Bonus Halloween Edition: Horror Movies To Watch On Netflix
Freak yourself out with a few of our favorite streaming horror films this Halloween
Oh... hey there! No, it’s not Friday yet. We’re just dropping into your inbox on a Wednesday to hit you with a few horror movies to stream in time for Halloween. Even if you’re not typically a scary movie fan, it’s that time of year to face your fears. Check ‘em out and happy Halloween!
Drew recommends…
The Witch (streaming on Netflix)
Just before The Witch was released in theaters in February 2016, The Satanic Temple endorsed the film as “a Satanic experience.” In a peculiar marketing move, The Witch’s studio, A24, used this endorsement in their promotional material for the movie. In fact, the studio were the ones that sent the Temple the movie in the first place. It was a headline-grabbing choice that led to modest success at the box office. This endorsement may scare off some of you (and make others even more curious), but I can assure you that The Witch has plenty to say to the non-Satanists among us as well.
Through immersive period-accurate detail and authentic performance, The Witch transports you back to New England circa 1630. (Just in case you need an American history refresher, the Mayflower arrived in the New World about ten years prior, and the Salem witch trials took place decades later.) Our story follows a Puritan family that has been banished from their colony by the church over a religious dispute. They settle on a remote edge of the untamed New England wilderness -- and then things start to get really sinister. As usual, I’m going to avoid spoilers here, but let’s just say there is a goat named Black Phillip that may be speaking for the Devil.
In his debut feature, writer-director Robert Eggers (his new movie The Lighthouse just came out in theaters) recreates a time and place where strict religious moralism rules the day. William and Katherine, the father and mother, are devout Puritans that don’t seem to believe that God’s grace is for them, and they claim the Devil is the reason for their misfortune. Their children -- and daughter Thomasin, in particular -- become vulnerable to attack from the evil lurking in the woods. Thomasin, played by Anya Taylor-Joy in a breakout performance, is suspected by her own family of turning to witchcraft.
As the story moves forward, Eggers gradually builds the atmosphere of dread at the heart of The Witch, until it all culminates in a few scenes of shocking terror. If you’ve grown tired of cheap jump scares in horror movies, The Witch is undoubtedly for you. This is a patient and quiet horror film that feels wholly original. Instead of screaming with fright, I was sinking deeper into my couch with each distressing development.
The full stylized title of this movie is The VVitch: A New-England Folktale. This increasingly frightening tale of faith, pride, witchcraft, and evil will dig its way into your psyche. And, in addition to a memorable horror movie experience, you get a provocative picture of a family whose misguided theology leads them directly into the witch’s den.
The Ritual (streaming on Netflix)
There must be something that gets me about a scary movie set in or near the woods, because here’s another one for you. The Ritual is a Netflix Original that, to be honest, probably grades out at around a B or B-, but is worth giving a try if you’re a horror fan.
Four old college friends head out on a hiking trip in northern Sweden in honor of their friend who was murdered six months before. Everything is going swell until one of them badly injures his knee. The group decides to cut through the dark and foreboding forest to get back quicker, and, as you can guess, some strange events start to occur.
The Scandinavian setting is surprisingly fertile ground for a horror picture. After seeing The Ritual and this summer’s pagan freak-out Midsommar, I guess I’m just never, ever going to Sweden. Or Norway or Finland, by association. However, the landscape of remote Scandinavia is perfect for this kind of film. As the plot becomes crazier by the minute, the deep and dark woods turn oppressive and hostile.
The Ritual is not a perfect horror offering, but the intriguing premise and twists make it one that you want to stick with to see how things play out for these characters.
Billy recommends…
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (streaming on Netflix)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is the top example of a movie that creates cliches that will not leave cinema forever. All while still feeling fresh 45 years later.
Before seeing this film, horror movies of this era mumbled together. Dumb and horny teenagers evading an unrealistic villain that is just inept enough at murdering said horny teenagers so that a fun movie can be played out. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre follows that template almost exactly and somehow makes it no fun, only horrific. This is a compliment.
Halloween is a movie that has a similar plot, but it plays like a roller coaster, inciting fear to keep a person engaged and also have them wanting to come back for more. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre plays out like a lazy river from hell. Somehow engaging all the way through, but there is not much desire to go back and revisit. In the case of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre there is no temptation to go back because all the mental fortitude a person has is completely shattered by fear.
In that way The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is the most impressive horror movie ever made. Never has there been a tale that has shook audiences so violently. At each moment the brilliant director Tobe Hooper uses the cliches (which were not yet cliches at this point in cinema) to propel characters forward in ways that make them somewhat endearing. The group’s reason for going on the trip is to visit their grandfather’s grave. Kind of sweet, right? That motive allows all the pride and general awfulness our protagonists have to be forgiven. Many similar movies have used these types of characters without giving them any humanity. No humanity to grasp on to does not allow fear to settle in once the horror begins.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a masterpiece that does not lend itself to being a great rewatch, but the first watch is so worth it. You will probably unsubscribe for me suggesting you watch it, but for a masterpiece like this, it is worth it.