Ultimate 31 horror films for October
by phoebeistired | created - 04 Mar 2015 | updated - 19 Oct 2015 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
R | 83 min | Horror
Five friends head out to rural Texas to visit the grave of a grandfather. On the way they stumble across what appears to be a deserted house, only to discover something sinister within. Something armed with a chainsaw.
Director: Tobe Hooper | Stars: Marilyn Burns, Edwin Neal, Allen Danziger, Paul A. Partain
Votes: 183,770 | Gross: $30.86M
Start your month of Horror with this classic. In my opinion, the best slasher film ever made. Leatherface is a now historic maniac killer, and his first entrance on film is the top moment in my horror obsession. That sliding metal door is everything.
2. Scream (1996)
R | 111 min | Horror, Mystery
A year after the murder of her mother, a teenage girl is terrorized by a masked killer who targets her and her friends by using scary movies as part of a deadly game.
Director: Wes Craven | Stars: Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Skeet Ulrich
Votes: 388,678 | Gross: $103.05M
Day Two brings another, more recent, classic. Scream revitalized the genre and pumped a new era into slasher films. The opening scene is the best part. Drew Barrymore giving her best performance and starting the franchise off with its most devastating death. The movie is both dated and timeless.
3. The Blair Witch Project (1999)
R | 81 min | Horror, Mystery
Three film students vanish after traveling into a Maryland forest to film a documentary on the local Blair Witch legend, leaving only their footage behind.
Directors: Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez | Stars: Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, Joshua Leonard, Bob Griffin
Votes: 285,750 | Gross: $140.54M
Day three continues with groundbreaking horror movies. This one is an early found footage film, and it was cheaply made. Love it or hate it, it is worth revisiting.
4. Fright Night (1985)
R | 106 min | Horror
"Fright Night" sees a teenager believing that the newcomer in his neighborhood is a vampire. He turns to an actor in a television hosted horror movie show for help to deal with the undead.
Director: Tom Holland | Stars: Chris Sarandon, William Ragsdale, Amanda Bearse, Roddy McDowall
Votes: 78,690 | Gross: $24.92M
5. Ginger Snaps (2000)
Not Rated | 108 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Two death-obsessed sisters, outcasts in their suburban neighborhood, must deal with the tragic consequences when one of them is bitten by a deadly werewolf.
Director: John Fawcett | Stars: Emily Perkins, Katharine Isabelle, Kris Lemche, Mimi Rogers
Votes: 52,320 | Gross: $0.00M
6. Tremors (1990)
PG-13 | 96 min | Comedy, Horror
Natives of a small isolated town defend themselves against strange underground creatures which are killing them one by one.
Director: Ron Underwood | Stars: Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward, Finn Carter, Michael Gross
Votes: 150,633 | Gross: $16.67M
7. The Vanishing (1988)
Not Rated | 107 min | Mystery, Thriller
Rex and Saskia, a young couple in love, are on vacation. They stop at a busy service station and Saskia is abducted. After three years and no sign of Saskia, Rex begins receiving letters from the abductor.
Director: George Sluizer | Stars: Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu, Gene Bervoets, Johanna ter Steege, Gwen Eckhaus
Votes: 44,282
8. Night of the Comet (1984)
PG-13 | 95 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
A comet wipes out most of life on Earth, leaving two Valley Girls fighting against cannibal zombies and a sinister group of scientists.
Director: Thom Eberhardt | Stars: Catherine Mary Stewart, Kelli Maroney, Robert Beltran, Sharon Farrell
Votes: 24,162 | Gross: $14.42M
9. Black Christmas (1974)
R | 98 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
During their Christmas break, a group of sorority girls are stalked by a stranger.
Director: Bob Clark | Stars: Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea, Margot Kidder, John Saxon
Votes: 48,378 | Gross: $4.05M
10. The Brood (1979)
R | 92 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
A man tries to uncover an unconventional psychologist's therapy techniques on his institutionalized wife, amidst a series of brutal murders.
Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: Oliver Reed, Samantha Eggar, Art Hindle, Henry Beckman
Votes: 34,334
11. The Descent (2005)
R | 99 min | Adventure, Horror, Thriller
A caving expedition goes horribly wrong, as the explorers become trapped and ultimately pursued by a strange breed of predators.
Director: Neil Marshall | Stars: Shauna Macdonald, Natalie Mendoza, Alex Reid, Saskia Mulder
Votes: 247,091 | Gross: $26.02M
12. Ju-on: The Grudge (2002)
R | 92 min | Horror
A mysterious and vengeful spirit marks and pursues anybody who dares enter the house in which it resides.
Director: Takashi Shimizu | Stars: Megumi Okina, Misaki Itô, Misa Uehara, Yui Ichikawa
Votes: 48,104 | Gross: $0.33M
13. Braindead (1992)
R | 104 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
A young man's mother is bitten by a Sumatran rat-monkey. She gets sick and dies, at which time she comes back to life, killing and eating dogs, nurses, friends, and neighbors.
Director: Peter Jackson | Stars: Timothy Balme, Diana Peñalver, Elizabeth Moody, Ian Watkin
Votes: 103,343 | Gross: $0.24M
14. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
R | 91 min | Horror
Teenager Nancy Thompson must uncover the dark truth concealed by her parents after she and her friends become targets of the spirit of a serial killer with a bladed glove in their dreams, in which if they die, it kills them in real life.
Director: Wes Craven | Stars: Heather Langenkamp, Johnny Depp, Robert Englund, John Saxon
Votes: 262,650 | Gross: $25.50M
15. Don't Look Now (1973)
R | 110 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A married couple grieving the recent death of their young daughter are in Venice when they encounter two elderly sisters, one of whom is psychic and brings a warning from beyond.
Director: Nicolas Roeg | Stars: Julie Christie, Donald Sutherland, Hilary Mason, Clelia Matania
Votes: 62,355 | Gross: $0.98M
16. The Hidden (1987)
R | 97 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A cop and an FBI agent race for answers after law abiding people suddenly become violent criminals.
Director: Jack Sholder | Stars: Kyle MacLachlan, Michael Nouri, Claudia Christian, Clarence Felder
Votes: 22,619 | Gross: $9.75M
17. Alien (1979)
R | 117 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
The crew of a commercial spacecraft encounters a deadly lifeform after investigating a mysterious transmission of unknown origin.
Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt, Veronica Cartwright
Votes: 951,545 | Gross: $78.90M
18. Chopping Mall (1986)
R | 77 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
A group of young shopping mall employees stay behind for a late night party in one of the stores. When the mall goes on lock-down before they can get out, the robot security system malfunctions, and goes on a killing spree.
Director: Jim Wynorski | Stars: Kelli Maroney, Tony O'Dell, Russell Todd, Karrie Emerson
Votes: 17,258
19. The People Under the Stairs (1991)
R | 102 min | Comedy, Horror, Mystery
Two adults and a juvenile break into a house occupied by a brother and sister and their stolen children. There, they must fight for their lives.
Director: Wes Craven | Stars: Brandon Quintin Adams, Everett McGill, Wendy Robie, A.J. Langer
Votes: 39,685 | Gross: $24.20M
20. Night of the Living Dead (1990)
R | 92 min | Horror
When the unburied dead return to life and seek human victims, seven refugees shelter in a house in the Pennsylvanian countryside.
Director: Tom Savini | Stars: Tony Todd, Patricia Tallman, Tom Towles, McKee Anderson
Votes: 45,520 | Gross: $5.84M
21. The Slumber Party Massacre (1982)
R | 77 min | Horror
A female high school student's slumber party turns into a bloodbath, as a newly escaped psychotic serial killer wielding a power drill prowls her neighborhood.
Director: Amy Holden Jones | Stars: Michele Michaels, Robin Stille, Michael Villella, Debra De Liso
Votes: 17,911
22. A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)
R | 114 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
After being institutionalized in a mental hospital, Su-mi reunites with her sister, Su-yeon, and they return to live at their country home. But strange events plague the house, leading to surprising revelations and a shocking conclusion.
Director: Jee-woon Kim | Stars: Lim Soo-jung, Yum Jung-ah, Kim Kap-su, Moon Geun-young
Votes: 68,297
23. Sleepaway Camp (1983)
R | 84 min | Horror
Bunks and showers are a mad stabber's beat at a summer camp strictly for teens.
Director: Robert Hiltzik | Stars: Felissa Rose, Jonathan Tiersten, Karen Fields, Christopher Collet
Votes: 38,087 | Gross: $11.00M
24. The Shining (1980)
R | 146 min | Drama, Horror
A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where a sinister presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from both past and future.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers
Votes: 1,107,416 | Gross: $44.02M
25. Rosemary's Baby (1968)
Approved | 137 min | Drama, Horror
A young couple trying for a baby moves into an aging, ornate apartment building on Central Park West, where they find themselves surrounded by peculiar neighbors.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer
Votes: 235,331
26. You're Next (2011)
R | 95 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
When the Davison family comes under attack during their wedding anniversary getaway, the gang of mysterious killers soon learns that one of the victims harbors a secret talent for fighting back.
Director: Adam Wingard | Stars: Sharni Vinson, Joe Swanberg, AJ Bowen, Nicholas Tucci
Votes: 109,507 | Gross: $18.47M
27. Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)
R | 91 min | Horror, Thriller
After being announced dead and taken to a morgue, Jason Voorhees spontaneously revives, escapes from the hospital, and stalks a group of friends renting a house in the countryside near Crystal Lake.
Director: Joseph Zito | Stars: Erich Anderson, Judie Aronson, Peter Barton, Kimberly Beck
Votes: 59,201 | Gross: $32.98M
28. 28 Days Later (2002)
R | 113 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
Four weeks after a mysterious, incurable virus spreads throughout the UK, a handful of survivors try to find sanctuary.
Director: Danny Boyle | Stars: Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Christopher Eccleston, Alex Palmer
Votes: 446,104 | Gross: $45.06M
Amazing film. A great score. Great acting. This is my favorite zombie movie despite the zombies not technically being zombies. But the other conventions are all there. So, it counts, in my opinion. And regardless its scary and we'll written so you do care about the characters and what happens to them.
29. Carrie (1976)
R | 98 min | Horror, Mystery
Carrie White, a shy, friendless teenage girl who is sheltered by her domineering, religious mother, unleashes her telekinetic powers after being humiliated by her classmates at her senior prom.
Director: Brian De Palma | Stars: Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, Amy Irving, John Travolta
Votes: 206,796 | Gross: $33.80M
Another classic, ultimate, horror film, I place this at the end because very few are a better example of a killer you feel compassion for. Carrie is both sad, innocent victim and terrifying killer. The image of her covered in blood and killing her entire senior class, is epic.
30. Trick 'r Treat (2007)
R | 82 min | Comedy, Horror
Five interwoven stories that occur on Halloween: an everyday high school principal has a secret life as a serial killer; a college virgin might have just met the guy for her; a group of teenagers pull a mean prank; a woman who loathes the night has to contend with her holiday-obsessed husband; and a mean old man meets his match with a demonic, supernatural trick-or-treater.
Director: Michael Dougherty | Stars: Anna Paquin, Brian Cox, Dylan Baker, Rochelle Aytes
Votes: 104,652
Much better then I had expected this is a fun one to watch right before Halloween because, well, it takes place on Halloween. It's several scary stories, with a decent cast, and they are pretty good. Some are scary, some silly.
31. Halloween (1978)
R | 91 min | Horror, Thriller
Fifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween night 1963, Michael Myers escapes from a mental hospital and returns to the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois to kill again.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tony Moran, Nancy Kyes
Votes: 306,933 | Gross: $47.00M
Ending it here for obvious reasons. This is a great movie to watch while you get ready to go out on the big day. Or watch while you wait for trick or treaters. Its the classic slasher film.
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