Five Lesser Known Horror Films To Spice Up Your Spooky Season

Do you find yourself every October watching Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger carving up young people or creatures from outer space terrorizing scientists and astronauts (The Thing, Alien)? Do you spend your Spooky Season craving a horror gem you’ve never seen before? If so, here are some under-the-radar recommendations to liven up your viewing over the next couple of weeks. Even if you’re a serious horror cinephile, one or two of these may have passed you by over the years.

Here are some of my favorite lesser-known horror films to spice up your October:

Session 9: David Caruso (CSI: Miami) leads an asbestos removal team with a contract to clean up the Danvers State Hospital in Massachusetts. Kudos to writer-director Brad Anderson for finding an actual abandoned asylum to serve as his “set” for the film. The inherent creepiness of the setting seeps into every frame of the film. As the exhausted team works against a tight deadline to secure their bonuses, each member begins to encounter the unexplainable. Is it their own anxiety or mental illness? Is it supernatural? Or is it simply exhaustion from pushing themselves too hard for too long to maximize the profitability of the job?

One of the crew members breaks away from his co-workers (never a good idea in a horror film) and comes across a collection of therapy session tapes that are creepy beyond words. Mesmerized by the tale on the tapes, he can’t stop listening. As he makes his way through the recordings, things at the asylum grow more and more disquieting. Guess which tape he’s listening to when all hell breaks loose?

Session 9 is one of the best horror films of the 21st century yet most people I mention it to aren’t familiar with it. Young horror fans tend to dismiss it as “before my time”. If you haven’t seen it, remedy that situation this Halloween season. I promise you’ll never forget it. (Session 9 is available on most digital rental outlets.)

Dog Soldiers: Special Forces soldiers are on a training exercise in Scotland when they come across a pack of werewolves. That’s literally all you need to know. If you’re not hooked after that single sentence, I don’t know what to tell you. Written and directed by Neil Marshall (The Descent), Dog Soldiers is a total banger of a horror film. Marshall knows how to stage and shoot action and suspense like few other filmmakers. Every memorable epic battle scene in Game of Thrones came from episodes directed by Marshall. The man has chops.

Dog Soldiers stars a Who’s Who of UK acting talent from Sean Pertwee (Alfred from the TV series Gotham) to Liam Cunningham (Davos from Game of Thrones) to Kevin McKidd (Grey’s Anatomy). Equal parts action siege film and horror movie, Dog Soldiers is one of the best werewolf films of all time. (Dog Soldiers is playing on Amazon Prime, Peacock, AMC+ and is available on most digital rental outlets.)

Good Manners: While it certainly relies on some horror tropes, Good Manners might be more accurately described as a dark fantasy. This 2017 Brazilian film opens with Aria (Marjorie Estiano) concerned about some unusual aspects of her pregnancy. She hires Clara (Isabel Zuaa) to shepherd her through the birth of her first child, but neither of them is ready for what comes next. Good Manners is much more than a horror film. It’s visually stunning with beautiful thematic exploration of the bonds between parent and child and just how far a parent will go to protect their offspring. I discovered this little gem at Fantastic Fest 2017, and films like this are why I attend festivals in the first place. (Good Manners is available on Tubi, Kanopy and most digital rental outlets.)

The Cursed: I caught this film on the festival circuit in 2021 under its original title, Eight for Silver. The Cursed is set in the late 1800’s and tells the tale of an evil land baron named Seamus Laurent who massacres a band of gypsies squatting on his land, unleashing a curse on his family and his village. Boyd Holbrook (Narcos) enters the scene as an expert in the supernatural and finds an ally for his theories with Seamus’ wife played by Kelly Reilly (Yellowstone). Writer-director Sean Ellis has done the unthinkable by making a period piece horror film with A-list actors on an indie budget. (The Cursed is available on Hulu and most digital rental outlets.)

Sick: No list of October film recommendations would be complete without a slasher film. Sick follows a group of young friends who decide to spend the early days of the pandemic quarantining at a posh country home owned by the family of one of our victims … er, young people. Soon their biggest concern isn’t COVID, it’s the masked killer in the woods watching them. Sick is written by Kevin Williamson, the screenwriter who unleashed the original Scream on audiences in 1996. Needless to say, he knows a thing or two about generating suspense in a slasher film. The scene on the dock alone is worth the price of admission. Is it a perfect horror film? No. But it’s one you probably haven’t checked out, and it will scratch that slasher itch until something better comes along. It’s a lean, mean 83 minutes that’s worth your time. (Sick is playing on Peacock and is available on most digital rental outlets.)

This post was originally published on here