Favourite Horror Movie(s)? Halloween Watchlist!

[sisterdiecut]

oooh I am definitely adding some new titles to my own to-watch list after reading this thread!

for my own recommendations:

I 2nd creaturefeature's rec of The Ritual! the building suspense in this was fantastic, & the creature design is SO unique/unnerving--ever since I saw this film, I've actually kind of wanted to get a figurine of the creature to lurk sinisterly on my shelf, lol 

a more classic rec would be Ginger Snaps, which is about female teenage werewolves--plenty of blood & gore, but very campy as well  (if you've not seen it before, this one is actually a trilogy--although I would only recommend the first 2, as the 3rd film is Very Bad, lol)

another classic is Black Christmas, which is a really great 70s slasher (& actually one of the first of the genre!). despite being a slasher, the gore is actually pretty tame in this one--but it's still a fantastic watch & plenty scary. the writing/characterization in this one is pretty great as well.

(a last, non-horror spooky rec is Only Lovers Left Alive, which is essentially an art film starring Tilda Swinton & Tom Hiddleston as a world-weary vampire couple. the music & set design is very moody, & I personally enjoy having this one on as festive October background  )

[TheMessengerVEVO]

The Stuff is genuinely one of the few horror movies ive enjoyed, its both so stupid and yet so surprisingly competent, love it

[marsworms]

Loooooove horror movies!!! Lots of great picks already mentioned in the thread, so I'll just recommend a handful that haven't been brought up :3

• Noroi: The Curse (2005), one of my all-time favorite films, and until very recently pretty hard to watch outside of Japan! Found footage/faux documentary horror, a paranormal investigator grasping at seemingly disparate leads that twist and spiral together into a larger, cosmic horror-y conclusion. Also heartily recommend, well, really anything else by director Koji Shiraishi, but especially Occult (2009) and the Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi (2012-2023) series :3
• Island of Terror (1966), a campy and picture perfect British creature feature, with an island off the coast of Scotland terrorized by bone-melting monsters! Also starring Peter Cushing, who has come up in a bunch of other movies already mentioned!!
• The Night of the Hunter (1955), a dark gothic fairy tale sort of vibe, set in West Virginia during the great depression, where a conman and killer presenting as a travelling preacher attempts to hunt down a pair of little kids that are the only thing standing between him and a hidden stash of money. Nothing supernatural here, but it feels so perfectly like October to me :)
• Phenomena (1985) is a crazy murder mystery from Italian director Dario Argento, who is probably more famous for the movie Suspiria. Phenomena has a young Jennifer Connelly one year before she was in Labyrinth (not a horror movie but gosh what a fun time!!!), Donald Pleasance (who was in Halloween and a bunch of other stuff) as an entomologist, a chimp, and a major plot point involving a psychic connection with insects.
• and I'd be remiss if I didn't mention one that's kinda personally comforting (despite being so tragic and body horror-y): David Cronenberg's THE FLY (1986)!! I just love this movie, everyone in it does such a good job and I love how gross it gets, and how genuinely touching and heartstring-tugging watching him slowly become something else (a fly, obv). So good!!

Lots else I could've mentioned, but I figured five real good recs is as good a place to stop as any :3 Also wanted to give like, a good cross section of cool things to check out; genuinely, y'all should watch these !!!

[plasticseaslug]

i have to assume that you all have already watched scream, but aside from the blair witch project (which someone else has already recommended) it's my absolute favourite horror movie.

it's pretty violent, but there's no outright gore, in terms of warnings. i think it's a lot of fun though!

another good one that's more off a horror comedy (i suppose) is re-animator. i havent seen it in a while so i cant give as good of warnings but i'm sure there's a doesthedogdie for it!

i've been meaning to watch the lighthouse and the haunting of hill house, maybe i'll finally get to them this year.

Blair Witch is awesome! Genuinely, it's the only horror movie that I genuinely screamed while watching.

[AngelEye]

I'm going to prepare a couple of scary movies for Halloween!

• The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
• Ju-On: The Grudge (2002)
• Ring (1998) or The Ring (2002) (haven't decided yet)

Yeah, they're all classics... but you can't go wrong with those! I'm not expecting to be scared either. Scary movies aren't really scary to me. Psychological movies are always interesting with good writing.

[halcybutton]

seconding the lighthouse, such an uncomfortable film

donnie darko isn't exactly horror, more of a thriller. still a classic for me

martyrs (2008, french movie) was definitely messed up. there is a long, long list of triggers, i definitely recommend looking at does the dog die for this film before watching. it's a lot. if you want to be made uncomfortable and disturbed, i think this is a good option. i don't know if i'd call it like, a good film, but i think it's worth a watch if you can handle it

american psycho, another more thriller (and comedic, to me) film, but i love it (and the book)

the descent freaked me out as a kid. now caves scare me for different reasons, but this film did help fuel that fear for a while

cube is a fascinating film to me. first time i saw it was on a random tv channel at midnight or so and i've had it in my mind since. a youtuber i like also did an analysis on it that helped intrigue me more lol

[AngelEye]

Not a horror movie itself, but Wendigoon's disturbing movie iceberg was really interesting.
⚠️ Huge content warning if you want to watch it though!! ⚠️

[pixiez]

HIII I'm a HUGE fan of horror movies, I'm gonna try and recommend stuff I haven't seen posted here yet haha.

• phantom of the paradise: a horror/comedy/rock musical with elements of faust and dorian gray mixed in, because... why not? VIOLENTLY 70s, incredible soundtrack, gorgeous aesthetic, and a whooole lotta violence, much of which is just kinda cartoony. nothing SUPER triggering is shown onscreen, though there's implied sexual assault, a racial slur used at one point, a homophobic slur used at another point, the prison system, and prbably more i'm forgetting,, it's genuinely one of my favourite movies though it's very gorgeous and very silly even if it is, yknow, very much a 1970s movie with problematic aspects.
• the thing: i hate to say it, but this is pretty much among us before among us lol. what if you were stuck at an antarctic research station with an evil alien that can mimic any person around you and wants you dead? some INSANE practical fx body horror and also animal death, so definitely not for everyone, but GOD i love how freaky it is!
• lisa frankenstein: this is super new and apparently critics hated it but i thought it was a BLAST! black comedy horror film that's also kind of a romcom. traumatized girl gets a frankenstein's monster, they fall in love while also, ahem, gathering various missing body parts of his. has the genre-typical violence but also some emotional abuse if that's something that makes folks uncomfortable.
• i saw the tv glow: 90s nostalgia and trans metaphors. not really a HORROR movie but unsettling and has a couple jumpscares. almost made me cry. literally SO good. about two childhood friends who bond over a tv show that's, a lot more than a tv show. that's all i can say...
• death becomes her: goldie hawn and meryl streep play zombies who hate each other but homoerotically. need i say more? yeah there's a whole thinkpiece in there about misogyny and ageism and stuff but. i repeat myself. goldie hawn and meryl streep. homoerotic zombies. tw for some fatphobia and body horror.

i will confess i'm very sleepy so maybe double-check stuff on does the dog die or similar websites that catalog triggering content if that's a concern for you <3[/font]

[swamptrogg]

Lots of good picks in here! Since I haven't seen anyone post it yet, Return of the Living Dead (1985) has one of my favorite zombies of all time (ILY TARMAN) and is a really fun movie to show people! The characters are wild, and I couldn't predict what was happening at any point because of how off the wall it gets. One of the best of cheesy 80's horror imo. CW for nudity, animal death, standard gore. Tarman zombie spoiler'd in case you don't wanna see a *really wet* zombie. 

Spoiler

I just LOVE the design and the way he moves so much. I miss when practical effects and costuming was fun like this!

[close]

[marsworms]

Lots of good picks in here! Since I haven't seen anyone post it yet, Return of the Living Dead (1985) has one of my favorite zombies of all time (ILY TARMAN) and is a really fun movie to show people! The characters are wild, and I couldn't predict what was happening at any point because of how off the wall it gets. One of the best of cheesy 80's horror imo. CW for nudity, animal death, standard gore. Tarman zombie spoiler'd in case you don't wanna see a *really wet* zombie. 

Spoiler

I just LOVE the design and the way he moves so much. I miss when practical effects and costuming was fun like this!

[close]

TARMANNNNNNN !!!!! Return of the living dead is such a fun movie, and literally any time tarman is on screen he steals the show. Love all the fun punks with all their completely different fashion styles too lol. there's a bunch of return of the living dead sequels that ive heard mixed things about but haven't seen myself.