Your Halloween Streaming Guide For Scary Movies: At The Movies With Kasey
If, like me, you love spending this time before Halloween watching scary movies and trying not to get into the candy too early, there are many films available to stream with your autumnal treats. Although I highlight options from several streamers, plenty of these titles are also available on DVD or Blu-ray from the public library, so you don’t have to subscribe to everything to access the best scary movies.
First up, horror-specific Shudder had my favorite new horror movie last year with Oddity. If you have not yet watched this bizarre tale of murder, betrayal, and a cursed object, I still highly recommend it. This year, Shudder went in a far campier direction with Clown in a Cornfield, an adaptation of the Adam Cesare novel starring Katie Douglas. This movie is not as meta and self-aware as Scream, but it plays up the ridiculousness of the teen slasher genre, and Douglas’s deadpan performance balances the silliness. It’s stupid, but entertaining.
On Netflix, Heart Eyes is set around Valentine’s Day and follows a pair of coworkers trying to evade a serial killer murdering couples. The writing and performances in this film are corny and bad, but in a way that seems intentional enough to make the movie fall in so-bad-it’s-good territory. Meanwhile, Afraid focuses on a family testing a new AI household assistant who is too good to be true. The setup offers a pointed critique of technology and a lot of promise that it does not follow through on, instead veering in dramatic directions that undermine the suspense.
The best picks on Peacock include Megan 2.0, Abigail, and The Woman in the Yard. Megan 2.0 delivers a sequel to the film about the deranged AI babysitter that takes what was great about the first movie and dials it up, making for a really fun watch. Abigail similarly uses a little girl for a creepy plot, but this time involving ballet and vampires. While it’s more of a straightforward horror film than Megan, Abigail has a lot of fun with mystery and action. The Woman in the Yard tells a haunting story about depression and grief that is maybe too on-the-nose in the end, but creates many scary images along the way.
Over on HBO Max, the vampire tale Sinners was one of the big blockbusters of the year, which I reviewed a couple months ago. It has two Michael B. Jordans and some big jumpscares. Heretic stars Hugh Grant in a creepy role that uses his awkward, affable persona to chilling ends opposite Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East, who are captivating as a pair of Mormon missionaries. Thatcher also gives an excellent performance in Companion, the outstanding sci-fi thriller that mixes humor, AI, and revenge.
Bring Her Back, from Danny Philippou (writer/director of Talk to Me), is one of the saddest horror movies I have seen. It stars Sally Hawkins as a bereaved mother who goes down a disturbing path and Billy Barratt, Jonah Wren Phillips, and Sora Wong as foster children unfortunate enough to wind up with her. It uses horror tropes for a stunning portrait of the psychological toll of grief.
Also on HBO Max, The Substance showcases an Oscar-worthy performance from Demi Moore and a revolting use of body horror to comment on aging and beauty standards.
If you want something sillier, Death of a Unicorn stars Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega as a father-daughter duo who accidentally kill a unicorn and have to deal with outrageous fallout. Horror-comedy can be hard to pull off, but it is in good hands with this pairing.
Hulu has a whole Huluween section with a range of blockbusters and indie films. Earlier, I reviewed Control Freak and still find it haunting. Longlegs, the arty serial killer film from Osgood Perkins, stars an unrecognizable Nicolas Cage and Maika Monroe as the FBI agent trying to find him. I hated the ending of this movie, but found the overall production eerie and suspenseful enough to actually stress me out. The mystery will keep you guessing, and the performances make it a standout.
From writer/director Tilman Singer, Cuckoo offers similarly highbrow horror, starring Hunter Schafer as a teen who moves to Germany with her father and his new wife only to find herself in the midst of a terrifying, mysterious plot at the nearby resort. The film has disturbing and odd imagery and some great jump scares, but drags a lot in the last act.
Also on Hulu, Little Bites is a plodding but atmospheric vampire tale, and It Feeds brings a similar vibe to a story of an entity preying on a young girl. Ashley Greene gives a spooky performance as her clairvoyant mother.
Films that were out in theaters but are now available on various video-on-demand services include Weapons, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Together, and Nosferatu. Of these, my favorites are Weapons and Together, both creative and chilling. I Know What You Did Last Summer is fun, but I am not sure why it got made. Nosferatu is worth watching for the stunning cinematography and an amazing performance by Lily-Rose Depp, but the plot limps along the way to its shocking ending.
Finally, if all you want is something light and nostalgic, the free streamer Tubi has an adaptation of R.L. Stine’s Pumpkinhead for us elder Millennials, and Hallmark has done a Halloweentown crossover with the cheesy Christmas movie in their new film Haul out the Halloween, starring Lacey Chabert, of course.
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