I’m 40, male, European (I’m only stating this so you don’t wonder why I don’t know certain movies), just got laid the fuck off in November and decided to go all in on spooktober. There are some classics in here that I have never seen before and there are some classics that I have seen as an 8 year old but never again since, as well as some modern movies that I have read about. My goal was to close some gaps AND get some new era horror in. Rating scale is not relative to horror but to movies in general. No spoilers. Here’s how that went:
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Hitcher (1986) Believe it or not: never seen this. I was expecting some creepy slow paced road movie. Oh boy was i ever wrong. I really enjoyed it. But it was almost more of a terminator vibe than anything else. 7.5/10. This could go up to a 9/10 if it keeps staying in my head like it did those past few weeks. Greatly recommended.
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Final destination bloodlines (2025) Fun all around. Entertaining and never boring. Great ideas well executed. 6.5/10. recommended.
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Malignant (2021) Great start, kinda drags on for too long to subvert you. But then gets really fucking great and pays off during the last third of the movie. Loved this one more than I should’ve and would watch it again with friends just to see their faces when shit really gets going. 7/10. recommended.
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In a violent nature (2024) Really enjoyed this „kind of“ fresh take/perspective. Even though it doesn’t fully deliver on its premise it’s still special enough to feel different. Atmospheric, really gory, mostly well executed. 6.5/10. recommended.
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May (2002) This was one of my favorites. Went in completely blind and loved everything about it. Performances are top notch across the board and it just keeps getting weirder with every minute. This is right up my alley! 8/10. Watch this!
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Dead and buried (1981) Great atmosphere first and foremost. Fun twist at the end. Enjoyed this as well. 6.5/10. Recommended.
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Cat’s eye (1985) Stephen King adaptation. 3 shorts. I remember being horrorfied as a kid of the third one. This time around I LOVED the first segment, enjoyed the second one and didn’t really care for the third one. Just for the first one though it’s a 6/10. Not necessarily recommended.
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Halloween III: season of the witch (1982) Wired. But kind of cool. Just for what it is and what it was trying to do. Got bored a couple of times during this, but did kind of appreciate it. 5.5/10. Not recommended to the general audience.
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Barbarian (2022) After watching “weapons” on the big screen this year (and fucking LOVING it) I had to give barbarian a shot. I do trust directors blindly once I really like one of their movies. So yeah I also liked this one. Not quite as nuanced and witty but just as fucking terrifying. 6.5/10 (weapons 7.5/10). Recommended.
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It’s what’s inside (2024) Netflix movie. I generally don’t have many good things to say about Netflix movies. This one was entertaining with a fun twist. 6/10. Not necessarily recommended.
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Possession (1981) Fuck me this was a ride. I cannot decide on if it’s pretentious or genius. Maybe a little bit of both. The dialogues feel unnatural and the sets are sterile but the performances give it so much weight that the creepy fucking reveal in the third act hits like a baseball bat to the head.i really loved the over the top performances by some of these actors and they stayed with me for days. 8.5/10. Watch this immediately.
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Heretic (2024) Meh. Falls short especially at the conclusion and I didn’t really care for it, even though performances aren’t bad. 5/10. Not recommended.
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Evil dead rise (2023) As an 80’s kid I grew up with the evil dead trilogy. Sadly I didn’t care too much for this one. Last 15 minutes were great creature horror. Everything up to that was rather boring and not at all up to par with anything that came before it. As a fan of the series I guess you would still enjoy it. I’d still have to rate I 5.5/10 and not really recommend it if you’re not an evil dead fan.
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Nightmare on elm street (1984) So much worse than I remembered. Doesn’t hold up for me at all. I’m much more a John Carpenter guy than a Wes Craven guy and this was just another disappointment after rewatching it. There are so many things wrong with this movie, and don’t get me started on the ending. 4/10. 4 because it gave birth to an icon of the horror franchise (I really only enjoy dream child). Recommended because of cultural impact only.
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Halloween (1987) So, so much better than I’d remembered. Watched this last when I was like 10, so 30 years ago. This is a true horror classic and it still holds up. It’s so well executed (except for one scene, but I won’t spoil it here). 8.5/10. Everyone should watch this. So do you. Go watch this right now.
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Tales of Halloween (2015) Don’t know why I watched this. First couple of shirts were fun. Then it just dragged on. There were some truly dogshit parts in here. 3/10. Only watch this with your 5 y/o cousin on Halloween night and never admit to anyone that you’ve seen this. (I did enjoy 2 or 3 of the shorts but don’t tell anyone please).
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The descent (2005) Great! Until it isn’t. Why the fuck are most of them Turing into ass kicking Lara Crofts mid movie? I probably wouldn’t be able to break a monsters neck in pitch blackness. Great premise, pretty solid execution but falls short somewhere in the middle and sadly loses credibly along the way. Still a great movie with pretty decent effects and atmosphere. 6.5/10 - would recommend
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Skinamarink The fuck was that? I actually watched this all the way through to the end. I’m not quite sure if that’s an achievement or just wasted life. Interesting for sure. As a fan of film and art I really want to enjoy and recommend this. But I can’t. I’m sure some people will get something out of this, as did I. But I can’t recommend this to the general audience. 5.5/10. Interesting. Not engaging.
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The ritual (2017) Another Netflix movie. This one is genuinely great though. Great performances, great scenery, great atmosphere, fantastic monster design. 7/10. Highly recommended.
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The Thing (1982) Lucky enough to have watched this at a beautiful movie theatre this month, this is a Jo brainer. 10/10. No doubt top 5 movies of all time. Don’t need to tell you probably.
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Return of the living dead (1985) Go watch this right fucking now. I’m not even joking. You need to watch this right now. 10/10.
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Bring her back (2025) Positively surprised. Great supernatural horror drama with some truly gnarly and disturbing scenes. 7/10. Recommended.
Honorable mentions from November at the big screen:
- weapons 7.5/10
- alien 9/10
- I saw the devil 8.5/10
- the fly 8/10
Happy Halloween y’all.