character of Louis Cyphre. He wasn’t a supernatural monster or an unkillable creature. He was human. That was the most terrifying part. I didn’t understand at the time why he disturbed me so deeply, but years later, I realized: monsters are easy to fear, but people—people who look like us, talk like us, are us—are far scarier.

“And then there’s that final image: the little boy, his eyes transformed, pointing at Harry Angel. That single moment gave me nightmares for a month. Even now, it lingers in the shadows of my memory.”

David Bertolino, creator (Spookyworld Horror Theme Park) and executive producer (Spooktacular!, now on Digital here)

“I was 11 years old when I watched House of Wax [1953] for the first time. It truly scared the yell out of me! The opening scene with the wax creations melting from the flames haunted me for years! Ultimately, when I grew up, I emulated the promotional efforts that Vincent Price’s character demonstrated in the film. My frightening experience actually inspired my buildout creativity at Spookyworld in Berlin, Massachusetts, with the help of my friend, Tom Savini.”

Allen Danziger, actor (Eggshells, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) and co-creator/executive producer (The Weedhacker Massacre, on Digital October 17)

“I’m actually in the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre [1974] as Jerry the van driver. I took my son to the theater back then to see the preview, and 51 years later, I’m still paying for his therapy.”

Ray Spivey, co-creator/writer/producer (The Weedhacker Massacre, on Digital October 17)

“Them! [1954]. I watched it on TV many, many years later, and every time you heard that shrill tone, you knew a giant mutated ant was going to bite someone in half.

“I barely knew about drinking then, but loved the scene in which an alcoholic in the army hospital (he had seen the giant ants) shouted, ‘Make me a sergeant in charge of the booze!’ That cracked little ol’ me up.”

Remington Smith, director (The Woods, The Derby, and LandLord, screening October 18 at Nightmares Film Festival)

“I didn’t grow up on The Goonies, I grew up on The Monster Squad [1987]. It was pretty adult at times, while still being about kids fighting Dracula and the Universal Monsters. It was the first movie I remember seeing, maybe around 5 years old? Seeing kids fight horror monsters without grown-ups saving the day was really empowering, while I was also fascinated with the creature effects that Stan Winston did. It was my gateway drug to movies, horror, and what it takes to make a film.”

Brittany O’Grady, actress (Star, It’s What’s Inside and In Our Blood, in theaters October 24)

“There was an episode of The Powerpuff Girls called ‘Abracadaver’ [1998] that scarred me as a child. My older sister and I would stay up late watching The Powerpuff Girls, and I remember seeing this episode in the basement of our house, and I obsessively thought the magician was going to come and haunt me in my kindergarten class and at my house. It took me a couple of months to let it go. I still haven’t seen the episode since … Maybe I’ll face my fears this spooky season.”

Ian Kimble, director (Dead Giveaway, premiering October 17 at the Philadelphia Film Festival)

“My older sisters, who inspired the characters in Dead Giveaway, introduced me to horror movies at an incredibly young age, but did so in a way that made them fun and not scary. That being said, the thing that terrified me most and stuck with me forever was the Disney World attraction ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter[1994]. It included such talents as Tim Curry, Phil Hartman, Kevin Pollak, and Kathy Najimy. For those who don’t know, it was an attraction in which they first killed an adorable little alien named Skippy by teleporting it into space forever, then you sat around while a giant monster alien appeared in a glass tube, crashed out of it, the lights went out, it breathed on your neck and shook your chair, then killed a guy, causing the blood to rain down on you. At Disney. I was 10. It was awesome. I’m still scared of alien abduction movies.”

Casey Rogerson, editor/producer/writer/director (Terroir, screening October 16 and 19 at the San Diego International Film Festival, and October 17 at the Vancouver Horror Show; tix here)

“I’ll never forget the night that I saw the commercial for Coraline [2009]. I immediately asked my parents if we could go see it in the theater. There was something about that ad … It was fun, sure, but you could also feel a real sense of danger. Seeing that the movie was animated, my parents assumed it would be appropriate for the whole family. So off we went to the local Regal. Halfway through the film, my sister had to step outside. She was terrified. But I couldn’t look away.

“I’ve loved horror movies for as long as I can remember. But it wasn’t until Coraline that one was within reach. Before then, I had to ask my parents, aunts, and uncles to dictate the plots of scary movies as though they were campfire tales. I begged babysitters to let me watch Child’s Play (or as I called it, Chucky). They never did. However, because Coraline was animated and PG, it slipped under some parental radar.

“Coraline is scary as hell. It’s a true nightmare that still gets under my skin all these years later. Watching that movie in the theater ignited a feeling in me that I’m still chasing to this day. It made me a horror lover for life.”

Ayo Solanke, actor (Clown in a Cornfield, now on 4K UHD)

“Annabel: Creation [2017] scarred me for life. It is so, so scary. I hate anything with demons, supernatural. Anything that’s not a slasher, I immediately crap my pants. It’s so scary because the doll doesn’t move. The spirits around do its dirty work. I don’t want a ceramic doll staring at me. Everything about Annabel is scary.”

(See here for a link to past Scarred for Life columns. Follow me on X and Instagram: timponetony)