Halloween is the perfect time to watch the spookiest horror movies. After all the festivities and trick-or-treating, everyone wants to put on a scary film and scream out loud with their loved ones.
If you are already done with classics like The Exorcist and The Conjuring franchise and want to try something new this year, we have curated a list of five top hidden gem horror movies that will undoubtedly send some chills down your spine.
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From paranormal activities to supernatural entities and slasher killers to ghosts and spirits, these underrated horror movies have all the elements to make your Halloween more exciting.
5 Underrated Horror Movies to Make Your Halloween Spookier
1) Wolf Creek (2005)
This movie is about three people who are offered pleasures and fun but at the cost of things tha they could never imagine. The trio agrees to the offer, but things take a sinister turn. Mick turns out to be a sadistic killer who makes the group his prisoners. Liz and Kristy escape, but they find it hard to survive in the wilderness, while Mick starts hunting them and shows no mercy.
Meanwhile, Ben wakes up tied up and has to figure out how to get free. The film has a suspenseful narrative and does not shy away from depicting gruesome violence and bloodshed on screen.
What makes it one of the scariest horror movies is that the plot was inspired by a real-life serial killer who attacked several backpackers in New South Wales, Australia, in the 1990s. The perpetrator, named Ivan Milat, killed seven people while pretending to help them. He was later arrested and spent the rest of his life in prison.
Directed by Greg McLean, Wolf Creek stars John Jarratt as Mick, Cassandra Magrath as Liz, Kestie Morassi as Kristy, and Nathan Phillips as Ben. The film can be watched on Amazon Prime Video.
2) The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)
This supernatural horror follows Emily Rose, a young college student who starts having strange and frightening experiences. As she deals with terrifying visions and behaviors, her family believes demons possess her. They ask Father Moore, a local priest, to perform an exorcism to help her.
During the exorcism, things go wrong, and Emily dies. Father Moore is then put on trial, accused of causing her death by using exorcism instead of getting her medical treatment. The movie focuses on the courtroom trial, where lawyer Erin Bruner defends Father Moore.
She tries to prove that Emily was really possessed before her death and that Father Moore was only trying to help her. The film is inspired by Felicitas D. Goodman’s book The Exorcism of Anneliese Michel, which was based on real events as Michel was a German woman who died in 1976 after undergoing 67 exorcism rites.
The Exorcism of Emily Rose is directed by Scott Derrickson and stars Jennifer Carpenter in the titular role, with Laura Linney as Erin Bruner and Tom Wilkinson as Father Moore. You can watch this film on Paramount+.
3) The Mothman Prophecies (2002)
Richard Gere stars in this horror film based on the folklore of the Mothman, a paranormal humanoid creature reportedly sighted in West Virginia in the 1960s.
An adaptation of John Keel’s book of the same name, The Mothman Prophecies, follows John Klein (Gere), a Washington, D.C. reporter whose life changes when his wife dies in a car accident.
Before she died, she saw a strange creature resembling a giant moth. Two years later, John ends up in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, where people have seen a mysterious creature with wings called the ‘Mothman.’
They also start getting weird phone calls, having strange visions, and receiving creepy warnings. John becomes obsessed with figuring out if this creature is connected to what his wife saw before she died.
As bizarre events continue, it seems like the Mothman shows up to warn people about future disasters. Helmed by Mark Pellington, the movie leaves the audience with burning questions about the existence of mysterious creatures.
Apart from Gere, the film also stars Laura Linney, Will Patton, Debra Messing, Lucinda Jenney, Alan Bates, and David Eigenberg. The Mothman Prophecies is available to stream on Starz.
4) The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976)
The Town That Dreaded Sundown combines crime-drama, horror, and thriller genres. Inspired by true events that took place in Texarkana in 1946, the film tells the story of a masked killer, known as the ‘Phantom,’ who starts attacking people in the small town.
He mainly targets young couples parked in quiet areas at night, attacking and sometimes killing them. Deputy Norman Ramsey and Texas Ranger Captain J.D. Morales take charge of the investigation, trying to stop the Phantom. However, the killer doesn’t leave many clues, making it hard for the police to track him down.
The town grows more scared with each attack, and people start avoiding going out at night. Charles B. Pierce served as the director of this film, which ends with a message that can give the audience nightmares.
The movie features Ben Johnson as Captain J.D. Morales, Andrew Prine as Deputy Norman Ramsey, and Bud Davis as Phantom Killer, along with Jimmy Clem, Dawn Wells, Jim Citty, and Robert Aquino.
A sequel to the film with the same name was released in 2014, with Jason Blum and Ryan Murphy as the producers. The original 1976 film is available on AMC+.
5) The Haunting in Connecticut (2009)
The Haunting in Connecticut is one of the lesser-known horror movies. It follows the Campbell family, who move to an old house in Connecticut so their son, Matt, can get treatment for cancer at a nearby hospital. However, strange and creepy things happen soon after they move into the house.
Matt begins to see scary visions and experiences unexplained events in the house. As the family digs deeper, they discover that their new home used to be a funeral parlor, and the spirits of the dead still roam the place.
Matt’s connection to the supernatural grows stronger, and he starts seeing terrifying images of past events, including seances. The family eventually learns that the spirits are dangerous and have bad intentions. The film is known for its creepy visuals and jump scares that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
This Peter Cornwell directorial stars Kyle Gallner as Matt. The rest of the cast includes Virginia Madsen, Elias Koteas, Amanda Crew, Martin Donovan, and Ty Wood. In 2013, the movie got a standalone sequel, The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia. The film is available to stream on both Netflix and AMC+.
Go ahead and check out these horror movies to have a memorable Halloween with your family and friends. For more film suggestions, keep following Soap Central.
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