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Even though Halloween is Thursday, Halloweekend is just beginning. While watching a spooky movie in November may feel a tad counterintuitive, many students will dress up in their best costumes on Friday and Saturday (and Sunday perhaps?). So don’t take any shame in kicking back and watching a movie that will scare your socks off this weekend.

When movie nerds discuss a film being “scary,” they can be a little vague. There are supernatural horror or slasher movies that rely on jump scares or intense soundtracks to keep you on edge. Think of “Halloween,” “Sinister” or “The Conjuring.” Other films place their emphasis more on psychological dread than specific scares, like “I Saw the TV Glow” or “Midsommar.”

This list combines both of these horror movie categories, excluding the given classics (“The Exorcist,” “Scream”) and recent releases (“Hereditary”). Though these films are a tad older, they’re still as terrifying now as they were when they first hit theaters.

#1 “Pulse” (2001, dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
Plenty of classic Japanese horror movies have earned distinction in the past. The most famous example of the late 1990s, early 2000s J-horror phenomenon was the 1998 film, “Ringu,” which inspired a popular American remake. The defining work of this film movement was “Pulse,” or “Kairo” in Japanese, which came from the mind of horror master Kiyoshi Kurosawa.

The film follows ghosts invading Earth through computers and the Internet. This sounds ridiculous, but Kurosawa incorporates extremely upsetting imagery and moments of terror where the camera won’t look away. “Pulse” touches on technology’s influence on humans and how isolated we can become because of it. It feels extremely ahead of its time and is sure to linger with you for a long while.

#2 “The Descent” (2005, dir. Neil Marshall)
It’s hard to find horror movies that I would describe as “for the girls,” generally because many films in this genre perpetuate tropes of violence against women. But “The Descent,” which follows six women spelunking in Appalachian caves, stands out. The movie has a female-dominated cast that emphasizes the cave divers’ survival and fight against supernatural creatures.

But what makes “The Descent” a fascinating horror movie is that the monsters aren’t a factor for most of the runtime. Instead, there’s a horrifying claustrophobia when the unstable cave starts to trap the spelunkers. It’s a tense film with a few effective jump scares scattered throughout.

#3 “The Exorcist III” (1990, dir. William Peter Blatty)
Horror sequels can go really wrong. Just look at the ocean of awful films that have come out this decade, including “The Exorcist: Believer,” “The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It” and “Halloween Ends.” But this 1990 film, written and directed by the man who wrote the original book that started it all, is a shining example.

Featuring two characters from the original film, “The Exorcist III” delves deep into discussions of faith and the passage of time, all the while being a masterclass in creating horror setpieces. Each cut and camera movement is made to scare you as much as possible. As an author by trade, Blatty really knows how to make a jumpscare. Just watch some of his sequences and try to tell me I’m wrong.

#4 “In the Mouth of Madness” (1994, dir. John Carpenter)
From the same mind behind “The Thing,” “In the Mouth of Madness” is worthy of the absolute classic horror movie title. The film follows an insurance investigator who has to track down a horror novelist with a major cult following. Emphasis on cult. It features some disgusting, Lovecraftian creature effects that are just as good as the ones from “The Thing,” and is a compelling, terrifying work about fandom.

#5 “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me” (1992, dir. David Lynch)
A prequel to the classic 1990s show, “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me” serves as the franchise’s darkest entry. The two-season show is primarily about solving the murder of Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee), while the movie portrays the final week of her life. It holds a healthy dose of jumpscares, disturbing sound design, imagery and psychological dread.

But the film’s scariest sticking point is the idea of a person losing sight of who they are. It becomes one of the darker, more existential horror movies that exists. And you don’t need to know the show to fully grasp the terror that surrounds this movie.

There’s nothing wrong with watching one of the usual, classic horror movies. But if you want to find something new or different to watch this Halloweekend, these films give you that opportunity.

Published on October 30, 2024 at 11:37 pm

Contact Henry: henrywobrien1123@gmail.com