Halloweenis right around the corner, which means it’s time to binge-watchscary movies.
2024 has seen somegreat new horror filmshit theaters, like Longlegs, Cuckoo, and Night Swim, but Halloween is a time when it’s great to watch old classics. Of course, there are only so many movies to watch once you make it through the must-watch classics likeHalloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, and The Conjuring movies.
So, we’ve rounded up some of our less-heralded favorites that you might not have heard of. This eclectic collection of is sure to have at least one film you’ve never seen before while offering a little something for everyone, no matter what types of scares you like.
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Halloween always brings plenty of scary treats to streaming services. Here are the horror movies and shows you should look out for.
1Deep Rising
A cruise ship heist goes horribly wrong
Deep Rising
A group of thieves plans to rob the most luxurious cruise ship in the world but find it mysteriously empty instead.
Treat Williams stars as the captain of a ship that’s been hired to meet up with a state-of-the-art luxury crew ship, but when they arrive they find that all the guests on the ship have mysteriously vanished. As they investigate the ship, they learn that something else boarded the ship before them.
2The Battery
A haunting indie zombie movie
The Battery
Two minor league baseball players get sick of one another in the zombie apocalypse.
The Battery is more thoughtful than pretty much any zombie film I’ve ever seen, which helps imbue it with a level of terror that few zombie films ever achieve. The film follows two minor league baseball players as they struggle to survive not only the apocalypse, but each other’s company, before they find themselves surrounded by the undead.
The film was written and directed by Jeremy Gardner, who also stars in the film. He’s done the same with a few more films since The Battery came out in 2012, so if you like this movie, be sure to check out his other films.
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3Psycho Goreman
A little girl gets her own demonic alien
Psycho Goreman
Two kids gain power over a long-imprisoned, super-powerful alien deity bent on ruling the galaxy.
Psycho Goreman follows a young brother and sister who discover a mysterious gem while digging in their backyard. The gem unleashes a dangerous alien who was imprisoned after attempting to conquer the galaxy. While the alien has no problem killing anyone he comes across, the gem the two kids found gives them power over the alien. So they name him Psycho Goreman and begin teaching him to be a little less brutal.
This movie is filled with over-the-top gore, but it’s somehow super sweet and endearing
This movie is filled with over-the-top gore, but it’s somehow super sweet and endearing. A weird combo that works surprisingly well together. If you like this film, check out director Steven Kostanski’s other film, The Void, as well.
Zombies are pets
An idyllic 1950’s world where humanity overcame the zombie apocalypse and domesticated the undead.
Fido tells the story of what happened after the zombie apocalypse. Zombies are mostly domesticated thanks to collars that curb their problematic cravings for humans. Meanwhile, humanity has reverted to a 1950s style society, that’s until a young boy named Timmy gets too close to his family’s pet zombie, and it begins to wreak havoc on his small idyllic town.
5Disturbing Behavior
Perfect high schoolers aren’t what they seem
Disturbing Behavior
The new kid in town discovers that the club of preppy kids are responsible for quite a few murders.
James Marsden stars as Steve Clark, a high school senior who’s new to the community of Cradle Bay. Shortly after arriving, Clark begins noticing strange behavior from a group of students in a club known as the Blue Ribbons and the sketchy therapist who oversees them.
6Wishmaster
Never let an evil genie grant your wish
Wishmaster
An evil genies grants wishes that have a horrible side effect on the person who asks.
An appraiser in New York City is given an ancient gemstone which awakens an evil djinn that needs someone to cast three wishes so that he can release hell on Earth. The Djinn takes on human form, and begins to terrorize anyone who he can get a wish from.
7Near Dark
A young guy falls for a mysterious vampire girl
A teenager in rural Oklahoma gets dragged into a traveling pack of vampires.
Near Dark is a cult classic vampire film that also happens to be directed by Academy Award winner Kathryn Bigelow. It follows a young man who meets a mysterious girl one evening who turns him into a vampire and introduces him to the pack of bloodsuckers she travels with, led by Lance Henriksen’s Jesse Hooker.
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8The Descent
Cave-diving with monsters
The Descent
An all-female group of spelunkers gets trapped in a cave and discover a subterranean species of man-eating monsters..
If you’re looking for a movie that will have you sleeping with the lights on for all of October, then The Descent might be just what you’re looking for. It follows a group of female cave divers who are trapped underground and discover strange creatures that begin to pick them off one by one.
9Halloween: H20
Michael Myers finds Laurie Strode 20 years later
Halloween H20: 20 Years Later
Halloween: H20 might just be the best Halloween movie after the 1978 original. The movie sees the return of Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode, who faked her death and went into hiding to avoid Michael Myers. She’s now the dean of a private school in northern California that her son attends. But, unfortunately, Michael learns that Laurie is still alive, and makes the trek across the country to check in on his long-lost sister.
10Pumpkinhead
What better way to get ready for Halloween than watching a pumpkin-headed monster terrorize teens.
Pumpkinhead
A greiving father seeks out a witch for revenge but gets more than he bargained for.
This cult classic was the directorial debut of special effects wizard Stan Winston, who’s best known for working on films like Jurassic Park, Terminator 2, and Aliens. It centers around a group of teens who accidentally murder a young boy. The boy’s father goes to a witch who helps him wake up Pumpkinhead in order to carry out his vengeance on the teenagers.
