Fourteen Top Horror Movies/Shows | Kristin A. Oakley

With the days growing cooler and the leaves exploding with color, my daughter Jessica and I have been on a fire-in-the-fireplace, buttered-popcorn, horror-movie-watching binge. So, I’m sharing fourteen of my favorite horror movies and TV shows. Note: I’ll watch all horror except for shows that involve torture and rape. I had to stop watching season four of American Horror Story, and “Bring Her Back” for exactly that reason. And if the gore in a slasher movie is gratuitous, I’ll stop watching it.

I also have exciting news—my online bookstore is now live! Check it out and buy one of my four books for only $12.00!

Psychological Horror

My favorite type of horror is the kind that messes with your head. Often, the storylines include the ultimate betrayal by someone the main character trusts completely.

The Stepford Wives – a pretty young photographer (played by Katharine Ross) moves with her husband (Peter Masterson) and children to a neighborhood where she befriends a neighbor woman (Paula Prentiss). Her husband joins a men’s club. When the woman next door changes dramatically, the photographer suspects something sinister is happening at that club. This 1975 cult classic is based on Ira Levin’s 1972 novel. I don’t recommend the sequels.

Get Out – a young African-American photographer (Daniel Kaluuya) visits his white girlfriend’s family for the first time and worries they might be racists, then realizes they’re something else entirely. The acting in this horror flick is great, as is the directing by Jordan Peele.

The Forgotten – a woman (Julianne Moore) grieves for her nine-year-old son who died 14 months earlier in a plane crash only to be told she suffered a miscarriage and is imagining she had a son. Is she delusional, or is something else going on?

I have a similar story idea brewing in my head based on an incident that happened to me years ago. I was in Target, standing near the shopping carts, waiting for my daughter Jessica to get off her shift. I played on my phone while I waited, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw her walking toward me. When she was within ten feet of me, she veered away. I couldn’t believe she’d do that until I realized the woman wasn’t her. It got me thinking—what if it was her and she didn’t recognize me? What if no one recognized me?

Knock at the Cabin – a gay couple and their adopted daughter are vacationing at a cabin when four visitors arrive. The visitors demand the couple choose one of their family members to kill in order to save the world. The couple refuses, and all hell breaks loose (violence and gore warnings). This movie is based on the 2018 novel The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul G. Tremblay and does a better job with the story’s ending than the book does. (See my review comparing the book to the movie.)

Favorite Monster Movies (violence and gore warnings)

Split – a delusional man (James McAvoy) with multiple personalities imprisons three high school girls. Is he human or superhuman? The acting in this horror movie is amazing. McAvoy portrays nine distinct characters. In one memorable scene with his psychiatrist, he changes characters with nothing more than a look. It’s incredible.

World War Z – yep, zombies, but this Brad Pitt movie has a lead character who’s a clever hero willing to sacrifice himself to save the world. Plus, the makeup and special effects are so good (picture thousands of zombies climbing on each other to scale a 60-foot wall) it’s worth watching just for that. The novel written by Max Brooks inspired this movie.

A Quiet Place – this is the only movie I’ve ever been to where the audience in the theater was silent throughout the entire show—not even popcorn crunching sounds. Why? Because in this film, if you make a sound, no matter how slight, an alien will hear you and eat you. Directed by and starring John Krasinski and his wife Emily Blunt, this is a clever story of human resilience.

Jaws – another oldie but a goodie, this story stands the test of time. One unwilling hero (Roy Scheider) with two warring sidekicks (Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss) and a shark the size of the Titanic. What’s not to love? I liked this movie better than the book it’s based on (by Peter Benchley).

Favorite Jump Scares

The Haunting of Hill House – based upon Shirley Jackson’s 1959 novel, this movie has the scariest scene I’ve ever seen—seriously, I jump and scream every time I see it—and I know what’s coming. It’s the story of five siblings and the tragedies they face at Hill House. The tension between the siblings adds to the thrills.

Paranormal Activity – in this independent film, a haunted couple set up video cameras to record the supernatural happenings in their home. What follows is chilling. Oren Peli wrote, directed, filmed, and edited this movie for only $15,000. Paramount Pictures acquired the film for $350,000, changed the ending for another $200,000, and made almost $190,000,000, making it the most profitable movie ever made.

The Blair Witch Project – is described as a “found-footage, pseudo-documentary” in which three college students go to investigate the legend of the Blair Witch in the Appalachian Mountains. Another independent film, the acting is spot-on in this movie (though many people find the jiggling camera nauseating). This 1999 movie is still the scariest I’ve ever seen. I get chills just thinking about it.

Favorite Based on True Stories

Psycho – I had no idea this classic Alfred Hitchcock story was based upon the novel by Robert Bloch, which was loosely based on the life of murderer Ed Gein from Plainfield, Wisconsin. The shower scene is iconic, and the ending is incredibly shocking and creepy.

The Mothman Prophecies – there are countless documentaries about the mothman who visited Mount Pleasant, Ohio, led people to make prophecies, and was a harbinger of tragedy. The film starring Richard Gere and Laura Linney is well-acted, directed, and filmed and unnerves me every time I watch it.

The Conjuring – Ed and Lorraine Warren were paranormal investigators in the 1970s when they came to the aid of the Perron family, who were being haunted in their newly purchased farmhouse. This first movie spurred eight others and is the highest-grossing horror franchise in history. I haven’t seen all the films, but every one I’ve seen is definitely worth watching.

There you have it, fourteen horror films to watch (or re-watch) this spooky season. Do you have a favorite I haven’t listed? If so, be sure to let me know!