Best Horror Movies to Stream for Halloween
Updated for 2018: Good Horror Movies Can Be Hard to Find.
It’s October and that means it’s time to start watching horror movies like there’s no tomorrow. I love this time of year because it gives me a reasonable excuse to explain my binge watching. However, the one thing I hate about it is trying to weed through all the terrible ones in order to find a halfway decent scary movie.
That’s why I decided to put together this handy list of the best horror movies you can stream this holiday season. I personally sat through each one of these and I’m confident that they won’t disappoint fans of the genre. I tried to avoid classic horror movies in order to give you some new ones to enjoy and there’s a wide variety to choose from. So, if you have Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime, you’re going to find something to enjoy before Halloween.
Netflix
It Follows– As far as horror movies go, this is one of the better-known flicks. It didn’t start off that way when it was in theaters though. Since then, it’s gained notoriety as a movie that was essentially about a ghost STD. The movie revolves around a girl who catches it from a guy and is pursued by a slow-moving, shapeshifting spirit only she can see. The only way to get rid of it is to pass it on to someone else. The drawback? If the person you pass it to dies, it starts working its way backwards.
Clown– To be honest, I thought this one sounded as stupid as you probably do. However, it turned out to be one of the better horror movies I’ve seen in a long time. It’s about a stressed-out father that puts on an old clown costume to save his kids birthday party. It soon turns out that he can’t take it off and begins to undergo a terrifying transformation. If you find clowns creepy than this movie is not one you’re going to want to watch in the dark. For me, that fact that it makes something stupid absolutely terrifying is the hallmark of a good scary movie.
Hush– This is another Netflix movie that has started to gain some fame as a fresh take on the slasher genre. The film actually revolves around a deaf woman trying to get away from it all by moving out to a secluded house in the woods. That’s just asking for a slasher to show up though, and soon one comes a knocking. Not that she hears him. In fact, that’s part of the terror in this film, she can’t hear the killer coming. All the creeks and scary noises are strictly for the audience’s sake, which really raises the tension because the hero doesn’t know what’s coming.
The Witch– A lot of people love The Witch. So many that I’ve started to doubt whether I disliked it as much as I thought I did the first time I saw it. Then again this is unlike every other movie on this list because it’s one hell of a slow burn. The film follows a Puritan family (the kind that sees everything as a sin) during the early days of America. Things start to get weird for them, so the first thing they do is blame it on a witch. The thing is that they might not be wrong. It’s slow, but it’s a beautifully shot film and one that scooped up a ton of awards.
Apostle– Normally I’m not the kind of guy who doesn’t like to count chickens before they hatch, and while I haven’t seen Apostle, the fact that Gareth Evan’s is directing it has me pretty excited about it. The trailer makes this look like it could be the perfect Halloween movie because this is horror without a slasher mask or cliched monster. Apostle focuses on a man who is trying to rescue his sister from a cult. It looks like that just might be the last mistake that cult ever makes though because I’m pretty sure he was not in the mood for any of that nonsense. Here’s hoping it lives up to some great expectations when it starts streaming on October 12th.
Bonus: Dale and Tucker vs Evil– You just gotta see this.