A Horror Movie List To Get You In The Mood For Spooky Season

The horror entertainment genre is a lot like comedy – Both require deep immersion and instinctive reactions.  Being browbeaten with overt political messaging in the middle of such films ruins them completely.  Nobody wants to hear a feminist sermon in the middle of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, they just want to watch that messed up dinner table scene.

Parable and subtle messaging is fine, but propaganda is not. 

With Hollywood slowly but surely sinking into a shallow grave with little hope of escape, the industry has desperately turned to the old mainstay of horror to save the box office.  Why?  Because it’s cheap, fast and thrives on the imagination of indie auteurs willing to engage in risky storytelling.  In a world of endless remakes, reboots and “re-imaginings”, audiences are desperate for something original.

And, as long as that original film isn’t disgustingly ripe with leftist propaganda, everyone is generally happy. 

There’s not enough new and good horror productions to fill out this list of spooky season primers, but there’s a few, along with some lesser known classics to get in the mood for Halloween.  Let’s start with the best new horror media…

Obsession

One of the biggest surprise hits of the year, Obsession follows the ill fated efforts of Baron Baily to gain the attention of his attractive co-worker Nikki Freeman.  His inability to escape the “friend zone” leads him to a cursed novelty item called the “One Wish Willow”.  His innocent wish for Nikki to fall in love with him results in her darkly hilarious (but ultimately grotesque and disturbing) obsession with him. 

The film has the obvious “careful what you wish for” horror narrative, but it gets a lot more complicated.  The story stands as a perfect allegory for Gen Z men’s fears over “MeToo” and the feminist culture of accusation, without ever mentioning the issue or the politics.  It explores the idea of romance vs infatuation and control. 

Finally, it depicts a subject matter which is rarely ever portrayed on film anymore; the weakness of beta men and their refusal to break with toxic women because they are terrified over the stigma of being alone more than the ticking time bomb that is their relationship.  Like many of the films on this list, there’s a element of tragic humor to this movie that sets it apart from the more lazy nihilist stories that have flooded the horror genre lately.   

Widow’s Bay

It’s a streaming series and not a movie, but a perfect watch for the month of October.  Widow’s Bay is one of the few Apple TV productions actually worth a damn and one can only hope that it gets a second season despite being buried on that lifeless platform.  

The series focuses on Mayor Tom Loftis, a struggling middle-aged widower trying to take care of his petulant and sometimes sociopathic teenage son in an island community oppressed by superstitious fears.  It is said that anyone born on the island will die if they try to leave.  The island will not let them escape.

Tom was not born on the island and doesn’t believe that the place is cursed, so he attempts to rebrand Widow’s Bay as a tourist destination similar to Martha’s Vineyard.  Hilarity and horror ensues. 

The show is a mix between Parks And Recreation and The X Files with various homages to the classic horror movies of the 1980s and 1990s.  It is also one of the funniest series produced in a long time, while still being extremely effective at building up supernatural dread.  Each episode acts as a self contained horror tale, but the through-line plot holds together perfectly.  All the characters on the island are fantastically written and fantastically weird, and the series climax is a compelling cliffhanger. 

Buddy

It’s strange to admit it, but this low budget parody of the 1990s “Barney” kids show might just be one of the best and most disturbing horror movies of the past decade.

Buddy is another film that is simultaneously funny and uncomfortable, you’re not sure whether you’re supposed to laugh or pull back in revulsion as the classic kids show filled with puppets, dancing and singing descends into a nightmare world where the children are in danger of being murdered by a rampaging homicidal supernatural unicorn. 

This one is for horror fans who love to step outside of their comfort zone and it’s definitely not a family film.  The story plays with idea of the thin veil of reality far more effectively than the “Backrooms” flick, and gets so weird you have to admire the level of imagination it took to devise the blood curdling events that unfold. 

One is immediately reminded of Peter Jackson (director of Lord Of The Rings) and his early films like “Dead Alive” and “Bad Taste”.  But most of all, Buddy seems to take a lot from Jackson’s film “Meet The Feebles”, a disturbing satire of Sesame Street and the Muppet Show in which a bunch of innocent show tunes puppets engage in increasingly depraved situations.  There is also an element of the YouTube series “Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared” – If you know, you know.        

Oddity

Not exactly a brand new film (produced in 2024), but this movie fell by the wayside in the midst of a politically contentious year when it should have gotten more attention.  This Irish horror flick is absolutely chilling, combining a murder mystery with a ghost story. 

A well-to-do woman is brutally murdered while refurbishing an old estate in the Irish countryside.  Her twin sister who has clairvoyant abilities, Darcy Odello, travels to the property to uncover the facts behind the case.  She also carries with her a creepy wooden mannequin. 

The build-up in this movie is expertly crafted and every element of it screams Halloween. 

Older And Lesser Known Classics

If you’re tired of watching the same standard Halloween movies every year, here are some ideas to spice up your spooky season watch list…

The Innocents

A more obscure but well loved cult classic; The Innocents is a beautifully filmed black-and-white gothic ghost tale produced in 1961 about a Governess (Miss Giddens) hired by a wealthy patron to watch over two orphaned children who seem normal at first, but start to act very strangely. 

Like most supernatural movies of this time period, the story is a slow burn with creepy atmosphere.  The horror comes from the ambiguity and the audience not knowing if what the main character is experiencing is real.  Is Miss Giddens seeing ghosts?  Are the children possessed?  Or, is she losing her sanity?

In The Mouth Of Madness

A cult classic that is getting a lot more attention in recent years, John Carpenter’s “In The Mouth Of Madness” is a lot like his film “The Thing”.  Audiences just didn’t understand the genius of it at the time.  It took a few decades before people were finally ready. 

The movie is an homage to the interdimensional horror of H.P. Lovecraft which asks:  What if our world was nothing more than a thin barrier between humanity and a dark realm where creatures older than time reside, waiting to break through and devour everything?  What if, through our own bungling, we ended up tearing a hole into that terrible place?

In The Mouth If Madness has all the dark humor Carpenter is known for along with a more unfamiliar foray into cosmic horror.

Dead Alive (a.k.a Braindead) 

Before Peter Jackson went down in film history for his beloved Lord Of The Rings trilogy, he was better known for making some of the weirdest and most disgusting low budget horror films of all time.  The pinnacle of these films has to be “Dead Alive”, also known as “Braindead”. 

An overzealous zoo keeper hijacks a cursed “Sumatran Rat Monkey” from forbidden tribal grounds and sends it to New Zealand, where it ends up biting the psychopathic mother of Lionel Cosgrove.  The poor guy is already held hostage by the overbearing old woman and she sabotages him every time he meets a nice girl.  But now, she’s turning into some kind of undead creature, and the rest of the town will follow if he doesn’t man up and fight back. 

Will his newfound love for local grocery girl Paquita Sanchez help him to defeat an invasion from hell?

This movie is an unbelievable gore fest and for strong stomachs only.  Also famous for the line:  “I kick ass for the Lord!”

The Blob (1988 Remake)

Another gore fest, but with more traditional storytelling, is a remake of the 1958 classic starring Steve McQueen.  This version is far more frightening and the incredible practical effects make you long for the days before everything was lazy and CG. 

A rebellious small town teen (Brian Flagg) must use his cunning to stop the invasion of a formless gooey invader that uses acid to envelop and digest every living thing it touches.  He also has to contend with a government agency that might not have the best interests of the town in mind. 

The Witches 

Based on Roald Dahl’s dark fantasy novel, “The Witches” (1990 version) follows Luke, a young boy who lost his parents in a terrible accident.  Luke goes to live with his eccentric but loving grandmother (Helga) who tells him scary stories about the hidden world of witches.  Unlike the more innocuous and cartoonish characters of popular fiction, Helga warns Luke that witches are, in fact, real, and they are murderous monsters who prey on children. 

When Luke and his Grandmother travel to a seaside hotel, Luke realizes that his grandmother was right – The resort is infested with hideous witches disguised as normal women, and they’re hatching an evil plot to kill thousands of innocent kids.  Unfortunately, they turn him into a mouse before he can warn anyone.   

Anyone who grew up in the 1980s and early 1990s probably remembers this film, but it has faded as a Halloween classic in recent years.  Perhaps because it is a family film, but like many kids movies of the era, it doesn’t pull any punches with the scares.  The concept of a boy and his grandmother hunting down evil witches is by itself worth a watch.