31 Days of Horror: Shockers You Shouldn’t Miss (Again)
Give 'The Shining,' 'The Exorcist' and 'The Omen' a rest this October
It’s October, and that can mean only one thing for horror junkies.
There’s no better time to cram in as many scary movie viewings as possible. ‘Tis the season, after all, and the genre offers the perfect escape from the latest headlines.
Sigh.
Hollywood in Toto knows you’ve already seen genre classics like “Night of the Living Dead,” “The Omen” and “The Shining” more times than you can count.
Why not try something … different?
HiT offers you 31 choices for your viewing pleasure. Some of the films on this horror movie list barely got noticed during their theatrical release. Others got unfairly drubbed by film critics.
A few likely flew so far under your radar you didn’t know they existed. No matter the story, they offer horror fans something fresh and unusual this horror season. If you watch them and agree, why not tell a friend?
That’s the neighborly thing to do for Halloween season, no?
31 Days of Horror:
- “Splinter“
- “Rogue“
- “Train to Busan“
- “The Battery”
- “Eden Lake“
- “Housebound“
- “Fresh“
- “Bone Tomahawk“
- “Another Evil“
- “The Blob“
- “The Descent Part 2“
- “Hush“
- “Wrong Turn” (2003)
- “Tourist Trap“
- “Cargo“
- “Psycho II” (1983)
- “Haunt“
- “VFW“
- “Girl on the Third Floor“
- “X“
- “Slither“
- “Backcountry“
- “Crawl“
- “Willow Creek“
- “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark“
- “Trilogy of Terror“
- “The Human Centipede”
- “Tucker & Dale vs. Evil“
- “Dead Snow: Red vs. Dead”
- “Eight-Legged Freaks“
- “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (2003)
I recommend 1985’s “The Stuff”. It is a bit more campy than horror, but to me it is amazing how relevant the themes in the movie are today. It has themes such as the shady intersection between the FDA and Big Food and the danger of heavily produced advertisements and reliance on celebrity endorsements. I think if “The Stuff” were made today the titular substance might be a weight loss drug like Ozempic. There are also some good actors in it. The movie features a pre-Law and Order pairing of Michael Moriarty and Paul Sorvino.
Also worthy is The Sentinel from 1977 (what a cast!) and The Last Man on Earth (1964 version starring Vincent Prince). Also, read the novel I Am Legend by Richard Matheson which is the basis for the Last Man on Earth movie – the chapter on the dog is just heartbreaking.
I would recommend “The Last Broadcast”, an underrated found footage movie. It came out at roughly the same time as “The Blair Witch Project” and, unfortunately, never got its due. Honestly, I think it’s a better movie and it has a plot twist that’s truly shocking.