Well, October is right around the corner and my fellow horror movie fans will know what that means: It’s almost time for #31HorrorFilms31Days to begin! For those who aren’t familiar with it, #31HorrorFilms31Days is essentially exactly as it sounds – an online challenge that runs from October 1st – October 31st and asks participants to watch 31 horror films in those 31 days. You can read a little more about #31HorrorFilms31Days here.
Please note: Much like last year, I haven’t watched a single film included on this list before. I actually chose not to see a couple of these movies in theatres specifically so that I could save them for this year’s #31HorrorFilms31Days challenge. Because of this, I can’t promise that every movie on this list will be scary or even particularly ‘good’ or well-made, but I have spent the last few months consulting ‘Best Of’ horror movie lists and skimming movie reviews in a sincere attempt to create a diverse, inclusive list of quality horror movies from a variety of different countries, cultures and sub-genres with the hope that there’s at least one film on this year’s list that everyone can enjoy.
I would absolutely love it if you decided to watch along with me this year – You can follow along on my daily challenge and tweet me at @Pop_Reader, where I’ll be talking all about it using the hashtag #31HorrorFilms31Days! I’ll be watching the movies in the exact order you see listed in this post, so you can know what I’ll be watching on any given day in October and join me, should you like to. I really hope you will!
Released 2015
Director Daniel di Grado
Starring Amalia Holm, Molly Nutley, Felice JankellIMDB Summary
When Alena arrives at her new elite boarding school, Filippa and the other girls start to harass her. But Alena’s best friend Josefin won’t let her take anymore beating. If she won’t strike back, Josefin will do it for her. Hard.
Released 2017
Director John McPhail
Starring Ella Hunt, Malcolm Cumming, Sarah SwireIMDB Summary
A zombie apocalypse threatens the sleepy town of Little Haven – at Christmas – forcing Anna and her friends to fight, slash and sing their way to survival, facing the undead in a desperate race to reach their loved ones. But they soon discover that no one is safe in this new world, and with civilization falling apart around them, the only people they can truly rely on are each other.
Released 2018
Director Alex Garland
Starring Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tessa ThompsonIMDB Summary
A biologist signs up for a dangerous, secret expedition into a mysterious zone where the laws of nature don’t apply.
Released 2018
Director Gareth Evans
Starring Dan Stevens, Richard Elfyn, Paul HigginsIMDB Summary
In 1905, a drifter on a dangerous mission to rescue his kidnapped sister tangles with a sinister religious cult on an isolated island.
Released 2003
Director Jee-woon Kim
Starring Kap-su Kim, Jung-ah Yum, Soo-jung LimIMDB Summary
A family is haunted by the tragedies of deaths within the family.
Released 2018
Director Neil Jordan
Starring Isabelle Huppert, Chloë Grace Moretz, Maika MonroeIMDB Summary
A young woman befriends a lonely widow who’s harboring a dark and deadly agenda toward her.
Released 2017
Director Lukas Feigelfeld
Starring Aleksandra Cwen, Celina Peter, Claudia MartiniIMDB Summary
The dark legend of the young woman, Albrun, and her struggle to preserve her own sanity. Explores the fine line between ancient magic, faith and madness at a time when pagan beliefs in witches and nature spirits spread fear and terror in the minds of the rural population.
Released 2019
Director Christopher Landon
Starring Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard, Phi VuIMDB Summary
Tree Gelbman discovers that dying over and over was surprisingly easier than the dangers that lie ahead.
Released 2019
Director Scott Beck and Bryan Woods
Starring Katie Stevens, Will Brittain, Lauryn Alisa McClainIMDB Summary
On Halloween, a group of friends encounter an “extreme” haunted house that promises to feed on their darkest fears. The night turns deadly as they come to the horrifying realization that some nightmares are real.
Released 2018
Director Elle Callahan
Starring Isaac Jay, Jay Lee, Ashleigh MorghanIMDB Summary
A group of teenagers unknowingly summon a paranormal presence during their weekend trip to the Joshua Tree desert. This monster mimics their appearances to hide among them and seeks to separate them into groups of five to complete its deadly ritual.
Released 2019
Director Josh Lobo
Starring Scott Poythress, AJ Bowen, Susan BurkeIMDB Summary
A man descends into paranoia after trapping what he believes to be the devil in his basement, but things take a dark turn when his family unexpectedly arrive for Christmas.
Released 2017
Director Sergio G. Sánchez
Starring George MacKay, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie HeatonIMDB Summary
A young man and his three younger siblings, who have kept secret the death of their beloved mother in order to remain together, are plagued by a sinister presence in the sprawling manor in which they live.
Released 2019
Director Ari Aster
Starring Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor, Vilhelm BlomgrenIMDB Summary
A couple travels to Sweden to visit a rural hometown’s fabled mid-summer festival. What begins as an idyllic retreat quickly devolves into an increasingly violent and bizarre competition at the hands of a pagan cult.
Released 2013
Director Mike Flanagan
Starring Karen Gillan, Brenton Thwaites, Katee SackhoffIMDB Summary
A woman tries to exonerate her brother, who was convicted of murder, by proving that the crime was committed by a supernatural phenomenon.
Released 2017
Director Shin’ichirô Ueda
Starring Takayuki Hamatsu, Yuzuki Akiyama, Harumi ShuhamaIMDB Summary
Things go badly for a hack director and film crew shooting a low budget zombie movie in an abandoned WWII Japanese facility, when they are attacked by real zombies.
Released 1998
Director Hideo Nakata
Starring Nanako Matsushima, Miki Nakatani, Yûko TakeuchiIMDB Summary
A reporter and her ex-husband investigate a cursed video tape that is rumored to kill the viewer seven days after watching it.
Released 2004
Director Banjong Pisanthanakun, Parkpoom Wongpoom
Starring Ananda Everingham, Natthaweeranuch Thongmee, Achita SikamanaIMDB Summary
A young photographer and his girlfriend discover mysterious shadows in their photographs after a tragic accident. They soon learn that you can not escape your past.
Released 2009
Director Vincenzo Natali
Starring Adrien Brody, Sarah Polley, Delphine ChanéacIMDB Summary
Genetic engineers Clive Nicoli and Elsa Kast hope to achieve fame by successfully splicing together the DNA of different animals to create new hybrid animals for medical use.
Released 2018
Director François Simard and Anouk Whissell
Starring Graham Verchere, Judah Lewis, Caleb Emery, Rich SommerIMDB Summary
After suspecting that their police officer neighbor is a serial killer, a group of teenage friends spend their summer spying on him and gathering evidence, but as they get closer to discovering the truth, things get dangerous.
Released 2015
Director Oz Perkins
Starring Emma Roberts, Kiernan Shipka, Lucy BoyntonIMDB Summary
Two girls must battle a mysterious evil force when they get left behind at their boarding school over winter break.
Released 2019
Director Jim Jarmusch
Starring Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Tom Waits, Chloë SevignyIMDB Summary
The peaceful town of Centerville finds itself battling a zombie horde as the dead start rising from their graves.
Released 2019
Director Lee Cronin
Starring Seána Kerslake, James Quinn Markey, Kati OutinenIMDB Summary
A young mother living in the Irish countryside with her son suspects his increasingly disturbing behavior is linked to a mysterious sinkhole in the forest, and fears he may not be her son at all.
Released 2009
Director Ti West
Starring Jocelin Donahue, Tom Noonan, Mary WoronovIMDB Summary
In 1983, financially struggling college student Samantha Hughes takes a strange babysitting job that coincides with a full lunar eclipse. She slowly realizes her clients harbor a terrifying secret, putting her life in mortal danger.
Released 2017
Director Yorgos Lanthimos
Starring Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Barry KeoghanIMDB Summary
Steven, a charismatic surgeon, is forced to make an unthinkable sacrifice after his life starts to fall apart, when the behavior of a teenage boy he has taken under his wing turns sinister.
Released 2017
Director Brian O’Malley
Starring Charlotte Vega, Bill Milner, Eugene SimonIMDB Summary
1920, rural Ireland. Anglo Irish twins Rachel and Edward share a strange existence in their crumbling family estate. Each night, the property becomes the domain of a sinister presence (The Lodgers) which enforces three rules upon the twins: they must be in bed by midnight; they may not permit an outsider past the threshold; if one attempts to escape, the life of the other is placed in jeopardy.
Released 2018
Director Richard Shepard
Starring Allison Williams, Steven Weber, Logan BrowningIMDB Summary
When troubled musical prodigy Charlotte (Allison Williams) seeks out Elizabeth (Logan Browning), the new star pupil of her former school, the encounter sends both musicians down a sinister path with shocking consequences.
Released 2018
Director Jenn Wexler
Starring Chloë Levine, Jeremy Holm, Granit LahuIMDB Summary
Teen punks, on the run from the cops and hiding out in the woods, come up against the local authority – an unhinged park ranger with an axe to grind.
Released 2011
Director Pedro Almodóvar
Starring Antonio Banderas, Elena Anaya, Jan CornetIMDB Summary
A brilliant plastic surgeon, haunted by past tragedies, creates a type of synthetic skin that withstands any kind of damage. His guinea pig: a mysterious and volatile woman who holds the key to his obsession.
Released 2018
Director Emma Tammi
Starring Caitlin Gerard, Julia Goldani Telles, Ashley ZukermanIMDB Summary
A plains-woman faces the harshness and isolation of the untamed land in the Western frontier of the late 1800s.
Released 2019
Director Jordan Peele
Starring Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, Elisabeth MossIMDB Summary
A family’s serene beach vacation turns to chaos when their doppelgängers appear and begin to terrorize them.
Released 2018
Director Colin Minihan
Starring Hannah Emily Anderson, Brittany Allen, Martha MacIsaacIMDB Summary
Majestic mountains, a still lake and venomous betrayals engulf a female married couple attempting to celebrate their one-year anniversary.
