Scary films and shows to watch on Halloween

As Michael Myers returns to the big screen to cause all sorts of gruesome deaths in Halloween Kills, go back to where it all began. The first in the franchise, Halloween, came out in 1978, and is about a masked killer who as a child, stabbed his older sister to death in their home on Halloween night. Fifteen years later, he escapes the mental hospital and makes his way back to his hometown. Teenager Laurie Strode, played by Jamie Lee Curtis, and her ill-fated friends find themselves in the path of this deranged killer. Halloween Kills is the 12th film in the franchise, with the finale, Halloween Ends, coming out next year. Find the first five movies on Netflix 

Us 

Visionary horror director Jordan Peele’s film Us is a striking and original story. The film opens on a young girl who while on vacation with her family by the beach, has an unsettling encounter with someone who looks just like her. As an adult, Adelaide Wilson (played by Lupita Nyong’o) starts to have flashbacks when her husband books a holiday at this same beach destination. Soon the young family is caught up in a nightmare as they are tormented by haunting doppelgängers of themselves. Known for weaving political statements into his films, such as with his incredible debut Get Out, Peele explained that this film is about the fear of the outsider, and how perhaps that “the monster we really need to look at has our face”. Watch Us on Amazon Prime 

I Know What You Did Last Summer

I Know What You Did Last Summer follows a group of teenagers who cover up a hit and run. The following summer, they receive a menacing note from a stranger who claims to know their secret. As they are picked off one by one, the group realises that someone is out for revenge. This is a great nostalgic 90s watch, and though Amazon recently reinvented this iconic slasher film as a TV series for a millennial audience, early reviews say it doesn’t work as well as the original. 

Scream 

Scream turns 25 this year, and Wes Craven’s self-aware horror-comedy is credited with paving the way for modern meta hits Get Out and Hereditary. A year after the murder of her mother, a teenage girl is terrorised by a new killer, who targets her and her friends using horror films as part of a deadly game. Scream calls attention to and deconstructs horror movie tropes, with the characters analysing horror movie ‘rules’ in their bid to survive. The fifth film due out next year will reunite stars Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox and David Arquette, as they’re once again tormented by a masked murderer. 

Fear Street 

Netflix’a Fear Street trilogy is an adaptation of the RL Stine novels set in the town Shadyside in Ohio, that has been plagued by a curse for three centuries. An accused witch, Sarah Fier, was hanged in the area in 1666, and throughout history she has claimed her revenge by intermittently making killers of the town’s teenagers, wreaking havoc and leaving a gruesome trail of bodies behind. The first instalment, 1994, sees students of rival high schools fleeing the supernatural killers while trying to break the curse. Fear Street: 1978 takes place in a summer camp, and sees counsellors and camp kids running from a possessed, axe-wielding familiar face. The final movie, 1666, sees the characters revisiting the past where it all began, in an attempt to gain revenge in the present day.   

Nightmare on Elm Street

Another Wes Craven hit,  Nightmare on Elm Street features an iconic and truly creepy villain, Freddy Kreuger. The monstrous spirit of a slain child murderer enacts his revenge by invading the dreams of teenagers whose parents were responsible for his death. It’s a classic supernatural slasher film with plenty of frights and a feisty survivor in Nancy Thompson. 

Midnight Mass

The new series from the makers of The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass is a blood-soaked horror that brings faith into question. Beautifully shot, this is a haunting look at grief and faith, that goes a little deeper than other horrors. Definitely one you can binge this weekend. 

Hereditary 

This might be the scariest film we’ve seen in years. The 2018 psychological horror follows a grieving family who are haunted by disturbing tragedies. Toni Colette plays a mother who is gravely concerned about her children, only to be faced with any mother’s worst nightmare. 

Midsommar 

A couple on the brink of falling apart are brought closer by a family tragedy. To take her mind off it, Christian (played by Jack Reynor) invites Dani (Florence Pugh) on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to a midsummer festival in a remote Swedish village. The carefree idyllic retreat takes a violent turn as a bizarre competition unfolds at the hands of a pagan cult. 

It & It Chapter Two 

Is there anything scarier than an evil clown? Adapted from Stephen King’s 1986 novel of the same name, It follows sinister clown Pennywise as he terrorises the town of Derry, Maine. Gruesome child killings, nightmarish characters and worst fears manifest as a group of kids known as the Losers try to put an end to Pennywise’s games.