31 Days Of Halloween: Here Are 31 Binge-Worthy Horror Movies To Get Your Spook On This Month!
October is upon us and it¡¯s that time of the year when we celebrate ghosts, because why not! Halloween is a festival of the West but it has become a fixation for many around the globe.
There¡¯s no denying the fact that this year feels like a nightmare. Our world came crashing down when the virus sent us into a spiral in March. While no one could anticipate such unprecedented times, it¡¯s only vital that we make lemonade because life is all about that or so we have been told by many life coaches and inspiring quotes, right?
October is upon us and it¡¯s that time of the year when we celebrate ghosts, because why not!
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Halloween is a festival of the West but it has become a fixation for many around the globe. From themed parties to ¡®Trick or Treating¡¯, Halloween has its own traditions. However, this year will be anything but that. We have decided to make the most of it by compiling a list of 31 spine-tingling movies and binge-watch them the entire month. It¡¯s a mix of cult classic and recently released hits. Here¡¯s some inspiration for you to get your spook on. Scroll!
1. Train To Busan (2016)
Where to Watch: Netflix
The story of this Korean film revolves around a man named Sok-woo and his daughter Soo-ahn who board a train from Seoul to Busan, just as the country suffers a zombie outbreak. While the train keeps moving, the passengers fight for their lives and their families against the zombies and face internal conflicts as it progresses.
2. A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)
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Where to watch: Daily Motion
A classic slasher film (A film depicting a series of violent murders by an attacker armed with a sharp tool), A Nightmare on Elm Street tells a story about Midwestern teenagers who fall prey to Freddy Krueger, a disfigured midnight mangler who preys on the teenagers in their dreams and then kills them in reality. The reason behind this is a dark secret that is being kept which plays a vital factor in unravelling the mystery.
3. Paranormal Activity (2007)
Where to watch: Netflix
Katie and Micah experience some odd things in their LA home. A filmmaker by profession, Micah sets up a camera at the foot of their bed to keep an eye on things while they sleep. What happens next is enough to make you detest beds for a while. This 2007 film was a breakthrough more so because it was made around a budget of $15k and it ended up making almost $200 million worldwide. It only happened because of word-of-mouth. It was also the beginning of a successful franchise that¡¯s still ongoing (a seventh film is slated to release in 2021).
4. The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Where to watch: Dailymotion
This movie ruined camping for many back in the 90s. Three college students Heather, Mike and Josh chase after a mythical story by going into the woods where the witch resides. Tapes are found which guarantee that theirs¡¯ wasn¡¯t a happy ending!
5. Get Out (2017)
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Where to watch: Netflix
Mid-20's black photographer Chris accompanies his white girlfriend Rose to meet her parents in rural New York for the first time. At first, Chris thinks her family is overcompensating with accommodating behaviour to show their assent to their interracial relationship. However, as the weekend progresses, he makes disturbing discoveries that lead him to the truth that he could have never imagined in the first place.
6. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
Where to watch: Youtube
A set of friends is shocked beyond words when a hitch-hiker shoots herself in their car. Looking for help in a town, they find themselves being targeted by a family of cannibals and a chainsaw-wielding lunatic. This is a reboot of the original which revolved around incidents that took place post the Vietnam War.
7. The Platform (2019)
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Where to watch: Netflix
One of the recently released films, this Spanish hit was one of the most watched films last year. This one will resonate a tad bit more because the world is battling a pandemic and it gives a glimpse of a futuristic society that reeks of privilege, greed and selfishness. A prison sends a platform of food down floor by floor, and there¡¯s not much left by the time it gets to the bottom. It isn¡¯t as easy as it sounds because there¡¯s a lot of filth involved along with a big catch.
8. Sinister (2012)
Where to watch: Netflix
There is a sequel to this movie as well. The original revolves around a man who discovers that his home has a history of violent murders. He finds old film footage and other clues that hint at the presence of a supernatural force. The man realises that living in the house may prove to be fatal. Nightmarish and unforgettable, this is one of the stronger horror flicks of the 2010s, and the sequel is worth a watch as well.
9. The Babadook (2014)
Where to watch: Dailymotion
Contrary to its name, this movie is anything but fun. Six years after the death of her husband, Amelia is taking care of her son Samuel, who believes that a monster is coming to kill them. When a book named The Babadook turns up at their house, the son goes into an overdrive thinking that the creature in the book is the one that is haunting him. Amelia soon begins to feel the presence of the creature and starts questioning the reality.
10 Saw franchise
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Where to watch: Amazon Prime
An eight-film franchise, the Saw movies usually involve strangers waking up in a room with no recollection of how they got there. Soon, they realise they¡¯re all part of a weird, deadly game orchestrated by a serial killer.
Brace yourself for a lot of blood, gore, saws and killing.
11. 28 Days Later (2002)
Where to watch: Youtube
A group of animal rights activists free a caged chimp infected with the "Rage" virus from a medical research lab. Parallelly, a London bike courier guy wakes up from a coma a month after the chimp incident and to his dismay, he finds his city deserted. On the run from the zombie-like victims of the Rage, the guy runs into a group of survivors and joins them on a perilous journey to safety.
12. The Ring (2002)
Where to watch: Youtube
A creepy videotape starts circulating in the Pacific Northwest. It consists of dark and haunting footage, and days after watching it, the viewers receive a phone call telling them that they will die in seven days. Rachel Keller, a journalist and aunt of a teen who watches the film goes on a quest to find out more about the curse of the tape.
13. The Grudge (2019)
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Where to watch: Amazon Prime
A detective whose also a single mother investigates a murder scene that has a connection to a case that her new partner handled in the past. The killings took place in a haunted house that passes on a ghostly curse to those who enter it. Soon, the curse spreads to a terminally ill woman and her husband, and another unsuspecting couple who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. It eventually comes to the officer and her child as well.
14. The Amityville Horror (1979)
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Where to watch: Youtube
This movie is about a family who is terrorised by supernatural forces after they move into a new house in New York. This house was the scene of a recent mass killing and the home of an 18th-century satanist. When swarms of flies appear from nowhere and the pipes and walls begin to ooze slime and blood, they call on a local priest to exorcise the evil spirits.
15. The Invisible Man (2020)
Where to watch: Youtube
Starring Elisabeth Moss, the plot follows Cecilia Kass who is in a controlling and violent relationship. She somehow ends it and starts living with her sister and childhood friend. The twist in the tale comes when her ex is believed to have died and leaves behind a great fortune for her. However, those close to Cecilia become haunted and she¡¯s convinced she¡¯s hunted by an invisible man.
16. Psycho (1960)
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Where to watch: Youtube
An Alfred Hitchcock classic, a woman named Marion steals 40 thousand dollars from her employer to run away with her boyfriend. On the way, she takes a halt at the infamous Bates Motel, to evade the police, which is run by a young man who shares a troubled relationship with his mother.
There¡¯s a possibility that you might never take a shower with the curtain closed after watching this flick.
17. The Cabin In The Woods (2011)
Where to watch: Netflix
Five friends head to a remote cabin for a short vacation. One by one, the youths fall victim to backwoods zombies, after one member in the group reads a book. They are confronted by the dead. Parallely, Two scientists are manipulating the ghoulish goings-on, but there¡¯s more to it than meets the eye.
Watch it for Chris Hemsworth, if nothing else.
18. The Ritual (2017)
Where to watch: Netflix
The story revolves around a familiar setup of a group of former college friends who plan a getaway in the Scandinavian wilderness. A wrong turn leads them into the mysterious forest where an ancient evil exists and stalks them at every turn.
19. 1922 (2017)
Where to watch: Netflix
A classic example of masculine pride gone wrong. This movie is about a rancher who conspires to murder his wife for financial gains and convinces his teenage son to help him out.
20. Gerald¡¯s Game (2017)
Where to watch: Netflix
A psychological horror that deals with hard topics, this is a story of a woman who accidentally kills her husband during a kinky game. She is stuck handcuffed to bed with no means to escape. That is when she begins to hear voices and see strange visions.
21. Hush (2016)
Where to watch: Netflix
A sequel to the cult classic Oculus, this is one of the clever horror movies on this list. A classic cat-and-mouse chase set-up around the typical nightmare of a home invasion, the plot revolves around a deaf writer who retreats into the woods looking for a solitary time to work. Things go downhill when a masked killer appears in her window.
22. Insidious (2010)
Where to watch: Hotstar
A couple moves into a new house to start afresh. However, their son soon falls into a coma and thus begins a series of paranormal events in the house. They soon realise that their son is possessed.
23. A Quiet Place (2018)
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Where to watch: Netflix
If you make a sound, they¡¯ll hunt you. A family has to live in silence to avoid mysterious creatures that hunt by sound. Knowing that even the slightest whisper or footstep can bring death, Evelyn and Lee are determined to find a way to protect their children while desperately searching for a way to fight back at the same time.
24. Cam (2018)
Where to watch: Netflix
Alice Ackerman is a cam girl who does nude shows online under the name Lola_Lola. She works very hard to increase her rank on the cam site, while hiding her profession from her mother. She takes it a notch higher when she fakes her own suicide by slitting her throat on a popular show to gain a higher rank. She is then locked out of her account and another Lola takes over the live streams. To defeat her doppelganger, Alice has to resort to extreme violence to get her account back.
25. The Silence (2019)
Where to watch: Netflix
A research team accidentally comes across blind creatures called vespas in a cave. They kill the researchers and run loose, making humans flee from their terror. A family consisting of a couple, their teenage daughter (who¡¯s deaf), a son and pet dog move to the countryside after an emergency has been declared. Their struggle to beat the odds and survive, forms the rest of the plot.
26. Apostle (2018)
Where to watch: Netflix
In the year 1905, a man goes to an island after his sister is kidnapped and held for ransom by a mysterious cult. He poses as a cult member and meets the leader to save his sister. In the process, he discovers their strange practices and blood sacrifice rituals, and slowly comes to term with all the other occult stuff they have been conducting.
27. Under The Shadow (2016)
Where to watch: Netflix
A Persian horror film set in Tehran during the 1980s, Under The Shadow is a story based on the experiences of a mother and daughter who are haunted by an evil force during the war of the Cities. There¡¯s a legend of Djinn, a mythical beast in folklore who possesses humans and steals things dear to them. Strange occurrences happen around them and the mother is left all alone to protect her daughter.
28. The Open House (2018)
Where to watch: Netflix
After his father dies in a car accident, teenager Logan moves in with his mother to a secluded mountain chalet. They have an elderly neighbor and a store clerk for company. After returning to the house on an open house Sunday, they find objects missing and get blank calls. Eventually, they find out that there is someone else hiding in the house, with a sinister motive to kill them all.
29. Eli (2019)
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Where to watch: Netflix
Eli Miller is a young boy suffering from a rare disease that causes severe allergic reaction to the outdoors, forcing him to live in protective gear. In a final effort to cure their son, Eli¡¯s parents take the boy to a creepy and haunted old house that has been turned into a medical facility run by the mysterious Dr. Horn. A series of strange occurrences take place which form the rest of the plot.
30. Unfriended: Dark Web (2018)
Where to watch: Netflix
After finding a laptop, a young man goes online to play a game with five of his good friends. He shows them a mysterious folder that plays disturbing videos of people who appear to be in danger. During the game, they then receive an anonymous message that tells them they will all die if they disconnect or call the police. The night of fun quickly turns deadly as each user becomes the target of something sinister, while the others watch helplessly in terror.
31. Annihilation (2018)
Where to watch: Netflix
Lena, a biologist and former soldier, joins a mission to uncover what happened to her husband inside Area X -- a mysterious phenomenon that is expanding across the American coastline. Once inside, she discovers a world of mutated landscapes and creatures, both dangerous and beautiful at the same time, that pose a threat to lives and sanity.
Do share your favourite horror movies to watch in the comments section below.
Bhavya Sadhwani heads Indiatimes OTT section - Binge. She calls herself an entertainment ninja and OTT content sucker. She loves to write on web series, movies, documentaries, reality shows and everything else that releases on digital platforms. She forms a special bond with those who share her love for cringe content.
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