This post was originally published on here
Valentine’s Day is a holiday for lovers, but there are many movie fans who would prefer not to watch romantic comedies or dramas on the holiday. The good news is that there are plenty of counter-programming options for people who don’t care about romance in movies. This is especially true for horror fans.
The entire history of the horror genre is steeped in gothic romance, from Dracula wanting to find his lost love to Frankenstein wanting his own Bride. This has led to romance, both toxic and otherwise, over the years, and with slasher movies punishing kids for premarital sex, Valentine’s Day has always played a small role in these films.
My Bloody Valentine (1981)
My Bloody Valentine came out in 1981, as movies began to capitalize on holidays, with the biggest examples being Halloween and Friday the 13th. Directed by George Mihalka, the film follows a group of young adults who throw a Valentine’s Day party, only to end up attacked by a man wearing mining gear.
The entire movie is based around the idea of Valentine’s Day, as not only is the party to celebrate the romantic holiday, but it also takes place in the mining town of Valentine Bluffs in Canada. The original killer was Harry Warden, a miner left in a tunnel that exploded thanks to his boss ignoring the warning signs on Valentine’s Day 20 years earlier.
The gore and violence are on target as well, as the Miner cuts out his victims’ hearts and uses them as props to send warnings to everyone else. There is also a twist with the killer, who isn’t Harry this time around. The movie has become a cult classic and remains one of the smarter slashers of the early ’80s.
Lover’s Lane (2000)
Released in 2000, Lover’s Lane is a lesser-known horror movie that takes place on Valentine’s Day. The opening scene sees two lovers attacked by a man named Ray Hennessey with a steel hook. They escape but find another couple slaughtered in their car. Ray is then institutionalized, and the movie picks up 13 years later.
This is similar to the setup of My Bloody Valentine, where a murder happens years in the past, and while the original killer is institutionalized, new murders start happening again in the original location. Also, just like in the classic horror movie, there is a new killer, as well as the original, still out there.
The cast is mostly a group of unknowns, other than a young Anna Faris in only her second-ever movie role. While critics mostly dismissed it as an I Know What You Did Last Summer ripoff, this movie was more similar to much older slashers of a bygone era.
Valentine (2001)
Released in 2001, Valentine was another holiday-themed horror movie that took place during a Valentine’s Day dance. As with most movies of this sort, the story takes place years earlier, with an outcast high school student named Jeremy falsely accused of sexual assault, who is beaten up and then expelled and institutionalized.
The story then moves 13 years later, when someone starts to target four of the women who rejected Jeremy in high school and the one who falsely accused him of sexual assault. When these women start dying, one by one, the survivors begin to suspect that one of their boyfriends, Adam, might be Jeremy.
As with most movies in the genre, it received poor reviews when released, compared to pre-Scream slasher movies, which was the point. Despite its poor reviews, it was still nominated for three Teen Choice Awards, showing its popularity among younger audiences.
Bride Of Chucky (1998)
Not all horror movies perfect for Valentine’s Day viewing have to do with the holiday. Any horror movie that centers on a messed-up romance could be perfect for horror fans to watch on the romantic holiday. This includes a love story between two killer dolls in Bride of Chucky.
After several Child’s Play movies that showed Chucky killing numerous people while possessed by the spirit of serial killer Charles Lee Ray, he got an accomplice here. Chucky’s ex-girlfriend, Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly), paid off the police to give her Chucky’s remains and then revives him using voodoo.
This was the movie where the franchise went almost fully comedy-horror, with Chucky’s quips getting more humorous and the addition of Tiffany, especially after transferring her soul into a doll after her death. This ended up as a turning point for the Child’s Play movies for critics as well.
My Bloody Valentine 3D (2009)
In 2009, Hollywood remade the original Valentine’s Day horror movie with My Bloody Valentine 3D. As the title suggests, this movie was made to take advantage of the 3D gimmick, which was done to good effect in this remake. The story remains the same, with an accident killing several miners and the survivor becoming a serial killer.
Ten years after a local sheriff shoots the man, and he disappears into the mines, someone is killing people in the small mining town once again. With the Miner back as the slasher killer from the first movie, the story is weaker than the original movie, but the effects and gore are still great.
The movie had some recognizable stars, including Jensen Ackles and Jaime King. This helped the movie make a small profit, with some critics praising the movie as a throwback to old-school slasher movies.
Warm Bodies (2013)
Warm Bodies is a romantic comedy for people who love horror movies. This is a zombie movie based on the novel by Isaac Marion. What makes this unconventional zombie movie so unique is that the narrator of the movie is one of the zombies, a young man known as R, who still has a working brain.
The movie is interesting because it shows that zombies still have their brainpower for a limited time, and while R is still wandering and contemplating, but is unable to speak any longer, he meets a living young woman whom he falls in love with. Warm Bodies is a movie about a monster finding love and wanting to be human again.
The movie is equal parts about zombies with brains fighting the rabid ones and one specific zombie seeking love. Nicholas Hoult and Teresa Palmer are fantastic in their roles as romantic interests, and this is a wonderful romance for horror movie fans this Valentine’s Day.
Heart Eyes (2025)
Heart Eyes is the latest Valentine’s Day-themed horror movie. The horror comedy slasher movie follows two coworkers (Olivia Holt and Mason Gooding) who are mistaken for a romantic couple by a slasher killer known as the Heart Eyes Killer (HEK), who kills couples on Valentine’s Day.
The movie was released before Valentine’s Day in 2025, and underperformed until Valentine’s Day weekend, where it improved at the box office, which is unusual for horror movies. Part of this was thanks to the positive reviews, with a 78% Rotten Tomatoes score.
Critics praised the film for its solid gore as a slasher, as well as for the romantic comedy storyline between the two victims who start to fall in love as they are attempting not to die.
Bones And All (2022)
Bones and All is a perfect Valentine’s Day movie for horror lovers because it is, at its heart, a cannibalism love story. Directed by Luca Guadagnino (Call Me by Your Name, Challengers), Taylor Russell stars as Maren, a young woman who learns that cannibalism is part of her family, and her father attempts to protect her from it.
However, her dad abandons her when she turns 18, and Maren has to figure out how to survive on her own, despite her cravings. She meets a fellow “eater” (Mark Rylance) but then falls in love with a young man named Lee (Timothée Chalamet), another “eater.”
The title comes with the idea that if a person could eat someone, “bones and all,” it would allow them to be one with each other forever. While it sounds disturbing, it is a genuine idea for a horror love story.
Crimson Peak (2015)
Crimson Peak is a gothic horror romance by Guillermo del Toro. The film stars Mia Wasikowska as Edith, a young woman who marries a wealthy baronet named Thomas (Tom Hiddleston). After the two marry, they move into Thomas’s manor, where his sister Lucille (Jessica Chastain) also lives.
This is a gothic romance, and in that way, it is also a dark ghost story, as a spirit in Thomas’s house has unfinished business. When it tries to contact Edith, it leads her down a spiraling story where she learns about the tragedies of this manor.
Critics praised the atmosphere and performances in the movie, and even Stephen King called the movie “gorgeous” and “terrifying.”
Only Lovers Left Alive (2013)
Only Lovers Left Alive is another dark romance for couples who love horror to watch on Valentine’s Day. Directed by Jim Jarmusch, this is a vampire movie with Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton starring as Adam and Eve, a pair of vampires who have been married for centuries.
However, when the movie starts, they live across the world from each other, separated. When Eve learns that Adam is considering suicide, she sets out to talk to him and find out why. The movie then goes into what it means to live forever, and how, without love, it is seemingly not worth it.
The movie wasn’t a box office success, but as is normal with Jim Jarmusch films, it was critically praised, with the performances carrying the load, and the non-traditional vampire story a brilliant breakdown of immortality. It is easily one of the best horror movies to watch on Valentine’s Day.
