Best Horror Movies to Watch During October
Make the whole month terrifying with these five unique, iconic and thrilling movies.
More stories from Chloe Grass
The makeup applied on the model is a recreation of the main character, Regan, from “The Exorcist.” “I thought ‘The Exorcist’ was very creepy and I was scared of getting nightmares,” freshman Jadda Pope said.
The Shining
“The Shining” is a 1980 horror film that has turned into one of the greatest classic movies of all time. The movie’s unique plot doesn’t include jump scares to terrify the audience, but instead uses interesting and suspenseful methods to create a chilling movie. Throughout the movie, the audience is constantly trying to solve the mystery at hand while being immersed into one of the most enthralling of all of Stephen King’s stories.
The audience leaves with many questions and theories that make the movie even more interesting and creepy. Although “The Shining” might not seem as terrifying as it did in 1980, it is a truly fantastic film that everyone should enjoy to get in the spirit of Halloween.
Saw
“Saw” is a franchise of nine films and it is rumored there will be yet another one coming in October 2017. This series is presented in a disturbing, yet interesting, way. People find themselves trapped and the only way to escape is to play along and make deadly decisions set up by the disturbed killer, Jigsaw. Jigsaw uses creative and disgusting methods and contraptions to “test” his victims that will make any audience member cringe. The first four movies in the series are said to be the best and are all are highly recommended. This modern classic horror movie will be sure to make the audience’s skin crawl.
The Exorcist
“The Exorcist” is an iconic film that sparked many ideas and possibilities for horror films that still terrify the masses today. “The Exorcist” is loosely based on a true story of a 12-year-old girl that becomes possessed and her family’s fight to get their daughter back through an exorcism. This film immediately became widely successful and popular horror film due to actions that were never before seen in horror films, such as the fantastic makeup and special effects—cue the spider walk, which is oftentimes a deleted scene in theater showings and some video reproductions.
Director William Friedkin in an interview with National Public Radio said, “I never talked about making a horror film. We always felt we were making a film about the mystery of faith.”
Friedkin’s statement is ironic since it has become one of the most well-known horror films of all time, spawning a number of sequels and now a television show on Fox.
The Visit
“The Visit” is a fairly new movie produced by M. Night Shyamalan, also the producer of the classic film “The Sixth Sense.” After not producing a lot of quality films, Shyamalan gains his popularity back with this horror movie that has everyone talking. Its popularity is due to techniques not usually seen in horror films and its unusual ending that no one saw coming, a traditional staple to Shyamalan films. The movie starts with a brother and sister going to visit their grandparents for the first time. Not long after arriving, the siblings notice that there is definitely something strange about their grandparents. The movie ends in a very unexpected way that made the film that much more interesting and exciting. Not only was “The Visit” very creepy, but it also has lots of comedic elements that made it more enjoyable, which isn’t seen or appreciated in most horror films.
Goodnight Mommy
“Goodnight Mommy” is an Austrian film with English subtitles, but don’t let that be intimidating. The film shockingly had very little dialogue, which helps let the audience focus on the plot and not on reading the subtitles. Having little dialogue also made the film much more of an eerie mystery. “Goodnight Mommy” is about a mother who returns from the hospital after getting plastic surgery. Her twin boys immediately notice strange unusual behaviors and start to believe that she is not their real mother and go to extreme measure to find out the truth.
It isn’t a horror film that is filled with jump scares or super scary settings, but it had everyone on the edge of their seat wondering what was going to happen next. It received an 83 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, and critics had very positive reviews.
”The tension in Goodnight Mommy owes everything to our not knowing who to trust,” reviewer Alison Willmore wrote. “Things don’t always need to come rushing out of the darkness to be frightening.”
The film is not widely known, but should gain popularity for its unique plot.