HALLOWEEN HOTLIST ’25

HALLOWEEN HORROR HOTLIST ’25

We are back for another ghoulish round of the most unsettling, mind-altering, feverishly diabolical list of Halloween Horror Movies to astound and debilitate your wicked souls. Once again, our most putrescent progeny bestow upon us their favorite spook-tastic picks, answering the age-old question “What is the one horror film that every mere mortal simply must witness?” Their answers have invoked a cadaverous cadre more splatterific, more bone-rattling, more phantasmagorical than ever before! So ready your rituals, steel your mind, and brace yourself… for the horrors that await below!

ACTUAL PEARLS: The Brood (1979)

“It’s so weird and sensitive and psychological.“
Where to watch: HBO MAX

A man tries to uncover an unconventional psychologist’s therapy techniques on his institutionalized wife, amidst a series of brutal murders.

ASSISTED LIVING: Cure (1997)

“A masterclass in tone, pacing and intention. All facets are so thoughtfully composed, not just the cinematography.
Preceded a renaissance in Japanese (and subsequently, western) horror at the turn of the century.

There are no jump scares, gratuitous gore, or heavy-handed sound design, but the movie is simultaneously beautiful, meditative, and incredibly unsettling. Dare I say: hypnotic. The film is in no rush to draw you in with curiosity/intrigue until you’re as a committed as the main character to figure out what the hell is going on. No exposition; no frenetic editing; no wild, unmotivated camera movements; neither ham-fisted with didactic intent nor embellished with esoteric pretension. No neat and tidy bow-tied denouement. Pure kino.

Mike also offered “Eaten Alive!” as trash pick”
Where to watch: Criterion Channel

A frustrated detective deals with the case of several gruesome murders committed by people who have no recollection of what they’ve done.

BEAUTY: Meatball Machine (2005)

“The wildest shit ever. Tetsuo the Iron Man but way more dumb”
Where to watch: YouTube

Full-throttle splatter-ific Japanese cyberpunk science fiction/horror at its most aggressive…

BIG BURLY: Bio-Zombie(1998)

“If Dawn of the Dead was filmed in an underground mall in Hong Kong and the nostalgia was updated to the late 90s aesthetic. It’s more silly than scary. And also makes you wish you still had your Game Boy camera…just watch it”
Where to watch: Archive.org

A group of young shoppers and employees must band together when a zombie outbreak over runs their Hong Kong shopping center in the middle of the shopping day.

BODY OF RESEARCH: Eyes Without A Face (1960)

Where to watch: HBO MAX

A surgeon causes a car accident which leaves his daughter disfigured and goes to extreme lengths to give her a new face.

BRUISE BATH: The Thing (1982)

“We’ve all seen it, all love it, and have all dipped a hot coat hanger in each others blood to make sure we’re not the thing.”
Where to watch: Archive.org, Shudder

A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.

CALEB FLOOD: Possession (1981)

Where to Watch: Pluto, Shudder

A woman starts exhibiting increasingly disturbing behavior after asking her husband for a divorce. Suspicions of infidelity soon give way to something much more sinister.

CONCRETE CAVEMAN: Bloody Muscle Body Builder In Hell (1995)

“A group of college kids in japan in the 90s prove once and for all you don’t need a million dollars to make a great and fun movie. You just gotta want it, work really hard and be insane. FFO of shlock, bad effects made with love by hand, slapstick, and evil dead.”
Where To Watch: Eternal Family, Shudder, Tubi

Trapped inside a haunted house, a body builder must save himself from a gruesome ghost hell-bent on revenge.

DIURETIC: Martyrs (2008)

“We took the still image from [Martyrs] for the art featured on our EP Martyrfucker”
Where to watch: Shudder, Tubi

A young woman’s quest for revenge against the people who kidnapped and tormented her as a child leads her and a friend, who is also a victim of child abuse, on a terrifying journey into a living hell of depravity.

DOG LIPS: The House By The Cemetery (1981)

“fuckin bob”
Where to watch: Archive.org, Shudder

A New England home is terrorized by a series of murders, unbeknownst to the guests that a gruesome secret is hiding in the basement.

DROOPIES: The Blob (1988)

“A big droopy terrorizes a town. The practical effects are brilliant and disgusting”
Where to watch: Shudder

A deadly entity from space crash-lands near a small town and begins consuming everyone in its path. Panic ensues as shady government scientists try to contain the horrific creature.

FALSE TRACKS: The Eight Immortals Restaurant: The Untold Story (1993)

“Way more subversively political (and fun) than you’d think for a Cat III HK slasher. I could say The Hills Have Eyes (1977) cause we have a song on the new record called that. And if you have been living under a rock with your mutated family for 50 years, go watch that”
Where to watch: Tubi

Macau cops begin to suspect a man running a pork buns restaurant of murder, after tracing the origin of a case full of chopped up human remains that washed ashore, which leads them to him.

FAMILY GARDEN: Pizza Party Massacre (2024)

“OHHHHHH YEAH!!!!”
Where to watch: Trailer

Petey Monahan, or as the bullies call him, “Pizza Face,” is a quiet, acne faced boy who loves working at his father’s pizza shop, Pizza World. But, after a childish prank goes awry, Petey gets trapped in a burning pizza delivery car and is left for dead…or so they thought.

IDIOT MAMBO: The Addiction (1995)

“It’s from the 90s it’s very grungey they use vampirism as a metaphor for addiction and gluttony.”
Where to watch: Shudder, YouTube

LIQUID CROSS: The Blair Witch Project (1999)

“Blair Witch Project. The terror felt real to me, and it still holds up as a reminder that so much can be done with only a little. Also the last image is burned in my brain and still gives me chills.
Bonus recs:
Jon: “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre when Leatherface slams the sliding metal door shut omfg.”
Travis: “EVIL DEAD A true visual treat for the eyes.”
Where to watch: Shudder, Tubi

Three film students vanish after traveling into a Maryland forest to film a documentary on the local Blair Witch legend, leaving only their footage behind.

MOROS: Weapons (2025)

“Well shit I think it’s gotta be weapons”
Where to watch: HBO MAX

When all but one child from the same class mysteriously vanish on the same night at exactly the same time, a community is left questioning who or what is behind their disappearance.

SANDCASTLE: The Iron Rose (1973)

“It’s a vibe”
Where to watch: Prime,

A young couple out for a walk decide to take a stroll through a large cemetery. As darkness begins to fall they realize they can’t find their way out, and soon their fears begin to overtake them.

SNOW CAPS: Get Out (2017)

“Get Out is a classic”
Where to watch: HBO MAX

A young African-American visits his white girlfriend’s parents for the weekend, where his simmering uneasiness about their reception of him eventually reaches a boiling point.

SPESIMIN: Island of Lost Souls (1932)

“Part man, part beast…thing!

Early adaptation of The Island of Doctor Moreau, with Charles Laughton having the time of his life hamming it up as the mad scientist ruling over his clan of human/animal hybrids, and featuring Bela Lugosi as a hairfaced proto-Wolfman. Since it’s pre-Hayes Code, the movie is heavy on the torture, cruelty, blasphemy and bestiality from the book, and doesn’t shy away from it’s social commentary or critique of colonialism either. It also just looks great, with amazing sets and creature design, and flies by at 71 minutes. It’s also the movie that our song Stubborn Beast Flesh was inspired by. What are ya waiting for?

Honorable mentions to hallucinatory giallo gore fest Autopsy (1975), haunting adolescent vampire tearjerker Let the Right One In (2008), and bonkers addiction allegory Brain Damage (1988), sure to please highbrow cinephiles and psychotronic goo-fiends alike.”
Where to watch: Archive.org

A mad doctor conducts ghastly genetic experiments on a remote island in the South Seas, much to the fear and disgust of the shipwrecked sailor who finds himself trapped there.

TLOOTH: Kill List (2011)

“As horrible as it gets, it still leaves the worst parts to your imagination.”
Where to watch: Shudder, Tubi

Nearly a year after a botched job, a hitman takes a new assignment with the promise of a big payoff for three killings. What starts off as an easy task soon unravels, sending the killer into the heart of darkness.

TRUCULENT: Nightbreed (1990)

“Gotta watch the directors cut. David Cronenberg is a super convincing psycho psychologist”
Where to watch: Prime, Shudder

A troubled young man is drawn to a mythical place called Midian where a variety of friendly monsters are hiding from humanity. Meanwhile, a sadistic serial killer is looking for a patsy.

WEBB CHAPEL: Mommie Dearest (1981)

“Faye Dunaway really throws the football on this one”
Where to watch: Paramount Plus