Do you feel that? That chill in the air, that tingling sensation on the back of your neck? It can only mean one thing. That's right: the Halloween season is here once again!
Here at Polygon, we love horror. We've got you covered all year long, whether it's ranking the year's scariest new releases or curating lists of the scariest horror movies to watch on Netflix.
us especially love Halloween, however, is a holiday dedicated to all things scary and spooky. That's why, every year for the past four years, Polygon has put together a Halloween countdown calendar, curating 31 of our staff's top horror-themed or Halloween-adjacent picks in film, television, and online video over the course of the year. the entire month of October, all Available to view at home. It's been a lot of fun; In fact, we're doing it again, with a whole new batch of movies, shows, and videos to choose from.
Every day in the month of October we will add a new recommendation to this countdown and we will tell you where you can see it. So kick back on the couch, dim the lights, and grab some popcorn for a spooky marathon of Halloween-related delights.
Image: Anchor Bay Entertainment
Where to watch: Available to stream on Plex and Pluto TV with ads and to rent on Amazon
Kicking off the Halloween horror movie season is a delicate art. With just a few days left until the official start of fall, it's important to choose exactly the right movie to subtly change that chill in the air from cozy to spooky as gently as possible. With that in mind, this year we approach Halloween with Dario Argento. Phenomenaa perfect combination of creepy, cheesy and dark that sets the perfect stage for the scares to come.
Phenomena takes place in a remote village in Switzerland at a boarding school where Jennifer Corvino (Jennifer Connelly), the daughter of a famous American actor, is the new student. The only problem is that there's also a serial killer rampaging through town, and when Jennifer witnesses one of the murders, her life is suddenly in grave danger. The good news is that she has an inexplicable telekinetic power over insects that helps her stay alive.
And while the film isn't as silly as the premise would imply, it is among the strangest and funniest of the many sleazy slashers of the 1980s. But what really elevates it to a special place is that it is one of the few films of horror in which the supernatural is apparently completely on the side of good. It's rare that a film allows us to unambiguously root the mystical power at its center, giving the whole thing the strange, otherworldly feel of a particularly grotesque fairy tale.
All of this makes for a wildly entertaining and strange mystery film, and a great way to start a month full of horror movies. —Austen Goslin
Image: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Where to watch: Shudder, AMC Plus
Anthony Waller's 1995 horror thriller is a premise straight out of a nightmare. Billy Hughes (Marina Zudina), a silent special effects makeup artist, is in Moscow working in a dilapidated film studio on a low-budget horror film. After returning to the building after hours to pick up some important equipment, Billy accidentally locks himself inside with no way to contact either his sister Karen or his sister's boyfriend, Andy. Things quickly go from bad to worse when he secretly stumbles upon the filming of a snuff film perpetrated by a pair of Russian gangsters. When the gangsters suspect that someone else is inside the studio, Billy must find a way to escape undetected before his own life is in danger.
mute witness is a fantastic cat-and-mouse murder thriller packed with tense sequences and a compelling lead performance, courtesy of Marina Zudina. The first hour of the film is expertly paced and edited, ingratiating the viewer to the studio's design before moving into a madcap climax that is both impressive and terrifying to behold. If that's not enough to pique your interest, the film touts a brief but memorable cameo from Sir Alec Guinness (star wars, Lorenzo of Arabia) in one of his last performances on screen. —Toussaint Egan
Image: Warner Home Video
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon and Apple
If you ever get bored of the same old restaurant cuisine, the answer is usually to look for a fusion restaurant that mixes up a couple of your favorites, taking spices and techniques from different cultures and combining them into something new. The same goes for horror movies: if you're bored of the usual executions of all the familiar tropes, a genre mashup like 1998's Fallen It can be the best way to find a new flavor in familiar ideas.
In FallenIn the case, director Gregory Hoblit and screenwriter Nicholas Kazan put the serial killer procedural thriller and the possession horror story in a blender and used ideas and techniques from both to bring the drama to life. Hoblit is a police show vet (Hill Street Blues, New York Police Blue, Los Angeles LawHmm, police rock) that keeps the action tight and raw, even when the supernatural touch takes the story away from the normal rhythm of the genre.
Denzel Washington stars as homicide detective John Hobbes, with John Goodman as his partner Jonesy. The two men (working under a sinister lieutenant played by Donald Sutherland) recently solved a murder case that sent a serial killer (Elias Koteas) to the gas chamber. However, after his death, the murders begin again and Hobbes and Jonesy begin working on a new case that appears to be the old one. Horror veterans will know where this is going long before they do, but Hoblit ratchets up the unsettling tension as Hobbes's life begins to fall apart.
Much of the horror involves people encountering the supernatural for the first time and fumbling for an answer that will allow them to survive, but the stakes always seem higher when the protagonist works in law enforcement and, in theory , you have to follow procedures, obey rules and show off. innocence. (See also: The Hidden, angel heart, long legsetc.) Washington is an excellent rule-following cop who is caught in a terrifying situation where none of the rules he has learned apply. The result is a solidly creepy movie with the slightest tinge of camp lore. —Tasha Robinson
Image: Scream Factory
Where to watch: Prime Video, Peacock, Shudder
Directors of feature films about creatures often cite Jaws as inspiration to hold back the monster slaughter until the end: the less you show, the scarier it is. Unscrew! If a movie promises a big mutant alligator terrorizing that town, then we better see a big mutant alligator terrorizing that town, and often!
Good news: Caiman is exactly that, with the added bonus of great performances, a wicked sense of humor, and a touch of social commentary.
Robert Forster (Jackie Brown, Breaking Bad) plays Detective David Madison, a cop with a reputation for doing good while losing his colleagues in the heat of the action. When news of a killer alligator prowling the sewers reaches the surface, Detective. Madison swings into action with Dr. Marisa Kendall (Robin Riker), a herpetologist whose no-nonsense approach to amphibian research paves the way for a classic romance full of spark. Only the legendary John Sayles could turn an eccentric romance into a killer alligator movie and still find room to stick to the clumsy bureaucracy.
very similar JawsSayles and director Lewis Teague interrogate the failed institutions that allow a 36-foot hypermetabolic alligator to run rampant in Chicago; Not only can the cops not get their shit together, but the alligator only looks like a dinosaur after consuming a biotech company's product. discarded animal carcasses, all irradiated with growth formula. Unlike JawsTeague puts his giant crocodile puppet to good use, snapping its jaws on countless victims, from stray cats to random kids in a swimming pool. Blood splashes, Chicagoans flee for their lives, Detective. Madison complains about her receding hairline, and things end up going well. Caiman It's not terribly scary, but it's a raucous good time, head and shoulders above most B-monster movies of any era. —Matte patches
Image: Scream Factory
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon and Apple
For me, Park Chan-wook is in the top tier of living filmmakers, so of course I like even the “minor” works in his catalog. Stokerhis only English-language film to date (although he has made two miniseries in English, including the fantastic He Drummer girl), is a disturbing and atmospheric psychological thriller that is a perfect fit for people who want to participate in a spooky season without having to worry. also scared.
It's India Stoker's (Mia Wasikowska) 18th birthday. His father (Dermot Mulroney) has died and his mother (Nicole Kidman) has welcomed his younger brother (Matthew Goode) into their home. What follows is a Hitchcockian gothic fairy tale full of sensory delight. The score is perfect in the haunting atmosphere it provides, and Park never fails to deliver memorable images.
Oh, and a fun fact: the movie was written by Wentworth Miller, of prison escape/ CW-verse fame, under a pseudonym. —Pete Volk
October 6: Doctor Who, “The Empty Child” and “The Doctor Dances”
Image: Agency
doctor who has two tones: the triumph of intellect and romance over brute force and cynicism, and a chill-inducing horror that keeps young viewers staring through their hands, hiding behind the couch, or fearing an occasional nightmare about it. for years.
This second part of the first season of the 2005 franchise reboot embodies the best of both. Of course, he's the one who gave us the Doctor's indelible quote: “Just this once… everyone lives!” But it's also an episode that made me, a grown adult, terrified when the intercom in my apartment rang. Set in London during the Blitz, the Doctor and co. Fight a strange plague that seems to be transmitted through phones.
The phone rings, you pick it up, and a creepy little British kid's voice on the other end says, “Are you my mom?” Five minutes later, there's a knock on your door and the creepy little British kid is there in a gas mask and says, “Are you my mom?” and bam, are A gas mask zombie now. Millions of doctor who The fans have never recovered. —Susana Polo