Now that we’re officially in October, horror fans are scouring all of their services to try to find the best movies that will help prepare themselves for Halloween. Between the number of horror services out there and the vastness of these libraries, many of which are underwhelming titles, it can be a bit tricky to find something a subscriber might not actually be familiar with that’s worth investing time in. While a variety of services offer up a long list of classic films that are well worth revisiting, some viewers who might be newer to the genre have the opportunity to check out under-seen experiences that are bound to become classics.
It might be hard to find horror titles the horror fanatics haven’t already seen, but for anyone who might skip over some lesser-known titles to just look for recognizable experiences, we’ve got you covered. Whether we’re looking at foreign horror, movies that never earned major promotional campaigns, or earlier efforts from filmmakers who have been given exciting opportunities in recent years, we know just what you should check out this October to celebrate some off-the-radar titles that are just as effective as major releases.
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Scroll down to see the best overlooked horror movies that you can stream on Netflix, Hulu, Max, and Prime Video.
The Autopsy of Jane Doe – Netflix
The idea of dead bodies is enough to unsettle most people, but in André Øvredal’s The Autopsy of Jane Doe, even professional coroners are unnerved by the events unfolding.
Set in a small-town morgue, veteran coroner Tommy (Brian Cox) is attempting to teach his son Austin (Emilie Hirsch) the ways of the family business. The two are tasked with finding the cause of death of a victim known as “Jane Doe,” with each new clue they discover only igniting more questions about her death.
The movie unfolds almost entirely in this grimy morgue and with each grisly new discovery the father and son make, the closer they seem to come towards their own deaths. The movie plays on the fear of the supernatural and claustrophobia, making a memorable night for the characters themselves and for any viewer who witnesses their journey.
Creep and Creep 2 – Netflix
Yes, we’re already cheating by including two movies, but given that both films are as effective as one another and that they’re both on Netflix, it’s worth pointing out why the Creep films make a strong double feature
Starring the typically charming Mark Duplass as a man who hires a cameraman (played by director Patrick Brice) to film his daily activities under the guise of it being to show his son after he dies from a terminal illness, the day’s tasks get more and more bizarre. Audiences spend a majority of the run time trying to figure out if this character is merely socially awkward or if his masked persona of “Peachfuzz” is his way of hiding killer tendencies in plain sight.
In addition to the movies both being equal parts humorous and horrifying, making them worthy of a watch, they will help prepare you for the upcoming TV series The Creep Tapes, which comes to Shudder in November.
Drag Me to Hell – Prime Video
Long before he was known for his work on the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man trilogy, filmmaker Sam Raimi made a name for himself with his contributions to horror, so it only made sense that when he left superheroes behind, he’d deliver this raucous experience.
After denying an old woman a bank loan, Christine (Allison Lohman) is “cursed” by the woman, giving her three days to figure out how to break the curse. Christine contacts mediums and performs sacrifices, only for the terror to escalate to frightening levels.
Throughout his entire career, including his return to Marvel for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Raimi has demonstrated his mastery over tension, whether that’s executed for horrifying or humorous purposes. Drag Me to Hell was released in 2009, with Spider-Man fans being overwhelmed and horror fans being frustrated that it wasn’t as bloody as Raimi’s roots, but the more that time passes, the more that audiences appreciate the filmmaker’s return to spooky storytelling.
The Eyes of My Mother – Hulu
Filmmaker Nicolas Pesce’s debut feature didn’t pull any punches. While it initially won over audiences at film festivals, the intense and gripping subject matter had a bit more of a divisive response when unleashed on general viewers.
Set in a rural farmhouse, the story explores the cycles of trauma and violence as a family is initially attacked by an intruder, only for this inciting incident to awaken a darker and more disturbing pattern of terror.
Filmed in gorgeous black and white, the film is a technical marvel, evoking themes of some of the best horror entries from an earlier era. While the film’s look is evocative of the early days of cinema, the visual style and overall story inject modern sensibilities, including some truly horrific special effects.
Hagazussa: A Heathen’s Curse – Prime Video
Witches have appeared in horror movies since the birth of cinema and are depicted as everything from silly hags like in Hocus Pocus to seductive forces of darkness like in The Witch. With Hagazussa: A Heathen’s Curse, audiences are given an experience like no other.
Unfolding in the 15th century, Hagazussa feels more like a documentary about the torment and persecution women endured during the witch trials of the era, depicting women who are targeted by their communities for a number of reasons that would seem easily explainable today. What sets this movie apart from most others is how gorgeous the cinematography is and how evocative and mysterious the landscapes appear. Patient horror fans who prefer the mood and atmosphere of Robert Eggers’ The Witch won’t want to miss Hagazussa.
The House of the Devil – Prime Video
Thanks to the trilogy of X, Pearl, and MaXXXine, Ti West is one of the hottest filmmakers in horror today, and for fans who weren’t already familiar with his work, it’s the perfect time to go back and watch his breakout movie.
Set during the Satanic panic of the ’80s, babysitter Samantha (Jocelin Donahue) answers an ad for a sitter, as she’s desperate for the cash to move off of her college campus. When she arrives at the home, she learns her responsibilities aren’t quite what she was promised, though her financial desperation gets the best of her.
Much like West proved with his more recent efforts, The House of the Devil honors not only the look of films from the era in which it is set, but also the style, as the deliberate pacing makes sure to draw out the paranoia from audiences until West finally wants to reveal what’s really happening to Samantha. Despite being made 15 years ago and with a fraction of the budget of his A24 efforts, The House of the Devil rivals the effectiveness of any of West’s more recent forays into terror.
I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House – Netflix
One of the biggest horror hits of the year was Longlegs from Osgood Perkins, featuring the hunt for a serial killer. For those who want more Perkins, you can check out I Am the Pretty Thing that Lives in the House right now.
A live-in nurse cares for a retired horror writer in a quiet house in Massachusetts, only for bizarre things to begin to occur. Given how Longlegs was championed for its deliberate pace and gorgeous cinematography, I Am the Pretty Thing delivers all of those components in the structure of a haunted house narrative. The look of the film is just as alluring and intriguing as Longlegs, and while that film served more as a mystery than outright horror movie, I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House leans much more into all of the staples of the genre to an effective degree.
I Saw the TV Glow – Max
While it might not be an outright horror film like many of the other entries on this list, it borrows the cinematic language of a variety of genre staples to tell a story about the horrors of being trapped in your own body.
Teens Owen and Maddy are both outcasts in their schools and in their families, with the one place they feel comfort being the young-adult TV show The Pink Opaque. When Maddy seemingly vanishes, Owen is left alone to figure out his place in the world, and while there’s some relief to Maddy ultimately returning to reunite with Owen, neither of them is who they once were.
Writer/director Jane Schoenbrun’s film works as a surface-level spooky story that pays respects to ’90s staples like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Pete & Pete, and Are You Afraid of the Dark? while also injecting themes of gender and sexual identity, grief, and emotional trauma. No matter what you’re looking for in a horror film, I Saw the TV Glow delivers, making for one of the moodier and thought-provoking genre movies of 2024.
Immaculate – Hulu
After first collaborating on the 2021 film The Voyeurs, actor Sydney Sweeney and filmmaker Michael Mohan reunited earlier this year for an entirely different experience yet a wholly satisfying one.
Sister Cecilia (Sweeney) travels to a convent in Italy after seemingly being directly recruited to join her fellow nuns. Cecilia seems to be earning preferential treatment from her superiors, leading her to investigate why her seeming peers are being treated so poorly, only to uncover a reality-changing secret.
Immaculate might not be the only 2024 horror movie that deals with reproductive rights and their connection to organized religion, but the Italian locale and the bewildering performance from Sweeney as well as the ambitious cinematic sensibilities from Mohan make Immaculate the standout nun-themed horror movie of recent memory.
The Invitation – Prime Video
Los Angeles can feel like an otherworldly place, not only because it can be considered a land of opportunity, but also because its deep roots of unconventional thinkers means there could be perspectives held by residents that you won’t find anywhere else. In The Invitation, a couple heads to a dinner party being held by longtime friends, only for their hosts to introduce them to their new community, called “The Invitation.”
People lose touch with one another in a variety of ways throughout their lives, so it’s easy to relate to the idea of reconnecting with someone after years apart who has found a new and potentially surprising path for their life. The Invitation keeps audiences, and our protagonists, guessing for most of the run time about what the hosts are really attempting to accomplish with this party, as filmmaker Karyn Kusama offers us only glimpses of treachery in equal measure to miscommunications between the characters. All is revealed in the finale, however, which will never have you looking at the Hollywood Hills in the same way.
The Killing of a Sacred Deer – Max
Yorgos Lanthimos has made a major splash with American audiences in recent years, thanks to the genre-bending experiences of Poor Things and Kinds of Kindness, though it’s his The Killing of a Sacred Deer that might be one of his most dreadful and compelling affairs.
Heart surgeon Steven (Colin Farrell) seemingly has the perfect life, with a beautiful wife (Nicole Kidman) and two children. After a chance encounter with teen Martin (Barry Keoghan), who reveals that his father died following a procedure done by Steven, the surgeon notices strange ailments afflicting his children. Martin reveals he’s the one responsible for the bizarre afflictions, forcing Steven to make a fatal decision.
Part of what makes many Lanthimos projects so captivating is how he manages to balance pitch-black comedy with even the darkest of subject matters, and while Killing of a Sacred Deer is just as absurd of any of his efforts, it’s almost entirely devoid of any lighthearted elements, making for a wholly dreadful and effective affair.
Mandy – Hulu
Nicolas Cage is a fearless performer who constantly surprises audiences, no matter how familiar we might grow with his abilities. You’ll see no better execution of his range of skills than in Mandy, a mind-tripping tale of revenge.
Red (Cage) and girlfriend Mandy (Andrea Riseborough) live a quiet and romantic life in the Pacific Northwest, only for their entire livelihoods to be upended by the arrival of a religious cult known as the Children of a New Dawn. A chance encounter results in the cult killing Mandy, putting Red on a path of drug-fueled revenge.
In all of the best ways imaginable, Mandy isn’t a film of subtlety, thanks in large part to Cage’s performance and the film’s psychedelic visuals. Director Panos Cosmatos knows exactly how to use the actor and, while Cage manages to sell the quieter and more intimate moments of these two lovers early on, the performer’s anguish-turned-mayhem is when the experience really kicks into overdrive, taking the iconic performer’s intensity to all-new heights.
Monster Inside: America’s Most Extreme Haunted House – Hulu
The only documentary on this list, Monster Inside proves how fact is freakier than fiction.
Haunted houses pop up in various neighborhoods every fall, and while most attempt to offer lighthearted scares, McKamey Manor takes things to new heights. This documentary explores how, having gone through the “haunted house” and being subjected to verbal assault, physical altercations, drownings, and various other attacks that would justify intervention from authorities (though a multi-page waiver cleared owner Russ McKamey of legal troubles), participants spent years trying to overcome the psychological trauma. The documentary raises some questions about whether these participants were responsible for the aftermath due to their willingness to take part in the experience, though also attempts to unpack how McKamey could be drawn towards tormenting people to such a degree.
Earlier this year, McKamey was arrested on charges of sexual assault, domestic violence, and attempted murder, with Monster Inside feeling like it only scratched the surface of the terror this individual was capable of committing.
Paranormal Activity 3 – Max
The Paranormal Activity franchise picked up the torch put down by the Saw franchise in that the films were so cheap to produce, a new installment would be released every October for multiple years in a row. Most of the entries in the franchise failed to live up to the success of the original, with the one outlier being this third entry.
Set years before the events of the original film, Paranormal Activity 3 focuses on a younger Katie and her first encounters with darkness. Even though part of the joy of the series is how much is unknown about the nature of the evil spirits, this installment has both satisfying scares as well as compelling explanations for why this whole ordeal kicked off in the first place, recontextualizing everything audiences thought they knew about the found-footage phenomenon.
Ready or Not – Hulu
Ready or Not wasn’t the first feature-length outing for directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, but it’s definitely what put them on the map and set the stage for projects like Scream, Scream VI, and Abigail.
On her wedding night, Grace (Samara Weaving) takes part in traditional festivities held by her new in-laws, and what seems like a joke about playing a game of hide-and-seek quickly becomes more deadly than she could have anticipated, putting her in a fight for her life.
The adventure manages to deliver plenty of laughs alongside all of its horrors, which became a signature for the filmmakers, and also served as a breakout performance for Weaving. With a sequel on the way, which Weaving has confirmed she would be returning for, there’s no better time to revisit the 2019 experience.
Saint Maud – Prime Video
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is one of the biggest shows on TV right now, with one of the fan-favorite figures being Morfydd Clark’s Galadriel. Before she stepped into the shoes of the iconic character, Clark earned praise for her tortured performance in Saint Maud from filmmaker Rose Glass.
The only thing caretaker Maud (Clark) is more devoted to than caring for her patients are her religious beliefs, but the ways in which her patient Amanda (Jennifer Ehle) tries to get Maud to question those beliefs only makes her more devout. The closer to the end of Amanda’s life we get, the greater lengths Maud goes to in order to prove her devotion, leaving audiences to wonder if all of her sacrifices will pay off.
Anyone who’s seen Saint Maud understands how Clark could have scored such a coveted role in the Lord of the Rings series, with the film itself being both a frightening and thought-provoking experience in its own right. Glass would go on to collaborate with Kristen Stewart in this year’s Love Lies Bleeding, which become one of the year’s best-received genre experiences.
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark – Netflix
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is the second movie from André Øvredal on this list, which was originally released in the summer of 2019. Despite the movie itself kicking off on Halloween and the book series that inspired the adventure being staples of the spooky season, the movie is largely considered overlooked due to its summertime release.
Scary Stories manages to not only honor the stories from Alvin Schwartz and artwork of Stephen Gammell in their beloved book series, but also introduced new elements to help connect the iconic tales. While this adaptation focuses on teen characters and honors the whimsical spirit of the source material, Øvredal didn’t pull his punches with this PG-13 experience, embracing a tone and style that helped the experience become a gateway film for burgeoning horror fans.
Trick ‘r Treat – Max
Even if you haven’t seen Trick ‘r Treat, you’ve likely seen its beloved mascot Sam growing more and more popular in recent years, who has deservedly become a seminal figure for All Hallow’s Eve.
Filmmaker Michael Dougherty delivered this anthology film in 2009, bringing together a variety of traditions connected to October 31st and iconic monsters to craft a love letter to the annual event. From demons to werewolves to ghosts, Trick ‘r Treat is packed to the brim with Halloween iconography, arguably being the most iconic horror film to take place on October 31st since John Carpenter’s Halloween.
The Wailing – Netflix
Filmmaker Na Hong-jin’s The Wailing is one of the most harrowing and unrelenting horror experiences of the past decade, and it makes for a riveting and exhausting watch for audiences.
A bizarre virus in a small Korean community seems to cause residents to have violent outbursts. These incidents line up with the arrival of a visitor from Japan, with some of the residents claiming that this figure has a supernatural power over the community and is to blame for all the violence.
At the time of release, The Wailing earned a lot of comparisons to The Exorcist, due in large part to the many scenes in which performances have to convey highly intense expressions of anguish and terror. The Wailing fully earns that comparison, as its exploration of ancient beliefs, paranoia, and psychological terror make it the perfect companion piece to William Friedkin’s 1973 masterpiece.
When Evil Lurks – Hulu
Much like The Wailing, When Evil Lurks is one of the more unrelenting titles on this list, and while that’s sure to keep some fans away, it’s also one of the most viscerally effective films of 2023.
Also set in a small village, though this time in Argentina, the film sees a strange outbreak occurring in which residents appear to become possessed. Rather than one individual demon overtaking one specific person, it appears that there’s a darkness lurking in an entire town, with the lengths this terror is capable of growing with each passing hour.
For fans of Demián Rugna’s previous film Terrified, it should come as no surprise that When Evil Lurks contains some of the most unsettling sequences put to film in 2023, none of which do we want to spoil here. As plenty of other movies offer buckets of blood to overwhelm audiences with a sheer volume of gore, Rugna’s building of tension with tightly orchestrated releases of fear resulting in a roller-coaster-ride of terror.
Which of these films will you be checking out? Contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter or on Instagram to talk all things Star Wars and horror!
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Image Courtesy of HanWay Films
