Hello Geeklies! Your resident “horrorphiles”, Meagan Varney and myself, have put ourselves to the test to provide you with enough spooky films to get your through this Halloween season. Each week we will release a new article with 7 horrifyingly haunting movies to keep you awake and wondering what really is making that creaking noise down the hallway. The majority of these movies will be available on streaming platforms such as Netflix, Amazon, or Hulu. Also, we are going to try and steer clear of the ones that always make horror movie lists. Of course we all love Halloween, The Shining, or Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but we want to provide you with horror movies that you may not have watched yet to provide you with the best scares possible. So grab your popcorn, turn off all the lights, and get ready to scare your pants off.
The Invitation (2015)
What happens when your ex-wife invites you and your new girlfriend over for a dinner party with friends? That is the base premise for the movie that centers around Will and his new girlfriend as they attend the dinner party of his ex-wife who disappeared for 2 years after the death of their child and resurfaced with a new husband and a new eerily positive personality. Will is reminded of his previous life and believes sinister things are afoot, but can we, the viewers, really trust Will and his perspective of reality? A seriously thrilling and horrific movie that will keep you guessing till the end. Get your charcuterie boards and wine ready and invite your friends over to kick off the Halloween season!
Intruders (2015)
Anna lives in a big old house with an ailing family member, until one day when Anna’s relative passes away from sickness. With the death of her family, Anna becomes a recluse and agoraphobic, staying inside and away from everyone. News somehow gets around that she is living alone with a nice sized inheritance and one day, three men come to try and take Anna’s fortune. The only thing they don’t know is that Anna isn’t as innocent as she seems. This movie takes a classic “home intruder” situation and puts a wonderfully horrific twist on the story.
VHS (2012)
This “found footage” style movie is one that is more likely to make you pee your pants than get motion sick. A group of intruders is hired by a mysterious third party to carry out and film different crimes, when they come across some videos and decide to watch them in one of houses of their victims. Instead of the fun family videos they are expecting, they find several videos depicting gruesome murders, strange deaths, and unexplained events. The way in which this movie is filmed and compiled keeps the stories short and able to scare you fast before moving to the next terrifying tale, keeping you always on the edge of your seat.
Last Shift (2014)
Jessica Loren is on her first night watch as a rookie cop and is tasked with assisting the pick up of bio-hazard waste. While on watch, Jessica finds out that the prison holds supernatural power ever since cult leader, John Michael Paymon, and two of his followers committed suicide. As the night progresses, the haunting get more and more severe, pulling Jessica closer to the realm of the dead than the living. Can Jessica make it through her first night watch? Or will she succumb to the cult of John Michael Paymon?
The Taking of Deborah Logan (2014)
With a family member battling Alzheimer’s disease, Sarah Logan allows a documentary crew to start filming her ailing mother to capture her condition. For a short while, things go well and the crew become close with the family, privy to their private lives. As the crew documents the struggles of being a caregiver and with Deborah slipping everyday further and further into her dementia, horrifying habit and situations start arising. Are these just the devastating side effects of Deborah’s sickness or is there more than what the mind can perceive going on in the home?
The Visit (2015)
This is a M. Night Shyamalan movie that does not disappoint on the twist. When Becca and Tyler are sent to their grandparents house for a week during summer, Becca takes her camera along to record her experiences in the hopes of reuniting her mother and grandparents. Instead what happens is that Becca and Tyler start discovering and uncovering some family secrets that were not meant to be known. Being a truly terrifying movie in some scenes, the theme and pace of the movie keep the viewer wondering if family secrets are better left secret.
Silent House (2011)
This is a remake of a South American horror film from the same name and is supposedly based off true events. Very few movies manage to scare me but while watching this, I literally sat at the edge of my couch, hands over my mouth, screeching out with every twist and scene. Elizabeth Olsen plays Sarah, a teenager who is traveling to her family’s lakeside home with her father to pick up some items as the house has recently been sold. While there, her uncle stops by, but shortly after supernatural things start happening around the house, terrorizing the family. Cut off from all forms of communication and no neighbors nearby, will Sarah and her family be able to make it out of the peaceful lakeside home alive or is there something sinister trying to keep them there forever?
So here you have our second 7 picks for our top horror movies for our “31 Horrors of Halloween”. Make sure to check next week for our third round of picks and a new list of horrors to haunt your nights and turn your dreams into nightmares.
Missed part one of our “31 Horrors of Halloween”? You can find it here.
Want to put your pick in for horror movies that should make our next cut? Make sure to comment below or tweet at Meagan or myself on Twitter. You can find Meagan and I on Twitter: @westingreader and @Nika_Howard.