There are many great horror classics to watch during the spooky season, but there are always a few hidden gems to be found as well. Whether it's scary movies that are goofy, campy, psychological, or downright disturbing, there are countless underrated horror movies just waiting to be discovered.
What's great about the horror genre and what indeed defines something as a Halloween movie, is that it is a much wider genre than it is narrow. By definition, anything that has an initial creepy element can indeed be factored in; some, of course, more than others.
8 Idle Hands (1999)
One of the best hidden comedic horror movies of the late nineties, Idle Hands features a large cast of familiar faces. Devon Sawa (Final Destination and Little Giants) plays a lovable stoner who wakes up to find his family brutally murdered. The twist? One of his hands is possessed.
After chopping off his demonic hand, he and his two zombie friends (who his hand killed, by the way) set out to destroy his possessed hand before it can find more victims. The movie is a lot of fun to watch and had a pretty great nineties soundtrack to boot.
7 Night of the Creeps (1986)
Before Monster Squad (now a cult hit in its own right), Fred Dekker put out this little gem. Night of the Creeps offers a fairly typical take on a traditional invasion creature movie and is just as campy and fun.
There is a cop with a past and a bunch of alien slugs who turn suburban students and passersby into bloodthirsty zombies. It is exactly as it sounds. A wonderful B movie of epic proportions. The script was written in a week and all the characters are lovingly named after horror movie-directing icons.
6 Dead Alive/Braindead (1992)
To see Peter Jackson return to the slasher genre that made him popular will no doubt be pleasing to horror movie fans. Dead Alive, or Braindead, as it is known throughout the rest of the world, was a total box office bomb upon its original theatrical run. However, It has since gained a cult following.
It is another zombie flick, but this time with a rat-monkey that turns a momma's boy's mother into a very ravenous zombie. The prosthetics are great and the story is over the top and humorous. It is incredibly gory, and, of course, nauseating Dutch angles are used at the right moments.
5 Burnt Offerings (1976)
This hidden gem from the 1970s does have many quintessential haunted house motifs but in a good way. A family of four rents a house for the summer from a mysterious brother and sister on the grounds that they take of their ailing mother who also resides in the house. They are told they are only to leave her food at her door and to never disturb her.
Throughout the movie, unusual things start to happen and the mother of the family begins to act strangely. There is a room that houses old pictures of former renters, and the house starts to rejuvenate after the family’s elderly aunt dies under mysterious circumstances. It is definitely worth the watch; if only for the memorable conclusion.
4 The House That Jack Built (2018)
When fans of Lars Von Trier think of an unforgettable horror experience, Antichrist is usually the first of his movies that come to mind. However, another movie of his goes a little under the radar by comparison.
The House That Jack Built follows a serial killer as he is led through Dante Alighieri's nine circles of Hell by none other than Virgil. Through each circle, the killer recounts his murders and his time as an architect, and the final chilling conclusion builds to a steady crescendo. It is uncomfortable Von Trier at his best.
3 1408 (2007)
One of the few decent Stephen King movie adaptions that has gone quite unnoticed, 1408 is a fun and stressful psychological thriller and ghost story. An author wants to check out a seemingly haunted motel room for source material and finds more than he bargains for. Multiple people have checked into the room and none have checked out.
Obviously, the motel manager urges him not to check in, but he does so and shenanigans ensue. The room repeatedly tortures its occupants until they either end their own suffering or endure the torture all over again. What's more, there are several endings that lead to different outcomes.
2 Spider (2002)
One of David Cronenberg's most overlooked pieces of work, Spider leaves the viewer unaware of the outcome and provides an ending with only half answers. The movie follows a psychologically disturbed man who is fresh out of an institution. It starts off rather slow, but eventually, the viewer gets wrapped up in the man witnessing his own childhood experiences that had him end up in the asylum in the first place.
What's even more intriguing is that his past and present start intermixing with each other as his illness starts to take over again. This is shown through separate actors playing the roles in the past and present, and then all of them ultimately being played by the same actress, Miranda Richardson.
1 Possession (1981)
When Jurassic Park’s Sam Neill partakes in a horror movie of any caliber, viewers can expect it to be disturbing. In fact, Sam Neill claims that this was the most disturbing role he has ever played. He and the movie’s lead actress still claim to be haunted by it to this day.
Possession shows the deterioration of a family. At first, the wife is up to no good; cheating on her spouse and then disappearing for days on end. Neill's character tries to save his marriage but only ends up turning into a monster much like the one who has taken over his spouse. It is a disturbing take on a relationship in trouble and a hard one to ever forget about.