Another month, another great excuse to watch some horror movies.
Horror movies have been a long-standing occupation for us here at Polygon. Of course, we’ve got our list of the best horror movies to watch right now, or the best horror movies of 2023 ranked by scary. But each month, we also put together a smaller list of five picks that are perfect for that time of year.
This month, we’ve picked movies that fit perfectly into the surprisingly wide range of theatrical horror. There’s the star Evil Dead Riseit very nice The Pope’s exorcist… and also Renfield, if that’s more your speed. To prepare you for a terrifying trip to the theater, or to keep the creepy buzz going, we’ve handpicked a few movies that fit those molds, and an all-time classic wildcard for this month’s movies.
Let’s dive in without further ado.
The birds
Image: Universal Pictures
Year: 1963
Duration: 1h 59m
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Form: Rod Taylor, Tippi Hedren, Jessica Tandy
Perhaps Alfred Hitchcock’s most overtly supernatural film, and certainly his most bleak, The birds tells the story of a small town overrun by a flock of inexplicably hostile, bloodthirsty and terrifying birds, seemingly bent on destroying humanity. The film never tries to explore or explain why all bird creatures (perhaps in the whole world?) become evil overnight, but the result is an unrelentingly strange film that will leave you wanting the next time you watch a film. will make you at least a little uncomfortable. swarm circling overhead.
The birds streams on Netflix.
Evil Dead II
Image: StudioCanal
Year: 1987
Duration: 1h 24m
Director: Sam Rami
Form: Bruce Campbell, Sarah Berry, Dan Hicks
Evil Dead II is a very odd sequel because it’s mostly a bigger, weirder, meaner, funnier, and all-around more ridiculous remake of the original movie. The film follows Ash Williams and his girlfriend Linda as they take a trip to an abandoned cabin in the woods. As in the first film, a passage from the cursed book, the Necronomicon, is read aloud and spirits are released that possess people dead or alive. However, compared to the first movie, the killing starts much earlier and gets much crazier and more violent, eventually leading to chainsaws, shotguns, and possessed hands.
Evil Dead II streams on IndieFlix.
The exorcist
Image: Warner Bros.
Year: 1973
Duration: 2 hours 2 minutes
Director: William Friedkin
Form: Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Linda Blair
One of the clearest transition points between modern and classic horror, The exorcist still holds up 50 years after its release. The film follows a movie star mother and her young daughter as the latter becomes possessed by the ancient demon Pazuzu. The demon wreaks havoc in the family until two priests, one at the end of his career and life and the other with a crisis of faith, come to perform an exorcism in hopes of saving the girl and her immortal soul. Despite dozens of exorcism movies following in the footsteps of this one, few can match it for fear or sheer quality.
The exorcist is streaming HBO max.
Overlord
Photo: Peter Mountain/Paramount Pictures
Year: 2018
Duration: 1h 50m
Director: Julius Avery
Form: Jovan Adepo, Wyatt Russell, Mathilde Ollivier
One problem with most World War II movies is that there just aren’t enough zombies in them, but… Overlord is not most films about World War II. It follows a squad of soldiers on D-Day who are sent to blow up a Nazi radio tower in a church. Instead, they find a hidden research facility and a new weapon of the Reich: the undead. Ridiculous, fun, bloody and a great time, Overlord is excellent action horror and always charming thanks to the magnetic pull of its star, Wyatt Russell. The movie is also directed by The Pope’s exorcist director Julius Avery!
Overlord streams on FuboTV and Paramount plus.
30 days night
Image: Columbia Photos
Year: 2007
Duration: 1h 54m
Director: David Slade
Form: Josh Hartnett, Melissa George, Danny Huston
Starting with one of the greatest horror movies of all time, 30 days night couldn’t help but have a good time. A group of humans try to survive the night after a group of vampires show up in Barrow, Alaska, a town experiencing month-long polar nights where the sun doesn’t rise for 30 days. In other words, it’s the perfect place to create a vampire nightmare. The film combines all the features of survival horror, vampires, slashers and chilly winter horror and ultimately succeeds in living up to its excellent premise.
30 days night is streaming Hulu.