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One other month, one other nice excuse to look at some horror films.
Horror films are a yearlong pursuit for us right here at Polygon. Certain, we’ve bought our listing of the very best horror films you may watch now, or the very best horror films of 2023 ranked by scariness. However every month, we additionally pull collectively a smaller listing of 5 picks excellent for that point of yr.
This month, we’ve picked films that ought to go completely with the surprisingly nice slate of theatrical horror. There’s the stellar Evil Lifeless Rise, the very enjoyable The Pope’s Exorcist… and in addition Renfield, if that’s extra your velocity. To assist get you prepared for a terrifying journey to the theater, or maintain the scary buzz going, we’ve picked out just a few films that match these molds, and an all-time traditional wild card for this month’s films.
With out additional ado, let’s dig into it.
The Birds
Picture: Common Photos
Yr: 1963Run time: 1h 59mDirector: Alfred HitchcockCast: Rod Taylor, Tippi Hedren, Jessica Tandy
Maybe Alfred Hitchcock’s most overtly supernatural film, and definitely his most bleak, The Birds tells the story of a small city overrun by a swarm of inexplicably hostile, bloodthirsty, and terrifying birds, seemingly hell-bent on the destruction of humanity. The film by no means as soon as tries to discover or clarify what’s made all of the avian creatures (probably in the entire world?) flip evil in a single day, however the result’s an unrelentingly unusual film that may make you a minimum of somewhat uneasy the subsequent time you see a flock circling overhead.
The Birds is streaming on Netflix.
Evil Lifeless II
Picture: StudioCanal
Yr: 1987Run time: 1h 24mDirector: Sam RaimiCast: Bruce Campbell, Sarah Berry, Dan Hicks
Evil Lifeless II is a really unusual sequel in that it’s principally a much bigger, weirder, meaner, funnier, and all-around extra ridiculous remake of the unique film. The film follows Ash Williams and his girlfriend Linda as they make a journey to an deserted cabin within the woods. Similar to the primary film, a passage of the cursed e-book, the Necronomicon, will get learn aloud, and spirits are launched that possess people lifeless or alive. In comparison with the primary film, nevertheless, the killing begins a lot earlier and will get a lot sillier and extra violent, ultimately resulting in chainsaws, shotguns, and possessed palms.
Evil Lifeless II is streaming on IndieFlix.
The Exorcist
Picture: Warner Bros.
Yr: 1973Run time: 2h 2mDirector: William FriedkinCast: Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Linda Blair
One of many clearest transition factors between fashionable and traditional horror, The Exorcist nonetheless holds up 50 years after its launch. The film follows a movie-star mom and her younger daughter because the latter will get possessed by the traditional demon Pazuzu. The demon wreaks havoc on the household till two clergymen, one close to the top of his profession and life and the opposite struggling a disaster of religion, come to carry out an exorcism within the hopes of saving the woman and her immortal soul. Regardless of dozens of exorcism films following on this one’s footsteps, there are nonetheless few that may match this one for scares or pure high quality.
The Exorcist is streaming on HBO Max.
Overlord
Photograph: Peter Mountain/Paramount Photos
Yr: 2018Run time: 1h 50mDirector: Julius AveryCast: Jovan Adepo, Wyatt Russell, Mathilde Ollivier
One drawback with most World Struggle II films is that there simply aren’t sufficient zombies in them, however Overlord isn’t most World Struggle II films. It follows a workforce of troopers on D-Day who’re despatched to explode a Nazi radio tower in a church. As an alternative, they discover a hidden analysis facility and a brand new weapon of the Reich: the undead. Ridiculous, enjoyable, gory, and a good time, Overlord is superb action-horror, and all the time charming due to the magnetic pull of its star, Wyatt Russell. The film can be directed by The Pope’s Exorcist director Julius Avery!
Overlord is streaming on FuboTV and Paramount Plus.
30 Days of Evening
Picture: Columbia Photos
Yr: 2007Run time: 1h 54mDirector: David SladeCast: Josh Hartnett, Melissa George, Danny Huston
Beginning off with one of many best horror-movie premises of all time, 30 Days of Evening couldn’t assist however be a very good time. A gaggle of individuals attempt to survive the night time after a bunch of vampires exhibits up in Barrow, Alaska, a city that suffers monthlong polar nights the place the solar received’t rise for 30 days. In different phrases, it’s the proper spot to set a vampire nightmare. The film mixes collectively all of the hallmarks of survival horror, vampires, slashers, and chilly winter horror, and finally manages to dwell as much as its glorious premise.
30 Days of Evening is streaming on Hulu.
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