Critics and audiences seem to agree that seeing Heart Eyes is a perfect way for horror fans to celebrate Valentine's Day. Of course, the new horror movie is far from the first that also works as a great date movie.
In fact, there are plenty of couples who like to cuddle up with something spooky, bloody, or even morbidly funny on a regular basis. Not to mention, romance is a key element to some of the all-time best horror movies whether it be in a fun or even tragic sense. The following are a few picks of scary romantic classics and modern favorites that you can watch at home.
Beetlejuice (1988)
Director: Tim Burton
Starring: Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Michael Keaton
What it's about: The lingering spirits of a recently deceased married couple take desperate measures to scare off the posh, irritating family now occupying their house.
Why it’s a good date night horror movie: While Keaton ends up stealing the show as the titular bio-exorcist in one of Tim Burton’s best movies, Beetlejuice, at its core, is the story of a husband and wife struggling to make a good life (er, afterlife) for themselves.
How to watch Beetlejuice
Life After Beth (2014)
Director: Jeff Baena
Starring: Dane DeHaan, Aubrey Plaza
What it's about: A young man is, at first, delighted to discover his girlfriend has come back from the dead, until she begins to show signs of erratic and deadly behavior.
Why it’s a good date night horror movie: In one of two movies on our list about humans falling in love with zombies, Life After Beth is easily the more unapologetically disturbing of the two, but is still quite funny.
How to watch Life After Beth
Only Lovers Left Alive (2013)
Director: Jim Jarmusch
Starring: Tom Hiddleston, Tilda Swinton
What it's about: A miserable musician is thankfully reunited with his old flame, whom he has been romantically involved with for centuries.
Why it’s a good date night horror movie: Only Lovers Left Alive is a powerful story about vampirism and love’s long-lasting power, told in a bizarre and quirky way that only writer and director Jim Jarmusch could.
How to watch Only Lovers Left Alive
A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (2014)
Director: Ana Lily Amirpour
Starring: Arash Marandi, Sheila Vand
What it's about: A poor, young man is entranced by a mysterious woman who is not quite what she seems.
Why it’s a good date night horror movie: Another powerful love story on our list that involves themes of vampirism is the modern Iranian classic A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night – one of the best horror movies by a female director.
How to watch A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
- Rent or buy A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night on Amazon
- Buy A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night on Blu-ray on Amazon
Valentine (2001)
Director: Jamie Blanks
Starring: David Boreanaz, Denise Richards, Marley Shelton
What it's about: Years after they all cruelly rejected their geeky high school classmate at a Valentine’s Day dance, five women suspect he may have returned to seek revenge when they find themselves stalked by a maniac disguised as Cupid.
Why it’s a good date night horror movie: In the tradition of holiday-inspired horror flicks like Halloween and creepy cautionary tales like I Know What You Did Last Summer, 2001’s Valentine is an entertaining, Agatha Christie-style cult slasher that could inspire kinder reactions to unwanted romance… if not some killer love letter quotes.
How to watch Valentine
My Bloody Valentine (1981)
Director: George Mihalka
Starring: Paul Kelman, Lori Hallier
What it's about: Citizens of a mining town get their hearts ripped out (literally) when they decide to ignore the legend of a killer who punishes anyone celebrating February 14th.
Why it’s a good date night horror movie: Exactly 20 years before Valentine, My Bloody Valentine brought terror to the most romantic day of the year and would since be remembered as one of the best ‘80s slasher movies by many fans, including Quentin Tarantino.
How to watch My Bloody Valentine
- Stream My Bloody Valentine on AMC+
- Stream My Bloody Valentine on Pluto TV
- Rent or buy My Bloody Valentine on Amazon
- Buy My Bloody Valentine on Blu-ray on Amazon
Bride Of Chucky (1998)
Director: Ronny Yu
Starring: Brad Dourif, Jennifer Tilly
What it's about: Chucky, a cuddly doll possessed by the spirit of a serial killer, reunites with his former flame, Tiffany, by magically transferring her soul into another doll and teaming up to find a pair of new human hosts.
Why it’s a good date night horror movie: A sequel to one of the best ‘80s slasher movies that actually encourages a celebration of love is 1998’s Bride of Chucky, which was also the first installment of the Child’s Play movies to really go head first into the franchise’s campier appeal.
How to watch Bride of Chucky
Bride Of Frankenstein (1935)
Director: James Whale
Starring: Boris Karloff, Elsa Lanchester, Colin Clive
What it's about: Dr. Henry Frankenstein is forced by an even more “mad” scientist to create a female companion for The Monster.
Why it’s a good date night horror movie: A sequel to a classic monster movie that offers a cautionary perspective on love is 1935’s The Bride of Frankenstein, which is easily the most definitive and instantly recognizable example of a romantic horror film ever made.
How to watch Bride of Frankenstein
Ready Or Not (2019)
Director: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett
Starring: Samara Weaving, Adam Brody
What it's about: A newly married young woman learns a dark secret about her wealthy in-laws when a seemingly innocent invitation to play a game on her wedding night turns into a desperate fight for survival.
Why it’s a good date night horror movie: One of the best horror-comedy movies in recent memory is Ready or Not – a wonderfully manic wild ride from Radio Silence that exaggerates any common bride-to-be (or even groom-to-be’s) worst fears to the goriest degree.
How to watch Ready or Not
Shaun Of The Dead (2004)
Director: Edgar Wright
Starring: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Kate Ashfield
What it's about: A recently dumped aging slacker, along with his even less responsible best friend, tries to rescue his ex-girlfriend and other loved ones after London becomes overrun with reanimated, flesh-eating corpses.
Why it’s a good date night horror movie: Another bloody brilliant horror-comedy classic is 2004’s Shaun of the Dead, which also made history as the first romantic zombie comedy… let alone one of the most surprisingly relatable and grounded zombies movies since George A. Romero invented the sub-genre.
How to watch Shaun of the Dead
Warm Bodies (2013)
Director: Jonathan Levine
Starring: Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer
A young, reanimated victim of the zombie apocalypse begins to show unusually human characteristics after crossing paths with a beautiful, female survivor
Why it’s a good date night horror movie: The romantic zombie comedy would continue with an inventive twist in 2013’s Warm Bodies – a heartwarming adaptation of Isaac Marion’s novel that reimagines Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet as a post-apocalyptic, coming-of-age story.
How to watch Warm Bodies
Tucker And Dale Vs. Evil (2010)
Director: Eli Craig
Starring: Tyler Labine, Alan Tudyk, Katrina Bowden
What it's about: A horrible misunderstanding causes a group of vacationing college students to assume two well-meaning hillbillies are out to kill them.
Why it’s a good date night horror movie: Another example of a great horror-comedy about unlikely romance is Tucker and Dale vs. Evil, in which Dale, and his attractive new friend, Allison, grow quite fond of each other amid the ensuing chaos surrounding them in this clever slasher send-up.
How to watch Tucker and Dale vs. Evil
- Stream Tucker and Dale vs. Evil on Amazon Prime
- Stream Tucker and Dale vs. Evil on Peacock
- Stream Tucker and Dale vs. Evil on Tubi
- Buy Tucker and Dale vs. Evil on Blu-ray on Amazon
Happy Death Day (2017)
Director: Christopher Landon
Starring: Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard
What it's about: A stuck-up sorority girl finds herself trapped in a time loop, which gives her an advantage in figuring out who is trying to kill her and why.
Why it’s a good date night horror movie: Unlikely romance would continue to be a common theme in the horror-comedy sub-genre with Happy Death Day, in which Tree, begins to grow more fond of Carter every time she wakes up in his bed.
How to watch Happy Death Day
Spring (2014)
Director: Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead
Starring: Lou Taylor Pucci, Nadia Hilker
What it's about: Desperate for a getaway following his mother's death, a young American man takes a trip to Italy where he soon falls for a woman who is not quite what she seems.
Why it’s a good date night horror movie: Less a story about unlikely romance as much as it is a meditation on the transformative power of love, Spring is a surprisingly inspirational tale that imagines what a collaboration between Richard Linklater (a la the Before Trilogy) and H.P. Lovecraft might be like.
How to watch Spring
The Fly (1986)
Director: David Cronenberg
Starring: Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis
What it's about: Soon after he has struck up a romance with a beautiful journalist, a brilliant scientist begins to undergo a slow, horrifying metamorphosis when his self-conducted test of an instant transportation device goes haywire.
Why it’s a good date night horror movie: Speaking of transformation, I would not be surprised if Spring was at all inspired by the 1986 remake of The Fly – one of the best Jeff Goldblum movies that is also widely praised as a great body horror movie (courtesy of Oscar-winning makeup effects) but not praised enough as a moving romantic tragedy.
How to watch The Fly
Let The Right One In (2008)
Director: Tomas Alfredson
Starring: Kåre Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson
What it's about: A neglected and bullied young boy becomes smitten with a mysterious girl hiding a very strange and disturbing secret.
Why it’s a good date night horror movie: Another film about a person unwittingly falling in love with a supernatural creature is Let the Right One In – a masterful Swedish vampire drama (which Matt Reeves remade in 2010) that brilliantly exaggerates the perils of childhood crushes to an exceptionally grim degree.
How to watch Let the Right One In
- Stream Let The Right One In on Amazon Prime
- Stream Let The Right One In on Peacock
- Stream Let the Right One In on Tubi
- Buy Let the Right One In on Blu-ray on Amazon
Ghost (1991)
Director: Jerry Zucker
Starring: Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, Whoopi Goldberg
What it's about: The lingering spirit of a Manhattan banker enlists a medium to help him avenge his murder and prevent his girlfriend from experiencing the same fate.
Why it’s a good date night horror movie: Less a horror film as much as it is an intense supernatural thriller, the commercially successful Best Picture Oscar nominee Ghost is remembered even better for moments like the memorable pottery spinning scene, set to the Righteous Brothers’ “Unchained Melody,” that makes it one of the most uplifting and sexiest films of its time or any time.
How to watch Ghost
- Stream Ghost on Paramount+
- Stream Ghost on Peacock
- Stream Ghost on Pluto TV
- Rent or buy Ghost on Amazon
- Buy Ghost on Blu-ray on Amazon
Call me crazy, but a night of chills and thrills sounds like the perfect way to spend Valentine’s Day to me, and, thankfully, my own wife agrees. If that sounds like your kind of date night, you cannot go wrong with any of the titles above.
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