Hi friends & happy Wednesday!
I.LOVE.SCARY.MOVIES. period, end of story.
And I’m not talking ghosts and goblins kinda scary. I need a crazed serial killer that wreaks havoc on a small town to entertain me for an hour and a half (haha yes I know I’m weird, but what can I say, the heart wants what the heart wants).
While I definitely don’t need a reason to watch a scary movie, with Halloween just days away, I figured I might as well get in the spooky season mood and amp up my horror movie “playlist”.
And so, to help get you excited for Halloween, I thought I’d put together a list of my all time favorite horror movies, you know, in case you need some inspiration.
Now, I’m going to be VERY specific with some of these movies because many of their franchises came out with sequels that…well…blow.
Sooo, to ensure that you get the most out of these scary movie recommendations, here’s exactly what you need to watch:
The Strangers
The OG, Numero uno, the first one, ONE. Haha Watch the first one and pretend that the second one doesn’t exist. But seriously, I was SO excited when I heard they had come out with a second movie annnnd it was awful. I’m fairly certain that I could have created a much scarier movie than they did (and that’s with no budget). I feel like it’s also important to note that I’m a “watch ALL the scary movies with the lights off” kinda of a gal (because that makes it scarier + I’m looking for the full horror movie experience). That being said, NEVER would I dream of watching this movie in the dark, it’s THAT creepy!
I was looking for a little synopsis to share and IMDb said it SO perfectly: A young couple staying in an isolated vacation home are terrorized by three unknown assailants.
The Purge
I featured this movie in last year’s “Top 6 Favorite Horror Movies … From a Horror Movie Junkie post (click here if you missed it) and my thoughts on it still very much ring true today. Here’s what I said about the movie last year:
Had this movie come out 15 years ago, it probably wouldn’t have been as scary as it is now! The way the world is going,
I feel like this is a possibility. The movie is set in the year 2022, where for one night a year, ALL crime is legal. So, this
movie has tons of senseless murdering…because why not?! It’s friggen’ twisted and creepy + shows that in situations like
this, you don’t know who you can trust.
Makes sense right?! And Lord help us if Trump gets in for another term! Make sure to take notes on how to properly lock up your house and avoid the craziness should we find ourselves in a Purge-like situation!
Anyways, The Purge franchise currently consists of 4 movies (with another movie set to release next year). They are:
The Purge (2013)
The Purge: Anarchy (2014)
The Purge: Election Year (2016)
The First Purge (2018)
The Forever Purge (2021)**
Personally, I loved all of these movies so if you’ve got time, start from the beginning and work your way to the most recent one!
Insidious
This kind of supernatural movie isn’t normally my cup of tea, however these movies ended up being pretty darn creepy. Long story short the movie is about a family (leads actors are Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne) that tries to prevent evil spirits from trapping their comatose child in a realm called The Further.
There are a total of 4 movies in the franchise which include:
Insidious (2010)
Insidious: Chapter Two (2013)
Insidious: Chapter Three (2015)
Insidious: The Last Key (2018)
If you’re going to dabble in the world of Insidious, I would suggest watching the first one and/or the last one!
Hostel
Yes, yes, yes, 100% YES to the Hostel movies! They’re SUPER gory and creepy and in some twisted world, COULD totally happen. Now, that being said I would watch the first one (there are three in total) and stop there. I feel like some franchises get a bit carried away when creating sequels and the Hostel movies (in my opinion) are a prime example of that. They try to outdo themselves and make each one more disturbing than the last, which in turns makes it HELLA lame (which is just about as lame as saying “hella” haha). But seriously, the first Hostel movie is perfection (if you like blood + guts).
Sinister
Okay, so the Sinister movies remind me of Insidious, but 10000000% worse. The “villain” who’s referred to as Bagul has haunted a nightmare or two of mine because he’s just SO creepy. I mean, look at this face…
Anyways, this (not so little guy) consumes the souls of human children which is pretty creepy in itself. There are two movies in this franchise and honestly, you should probably just watch both!
Sinister (2012)
Sinister 2 (2015)
Saw
The Saw franchise holds a special place in my heart, always has and always will. These movies came out on my birthday every year, making it THE perfect way to spend my special day! Now, you’ll wanna sit down, get a drink or snack because there are A LOT of movies in the franchise. So far, we’ve got:
Saw (2004)
Saw II (2005)
Saw III (2006)
Saw IV (2007)
Saw V (2008)
Saw VI (2009)
Saw VII (2010)
Jigsaw (2017)
According to the world wide web, there’s another movie in the franchise called “Spiral” that’s set to release next year, yippee!
Now, what makes these movies so dark + twisted (and therefore my favorite) are the disturbing ways that Jigsaw makes people “fight” for their freedom. I’m talking…
– needle pit
– scalping machine
– the pendulum
– reverse bear trap
These movies are incredible & are SO perfect for Halloween however, they are NOT for the faint of heart!
Jeepers Creepers
Annnnd last but not least…Jeepers Creepers. Sooooo originally I intended to say that the concept of this movie wasn’t what made it scary, it was more so the creepy demon/creature/monster (who seeks organs from humans to replace its own old or damaged ones) that made this the perfect movie for spooky season. HOWEVER, I just read that these movies were inspired by TRUE EVENTS which might make it even more creepy (if you want to know more, click here for that article).
So while you think about that, there are three movies in the Jeepers Creepers franchise, and they are:
Jeepers Creepers I (2001)
Jeepers Creepers 2 (2003)
Jeepers Creepers 3 (2017)
I’ll be honest, I don’t think you can go wrong with any of these ones!
While I might not have left you with enough time to binge a whole TV series, I think it’s worth mentioning a few pretty friggen’ scary TV shows that I LOVE and have a spooky factor of about 10:
American Horror Story
It seems like there are about a million + one seasons of AHS, but that being said, there are a few that are definitely a lot spookier than others. Here’s the full list of seasons and the ones with an (*) are in my opinion, the creepiest:
Season 1 – Murder House* (The first season is SO twisted and it’s a definite must watch)
Season 2 – Asylum*
Season 3 – Coven
Season 4 – Freak Show*
Season 5 – Hotel
Season 6 – Roanoke
Season 7 – Cult
Season 8 – Apocalypse
Season 9 – 1984*
Scream (Netflix)
Now, as someone who didn’t love the Scream movies, I was hesitant to dive into this Netflix series. But all it took was one episode for me to be hooked. As you can guess, the series is about a group of teenagers that are stalked and killed by a masked serial killer (shocking I know haha). Definitely a great little series to binge.
Slasher (Netflix)
And in my opinion, I’ve saved THE best horror series for last because my goodness, Slasher is incredible. It’s THE goriest, most terrifying TV series I think I’ve ever watched.
There are currently 3 seasons available on Netflix and it looks like Slasher has been signed on for ANOTHER terrifying season! Woohoo! The 3 seasons are:
Season1: The Executioner (2016)
Sarah Bennett and her husband Dylan move back to the town of her birth, fictitious Waterbury, Canada, into her childhood home, where both of her parents were murdered on the Halloween of 1988. Her mother was pregnant with Sarah at the time of the killing before the police arrests the killer who was holding the newborn baby. Sarah’s return to Waterbury is greeted with the start of a series of copycat murders, all appearing to be at the hands of “The Executioner”.
Season 2: Guilty Party (2017)
In the dead of winter, a group of former summer camp counselors return to the resort in which they participated in the murder of Talvinder Gill and hid her body. However, the body has vanished from the secret spot they hid and eventually they are trapped in the resort and start being killed one by one by a person wearing a parka.
Season 3: Solstice (2019)
Kit Jennings, a sex and drug addict, is murdered by someone using a “Druid” costume in front of an apartment complex during the summer solstice and the neighbors don’t help him. Exactly one year later, a person using the same costume emerges and starts murdering every person who carries any kind of complicity in Jennings’s murder.
**We can thank Wikipedia for those little descriptions haha**
Now, if you only have time to watch one scary movie/TV show before Halloween, honestly make it this one! It’s THAT scary!
But wait, there’s more! (haha)
In prepping for this post, I thought I’d take a look at what some other horror movie lovers were saying were some of their MUST WATCH titles for Halloween. Annnnd then I stumbled across a website that has left me shook, completely shook I tell ya! Apparently while I was crying myself to sleep over the stresses of COVID, a number of super scary movies were released. I don’t know how these managed to slip past my horror obsessed self but nevertheless, they are now on my radar! And since this is a scary movie recommendation post, I feel that it is my duty to share some of the 2020 titles that, while I haven’t watched them, look SUPER creepy!
Candyman (2020)
Click HERE for the trailer
The Hunt (2020)
Click HERE for the trailer
The Rental (2020)
Click HERE for the trailer
And there you have it friends!
Do you like to watch scary movies around Halloween? If so, let me know which ones are your favorites in the comments below!
Thanks so much for stopping by & until next time,
xo