Saturday, September 28, 2024
It's almost October, when the leaves start to turn, the air takes on a chill, and the nights get longer. What better time to get cozy and revisit some old spooky favorite movies—and maybe even find a few new ones?
What's that scratching noise, you ask? I'm sure it's nothing. And don't worry about the howling—the wolves can't get us in here. Unearthly moaning? Just the wind. Probably.
With just a month until Halloween, here's a survey of spooky movies, one for every night in October. Enjoy—if you dare.
The Fall of the House of Usher (1928)
One of two Usher adaptations released in 1928, cinema's love affair with Edgar Allan Poe began here in this expressionistic fever dream. With Jean Debucourt and Marguerite Gance playing the Usher siblings in their decaying house, this version captures as well as any later version the sense that we've stepped into an alternate world of haunting melancholy. It's dizzying and disturbing, but hypnotically beautiful in ways that only late-era silent films could be.
Where to stream: Tubi
Dracula (1931)
The movie that almost single-handedly built horror into a powerhouse movie genre, Tod Browning's film was intended as a prestige adaptation of a classic novel, even if sequels and imitators fell increasingly into B-movie territory. Though it gets a bit stagey in its second half, the movie gives us some of horror's most indelible imagery—scenes and shots that we're still referencing nearly a century later. Béla Lugosi's Dracula has been endlessly parodies and imitated, but all of that's only possible because he made an impression.
Where to stream: Prime Video
The Black Cat (1934)
Horror icons Béla Lugosi and Boris Karloff team up here in an early classic that's as stylish as it is gruesome. Lugosi picks up a newlywed couple and heads off to the stunning, ultra-expressionist castle of his old pal Karloff—and, by "pal," I mean the man who had him sent to a gulag in order to marry his wife. The wife who's now a carefully preserved body in the basement. Among the movie's other visual treats, you're unlikely to ever forget the mildly homoerotic skin-flaying scene.
Where to stream: digital rental
Mad Love (1935)
Grand Guignol, American-style, Mad Love is a delightfully batshit bit of body horror starring the great Peter Lorre, clearly having fun here. He's brilliant surgeon Dr. Gogol, who becomes obsessed with actress Yvonne, who's already married to Stephen, a famous pianist. When her husband's hands are mangled in a train derailment, Yvonne convinces Dr. Gogol to help—which he does by transplanting the hands of an executed killer. Stephen can no longer play the piano, but he can absolutely kill people with expertly aimed knives. But wait—is that the killer returned from the dead to claim his hands? Has a statue of Yvonne come to life, Galatea-style, to kill her lover? It all sounds very silly, but it's done in such operatic high style that it's hard not to be drawn into the film's weird world.
Where to stream: digital rental
Cat People (1942)
Irena (Simone Simon) seems unfit for marriage—she wants things to work with new husband, but she lives in fear that giving into anything remotely like sexual intimacy could turn her into a murderous cat beast. Maybe she's the victim of a curse related to generational trauma, maybe she's struggling with internalized queerphobia, or maybe she's having a good old-fashioned breakdown. This low-budget but essential team-up from producer Val Lewton and director Jacques Tourneur doesn't demand just one reading, building chillingly tense sequences around Irena's increasingly brittle relationship.
Where to stream: digital rental
The Thing From Another World (1950)
Sort-of ghost-directed by golden-age Hollywood legend Howard Hawks, The Thing transcends much of the monster horror of the era: Taking place almost entirely within a claustrophobic Arctic research base, the tension is palpable (as it is in John Carpenter's remake). Making the most of Cold War-era paranoia, the movie works very nearly as well in our own wary, uncertain times.
Where to stream: Tubi, digital rental
Night of the Demon (1957)
Like the movie's protagonist, Dr. John Holden (Dana Andrews), Night of the Demon found director Jacques Tourneur (Cat People) heading off to England for the production. Dr. Holden is a famous psychiatrist and skeptic who's been called upon to debunk a supposed demonic cult. It's let down a bit by the finale's inclusion of a monster that the producer insisted upon, but the rest of it is a masterclass in restrained suspense. One of Martin Scorsese's favorite horror movies.
Where to stream: Tubi, digital rental
Carnival of Souls (1962)
Pre-dating George Romero's Night of the Living Dead by a few years, this similarly artisan creation from director Herk Harvey does a lot with a little, budget-wise, using guerrilla filmmaking techniques to tell the story of a woman wandering a carnival of the damned following a car accident. Where Living Dead plays as social commentary, Carnival's vibe is more existential dread, the finished product being simultaneously hypnotic and deeply unsettling.
Where to stream: Max, Tubi, The Criterion Channel, MGM+, Shudder, Crackle, Prime Video
The Haunting (1963)
Director Robert Wise adapts the Shirley Jackson novel about a very lonely woman who meets a very lonely house. Stunningly photographed, genuinely creepy, and ultimately heartbreaking, it's right up there with the very best haunted house movies of all time.
Where to stream: MGM+, Tubi, digital rental
Kwaidan (1964)
Frequently described, fairly, as one of the most beautifully photographed films ever made, Kwaidan is packed with indelible images: blood on snow, the earth tones of a haunted tea house, or that jet black hair that never portends anything good in a Japanese tale. A sensuous, atmospheric anthology film with stories based on four different folk tales, it starts off with an impoverished soldier leaving his devoted wife (with strikingly long, black hair) for a wealthy woman. Bad idea, but revenge here is absolutely gorgeous.
Where to stream: Max, The Criterion Channel, digital rental
Ganja & Hess (1973)
A meditative and entirely experimental horror film, Ganja stars Duane Jones (Night of the Living Dead) as Dr. Hess Green, who is attacked by his assistant with a knife belonging to a fictional ancient African tribe. He’s subsequently compelled to drink the blood of his assailant, completing his vampiric transformation. Shortly thereafter, the assistant’s wife shows up looking for her husband and, even once she realizes what happened, begins a love affair with the doctor. Stylish and deliberately paced, the movie has some barbed points to make about assimilation and religious hypocrisy.
Where to stream: Tubi, digital rental
Black Christmas (1974)
You could save this one for Christmas, sure, but it's also a key moment in the progression of the slasher genre, falling squarely in between Psycho and Halloween. Olivia Hussey, Andrea Martin, Margot Kidder, and Keir Dullea star in the story of a group of sorority sisters tormented by a serial killer who likes to preface things with some nasty and wildly misogynistic phone calls. The movie has a convincingly claustrophobic atmosphere, making great use of its setting and lonely-winter-holiday timing. Later slashers would ape the basic premise, but the women here are fleshed-out individuals with agency, never just fodder.
Where to stream: Peacock, Tubi, Shudder, Crackle, Prime Video
Carrie (1976)
This first Stephen King adaptation of his very first novel gets things off to an auspicious start—Brian De Palma’s film feels like a real movie full of people who don't know they're in a horror movie. Sissy Spacek plays the title teenager, while Piper Laurie plays her Bible-thumping hypocrite of a mom. By the film's climax, when we've seen Carrie endure all manner of coming-of-age indignities, we're more than ready to watch her burn it all down.
Where to stream: MGM+, Tubi, digital rental
Suspiria (1977)
Dario Argento’s giallo masterpiece is almost all vibes, blending glossy filmmaking with buckets of blood, blurring any distinction between the beautiful and horrific. Suspiria, the director’s masterwork, follows talented dancer Susie Bannion (Jessica Harper) who signs up as a student at a prestigious dance academy in Berlin lead by noir veteran Joan Bennett. The great score from Goblin really kicks up the fun when Susie discovers that she's surrounded by witches.
Where to stream: Kanopy
Halloween (1978)
Doing for horror movies what Star Wars did for sci-fi, John Carpenter and Debra Hill's Halloween was an indie triumph that gave birth to an entire genre, for better and for worse. Director Carpenter builds tension and scares here with brisk efficiency; co-writer and producer Hill gives us believable characters who we actually care about; and Jamie Lee Curtis is probably slasher cinema's most convincing final girl.
Where to stream: Shudder, AMC+, digital rental
The Shining (1980)
Stephen King has gone from outright hatred to ambivalence about Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of the horror master's novel—and with all due respect to one of our finest writers, he's wrong. The Shining is a compelling and disorienting masterpiece, its big set pieces (elevators full of blood, an axe through a door) less compelling than its sustained tone of deep unease. The book is about an addict whose worst abusive impulses are nudged by the Overlook; the movie is about an abuser who cuts loose without the thin veneer of civilization to hold him back.
Where to stream: Max, digital rental
An American Werewolf in London (1981)
American backpackers David and Jack (David Naughton and Griffin Dunne) are attacked by a werewolf while traveling in England. With the help of some incredible, gut-churning practical effects, David becomes an increasingly dangerous wolf man—while Jack becomes his increasingly smart-assed ghost corpse companion. A masterful blend of comedy and horror.
Where to scream: Tubi, The Criterion Channel, Prime Video
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
With the slasher genre at its peak, Wes Craven decided to take things in an entirely different direction (not the first time he'd throw out the rulebook, nor the last). Robert England plays Freddy, at his scariest and least campy in this original, hunting a bunch of high school kids lead by the infinitely resourceful Nancy (Heather Langenkamp). The premise, with vengeful Freddy murdering kids in their dreams, allows for some brilliantly playful (and bloody) sequences.
Where to stream: digital rental
Evil Dead II (1987)
Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi returned for this sequel, technically, but one that's very nearly a remake of the first one. Raimi takes the basic premise, involving Bruce Campbell, a cabin in the woods, and a book that brings forth demons, and turns up the blood, gore, and gloop until it's impossible to know if we're supposed to gag or laugh.
Where to scream: digital rental
Def by Temptation (1990)
K (Kadeem Harrison) and Joel (James Bond III, who also wrote and directed) have been best friends since childhood—while Joel has become a minister, K put his religious upbringing aside to move to New York and become an actor. Of course, it’s Joel who becomes enamored of the very mysterious woman that they meet during a night out in NYC. She seems great, but she happens to be a succubus. So, not so great. There's some solid acting and great chemistry between the two leads, as well as some brilliant practical effects and a polished look thanks to cinematographer Ernest Dickerson, who had, and continues to have, an impressive career as a director and screenwriter. There’s also a fair bit of sex and nudity, nearly essential ingredients in late-1980s/early-1990s horror.
Where to stream: Tubi, Peacock, Shudder, AMC+, Prime Video
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992)
This prequel/sequel to the TV series wasn't what anyone was looking for by way of closure; as a result, it was swept to the side of the David Lynch oeuvre. Time has allowed us to see the film for what it is: as harrowing a fictional portrait of sexual abuse as you're likely to find. Which doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun, but, amid all the weirdness, Sheryl Lee gives a brilliant, emotionally raw performance as doomed Laura Palmer, making clear that one of television's most famous victims was the hero of the story all along.
Where to stream: Max, The Criterion Channel, digital rental
Scream (1996)
Full of gloriously deranged kills (including one of the most memorable openings in slasher cinema) and plenty of genuine scares, Wes Craven's late-career masterpiece is also a sharp send-up of horror tropes, as funny as it is nerve-jangling. There were plenty of lesser imitators, but Scream pushed the genre forward by making clear that so much of what we'd seen before had become a joke.
Where to scream: Max, digital rental
Audition (1999)
Audition offers a perfect example of the squirmy, deeply disturbing style of director Director Takashi Miike. Here, he follows widower Shigeharu (Ryo Ishibashi) as he re-enters the dating world by concocting a fake film production and setting up auditions for the role of his new flame. Hitting it off with the quiet Asami, he pursues a relationship. It doesn’t go very well for him. Not even a little.
Where to stream: Tubi, digital rental via Apple TV
The Others (2001)
Living on a very liminal Channel island in the months just after the end of World War II, Nicole Kidman is all raw nerve, raising her two children alone while hoping, perhaps beyond hope, that her husband will return one day. Director Alejandro Amenábar unspools everything that happens here with tremendous patience, making old-school haunted house-style thrills feel new and potent. If there's an innovation here, it's that the biggest threat to the family isn't the darkness but sunlight, but it's the compelling, convincing performances here that sell the horrors within.
Where to stream: digital rental
Rec (2007)
A wildly effective found-footage film (one of the best, really), that succeeds not so much by reinventing the wheel but by doing the absolute best with stock ingredients. Rec follows a reporter doing a by-the-numbers ride-along with a Barcelona fire crew as they respond to a call that takes them to an apartment building where odd things are happening. It’s a zombie-style movie involving demonic possession, but the real draw here is the deft camerawork and the sense of geography and place that draws us into this building and leaves us feeling as trapped and frightened as the residents. As series of very decent sequels follow.
Where to stream: Tubi
Triangle (2009)
It's hard to discuss Triangle without giving too much away, this twisty time travel thriller (think Happy Death Day, but without the comedy), finds a slasher traversing timelines and time loops following single mom Jess (Melissa George) and friends on an abandoned ocean liner. Each resetting of the loop only seems to offer the chance for things to get worse. Trippy, bleak, and potentially confusing, it still works on just about every level if you don't mind a little sci-fi with your horror.
Where to stream: Peacock, Tubi, AMC+, Crackle, Prime Video
Cabin in the Woods (2011)
By now we know “cabin in the wood”-style horror movies, and we know how they're meant to work. While Cabin in the Woods initially looks like a Scream-style deconstruction of the genre, it quickly reveals itself to be something far more ambitious, veering from near-parody to apocalyptic stakes—a movie that veers from near-comedy to existential dread with shocking agility.
Where to stream: Peacock, digital rental
What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
Starring, written, and directed by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi, Shadows precedes the equally great show of the same name. As the franchise has proven, there are plenty of laughs to be mined from the concept of traditional, old-school vampires coming across as neither sexy nor cool when faced with the modern world.
Where to scream: digital rental
Train to Busan (2016)
Reminding us, once again, that the zombie genre is infinitely malleable, South Korean director Yeon Sang-ho’s zombies-on-an-unstoppable-train story never misses an emotional beat despite its bloody action movie identity. Amid all the violence, its emotional core lies in the story of a workaholic father and his daughter attempting to reconnect following a divorce—you know, while also staying alive amid a flesh-munching apocalypse. The movie would work just fine if its human story took a backseat, but instead, it’s a horror/action masterpiece with a still-beating human heart at its core.
Where to stream: Peacock, Tubi, digital rental
Us (2019)
Get Out kicked off Jordan Peele's uninterrupted run as a master of smart and unexpected horror. While that movie feels, in some respects, like a mission statement, Us is the product of a creative talent untethered from the need to hammer anything home. It’s a darker, more uncomfortable, and in some ways more disturbing film that digs into messy issues of class, income inequality, race, and mental health in a world where that's all tied up with identity. The villains aren’t necessarily villainous, and the heroes aren’t nearly as heroic as they seem at first blush. It's a movie that’s not afraid to start a conversation with no easy ending.
Where to stream: Peacock, digital rental
When Evil Lurks (2023)
If you're in the mood for something truly nasty (complimentary) as Halloween approaches, I'll throw a big recommendation toward this wonderfully gnarly Argentinian production from writer/director Demián Rugna. Set in a world of epidemic demonic possession, it's brutally, stomach-churningly effective in its practical gore effects, but also works by humanizing its main characters so that when the hammer falls, it absolutely rips your guts out.
Where to stream: Hulu, Shudder, AMC+, digital rental
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