Posted by nova
Posted on Oktober 17, 2018
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Ghastly, whose real name is David Crow, is an electronic music producer mostly known for creating bass music. Courtesy of Montana Martz.Montana Martz
Though most people associate Andy Williams’ song It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year with the December holidays, electronic music producer Ghastly believes the track should be about October because Halloween is his favorite holiday. Ghastly, whose real name is David Crow, may be best known for producing bass music but he’s also a self-proclaimed horror movie fanatic.
Crow says Hereditary is his current favorite horror film because it focuses more on mood and atmosphere than jump scares. “I feel a lot of people when they think horror movies, they think something has to jump out and scare them every five minutes the way comedy has a joke every five minutes,” he adds. “But I think the scariest things are the things you can’t see, the things you don’t know when they’ll happen, you know? So, that’s true horror to me.”
In addition to Hereditary, he adds that Creep, Gonjiam Coherence and Repulsion are also on his list of favorite horror movies. He says that he appreciates these three films because they’re also more based on mystery than characters popping out and startling viewers, noting those types of films are more startling than scary. “If it was scary, you would be thinking about it afterward, wondering,” Crow adds. “I could jump out from behind a wall and ‘boo.’ Like yeah, I startled someone but it doesn’t mean I was scary.”
Crow’s love for horror films can be seen in his work: his recent single This Song Scares People hints at the very premise of horror films and features monsters in the artwork for the song, and even his DJ alias means to cause horror. He’s also currently working on projects that fuse his music with horror movies.
David Crow plans to fuse his love for horror films with his music as Ghastly. Courtesy of David Veltri.David Veltri
According to Crow, he's currently working on creating a short film and he is also making horror-based music videos to his songs. He says the music videos will be film-based with story lines, adding that there will be moments where the music stops and there is dialogue. “We’ll actually insert moments where you forget there was a song that this whole thing is based around to kind of suck people even deeper into this world,” he adds. These videos will differ from current music videos because they will be more akin to Michael Jackson’s Thriller video, longer and more focused on the story than just the music, Crow says. This Song Scares People is among his songs that will have a music video created in this style, and he hopes the collection will result in a “ short horror anthology.”
“I always have my foot in both worlds,” he adds. “I love music so much but I’m such a die-hard film fan, and it’s hard to not try and merge them.”
In addition to the horror-themed music videos, Crow also plans to release more music but not all under his alias Ghastly. His plans include hip-hop “ambient, more beautiful, melodic, indie-electronic” projects, and he intends to start singing on his track again.
“Honestly, I’ve really enjoyed everything I’ve done as Ghastly. It’s been very fun and I love where it’s all been going, where it’s still headed," Crow notes. “I just want to keep growing in every way I can, creating new projects and creating new styles.”
Posted by nova
Posted on Oktober 16, 2018
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The horror genre has gone through many evolutions and trends over the decades, delivering audiences all-new types of frights in ways that often reflect the cultural climate.
In the early 20th century, horror films leaned into classic archetypes of monsters, such as Dracula, The Mummy, and the Wolf-Man, with the genre ultimately leaning more into realism in the '30s and '40s. The '50s embraced more sci-fi elements, likely as a response to the Cold War and nuclear threats, with the '60s exploring the minds of serial killers.
Thanks to George Romero breaking ground with gore in 1968's Night of the Living Dead, the '70s pushed the envelope and helped give rise to the slasher genre, among other notable accomplishments. Additionally, special effects not only allowed for more gruesome gore, but also allowed the scale of films to expand to all-new levels.
Scroll down to see some of our picks for the best horror films of the '70s!
Slide 1 of 10'The Exorcist' - 1973
Based on the William Peter Blatty novel of the same name, The Exorcist is often considered the most effective horror movie of all time, even 45 years later.
After young Regan (Linda Blair) begins demonstrating bizarre behavior, from outbursts of rage to full-blown levitations, her mother seeks the help of the best minds the medical field has to offer. The family finds nothing but dead ends, leading a local priest to intervene, claiming that the young girl has been possessed by a demonic spirit which results in religious leaders taking drastic measures to cleanse the girl's spirit.
It's difficult to overstate the many accomplishments of The Exorcist, from its captivating performances to its impressive effects, though the lasting power of the film is likely a result of viewers and their devout beliefs in a higher power, which would seemingly result in the existence of demonic spirits. While some believers feel they have felt the presence of higher powers, The Exorcist and its real-world inspiration depicts what happens when nefarious beings visit humanity and refuse to leave without a fight.
Slide 2 of 10'The Wicker Man' - 1973
On the other side of the religious scale, The Wicker Man explored what happens when an outsider is confronted with a culture he's unfamiliar with and how his experiences both open his eyes and fill him with guilt for his devotion to seemingly arbitrary beliefs.
After receiving a mysterious letter claiming a small child on a remote island has gone missing, a police officer heads to the community to investigate. His investigation raises more questions than answers, with the officer being denied the pertinent information that would lead to discovering the child, while also exposing him to the sex-positive rituals of the community and their worship of nature.
Audiences are delivered a bizarre mystery throughout most of The Wicker Man, with the answers finally becoming clear in the film's shocking final scene, considered by many to be one of the best twist endings the horror genre has seen. Films have often explored devil worship and mysterious cults, but rarely have they been explored with such whimsy as in The Wicker Man, which will make you question the motives behind even the most polite people you encounter.
Slide 3 of 10'Black Christmas' - 1974
Black Christmas might not be the first film to be given the "slasher" moniker, though the film did help develop a tried and true formula, paving the way for films that would go on to define the following decade.
At a sorority house during winter break, a group of students begin to disappear one by one, leading local authorities to launch an investigation into the disappearances. As the body count rises, the film delivers an unexpected revelation about the identity of the murderer, with the premise going on to become the thing of urban legend.
Later in his career, director Bob Clark would deliver audiences A Christmas Story, with this horror film showcasing his talents of capturing seasonal cheer and humor, juxtaposed with grisly violence. One of the earliest films to introduce camerawork from the point of view of the killer, Black Christmas helped establish the budding subgenre that embraced disturbing kills while also delivering a classic whodunit premise.
Slide 4 of 10'The Texas Chain Saw Massacre' - 1974
The name of the film says it all, with The Texas Chain Saw Massacre delivering everything its title implies in this sun-baked descent into madness.
A group of weary travelers unwittingly stumble across the Sawyer homestead and its disturbed residents, most famously the chainsaw-wielding Leatherface, delivering audiences a road trip into Hell.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre might not be the only horror film to depict backwoods cannibals with a penchant for power tools, but filmmaker Tobe Hooper's portrayal of the American Dream gone wrong in the dilapidated Texan landscape is disturbed, rivetting, and timeless. Additionally, while copious amounts of carnage are depicted, there's very little blood that makes its way onto the screen, with Hooper's direction allowing the viewers to imagine the viscera, making the experience all the more frightening.
Slide 5 of 10'Carrie' - 1976
Bullied Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) begins her transition into adulthood and discovers that she's been harboring a secret she was unaware of. After a devastating humiliation at the hands of her classmates, Carrie unleashes her full telekinetic fury upon them, making all those who have wronged her pay for what they've done to her.
Carrie would mark a defining moment in the history of horror, as it delivered audiences a tragic performance from Spacek, confident and energetic directing from Brian De Palma, and a clever allegory from Stephen King, who wrote the source novel. All of these names would go on to become legendary names within the genre, with Carrie offering audiences our first glimpses of their greatness.
Slide 6 of 10'The Omen' - 1976(Photo: Facebook/The Art Of Horror)
Similar to the effectiveness of The Exorcist, The Omen's strength lies in its tortured performances, thanks to Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, and newcomer Henry Spencer Stephens as Damien.
When Katherine's (Remick) child dies shortly after being born, her husband Robert (Peck) instead accepts a child who was born the same day whose mother died during child birth. As the child grows older, bizarre occurrences begin to take place in his vicinity, with a local priest claiming that the boy isn't even human. As those close to Damien begin to die, Robert is forced to confront the truth about his child and decide if his bond with his "son" is strong enough to ignore his potential evil.
The horror genre earned a stigma in the '80s as being nothing more than an excuse to titilate viewers with sex and violence, though The Omen demonstrates the effectiveness of taking immensely talented performers and having them explore even the most absurd premises imaginable in the tone of a tense drama. The respect for the genre would dwindle in subsequent decades, with The Omen giving the horror genre a defining story about the son of Satan.
Slide 7 of 10'Suspiria' - 1977
Americans weren't the only ones delivering audiences defining entries in the horror genre, with writer/director Dario Argento crafting a beautifully macabre tale of witches, embracing surrealism for a nightmarish experience.
After Suzy Banyon (Jessica Harper) arrives at an elite German ballet school, she isn't met with very warm welcomes from the instructors or her peers. As is often the case in horror movies, "mysterious things begin to happen," with Suspiria depicting Suzy falling ill unexpectedly and maggots falling from the ceiling. Upon discovering that the school used to be run by witches, Suzy finally learns why fellow students have begun to disappear, leading to a tense confrontation that delivers audiences a dizzying frenzy.
From the highly-saturated colors to a whimsical score from Goblin, Suspiria equally dazzles and disturbs with its unique take on classic horror archetypes.
Slide 8 of 10'Halloween' - 1978(Photo: Compass International)
If Black Christmas helped establish the slasher subgenre, director John Carpenter arguably perfected it with Halloween and its horrors of the dangers that can stalk a small town.
After killing his sister on Halloween night, Michael Myers is locked up in a mental institution, only to escape 15 years later and return to his hometown. Meanwhile, Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) aims to have a tame Halloween, only for Myers to pick off her friends one by one for unknown reasons.
Carpenter's direction and script, which he co-wrote with Debra Hill, set the standard for the subtle slasher that relies on minimalism for its effectiveness. Myers is stripped of his identity completely, hiding behind a white mask and wearing a jumpsuit, leading audiences to wonder what is motivating his murders. Follow-up films would attempt to establish the Myers mythology, though none of them could compare to the effectiveness of the original. The film lends credence to that creepy person you encounter on the sidewalk that makes you feel like you should cross the street, as that person likely wants to follow you home and kill you.
Slide 9 of 10'Dawn of the Dead' - 1978
George Romero helped develop the lore of zombies with Night of the Living Dead, allowing him to explore a full-blown zombie apocalypse in Dawn of the Dead.
As societies begin to crumble into chaos due to the dead coming back to life, a group of survivors flee a major city and find refuge in a shopping mall, providing them with all the supplies necessary to survive indefinitely. Despite effectively removing imminent threats, our survivors learn there's a major difference between "surviving" and "living," even after obtaining everything they wanted in their pre-apocalyptic life.
Minutes into the film, Romero immerses audiences in the chaos of our failing society, with the worst traits of individuals rising to the surface. Rather than explore how such a crisis could bring humanity together, the film reveals how such a cataclysmic disaster will see the embrace of our deadliest instincts, all while demonstrating a symphony of gore that finds new ways to depict the decimation of dozens upon dozens of characters.
Slide 10 of 10'Alien' - 1979(Photo: 20th Century Fox)
Many of the best horror films of the decade demonstrated impressive special effects, which often depicted gore and violence. Alien, on the other hand, dove deep into its production value to transform intimate sets and an omnipresent feeling of dread to deliver what remains the standard for sci-fi survival horror.
Hundreds of years into the future, a team of researchers crosses paths with an alien entity, which infiltrates the vessel by the way of impregnation. After a small creature bursts out of the chest of a crewmember, it quickly matures and begins to kill them off one by one.
From the direction of Ridley Scott to the creature design of H.R. Giger to the ferocious performances by Sigourney Weaver, John Hurt, and the rest of the ensemble cast, Alien depicted the terrors of technology and humanity's attempt to explore uncharted corners of the universe. The film delivers countless astounding makeup techniques, yet its ultimate success is in what it doesn't show you, with the darkness of the ship and its many unseen alcoves causing viewers to peek around every corner they encountered thereafter.
Posted by nova
Posted on Oktober 16, 2018
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Are you one of the chosen few who faints at the sight of blood, but still and loves horror movies? Or maybe just looking for some training wheels before moving up to splatterfests like Dead Alive and Cannibal Holocaust? Whatever your situation, there’s a horror movie for you. There may be a lot of ways to be icky in horror—effluvium of every imaginable shade and consistency: blood, guts, bile, excrement, ectoplasm—but there are also an abundance of examples of the genre that don’t need to rely on shredded bodies and spilled intestines. Here are thirteen suggestions, ranked roughly from least to most scary.
Really, almost any of the Universal monster movies could be on this list. Even the more violent entries, like The Wolf Man and The Creature from the Black Lagoon are long on mood and short on actual bloodletting. If you’re completely unfamiliar with the black-and-white classics, maybe start with Bride of Frankenstein. But it’s The Invisible Man that proves just how much you can get away with not showing the scares. Starring Claude Rains (who you may know as the playing-all-sides policeman in Casablanca ) in his American movie debut, The Invisible Man is a ridiculously fun sci-fi horror movie, with special effects that feel like magic tricks, even today.
The Invisible Man is available to stream on Amazon or YouTube from $2.99.
Not only is Fiend Without a Face free of blood and gore, it’s a monster movie where you don’t even have to see the monster! At least for a while. The reveal—they’re flying brains that strangle people with their spinal cords—is unlikely to scare modern audiences, but Fiend Without a Face is still sci-fi horror pulp at its most entertaining and imaginative.
Fiend Without a Face is available to stream on Amazon or iTunes from $3.99.
The other movies in the series may be about Michael Myers stabbing babysitters, but not Season of the Witch, released in 1982 as part of a well-intentioned but failed effort to transform Halloween into an annual anthology horror series. There’s a lot of on-screen mayhem as Tom Atkins uncovers a conspiracy to use the powers of Stonehenge to turn kids into bugs with special-edition Halloween masks, but the movie is surprisingly bloodless, particularly when henchmen start getting torn apart, revealing the robot parts within. It’s the Samurai Jack approach to violence.
Halloween III: Season of the Witch is available to stream on Amazon or iTunes from $2.99.
Of Unknown Origin
The premise of this 1983 horror movie is simple: Peter Weller (Robocop) vs. a very large rat. Like a creepy version of Mousehunt, Of Unknown Origin is a bizarre “animals attack” masterpiece, as a man tears his life and home apart, all to erase that one, last bugbear. Surprisingly tense, Of Unknown Origin is mostly free of violence (except for what happens to that poor cat).
Of Unknown Origin is available to stream on Amazon, YouTube and iTunes from $2.99.
Another Evil
Maybe the strangest ghost movie ever made, Another Evil inverts the typical formula by focusing on the damaged ghost hunter, Os, whose attempts to purge a family vacation home of its freaky spirits (one has weird tentacles instead of a mouth) go way too far. Played by Mark Proksch from The Office and Better Call Saul, Os describes the supernatural in ways both eccentric and genuinely spine-tingling.
Directed by a German director with the too-Halloweeny-for-his-own-good name Wolf Rilla, the original 1960 Village of the Damned is a masterpiece of big ideas on a small budget. It opens with an entire British village falling asleep simultaneously. Cross the perimeter, as one military man in a gas mask attempts, and you’ll fall asleep too. Two months later, every woman in town is pregnant. They all give birth on the same day, to an army of creepy blondes with big heads and shining, silver eyes. Though the action stays confined to the village of Midwich, Village of the Damned builds to chilling proportions, as the telepathic terrors unveil their plans for our world.
Village of the Damned is available to stream on Amazon, YouTube and iTunes from $2.99.
If it weren’t for The Haunting, 1944’s The Uninvited would have a strong claim to being the best gothic horror movie yet made. It also happens to be one of the very first ghost horror movies. In The Uninvited, a brother and sister purchase the abandoned Windward House on England’s rocky coast. Windward is more occupied than they had thought, most dramatized in what is still one of the most chilling seance scenes ever filmed.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) / Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
While the first two versions of Invasion of the Body Snatchers are both excellent movies, you might want to pick the earlier one if body horror isn’t your thing. The ‘78 adaptation isn’t bloody, but it is very, very gooey. The pod people of the original look more like giant ears of corn. While both versions tell a similar story—aliens replace humans as part of a creeping invasion—the 70s version replaces the Red Scare hysteria of the first with New Age-y proselytizing, as the aliens (including Leonard Nimoy at his very slimiest!) promise poor Donald Sutherland release from “old concepts.”
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) is available to stream on Amazon Prime.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) is available to stream on Amazon, YouTube and iTunes from $2.99.
Let’s Scare Jessica to Death
“Dream-like” gets tossed around a lot describing horror movies, but it’s rare for the description to fit one as well as it does Let’s Scare Jessica to Death. Fresh out of a mental institution, Jessica stays with her husband a handful of other hippies in a rundown farmhouse. Are Jessica’s friends tormenting her? Is her mental state degrading? Or, are the local legends about a drowned woman returning as a vampire true?
Let’s Scare Jessica to Death is available to stream on Amazon, YouTube, Google Play and iTunes from $2.99.
The ultimate in folk horror, The Wicker Man is stuffed with pagan creepiness. After a police officer visits a remote island in search of a lost girl he finds the locals surprisingly welcome, even Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee at his most grand and eccentric). But is there welcoming, communal society masking occult dangers? Yes, the answer is yes.
This Australian mockumentary about a drowned girl feels like the most terrifying Netflix docu-series imaginable, even before ghosts start invading the frame. But unlike most faux-documentaries, Lake Mungo feels hauntingly real, right up through the final twist.
Lake Mungo is available to stream on Amazon, YouTube and Google Play from $2.99.
The Haunting (1963)
The ultimate in implied horror, The Haunting wrings so much tension out of banging doors, scary messages scrawled on the walls and a rickety spiral staircase that it puts all other horror movies to shame. If a spike of cold dread doesn’t shoot up your spine when Eleanor holds Theo’s hand in the dark, then you may be dead already.
The Haunting is available to stream on Amazon and iTunes from $2.99.
Noroi: The Curse
There’s a pinch of brutality and blood at the end of Noroi: The Curse , but this Japanese found-footage horror movie is terrifying in so many other ways. Untangling a web of demons, TV psychics, “ectoplasmic worms” and undead fetuses, Noroi is disorienting, upsetting and spectacularly, ingeniously intricate.
Posted by nova
Posted on Oktober 16, 2018
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While lots of people love creepy horror movies, if you're anything like me, you probably can't stand them. Nope. Sure, a suspenseful film is fine, but gory slasher flicks? Hard pass. But if most of us fall somewhere on the spectrum between loving and hating them, what does hating horror movies say about your personality?
"There are several personality characteristics that might attract certain people to the type of experience that a horror film can provide," Dr. Madeline William, PsyD., a psychologist who treats patients via the telehealth app LiveHealth Online, tells Bustle via email. Dr. William further notes that people who like horror films might enjoy empathizing with the more complex characters often featured in the genre, while others might enjoy the hyper-stimulation and suspense of horror films. "They may be individuals who have a strong sense of morality who enjoy seeing wrongs being righted," Dr. William says.
According to the Conversation, there may be some benefits to seeking out fear for fun. In order to better understand why so many people love terrifying entertainment, a group of researchers recently set up a mobile lab in the basement of an adults-only haunted house attraction outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. For a period of about 35 minutes, guests of the haunted house were exposed to disturbing characters and special effects, were also physically touched by the actors, and were even exposed to electrical shocks. The attraction was, in a word, extreme, and “not for the faint of heart,” the Conversation reports.
But interestingly, researchers found that guests reported a significant uptick in positive moods after experiencing the haunted attraction. In fact, the more they experienced the house as being intense and scary, the better they felt afterwards. Participants also reported that the process of experiencing fear in a controlled environment produced greater self-awareness as they confronted their fears. Analysis of brain wave activity also suggested that brain reactivity was significantly decreased after experiencing the attraction in those who reported mood improvements, which is also reported in those who practice mindfulness meditation.
The study’s authors suggest that horror films and entertainment involving extreme fear allow people to process the most difficult aspects of the human experience — like why unfair things happen to good people — within a protective container of sorts. After all, a movie is ultimately entertainment, and not real life. So, there can be some benefits to being “safely scared.”
But PsychCentral reports that stress may be experienced differently for people who can't stand horror films. People who have negative reactions to horror movies and super scary entertainment may have difficulty filtering out undesirable environmental stimuli, according to PsychCentral. Simply put, highly sensitive people may struggle to process the intense images, and emotional and psychological arousal, that hyper frightening entertainment can bring about. These same people may have more intense negative psychological reactions to horror films.
According to psychotherapist Margena Carter of Carter Care Therapeutic Services, there are pitfalls to watching horror films for some people. "For horror enthusiasts, the film genre can boost a person's fear of death, spur hyper vigilance, or increase one's awareness of [their] own mortality," Carter tells Bustle. Carter suggests that people who enjoy horror movies may have characteristics of a Type D personality — aka, "distressed, negative, depressed and socially inhibited" — while people who hate them may have Type A characteristics — "practical, impatient and controlling," she says. "Also, horror films may cause nightmares or night terrors. And depending on one's life experience, a scary movie can trigger feelings of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)."
So, if scary movies don't work for you, there are totally logical reasons for that. And if you love them and get a sense of catharsis from the experience, then that works, too. If you do find that horror films produce some negative effects — like increased stress, sleep disturbances, or trauma symptoms — then definitely skip that flick. You can still enjoy Halloween while seeking out less terrifying forms of entertainment.
Posted by nova
Posted on Oktober 16, 2018
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With Halloween just around the corner, Streaming Observer decided to figure out the film most commonly considered people’s favorite horror movie in each of the 50 states. The results prove America has some great taste when it comes to the horror genre, with classics like “The Shining” and “The Exorcist” being named alongside some pretty surprising additions like Ana Lily Amirpour’s excellent “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night” and Ti West’s throwback horror “The House of the Devil.”
Streaming Observer first culled a list of the most popular horror movies of all time using critical reviews from Rotten Tomatoes and data provided by Amazon MTurk surveying and other public sources (which might help explain why films like “This Is the End” have been categorized as horror). When the list was finalized, the company partnered with Mindnet Analytics and studied streaming trends using Google Trends to determine which horror title was truly the most actively talked about in each state. Titles that saw the most frequent search traffic and online interest were designated as each state’s most popular.
The most obvious takeaway from the results are that geographical location and horror films go hand in hand. “The Shining” was the most popular title in Colorado, for instance, which is a no-brainer considering the state is where the film’s Overlook Hotel is located. Similarly, “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” proved most popular in Texas and “The Blair Witch Project” came out on top in Maryland.
The full results of Streaming Observer’s survey can be found here. Below is the full list of each state’s most popular title.
Posted by nova
Posted on Oktober 15, 2018
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Full stop: Channel Zero is the scariest show on TV.
Photo: SYFY/SYFY
This Halloween season, you’re probably looking to binge all the spooky TV shows and movies you can handle as you prep your costumes, arrange your decorative gourds, and hollow out some jack-o’-lanterns. Thankfully, networks and streaming sites have stacked their programming with tons of horror specials — AMC has Fear Fest; Hulu is doing Huluween; Netflix is bringing you Netflix and Chills, and Syfy is delivering 31 Days of Halloween. And Vulture is here to highlight the best and scariest new programming rolling out in October, from new seasons of TV shows to original movies to feature films that are debuting on streaming hubs. No matter the particular kind of horror, there’s something here for you: We’ve arranged them all by the flavor of scares they offer.
Do you want … true-life horror?
Eli Roth’s History of Horror (AMC) The director of Hostile and The House With the Clock in Its Walls hosts this docuseries in which cinema icons and masters of horror — Jamie Lee Curtis, Robert Englund, Linda Blair, Quentin Tarantino, John Landis, and more — talk about the impact and evolution of horror. History of Horror premieres October 15.
Haunted (Netflix) Netflix goes the docuseries route for Haunted, which interviews people who have had liaisons with the paranormal and recreates their stories with dramatizations. The complete first season arrives on October 19.
Haunted Live (Travel Channel) Now airing on the Travel Channel, Haunted Live hooks viewers into the lives of a paranormal investigating group named the Tennessee Wraith Chasers. As the show airs, viewers can follow along via Facebook and interact with the Chasers, giving them input about what to explore next.
Lore (Amazon) The second season of this anthology series will continue the mission of the first: To uncover the real events that gave way to our most frightening myths. Based on a podcast by Aaron Mahnke, the show uses animation and narration to dramatize the stories, and you can see the new batch of episodes on October 19. Most Terrifying Places in America (Travel Channel) Another seasonally appropriate docuseries that’s currently airing on the Travel Channel, Terrifying Places does exactly what the title says: It tours the most haunted sites in the country, like the famed Winchester House in San Jose, California, and the Shanghai Tunnels in Portland, Oregon.
True Horror (Shudder) This docuseries is now airing in full on Shudder, and it chronicles the real-life supernatural encounters of selected people, which are re-staged with dramatic narratives.
Do you want … horrors of the occult?
Apostle (Netflix) Fans of The Raid, stand at attention! Welsh-born writer and director Gareth Evans is jumping to Netflix with Apostle, which stars Dan Stevens as a man in the early 1900s who travels to an island in order to rescue his sister from a cult. Think of The Wicker Man, but with more high-intensity action and someone coring a human skull. Apostle is now streaming.
Satan’s Slaves (Shudder) This Indonesian film focuses on a family who has recently lost their mother, a famous singer, to a mysterious illness; following her passing her children are tormented by malevolent forces.
Charmed (The CW) Young witches are trending! It’s been a strange road for this reboot of the WB-era supernatural drama, with plenty of frustration on behalf of the original cast about how the updated version has come together, but give the new Pruitt sisters a chance. Charmedpremiered on October 14.
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (Netflix) Perhaps the most anticipated horror series of the season, Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina stars Kiernan Shipka as the titular Sabrina in a very Riverdale-esque incarnation of one of your favorite teen witches. Just don’t expect a talking cat this time. Chilling Adventures premieres on October 26.
Witch in the Window (Shudder) A father and his young son take a bonding trip together with the goal of fixing up an old house, until they discover that its former occupant was a cruel woman whose spirit may have stuck around after she died. Shudder snapped this film up from the festival circuit, and it starts streaming on October 18.
Do you want … fantasy horror?
Castlevania (Netflix) What better time than Halloween to get into a series based on a popular video game about killing vampires? Season two of Castlevania starts streaming on October 26 — the same day that Chilling Adventures debuts.
Van Helsing (Syfy) The third season of this Syfy series bowed at the start of October, and it focuses on Vanessa Helsing, the daughter of famed vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing. Vanessa woke up from a five-year coma to a world overrun by vampires, but her unique blood makes her immune to infection, and also she’s a Van Helsing, so she’s got some slaying to do.
Z Nation (Syfy) Season five of Z Nation premiered earlier this month, and if you’re looking for some post-apocalyptic zombie action comedy, try watching a motley crew of survivors guide the one man who can devise a cure across the country from New York to a lab in California.
Do you want … family-friendly horror?
Creeped Out (Netflix) This anthology series for kids was already available in the UK and Canada, but Netflix is finally bringing it to the wider world. A masked figure called The Curious guides viewers through spooky tales of kids confronting the inexplicable.
Do you want … haunted houses?
Channel Zero: The Dream Door (Syfy) Full stop: Channel Zero is the scariest show on TV right now. Each season of this anthology series is based on a different internet myth (a creepypasta, if you will), and each one is a surreal, terrifying journey into the theater of the mind. Dream Door premieres on October 26, but this time around, the whole season will air over consecutive nights, culminating in a Halloween finale. If you’re looking for legitimate frights, this is the show to watch.
The Haunting Of Hill House (Netflix) Ace horror director Mike Flanagan re-teams with his Gerald’s Game star Carla Gugino for this adaptation of the classic Shirley Jackson novel, now available to stream on Netflix. The Haunting Of Hill House unfolds over two timelines, past and present, and focuses on how a family has grown along with the trauma they endured from growing up in Hill House.
Malevolent (Netflix) Florence Pugh stars in this ghostly romp about a group of 20-somethings scamming people as a team of paranormal investigators. Well, they’re scamming until Pugh’s character actually starts seeing spirits and they end up trapped in a haunted house.
Terrified (Shudder) This Argentinian filmwon Best Horror Feature at this year’s Fantastic Fest, and its poised to be one of — if not the best — horror films of the year. Terrified takes place in a neighborhood in Buenos Aires where very bad things are happening, like levitating bodies and mysterious voices coming from nowhere. Feel the terror when it starts streaming on October 11.
Do you want … teen screams?
Light as a Feather (Hulu) Hulu is going all-in on the holiday with Huluween, and Light as a Feather is part of its spooky programming. Based on the sleepover game you definitely played after you watched The Craft with friends, Feather follows a group of friends who all start dying, leaving the survivors to solve the mystery before all of them are picked off.
Killer High (Syfy) High school reunions go best when the guests don’t end up dying, but that’s the macabre challenge to be faced in this horror comedy, which debuts on October 20.
Do you want … brutal body horror?
Into the Dark: The Body (Hulu) Blumhouse partnered with Hulu for this year-long anthology series, which premiered in early October. Each month, a new installment of Into the Dark will air, most centered around a different holiday, with the first being The Body. It’s about a hitman who ends up at a Halloween party with his latest job wrapped in cellophane like a costume prop. Fans of gory horror shouldn’t miss this one.
Stan Against Evil (IFC) Starting on Halloween night, demon hunter Stan Miller returns in this very Ash vs. The Evil Dead-esque horror-comedy series on IFC. If you’re a John C. McGinley fan, why wouldn’t you want to watch him battle monsters?
Dead in the Water (Syfy) If you have a phobia about being isolated in a vast expanse of water, beware! A group of women on a boat in the middle of nowhere must confront an invader on their ship. Oddly enough, it seems like an actual man would be scarier in this scenario than a ghost. Dead in the Water premieres October 27.
No Escape Room (Syfy) A father and daughter decide to check out a local escape room, only to realize there’s something more far sinister afoot then just being locked in a room you have to problem-solve your way out of.
Do you want … demonic horror?
Cucuy: The Boogeyman (Syfy) Riverdale fans should seek out Marisol Nichols in this Syfy original about a teen girl who discovers that the myth of El Cucuy — a Mexican bogeyman figure — is actually true. She’s under house arrest when she realizes all this, so expect shades of the excellent New Zealand horror feature Housebound. Cucuy premieres on October 13.
Karma (Syfy) A recent college graduate named Manny takes work from his father-in-law evicting delinquent tenants from their homes, which results in a relentless karmic demon following his every step. That’s a bummer of a deal, but it sure sounds like Manny deserves it. Karma premieres on October 13.
Do you want … all of the above?
Huluween Film Fest (Hulu) Hulu has provided a fun alternative to movies and TV shows by streaming a program of short films that premiered this month on the service. The Rizzle, Carved, The Hug, Urn, Lippy, The Gillymuck, The Box, and Haunting, Horrifying Sounds From Beyond the Grave, allrange from four to six minutes for some quick creeps by new filmmakers.
