Halloween is only a day away, but there’s still time to find something genuinely frightening to watch before the spooky season comes to an end.
Like many people raised in religious households, I was strongly discouraged from watching horror movies (they invite demons!). Luckily, I was also allowed to stay up late by myself, which is how I discovered TNT’s “MonsterVision” movie segment.
That late-night showcase introduced me to the unsettling worlds of Stephen King, Alfred Hitchcock and Wes Craven.
These days, I watch horror films throughout the year. And considering that horror remains one of the most popular movie genres, I’m clearly far from alone.
Many viewers return to familiar classics, from the Halloween franchise to my personal favorite, The Shining. But some of the most disturbing films aren’t built around nonstop violence. Instead, they expose the darkest parts of the human experience, including guilt, grief and loss.
Here are 11 horrifying — and potentially disturbing — movies, ranging from scary good to “I wish I hadn’t watched that,” to stream or rent before Halloween is over. Note: Spoilers may follow.
In Speak No Evil, married couple Bjørn (Morten Burian) and Louise (Sidsel Siem Koch) travel to Italy with their daughter, Agnes (Liva Forsberg). During the trip, they meet Patrick (Fedja van Huêt) and Karin (Karina Smulders), a Dutch couple whose mute son, Abel (Marius Damslev), is around Agnes’ age. The families appear to connect, so Bjørn and Louise accept an invitation to visit them for a short getaway. The mood soon turns sinister, however, as Patrick and Karin begin behaving in increasingly inappropriate and unsettling ways.
James McAvoy starred in the American remake of this Danish psychological horror film, but the original is considerably stronger. It serves as a particularly uncomfortable reminder that politeness and good manners can sometimes come at a dangerous price.
If you watch only one movie from this list, make it this one.
Directed by Pascal Plante, Red Rooms centers on Kelly-Anne (Juliette Gariépy), a deeply questionable protagonist. By day, she works as a model; by night, she plays poker. She is also fixated on the trial of Ludovic Chevalier, a man accused of murdering three teenage girls and recording their deaths for distribution through so-called “red rooms” on the dark web. The third victim’s body has never been found, but nearly everyone — including the audience — assumes Chevalier is guilty. The real questions are what Kelly-Anne believes and why she attends the trial every day. Aside from a few blood-chilling sounds, Plante takes an almost Hitchcockian approach to this thriller-horror hybrid, leaving viewers’ imaginations to construct what the film refuses to show. The movie also delivers a pointed critique of cultural voyeurism, particularly the public obsession with true crime, forcing audiences to examine their own detachment. Celebrated by critics and horror fans as a modern classic, Red Rooms is so unsettling that anyone left unmoved might start questioning their own humanity.
In The Ritual, a group of friends heads into the wilderness of Northern Sweden after the death of a friend during a botched robbery. When one member is injured, they decide to take a shortcut through the forest rather than return the way they came. They quickly regret that choice. As they travel deeper into the woods, the men encounter disturbing sights, including a mutilated moose, and begin experiencing terrifying dreams. An allegory for survivor’s guilt, The Ritual is an atmospheric nightmare that continually reinforces why wilderness adventures are best avoided.
Horror fans are likely familiar with Wolf Creek, the 2005 film about three Australian backpackers who make the mistake of accepting help from sadistic killer Mick Taylor, a character loosely inspired by real-life murderer Ivan Milat. Unlike the original movie, which is often described as a slow burn, Wolf Creek 2 delivers its violence and gore within the first 10 minutes. The story follows Paul, who accidentally interferes with Mick and one of his victims. Furious at having his kill disrupted, Mick pursues Paul in a nerve-racking game of cat and mouse across the Australian outback and eventually into his own home. Viewers who enjoy graphic horror will find plenty to appreciate, but I could only sit through it once.
Suicide Club follows three detectives investigating a series of gruesome mass suicides across Japan. The deaths initially appear unrelated, but disturbing clues — including a suspicious website and a roll of human skin — suggest that something far more sinister is unfolding. Is a cult forcing ordinary people to take their own lives, or is the truth even stranger? Some horror fans interpret the film as a modern retelling of the Pied Piper story. Along the way, it explores social conformity, isolation and the influence of mass media.
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The 1960 French-Italian horror film Les Yeux Sans Visage has few traditional jump scares, yet it is every bit as unsettling as Michael Pearce’s Beast or Robert Eggers’ The VVitch. Translated as Eyes Without a Face, the film follows a deranged scientist, played by Pierre Brasseur, who is determined to restore the face of his daughter Christiane (Édith Scob) after she is disfigured in an accident he caused. His solution is as horrifying as it is simple: kidnap young women who resemble her and use their faces in a series of attempted transplants.
The eerie mask worn by Christiane is widely said to have loosely inspired the featureless William Shatner mask worn by Michael Myers in Halloween.
Archaeologist Scarlett Marlowe (Perdita Weeks) hopes to continue the work of her late father by locating the Philosopher’s Stone — yes, the same legendary object associated with Harry Potter. After she and a friend theorize that the stone may lie beneath the catacombs of Paris, France, Scarlett joins a small group in exploring the underground tunnels. Before long, it becomes clear that they are not simply traveling miles beneath the city. Instead, they appear to be moving through the circles of hell described in Dante’s Inferno. As Above, So Below turns a traditional quest narrative into a nightmare in which the characters must confront their sins to escape. Shot in the actual catacombs, the found-footage film becomes an exploration of guilt, redemption and atonement.
In Saint Maud, Katie (Morfydd Clark) is a nurse haunted by the death of a patient. Now a devout Roman Catholic, she takes a private-care job looking after Amanda (Jennifer Ehle), a terminally ill former dancer. Katie, who has renamed herself Maud, becomes convinced that she has been chosen to save Amanda’s soul. Predictably, that mission takes a deeply disturbing turn.
A bleak study of religious psychosis with a grimace-inducing finale, the film combines psychological dread with elements of body horror. It may not frighten viewers in the traditional sense, but its themes linger: loneliness, shattered dreams, repression and the inescapable human need to find purpose.
[Where to stream The Taking of Deborah Logan] Photo: Bad Hat Harry Productions
In The Taking of Deborah Logan, a group of students moves temporarily into the home of an elderly woman and her daughter as part of a college project. Deborah Logan (Jill Larson), who has Alzheimer’s disease, agrees to be filmed in the hope that the documentary will shed light on the degenerative condition. At first, the project seems straightforward. Soon, however, Deborah begins behaving erratically. Along with sudden violent outbursts — often directed at herself — she displays bizarre symptoms, including vomiting dirt and earthworms. Doctors attribute the behavior to Alzheimer’s, but the filmmakers and Deborah’s daughter begin to suspect a connection to a physician who vanished years earlier after being exposed for sacrificing young girls in a demonic ritual.
It may not reach the heights of The Exorcist, but The Taking of Deborah Logan is an entertaining found-footage horror film that delivers plenty of jolts. The ending is far from cheerful, yet it offers the kind of grim satisfaction that devoted horror fans will appreciate.
If someone you loved disappeared without a trace, how far would you go to find them? That’s exactly what protagonist Rex (Gene Bervoets) must ponder in this 1988 Dutch-French classic. After his girlfriend Saskia (Johanna ter Steege) disappears on a vacation road trip, he desperately searches for her for the span of three years. Unlike traditional horror whodunnits, the audience knows exactly who the culprit is: an unassuming family man, Raymond (Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu), who just also happens to be a psychopath. Psychologically torturing Rex through a series of postcards with promises to reveal his identity, audiences get a glimpse into Raymond’s motives. Eventually, it all comes to a head when the two meet face to face and Raymond gives Rex the option to learn Saskia’s fate. What this film lacks in carnage and jump scares, it makes up for in nail-biting suspense.
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There’s plenty of visual evidence exhibiting Willem Dafoe’s exhibitionism (including, but not limited to being Madonna’s candlestick in 1993′ Body of Evidence), but none takes the cake more than his work in Lars von Trier’s indescribable Antichrist. His butt is prominently featured in the film (and buttcrack on movie poster!), and so too is his johnson. But after further review, apparently Willem’s willy was actually TOO big for the big screen that they had to use a less distracting penis double. Some things you just can’t make up. Photo: Everett Collection
A couple (Charlotte Gainsbourg, Willem Dafoe) lose their child in a horrific accident while they’re in an intimate moment. Heartbroken, the wife is hospitalized. Once released, her husband, a psychiatrist skeptical of the medical intervention she’s received, takes the pair to a cabin in the wood called Eden. While nameless in the film, it’s clear the couple is a dark take on Adam and Eve, post-fall, and their time in name will prove more hell than paradise on earth. If you like movies that make you think but still crave scenes that make you gasp, Antichrist delivers, though it’s not for the faint of heart. While too artistic to be considered gore porn, prepare for scenes that make the Saw franchise look like Sesame Street.
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