It’s a week from Halloween so I thought I’d recommend some movies you can stream. I was going to put out a couple recommendations per day but instead I’m just going to drop them all and date them because let’s face it, I’m going to forget.
Tuesday, 10-24-17 Silents
Wednesday, 10-25-17 King
Pet Semetery is an older King adaption so some of the special effects don’t hold up, but the script is by Stephen King himself and it’s a film of one of his best novels. It’s sort of a new take on the short story “The Monkey’s Paw,” and it works magnificently. Stream it on Amazon Prime.
Gerald’s Game came out only a few weeks ago on Netflix. I got the chance to see it in a theater at Fantastic Fest, which I’ll talk about in another post. I honestly thought this novel was unfilmable, but they did it and it’s great.
Thursday, 10-26-17 Haunted Houses
Haunter is one of that large number of movies on Netflix that barely anyone knows about. Abigail Breslin of Zombieland stars in this pretty tense little haunted house picture with a twist.
The Legend of Hell House is the film adaption of the novel Hell House by Richard Matheson. Inspired by The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, Matheson takes his haunted house story a few steps further. If you don’t know Matheson was a writer on the original Twilight Zone, he wrote the novel I Am Legend, the basis for the Will Smith movie, and he’s a big influence for Stephen King. Check it out on Netflix.
Friday, 10-27-17 Stranger Things
Saturday, 10-28-17 Tributes to the Fallen
We lost two great horror directors this year and what is Halloween but a time to honor the dead…
George A. Romero, who basically invented the modern zombie craze (Voodoo zombies existed before Romero but he made the shambling corpse zombies that we know today) and then was unable to get his own zombie movies made when the genre became commercial, passed on July 16th. If you’re a fan of “The Walking Dead,” “World War Z,” “28 Days Later,” “Shaun of the Dead,” or “Zombieland,” pay your respects to the man who started it all and watch Night of the Living Dead on Amazon Prime. (P.S. Make sure to watch the 1968 version, there is a remake made in the 1990’s or 2000’s with a very similar cover with Romero’s name plastered all over it and both versions are on Amazon. You don’t need to see that one.)
Sunday, 10-29-17 Foreign Monsters
You’re going to have to read subtitles, I know, I’m asking you to read, but these two films are worth it.
The Host (2006), (not to be confused with The Host (2013) from the author of Twilight), is a monster movie from Korean director Joon Ho Bong, the director of Snow Piercer and Netflix’s recent, Okja.I saw it on Hulu but both versions are on Netflix so be careful that you’re watching the correct one. I don’t want to tell you too much but the film deals with a family trying to fight off a monster mutated by toxic waste ravaging their city. If that sounds like something you’ve seen before, yeah sure, but you’ve never seen it like this.
Monday, 10-30-17 Torture
Hostel by Eli Roth is a true modern exploitation movie, Seth Grahame-Smith describes it as “The first 40 mins are a porno. The next 50 are a series of snuff films. Is this really a horror movie? I’m not sure. All I know is, I can’t stop watching.” If you’re looking to push your boundaries and expose yourself to nightmares here you go. It’s on Netflix.
The Den is another of those movies on Netflix that barely anyone knows about. It’s gimmick is that the whole movie is set on a computer screen. This woman is doing a study by ChatRouletting People, (the names have been changed to protect the innocent masturbating on camera website), when she witnesses a serial killing over webcam. This format for the movie should completely ruin it. I turned it on at 3 in the morning several years ago thinking I would go to bed after 15 mins and I watched the whole thing.
Tuesday, 10-31-17 Halloween
Pick Your Poison. Old-ish or New? For New continue, for Old skip to below.
New: Supernatural or Killer? For Supernatural continue, for Killer skip to below.
Supernatural: The Witch (Amazon) and It Follows (Netflix)
The Witch was the best horror movie of 2016 in my opinion. It’s quiet, and atmospheric and it literally gave me chills. It’s sort of rare when a movie does that to me, so check it out. It Follows was for me the best horror movie of 2015. I was a bit skeptical going in because of the premise (wait a killer STD?! Isn’t that a lot of them?) but it’s well done and spooky as hell.
Killer: Green Room (Amazon) and The Houses that October Built (Netflix)
Green Room is one of Anton Yelchin’s last movies and it has a rare villain performance from Patrick Stewart. It’s one of those survive the night horror movies that goes brutal and violent way quicker than you’re expecting and doesn’t let up until sunrise. The Houses that October Built I’m gonna be honest is probably only worth a one time watch. It’s a slow burn with an only so so ending, but it’s an interesting premise and when better to watch a movie about haunted houses than on Halloween?
Old-ish: Monster or Slasher? For Monster continue, for Slasher skip to below.
Monster: Hellraiser (Netflix) and An American Werewolf in London (Amazon)
Honestly, this might be my favorite double feature of the bunch. Wonderful 80’s horror at it’s best. Hellraiser is the story of a man torn apart by pleasure and pain. I’m not speaking metaphorically. He opened a portal to another dimension using a puzzle box and got ripped apart by sado-masochistic sex demons. Now his girlfriend who also happens to be his brother’s wife is trying to put him back together again…by killing people so he can..eat them, I guess? An American Werewolf in London reinvents the werewolf story and makes a haunting dark comedy. The werewolf transformation will make you cringe.
Slasher: Prom Night (Amazon) and New Nightmare (Netflix)
Prom Night as Randy in Scream tells us invented the masked killer murder mystery slasher. Leslie Nielsen is in this movie in a serious role which may surprise some people who only know him from The Naked Gun movies. New Nightmare is the 7th film in the Nightmare on Elm Street series and is a sort of reboot. You definitely don’t have to have seen any of them past the original and it’s a clever meta plot involving Freddy Kruger stalking the actors from the original movie. Wes Craven directs and damn I really wish this double feature was Scream and A Nightmare on Elm Street because I love those better and it would also be a tribute to the late great Wes Craven but those two movies aren’t available to stream so this will have to do. If you’re reading this like “what the hell? I choose this one! Is this the worst one?” Um, maybe but it’s still good. Don’t look at me like that. No! Put the knife down! Nnnnnnnooooooo!
Happy Halloween!
Check out my Twitter, @TomVohasek, for a new silent movie set to music and a regular Ridiculous Music Video drop on Halloween.