It's the Halloween season, and you know what that means: horror movies galore! It's the only time of year when horror movies are playing around the clock with holiday favorites like Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, and Friday the 13th. The downside of this is that it can all start to feel pretty same-y... with the same classics playing year after year. There are plenty of other great horror movies out there during the Halloween season---several of which SHOULD be considered classics, but for whatever reason haven't made the jump to Halloween marathons.
There's never really ever a shortage of horror movies, but a lot of times these flicks can tend to fly under the mainstream radar. Maybe this is due to their indie status or a limited theatrical run, but either way, Halloween has more to offer than Nightmare Before Christmas and 24 hours of Hocus Pocus (don't @ me Freeform). There are loads of different horror movies out there, from found footage masterpieces to just straight-up entertaining gore-fests. These are just eight scary movies that should be considered classics but just aren't for some reason.
Hush
Hush, a horror thriller set around a deaf woman who must fend off a deranged killer in her isolated home, sounds like another gimmick horror film on paper. The execution, however, is exceptional. Starring Kate Siegel (who also co-wrote alongside director Mike Flanagan), the movie uses suspense to maximum effect. Silence is the ultimate monster here as Siegel's deaf character has no clue where the killer is at any given point, resulting in an intense cat-and-mouse scenario in which she must use her wit to overcome obstacle after obstacle. The premise never runs dry, and gets plenty of mileage. Stephen King, the master of spooky words, said it was "up there with Halloween," so that should be good enough for you.
The Loved Ones
And you thought your prom was rough. The Loved Ones is an Australian horror film from director Sean Byrne and it is 100% twisted. A high school teenager is kidnapped by a psychopathic admirer and her father, and is forced to partake in a demented prom in her house. It involves cannibalism, lobotomy, torture, and plenty of murder. The film is a gruesome and unrelenting twist on teen horror, providing some sickening thrills while being totally self-aware. And we can't forget Princess Lola (Robin McLeavy), a horror villain who would make even Freddy Krueger want to stay the hell away from her.
Trick 'r' Treat
There's a pretty good chance that this one initially flew under a lot of people's radar. This 2007 anthology only received a handful of public screenings, but critics absolutely loved it. The film features a collection of stories about people breaking the rules of Halloween tradition and suffering some terribly scary consequences as a result. The only thing linking the stories together is the presence of a creepy trick or treater named Sam, a little demon boy wearing a burlap sack. Trick 'r' Treat is a loving tribute to Halloween and a scary blast for all fans of the genre. The movie recently got some recognition by getting its own scare zone at Universal's 2017 Halloween Horror Nights.
Eden Lake
A young couple was just trying to have a romantic weekend getaway but leave it to a gang of teenage British street toughs to get in the way and try to murder everybody. That's the basic premise of Eden Lake a British horror film starring Kelly Reilly and Michael Fassbender (it was his fourth movie ever). Plotwise, Eden Lake can tend to fall on the cliché side, being mostly predictable but it delivers some real satisfying scares along the way -- which, really, is what matters. Plus, the ending is such a gut punch, there's no way you won't walk away feeling some emotions.
[REC]
There is a chance that you might be more familiar with the American remake of [REC], Quarantine. If that's the case, then you need to forget that version and focus your attention on the much more superior [REC]. It's a Spanish horror film that follows an intrepid young reporter as she tags along with emergency responders to a strange circumstance at an apartment building. Things quickly get out of hand and stay that way as the building becomes a multi-leveled place of horror. It's a found footage film (remember when those were EVERYWHERE?), but it really makes use of the style for some intense-heavy scares.
Creep
Get ready for the guy from The League to make you fear every Craigslist exchange you have for the rest of your life. This independent found footage film follows a videographer who answers a cryptic Craigslist ad from a strange man named Josef (Mark Duplass). The dread just slowly builds from there as the viewer clearly sees that something is not right with Josef and it all inevitably goes sour in just the right ways when the shoe finally drops. The film was released straight to VOD, which may explain for a lack of public awareness, but this horror will give you goosebumps that can compete with the best of them.
You're Next
It's true that You're Next, from director Adam Wingard, isn't exactly the most original horror film ever made, but that doesn't change the fact that it's still pretty entertaining. A mix between a home-invasion thriller and a family dramedy, You're Next finds a vacationing family getting gruesomely picked apart by masked assassins. The deaths are ridiculous and maybe there's not a whole lot under the surface, but fun is fun. Besides, the main attraction is the lead character played by Sharni Vinson. She's a competent horror film character that doesn't take kindly to all the murder around her, and she strikes back in deeply satisfying ways.
Session 9
Psychological thrillers have a tendency of worming themselves into your skin and making you feel uncomfortable and confused all at the same time. Session 9 does that in spades. An asbestos removal team is commissioned to clean the local abandoned insane asylum (always a good idea), when the men realize that something is picking them apart one by one and slowly begin to lose their minds. A series of video memos are the only clues to the puzzle of what's going on here, but the end result is so depressing and horrifying that you won't be able to forget this film for a long time after you see it.
