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Updated for October 2017
What ever would we do without horror?
So much of our day to day life is built around logic and known, verifiable facts. And that's great! Still, every once in awhile you need to get in touch with your illogical, terrified animal brain. That's where horror and horror movies in particular come in.
Gathered here are the 13 best horror movies on HBO Now and HBO Go for your scaring needs.
The Amityville Horror (2005)
A few caveats. Yes, the story of the Amityville Horror has largely been debunked and yes if anything the original '70s Amityville Horror is the far superior movie. Having acknowledged that though, the 2005 version of Amityville Horror is still a perfectly good time. Every list of horror movies needs something involving a haunted house and there may be no more infamous haunted house than 112 Ocean Avenue. Come for the blood running down the walls; stay for Ryan Reynolds' incredible beard.
The Blair Witch Project
I honestly can't imagine a more terrifying movie-going experience than seeing The Blair Witch Projectin a theater on opening night. Back in the late '90s, we weren't as immune to Internet hype as we are now and it would have been much easier to suspend one's disbelief for this: the godfather of the found footage horror movie. Even as things stand now, The Blair Witch Project is a fantastic, truly eerie film. If possible, however, cut the WiFi in your house for a week, pretend you're in 1999, dim the lights and watch it again.
The Children
Ugh, man: children. Even the most innocent of kids are kind of creepy. They're just little humanoids with a smaller vocabularly than usual and poor motor skills. In British horror film The Children, children are somehow even scarier than usual. A family goes on holiday to the secluded home of their aunt (ugh of course it's secluded). When they arrive, the two young children in the family Miranda and Paulie, suddenly become very ill. Then they become very violent. Bastardization of the familiar is terrifying and The Children does an excellent job of turning family members into monsters.
The Conjuring
2013's The Conjuring is the first entry into an unexpected horror film franchise that ended up far more successful than it had any right to be. That's what happens when you get talented people involved like horror maestro James Wan and superb actors Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga. Wilson and Farmiga star as real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren who are called to deal with a small paranormal spot of bother in Rhode Island. The Conjuring is based on a real case of paranormal activity and terrifyingly and effectively sets up the continued film adventures of the Warrens.
The Conjuring 2
James Wan, Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga return for The Conjuring 2. This time Ed and Lorraine Warren cross the Atlantic to merry old England to deal with another paranormal mystery. They assist a family living in an Enfield council house in a case that would come to be known as the Enfield Poltergeist. Horror is hard. Horror sequels are next to impossible. Somehow The Conjuring 2 defies the expectations and remains a horrifying delight. For more on the Enfield Poltergeist, by the way, definitely check out Last Podcast on the Left's recounting of the events.
Krampus
Central European folklore goes hard in the paint when it comes to Christmas. Most Christmas traditions celebrate Santa Claus a.k.a. St. Nick - the kind-hearted, jolly soul who brings you presents. For every yin, however, there's a yang though and the yin to St. Nick's yang is the brutal, terrifying Christmastime monster known as Krampus. Krampus is a horror-comedy that's heavy on the horror and follows the Engel family as they try to have a nice, serene Christmas. Unfortunately, Krampus intervenes. In this telling of the tale, the demonic spirit known as Krampus hunts down those who have lost the Christmas spirit. Those like the Engel family.
Lights Out
Lights Outis a film from Swedish director David F. Sandberg adapted from his own 2013 short film of the same name. Lights Out is brilliant in its simple concept. It's similar to the classic Doctor Who episode "Blink" in which monsters advance towards you when you're not looking at them - only in Lights Out's case, a demonic-looking woman advances towards you when the lights are out. Horror that is able to corrupt objects or concepts that we encounter in day to day life and make them terrifying are almost always great. Lights Out does exactly that and somehow also wraps it in an extended metaphor for depression.
Mimic
The version of Mimic on HBO is not the director's cut that Guillermo Del Toro wants you to see. And that's a drag as you should almost always watch what Guillermo Del Toro wants you to watch. Still this theatrical version of Mimicis still pretty great in its own right. Mimic is actually a bit similar to Del Toro's later work in The Strain only instead of vampires terrorizing Manhattan, it's little parasites that are hellbent on destroying other living creatures and are unnervingly able to mimic the appearance of their prey. It's Invasion of the Body Snatchers meets The Walking Dead all run through Del Toro's lush and demeted visual aesthetic.
The Ring
How is this movie PG-13? I mean, I know how. There are no genitals or F-words in it. There isn't even really any gratuitious violence or gore. But when classifying what movies are appropriate for the youths, shouldn't the MPAA factor in "pants-shitting terror that will scar your teenage mind for life?" The Ring is a wonderfully terrifying movie. It's the story of a video tape (lol remember those?) that after you watch it, you receive a phone call from a mysterious, scratchy voice informing you that you will die in seven days. The video tape and the phone caller have a 100% success rate in this whole dying in seven days thing. Naomi Watts stars as Rachel Keller, a journalist who wants to get to the bottom of this story. Little does she know it's at the literal bottom of a well.
Scream 2
Horror is a wonderful movie genre but every now and then it can stagnate. That's when movies like Screamcome along - movies that still terrify and thrill their viewers while at the same time poking fun at the stale conventions of horror movies. Scream 2 picks up where Scream leaves off both spiritually and literally. It's a direct continuation of the story of Sideny Prescott (Naomi Campbell) who after surviving a killer wearing a ghostface mask in high school gets to do the same in college. Scream 2 is thrilling and a great commentary on horror sequels.
Split (arrives October 28)
M. Night Shyamalan had a real rough go of it for awhile there. After a string of poorly-received bombs, he got back to horror basics with the terrifying The Visit and then followed it up with the equally compelling Split. The concept of a man with multiple personality disorder holding three girls hostage for mysterious reasons is quite frankly: kind of silly. But thanks to the capable hands of Shyalaman behind the camera and James McAvoy in front of it, it's actually quite great! And just when you think that Shyamalan couldn't possibly catch you off guard with another twist, he puls off one of the best of his career.
Stir of Echoes
Unwatned or unexpected "visions" are the rare horror trope that are equally terrifying conceptually and visually. Therefore they are a perfect fit for a horror movie. In Stir of Echoes, Tom Witzky (Kevin Bacon) is a normal working class Joe from Chicago until a chance encounter with a hypnotist at a party causes him to have some disturbing visions. Tom's visions are that of a young girl being violently attacked and he soons comes to suspect that they might represent something real.
The Strangers
Jeez, man, just look at that screengrab. That's visually horrifying. Statistically speaking, your home being invaded by strangers who mean you serious ill-will is incredibly unlikely. There's a reason why we're able to actually solve many murder cases - most violence occurs via people who know one another, not strangers. The Strangers depicts one of those rare occurences in which that is not the case. Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman star as a couple whose remote summer home is broken into by three mysterious mask-weilding strangers. What do the strangers have in mind for their captives? Nothing good.
http://www.denofgeek.com/us/movies/horror-movies/267904/13-best-horror-movies-streaming-on-hbo-now-and-hbo-go
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