Netflix

It’s Halloween, and if you’re like me, you’ve spent the past month trying to avoid the “Horror” section on Netflix … because those movies scare the s— out of me. 

But thanks to some good old-fashioned peer pressure, I decided to dive in and find the best in scary cinema for your midnight movie marathons. And if you can’t handle the dark, you can always watch them with the lights on in the middle of the afternoon. It worked for me; the mental scarring was pretty minor. 

So grab your guy, girl, or pillow (I don’t judge) and give these frightful flicks a whirl. 

The House of the Devil (2009) 

I’m fairly certain no other movie out there does pure dread as well as The House of the Devil. Written and directed by Ti West, the homage to ’80s horror is a great exercise in the idea that sometimes fearing the worst can be even worse than what happens.

It’s the story of Samantha, a young college student desperate for rent money. Her quest for a few dollars leads her to the Ulman family, for what seems to be a routine babysitting job (Spoiler: It’s not). What makes the movie so effectively horrifying is that, even though it’s apparent something is very wrong with the situation, nothing bad actually happens to Samantha. 

In fact, nothing seems to happen to her until, of course, all hell breaks loose in the film’s closing moments. But the film’s brilliance is in its simple, slow-moving story, sympathetic characters, beautiful 16mm cinematography and the fact that it’s utterly terrifying. 

V/H/S (2012)

This short film anthology from writers/directors Adam Wingard, David Bruckner, Ti West, Glenn McQuaid, Joe Swanberg and filmmaking quartet Radio Silence is nothing short of eclectic. 

Shot entirely in a found-footage style (think The Blair Witch Project or Paranormal Activity), each short twists classic horror themes into creative new stories, assuming you don’t get motion sickness particularly easily. The shaky camera is V/H/S’s biggest strength and weakness: at best it gives the stories a raw feel and is used in unique ways. Joe Swanberg’s short “The Sick Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger,” shot entirely through Skype, recognizes the potential of the format. But the style often fails the film, rendering parts that should be scary laughable, and at its worst, totally unwatchable. 

Stitches (2012)

Stitches is a U.K. horror-comedy flick about a murderous clown back from the grave to avenge his death, caused by an adolescent prankster. 

It’s every bit as ridiculous as it sounds, and without a doubt, that’s what makes it a fun watch. Written and directed by Conor McMahon, Stitches spends far more time trying to make you laugh and squirm in disgust than make you scream. Of course, if you don’t find copious amounts of gore at the hands of a killer clown funny, you might stick to screaming. And in all honesty, you’ll probably want to give this one a pass. 

But for anyone else, the film is probably more entertaining than any normal (read: non-serial killer) clown has ever been. 

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985)

The second film in the Elm Street franchise is pretty much what you’d expect from an ’80s horror sequel: it’s cheesy, overwrought and not particularly great, but a ton of fun. 

Directed by Jack Sholder, the story follows dream-dwelling serial killer Freddy Krueger as he creates a nightmare for a whole new group of teens. Of course, half the fun of the movie entails Freddy killing these characters in increasingly absurd ways. On top of this, it’s pretty remarkable watching a commercially successful film from the ’80s with a fairly blatant pro-gay agenda, placing Jesse, a male character, in a scream queen role normally given to a woman (and plenty of homoerotic subtext to boot). But past the bold stance, it’s worth a watch for the ’80s campiness alone.