A good spooky movie is as essential to the Halloween season these days as fun-sized chocolate bars and 12-foot skeletons. But in the age of streaming, when every vampire, serial killer and ghoul is at your fingertips, it can be hard to stop scrolling and just pick a flick.
So Gambit knocked on a few coffins and polled the graveyard to dig up some horror movie recommendations for a night when you need a classic film to make your skin crawl or just want something to throw on while handing out candy this week. And in case you want to make it a late-night — or maybe the ghouls and goblins are keeping you awake — we have rolled those recommendations into mini movie marathons for a frightfully fun night.
Each movie is on a streaming platform and is also available for rent through Amazon Prime Video for a few dollars.
It’s dangerous to go too far
Louisiana folklore is full of spirits, monsters, murder and the unexplainable, and countless filmmakers have tried to capture that — with varying degrees of success. Plus, recognizing a location where a horror movie was shot helps crank up the creep factor.
“Interview with the Vampire,” the 1994 adaptation of Anne Rice’s novel, may be the most iconic horror film set in South Louisiana, and as long as you’re OK with a little melodrama and camp, it remains a classic (Streaming on HBO Max).
If you’re more in the mood for a possession movie, head up to Baton Rouge with “The Last Exorcism.” A minister who is ready to expose his exorcism scam invites a documentary crew along to visit a possessed girl on a remote farm — and gets more than he bargained for in this intense found-footage flick (On Prime Video and Peacock).
The 2006 movie “Hatchet” has flown under the radar over the years, but it’s a solid, fun slasher flick. A group of tourists get stuck on a swamp tour and come face-to-face with the brutal Victor Crowley, Louisiana’s own unstoppable killer (Find it on Tubi).
‘What We Do in the Shadows’
Laughing past the graveyard
It’s been a long year — long decade — and with Election Day on our doorstop, maybe a heavy movie isn’t what you’re after. If you want to keep the spooky vibes, while adding a few laughs, check out these great horror comedies.
“Shaun of the Dead,” the 2004 collaboration between director Edgar Wright and actors Simon Pegg and Nick Frost about a pair of aimless Londoners facing the zombie apocalypse, isn’t just one of the best horror comedies ever made, it’s also a lovingly made tribute to the zombie genre (Streaming on Peacock).
Similarly, the 2014 mocumentary “What We Do in the Shadows” is a first-rate ode to the vampire genre. The witty Taika Waititi- and Jermaine Clement-directed film, about four vampires sharing a flat in Wellington, New Zealand, also launched an acclaimed TV show (Rent it on Prime Video).
There are few better Halloween movies than the 2007 anthology film “Trick ’r Treat,” featuring the instantly iconic character Sam, dressed in orange pajamas and an old-school burlap sack mask. There are a lot of chills, a ton of blood and a healthy dose of humor in its five interwoven stories — just don’t disrespect Halloween traditions (On HBO Max).
‘Frankenstein’
Dracula’s a real pain in the neck
It can be argued that half of the monsters, mad scientists, eerie castles and other tropes we play with on Halloween all stem from Universal Studios. It’s early 20th century run of classic monster movies have more than helped shape our images of Dracula, the Frankenstein monster and The Wolf Man.
While most of those black-and-white flicks are worth a watch, we recommend starting with “The Bride of Frankenstein” — a sequel that surpasses the original and paints the monster as a misunderstood character — and rolling into “The Wolf Man,” the 1941 werewolf movie starring Lon Chaney Jr. as the tragic Larry Talbot. Finish the trilogy with “Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man,” the 1943 crossover movie full of foggy graveyards, monster fights and Universal Studios establishing its own shared cinematic universe.
Want more? Cleanse your palate with the goofy yet charming “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein,” the 1948 film featuring Bela Lugosi as Dracula, Chaney as the Wolf Man and Glenn Strange as Frankenstein’s monster.
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