There are so many options to watch for Halloween. You can go the traditional route and watch the classics, or the more contemporary hits: John Carpenter’s Halloween, Trick ‘r Treat, and so, so many more. This list is about a few of the more ‘off the beaten path’ choices, including newer releases that are perfect for a cold, windy Halloween night.
Snuggle yourself up after the kids stop knocking for candy. Grab a warm drink and some of the leftover treats. These films and television episodes will chill you proper.
Deliver Us (2023)
While Cru Ennis and Lee Roy Kunz’s Deliver Us, in some ways, is cliche, its story and plots still contain enough to creep anybody out. The film centres on a nun in an isolated convent who makes the claim of immaculate conception, so the Vatican sends a couple priests to investigate. Seems there’s an ancient prophecy that concerns the Roman Catholics. What occurs when the priests arrive at the convent is pure Christian nightmare. There’s even a bit of dark eroticism at play. Deliver Us doesn’t revamp the demonic possession subgenre of horror, but it’ll still give you the creeps.
Monster Inside: America’s Most Extreme Haunted House (2023)
Ever since I first heard about McKamey Manor I thought there was something weird about it, particularly its owner, Russ McKamey, and after seeing Hulu’s new documentary Monster Inside: America’s Most Extreme Haunted House those thoughts have only gotten stronger. In this doc, people who’ve been victimised by McKamey and his so-called ‘haunt’ get to tell their stories without Facebook/other social media mobs descending upon them. It’s a harrowing film, though a necessary one. Extreme haunts get wilder every year. It seems like there’s nothing as sick out there as McKamey’s strange manor. Check this documentary out, just be prepared for a lot of unsettling real-life material.
He’s Out There (2018)
He’s Out There is a hugely underrated slasher-style horror film. The story is all about a mother and her daughters going to a lakeside cabin, as they wait on the arrival of her husband, when mom starts to realise there’s something terrifying happening at their family getaway courtesy of a masked, axe-wielding man. At first this feels like it’ll go the standard slasher route, yet there’s something different going on here. The villain is a character you want to know more and more about, however, Dennis Iliadis does the right thing by keeping him mysterious. A perfect, sinister little horror for Halloween.
In My Mother’s Skin (2023)
In My Mother’s Skin follows a young girl in the Philippines during World War II who’s trying to take care of her dying mother, but she makes the mistake of trusting a flesh-eating fairy. Yes, that’s a real description, and it is glorious! This film will absolutely creep you out. It might produce a few nightmares, too. There’s a bit of Philippine folklore and history mixed together here, which makes for a deliciously unsettling concoction fit for Halloween season.
Primal Rage (2018)
I’m not even a lover of sasquatch/Bigfoot horror films but a couple are very worthy of a watch, one of them being 2018’s Primal Rage. This story pits a woman and her recently released from prison husband, with whom she has a rocky relationship, against a bunch of locals who feel like they’re going to do something horrible at any minute. Except there’s something in the woods that’s even scarier than the men and their guns: a massive Bigfoot who’s looking for a fight. This Bigfoot is also looking to find himself a lady. Yikes! Primal Rage is a stellar little Bigfoot film that switches things up a bit compared to most of the others.
The Hallow (2015)
The Halloween season conjures images of all sorts of creepy little creatures and otherworldly monsters—exactly why The Hallow is a wonderful horror film to put on for Halloween night. It’s a simple story about a couple and their child moving into an old Irish mill house. They’re not entirely welcome, especially since the husband, a microbiologist, is poking around in the local woods. There are legends about the woods that many locals believe are true. The couple discover all the legends are true when horrific creatures crawl out of the woods to try getting their hands on the baby. Another hugely underrated film, particularly in the realm of creature features. The Hallow is fun and creepy and full of interesting terrors.
The Outwaters (2022)
There is no way to explain The Outwaters. Go in knowing little. Some will find it frustrating, or perhaps boring. But if you let this found footage film whisk you away to a strange, bloody, psychotic reality, you’ll have a wholly unique experience. The starting point is friends going into the desert so one of them can film a music video. The end point is the bowels of Hell.
The Ritual (2017)
Folklore makes for great horror, and The Ritual conjures up a folk tale out of Norse mythology that is genuinely dreadful. After a group of men mourning a murdered friend undertake a hike through northern Sweden, they stumble onto strange symbols and effigies that confuse them. It gets worse when people begin to die. They eventually find a village where the locals believe in a creature from Norse mythology. But is the creature real? Or is the horror the men experience in the Swedish backwoods a human one? Most horror fans will enjoy The Ritual, especially once shit really hits the fan and the men start to come to terms with the fact they’re probably all going to die out there, far from home.
Slasher – Season 1 (2016)
Any season of Slasher is great for a Halloween viewing, really. Season 1 is just the original and it’s such gruesome fun. The murderous tableaus left behind by the slasher killer in this first season are absolutely insane, sometimes reminiscent of certain murders from the Hannibal series. The first season concerns a young woman returning to her old home, where her parents were once slaughtered by a man called The Executioner, who’s now behind bars. Then murders begin to happen and it’s as if The Executioner has returned. But it can’t be the same man who’s behind bars, right? Slasher Season 1 pays tribute to so much of the slasher horror that has come before, and it ups the ante all on its own.
Night Screams (1987)
There are good slashers, bad slashers, and slashers that are so cheesy that they’re wonderful; 1987’s Night Screams belongs in the last category. Yes, Night Screams is cheesy, and yes, the acting is, at best, marginal, and yes, it’s cliched and troped as hell. But lord, is it ever a fun time! Even the plot takes a turn that you might not expect. Night Screams is trash, yet it’s the most enjoyable kind of horror film trash. It’s a nasty, mean-spirited film, and there are times where you might not even know what the hell’s going on. This one’s sure to lift up any Halloween night viewing party if you’re looking for laughs and some brutal slasher kills.
A Warning to the Curious (1972)
Halloween is the best time of year for scary ghost stories, and even though A Warning to the Curious often gets trotted out by the BBC for Christmas it belongs right at home during Halloween season, too. The story was originally written by M.R. James, then adapted as a TV movie in 1972 by Lawrence Gordon Clark. It follows an amateur archaeologist during the Great Depression who goes looking for one of the three lost crowns of East Anglia. When he goes looking for the crown in a seaside town in Norfolk, he uncovers a mystery that threatens to consume him. If you need a proper, classic ghost story for Halloween, you’ll be pleasantly unsettled by Warning to the Curious.
Are You Afraid of the Dark?
“The Tale of the Bookish Babysitter” (1994)
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“The Tale of the Ghastly Grinner” (1994)
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“The Tale of the Vacant Lot” (1996)
There are so many great Are You Afraid of the Dark? episodes that it’s difficult to pick only three of them for this list, yet here we are!
“The Tale of the Bookish Babysitter” is a wonderful ode to books via horror, as a young woman tries to bring her latest babysitting client into the fold of book lovers, and though the kid is reluctant he eventually comes to see the terrifying magic of literature. “The Tale of the Ghastly Grinner” has forever creeped me out since I saw it when I was 10. It involves a kid who loves comics and wants to be an artist who winds up having to fight a hideous comic book villain that’s escaped off the pages into real life. This one is cheesy and funny and, occasionally, kinda gross. It almost plays even creepier nowadays since comic book movies have become a whole new industry unto itself. Finally, “The Tale of the Vacant Lot” is a chilling story about a girl who comes upon a mysterious lot where a cloaked woman sells all sorts of wares that satisfy peoples’ deepest desires; for a price, though. The girl finds out that not everything valuable costs money, and sometimes one’s own body and soul deteriorates when life becomes all about material things. Each of these episodes is perfect for Halloween, and though this is a show for kids, these stories have enough imagery to keep even some adults up at night.
Chapelwaite – Season 1 (2021)
Stephen King adaptations are hit or miss, even in this day and age, so that’s why something like Chapelwaite—based on King’s writing but tells its own story with King’s elements—is a welcomed addition to the horror genre. This series follows Captain Charles Boone (Adrien Brody) and his children after they move to the small town of Preacher’s Corners in Maine, where Boone finds his dark family history waiting.
If you loved the short story “Jerusalem’s Lot” by King, then you’ll probably enjoy the expanded backstory in Chapelwaite. The vampiric horrors here are aplenty. And there’s a Season 2 coming! Chapelwaite offers true scares. It’s a head above much of the recent vampire lore that’s made its way onto the big screen over the past decade. You can do much worse than this series if you need a dose of terror tonight for Halloween.
Father Son Holy Gore 