31 Days of Horror | All Movies Curated for a Halloween Binge Watch

Well, the day is finally upon us — Halloween. The barrier between reality and the spirit world becomes an impossibly thin membrane as children dress like ghouls and goblins, teenagers and 20-somethings drink themselves into an oblivion of mistakes, and adults either vicariously experience the joy of trick-or-treating with their kids, hand out candy to passerby, or, in our case, binge-watch terrifying movies. That's what we've been doing this October at MovieWeb, watching some incredible horror films that aren't just the usual classics we've all seen 101 times. That's what our 31 Days of Horror is all about.

For your viewing nightmares, we've gathered all 30 titles included in our special month-long series in one place. Here, you can browse all the films we've highlighted this month, and read further into any of them if you'd like. You can plan your own Halloween binge (and not just the booze or candy kind) with this collection of brilliant horror movies you may not have seen, or may have forgotten just how good they are. We've even added a special 31st film for you at the very bottom. So turn off the lights and try to ignore that eerily scraping sound on your windows as we present our full catalog of MovieWeb's 31 Days of Horror.

Host

By Matt Mahler

Host

Release Date

July 30, 2020

Cast

Haley Bishop, Jemma Moore

Rating

Not Rated

Runtime

57min

Main Genre

Horror

Host roared into our homes in July 2020, long before practically any other film was commenting on the pandemic. That's because this small little independent film from Rob Savage took less than three months to complete, from ideation to the finished product which was delivered to horror streaming platform Shudder. It was cheap, it was authentic, it was frequently improvised, it was simple, and it was short. Some may say it's too short to qualify as a feature film, but there's a very clear reason that Host is just less than 60 minutes long — that's the maximum amount of time allowed with a free Zoom account.

The entirety of Host takes place on Zoom, and by the end of July, nothing could be more relatable. We had been living our lives in boxed arrangements within Zoom's margins, as if our work meetings and friendly hangouts were outtakes from The Brady Bunch's opening credits. The world of Host is extremely familiar, organically mimicking the little glitches, blurs, gaps, and technical specifics of video calls as it jumps from gallery view to speaker view and back again.

It's arguably the perfect set-up for found footage horror. A group of people facing their computer, unable to see what's in the distance behind them without squinting; audio and visuals can be ambiguous with too much motion or suddenness; people can experience sudden pain and danger, and there's nothing you can do to help them because they're stuck in a little digital window, just like you. In Zoom, everyone can hear you scream, but they can't do anything about it.

Near Dark

By Stephen Rosenberg

Near Dark

Release Date

January 8, 1988

Cast

Adrian Pasdar, Jenny Wright, Lance Henriksen, Bill Paxton, Jenette Goldstein, Tim Thomerson, Joshua John Miller

Rating

R

Runtime

1hr 34min

Main Genre

Horror

Near Dark has a leg-up on almost all other vampire films in its uniqueness, as it's one of the few movies in the subgenre that pretty much doubles as a Western, both in theme and in setting. Following a ragtag troupe of bloodsucking bandits in a modern-day American West had never been done at the time, and it still hasn't, aside from John Carpenter's Vampires. The horror-themed spin on the age-old "outsider joins a band of criminals" story is perfect, as the main character gets a double dose of terror and reality when he realizes he's along for the ride with a group of vamps that sleekly and viciously move between small, Western towns and isolated saloons for their meals.

While most vampire movies would glorify the situation and its characters, Near Dark did a great job highlighting the more realistic struggles of being a vampire, and how family means everything in a world where human rules still apply to the undead. They kill and steal because it's the only way they can live. They're poor, and homeless, and all they have is each other. It makes total sense why they'd be hesitant to allow another member into their family. These themes just aren't explored in other vampire movies.

Paranormal Activity

By James Melzer

Paranormal Activity

Release Date

October 16, 2009

Cast

Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat, Mark Fredrichs, Amber Armstrong, Ashley Palmer

Rating

R

Runtime

1hr 26min

Main Genre

Horror

A young man turns on a Sony HDR-FX1 handheld camera and begins filming. We watch through the lens as his girlfriend pulls her sports car into the driveway of their new home in San Diego. She's taken aback by the size of the camera while entering the foyer, still being filmed. The two kiss, and when questioned if he thinks this will work, the man utters the words that birthed an entire franchise. "I think we're gonna have a very interesting time, capturing whatever paranormal phenomena is occurring, or is not occurring."

For the next 85 minutes, audiences watched in horror as the paranormal events that plagued Micah and Katie played out, many through splayed fingers covering their eyes. Not since The Blair Witch Project 10 years earlier had people been so engrossed in a found footage film, and though this time around mainstream viewers knew the movie was a work of fiction, it didn't stop people from leaving their seats in terror. With a production budget of just $15,000, Paranormal Activity brought in $194.2 million, making it one of the most profitable film of all time based on return on investment.

Saw

By Zac Wenzel

Saw

Release Date

October 1, 2004

Cast

Leigh Whannell, Cary Elwes, Danny Glover, Ken Leung, Dina Meyer, Mike Butters

Rating

R

Runtime

100

Main Genre

Crime

Two men awake in a dark and dismal bathroom, chained to pipes, with a blood-soaked dead man lying between them both. An intriguing mystery sets the table right from the get-go in Saw, and what follows is one of the most unique horror stories of all time. The story itself is a combination of director James Wan's shower thoughts, a health scare with co-writer and star Leigh Whannell, and the real-life story of a "serial tickler".

While a lot of horror movies play on the trope of guessing who the killer is or how the mystery will unfold. Saw takes a unique approach by leaving clues and breadcrumbs throughout the entire movie, from the opening shot to the big reveal (more on that later). Almost every action and reaction that plays throughout the movie is intricately placed by Wan and Whannell in order to take the audience on a guessing game of a thrill ride.

Dead Alive

By Sean Shuman

Dead Alive

Release Date

August 13, 1992

Cast

Timothy Balme, Diana Peñalver, Elizabeth Moody, Ian Watkin, Brenda Kendall, Stuart Devenie

Rating

R

Runtime

97

Main Genre

Comedy

Dead Alive has built up a straightforward reputation as one of the goriest films ever made, and it's really not hard to see why. The film sees a timid man named Lionel, played by Timothy Balme, living alone with his mother, Vera, in the quiet hills of South Wellington. Just as Lionel starts to enter an amicable romance with a woman named Paquita, Vera is bitten by a horrible stop-motion monster called the "Sumatran rat-monkey." It quickly becomes apparent that the beast was the host of a terrifying disease. Vera's body starts to rot from the inside out, and after turning into a zombie, she promptly begins attacking the populace. After locking her in the basement, Lionel tries his best to live life as normally as he can. But the bodies keep piling up, and no amount of tranquilizer will be enough to keep them down forever.

As easy as it could've been for Dead Alive to follow a standard zombie film formula, the film's narrative structure and characters make it feel more in line with a comedy than a terrifying horror flick. Similar to Bruce Campbell's Ash Williams, Lionel starts out as a timid but well-meaning character faced with an impossible situation. Though he does ultimately grow a spine and tackle his troubles head-on, the build-up in getting there lends itself more towards telling jokes instead of scaring him.

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

By Ashley Hajimirsadeghi

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night

Release Date

January 19, 2014

Cast

Sheila Vand, Arash Marandi, Marshall Manesh, Mozhan Marnò, Dominic Rains, Rome Shadanloo

Runtime

107

Main Genre

Horror

Released in 2014, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is considered to be one of the world’s first Iranian vampire Western movies. Although it seems like a strange mashup of genres, this indie horror movie packs quite a bit of a punch, and is provocative in what themes and situations it presents throughout. What is typically considered to be horror is indicative of the dominant culture one resides within; monsters are typically created to be something to fear, a warning message to not do something outside the norm. But sometimes we create monsters out of concepts, people, and things because we simply cannot accept what is different from us and want a reason to eradicate something.

Ana Lily Amirpour directed the film, which was actually her feature film debut. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where it began to generate quite a bit of buzz. Amirpour benefits from being a member of the Iranian diaspora, as filmmakers in Iran typically wouldn’t have had the freedom to explore some of the messages she does throughout the film’s running time, but still it’s a critical lens into what Iranian women and their diaspora face on a daily basis. While A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night may not be the kind of movie we’d scream at in a movie theater, fearing for our lives along with the characters on-screen, it shows how fictional horror can reflect very real aspects of our lives.

13 Ghosts

By Albert Zender

Thirteen Ghosts

Release Date

October 26, 2001

Cast

Tony Shalhoub, Embeth Davidtz, matthew lillard, Shannon Elizabeth, Alec Roberts, jr bourne

Rating

R

Runtime

91

Main Genre

Horror

As with the original, 2001's 13 Ghosts suffers from generally low review scores. It definitely wasn't one of the best 2000s horror movies. Most critics praised the art direction and the cast's performances but felt that the film wasn't all that scary. The plot, too, is criticized, with plenty of predictable twists and clichés. Despite this, it was a box office success, earning $15 million and ranking second during its opening weekend. The film has seen a massive growth in popularity in modern times. This cult following has even inspired the production of a horror miniseries based on the property, announced in August 2023 by Dark Castle Entertainment.

The lack of scares in the film is a genuine criticism. After all, this is the horror genre, we're talking about, and outside the body horror in the ghostly character designs and some truly horrifying deaths, the film does lack in traditional horror. That said, is that such a bad thing? The film excels in its creepy atmosphere, introducing each ghost in turn and giving them each their due. The movie also leans more heavily into its horror comedy or parody elements, and while it does ride the line between the two, refusing to choose either side, it succeeds as a unique creepy experience. This is what has drawn fans in for the last 22 years.

Sleepy Hollow

By Tyler Geis

Sleepy Hollow

Release Date

November 19, 1999

Cast

Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci, Miranda Richardson, Michael Gambon, Casper Van Dien, Christopher Walken

Rating

R

Runtime

1hr 45min

Main Genre

Horror

There are movies that fit perfectly in October. You may scroll past them on streaming or glance over at them in your Blu-ray collection and smile but think, "not tonight", and usually it's because it's the middle of March when that happens. 1999'sSleepy Hollow is just that kind of movie. It has its flaws; heck, it's not even faithful to the adaptation of the source material in terms of plot. But it was the right movie for Tim Burton to cap off an amazing decade-long run on the big screen. Sleepy Hollow has the dreamy, gloomy aesthetic most people who live during this time of year yearn for in their hearts. It blends horror, romance, supernatural, and fantasy all in one, thus making it the perfect film to add to your 31 Days of Horror binge.

Nightbreed

By Dustin Whitlock

Nightbreed

Release Date

February 16, 1990

Cast

Craig Sheffer, Anne Bobby, David Cronenberg, Charles Haid, Hugh Quarshie, Hugh Ross

Rating

R

Runtime

102

Main Genre

Fantasy

Released in 1990, Nightbreed is based on Clive Barker’s novel, Cabal. The film was written and directed by Barker, following his success with Hellraiser. The studio thought Barker was going to make another body horror like Hellraiser, and they did not know what to make of the gothic monster movie Barker delivered. Nightbreed is about a woman searching for answers after the death of her boyfriend at a remote cemetery that she finds is home to the Tribes of the Moon, the nightbreed, which her lover has joined the ranks of. The nightbreed are a parallel branch of hominids to humanity, living underground and only surfacing at night. They are monsters and shape-shifters with their own laws and religion.

Nightbreed has seen a resurrection in the last ten years. The 2014 HD release of Nightbreed: The Director’s Cut introduced the movie to a new generation of viewers, and showed old fans, who only saw the film on VHS, a crisp vision of a movie that was always more ambitious and gorgeous to behold than they were allowed to experience. This is a movie that deserves to be dug up and brought back to life.

Vicious Fun

By Sydney Ghan

vicious fun

Release Date

October 8, 2020

Cast

Ari Millen, Julian Richings, Robert Maillet, David Koechner

Rating

R

Runtime

101min

Main Genre

Horror

Vicious Fun is a recent Canadian offering exclusive to Shudder that really deserves more attention. The film builds on Scream's foundation of commenting on horror movies while still managing to be scary and takes things to new heights. Imagine if Randy, who set the standard template for horror movie characters who are fully aware of the horror movie clichés happening around them in the original Scream and its sequel, were given his own adventure.

That should give you an idea of the kind of protagonist we're dealing with here. And it works better than you might think, especially when attached to a premise as old as Hollywood itself; an underachieving, hopeless romantic outcast (in this case, horror critic Joel) must undergo a terrifying and dangerous journey in order to overcome his massive insecurities and become the confident man he was always meant to be.

Frankenweenie

By Micaela Pérez Vitale

Frankenweenie

Release Date

October 4, 2012

Cast

Catherine O'Hara, Martin Short, Martin Landau, Winona Ryder, Charlie Tahan, Atticus Shaffer

Rating

PG

Runtime

87

Main Genre

Animation

When thinking about significant films in Burton's career, chances are that the first ones that come to mind are productions such as Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice, or even Batman. But there is one Burton film from the 2010s that has been considerably underrated and, hands down, deserves a place among his finest productions: Frankenweenie. This stop-motion animated film was released in 2012 to positive reviews and performed reasonably well at the box office. Sure, the story of the boy who uses science to resurrect his dog won a few accolades and fans around the world, but even so, it hasn't quite achieved the recognition it deserves.

Behind a façade of family-friendly horror comedy lies one of Burton's most personal films, one that connects us with his early years in the industry and pays tribute to all the major movies that encouraged him to embark on his filmmaking journey. Frankenweenie is an ode to horror cinema with Easter eggs and nods to classics while keeping those elements that make its director unique, the ones that have pushed him to the top of his game.

Trick 'r Treat

By Andrew Dominguez

Trick r Treat

Release Date

October 26, 2007

Cast

Dylan Baker, Rochelle Aytes, Quinn Lord, Lauren Lee Smith, Moneca Delain, Tahmoh Penikett

Rating

R

Runtime

82

Main Genre

Comedy

Trick 'r Treat delivers an abundance of masterfully crafted kills. From the opening kill scene, with Henry discovering his wife, Emma’s, gutted body hanging (an homage to Casey Becker’s murder in Scream), the unsuspecting Charlie being poisoned while indulging in his favorite Halloween candies, only for audiences to see his head carved into as overkill, to the unsettling murder of the busload of young students by the order of their own parents, Trick 'r Treat doesn’t hold back in the kills department, with no one being safe from Warren Valley's murderous ghouls and the sadistic, otherworldly Sam overseeing the ongoing mayhem.

Of course, the most bloody, unforgettable kill befalls one of the movie’s overarching villains, Mr. Kreeg, as the spirits of his victims tear him to shreds during the film’s closing shot, finally claiming their revenge. Trick r' Treat is not for the squeamish or faint of heart, but it is the perfect treat for gore enthusiasts.

Friday the 13th

By James Melzer

Friday the 13th (1980)

Release Date

May 9, 1980

Cast

Betsy Palmer, Adrienne King, Jeannine Taylor, Robbi Morgan, Kevin Bacon, Harry Crosby

Rating

R

Runtime

1hr 35min

Main Genre

Horror

The slasher film was still in its infancy back in 1979, and though films like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Halloween featured groups of young people in peril, it had yet to take hold as a cliché within the genre. Friday the 13th set a whole new standard for not only young men and women getting picked off one-by-one, but for its isolated setting that was all but void of adult supervision. Once the film was a hit, a slew of other horror movies set in a summer camp came along, including Sleepaway Camp, The Burning, Cheerleader Camp, and Madman, to name a few.

Yet for all its influence, the setting was the hardest part of the script for Victor Miller. Coming up with creative ways for kids to get killed was easy, but doing so in a way that no one would notice right away proved challenging. He had to eliminate the adults, and make the kids dumb, but not too dumb that they wouldn't be believable. Ultimately he settled on the summer camp as a venue, and the rest is history.

Saint Maud

By Matt Mahler

Saint Maud

Release Date

October 9, 2020

Cast

Morfydd Clark, Jennifer Ehle, Lily Knight, Lily Frazer, turlough convery, Rosie Sansom

Runtime

84

Main Genre

Horror

Saint Maud, Rose Glass' stunning debut feature, is a psychological horror film drenched in atmosphere. It doesn't bleed in geysers or jump at you from the screen, but in its almost oppressive, dread-inducing style, it becomes one of the most disturbing character studies in recent memory. It's also a theological provocation of sorts, with extremely bold themes.

The film follows the titular Maud, who is living a new life after a disastrous, bloody accident caused her nursing career to fall apart. Her old name was Katie, but after a religious conversion, she is now called Maud, the way Saul became Paul. She lives a life of stoic austerity in a seaside town in Northern England, and is practicing palliative care. She becomes a live-in nurse to a formerly famous dancer who is dying of lymphoma. This is Amanda, a flirty woman whose previously boundless joie de vivre and hedonism has found boundaries at last. She's the polar opposite of Maud.

Maud feels as though she's being called by God to save Amanda's soul before her inevitable death. Of course, Amanda wants to satiate whatever desires she can before death, paying a younger woman for sex and company, smoking, drinking, having parties. Maud has a crisis of faith and lapses. But then God speaks. The last act of Saint Maud is breathless in its grim movement toward tragedy, unpredictable all the way. This is a very different religious horror film.

Return of the Living Dead

By Blaine Turner

Return of the Living Dead

Release Date

April 25, 1985

Cast

Clu Gulager, James Karen, Don Calfa, Thom Mathews, Beverly Randolph, John Philbin

Rating

R

Runtime

91

Main Genre

Comedy

Released in 1985 – the same year as George A. Romero’s ultra-downbeat Day of the Dead – The Return of the Living Dead presented audiences with a zany and over-the-top undead alternative to Romero’s apocalyptic threequel. Despite what its title implies, The Return of the Living Dead is not itself a sequel to any of Romero’s zombie movies. Instead, the film is its own beast entirely, bringing forth all kinds of new innovations and an anarchic attitude to shake up the well-established zombie genre.

As Collider so aptly put it, “Return finds the perfect balance between laughs and gross-out moments, and is topped off with a stacked soundtrack of punk rock bangers.” Indeed, this rocking and rollicking tale of rampant rising flesh-eaters hits all the right notes and then some, and is a guaranteed crowd-pleaser at any spooky season watch party.

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer

By David Grove

Released theatrically in 1990, after attracting acclaim and controversy on the film festival circuit between 1986 and 1989, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer represented a stunning antidote to the fantasy and horror villain icon-based films that defined the horror genre in the mid to late 1980s. It does so by featuring a chillingly human character who commits unspeakably gory murders in the real world.

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer provides an almost documentary-like study of the film’s titular character, a man who just happens to be an indiscriminate serial killer. Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the film, besides the casualness of its undeniably gruesome murder scenes, is how innocuous Henry might otherwise seem to be if one were to only glimpse a small corner of his nightmarish world.

Seed of Chucky

By Sydney Ghan

Seed of Chucky

Release Date

November 11, 2004

Cast

Brad Dourif, Jennifer Tilly, Billy Boyd, Redman, Hannah Spearritt, John Waters

Rating

R

Runtime

87

Main Genre

Comedy

Let's be real, Seed of Chucky is not the best, or even the third-best entry in the Child's Play franchise. But it is the silliest entry, and that's got to count for something. It was also series creator Don Mancini's directorial debut, and no other Chucky entry feels as unhinged or as uncaged as this one.

After what many saw as a sharp turn toward humor with the fourth entry, Bride of Chucky, Mancini went all out in this one, with references to other horror films as well as meta self-commentary that would make Dan Harmon blush. Many at the time saw this simply as derivative of the type of humor that had permeated the slasher genre in the wake of Scream's success, and there is some truth to that. This led to the end of the franchise's theatrical run for a long time (until the Mark Hamill-starring reboot in 2019), as critics and audiences dismissed it as a shark-jumping misfire.

But taken as its own story, it's perfectly complete without the baggage of the rest of the franchise. A viewer could watch this movie first and, apart from a few minor references, not feel like they've missed anything at all. In fact, the larger joke of Tiffany, played by Jennifer Tilly, becoming enamored with Jennifer Tilly the actress because of her beauty and her voice, works better if you haven't seen the previous installment and aren't aware that even within the fiction of these movies, Tiffany still looks exactly like Jennifer Tilly.

The Reflecting Skin

By Arthur Goyaz

The Reflecting Skin

Release Date

November 9, 1990

Cast

Viggo Mortensen, Lindsay Duncan

Rating

R

Runtime

1hr 36min

Main Genre

Horror

The Reflecting Skin is and is not a vampire movie at the same time, and its trump card is delivering a horror story set entirely in broad daylight. The movie effectively conducts drama and horror with well-balanced intensity, giving space for the viewers to get acquainted with each character while building up tension for harrowing moments of climax.

For a horror movie with a child protagonist, The Reflecting Skin gets as mean as it can, offering a wicked coming-of-age story about the roots of evil and a dilapidated American landscape shattered by war. Even in the bright sun that lingers over the characters' heads, darkness prevails as a necessary evil, exposing the dark truth about humanity's most primitive instincts and an unsettling generation born in times of blood and escalating violence.

Cat People

By Matthew Mahler

Cat People

Release Date

December 25, 1942

Cast

Kent Smith, Simone Simon, Tom Conway

Rating

Not Rated

Runtime

1hr 13min

Main Genre

Horror

Cat People has an essentially simple plot that gets deconstructed and freaked out in Schrader's 1982 version. A young virgin woman falls in love with a man and is approaching that moment of newlywed copulation somewhere down the line. However, she believes that she may be cursed, and that she will turn into a ferocious and deadly panther if aroused to the extreme, or possibly just penetrated.

Of course, this allows for all sorts of social commentary which is obviously very different in 1942 than it'd be in 1982. In the '40s, the young woman (played by enchanting and enigmatic Simone Simon) falls in love with a man and gets married, but never consummates the marriage. Handled with delicate subtlety, Tourneur's great film (produced at the height of Val Lewton's horror empire) uses the woman's anxiety over her possible curse as a way to explore the pressures put upon women, the nature of sexual repression, and the subconscious resentment and resistance a woman could develop in patriarchy. The film exists in the WWII era in which women were put in the workplace more than ever before, given a kind of power and societal importance they had often been denied. They transformed.

Unlike the more tacit Tourneur film, sex and nudity are on display in a variety of ways in Schrader's film, as was increasingly in vogue for horror. The concept of 'erotic thrillers' had taken off in the '70s thanks to people like Brian De Palma, and the sensuality of porno-chic European horror cinema from the likes of Jesús Franco and Sheridan Le Fanu had invaded Hollywood. The Hunger, The Black Room, The Eyes of Laura Mars, and many other films were making horror hot, beyond the banal teenage humping of slasher movies.

Shadowzone: My Teacher Ate My Homework

By Salvatore Cento

My Teacher Ate My Homework opens with the lights of school classroom suddenly shattering and the locker doors banging back and forth, as we come face to face with what could only be described as a reptilian Grim Reaper. This horrid humanoid creature explains that if our forthcoming main character chooses wrong in the following scenario, he could be locked forever in the Shadow Zone. While the concept of a rather ordinary-looking school being a place of torment is quite cheesy, actor MacKenzie Grey’s dedication and mannerisms really do send shivers up your spine as The Reaper.

Starring none other than The Shining’s Shelley Duvall as Mrs. Fink and a young Gregory Smith as Jesse Hackett, the thirteen-year-old is seen to have a terrible relationship with his teacher, who constantly scolds him for late homework and missing assignments. On the way home one day, he comes across a very eerie vintage shop called Shadowland with his friend Cody and Cody’s mystically inclined big sister, Geneva.

Seemingly drawn to a doll that looks like his teacher, the shopkeeper ominously warns Jesse about the two finding each other for a reason before ultimately letting him take it home. At this point, viewers already know that the doll will come alive and wreak havoc.

The Dead Zone

By Stephen Rosenberg

The Dead Zone

Release Date

October 21, 1983

Cast

Christopher Walken, Brooke Adams, Tom Skerritt, Herbert Lom, Anthony Zerbe, Colleen Dewhurst

Rating

R

Runtime

103

Main Genre

Horror

It's not a secret that acting talent drives the quality and success of movies, and that's no exception for King's adaptations. The very best films based on King's work have top-tier talent at the helm; Tom Hanks in The Green Mile, Kathy Bates in Misery, and Jack Nicholson in The Shining. The same can be said for The Dead Zone, as Christopher Walken, just four years removed from his Best Supporting Actor Oscar for The Deer Hunter, fit perfectly in the role of Johnny Smith. While Walken was a tough sell on the kinder and friendlier aspects of the book's character, he absolutely nailed the mysterious persona of a man who wakes up years later after an accident, with the power of future sight, and has no idea how to exist in the world as it is presently.

Opposite Walken was Martin Sheen, who had just had a breakout role alongside Marlon Brando in Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now. Sheen suited up as Greg Stillson, a corrupt politician who is on the path to doing terrible and destructive things (more on that later), and Walken's Smith is the only one who can see what Stillson has in store for the world. The talent of these two actors brought a level of quality to an already engaging story, and without them, The Dead Zone most likely would have fallen by the wayside.

If you're in need of a break from the zombies, witches, or slashers during your 31 Days of Horror, try giving The Dead Zone a chance. Not only does it have a spooky, supernatural foundation with excellent performances, but the themes are incredibly relevant to today's political events.

We Are What We Are

By Federico Furzan

We Are What We Are

Release Date

September 27, 2013

Cast

Kassie Wesley DePaiva, Laurent Rejto, Julia Garner, Ambyr Childers, Jack Gore, Bill Sage

Rating

R

Runtime

100

Main Genre

Drama

Jorge Michel Grau's Mexican film We Are What We Are (originally titled in Spanish Somos Lo Que Hay), is a riveting and intimate view into the reality of a society whose truth lies deep within. Grau beautifully plans out his film by withholding certain details that just might be too intimate for us to scrutinize. Those of us outside the reality of Mexico's poverty-stricken level of society won't fully understand. But we'll have enough to determine what's important: Rules in the underbelly of the modern world are different.

We Are What We Are is, by definition, a dramatic film. One that smoothly transitions into horror, but only because of a circumstantial fact, and not because it shares anything with its peers. In the film, a traditional family follows their own traditions. They're not the same as what you and your family practice every time you sit at the dinner table and talk about your day. Sure, they say grace, but they do so while respective their own upbringing, a ritualistic setting that's been going on apparently for years — a communal cannibalism.

Prince of Darkness

By Stephen Rosenberg

Prince of Darkness

Release Date

October 23, 1987

Cast

Donald Pleasence, Jameson Parker, Victor Wong, Lisa Blount, Dennis Dun, Susan Blanchard

Rating

R

Runtime

102

Main Genre

Horror

In 1987, fresh off the heels of his Kurt Russell-led comedy Big Trouble in Little China, John Carpenter released not only one of his scariest and most unique films, but also one of the least appreciated and seen, with Prince of Darkness. The film follows a small group of college students who major in physics, as they stay in an old church at the request of a worried priest, in hopes of understanding and studying a cylindrical relic that's filled with a mysterious liquid. Little do they know, the cylinder is filled with the sentient liquid embodiment of Satan himself.

Much of the uniqueness of Prince of Darkness comes from Carpenter's scientific approach to religious horror. In this film, the releasing of Satan is essentially a puzzle that this group of students accidentally solves. Each layer the team peels away from the story brings the Dark Lord back, little by little, starting with the release of his liquid form, which in turn, starts to infect the group like a virus, similarly to a zombie film. As members of the team slowly become infected, the dangers of releasing the all-powerful force of evil onto the world are realized by the remaining students, and along with the priest's help, they must find a way to stop Satan's eventual plan of world dominance from coming to fruition.

Aamis (Ravening)

By Rajiv Prajapati

Ravening

Release Date

November 22, 2019

Cast

Lima Das, Arghadeep Baruah, Neetali Das

Rating

Not Rated

Runtime

1hr 47min

Main Genre

Horror

In typical stories about forbidden love, the threat of ruin, the risk inherent in misguided passion, and the unfathomable darkness concealed in human desire — all these are commonly sidestepped to make way for grand proclamations about the power of love. However, truly compelling cinema can be found when filmmakers choose to delve into the messy, complex realities of forbidden romances. And in Aamis, forbidden desire morphs into something truly horrific.

Set in the state of Assam in northeastern India, Aamis, also known as Ravening, is a romance horror movie that plumbs the depths of evil that humans are capable of in the face of uncontrollable desire. The movie grounds itself in its Indian setting, bringing to life a truly disturbing take on the ways desire can express itself in a repressive environment.

The events in Aamis are framed by different social taboos — the friendship between a married, middle-aged woman and a 20-something bachelor; the class differences between them; and the taboo surrounding unusual foods, which eventually transforms into the film’s penultimate horror. But the most significant taboo among them all is sensuality as a whole. The movie follows the unnamable relationship between Nirmali (Lima Das), a married, middle-aged pediatrician, and the young student Sumon (Arghadeep Baruah), who bond over a shared love of unusual meat dishes. But of the two, Nirmali is the clear protagonist of the story, and it is her hidden desires that become the emotional heart of the movie, driving it steadily forward to its disturbing conclusion.

They Look Like People

By Matt Mahler

They Look Like People

Release Date

February 26, 2016

Cast

MacLeod Andrews, Evan Dumouchel, Margaret Ying Drake

Rating

Unrated

Runtime

1hr 20min

Main Genre

Horror

They Look Like People is a wonderful indie gem that doesn't spell anything out, but lets so many ideas and horror simmer beneath the lo-fi surface. Questions about how mental health determines identity, and how identity determines perception, are explored with elliptical delicacy and even warm humor. In many ways, though, the film is a compassionate buddy comedy about two young men having an identity crisis, and they may not get out of it alive.

MacLeod Andrews is phenomenal as Wyatt. We jump from his night terror to some time later. He has ended his engagement with his partner, grown his beard out, and is seemingly unhoused, ultimately coming to a childhood friend and crashing at his small apartment. Wyatt thinks that there is a plot, some kind of shape-shifting infestation, some darkness that is taking over people and replacing them, but he's one of the few people alive who can tell. He hopes others are like him, or that he can convince more. He receives phone calls and voice messages encouraging him and guiding him. A new identity has been thrust upon him, and his old world is shattered.

So does Wyatt have schizophrenia, or is he right? The truth is worked out in the extremely tense, unpredictable, and dizzying final sequence between Wyatt and Christian. At the end of They Look Like People, reality is revealed as precarious; it's an individual thing that depends upon your state of mind and disposition, but if we're to co-exist and not destroy each other, we have to agree on some baseline of reality. It can be difficult and even absurd, like describing the color orange to someone with blindness, but we try with a little help from our friends.

The Wailing

By Hanumanth

The Wailing

Release Date

June 3, 2016

Cast

Jun Kunimura, Hwang Jung-min

Rating

TV-MA

Runtime

2hr 36min

Main Genre

Horror

The story of The Wailing unfolds in a small rural South Korean village where a mysterious illness claims the lives of many innocent people following the arrival of a strange Japanese man who resides in the neighboring mountains. Jong-goo, as the investigator on the case, becomes entangled in a series of deaths, but what will he do when his own daughter exhibits similar symptoms? Will he be able to solve the case before it's too late?

Na Hong-jin is an award-winning South Korean director who has created a handful of thrillers such as The Chaser and The Yellow Sea, but the budding filmmaker was never a veteran in the horror genre. However, he was heavily influenced by his upbringing in a rural area, where he lost many people close to him due to natural causes. The Wailing has become a stupendous classic that is often looked back at, thanks to Hong Jin's exceptional storytelling, and the horrendous sequences make it all the more appealing to see for horror enthusiasts.

Furthermore, the film does not hold back on violence, as there are multiple grisly moments that keep you in the dark altogether. Despite being his debut horror film, Na Hong-jin really went all out with the setting, story selection, and other elements that make the film thoroughly unsettling and consistently engaging.

Willow Creek

By Liz Young

Willow Creek

Release Date

May 2, 2013

Cast

Alexie Gilmore, Bryce Johnson, Laura Montagna, Bucky Sinister, Peter Jason, Timmy Red

Rating

NONE

Runtime

77

Main Genre

Horror

The premise of Willow Creek seems silly. A guy named Jim follows his dream of documenting Bigfoot, conducting interviews with lackluster locals, filming amateur cut scenes, and trying to convince his non-believer girlfriend Kelly that the humanoid creature lives in California. It isn't a widely original idea or concept, and it isn't necessarily executed as well visually as other popular found footage films of the decade.

In fact, Willow Creek is what many would dub a boring film. The pacing can be considered slow, there is little action, and the ending leaves something to be desired. Compared to the Saw and Conjuring moviesof today, some may think it doesn't hold up. However, there is plenty lurking behind the treeline that makes this found footage film a perfect addition to your watch list this Halloween.

Eyes Without a Face

By Katie Cusson

Eyes Without a Face

Release Date

October 24, 1962

Cast

Pierre Brasseur, Alida Valli, Juliette Mayniel

Rating

Not Rated

Runtime

1hr 30min

Main Genre

Horror

Georges Franju's Eyes Without a Face, also titled Les yeux sans visage, is a French horror movie from 1960. This beautifully slow, haunting story is a mesmerizing watch about identity, power, and revenge. The movie follows Dr. Génessier, a surgeon with a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde disposition, who is obsessed with completing a facial transplant for his daughter, Christiane. The two were in an accident caused by Dr. Génessier's erratic driving that left Christiane severely disfigured and forced to wear a mask in an effort to hide her wounds.

Dr. Génessier and his assistant Louise work together as a pair of deranged doctors, performing experiments on dogs and preying on young women who look similar to Christiane. They drug and abduct their victims before removing their faces and attempting to graft them onto Christiane, with most attempts failing just weeks later. Things are only more complicated by the fact that Dr. Génessier faked Christiane's death after the accident, forcing her to live a life of solitude locked in their rural château.

Eyes Without a Face remains one of the most impactful horror films ever made, even 60 years after its release. It's a calculated, surprisingly gory piece of French cinema that takes you through each and every step of the story without compromising on pacing. The outstanding cinematography and imagery are a testament to Franju's talent and make Eyes Without a Face a must-watch during the Halloween season.

The Sadness

By Zoe Dumas

The Sadness

Release Date

May 12, 2022

Cast

Berant Zhu, Tzu-Chiang Wang

Rating

TV-MA

Runtime

1hr 39min

Main Genre

Horror

Inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Garth Ennis comic series Crossed, The Sadness is about a horrific viral outbreak on the compact island nation of Taiwan. A simple, flu-like virus, dubbed the “Alvin” virus, has mutated, causing (or perhaps, allowing) its victims to carry out their most violent and sadistic fantasies. Unlike the familiar zombies that only look to consume, the infected in The Sadness are intelligent, able to strategize and carry out a plan in their quest for sick pleasures.

The story follows a young couple, Kat and Jim, as they attempt to reunite with one another amid the rampant chaos and bloodshed. Because of its commitment to showing all the gore and depravity its narrative entails, The Sadness isn’t for everyone; but for those with a stomach for the grotesque, Jabbaz and team take full advantage of their effects budget to show us the horror of a society eating itself alive.

Shadow of the Vampire

By Sydney Ghan

Shadow of the Vampire

Release Date

December 29, 2000

Cast

John Malkovich, Willem Dafoe, Cary Elwes, Eddie Izzard, Udo Kier

Rating

R

Runtime

92min

Main Genre

Horror

Shadow of the Vampire brilliantly creates a bit of revisionist history when it imagines that the director (F.W. Murnau) of the classic silent horror film Nosferatu hired an actual vampire (Max Schreck) to star as the villain in his film. In a terrifying portrayal of obsession, John Malkovich's Murnau is a controlling, maniacal, borderline sociopathic figure with a singular drive to create the most authentic product he possibly can. He seems largely unfazed by and indifferent to the fatigue and eventual death of many of his crew members, by contrast only flying off the handle when a particular scene or aspect of the film is in jeopardy.

Willem Dafoe's Max Schreck, meanwhile, has a tragic quality to him, a broken monster tired of his own long life who curses his aging body and his own inability to die. He's entirely inhuman, except for the moments when he's all too much like us.

Under the Shadow

By Matt Mahler

Under the Shadow

Release Date

September 30, 2016

Cast

Narges Rashidi, Avin Manshadi, Bobby Naderi

Rating

R

Runtime

84min

Main Genre

Horror

If you want a little less fun and a little more actual horror, turn on the news. A genocide is taking place while America funds it and the rest of the world sheepishly wave a cautious finger. Thousands of women, children, and elderly Gazans have been murdered this month in the attempt to defeat Hamas after the terrorist group viciously attacked Israel. The collective punishment which has subsequently been unleashed is horrific, and as food, electricity, water, and medial supplies are cut off from Gaza and the area goes dark, it's hard to know just how many of its two million citizens (half of whom are 18 or younger) are being slaughtered at the moment.

Under the Shadow is a Persian-language horror film that recreates the feeling of being bombed relentlessly and trapped in a country where death grows more inevitable by the day. The film follows a mother (played by Narges Rashidi in one of the best performances in recent memory) whose husband has been drafted into the Iran-Iraq war in the late '80s. She cares for her daughter as their town succumbs to air raids, military curfews, ceaseless bombing, and utter hopelessness. When a missile crashes through her roof but inexplicably doesn't explode, it seems to bring with it a demonic djinn, an evil spirit that gets uncomfortably close to her only daughter.

Under the Shadow is an immensely tense film that increasingly shreds your nerves. Imagine The Babadook as a war film. Horror can be an empathy machine when used correctly, and Babak Anvari's suspenseful masterpiece allows us to emotionally connect with all the innocent victims of war, be it the War of the Cities, or the current genocide in Gaza. Unfortunately, horror doesn't get more real and topical than this. Under the Shadowis streaming on Netflix and available to rent on various digital platforms. If you'd like to see all of our 31 Days of Horror picks, check out our Halloween advent calendar below.