October is the month I watch horror movies the way kids eat candy. For years, my wife and I came up with a list of movies and named the whole thing Shocktober. A while ago, we started sharing the list, and thatās what Iām here to do today. If youāre new to horror, check back tomorrow for a different list!
Right, so!
The spirit of Shocktober is to try and watch as many of these as you can, knowing in advance that itās probably impossible to watch a movie every single night. Generally speaking, we tend to make it through roughly half of the list. Thatās why followers of my previous lists might be wondering why there are some movies popping up here again. If youāve seen āem before, skip ahead.
This is not a list of the best horror movies ever made, but a curated list of films that, with the exception of Wes Cravenās New Nightmare, I have not seen before. (RIP, Mr. Craven.) A few movies are already in theaters or are coming later this month. Everything has links to where you can rent āem, buy āem, or stream āem, and if you click on the movieās title, youāll be able to watch a trailer.
(Be careful with horror movie trailers, though. Theyāre notoriously spoiler-y.)
Youāre encouraged to drop your own suggestions in the comments, so please do!
In addition to this list, Iām debuting a weekly horror podcast with my wife, Katie Klepek. Til Death Do Us Part will, for the month of October, discuss a selection of Shocktober 2015ās films every Thursday, and so long as people dig it, weāll keep doing that in the months beyond. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes (if you like it, please leave a review!) or stream it over here.
With all that in mind, hereās the list for 2015:
1. Goodnight Mommy (Theater)
2. Unfriended (VOD/DVD)
4. A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (VOD/DVD/Streaming)
6. 8. Jacobās Ladder (DVD/Amazon Streaming)
9. Knock Knock (Theater)
10. Contracted: Phase 2 (VOD/DVD)
11. We Are Still Here (VOD/DVD)
13. Donāt Look Now (VOD/DVD)
14. The Devilās Backbone (VOD/DVD)
15. Crimson Peak (Theater)
16. Stage Fright (VOD/DVD)
17. White God (VOD/DVD/Netflix)
18. The Lazarus Effect (VOD/DVD)
19. The Tenant(VOD/DVD)
20. Poltergeist [Remake] (VOD/DVD)
21. 22. Insidious: Chapter Three (VOD/DVD)
23. Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (Theater)
24. The Falling (VOD/DVD/Amazon Streaming)
25. Starry Eyes (VOD/DVD/Netflix)
26. Invaders From Mars (VOD/DVD)
27. Under the Skin (VOD/DVD/Amazon Streaming)
29. Black Death (VOD/DVD/Netflix/Amazon Streaming)
31. Wes Cravenās New Nightmare (VOD/DVD/Netflix)
Every Thursday or FridayāIām still figuring out the scheduleāIāll have a writeup on the movies, so thereāll be an opportunity for Kotaku readers to discuss what youāve watched, too! Hopefully youāll enjoy this as much as I do!
And as mentioned at the top, thereāll be another list tomorrow directed at people whoāve thought about getting into horror but donāt know how to jump into the genre. Think of it as Horror 101, a selection of movies thatāll have you hitting all the classics, in addition to understanding what the genre is like in modern day.
If youāre looking for even more movies, here are my lists from years past:
Shocktober 2012 (scroll to the bottom)
Good luck!
Illustration by Jim Cooke
You can reach the author of this post at [email protected] or on Twitter at @patrickklepek
