With Halloween falling on a Monday this year, it makes for the perfect opportunity to stay in and binge watch the best movies.
Halloween and horror movies have always gone hand in hand. But finding one that doesn’t make you chuckle at the sight of the fake blood or bad acting is the tough part.
Here are a few films that are sure to keep you fearing a lot more than the 8 a.m. class you have to wake up for Tuesday morning.
‘The Conjuring’ (2013)
With two other sequels, “The Conjuring 2” and “Annabelle,” “The Conjuring” is a good start to a spine-chilling movie marathon. The trilogy has grossed over $800 million cumulatively in the box office, and you don’t get numbers like those for being “kinda” scary.
The first film in the series follows the Perron family’s move to an old farmhouse in Harrisville, Rhode Island. The family begins to notice odd things occurring, such as their house clock stopping each night at 3:33 a.m. or when their mother, Carolyn, finds unexplained bruises covering her body.
The hauntings keep progressing as the force in their house terrorizes the family by dragging the girls out of their beds and locking them in their own basement. They finally bring in demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren who determine just exactly what, or who, is terrorizing their new home.
In contrast to most horror films that switch scenes quickly only giving a little taste, the makers of the movie don’t bother dancing around the scary parts and let the screen linger on the scary figures and embrace the demonic aspects.
If the first film leaves you feeling uneasy, watching the other two installments will make you want to sleep with the lights on, because as the years go by, the sequel only gets scarier and scarier.
‘The Ring’ (2002)
“The Ring” is another classic trilogy, but since the third film hasn’t been released, it will leave you anticipating the upcoming premiere in 2017.
The film originates from a Japanese horror novel “Ring” written by Koji Suzuki. Japanese horror films are notorious for being some of the scariest films in the industry, and “The Ring” is no different.
The story follows an urban legend that says if you watch a certain movie, you will die in seven days. Throw in a creepy little girl with black, stringy hair named “Samara” crawling out of a dark well, and you have successfully given yourself nightmares.
Actress Naomi Watts stars as Rachel, a reporter and single mother of one son named Aiden. Her niece has recently died because of the notorious film, so skeptical Rachel seeks out the mystery behind the film only to be cursed herself.
The second film follows the unfinished business of the previous, and Rachel uncovers the origins of the girl from the well as she tries to save her own family from Samara’s devilish ways.
What the third movie has to offer is a mystery, but the reputation surrounding the first two films suggests that, like the others, it will not disappoint.
‘Sinister’ (2012)
“Sinister” follows the Oswalt family who recently moved into a house previously plagued by murder and kidnapping. The plot twist? Mr. Oswalt kept the house’s alarming past from his family, in hopes of using the story for his new book.
Oswalt soon finds a box of 8mm film tapes that end up being snuff films depicting not only what took the home’s previous family, but also several other families all over the U.S. who suffered different, but equally disturbing deaths. The gore includes families being burned alive, hung, drowned and even frozen to death.
The twisted home movies leave Oswalt intrigued and terrified as he tries to uncover who the man behind the camera is. Throughout the tape clips, he finds a recurring image of a face that is so terrifying, “he” looks inhuman.
The soundtrack is perhaps one of the most chilling aspects of the film as it consists of repetitive tribal beats and strange noises.
The movie’s ending has a twist that no one could foresee, leaving the viewer feeling uneasy. The film has a sequel, “Sinister 2,” that tries to destroy the tapes as well as the monster that makes cameos throughout each one.