Heya Besties, it’s Spooky Season! OMG. Ahhhhh! Earlier this summer I was feeling like 2026 was just rushing past us in a blur, but now that we’ve reached October…I feel like last October was soooo long freakin’ ago. Heh. Funny how a hot, miserable, sweltering 6 weeks of midwestern summer can lengthen out a year…
But finally the weather is cooling off, the nights are getting longer, and that means it’s my favorite time of the year. I am, of course, a year-round horror-watching girly but there is just nothing like opening the windows on these cool fall nights, lighting a few candles, and putting on a moody, scary, gory, atmospheric creep-show.
So I wanted to kick off our first Spooky Season on the new site with my personal watch list/recommendations for this Halloween season. And as I’ll be doing my best to avoid spoilers, each entry will only have a few sentences about why I love it, or why you should watch it, not necessarily a plot synopsis or anything.
Starting with Ryan Coogler’s Sinners.
Hopefully by now you’ve seen Sinners. If not, you should rectify that with extreme urgency. If so, then you already know why it should be your top watch for Halloween. It was without question (or competition) my favorite movie of 2025, and my favorite horror experience since the Netflix Fear Street trilogy. Sinners is bloody, gory, scary, touching, funny, eerie, sexy, atmospheric, and fucking visceral, in a way only the best movies are. It immediately became my favorite vampire flick, edging out my next pick…
Most of you know my feelings on the 2011 Fright Night (I mentioned it on the previous blog more than once) and if Sinners has edged it out, it’s not by much. This is one of my must-watch October flicks. David Tennant is worth the price of admission alone. Colin Farrell might be the hottest he’s ever been. And Anton Yelchin is totally there too. No! I’m kidding, Anton is great in this. Everyone is! This is one of those rare movies with no weak spots. It’s a horrific thrill ride from start to finish, and it replaced Lost Boys as my previous favorite (hot boys) vampire movie.
But if we’re feeling something a little more classic, how about…
Maybe you know about the Hammer horror films. Maybe you already know they belong in the same breath as the Universal classics. Maybe you’re even well aware of how a young Christopher Lee hits that perfect middle ground between razor fine and horrifying. Maybe you should still go back and watch this movie to remember what vampires were like before Anne Rice and Stephanie Myers broke them.
And before I move on from vampires, I want to recommend, if you’ve never done it before, seek out and watch either Dracula (1932) with Bela Lugosi and/or the 1922 silent film, Nosferatu. I swear it holds up in a way you cannot imagine. They both do. Provided you set the mood. So wait until it’s dark out. Light some candles. Make some popcorn, and put on one of these classics.
Nosferatu has this atmosphere and soundtrack that make it unnerving to watch even in this day and age. It’s a work of art from another time and if you let, I promise it will still scare you.
Or Dracula. THE Universal horror movie monster. Dripping with atmosphere. Eerie visuals. And you’ll see why Bela Lugosi’s blood drinking count is the count all other counts have been based on. He’s mysterious and magnificent. And nothing feels more Halloween-nostalgia than watching him terrorize a foggy, black and white London by candlelight.
And while we’re talking about black and white films, I’m going to recommend my hidden gem:
I only just discovered this movie in 2021 on AMC and it immediately become one of my favorites. It’s a traditional gothic horror story that stars the inimitable Boris Karloff in what is probably the best, most charismatic role I’ve ever seen him play. I had never heard of it before, so I don’t think it’s too well known, but it is absolutely worth seeking out.
And before we move on from black and white classics…
Hitchcock’s masterpiece and the film credited (wrongly but still) with creating the slasher genre, is a worthy inclusion on any scary movie watchlist. It’s almost the perfect movie, the way it just drags you along with a pacing and tension you can’t escape from. Everybody knows Psycho is great though…but did you know Psycho 2 is really fucking good too?
Horror movie sequels can be hit and miss. Usually they’re rushed out to capitalize on the success of (Read: as a shameless cash-grab following) the first film. Psycho 2 took 23 years, and lives up to the legacy of the original surprisingly well. It’s not as good as the original, don’t get me wrong, but it is a worthy successor. It’s well written, well paced, and has one of the nastiest stabbings in the genre.
And now that we’re back in color, and talking slashers, no Halloween would be complete without watching, well, Halloween.
I’ve talked about all those other classics creating that spooky season atmosphere but even none of them do it quite as well as this classic. But you know that already. This is the slasher that kicked off the craze. Krueger, Voorhees, Face, all followed in the slow, methodical footsteps of Myers. Everybody knows, John Carpenters Halloween is great.
So, if you’re looking for something a little less well-known, let me recommend…
Starring a grown-up Linda Bliar (the little girl in the Exorcist). This was a surprising little slasher that I watched for the first time a few years ago, and has since become a regular October inclusion on my watchlist. I basically just put it on to ignore while I did some doomscrolling, but it managed to grab my attention and I ended up having a really good time. It’s got everything you want in an 80s slasher, some funky kills, teenagers misbehaving, a cute and compelling final girl, and unexpectedly, a gothic setting and atmosphere.
And while we’re on the subject of movies I found and didn’t expect to like:
More people may know about this one than I think, but I’ve only discovered it in the last few years. Made by Lucio Fulci, who Google calls the godfather of gore but who I’d never heard of before, The Beyond is sort of a haunted house/slasher mashup. I had a lot of fun with it. Actually, it gave me some real John Carpenter vibes both with the soundtrack, and the way it starts sort of innocuously creepy and gradually goes all the way off the rails into cosmic horror by the end.
But if you’re interested in something a little more well-known, but still underappreciated (criminally so as I see it), allow me to recommend:
The Dream Trilogy (I don’t know if anyone calls it that, I call it that): Dream Warriors, The Dream Master, and the Dream Child are this great interconnected storyline tucked into the middle of the biggest horror franchise of all time. I find that they tend to get lost in the idea that they’re just sub-par sequels to the far superior original, which…well, that isn’t wrong, but it totally over looks what is the true story arc of Freddy Kreuger.
And yeah, Dream Warriors has a pretty strong following of its own, but for me, 4 and 5 are where it’s at! Mainly because of Alice.
Alice is one of the greatest, if unsung, horror heroines. And over the two movies she actually has a compelling character arc, which is admittedly a rarity in the horror genre, much less the 4th and 5th sequels of a money-printing slasher franchise like the Nightmare on Elm Street.
And just on a personal note; if you’re going to watch all three of these movies with me, we’re definitely going to start with the original A Nightmare on Elm Street.
It is absolutely my horror comfort movie, and probably my second favorite horror movie overall. I can and do watch it regularly, anytime, anywhere, just because. Although I do really think the middle three Nightmare movies are underrated gems.
But maybe you’re looking for something a little meaner, a little more gorey, well, have you seen Terrifier 2?
I will actually be watching Terrifier 3 this holiday season (it’s a Christmas movie I’m led to believe), which means I have an extra reason to rewatch Terrifier 2 this Spooky Season. I loved Terrifier 2 in the way any horror-gal loves a truly nasty slasher: where you love it but it’s actually a little too much to watch very often. And it is a hideously gruesome movie, but with a bad ass and very sexy heroine, as well as some serious 80’s horror vibes.
I probably won’t watch the first Terrifier, it’s fine but just doesn’t have the energy of the second. I also don’t plan to watch All Hallows Eve, which is the first appearance of our newly minted king of slashers, Art the Clown. Are these fun low budget indy horror movies worth watching? Yes. Are they necessary to see and/or enjoy Terrifier 2 (and presumably the 3rd)? Mmmm, prolly not. When Terrifier 2 was coming out, I went on a little journey with these movies to make sure I was caught up. I enjoyed them, but actually I had more fun with All Hallows Eve 2.
Art the Clown isn’t in it, but it’s a fun anthology film with some really well-done bite-sized horror stories. Some of which genuinely creeped me out. And the anthology set up does this very interesting thing where you’re never quite sure when a story is going to end, adding this unnerving psychological layer to the experience. Definitely worth checking out it you haven’t before.
Although if we’re talking about movies that give me the genuine creeps, I have to bring up two of my favorites…
I love the atmosphere of the Ring, it’s creepy and eerie and just sets that late night scary movie vibe. It’s a freaky supernatural thriller that’s perfect for when I’m not in the mood for too much blood or gore. I even like the sequels, but they’re admittedly a bit hit or miss on quality. My preferred double feature pairing with the Ring is actually…
Occulus is the story of a brother and sister with a haunted mirror. It has some of the same themes as the Ring of warping technology with the supernatural, and a similar eerily, bleak atmosphere. These movies won’t be turning your stomach with gore, probably won’t have you spilling your popcorn with jump-scares, but I’ll bet when they’re finished, you get up and turn on every light in your house…
But that should probably bring us to my final recommendation, and my absolute favorite horror movie.
Evil Dead 2013 is another one I’ve talked about more than once on the old blog, and will talk about more here on the new site sooner or later. Plain and simply my favorite horror movie, it literally has everything from blood and gore, really fucking unsettling body horror, creepy imagery, black humor, jump scares, scenes that have me on the edge of my seat, cringing in it, and jumping out of it to give an epic fist pump!
And final girl Mia (Jane Levy) is probably my all-time favorite horror heroine.
I won’t say any more here, so as not to spoil it in case you still haven’t seen Evil Dead 2013, and because if you have seen it…you already know.
I could talk about and recommend horror movies all day long, so I’m just going to cut it off there. Most of my Besties may recognize a lot of this list from the previous blog, however I have updated it since then. When I put it together the first time, I loved finding and sharing all these classic movie posters. Look at ‘em up there! They all go so hard, I love it. Gosh, horror movie posters are just the best. It takes me back to Friday nights as a kid, wandering through the aisles at Family Video, just looking at the creepy images on all those VHS boxes, wondering if they could really be a bad as my mother assure me they were.
“Inappropriate for young ladies.” Well look at me now, ma.
And now, I’m going to wrap it up before I give away too much more of my age by having to explain to all the kids what VHS and “Family Video” mean…
But that means it’s your turn, Besties! Help me update my watchlist. What movies did I leave off that deserve a spot? What should I make sure to add to my own October viewing? Will you be watching any from this list? Head down to the comments and drop in your favorite scary movie recommendations, or X me @dangerotica.
And now, I’m going to get back to my keyboard and coffee, but I’ll be back real soon with more Spooky Season fun!
Happy Halloween,
Your bff, L J
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