Entertainment
Screams and shrieks and monsters unleashed, that's what Halloween is made of. It's High Haunting season, and if you're not about to step out into the inky black of night for tricks and treats, there's just the thing to turn your own cozy home into a House Of Horrors — 64 scary movies to stream and spook yourself silly with. There are tried and true classics that created entire horror subgenres, like Night Of The Living Dead (which invented zombies), and plenty of cult favorites you may never have heard of, like Canada's first horror film, 1961's partly-3D The Mask. If you didn't have time to make a costume, enjoy someone else's, like Stage Fright's owl-headed, suit-wearing killer, or Alice, Sweet Alice's creepy clear clown mask/yellow trench coat combo.
And fear not; for those of you who are easily spooked, there are several slow-burning films more eerie than scary, including the doomed mermaid-related romance Night Tide, and the creepy character study Ex Machina (though you may have trouble trusting Siri ever again after watching). And if you're dying for more, there's also the documentary Cropsey, reinforcing that old chestnut that truth is more terrifying than fiction, and several based-on-a-true-story freakouts you'll probably wish had no basis in reality. Fire up the popcorn-maker and turn on all the lights, because this list will keep you waking in fright for weeks to come.
1'Texas Chainsaw Massacre'
The influential horror classic remains frightening as ever, and all by simply replacing animals with humans in the slaughterhouse. Brutal, efficient, and a little too realistic for comfort.
Available on: Amazon, Netflix
2'White Of The Eye'
After a series of gruesome murders, high-end stereo installer Paul becomes the main suspect, leaving his wife Joan wondering whether he's actually responsible. A rare horror film set in Arizona, and mostly during the day, it's shot like a fashion shoot and set like a crime scene.
Available on: Fandor, Shudder
3'The Witch'
Wouldst thou like to live deliciously? After facing the horrors of 18th century remote farming, you don't need to add witchcraft to terrify, but it sure doesn't hurt. In this movie, a family living on the edge of the woods may be encountering the supernatural, or reacting to the isolation and sorrow of their reality.
Available on: Amazon, Netflix
4'A Bay Of Blood'
Mario Bava's ur-slasher flick directly inspired Friday The 13th, right down to the fishing spear through the chest. As much a dark comedy about human greed as it is gruesome frightfest, the movie features a semi-isolated group of neighbors who turn on each other when they realize their land might soon be worth a lot more cash.
Available on: Fandor, Filmstruck
5'Vampyr'
Carl Theodor Dryer's phantasmagoric film is a haunting take on the vampire tale that holds up to this day. It's eerie as it is beautiful, with gorgeous memento mori and shadows that walk on their own.
Available on: Filmstruck
6'Chopping Mall'
Evil Laser Robots + Sexy Teens + Mall = Chopping Mall, a ridiculously over-the-top survival film. When a new batch of security bots get struck by lightning, they go into overdrive, and woe betide the youths who snuck in to make out.
Available on: Amazon, Netflix
7'Hausu'
Trying to describe Hausu is besides the point. Sure, a group of gal pals visit an aunt's creepy house and a vengeful ghost starts going after them, but that does not do the film's absolutely bonkers visuals any justice.
Available on: Filmstruck
8'Spider Baby'
"The Maddest Story Ever Told" is a dark comedic tale of the Merrye family, who have a disease that causes them to mentally regress once they hit puberty. Caretaker Lon Chaney Jr. tries to keep them in line, but when distant relatives show up bent on inheriting the house, all hell breaks loose.
Available on: Fandor, TubiTV
9'Carnival Of Souls'
A chillingly effective low-budget indie, Carnival Of Souls follows organist Mary as she struggles with odd occurrences and strange visions following a car accident, of which she was the only survivor. The eerie atmosphere is even more haunting in stark black and white.
Available on: Amazon, Epix, Fandor, Filmstruck
10'Society'
Most famous for its gross-out special effects work (particularly the infamous orgy towards the end), Society has a sustained tone of weirdness rarely found in film. Rich, popular Bill Whitney has it all, but feels like he doesn't fit in with his wealthy, well-connected family. When a classmate passes him a tape of what sounds like his family in a murderous ritual, Bill's suspicion leads him to unravel a disturbing mystery.
Available on: Amazon
11'Night Tide'
This is an eerie love story of a woman playing a mermaid in a carnival sideshow, who believes she really is a mermaid, destined to kill her lovers. Baby-faced young Dennis Hopper is the sailor who falls in love with her and tries to convince her otherwise.
Available on: Fandor, Shudder
12'Stage Fright'
After an escaped lunatic actor murders one of their small theater troupe, Director Peter has the brilliant idea to change their play (about a fictional murderer named the Night Owl) to the actual killer's name. Everyone has to stay all night to rehearse, and to make sure no one leaves, Peter locks the door and hides the key. What could go wrong?
Available on: Amazon
13'The Vanishing'
A chilling film about a simple premise — if someone you loved went missing, what would you do to have peace of mind? After his girlfriend Saskia disappears, Rex spends three years ceaselessly trying to find her. At the same time, family man Raymond tests his free will, and plans to abduct a woman. You know where it's going, but the ending will still chill you to the bone.
Available on: Filmstruck
14'Torso'
A sleazy sex-and-murder thriller stripped down to its bare elements — a killer brutally murders co-eds who discover his identity, along with anyone else who gets in his way. A young woman becomes his next target when she recognizes the signature scarf he uses to strangle.
Available on: Amazon
15'An American Werewolf In London'
You might rethink spending that summer abroad. Backpacking through Britain, two friends are brutally attacked by an enormous wolf, with only David surviving. When his dead pal Jack reappears fully mutilated to warn David he's becoming a werewolf, that's only the beginning of David's problems.
Available on: Amazon, Hulu, Epix
16Nosferatu (1922)
The dark (and unauthorized) classic Dracula adaptation still sends shivers up spines, especially with the genteel gentleman vampire of the original replaced by bat-like Count Orlock with rabbit fangs.
Available on: Amazon, Netflix, Filmstruck, Fandor
17'Shivers'
The original title of this early David Cronenberg film was Orgy Of The Blood Parasites, which gives a pretty good idea of what you're in for.
Available on: Amazon, Netflix
18'The Slumber Party Massacre'
At first glance just another '80s gorefest, Slumber Party Massacre is actually covert feminist satire. Produced and directed by women, and written by feminist activist Rita Mae Brown, this slasher lets you have your campy killer cake and eat your woke take too.
Available on: Amazon
19'Pet Sematary'
Based on a book so scary Stephen King almost didn't finish writing it, this film asks what lengths someone would go to have their loved ones alive again. But as the tagline says, sometimes dead is better.
Available on: Amazon, Hulu, Epix
20'Hour Of The Wolf'
Hour Of The Wolf traps us on an isolated island with tortured artist Johan Borg and pregnant wife Alma, and the odd residents who haunt Johan.
Available on: Filmstruck
21'Hellraiser'
All hell (literally) breaks loose when a sadistic uncle solves a devious puzzlebox and unleashes the Cenobites (including the well-known Pinhead) on the world. It's a sadomasochistic tale of terror, based on director Clive Barker's original novella The Hellbound Heart.
Available on: Netflix, Hulu, Yahoo, Shudder
22Alice, Sweet Alice
Featuring a young Brooke Shields in her debut film role, a troubled girl becomes the main suspect after someone attacks and murders her younger sister before her first Communion.
Available on: Amazon
23'The Night Evelyn Came Out Of The Grave'
A twisted tale of murder, insanity, revenge, and redheads. Released from a mental institution, wealthy aristocrat Alan lures redheads to his home to torture them, getting revenge on his similarly fiery-haired wife.
Available on: Amazon
24'House On Haunted Hill'
Corny? Yes. Boring? Heck no. This campy horror classic was originally shown in "Emergo-Vision" (a plastic skeleton shot down to the front of the screen at the proper moment). Streaming it at home doesn't take away from the delicious performances or spooky effects.
Available on: Amazon, Epix, Fandor
25'My Bloody Valentine'
When a group of (you guessed it) rowdy teens throw a Valentine's Day party, a murderer in mining gear shows up to mow them down.
Available on: Amazon, Netflix
26'God Told Me To'
A series of bizarre and unpremeditated murders by normal citizens all have one thing in common — they all claim God told them to kill. Throw in a religious cult and some extraterrestrial flair, and you have yourself a new take on horror.
Available on: Amazon, Epix, Shudder
27'Trouble Every Day'
High art meets hard gore in Clair Denis' bloody, existential movie about a doctor dragging his wife to find a neurosurgeon and his "sick" wife. An unnerving twining of sex and violence at the point of intimacy.
Available on: Amazon
28'Don't Go In The House'
Labelled a "video nasty" and banned in England, Don't Go In The House tells the classic tale of an overbearing mother, and her son, who takes his repressed anger out on nubile women.
Available on: Amazon
29'Satan's School For Girls'
Aaron Spelling, the man who brought you Charlie's Angels and Beverly Hills 90210, created this infamous made-for-TV movie about satanic doings at The Salem School For Women.
Available on: Amazon, Fandor, TubiTV
30'We Are Still Here'
Grieving parents move to a new home in New England to try and escape the sorrow of their son's car accident, but the moment they arrive, wife Anne claims she senses their son's presence. Inviting a spiritualist couple to contact him, they find out the hard way it might not be their son they're sensing.
Available on: Amazon, Netflix
31'I Bury The Living'
A cemetery caretaker discovers his grave map, with black and white pins for full and empty, can mark people for death. Trying to explain himself, he ends up "killing" several people by moving black pins, and becomes depressed. But wait! If the black pins kill, maybe the white pins give life! Well, sort of...
32'Night Of The Living Dead'
The first, and still one of the greatest, zombie movies. As grim and culturally relevant today as it was in the '60s, this tale of human nature matching the undead for danger still haunts.
Available on: Amazon, Netflix
33'The Sixth Sense'
Sure, we all know the twist, and director M. Night Shyamalan's destroyed most of the goodwill his early success brought. But revisiting this film, the sustained dread and scares still hold up.
Available on: Netflix
34'Cube'
A high-concept, claustrophobic creeper about a series of cubic rooms that may potentially kill on entry. Five people awaken with no idea how they got inside, and try to figure how to get out before they turn on each other.
Available on: Netflix
35'Cure'
A series of identical murders are committed by different people, each willingly confessing and completely unsure why they did it. The only connection Detective Takabe and psychologist Sakuma can find is that everyone encountered a man called Mamiya, who suffers extreme short-term memory loss.
Available on: Filmstruck
36'Hatchet For The Honeymoon'
A gloriously campy giallo (lurid and colorful Italian horror film) taking place at a couture wedding dress fashion house, Hatchet For The Honeymoon starts with the lead designer telling you he's insane, and gets crazier from there.
Available on: Fandor
37'Cat People'
A tense thriller about Irena, a Serbian woman who fears a family curse — whenever they're aroused, her people turn into large, vicious cats. Charming Oliver and psychologist Dr. Judd dismiss her fears as mere neurosis to be cured, but Irena may be telling the truth.
Available on: Filmstruck
38'The Babadook'
A tale of sudden death and unexpected single motherhood would be scary enough on its own. Add in a croaking, creeping storybook character who may or may not be a figment of mom Amelia's resentment towards her son, and you'll wish you never heard of the Babadook either.
Available on: Netflix
39'Starry Eyes'
Aspiring actor Sarah makes Method acting look comparatively mild in this gory twist on the usual Hollywood tale. How far would you go to be a star? Sarah thinks she's landed her big break, but the role requires more than she realizes. A lot more.
Available on: Netflix
40'Eraserhead'
David Lynch's disturbing meditation on the fears and terrors of being a parent will leave you equal parts uncomfortable and unsettled. To this day no one in the cast will reveal how or what the heck that baby was made of.
Available on: Filmstruck
41'The Invitation'
If no one's seen or heard from your ex in two years, and you suddenly get a formal dinner party invite from them, common sense might say maybe don't go. But that doesn't stop David from heading out to the hills and seeing his former lover's new life. The tension ratchets as sinister intentions are revealed in this psychological thriller.
Available on: Netflix
42'Kill Baby, Kill!'
A doctor comes in to investigate a series of murders in an isolated town, joined by a recently returned prodigal daughter. Together they unravel the horrifying mystery behind decaying Villa Grappa, and the gruesome apparent suicides where the victims beg for mercy as they take their own lives.
Available on: Filmstruck
43'The Void'
Robed cultists, trapped citizens, and Lovecraftian monsters abound in this visceral thriller throwing back to '80s atmospheric horror.
Available on: Netflix
44'The Legend Of Hell House'
Let's just say there's a reason it's not called "Fun House." A motley crew of scientists, mediums and the lone survivor of the last attempt at investigating it explore the "Mount Everest of haunted houses" in this ghost story.
Available on: Netflix
45'Cropsey'
Reality is the most frightening tale of all in this documentary tracking the true story behind New York urban legend Cropsey. Child murders, cover ups, and a town's obsession feed into this terrifying story.
Available on: Hulu, Yahoo, Sundance Now, Starz, Vudu
46'The Blob' (1988)
A remake that turns the original's goofiness into '80s goriness, this The Blob delivers on actually showing the blob at work. The plot's amped up, but the Teens No One Believes are still there.
Available on: Hulu
47'Sisters'
Brian De Palma's first thriller hits it out of the park with twins, terror, and a film-long tribute to Alfred Hitchcock.
Available on: Filmstruck
48'The Exorcist III'
Yep, the third one. Though an exorcism was shoehorned in at the studio's insistence, this sequel mostly tracks a series of satanic-flavored killings that match the M.O. of deceased murderer the "Gemini Killer" (a riff on the Zodiac killer).
Available on: Crackle, Shudder
49'Berberian Sound Studio'
A knowing homage to '70s Italian horror films, this is a film about the making of... yep, an Italian horror film, set in the '70s. Sound engineer Gilderoy finds reality and work blurring as he navigates audio editing.
Available on: Hulu
50'Eyes Without A Face'
Leave it to the French to make a horror film that's both an existential meditation on identity and beauty and an examination on isolation and madness. A mad scientist kidnaps young women in an attempt to give his daughter a new face, after he disfigured hers in a car accident.
Available on: Filmstruck
51'I Am The Pretty Thing That Lives In The House'
A modern gothic horror that states its facts upfront — young caretaker Lily is 28, and will never reach 29. Easily scared, she watches over senile horror writer Iris in her large, empty house, and can't tell if she's startling herself or if something else is in the house with her.
Available on: Netflix
52'Jigoku'
Literally "Hell", this film is 2/3 buildup and 1/3 horror payoff. A group of amoral people entangle, do terrible things with and to each other, and end up where they deserve. And yet, there's a small hope for redemption, even in Hell.
Available on: Filmstruck
53'The Mask' (1961)
No, not the Jim Carrey movie, but Canada's First Horror Film. Originally shown with parts in 3-D, this trippy ultra-low-budget psychological thriller has a mask that drives all who wear it insane.
Available on: Fandor
54'What Lies Beneath'
In this movie, a wife suspects she's being haunted by a woman's ghost her husband may have had an affair with. As she digs deeper into the mystery, she puts herself in danger.
Available on: Amazon
55'Wake In Fright'
An Aussie film that captures the terror of isolated outback life and toxic masculinity. No blooming onions here, just drinking and terrifying kangaroo night hunts.
Available on: Fandor, Shudder
56'The Honeymoon Killers'
Inspired by real-life notorious "lonely hearts killer" couple Raymond Fernandez and Martha Beck, the film is just as creepy and chilling as the actual crimes.
Available on: Filmstruck
57'City Of The Dead'
A claustrophobic, trapped-in-a-small-town story that throws in cults and sacrifices, proving you don't need a big budget (or color footage) to ratchet up the tension.
Available on: Fandor, Vudu
58'Kuroneko'
There's an entire genre of Japanese horror film about vengeful ghost-cat women. Kuroneko features a mother and daughter-in-law who come back from the underworld to wreak unholy cat-themed vengeance on all samura, only to have their son/husband be made a samurai to hunt them down. Available on: Filmstruck
59'The Psychic'
A high-society wife sees psychic visions of a brutal murder, and when it happens, her husband is arrested. To clear his name she teams up with a paranormal investigator to delve into her visions and find out what really happened.
Available on: Fandor
60'Ex Machina'
This modern take on the Bluebeard fairy tale has him building his wife, and the prince is just as much of a creep. When programmer Caleb wins a contest to spend a week at his reclusive CEO's isolated home, he finds he's the human end of a Turing test for advanced AI Ava.
Available on: Amazon, Netflix
61'Saw'
The torture-porn that spawned a franchise, the original Saw is a tight, grimy, low-budget affair. Two men wake up chained in a room, and one has to kill the other, or their family will die. It's the most brutal game of Would You Rather ever.
Available on: Netflix
62'Creature With The Blue Hand'
Accused of violent murders he swears he didn't commit, a young man escapes from the mental institution to try and solve the mystery. But when he shows up at his ancestral castle, the slashings begin again, done with the same razor-fingered gauntlet that's been in the family for ages. Oh and there's a twin brother, intrigue, and lots of great scene-chewing.
Available on: Fandor
63'1922'
The latest Stephen King adaptation is a Dust Bowl take on The Telltale Heart. Farmer Wilfred James' wife decides she wants to sell her land. James convinces their teenage son the only way to stop her is murder. James successfully kills her and ditches the body, but secrets won't stay buried. Guilt has a way of gnawing at you, just like the rats that start to infest James' walls.
Available on: Netflix
64'Cabin Fever'
The real delight of Eli Roth's gore-heavy feature is that you get to watch an isolated cabin of jerks get what's coming to them, in the most gruesome ways possible. After accidentally shooting a local, whose body poisons the nearby lake, the group of friends find themselves battling a raging infection and angry locals as they tear each other apart.
Available on: Netflix
This list should keep you wide-eyed and terrified well through the Halloween season, all without leaving the comfort of your couch. Have a spooky holiday, and may all your frights be fictional.