Favourite Horror Movie(s)? Halloween Watchlist!

[Guest]

Hello everyone! I've come to ask what your favourite horror movie(s) is/are so that I can add them to a Halloween movie watching list!

Every October me and my friends do a movie marathon where we watch one horror movie a day leading up to and including Halloween! This will be the third year we're doing it, so we've seen quite a few, but we're not opposed to re-watching and we're even doing some re-watches this year!

But I'd love to know if anyone has any recommendations? It would be useful if you could include trigger warnings too for other users and specifically because I cannot handle too much gore. A good example for a base is that the Saw series has too much gore for me and as such I cannot watch them.

In return, I offer some of my favourite movies from previous October watches! Just a warning that some of the triggers listed include spoilers, so I'm putting the spoiler triggers under a spoiler tag if you'd like to be surprised when watching!!

• Possession (1981): "A young woman left her family for an unspecified reason. The husband determines to find out the truth and starts following his wife. At first, he suspects that a man is involved. But gradually, he finds out more and more strange behaviors and bizarre incidents that indicate something more than a possessed love affair." Trigger warnings: Sex and nudity, violence and gore, murder, miscarriage, lots of blood, lots of screaming!
  
  Spoiler

  SFX monsters, monster sex

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• Kill List (2011): "Nearly a year after a botched job, a hitman takes a new assignment with the promise of a big payoff for three killings. What starts off as an easy task soon unravels, sending the killer into the heart of darkness." Trigger warnings: Sex and nudity, extreme violence and gore (I struggled with certain scenes in this movie), non explicit scene regarding child abuse (the audio is a bit difficult to sit through but that's it)
  
  Spoiler

  cult activity

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• Ichi The Killer: "As sadomasochistic yakuza enforcer Kakihara searches for his missing boss he comes across Ichi, a repressed and psychotic killer who may be able to inflict levels of pain that Kakihara has only dreamed of." Trigger warnings: Sex and nudity, sexual assault, torture scenes, gore (manageable due to the SFX nature of it, there's just a lot of it since it's the main theme of the movie)
• House (1977): "Hoping to find a sense of connection to her late mother, Gorgeous takes a trip to the country to visit her aunt at their ancestral house. She invites her six friends, Prof, Melody, Mac, Fantasy, Kung Fu, and Sweet, to join her. The girls soon discover that there is more to the old house than meets the eye." Trigger warnings: Glitching, unreality, nudity, violent scenes (but the movie plays as a comedy, so they aren't graphic!)

[wygolvillage]

I always feel like the odd one out because despite being a horror fan I usually prefer watching children's Halloween media to get in the seasonal mood (maybe because I already watch horror year round?), so stuff like Goosebumps episodes, Nightmare before Christmas, etc... I just think it speaks more to the "fun and spooky" vibes this time of year always gives me!

But here are some fun recs for horror I like:

-La Morte Vivante (1982)
Trigger warnings: cannibalism, gore (not on the level of the Saw films at all though, just putting it here to be safe since eyes get gouged out and flesh gets eaten lol), kind of a codependent relationship?
This movie is one I actually found via seeing it mentioned on someone's personal site! It's in one of my favorite little niche sub-genres, that being the lesbian vampire film, but La Morte Vivante is a really fresh take on it. I think the relationship between Catherine and Helene- with Helene nurturing and feeding her cannibalistic undead gal pal, all while Catherine becomes more and more horrified by her own bloodlust- is a really good emotional throughline that it's easy to get invested in between all the fake blood and screaming.

-Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972)
My favorite Hammer flick! It's so, so campy in the way only "Dracula gets resurrected by hippie teens in the 70s, written by people who have no idea how teenagers talk" can be. It's so fun and silly, but Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing give a great performance as usual.

-Suspiria (1977)
Trigger warnings: gore (again ymmv, just putting it there to be safe), creepy bugs, some brief depictions of ableism
I feel like everyone has already heard of Suspiria but I'm mentioning it anyway just in case. Susie Bannon begins going to a prestigious boarding school to learn dance shortly after the disappearance and murder of one of their students, who she witnesses running away the previous night. Of course, for the evil that lurks in the school, she already knows too much... Suspiria is notable for its aesthetic style, artful lighting, set design, and OMG THE SOUNDTRACK. It's an audiovisual feast, and suitably spooky. (I haven't seen the remake but it doesn't look as interesting to me)

EDIT:

Also, if you want to see one of the first ever horror movies, Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is must even if it's just to see the amazing set design...! My local vintage theatre is doing a showing of it next month with live organ playing, I hope work won't prevent me from seeing it lol

EDIT AGAIN:

ALSO The Craft is very fun for Halloween season, though definitely trigger warning for depictions of racism, S.A., bullying, suicidality, etc. Another one I think everyone has already heard of, but yeah.

[Guest]

@wygolvillage Thank you so much for all the recommendations! I actually really wanna watch Nightmare Before Christmas because I've never seen it before, but it's one of my moms favourite films! And Suspiria is SOOO GOOD UGH, the OST like you said and also the VISUALS? The colours of that movie are insane!!! I saw the remake after watching the original and I gotta say... The original is much much better in my opinion!

Deffo want to check out the titles on your list that I haven't seen, so thank you! 

[wygolvillage]

You're welcome!!! I hope you enjoy them :D

[ThunderPerfectWitchcraft]

Suspiria is damn good horror cinema. Many Daria Argento movies are great.

Surely you are aware of the work of Lucio Fulcio? He makes great Zombie movies, and really nailed the practical effects.

The audience here could also enjoy Hausu, a oldish japanese new wave horror film. Contains body transmutation, blood, and every form of obscenity.
If you want something extraordinary, pop a Jess Franco: I recommend "A virgin among the living death". Contains sex, blood, and bad acting ;).

Nosferatu by Werner Herzog is also great.

Also, @ wygolvillage: U know "Fährmann Maria" und "Der müde Tod"? Could be your kind of shit. :D

[MrsMoe]

The Shining is my favorite horror movie, but I feel like it's so iconic that you can't really recommend it to people. There's a high guarantee they've already seen it or at least know everything about it through pop-cultural osmosis. So instead, I want to recommend some horror movies that are relatively less mainstream.

Eraserhead (1977) - David Lynch's debut film about a man trying to get through a bizarre night of taking care of his severely deformed inhuman son. This one definitely leans hard on surreal horror, so be aware of that if you're looking for something more traditionally spooky. TW: sexual themes, body horror, organs.

Perfect Blue (1997) - An anime movie about a former Jpop star struggling with paranoia as she deals with her angry fanbase and a violent stalker. This movie is a super gripping look at how the entertainment industry and fan culture treat women, and I always uphold it as the greatest example of how powerful horror can be through animation. TW: sexual assault, eye trauma, stabbing, psychosis, stalking.

Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989) - A Japanese film about a man gradually transforming into a twisted monstrosity of metal machinery and flesh. This is a hardcore body horror classic and it has some of the greatest practical effects I've seen for any film. TW: sexual themes, sexual assault, gore, stabbing.

Braindead (1992) - A goofball gorefest from Percy Jackson during his early splatter days, about a horrible disease turning people into zombies and the main character trying to reign in the chaos. As I already said, this one is GORY and REALLY GROSS, so I wouldn't recommend it if that's a hang-up for you. TW: gore, sexual themes, body horror, organs, decapitation, eye trauma, stabbing.

The Lighthouse (2019) - The story of two men stuck inside a lighthouse and desperately trying to preserve their sanity. This one's a slow burn, but I say it's absolutely worth it for the brilliant atmosphere and acting. TW: sexual themes, choking, animal violence, head trauma.

[Guest]

Surely you are aware of the work of Lucio Fulcio?

Nope! Or well, maybe. I don't tend to watch a lot of movies besides during October friend watches, and I don't know any director besides Takashi Miike and David Lynch LOL, but I'll certainly look Lucio Fulcio up! Zombies are super scary to me so this could be fun!!

And thank you for all your other recommendations! I'm happy to be gathering a list to send to my movie friend :D!

@MrsMoe Omg... Tetsuo: The Iron Man is one of my FAVOURITES from previous October watches, and the OST of that film is otherworldly good... I still sometimes just sit and listen to it when I'm writing. And thank you for reminding me about Perfect Blue, I've been wanting to watch that film for a while and so even if it's not added to my friends list I'll likely watch it myself anyway!

Such good recommendations. Thank you all so much!!

[ThunderPerfectWitchcraft]

Nope! Or well, maybe. I don't tend to watch a lot of movies besides during October friend watches, and I don't know any director besides Takashi Miike and David Lynch LOL, but I'll certainly look Lucio Fulcio up!

Check out "The beyond", I like it best.
"City of the Living Dead" famously caused the introducing of age limits on VHS cassettes in western Germany =). The thing was repeatedly banned over the course of 30 years here.

I have read that Fulci was a partisan in World War 2, and that this influenced his movies. He also made some pretty tough western movies.

[Bede]

I'm seconding "Perfect Blue"! I was gonna recommend it myself, if nobody else did; it's my favorite horror movie of all time, and remains surprisingly relevant.

[creaturefeature]

The Lost Boys, its so 80s it hurts lol


The Thing for the special effects and atmopshere

Trollhunter (no not the cartoon), it pretty much says on the tin, a group of studends came across trolls, and they are not the friendly kind



The Ritual, its basically pagan horror with a norse mythology twist, I loved the creature design

NOPE, yeah I love its plot twist on aliens, nuff said.


Evil Dead (the original movies) very campy and over tope, Bruce Campel is a blast.

[soft-star]

Check out "The beyond", I like it best.
"City of the Living Dead" famously caused the introducing of age limits on VHS cassettes in western Germany =). The thing was repeatedly banned over the course of 30 years here.

I have read that Fulci was a partisan in World War 2, and that this influenced his movies. He also made some pretty tough western movies.

YESSS to The Beyond!! One of my absolute favorites! The Descent is my recommendation if you want to see a truly wonderful and terrifying movie. It's one of my very favorite films of all time. Another strong suggestion is Videodrome (and really almost anything by David Cronenberg). If you're looking for movies that you can access easily/for free I want to humbly recommend using the recommendation generator from my own site. Not all the recs are horror but the vast majority are and they're all available for free on Tubi!