Ultimate 31 horror films for October

by phoebeistired | created - 04 Mar 2015 | updated - 19 Oct 2015 | Public
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1. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

R | 83 min | Horror

90 Metascore

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: 183,509 | 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

66 Metascore

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: 388,239 | 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

80 Metascore

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: 285,351 | 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

62 Metascore

"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: 78,609 | Gross: $24.92M

5. Ginger Snaps (2000)

Not Rated | 108 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror

70 Metascore

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: 52,275 | Gross: $0.00M

6. Tremors (1990)

PG-13 | 96 min | Comedy, Horror

65 Metascore

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: 150,431 | 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: 44,131

8. Night of the Comet (1984)

PG-13 | 95 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi

59 Metascore

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: 24,126 | Gross: $14.42M

9. Black Christmas (1974)

R | 98 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller

65 Metascore

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: 48,331 | Gross: $4.05M

10. The Brood (1979)

R | 92 min | Horror, Sci-Fi

63 Metascore

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: 34,294

11. The Descent (2005)

R | 99 min | Adventure, Horror, Thriller

71 Metascore

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: 246,809 | Gross: $26.02M

12. Ju-on: The Grudge (2002)

R | 92 min | Horror

48 Metascore

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: 48,041 | Gross: $0.33M

13. Braindead (1992)

R | 104 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Horror

54 Metascore

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: 103,256 | Gross: $0.24M

14. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

R | 91 min | Horror

76 Metascore

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: 262,340 | Gross: $25.50M

15. Don't Look Now (1973)

R | 110 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery

95 Metascore

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: 62,297 | Gross: $0.98M

16. The Hidden (1987)

R | 97 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller

69 Metascore

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: 22,589 | Gross: $9.75M

17. Alien (1979)

R | 117 min | Horror, Sci-Fi

89 Metascore

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: 949,908 | Gross: $78.90M

18. Chopping Mall (1986)

R | 77 min | Horror, Sci-Fi

22 Metascore

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: 17,227

19. The People Under the Stairs (1991)

R | 102 min | Comedy, Horror, Mystery

57 Metascore

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: 39,632 | Gross: $24.20M

20. Night of the Living Dead (1990)

R | 92 min | Horror

54 Metascore

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: 45,485 | Gross: $5.84M

21. The Slumber Party Massacre (1982)

R | 77 min | Horror

51 Metascore

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: 17,886

22. A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)

R | 114 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery

65 Metascore

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: 68,251

23. Sleepaway Camp (1983)

R | 84 min | Horror

58 Metascore

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: 38,026 | Gross: $11.00M

24. The Shining (1980)

R | 146 min | Drama, Horror

68 Metascore

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: 1,105,984 | Gross: $44.02M

25. Rosemary's Baby (1968)

Approved | 137 min | Drama, Horror

96 Metascore

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: 235,018

26. You're Next (2011)

R | 95 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller

66 Metascore

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: 109,397 | Gross: $18.47M

27. Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)

R | 91 min | Horror, Thriller

33 Metascore

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: 59,127 | Gross: $32.98M

28. 28 Days Later (2002)

R | 113 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi

73 Metascore

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: 445,343 | 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

86 Metascore

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: 206,571 | 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: 104,605

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

90 Metascore

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: 306,671 | 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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