It’s my favorite time of the year for movie watching – Halloween. Well, it isn’t Halloween yet, not quite. But we are only a few weeks away. The weather is getting colder, the clothes are getting warmer and every streaming service is loading up on horror movies. Here is a glimpse into what I’ve already watched or what I’ll be tuning into, and why you should do the same. 

“Fright Night” (1986) 

Available on Max

It’s been a long time since I’ve watched a movie and immediately knew it was going to be a favorite of mine for the rest of my life, but that happened when I watched the classic vampire erotic-horror-thriller “Fright Night” at the beginning of this month. 

The best part about “Fright Night” is that it was simply better than it needed to be. I would’ve been happy if the movie had ended and I had been sufficiently entertained and decently scared, but “Fright Night” has so much more to give than that. 

The movie is supremely entertaining and incredibly scary at the same time, which is largely due to the two lead performances from William Ragsdale as the film’s protagonist Charley Brewster and especially Chris Sarandon as the vampire villain Jerry Dandrige. Sarandon is impossibly charismatic while seducing every member of Charley’s life, and then on the flip-side can be overpowering and terrifying when he lets his true vampire side show. 

“Hellraiser” (1987) 

Available on Prime Video

For years I have scrolled past the “Hellraiser” poster while trying to find something to watch, and for years I have always thought “Maybe next time.” Well, next time came this past weekend for me, and I was totally blown away. 

“Hellraiser” is not what you might think it is, which is ever for the better. It’s a much slower, methodical movie than its peers in the 80s horror pantheon – like “Friday the 13th” or “A Nightmare on Elm Street” – which builds to a truly thrilling final act where the interpersonal family dynamics become injected with psychosexual horror and then get some Cenobites sprinkled on top. 

The Cenobites themselves aren’t in the movie for that long, which was a shock to me but not necessarily a bother because there is still body-horror galore in the hour leading up to their arrival thanks to some – like “Fright Night” – really exceptional practical effects work on one of the main characters.

“The First Omen” (2024) 

Available on Hulu

For my money, the best horror movie of the calendar year. I saw “The First Omen” in theaters earlier this year and plan to revisit it this month. A prequel to a good-not-great 70s horror landmark, “The First Omen” reinvigorated not only “The Omen” franchise but also religious horror in the mainstream mere weeks before another film I quite enjoy “Immaculate” debuted. 

Bookmarked by one of the best opening scenes in a horror movie and one of the most horrifying final acts as well, this movie is carried on its shoulders and absolutely would not work without lead actress Nell Tiger Free’s complete commitment to her role, and director Arkasha Stevenson’s poise and maturity in her directorial feature debut. 

Though it does have a lot of similar beats to its original predecessor, I feel like “The First Omen” wears its influences on its sleeve in a way that is endearing and additive, rather than vapid and distracting. Beyond the original film, “The First Omen” also draws from films like “Possession,” “The Exorcist” and…

“Saint Maud” (2020) 

Available on Prime Video

Potentially the most plainly despairing movie of the last ten years, “Saint Maud” has been on my mind since I saw it. The final shot particularly, the final second even, has been burned into my brain. 

The movie lives and dies by Rose Glass’ supreme direction and Morfydd Clark’s excellent lead performance. In her directorial debut, Glass creates a world that doesn’t appear to be worth saving, worth preaching to or worth praying for. The streets are dark and rainy and the people are gross and predatory, Maud possibly the worst of all. 

As an ex-church-goer, religious horror is something I have always been drawn to. I just talked about “The First Omen,” I wrote about “Immaculate” at length last year, and “The Exorcist” is one of my all-time favorite movies. “Saint Maud” is kind of in its own lane, offering a film focused purely on the internal – and subliminally external – horror that the titular Maud is going through. 

If there was one movie I’ve talked about here today that you check out this Halloween season, I would hope that it is “Saint Maud.”