31 Movies to Die For: Complex's 2020 Horror Movie Marathon

Every year, I try to avoid it. No matter how much of a horror movie addict I proclaim to be, every year I end up falling short of watching a fraction of the horror flicks I want to enjoy during the month of October SPOOKY SZN. Without fail, I'd see folks on the timeline enjoying their Octobers, watching awesome horror movies every day. Hell, for the last few weeks, I've seen the homie Amanda hyping up her plans for a 2020 horror movie watch, and I decided to take action. I wanted to get on board as well. It's quarantine life for the foreseeable future, so why not dedicate myself to watching one movie a day during the best month of the year? I asked if it was OK and got the blessing, and made the commitment: I will be watching one horror movie a day—31 horror movies in total—during the month of October.

Now, I'm not 200(!) movies deep with it, but I did set up a Sheet to track the films I will be watching this month. I actually came up with a watchlist that has some semblance of a theme, week-to-week. That said, this particular feature will be updated day-to-day, with hopes that if you want to watch along, you can do so. The movies selected are a mix of classic horror movies I've seen, classic horror movies I have not seen, and a collection of newer releases in the horror genre. The aim? To dive into these selections and give you some honest insight, while enjoying a genre of film I can never seem to get enough of. It'll be fun looking at something like Jordan Peele's Us a year-plus after the hype has died down, or resurrecting classics like The Blob or some new films you've never heard of.

For you horror fans, jump scare fiends, and gory ghouls, hopefully there's something in here that you can connect with. And if you have suggestions on what you think I should be watching this month, shoot me an email with the subject HORROR MOVIE WATCH FEST. I'll see what can be arranged. Now that that's all out of the way, turn off the lights and turn on Complex's 2020 horror movie marathon.

'The Shining' (1980)

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Starring: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Scatman Crothers, Danny Lloyd

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes: 84 percent (Critics), 93 percent (Audience)

khalScore: Five out of five axes

Premise: This kid who can see shit that happens before it happens sees some insane shit happen when his daddy Jack Nicholson moves the family to The Overlook Hotel. Then said insane shit happens.

Where to Watch: YouTube Movies or Amazon Prime

It's been maybe three years since the last time I watching The Shining, after not having sat through the film in its entirety for what feels like 10-15 years. It was on a flight from L.A. to Philly, and I'd forgotten about the full-on, full-frontal that is on full display in Room 237 for what feels like miiiiinuuuuuuutes. The human body doesn't bother me, but I'm not sure what anyone around me in the cheap seats would be offended by. Truth be told, I wanted to rewatch this before screening the 2019 sequel Doctor Sleep (and with the Director's Cut now out, I guess you know what I'll be watching tomorrow), but you know how time is.

I never remember how long and intense Kubrick's film intros can be. I had 2001 one on months ago, and I had to make sure my speakers weren't on the fritz. Those helicopter shots in the beginning, set to those themes with the Pink Floyd "Echoes"-esque wails were...off-putting.

The idea that Jack Nicholson was Kubrick's first choice to play Jack Torrance comes to no surprise; I love Robin Williams, and would have loved to have seen him attempt something like this so early in his career, but I think Nicholson was crafted to play this role at that time for Kubrick. If they remake this, though, let me get Joaquin in this role on some real depths of humanity type shit.

I could probably watch an entire film of just people walking down those long hallways or riding Big Wheels on wooden floors with accent rugs. I'm also into the slow pans into the mind-boggling maze of this facility, both as a horrific entity and as a structure. Nicholson navigating through this hellish funhouse is the perfect demented ringleader, but...I have to be honest.

I love this film. It's art. It's also disturbing AF. Kubrick's a master at forcing you to look at the oddity for longer than your stomach can take it, even if it's two white guys in a bathroom discussing what needs to be done with the "nigger cook" (who still has to die, for some reason). That line cut me deeper than any of the visuals in this one, of which there are some that still haunt me (most of them have to do with blood cascading out of elevators, or any time Shelley Duvall helplessly wails and runs. There's so much going on in her eyes in every scene, you can just see the fear building higher and higher with each swipe of Jack's bullshit copy.

[Ed note: Why was she so mortified when she saw dude in the animal costume and mask with the guy in the suit in the one room?]

The thing is, at this point, I'm past being able to get lost in the mindfuck of a story, or just genuinely being frightened. I'm critiquing Danny Lloyd's line reads (which are hilarious until the REDRUM scene, which is some of the most terrifying shit I'd ever seen for the longest time), or falling in love with how the camera moved with Jack's ax swings into the bathroom door, as opposed to staying static while he went off. It's art for art's sake at this point; it just happens to be within the horror genre, birthing styles that are still being utilized to this day.

I'm almost tempted to pick up the book this was based on just to get the full story—with Stephen King and Kubrick famously falling out over how the film deviates from the source material, it's always interesting to read the film in different ways...one with Jack's alcoholism being the downfall, or if The Overlook is really messing with people's minds. Thinking back to Doctor Sleep, it's obviously the latter, but after watching true crime like American Murder: The Family Next Door, you never know what drives people to do horrific acts. I guess that's the point. —khal

'Doctor Sleep (Director's Cut)' (2019)

Director: Mike Flanagan

Starring: Ewan McGregor, Rebecca Ferguson, Kyliegh Curran, Cliff Curtis

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes: 77 percent (Critics), 89 percent (Audience)

khalScore: Three-and-a-half empty bottles of Whiskey

Premise: This kid who can see shit that happens before it happens turned into a grown-ass man who can see shit that happens before it happens. He befriends a little girl who can see shit that happens before it happens, and they do battle against some mystical queen. Somehow this all ends up back at The Overlook.

Where to Watch: Amazon Prime and HBO Max

I know what you're thinking: "Hopefully this fool isn't just talking about this film and The Shining because he just watched it." Sorry, it's that type of party, but only because of how dedicated Mike Flanagan is in maintaining the spirit of The Shining. I remember going to the Screening Room at the Bryant Park Hotel (remember going to see movies with other people?). When the theme from the first film hit and we got those LONG ASS SHOTS of water and mountains and things surrounding The Overlook, I remember grinning. I hadn't realized how much I loved the universe Kubrick created until I got to revisit it as an adult. That said, I wish more of you checked this film out; it quietly hit theaters on November 8 of 2019, and in the shadow of whatever Joker was doing at that point, it felt like Doctor Sleep came and went. It was only right that, if I'm to do this horror movie marathon properly, I have to give Doctor Sleep a whirl, one day removed from rewatching The Shining. I'm not sure if the three-hour-and-one-minute Director's Cut (which adds roughly 30 minutes to Doctor Sleep's runtime) was the move for a random Friday morning, but I'd heard that the Director's Cut was the best way to watch the film, so let's dive in.

Now, ya'll know damn well you didn't have to do that to Violet (who was played by Violet McGraw, aka Young Nell from Flanagan's Netflix series The Haunting of Hill House). Also, with everyone catching their shower ghost lackin', I'm kind of surprised all of the bathroom ghost play in this film hasn't blown up. And how come, when all the wild shit starts going down, it happens in Jersey? And how much did Jacob Tremblay want to play Baseball Boy? What a quick check for such a horrific scene!

I will say: watching the Director's Cut isn't essential to the film. If we're keeping it a buck, at 152 minutes, the original film is already a heavy lift. What's important is the additions we're given to the backstory of Abra as a child interacting with her parents. There's a lot of great stuff tucked into these new scenes that made this viewing experience much more satisfying, especially when you look at this as more of a companion piece to The Shining as opposed to merely being a sequel. Maybe that's why I appreciate it more; instead of just retreading those steps, there's a real connection between this film and the first; while not nearly as terrifying as The Shining, this film is for those of you who love what Kubrick did to the source material and want to get lost in The Overlook once again. —khal

'The Lighthouse' (2019)

Director: Robert Eggers

Starring: Robert Pattinson, Willem Dafoe

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes: 90 percent (Critics), 72 percent (Audience)

khalScore: 3.5 out of 5 sea birds

Premise: A young lighthouse operator goes crazy while living in a lighthouse with a crazy person. He may have cursed himself(?).

Where to Watch: Amazon Prime

I want to preface this by saying I'm making myself watch Robert Eggers The Lighthouse. I wasn't as big of a fan of The VVitch, although I do respect the insanity of it all, his art direction, and the lengths he goes to make sure everything is era-appropriate. Dude's using specific cameras and film to capture this era...but I my problem with that film, and moreso with this film, is that it feels like they go so deep into nailing the period that they end up giving us a creepy tale that feels like on anything that makes stories work.

Honestly, if I hadn't already set up to watch Doctor Sleep, I would've followed up The Shining with The Lighthouse. Good companion pieces, in terms of some psychological horror and men behaving ridiculously (with axes!), but honestly, I felt like the mystery and intrigue with The Shining and its scenario is way more exciting than The Lighthouse, which feels like two guys drinking themselves into destruction. I'd seen Eggers mention that, with The Lighthouse, he was "more about questions than answers," which is cool until you have to decipher why Wake (Dafoe) tells this awesome speech while being buried alive (dirt all over his mouth) only to then spring out of a grave, dirt-free, and axe a man in the shoulder.

I can't imagine what drinking turpentine (mixed with honey) can do to the body or the mind, but I also am unsure on if this island is haunted or if dude's just going crazy in his own head. Either way, I'm firmly planted in the "I like what I see, but maybe The Lighthouse isn't for me" camp. Great performances in what must have been a challenging environment, though. —khal

'The Pale Door' (2020)

Director: Aaron B. Koontz

Starring: Devin Druid, Zachary Knighton, Melora Walters, Bill Sage, Pat Healy, Stan Shaw, Natasha Bassett, Noah Segan, Tina Parker

Rating: NR

Rotten Tomatoes: 50 percent

khalScore: One and a half reanimated crows

Premise: A Western horror where a band of train robbers gets lost in a ghost town.

Where to Watch: YouTube Movies

Truth be told, I'd heard about this film before I'd seen any reviews, and was on-board when I heard this was a "Western horror". I didn't know what the hell that was, did I? Either way, I was interested off those two words being put together.

I wish I'd seen the Rotten Tomatoes score first. What an awkwardly un-Western looking batch of whatever these folks were supposed to be. Even the jokers with beards looked too clean-shaven to be proper train robberts and cowboys. And why was there only one Black guy and one Native American guy in this town? Also, where did they get some of the themes for this film? There's one brooding cut arly on that's hard, but the stuff playing when the brothel turns into Witch Central sounds like it was taken from some random early PSX game.

It's hard to tell if The Pale Door knows what it wants to be. At times, it's taking itself seriously...until it's time for dialogue. There's a decent amount of B-movie humor in here, but it's hard to tell if the film wants to be tongue-in-cheek or serious gorefest set in the West. The Witch storyline is decent enough but everything kind of feels underdeveloped. In a world where Westworld has gone to painstaking lengths to bring forth a realistic Wild West to the small screen, you'd hope that others could make this feel a bit grittier.

[Ed note: Can someone recommend a good movie that explains how witches work in a horror setting? Are these women witches? They are able to crawl on the ceiling and jump around and seem to be mad powerful, but are also as easy to kill as a single bullet or stabbing in the head?]

Now there's a reveal (I hesitate on calling it "big") towards the end of this film that seems to be...pointless? I dunno, they give you a huge dose of backstory that ends up being something to help this guy Jacob get out of his own head, but realistically? Nothing seems to hinge on the story itself, and for what it's worth, they more than likely could've given him his confidence without this weird "our family is corrupt AF" situation.

That's not to say there isn't cool shit in here; anything that has to do with blood or gore looks realistic. The witches are also creepy beats; if they had the budget to really make them come to life, this film may have been better. —khal

'Black Christmas' (2019)

Director: Sophia Takal

Starring: Imogen Poots, Lily Donoghue, Aleyse Shannon, Brittany O'Grady, Caleb Eberhardt, Cary Elwes

Rating: PG-13

Rotten Tomatoes: 39 percent (Critics), 31 percent (Audience)

khalScore: Two DivaCups out of five

Premise: It's a battle of the sexes at Hawthorne College this holiday season.

Where to Watch: Amazon Prime

It was only within the last few years that I'd see 1974's Black Christmas, a tiny Canadian horror film that is probably best known for that "the call is coming from inside the house" bit. I'm not one of the biggest stans of the film, but it definitely holds a place in my heart as a shocking holiday horror flick. I wanted to like the updated Blumhouse version but...I'm not sure if this is it.

Now don't get me wrong; this film is right up my alley. A group of feminist sorority sisters who are sticking it to the shitty dudes on campus? Here for it, especially when Riley (Imogen Poots, who I mostly remember from the excellent Green Room) joins the squad for a special Christmas number. Like many Blumhouse ~90-minute flicks (especially those that hover the PG-13 lane) are quick with the snappy dialogue, and overall, the story makes sense. That doesn't mean this actually works as a film.

I'm just going to go ahead and say it: this didn't need to be to carry the Black Christmas title. Again, I'm no Black Christmas cult fan—it's a solid film. But that film was also about one demented MF who was creeping on this sorority house during Winter Break; this Black Christmas didn't even need to be set around Christmas! It may have made that one awesome song fit with the time of year in the film, but you could've had this set around Thanksgiving Break or Spring Break and had relatively the same film. And also, with this being a PG-13 horror flick, it's awkward to hear so many almost-curses or how little blood splatter or gore there is. Those things aren't necessary for a good horror film, but not having those things around make that PG-13 rating stand all the way out.

The tone of the film is off as well, in some spots. It tried to hark back to the source material—bozo cops, slowly panning over expertly-staged corpses, murder with Christmas lights—but it was hard to tell if this wanted to be as funny or goofy as it ends up being at times. For example, why is everyone basically laying out the real situation to Riley for her to be like "um I don't know if that's the case"? It's hard to say. I'm also not very concerned about it. The film is cool but it doesn't feel like it even knew what it wanted to do. Kudos to not killing off the Black folks in the film, but maybe next time we figure out a way to not need to shoe-horn very necessary conversations into a ham-fisted "holiday horror" flick.

We still cool, Blumhouse? —khal

'Gretel & Hansel' (2020)

Director: Oz Perkins

Starring: Sophia Lillis, Sam Leakey, Charles Babalola, Jessica De Gouw, Alice Krige

Rating: PG-13

Rotten Tomatoes: 65 percent (Critics), 23 percent (Audience)

khalScore: Two sharpened axes out of five

Premise: The Brothers Grimm "Hansel & Gretel (Oz Perkins Remix)"

Where to Watch: Amazon Prime, YouTube Movies

I will say, this is the first film to really feel like some HALLOWEEN ish. A classic fairytale like Hansel & Gretel getting a remake in 2020 by Oz Perkins, aka the son of Psycho star Anthony Perkins who has a passion for horror? I first got put on to his horror work courtesy of 2017's The Blackcoat's Daughter, which is a) currently streaming on Netflix and b) FUCKED UP. (I also wasn't happy with how that film ended, so I am prepared for...anything.)

Before we get to deep into this film, I do want to say that I really rock with Sophia Lillis. Even if the projects she is featured in aren't the truth, she always is. (Which reminds me, I still need to finish watching I Am Not Okay with This, the Netflix series she starred in earlier this year.)

Are we familiar with the story of Hansel & Gretel? I mean, I always knew that it was about a witch who lured some kids in to eat them, but its hard to tell if some of these situations are from Oz's script or if they were in the original text and got homogenized out over the years. Either way, Gretel has to go through some SHIT very early on. What a scary time to be alive, BEFORE THE WITCHCRAFT.

Do we know what time this was supposed to have taken place? Why do Hansel and Gretel speak so differently? And there's a random Black Englishman around as well? Why does the witch speak in such bar'd up riddles? ("Think less, my pretty, and know more" is insane.) Maybe it's just an Oz Perkins thing. He has an eye for impressive imagery—the way he shoots Gretel walking down a forest path, with all of the trees enveloping her, will never get old. And Rob's score, which is a gorgeous array of haunting melodies, fits perfect with this flick, which ends up being more macabre wonder than outright horror.

It's an interesting flick; with an 87 minute runtime, it feels a lot longer than it truly is. That might be due to the aforementioned imagery; the pacing and overall story don't seem to have been paid as much attention as to how this tale would unfold visually. Think about it: if this witch has had a successful time eating the young, why would this pair give her such a challenge? Does she always toy with her meals before eating, or did she see something different in this duo? The way the witch and Gretel's stories unfold is slick, but this feels more like an exercise in recreating random fairytale splash pages on-screen. That image might be impeccable, but it still needs a dope story surrounding it.

That said, I may still recommend this film. This isn't at the top of my artsy horror appreciation side, but if I'm going strictly for Halloween frights that are more eerie and disturbing than vomit-inducing and horrific, Gretel & Hansel might be a solid late(r)-night Halloween popcorn chomper. —khal

'Vampires vs. The Bronx' (2020)

Director: Oz Rodriguez

Starring: Jaden Michael, Gerald W. Jones III, Gregory Diaz IV, Coco Jones

Rating: PG-13

Rotten Tomatoes: 93 percent (Critics), 53 percent (Audience)

khalScore: Three Sammy Sosa bats out of five

Premise: A group of kids in The Bronx have to defend their block from a gang of gentrifying vampires.

Where to Watch: Netflix

What a dope film. I'm not sure why the Audience score is so low, honestly; maybe it depends on who you are. If you're a person of color from somewhere like The Bronx, where gentrification runs rampant, you gotta feel this. Hell, if you're a person of color who has always assumed that one family member secretly knew when the zombie apocalypse was coming, this film is for you.

I don't even want to go too ham in reviewing this film because we already did, but it is dope to see Mero get to do some solo acting work, especially in a role that's perfect for him. I'm not sure what it is about PG-13 horror, but it looks like there's space for teen-appropriate frights in the world. In a film that isn't one thing, that's more than enough, and can help ease you into the ish that we'll be covering very soon.

[Ed note: It's interesting to also look at how Vampires did something for Netflix's B-horror section that 2019's See You Yesterday couldn't do for Netflix's sci-fi section. See You was more daring, visually, but Vampires ultimately gave you a fuller story. Not saying one is necessarily better than the other—they both have intriguing jobs to do—but I love how Vampires felt realer than other films set amongst our people.] —khal

'Swallow' (2020)

Director: Carlo Mirabella-Davis

Starring: Haley Bennett, Austin Stowell, Elizabeth Marvel, David Rasche, Denis O'Hare

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes: 89 percent (Critics)

khalScore: Four thumb tacks out of five

Premise: A woman who feels isolated in her marriage and life decides to start binging and purging shit she shouldn't be eating, like marbles and what not.

Where to Watch: Amazon Prime

I was back and forth on including this film. It's technically considered a "psychological thriller" and not a horror, although finding reviews with the word "horror" in their title isn't hard. And with so much horror having desensitized me to proper frights, the worst experience is the squirm knowing that a self-destructive person couldn't help but swallow a marble to feel whole. The horrors we can (and do) inflict on our own bodies can be worse than the more graphic flicks you may see on this list.

Swallow also highlights what happens when someone is neglected enough by a family who has enough money to keep things hidden. The fact that Hunter (who's brilliantly portrayed by The Devil All the Time star Haley Bennett) is left to fend for herself in moments when she needs a helping hand most is the true American horror story. It's a terrible predicament, especially for a pregnant woman, but not having the people most important to your life and the life of your baby truly looking after you, that's how unfortunate things like what Swallow lays out happens.

This is one of the most beautiful films I've seen all year. Proper art. The way colors are placed throughout scenes tells a story all its own. All of the framing of Hunter in red is so striking and essential. It's also one of the saddest. I felt for Hunter and how the world's turned her into someone it then can't handle. That's the worst horror of them all. —khal

'Body Cam' (2020)

Director: Malik Vitthal

Starring: Mary J. Blige, Nat Wolff, David Zayas, David Warshofsky, Demetrius Grosse, Anika Noni Rose

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes: 44 percent (Critics and Audience)

khalScore: One distorted body cam recording out of five

Premise: A police department is haunted after the murder of a Black youth, and it's up to Mary J. Blige to save the day.

Where to Watch: Amazon Prime, Sling

Hollywood never stopped making horror set in the hood; most of it just isn't that good. Body Cam, which stars Mary J. Blige (Power Book II: Ghost, Mudbound) and Nat Wolff (Death Note) as two cops caught up in a ghost story built out of a Black Lives Matter tragedy ripped out of the headlines. It wants to be a #message movie, but it's really just a ghost story stitched around a Black boy being murdered by the police.

You don't know that at first. At first, Mary J. Blige squints a lot at odd things happening in their town. The film's color scheme is so bleak; I know shit is real in the field, but so much of this film takes place in the shadows that even when it's daytime, they find a way to miss any direct sunlight it seems. What's sad is that Mary is better at acting than she's given credit for, but this tale did her no favors. She spends most of the movie stumbling into figuring out the cause of the ghost tale at the center of the film, and even then, the reveal is just the reveal. We don't get to know much in the way of how one event turned into this story; it's a deep sentiment, and something that probably is handled better on shows like Lovecraft Country, but even then you have to be a capable storyteller to not make that kind of premise sound hokey AF. Body Cam didn't capture it, but there's no way this was going to.

This film came and went this year, which meant I had to see it. It could possibly be the third-worst film I've seen this year, preceded only by John Henry, which starred Terry Crews as Luke Cage minus the superpowers, and The Turning, which I'm not sure had a real ending. Body Cam has a beginning, middle, and end; it just doesn't have a point.

Body Cam made me wish that Jordan Peele had a bigger creative hand on The Twilight Zone; this could've been a much better hour-long episode of late(r)-night television. Or it could've just stayed the as the first tale in the first Tales From the Hood film. Or am I tripping? —khal

'The Lodge' (2020)

Director(s): Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala

Starring: Riley Keough, Jaeden Martell, Lia McHugh, Alicia Silverstone, Richard Armitage

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes: 74 percent (Critics), 51 percent (Audience)

khalScore: Two-and-a-half broken generators out of five.

Premise: Two kids get stranded with a woman who survived a suicide cult. Fun ensues.

Where to Watch: Hulu, Amazon Prime

I enjoyed The Lodge more than I thought I would originally, but that's primarily because of Riley's performance. This film is really just her descent into madness—gaslit by a couple of shitty little kids, mind you—that is on par with a film I just heard hit theaters in the UK, Saint Maud (although Saint Maud low-key merks everything and it's hard to talk about great horror in 2020 without mentioning it. The problem is most people haven't been able to see it. Props to the pre-COVID screening run we were on).

The Lodge bored me early on. I didn't understand why the kids were this shitty. I guess having your mom take her own life over your dad leaving her for a woman he researched during a book on cults is odd, but I still can't grasp why they'd let it get to this length. Like even if you're a sick individual and you let a prank go too far, this is like WAY too far. And it ends appropriately, which is always appreciated. But this could have been avoided VERY early on.

Sometimes, you poke the bear too many times and that bear will show you why it's a bear. That's essentially what this film is in a very slick, way too drawn out way. All of that said, Give Riley More Work. She's been ready. Whenever this is all over and things are normal, give Riley those looks. —khal

'Night of the Living Dead' (1968)

Director: George A. Romero

Starring: Judith O'Dea, Duane Jones, Marilyn Eastman, Karl Hardman, Judith Ridley, Keith Wayne

Rating: NR

Rotten Tomatoes: 97 percent (Critics), 87 percent (Audience)

khalScore: Four and a half oozing zombie skulls out of five

Premise: Zombies are here and fucking everything up.

Where to Watch: Amazon Prime, Tubi

Night of the Living Dead may have been a film I'd only seen in full once before. I don't remember what was going on at the time, but I definitely remember being intensely watching—and enjoying—the beginning of this film, then kind of wandering off later on. That was more or less the situation now, but that's just because I have to retrain my mind for the pacing of some of these films. Today, I can nail the beats of, say, a quick 90-minute Blumhouse flick. Back then? You didn't know where the hell these films were going. Think of how this film starts...

A couple of siblings are driving along when all of the sudden a fucking zombie rushes in (and do I mean RUSHES—the zombies I've seen over the years are hella lethargic, some just aimlessly/endlessly walking in direction of food. This film? Ya man jumped right in), killed the brother, then gave the sister great chase. At one point, she gets in a car and locks both doors. Ya mans PICKS UP A BRICK AND SUCCESSFULLY BREAKS OPEN A WINDOW. It's insane to see how zombies were rocking back in 1968 is all I'm trying to say.

But just as soon as you think the film will be centered on this woman's journey to survive this zombie wave, it ends up being about Ben (Duane Jones) a guy who'd been battling zombies seemingly before this woman got bumrushed by a zombie. Ben's Black, but not as some kind of political statement [Ed note: Having a Black man cast as the lead in any film, let alone a horror film, was relatively unheard of]; Romero just said Jones was the best out of the actors who auditioned. What's dope is, even if that's true, that casting still ends up becoming a controversial statement, or at the very least something someone can read into years later. Peace to Ben, who definitely had to be forceful when coralling all of these folks together, but also realized that he couldn't help a situation if he was just yelling in white people's faces all night long.

With that said, the fact that this doesn't have a happy ending is what knocks it down a peg for me. It's so tragic, and so excellent, and I want to give it Five Out Of Five Oozing Zombie Skulls, but THAT MOMENT hits me square in the gut. Shouts to George Romero for turning this into a franchise. Excellent film. —khal

'Us' (2019)

Director: Jordan Peele

Starring: Lupita Nyong'o, Winston Duke, Elisabeth Moss, Tim Heidecker

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes: 93 percent (Critics), 59 percent (Audience)

khalScore: Two-and-a-half golden scissors out of five

Premise: A family is overrun with...themselves.

Where to Watch: HBO Max, Hulu, Amazon Prime

The last time I tried to watch Us, I stopped before it got to the big battle. I remember this film feeling off to me when I first saw it. If I'm not mistaken, I went to a screening of Us, then rewatched Get Out (which I plan to do again) a few days later just to see what I missed. Get Out was still as good as I remembered it being, but Us felt off. I remember overall liking it, but it felt off. I also immediately had a theory on what the film meant, and seeing as we are in a political year, and wanted to rewatch this to see if my theory still feels right.

While I did know that Yahya was destined for big things, I totally missed the "tether" reference in the very beginning. That little clip before the carnival stuff starts is hella vital to getting a jagged picture of the lore of the Tethers, IMO. It's just bits and pieces of information that are quickly retained, but not given a lot of context (which kind of feels like the big reveal of what the Tether really are, TBH). All of this is key; I knew it then, but I see it more on repeat viewings. I still don't get it (lol), but I see more of it. Also, possibly the saddest thing to happen in the beginning is that Adelaide's mom really knows that she will wander off—it's why she's so insistent on them being aware of each other. It's heartbreaking because her greatest nightmare came true...in the most fucked up way ever.

Us feels like Peele's ultimate horror homage. Its set at a lake, has kids drawing creepy shit, ironic needle drops, mildly sociopolitical refrences, home invasions, dopplegangers...the list truly goes on. It doesn't add up to much in terms of a cohesive, or at times sensical plot, but there are a number of fire moments. He even created a twisted lore—one that falls apart the more complex it gets. With a film like The Lodge, we know that the woman has issues with her cult upbringing and we understand why poking that would lead to ultimate violence. With Night of the Living Dead, zombies are attacking and need to be stopped. It's simple. I'm still not sure where the family could even go—the Tethers were spread across America. How much time could this family have, realistically?

Back to my theory, though, which feels pointless after another full rewatch. Similar to Night of the Living Dead, this is a story where the main character is Black, but it's not a Black story. When asked who they are, Red (Adelaide's tether) replies "we're Americans." We could get deep into the theory I have about how Peele has Us mirroring America's political system, one that runs red while the other is true blue. One keeping their family in tact while the other is leading a legion of the downtrodden in structured combat. The problem with Us is that once you peel back those layers and try to peer deeper into the film's lore, something big feels missing and that ultimately makes the rest of the film crumble. —khal

'Get Out' (2017)

Director: Jordan Peele

Starring: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Bradley Whitford, Caleb Landry Jones, Stephen Root, Catherine Keener

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes: 98 percent (Critics), 86 percent (Audience)

khalScore: Four-and-a-half cotton balls out of five.

Premise: Rich white liberals are really out here trying to be Black.

Where to Watch: Amazon Prime, YouTube Movies

Now that's more like it. There isn't even a lot that needs to be said about Get Out. Yeah, it's still as dope as you imagined. Peele really takes it there, from the color schemes to the entire Sunken Place scene through how the groundskeeper guy talks to Chris. I still find new things or read lines a different way on repeat viewings. There were a few observations this time round.

First off, interest to see that both Get Out and Us not only feature abductions in the opening scenes, but they also feature rabbits (Get Out had "Run Rabbit Run" playing in the beginning, while Us has ALL OF THE CAGED RABBITS in the beginning) and bird's eye views of cars driving down roads. Don't mind me; I'm just picking stuff up.

There is one more thing I have to mention: Caleb Landry Jones. That MF is scary. He was scary in this, he's even more frightening in Tyrel, and I really dig this side of him. Again, I always noticed he was on edge, but I guess I just now realized that he might be drinking to try and cope with the mental gymnastics his parents put him through? Eerie AF either way.

But yeah, rewatch this one. —khal

'Def By Temptation' (1990)

Director: James Bond III

Starring: James Bond III, Kadeem Hardison, Bill Nunn, Samuel L. Jackson, Minnie Gentry, Rony Clanton, John Canada Terrell, Cynthia Bond

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes: 40 percent (Audience)

khalScore: Three mixed drinks out of five

Premise: That fine woman at the end of the bar? That's a succubus!

Where to Watch: Amazon Prime, YouTube Movies

Back in the day, cable television was the shit...especially when you're kind of young and watching movies on Showtime that are more adult than you're used to, but you love shows like A Different World and films like Do the Right Thing, and seeing Kadeem Hardison and Bill Nunn randomly trying to figure out why the hot woman at the bar seems to be disappearing the guys she's taking home.

Dropping in 1990, this film was odd back then. It was rare to get horror films with predominately Black casts; it probably helped that the film's star, James Bond III, also write, directed, and produced this one on some Spike Lee shit. It feels like a low-budget film (how much RED LIGHT is used in this flick?), but that's how I like it, especially when it's totally '90s. I feel like this also may have been one of the few times I saw Kadeem and Bill together—they were both in Spike's School Daze, and it is dope to have Kadeem's character K specifically call on Nunn's Dougy for help.

Ultimately, it's kind of bugged out that this film hasn't received more praise. It has a message—temptation can literally kill you—and was a rare Black horror film during a time where Black folk usually died before the second scene. You'd almost think more heads would study this film or at least take inspiration from it and move deeper into this kind of lane. We need more of it. —khal

'The People Under The Stairs' (1991)

Director: Wes Craven

Starring: Brandon Adams, Everett McGill, Wendy Robie, A. J. Langer

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes: 64 percent (Critics), 58 percent (Audience)

khalScore: Four shotgun shells out of five

Premise: Two street cats try to hit a lick in the suburbs and end up getting trapped in a whole nightmare.

Where to Watch:

This is probably the film I've watched the most on this list. Again, it's another one of those flicks that featured Black folks as stars, featuring a story where a couple of cats (including Brandon Adams, who you'd seen in The Sandlot, A Different World, and anything else in the '90s that needed some rico suave ass lil kid in it and Ving Rhames, who doesn't get a Starring credit because...yeah) from the 'hood try and catch some random family slipping. They went for the gold, but ended up getting caught up in some SHIT.

Oh, and it's Wes Craven, so it's freaky AF. Like, I was scared to go into certain houses because I didn't know if someone would be suited up from head to toe in zippers and leather carrying a shottie and holding a dog's leash. Kudos to Craven for getting Everett McGill and Wendy Robie to play the crazy psycho white folks at the center of this tale; rewatching Twin Peaks during quarantine made me realize that they'd essentially continued their twisted relationship from Lynch's cult classic series and turned it on its ear here.

A couple trapping MFs in the house? A band of mute men just making wailing sounds from the basement? One of them escaping and traveling through the walls? It's frightening, especially to be a little Black kid seeing a little Black kid go through this hell. I wasn't ready for it, and the way the film unfolds, it caught me off guard. I respect it, but goddamn.

Sure, I've seen worse horror since, but the sense of "oh you thought it was one way? Well it's the other way" was on full display. Word to Wes for turning a real-life horror story into this film, even if it still fucks me up to this day. —khal

'Candyman' (1992)

Director: Bernard Rose

Starring: Virginia Madsen, Tony Todd, Xander Berkeley, Kasi Lemmons

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes: 75 percent (Critics), 62 percent (Audience)

khalScore: Three-and-a-half hooks out of five

Premise: A woman who studies urban legends gets entangled in one modern myth that takes place in Chicago's Cabrini-Green projects.

Where to Watch: Hulu

This may be one of my favorite horror films of all time. That might be because it's one of the first where I saw a Black monster. I don't even want to disrespect the OG Candyman like that. How is the idea that a slave who got tortured and had his hand cut off CAME BACK TO TERRORIZE THE IDIOTS WHO KEPT HIS NAME IN THEIR MOUTHS?!?!

I actually have to watch when I play this at the house; the Mrs. can't listen to Tony Todd talking about splitting anything from the groin to the gullet (yikes). Also, that score! The organs are some of the most haunting shit ever. This film also made the projects the scariest place alive, regardless of if it was because actual gangbangers were in there or if Candyman (who the gangbangers ended up appropriating) was in there, doing his bidding. I wonder what wifey would say if she saw Candyman in that floor-length coat; Candyman's gotta be up there for flyest horror villain, right?

I was actually primed and ready for the "spiritual sequel" to Candyman that Nia DaCosta directed (and is now set to drop in 2021), starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. For those wondering, his character in the film (Anthony McCoy) was saved by Helen at the end of the film; that's why Vanessa Estelle Williams is back. If you aren't that deeply involved in this story, you better run this one back, ASAP. Oh and peace to Kasi Lemmons. —khal

'Tales From the Hood 3' (2020)

Director: Rusty Cundieff

Starring: Tony Todd, Lynn Whitfield, Cooper Huckabee

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes: 27 percent (Audience)

khalScore:

Premise: Creepshow 3, but Black.

Where to Watch:

TK —khal

'The Gate' (1987)

Director: Tibor Takács

Starring: Stephen Dorff, Louis Tripp, Christa Denton

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes: 55 percent (Critics), 44 percent (Audience)

khalScore:

Premise: A couple of young suburban kids open a gateway to hell after listening to that dag-blasted heavy metal music.

Where to Watch: Amazon Prime

TK —khal

'The Thing' (1982)

Director: John Carpenter

Starring: Kurt Russell

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes: 85 percent (Critics), 92 percent (Audience)

khalScore:

Premise:

Where to Watch: Hulu, Amazon Prime

TK —khal

'Friday the 13th' (1980)

Director: Sean S. Cunningham

Starring: Betsy Palmer, Adrienne King, Harry Crosby, Laurie Bartram, Mark Nelson, Jeannine Taylor, Robbi Morgan, Kevin Bacon

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes: 64 percent (Critics), 61 percent (Audience)

khalScore:

Premise:

Where to Watch: Amazon Prime

TK —khal

'The Evil Dead' (1981)

Director: Sam Raimi

Starring: Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Richard DeManincor, Betsy Baker, Theresa Tilly

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes: 95 percent (Critics), 84 percent (Audience)

khalScore:

Premise:

Where to Watch: Netflix

TK —khal