It’s October – so what do you watch when you’re not waiting for that next episode of Walking Dead to get that sweet sweet horror fix? The FFFN staff has come together to share with you their favorite ‘October movies’. These could be focused on Halloween, or horror, or whatever – they just have that October vibe. We picked 31 so you can watch one every day if you’re psychotic. I realise half the month has already blown by so you’ll need to pull some double headers.
For Fun – Watch these in order. I’ve arranged them all so that no movie is ranked higher than the other – this isn’t a countdown to the best Halloween flicks ever – it’s just a marathon that FFFN recommends you partake in.
Disclaimer – This list is so random…. It’s crazy to see such varying tastes in the staff’s choices here. – Keven.
#1. American Psycho (2000)
Christian Bale’s greatest role ever period full stop (shut up Bruce Wayne – your business card has nothing on Patrick Bateman’s). If he isn’t going on a killspree or taking an axe to Jared Leto’s face while talking about Huey Lewis & The News, then he’s chasing hookers down a hallway with a chainsaw and you know – returning some video tapes. I adore this film. – Keven Skinner’s Pick.
#2. Beetlejuice (1988)
Despite only watching this movie for the first time, less than two weeks ago, I’ve come to realise what I’ve been missing. The only thing I could really remember Michael Keaton in, was his Batman movies and to see his portrayal of the insane “Bio-Exorcist,” Beetlejuice was something I found to be just as hilarious as it was entertaining. The antics of Beetlejuice throughout the film, seem to have a firm grasp on what goes on inside Tim Burton’s warped mind, and Keaton’s delivery is awesome. This will be a must watch movie every Halloween for me, from now on… Beetlejuice. – Ashton Clemmer’s Pick.
#3. The Conjuring (2013)
The Conjuring is proof that James Wan is the best horror director in Hollywood right now. Saw and Insidious were both great pieces of horror, but The Conjuring is Wan’s horror masterpiece. From the opening moments of the movie, the chill down your spine “snowballs” into something unprecedented that will leave you shaking by the movie’s end. The Conjuring is a “once-in-a-decade” horror movie that will stand the test of time and is among one of the best horror movies ever made. Seriously, if you have yet to see The Conjuring, you’re sorely missing out on a fairly new horror classic. – Sean Atkins’ pick.
#4. Dawn of The Dead (2004)
Zack Snyder’s best movie I think… This is actually the zombie movie that got me into zombie culture to begin with. After that mesmerising intro set to Johnny Cash’s “When The Man Comes Around” – I eventually went out and bought The Walking Dead comics (before it was cool bro) and then dove into George Romero’s original trilogy. This remake is beautiful with an incredible cast. Imagine Phil Dunphy in the zombie apocalypse if Dunphy was a single dude. Sold. – Keven Skinner’s Pick.
#5. Hellraiser (1987)
A classic – the puzzle box that sends people to hell. So good it launched a series. See the original, it still holds up (as does Hellraiser 2 in my opinion). – Mark Miller’s Pick.
#6. Sinister (2012)
While Sinister is not exactly jump scare material, the story itself is all the more horrifying. Led by Ethan Hawke and directed by Scott Derrickson (who is also directing the upcoming Doctor Strange movie), Sinister takes the audience along on a story that gets creepier as it goes. Once the horror becomes a reality and it’s more than just a few tapes the protagonist watches, there’s no turning back and the end result will leave you sweating. – Sean Atkins’ pick.
#7. Monster Squad (1987)
Fred Dekker’s monster mash-up horror kids flick is maybe the greatest Halloween movie ever made. Classic creatures like Frankenstein, Dracula, The Wolf Man and more come together to battle a group of kids. Dracula grabs a five year old little girl’s throat and calls her a bitch. This is how you roll out a kids flick in the 80’s man. Classic. I watch it every October no matter what. – Keven Skinner’s Pick.
#8. The Lost Boys (1987)
The best vampire movie of all time in my opinion. See Keifer Sutherland in a Mullet and Jason Patric at his hottest in this unintentionally homoerotic and iconic cult horror film from the 80s. – Mark Miller’s Pick.
#9. The Strangers (2008)
The Strangers is horrifying because its setting and story centered around a home invasion — is something that happens quite often. Sure, it’s not as creepy as the people that invade the home of a family in The Strangers, but the movie’s tone for how a normal family would handle the situation works effectively well. Starring Liv Tyler in her best performance to date, The Strangers is a suspenseful mayhem movie that relies on relaying the message of common disturbance across America as opposed to a high body count. – Sean Atkins’ pick.
#10. Event Horizon (1997)
A spaceship is haunted after returning from being sucked into a black hole. I haven’t seen this one in a long long time but I remember being impressed by how scary it was. – Mark Miller’s Pick.
#11. Paranormal Activity 2 (2010)
The original Paranormal Activity was an overnight sensation. Sure, it spawned five sequels, but it was Paranormal Activity 2 that set things in motion for the franchise to be a smashing success. With a much bigger budget than its predecessor, Paranormal Activity 2 heightens the scale of demonic terror. And while the first half of Paranormal Activity 2 is sluggish at times, the second half is frightening in more ways than even the scariest of movies have shaken us. – Sean Atkins’ pick.
#12. Wolf Cop (2015)
Canadian horror comedy Wolf Cop is a B-Movie romp not afraid to let loose and embrace the ridiculous nature of its cop turned werewolf concept. Hell – the first time we see our anti-hero morph into the feral beast we zoom in and start directly with his dick. Wolf Cop is a riot and is best served up on Halloween with beers and plenty of laughs. Can’t wait for that sequel! – Keven Skinner’s Pick.
#13. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
I watch this every Halloween, it’s the last Tim Burton film I REALLY liked. The denizens of Halloween-world steal Christmas from Santa and hilarity ensues. There is nothing I don’t love about this film – the songs, the characters, the visuals. One of the best movies ever made. – Mark Miller’s Pick.
#14. Deathgasm (2015)
Black metal corpse paint, demons summoned by evil riffs, copious amount of blood and Evil Dead inspired violence – Deathgasm is hands down the best horror film of 2015 and one of the greatest achievements in the genre for quite some time. – Keven Skinner’s Pick.
#15. Nightbreed (1990)
So bad it’s good, this camp classic stars the extremely hot Craig Sheffer and is directed by the somewhat less hot but no less talented Clive Barker. I loved this film, it has monsters and weirdness and a serial killer and mobs with pitchforks. – Mark Miller’s Pick.
#16. Fright Night (2011 )
The original Fright Night is a classic, but the 2011 revision is just as good, if not better. While not particularly scary, it’s a fun horror movie that embraces its campiness. Everything, from casting to story and visual effects is just pitch-perfect. And let’s be honest: who who wouldn’t want to see Colin Farrell and David Tennant in a vampire movie? – Sean Atkins’ pick.
#17. The Cabin in the Woods (2012)
A deconstruction of the horror genre while still a horror film in its own right. Five friends camping in a cabin in the woods come up against deadly forces. If you haven’t seen this one, you should definitely see it. – Mark Miller’s Pick.
When Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard set out to make a horror film that completely dissected EVERY scary movie trope in existence I don’t think even they expected it to be this awesome. What starts out like your typical horror movie set-up, winds up something else entirely. It’s funny with a fucking insane climax (that final 20 minutes, Are you kidding me?) – unrivalled by any other horror movie ever — there’s a unicorn in this thing killing somebody! – Keven Skinner.
#18. Paranorman (2012)
The story about a boy who sees dead things and there’s a plot twist that changes everything. Also there’s a witch, zombies and a curse. Not too scary but I love this film. – Mark Miller’s Pick.
#19. Scary Movie 3 (2003)
The movie ‘Signs’ scared the ever living shit out of me when it was released. I couldn’t have been more than ten or so when I watched the movie for the first time. ‘Signs’ led me to have an irrational fear of aliens for a time, much longer than I think my parents wanted to tolerate. This led to me believing the only safe spot in the house was the shower, because, water killed aliens. It was great to have something like ‘Scary Movie 3’ make me realise how to not take scary movies so seriously. How can anyone take anything seriously with Charlie Sheen in a main role? Taking stabs at movies like ‘8 Mile’, ‘The Ring’ and ‘The Matrix’, it made the movie hilarious to me and is still my favourite out of all the Scary Movies. Also, the late and great Leslie Nielsen playing the President of the U.S.A. still makes me laugh as hard as the first time I saw the movie, and in comparison to the current presidential candidates, he’d have my vote. – Ashton Clemmer’s Pick.
#20. Silent Hill (2006)
Bizarre and terrifying, the Silent Hill universe is amazing. Horror usually has some clearly defined rules, this one doesn’t and that’s what makes it scary. Silent Hill is a place to keep coming back to, whether you like it or not. – Mark Miller’s Pick.
#21. Insidious (2010)
I won’t lie when I say that the only reason I checked this movie out, was because I saw the trailer and one of the demons looked like Darth Maul from ‘Star Wars’. After watching, it became an instant favourite of mine. It made me nearly shit, more than once, and I can’t hear ’Tip Toe Through the Tulips” by Tiny Tim without thinking that I’m about to get fucked up by a ghost. Seriously though, what kind of demon listens to Tiny Tim? The movie follows young Dalton Lambert, played by Tim Simpkins who is believed to be in a coma, though is actually trapped in a dimension known as “The Further” and is being held captive by aforementioned Darth Maul looking demon. I really liked the casting in this movie, actor Patrick Wilson who discovers that his past is the reason for all the mayhem plays his role very well. Rose Byrne who plays the wife to Wilson is great to watch (great to look at) in this movie and compliments the suspense before releasing blood curdling screams. I have yet to watch the sequels to this movie, I’m weary of sequels, always have been thanks to Spider-Man 3… Topher Grace as Eddie Brock… That portrayal alone was scarier than any movie. – Ashton Clemmer’s Pick.
#22. The Witch (2015)
A slow moving and grim film about pilgrims battling the Devil in rural New England. Easily one of the best horror films of 2015, there were some awesome performances all around, especially one by a goat. Definitely worth a watch, especially if torturing Puritans is your thing. – Mark Miller’s Pick.
#23. Creepshow (2007)
As a Tales From The Crypt fan, this horror anthology set the stage for short story horror on the bigscreen. We wouldn’t have movies like Trick R’ Treat if it weren’t for this evil romp featuring five nasty short stories. Two were based on Stephen King’s work (Weeds and The Crate) while the rest were actually written by King specifically for the movie. Did I mention George Romero (Night of The Living Dead) directed Creepshow? Did I also mention Tom Savini did the makeup and effects? Creepshow is a who’s who in horror mastery – it will never get better than this — ever again.. – Keven Skinner’s Pick.
#24. Pet Sematary (1989)
Maybe I was too young when I saw this (or maybe not) but this movie scared me more than it should have. One of Stephen King’s best film adaptations, it involves a plot of land where anything buried in it comes back to life. – Mark Miller’s Pick.
#25. Evil Dead 2 (2003)
The best of Sam Raimi’s trilogy following Ash as he goes to war against an army of demonic deadites summoned by the book of the dead at the creepy ol’ cabin. Bruce Campbell went bonkers throwing every bit of his sanity out the window on this one – taking a chainsaw to his own possessed hand, joining in a bout of laughter with a moose-head on the wall and hacking his girlfriend to pieces after she turns evil. You know -the usual. – Keven Skinner’s Pick.
#26. The Crow (1994)
It’s hard to summarize how much I love this movie into a small paragraph. I’ve watched it dozens of times throughout the years and I’ll probably watch it at least a dozen more times. Although I think Brandon Lee’s part as The Crow, or Eric Draven is what remains memorable and iconic when many think about the film, Micheal Wincott’s performance, as Top Dollar is something that stands out. Wincott’s character is the king-pin for the thug based organization that Draven hunts throughout the film and my god is he a good villain. He inhales his victim’s burning eye balls while doing cocaine.. How menacing is that?! Not to mention his weapon of choice is a sword, which aids into an awesome fight with Brandon Lee at the end of the movie. – Ashton Clemmer’s Pick.
#27. Anatomy (2000)
A German film with Franka Potente (the girl from Run Lola Run) and it’s the single most disturbing film I’ve ever seen. It’s about a young medical student going to an exclusive school where some terrible things are happening. Towards the end it devolves to a standard thriller but the beginning of the film scared the ever living shit out of me. I still think about this film. – Mark Miller’s Pick.
#28. Donnie Darko (2001)
This movie grabbed a hold of me so much, the following Halloween after watching Donnie Darko for the first time; I spent $350.00 on a mascot quality “Frank” costume. For those of you who don’t know who the character Frank is, he is a man in a demonic looking rabbit costume that Donnie Darko, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, is supposedly hallucinating. Frank aids Donnie through a series of vandalizing acts that are meant to shed light on larger, more serious underlying issues before the world ends on Halloween. As the movie progresses it begins to explore the possibilities of alternate universes and time travel, causing the viewer to questing whether Donnie has entered a tangent universe, or if Donnie is just a paranoid schizophrenic. It sounds pretty outlandish, but this is one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. – Ashton Clemmer’s Pick.
#29. Day of The Dead (1985)
The master – George A. Romero and godfather of the modern zombie, which we all know and love today has proclaimed his third film in the dead trilogy as his favorite and although I’m more of a Dawn guy myself, I find Day of The Dead growing on me much more over time. This film was SO ahead of it’s time. Bub the zombie is probably the most iconic character in the franchise too right? Who doesn’t love it when Bub picks up a gun and starts kicking ass? Day of The Dead is so underrated and so well done, you really need to revisit this one zombie fans – Tom Savini and Greg Nicotero’s effects work on this movie is legendary. – Keven Skinner’s Pick.
#30. Poltergeist (1982)
It’s a classic for a reason. One of the very few horror films that are genuinely scary (your mileage may vary) without having people die. The special effects are a bit dated perhaps but it’s still very much worth watching. I also loved the first sequel, that guy was CREEPY. – Mark Miller’s Pick.
#31. Trick R’ Treat (2007)
Michael Dougherty’s Creepshow for the new generation: Trick R’ Treat is a compilation of intertwining stories taking place on Halloween night with little scarecrow masked Sam making the rounds on every group to make sure they all follow the rules. The scene that takes place out in the woods over halfway through the movie is so good, so shocking and satisfying – with an incredible soundtrack…. This is an October staple and one I watch every year. – Keven Skinner’s Pick.
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