Rachel Curti
Arts & Entertainment Editor
As we enter October, it is now socially acceptable to declare that it is indeed “spooky season.” This also means that we have entered the optimal period for watching horror movies. If you are wondering what to watch, here are some horror movies that you may not have seen.
“Malevolent” is a 2018 film starring Florence Pugh, who you may recognize from 2019’s “Midsommar”. The film follows a group of scam artists. Florence Pugh’s character, Angela and her brother Jackson (Ben Lloyd-Hills) are the head of this scam, claiming to have a connection to the supernatural. Angela comes to realize that she does have a connection and can commune with the ghosts of their client’s home. While it is a ghost story in a sense, the scariest parts of the film– and the most disturbing– comes from humans, not ghosts.
My first horror movie was “Before I Wake”, a 2016 movie following a couple that adopts a troubled orphan. The child has horrifying nightmares that present themselves in the real world. The movie is rated PG-13, which was part of my decision in watching it when I was younger; I figured it couldn’t be too scary with that rating. I was wrong, but it did turn out to be an excellent movie. I’m not sure charming is a great way to describe a horror film, but that’s the word I’m going to use. The characters and their relationships draw you in– you want them to make it through the movie so they can get their happy ending. Whether or not they get it… you’ll have to watch to find out.
If you’re looking for more psychological horror, “The Perfection” (2018) might be more your style. The film follows a traumatized prodigy who seeks to get revenge. After her downfall, Charlotte (Allison Williams) searches for her teacher’s newest student, Elizabeth (Logan Browning). The film is full of surprises and horrifying twists. The story is well constructed and comes together perfectly. The film itself is quite disturbing, which seems to be the case when supernatural elements aren’t involved in a horror film– we may not believe in ghosts, but humans are very much real.
My last recommendation for this first week of October is “Cadaver”, a Norwegian horror movie I stumbled across on Netflix. Released in 2020, the film follows Leonora (Gitte Witt) and her family living in a world after a nuclear disaster. The people of the world are starving, but there’s one thing that gives them hope– the hotel that hosts charitable events and feeds the people. Leonora manages to get her family into the event, but people start to disappear. One of my favorite things about this film is the set and design. The hotel set is beautifully designed, and the costumes are delightfully eerie. It’s a nice contrast between the elaborate upper-class dinner party atmosphere and the underlying dread you can’t get rid of no matter how hard you try to reason with it.
Stay tuned for more spooky season recommendations.