There’s only one day left until Halloween, but it’s still not too late to find something scary to watch.
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it → ’ → something
Like a lot of people who grew up in religious homes, I was strongly discouraged from watching horror movies (they invite demons!).
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they → grow → demons
Fortunately, I was also allowed to stay up late… alone, which is how I discovered TNT’s “MonsterVision” segment.
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I → allow → segment
It introduced me to the worlds of Stephen King, Alfred Hitchock and Wes Craven.
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It → introduce → King
Now, I watch horror year-round and given that it’s one of the most popular film genres, I know I’m not alone.
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I → watch → genres
While many stick to classics, like the Halloween franchise or, my personal favorite, The Shining, some of the scariest films don’t always lean on gratuitous violence.
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some → stick → violence
They subtly display the scarier aspects of the human experience, such as guilt and loss.
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They → display → guilt
Here are 11 horrifying (and potentially disturbing) flicks — ranging from scary good to” I wish I didn’t watch this” — to stream or rent before spooky season ends.
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season → range → this
Married couple Bjørn (Morten Burian) and Louise (Sidsel Siem Koch) go on holiday to Italy with their daughter Agnes (Liva Forsberg).
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Bjørn → go → daughter
While there, they meet a Dutch couple named Patrick (Fedja van Huêt) and Karin (Karina Smulders), and their mute son, Abel (Marius Damslev), who’s about the same age as Agnes.
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who → meet → Agnes
Finding that everyone gets along, Bjørn and Louise accept an invitation to visit the family for a quick getaway, but things quickly become less than friendly when both Patrick and Karin begin displaying behavior that borders on the inappropriate.
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that → find → inappropriate
James McAvoy starred in the American recreation of this Danish psychological horror, but the original is much better and a not-so-gentle reminder that it doesn’t always pay to be polite.
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it → star → horror
If you see any films on this list, make it this one.
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it → see → list
Directed by Pascal Plante, Red Rooms follows a questionable protagonist, Kelly-Anne (Juliette Gariépy).
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Rooms → direct → protagonist
A model by day and poker player by night, Kelly-Anne is obsessed with the trial of Ludovic Chevalier, who has been accused of not only killing three teenage girls but filming their grisly murders and uploading the footage to what is known as “red rooms” on the dark web.
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what → obsess → web
While the third film is yet to be found, most people, including the viewer, assume Chevalier’s guilt.
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people → find → guilt
But what does Kelly-Anne think, and why is she showing up to his trial every day?
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she → think → trial
Other than some blood-curdling audio, Plante has an almost Hitchcockian approach to this thriller-horror hybrid, allowing audiences’ minds to fill in the blanks to what never appears on film.
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what → curdle → film
The movie not so subtly critiques cultural voyeurism, especially when it comes to true crime, making the viewer confront their own apathy.
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viewer → critique → apathy
Highly praised by critics and horror fans as a modern-day horror classic, if this doesn’t get under your skin, you might just be a psychopath.
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you → praise → skin
A group of friends takes a hiking trip in Northern Sweden after losing a friend in a robbery gone wrong.
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group → take → robbery
After one of them gets injured, they decide to cut through the forest to get back to civilization.
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they → injure → civilization
They soon regret this decision, as each begins witnessing unsettling things, including a mutilated moose and bad dreams, when they descend deeper into the woods.
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they → regret → woods
An allegory for survivor’s guilt, The Ritual is an atmospheric nightmare that never fails to remind me why I don’t do wilderness adventures.
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I → fail → adventures
If you’re a horror fan, you’ve probably seen Wolf Creek, the 2005 movie about three Australian backpackers who have the misfortune of getting roadside help from sadist Mick Taylor (loosely based off real-life serial killer Ivan Milat).
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who → ’re → Milat
Unlike the original, which is often characterized as a slow burn, the sequel gets to the grit and gore within the first 10 minutes of the film.
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sequel → characterize → film
The movie largely follows Paul, who inadvertently gets in the way of Mick and one of his victims.
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who → follow → victims
Feeling robbed of his kill, Mick makes it his business to make Paul pay in a nail-biting game of cat and mouse throughout the Australian outback and, eventually, Mick’s home.
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Paul → feel → outback
Lovers of blood and guts will get a kick out of this, but I personally could only watch the film once.
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I → get → film
Suicide Club follows three detectives investigating a string of gruesome mass suicides in Japan.
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Club → follow → Japan
At first, they seem to be unrelated, but odd clues, including a sketchy website and a roll of skin (I know, gross!), indicate something more sinister is at play.
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something → seem → play
Is there a cult pressuring civilians to end themselves, or is it something else?
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it → pressure → themselves
Interpreted in some horror circles as a retelling of the Pied Piper, the movie explores themes of social conformity, isolation and the power of media.
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movie → interpret → media
This 1960 French-Italian horror doesn’t have much in the way of jump scares but it is just as unsettling as Michael Pearce’s Beast or Robert Eggers’ The VVitch.
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it → have → Beast
Les Yeux Sans Visage, which translates to Eyes Without a Face, follows a mad-scientist doctor (Pierre Brasseur) obsessed with fixing his daughter Christiane (Édith Scob), who was disfigured in an accident that he caused.
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he → translate → that
His grand plan? Kidnap young women who bear a resemblance and perform a facial transplant, of course.
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who → kidnap → course
The mask that Christiane wears is said to have loosely inspired the featureless face of the William Shatner mask worn by the character Michael Myers in Halloween.
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Christiane → wear → Halloween
Archaeologist Scarlett Marlowe (Perdita Weeks) seeks to follow in her deceased father’s footsteps by finding the Philosopher’s Stone — yes, like in Harry Potter.
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Marlowe → seek → Potter
After she and one of her friends hypothesize it is likely beneath the catacombs in Paris, France, she and a small group begin the descent through the tunnels.
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she → hypothesize → tunnels
As they walk, it soon becomes clear they’re not really venturing miles underground but through each circle of hell, as described in Dante’s Inferno.
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they → walk → Inferno
…and 29 more, not listed.
The Aporia
