We have arrived at that time of the year! So put on your coziest pajamas, switch off the lamps and light the candles - it's scary movie time.
A teenage girl barfing out the devil and crab crawling down the stairs is the perfect antidote for the sickly sweet pumpkin spice everything everywhere all at once high you've been on this past month.
It's time to stop romping through the leaves and come back down to earth where it naturally smells like dirt, worms, decomposing leaves and if you're lucky, the odd time, laundry and McDonalds.
The official transition from the joyous, hand holding, cider scented month of October, to the serial killer musk of November - is known as Halloween.
And these are the movies to transition with.
Table of Contents
Barbarian
87% liked this movie
Barbarian uses humour, gore, satire and jump scares to create a small budget horror film that's absolutely made for watching Halloween night. I'm not a horror movie aficionado but I said out loud, "Why would she ... ????" at least once every minute.
I think that means it's good. Plus Justin Long is in it. I mean, it's ridiculous, but being ridiculous is a classic Halloween movie move.
Knock at the Cabin
62% liked this movie (not a universally high rating, but I did like it)
Based on a book that won the Horror Writers Association's Bram Stoker Award, M. Night Shyamalan's Knock at the Cabin is an apocalyptic psychological horror film.
We Have a Ghost
76% liked this movie
This is the one to watch if you're actually afraid of scary movies. It's just silly. Cute, entertaining and easily enjoyed without needing to leave the lights on for a week after watching it.
Bird box
83% liked this movie
I somehow shunned Bird Box when it came out in 2018. I finally tried to watch it again this year and was STUNNED I had actually started this movie and then stopped it 1 minute into it thinking I didn't like it. I liked it immensely. If you haven't seen it, THIS is the movie I recommend you watch this Halloween.
It isn't a typical Halloween movie but it's incredibly suspenseful. In fact it was so suspenseful, I checked my Apple watch to see how much my heart rate was increasing while watching it. A lot. It was increasing by a lot.
The Menu
78% liked this movie
Set entirely in an exclusive restaurant only accessible by boat, The Menu will entertain the shit out of you. That's all you need to know.
(last year's classic picks follow)
The Exorcist
87% liked this movie
There is no scarier movie. There just isn't. I haven't watched it since I was 12 in my parent's basement. I only saw the version that was aired on television so it wasn't even the full scary version. I will never be the same again. We all knew it was going to be on the list, so I figured I'd get it out of the way right off the top.
Rosemary's Baby
86% liked this movie
A movie about a scary baby made by director Roman Polanski; a man who was charged with drugging and raping a 13 year old. Watch it or don't. But it's a scary movie classic and sometimes you have to separate the art from the artist.
Carrie
89% liked this movie
Girl gets tormented. Girl gets revenge. Any movie that ends with us feeling better about our lives because "Hey, you know what? At least no one has poured pigs blood on me this year." is a good choice.
Scream
86% liked this movie
The first in the classic, campy, horror movies franchise.
Ghostbusters
86% liked this movie
Who you gonna call? Your favourite Canadian friend to thank them, because without Canadians Ivan Reitman, Dan Aykroyd and Rick Moranis, is there even a Ghostbusters?
Practical Magic
90% liked this movie
Yes Virginia, there is a Halloween Rom Com movie starring Sandra Bullock.
Us
74% liked this movie
A perfectly respectable family gets terrorized by their doppelgängers.
The Witch
78% liked this movie
The Witch is a period piece taking place in 1630s New England.
Don't Breathe
91% liked this movie
Three thieves break into the home of a blind man after hearing he has $300,000 cash in the house. They figure it'll be an easy job. They're wrong.
Donnie Darko
92% liked this movie
The psychological thriller that cemented Jake Gyllenhaal as a talent, not just a Jake Gyllenhaal face.
Get Out
89% liked this movie
My first try of this film I turned it off. Not because it was too scary, but because I just didn't like it. I gave it a second shot. I changed my mind. It's a brilliant look at systemic racism.
Host
83% liked this movie
Host is THE movie made for this moment in time. A movie about the isolation of Covid 19, shot entirely in isolation, about a ZOOM call. The actors shot alone, did their own special effects and shooting with instructions from director Rob Savage.
Contagion
87% liked this movie
Contagion. The similarities to the current pandemic are eerie both in the unpredictable nature of the virus and how it came to be. Even more eerie, is the fact that this predictive movie was made a decade before Covid hit.
Which will you be watching tonight? And how will you be setting yourself up for it? Candles? Popcorn? Blanket? BB Gun?
Of all your picks, Carrie is the one that scared the living bejesus out of me, as did The Exorcist when I first saw it (doesn't do anything for me in 2023, though). But the absolute bestest and spookiest ghost flick I have ever seen was 1980's "The Changeling", a Canadian film starring George C. Scott. I must have seen it a bajillion times since it first came out and it still creeps the snot out of me! Check it out - you are guaranteed to love it!
The Box! That's what I forgot. Creepy.
My two favorite vampire movies - Only Lovers Left Alive ( Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston) and Byzantium "is a classy and cult vampire movie directed by Neil Jordan" - highly recommend
Gotta add a goofy fav of mine - Hubie Halloween. A standard Adam Sandler fun romp with his typical cast of friends. As a former 4th generation embalmer and a Vietnam vet, I don't much need any make believe horror or blood and guts. lol
What! no Dr. Sleep? That will always be my first choice. Rebecca Ferguson and Zahn McClarnon portray such magnificent monsters. I re-watch Practical magic (always yes to Sandra Bullock) and the Menu (a bizarre take on the perils of ego run amok). Thanks for your list, Karen. There are a couple I haven’t seen.
Excellent choices and I've seen them all. Exorcist 3 is so underrated. Great characters-George C. Scott and Ed Flanders, and has some of the scariest scenes I've ever seen. I think it was the first movie to have someone crawling around on the ceiling. Keepers Creepers 1 & 2. An abandoned church, crows, and corn stalks and one of the creepiest monsters ever. The Ring. Spooky images that will haunt you and an actual mystery that unwinds. So good. 'IT' 1&2. The only movies that almost had me screaming in the theater. Warning: There is a clown and if you liked them before, you won't after.
I don't think horror movies and BB guns are a good mix...😮
And your list is scary enough for me... 😉
I'll just go eat some chocolate and never turn the lights out again. Ever...
I did like Practical Magic. And the small twisted part of me wants to click and watch some of these, but it likes scaring the crap outta me. So I try not to listen when it pops its head up. We'll see who wins... (Nobody. Nobody wins. eek!)
I was going to suggest another one, can't remember what it was, but Mermaid Down was good (& scary and gross.) Did have to cover my far few times. Now if I could just recall what I was going to suggest...
Aw, come on, really?
Rocky Horror Picture Show
Playing now at Hamilton’s Westdale Theatre
Enough said
Let me add Cabin in the Woods. Laugh out loud premise that requires horror to achieve. Clever. Great cast. Tropes turned on their ears.
As an FYI, and I have no association to it, but JustWatch app will tell you in a blink where all of these movies are streaming. Free but I pay for it because their app is amazing and detailed and they respond to you regarding troubleshooting personally!
As always thank you Karen!
I swear, it’s strange that my all time favorite film is a horror picture of profound importance but is also not on your list. It’s like being Canadian and not knowing about Canada’s greatest rock band of all time, The Tragically Hip. AKA The Hip- Not possible. By the way, I still mourn Gordon Downie’s passing.
My favorite movie is classified as “Horror” but I think of it as a “psychological suspense thriller” — It’s the only horror film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. That year it also won 4 other Oscars.
In 1991 that film, Silence of the Lambs, earned Oscars for: Best Director, Jonathan Demme. Best writing for an adaptation from a novel: (Silence of the Lambs, By Thomas Harris) screen adaptation by Ted Tally. Best Actor, Anthony Hopkins as psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter and of course, Best Actress, Jodie Foster for her portrayal of FBI Agent, Clarice Starling.
Unfortunately, in my opinion, the Academy snubbed a brilliant actor’s portrayal of serial killer, Jame Gumb AKA Buffalo Bill played by Ted Levine by not nominating him for his very memorable performance.
When that film was released, way back in ‘91, I could hardly stomach some of the scenes (as I’m a giant baby and an embarrassment to go to even the mildest of scary movies with.) I think I missed at least 1/4 of the film due to sliding under the seat in front of me while peeing my pants. So, in my own urine I decided to read the original trilogy by Thomas Harris. The first in the series is, in fact, Red Dragon, followed by Silence of the Lambs and lastly the novel, “Hannibal” finishes Harris’s trifecta of perfection.
I became a television writer (living in La Jolla, CA) for Hollywood produced comedy “stuff” around the time that “Silence” was released however I didn’t read the novels until 2003.( A long time to sit in pee pants.) I was transfixed and dare say, transformed by Thomas Harris’s brilliant narrative style and only wished I could, one day, string words together so eloquently.
I bought, at auction, an original, signed shooting script of Silence of the Lambs and other movie memorabilia from the same film (I don’t own other movie collectibles except for a few things from Red Dragon) I found Hannibal to be a very weak and disappointing piece of Hollywood trash and still avoid it.
I had original first editions of Thomas Harris’s books and Silence of the Lambs was a rare signed book. The three books were stolen from my office and I’m still horrified by such treacherous human behavior. I know the thief but can never prove it so it’s a lost cause- the shooting script is still in my possession but not displayed. (People who take special things kill the soul.)
I also believe that any list of great horror films needs to include “Misery” - also a psychological thriller but wow! Scared the pee right out of me. It definitely passed the pee test. I really love Stephen King and am very envious of his work ethic and I’d love 15 minutes alone with his PIN and an ATM.
So as usual Karen, you’ve jerked my memory right down a rabbit hole.
Please forgive my long winded response to your fabulous blog post.
I’ll add to your comments (wonderful), Manhunter was marvellous and tense, the first of the trilogy made (Hannibal, movie, ack, ptooey, TV, better). A baby faced William Peterson and a fantastic Lecter played by Succession- patriarch Brian Cox, who delivers delectable lines, and Tom Noonan as memorable Francis Dollarhyde. Director Michael Mann (Miami Vice!) ran out of money so it wrapped up cheaply but great movie. I love movies so thanks for allowing me verbal outpouring.
My problem with Manhunter (which I’ve watched at least twice) is that it veers far from the novel. Red Dragon first introduced us to Hannibal Lector (which for reasons unknown to me is spelled incorrectly as Lecktor by Mann throughout his arguably more stylized telling of that story.) Mann’s approach is more about his uses of color and lighting to punctuate Will Graham’s dogged pursuit of Francis Dolarhyde’s character called by The Tattler “The Tooth Fairy.” I’ll grant you, Man Hunter had strong moments and Mann’s Miami Vice colors and decor add something but for me it became distracting and by not staying true to the original story, Mann seemed at times to struggle getting back on course.
I’m not discounting your well thought out and reasoned discussion about Manhunter. It was the first to step into the pool of Harris’s work and it preceded Silence of the Lambs by 4 years. For me, in a critique I cannot leave off by not mentioning Mann’s musical score choices. The kindest thing I can say about that is, someone else should have been in the position of choosing it. It really is weird and somewhat annoying.
For me, it needed to stay much truer to what Harris’s story told us about Dolarhyde‘a obsession and less about his funky decor.
You might be able to tell that I’ve had a few discussions about this exact topic with people who really love the direction Mann took the story even if, at times, it in no way resembled the book.
For me, due to Michael Mann’s strong use of color and his artistic stylization, the film now seems very dated and catapults me right into, Terminator 1 1980s kitsch. Like trying to rewatch Miami Vice now and somehow take it seriously.
I appreciate the fact that Mann had a substantially limited budget so I take that into account.
You’ve made me think about Manhunter enough so I’ll watch it again and make an effort to see in it, the points you’ve made. I always enjoy a good game of “changing my mind.”
Thank you for a civil discussion with rational observations.
The image has zero to do with a damn thing in this conversation but one day as the sun was dropping low, I turned a corner and stopped to get out of my car to capture three “trees” that I’ve since printed and framed. It’s called Still Life.
Sorry another great one. "Shadow of the Vampire" with Willam Defoe and John M. What if Nosferatu was real?
"The Others" 2001 with Nicole Kidman. Twisty, creepy and high class.
Psycho 1960. Never watched another horror movie after watching that one.
Scary Movies? - phafooy - I can do you one better, live in the US!
Excellent list! I have watched them all except for the Exorcist, because, well, its The Exorcist!
These 2 are not movies, but he creep factor is high - The Haunting of hill House (Netflix version) and Midnight Mass (also on Netflix)
Creepy, shocking, & both series kept me invested in the characters. The priest in Midnight Mass deserves an Emmy!!!
I really liked Midnight Mass too. Just campy enough! A perfect October series to watch. ~ karen!
Has anyone seen Mr. Sardonicus? Good old creepy movie with a good plot.