For Scares and Screams

It’s a bit late in the Halloween game, but for me, every night can end with watching a scary movie. I love horror movies, so I wanted to share my current top five of not-so-mainstream favorite scares:

1) Black Mirror (Netflix)

This series is billed as the Twilight Zone of our era. It’s not so much gory, but psychologically scary with its dark, indirect commentary about our society and technology. Each episode kept me guessing as to how it’s going to end for our heroes. (Hint: not too well.)

2) Tucker and Dale vs. Evil

First off, Alan Tudyk from Firefly, Serenity, and other awesome films/TV shows stars in this film, so I knew this was going to be good. It’s campy, gory, irreverent, scary, and funny.

3) Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon trailer

This story starts out as a film crew documenting a serial killer in training. The movie references slasher flicks before transitioning into that genre which the characters spent the entire film joking about. It’s smart, fun, and scary and gives the serial killer a three-dimensional, likable personality.

4) The Babadook

A single woman and her child release a dark spirit from the pages of a children’s book. It is one of the creepiest indie horror films I’ve seen in recent years. Great scares and a freaky ending.

5) Odd Thomas

The late Anton Yelchin stars in this scary adventure of a regular guy with clairvoyant abilities who encounters dark forces in his town. One of the most underrated horror movies in the last few years.