We have your Halloween watchlist sorted with these hidden gem horror films (Pictures: Shutterstock)
There’s a chill in the air and pumpkins are on supermarket shelves, which means only one thing – the countdown to Halloween is on.
Now that summer is behind us (or what summer we had, anyway), our thoughts are fully on spooky season and the horror film marathons that come with it.
And October has plenty of disturbing delights on the big screen with Terrifier 3, Smile 2, and The Substance all frightening and delighting horror fans.
But for the film fans who have seen it all, from the big-budget slashers to the indie psychosexual cannibal flicks, finding something new to add to your watchlist can be difficult.
But never fear – or do, as we’re talking about horror films – we’re here with some top underrated gems to make your skin crawl and spine shiver.
Get your pillow ready to hide behind.
Daddy’s Head
Where to watch: Shudder
Psychological horror films rooted in trauma and grief have exploded in the past 10 years, with titles like The Babadook, Hereditary, and Midsommar becoming classics.
Now available on Shudder, Benjamin Barfoot’s Daddy’s Head breathes new life into the over-wrought subgenre with a terrifying new monster to haunt your nightmares.
The film follows the story of a recently widowed woman and her stepson as they grieve the loss of their husband and father respectively in their remote woodland home.
Soon after, a mysterious being begins infiltrating their home that, bizarrely, seems to have the same face as their deceased loved one.
MadS
Where to watch: Shudder
Zombie films come in many shapes and sizes – from the shambling undead rising from the grave, to rage-filled running monstrosities chasing you through a city.
But you will never see a zombie film quite like MadS, now streaming on Shudder.
Directed by David Moreau and told all in one, long take, it follows the story of a French club kid who wakes up from another night of partying to do it all over again.
But on his way back home, he encountered an escaped patient from a local medical facility who flips the trajectory of his life from a pursuit of fun to a life-and-death fight for survival.
The Coffee Table
Where to watch: Shudder
If you like your comedy like you like your horror – pitch black and ridiculously disturbing – then settle in for The Coffee Table, now available on Shudder.
Directed by Caye Casas, the pitch-black comedy follows married couple Jesús (David Pareja) and Maria (Estefanía de los Santos) who find themselves thrown into the deep end of parenthood after welcoming their first child.
One day, they go to a furniture store to buy a coffee table for their apartment, a simple task that leaves the fractured couple bickering and Jesús digging his heels in on the gaudy table he wants.
A seemingly minute decision he soon comes to regret as it tears their lives apart in a matter of moments – leaving viewers on the edge of their seats.
The Tunnel
Where to watch: Tubi and Shudder
Australia has got the goods when it comes to horror, gracing our screens with Talk To Me, Lake Mungo, The Snowtown Murders, and The Loved Ones, to name but a few.
But one title that doesn’t get as much love as it deserves is The Tunnel, released in 2011 and directed by Carlo Ledesma.
Now streaming on Shudder and Tubi, the found footage horror flick follows a film crew who head to a network of abandoned train tunnels beneath Sydney to uncover the truth about a supposed government conspiracy.
As they delve deeper into the labyrinth of pitch-black tunnels, they discover that maybe the secret of their existence was being kept for good reason as they are picked off one by one.
The Devil’s Doorway
Where to watch: Prime Video and Apple TV
Just like Australian horror, Irish horror has really made its mark on the genre with several unique and terrifying offerings encapsulating the unique folklore of the Emerald Isles.
Aislinn Clarke’s landmark 2018 film The Devil’s Doorway follows priests Father Thomas Riley (Lalor Roddy) and Father John Thornton (Ciaran Flynn) who are sent to investigate a possible miracle at a Magdalene Asylum in Ireland.
The asylums, also known as laundries, were real homes run by the church for ‘fallen women.’
The priests in the film discover horrors beyond their imagination, reflecting the real-life scandals that surrounded laundries such as the initial discovery of 155 unmarked graves in the convent grounds of the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity in Dublin in 1993.
Amulet
Where to watch: Channel 4
British horror chiller Amulet dazzled audiences at its 2020 Sundance Film Festival premiere, and it’s available to watch right now thanks to Channel 4.
Written and directed by Romola Garai, it tells the story of Tomaz (Alec Secareanu), a homeless ex-soldier who is found by a nun, Sister Claire (Imelda Staunton) after the derelict building he was living in is burned down.
Sister Claire offers Tomaz a place to stay with a woman named Magda (Carla Juri) and her dying mother. While the two are at odds with each other at first, Tomaz soon begins to win Magda over as he does handiwork around the home.
He soon begins to witness and experience unusual paranormal phenomena, while also being dogged by flashbacks of his former country which he escaped to reside in London.
Be My Cat: A Film For Anne
Where to watch: FOUND
With an abundance of found footage horror releases in the subgenre following the release of The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity, and V/H/S, it can be tricky to find something fresh.
FOUND, a brand new free streaming service available in the UK, is dedicated purely to found footage horror films and it boasts an array of lesser-known titles to feast your eyes upon.
Among them is the notorious Be My Cat: A Film For Anne, a disturbing horror film that was Romania’s first ever found footage film.
Directed, written, produced by, and starring Adrian Țofei, it follows an aspiring filmmaker who goes to extreme levels to convince actress Anne Hathaway to star in his film.
Daniel Isn’t Real
Where to Watch: Shudder and Arrow Player
When you think of scary stories, you will probably think of the master of horror Stephen King.
But there are plenty of haunting delights in the literary world adapted to the big screen, including Daniel Isn’t Real on Shudder and Arrow.
Based upon the novel In This Way I Was Saved by DeLeeuw, The Babysitter star Miles Robbins stars as Luke, who witnesses the aftermath of a mass shooting at a neighbourhood coffee shop.
He meets the cool and confident Daniel, who invites him to play and becomes his lifelong friend into adulthood. However, no one but Luke can see Daniel.
Summer of ’84
Where to watch: Apple TV and Prime Video
The eighties was one of the golden eras of horror, sparking plenty of films in the decades since that try to encapsulate the nostalgia.
One such lesser-known film that is perfect for fans of Stranger Things is Summer of ’84, now available on Apple TV and Prime Video to rent.
The nostalgic flick sees four friends breaking up from school and embarking on their summer break.
However, they begin to suspect that a police officer in their town is behind the historic killings of 13 teenage boys, and they decide to investigate.
Door
Where to watch: Shudder
Japan’s horror offerings have spawned numerous Hollywood remakes including Ju-On: The Grudge, Ringu, and Dark Water.
One film that fell off the radar is Door by Banmei Takahashi, a film that has never been screened outside of Japan and was believed lost for 30 years – until being rereleased by Third Window Films and Shudder.
After being neglected by her workaholic husband and left alone in their apartment to care for their young son, a woman becomes increasingly unnerved by a pushy door-to-door salesman.
She slams the door on his hand during yet another persistent visit and soon finds herself living a nightmare as he stalks her every move.
Carved: The Slit-Mouthed Woman
Where to watch: Arrow Player
We have not just one Japanese horror gem that was unwatchable for years, but two thanks to Arrow Player and Arrow’s J-Horror Rising boxset.
J-Horror is a term used to mark a wave of horror films that came from Japan at the term of the millennium that featured tropes such as vengeful spirits, investigative or ‘thriller’ inspired narratives, and a fear of technology, among others.
Some of its bigger titles – such as Ring, Grudge, and Pulse – are sure to be on any horror fan’s radar, Carved: The Slit-Mouthed Woman is likely not due to it being unable to stream in the UK for a number of years following its release in 2007.
It follows Kyōko Yamashita (Eriko Sato), a divorced mother and teacher who attempts to solve a series of child abduction cases, uncovering a deadly supernatural secret in the process.
MOM: Mothers Of Monsters
Where to watch: Prime Video
Much of parenting is a nightmare – from hazy newborn days to toddlers acting like terrors and moody teenagers – but this film is truly stomach-turning and focuses on a situation that will surely haunt any parents watching.
M.O.M.: Mothers of Monsters, on Prime Video, is the debut film from long-standing TV showrunner Tucia Lyman and features a very real horror at the centre of its plot.
A mother suspects her teenage son is plotting a school shooting, and she is forced to take matters into her own hands when the authorities in place to prevent tragedy do not heed the warning signs.
She installs a system of spy cameras in their home, capturing a series of disturbing videos that seem to confirm her worst fears, leading her to find an online community of other ‘mothers of monsters’.
Dumplings
Where to watch: Available on DVD
Asia has a rich, varied culture of horror films that have terrified audiences for generations.
From ghastly spectres to murderous killers and everything in between, Hong Kong has given us titles such as Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, Man Behind the Sun, and Boo! A Madea Halloween.
But obscure body horror Dumplings from the mind of Fruit Chan is one that remains notorious within the genre – but you’ll need to do some digging for it as this particular horror film isn’t available to stream in this country.
In it, fading actress Mrs Li becomes determined to find out what the secret ingredient is in Aunt Mei’s famed dumplings which seem to contain age-defying properties.
And, as you can surely imagine, the discovery of the secret ingredient is one of the most stomach-turning in horror history.
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