As it’s mid-October, the vibes are getting a whole lot spookier with Halloween just two weeks away. There’s no better time than this to gear up for a horror movie marathon. We’ve curated a list of scary movies you can watch this spooky holiday season when you’re not out trick-or-treating.
ALSO READ: Top 5 Halloween recipes to try this spooky season
Hereditary
Hereditary is a psychological horror film directed by Ari Aster as his feature directorial debut in 2018. Critics across the world have labelled the film as one of the “scariest” horror films of all time. The official synopsis of the film reads, “When the matriarch of the Graham family passes away, her daughter and grandchildren begin to unravel cryptic and increasingly terrifying secrets about their ancestry, trying to outrun the sinister fate they have inherited.”
The movie has an IMDb rating of 7.3 and 90% on Rotten Tomatoes. The A24’s horror film is produced by Kevin Frakes, Lars Knudsen, and Buddy Patrick. Toni Collette, Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro, Ann Dowd, and Gabriel Byrne star in the lead roles.
The Pope’s Exorcist
The Pope’s Exorcist is a 2023 horror film that revolves around “Father Gabriele Amorth, chief exorcist for the Vatican, who battles Satan and innocent-possessing demons.” The Russel Crowe-starrer movie is “a detailed portrait of a priest who performed more than 100,000 exorcisms in his lifetime.” It is directed by Julius Avery and produced by Doug Belgrad. Alongside Crowe, the actors who star in the film are – Daniel Zovatto, Alex Essoe, and Franco Nero.
Midsommar
Midsommar is a 2019 folk horror film starring Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor, William Jackson Harper, Vilhelm Blomgren, Ellora Torchia, Archie Madekwe, and Will Poulter. The film is written and directed by Ari Aster (Hereditary). The synopsis of the film reads, “A couple travels to Northern Europe to visit a rural hometown’s fabled Swedish mid-summer festival. What begins as an idyllic retreat quickly devolves into an increasingly violent and bizarre competition at the hands of a pagan cult.”
The movie is often dubbed as one of the “most disturbing” films of all time and has an IMDb rating of 7.1 and 83% on Rotten Tomatoes.
The Witch
The 2015 fantasy horror film revolves around “A family in 1630s New England torn apart by the forces of witchcraft, black magic and possession.” Written and directed by Robert Eggers, The Witch has gained labels like “terrifying,” “disturbing,” and “scariest.” The film stars Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, and Kate Dickie. It has an IMDb rating of 7.0 and a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 90%.
Evil Dead Rise
The official synopsis for the 2023 horror-gore film reads, “A reunion between two estranged sisters gets cut short by the rise of flesh-possessing demons, thrusting them into a primal battle for survival as they face the most nightmarish version of family imaginable.” It is written and directed by Lee Cronin and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film stars Lily Sullivan, Alyssa Sutherland, Morgan Davies, Gabrielle Echols, and Nell Fisher.