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Shanta Plansinis
Everyone loves watching scary movies in October, of course. But true fright fans know no calendar. For real aficionados of the dark cinematic arts, any month, any day is a good time for horror, and Netflix is a proverbial graveyard full of terrifying delights waiting to be streamed.
A key film in the new wave of smash-hit mainstream horror (see also Sinister, The Conjuring), Insidious is the one with the creepy kid, the astral plane and the demon hiding behind the Big Red Door. Watch it alone, and completely scare your own pants off.
In a rare example of Hollywood sci-fi-horror thoughtfulness, Annihilation has grand concepts in mind, ideas about self-destruction and rebirth. The film follows cellular biologist Lena (Portman) as she ventures to The Shimmer, an anomalous electromagnetic field, to discover the truth about what happened to her husband Kane (Isaac), who visited The Shimmer and returned in poor health and his memory missing. Spooky stuff.
In this devilish subversion of the typical body-swap comedy, Vince Vaughn is an ageing serial killer who wishes upon a cursed dagger and ends up trading consciousness with a bullied teenage girl (Kathryn Newton). Genius, right? Okay, so that premise could easily flop. But director Christopher Landon (Happy Death Day) finds the ideal balance between knowing humour and serious gore. The only way to improve it would be to make Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan the leads.
This unexpected zombie hit broke records when it debuted in theaters, becoming the first Korean film of 2016 to reach 10 million theatergoers. After a zombie apocalypse breaks out across Korea, passengers must fight for survival aboard a high speed train filled with bloodthirsty zombies in every car.
With a subversive holiday setting and some solid slasher kills that sit outside of the traditional horror movie rules, this classic film will have you ready for both Christmas and Halloween in one sitting. When a group of sorority girls start getting some anonymous phone calls over winter break, it all seems like good fun until some of them start going missing. A remake is due in theaters on Dec. 13.
This family-oriented film centers on the fallout after a global outbreak of a deadly disease. Seeking refuge from the sickness, Paul (Joel Edgerton) has hidden his family away in a secluded forest location only to encounter another family also seeking shelter. However, as distrust builds between the families, the invisible threat of infection becomes just as terrifying as any horror monster.
Horror legend Clive Barker wrote and directed this classic, which set off a massive franchise spanning more than six sequels. When Frank Cotton (Sean Chapman) buys and solves a mysterious puzzle box, he accidentally opens a portal to a different dimension where sadomasochistic beings called cenobites reside. Although terrifying in appearance, the cenobites are quite articulate, bringing a new flavor to the typical horror film villain and creating a rich horror universe with dynamic characters and, of course, some gory scenes.
After growing up in an orphanage, Laura (Beln Rueda) decides to return and convert it into a home for sick children with her husband. Once there, however, her own son goes missing, and Laura begins hearing spirits throughout the house.
Mike Flanagan had already built a reputation as a rock-steady horror filmmaker by 2016, but the sense of "holy crap, this guy can do anything" became set in stone once he took on a prequel to a critically-derided movie about an evil ouija board and made one of the scariest movies of the last decade. Ouija: Origin of Evil takes us to the 1970s, where fake psychic Alice Zander (Elizabeth Reaser) and her two daughters, Lina (Annalise Basso) and Doris (Lulu Wilson), perform seances for paying customers in the wake of Alice's husband dying. Doris, the youngest, spices up the act with the introduction of a ouija board, but the cursed item makes things all too real when it not only sends a dark spirit into the girl's body but exposes the deep-seated evil ingrained in the Zander's house. There is, to be very clear, absolutely no reason for Ouija: Origin of Evil to be good at all, so it's a downright shock that it's this horrifying and effective. And, because it's Flanagan we're talking about here, there's also a potent dramatic heart beating underneath all those bumps in the night. --Vinnie Mancuso
It's a common trope: a little kid has a crush on their sexy teenage babysitter. But Netflix's original flick The Babysitter turns that on its head, by making the hot babysitter also happen to be part of a Satanic cult. The cult - who has brought their ceremony into young Cole's house - will stop at nothing to prevent Cole from spreading their secret. It's not really a "scary" horror film; it's more goofy, super gory, and a kind of throwback to the campy horror of the 1980s. - Alyse Wax
The first installment of Netflix's Fear Street trilogy of films is an absolute blast from start to finish. Very much drawing influence from Scream, this R-rated slasher takes place in the town of Shadyville, where people going back decades have a habit of going on violent killing sprees. Rumors swirl that it's all to do with a witch's curse from the 1600s (which is covered in the third movie), and in this 1994-set film a group of teenagers find themselves the target of a bevy of masked killers as the try to figure out what's going on and how to survive it. At the center of the story is a queer romance that sets this apart from many other slashers of its ilk, and there's enough comedic relief to keep this from being bogged down as a horror film of the self-serious type. Again the Scream comparisons are apt, so if you're in for a spooky good time that also sets up a mythology that is concluded in the next two Fear Street movies, give Fear Street Part One: 1994 a whirl. - Adam Chitwood
It's tempting to loop all of the Fear Street films into one entry because they're such a satisfying (you might even say limited series-like) whole, but they're also so stylistically distinct and uniquely effective, they're worth singling out on their own. As for the second installment, 1978 takes audiences back to another Shadyside massacre, this time inspired by the summer camp horror trend of the 70s and 80s. Anchored around the story of two estranged sisters finding their way back to each other despite their differences, 1978 unleashes the Nightwing killer scene in the first film while investigating the story behind how he became a cursed mass murderer and deepening the established mythology and character work in the process.
I wouldn't recommend watching them out of order on your first watch but if you're looking to head back into fear Street and don't have time to watch the whole trilogy, 1978 is easily the most self-contained of all three, but good luck not immediately hitting play on the next one. - Haleigh Foutch
The final film in the trilogy, Fear Street Part Three: 1666 brings it all together by traveling to the origins of the curse, so if you're looking for a bit of period horror with a big action payoff, this is your best bet. It's stunning how writer-director Leigh Janiak created a distinct language for each installment, not just cinematically, but in the horror traditions she employs. In keeping, 1666 is the darkest of the three, delving into the rotted core of society behind the Shadyside curse. But Janiak keeps a tight tonal command, never fully abandoning the fun spirit that makes her trilogy such a treat.
With that in mind, one of the most pleasurable things to do each October is curl up with a good horror movie and feel the goosebumps gather on the back of your neck. But how do you know if something is a good horror movie, exactly? You watch it for yourself, or you trust the experts, of course! For instance, the most popular streaming service in the world, Netflix, offers a cornucopia of chillers, but which are the ones that might be worth your time? Our staff has put their heads together and come up with the below list. Enjoy.
These movies, set in three different time periods and invoking three different horror styles were released weekly almost as an extended boxset. It was a smart move and the release felt like an event as viewers waited to see how the stories would interlink and loop back to the 1994 setting of number one. Leigh Janiak directs the series which owes a debt to Stranger Things as well as, of course, its horror predecessors including Scream, Friday the 13th and even The Witch. The movies are based on the Fear Street books by R.L Stine and so have a YA vibe as well as a bit of social commentary as the youths of Shadyside seem to be cursed as opposed to their privileged neighbors in Sunnyvale.
But Origin of Evil outdoes its predecessor in every way thanks to the involvement of director Mike Flanagan, who co-wrote the movie with Jeff Howard. Still early in his career, Flanagan brings everything you expect to Ouija: Origin of Evil, such as strong performances from his stock players (including Elizabeth Reaser and Henry Thomas), as well as long conversations and monologues about faith, despair, and the meaning of life.
One of the better Blumhouse chillers to come out of the 2010s, Sinister is the case of a brilliant elevator pitch meeting a superior pair of talents in director Scott Derrickson and star Ethan Hawke to bring it to life.
This 2016 effort could not possibly be more timely as it sympathizes, and terrorizes, an Iranian single mother and child in 1980s Tehran. Like a draconian travel ban, Shideh (Narges Rashidi) and her son Dorsa (Avin Manshadi) are malevolently targeted by a force of supreme evil.
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