Many of us can struggle to find something decent to watch on Netflix that isn’t a TV show everyone seems to be watching, like Prison Break, Breaking Bad or Orange is the New Black. Below I have listed some series and films to watch that tie-in well with the Halloween season (but don’t watch them alone!)
1. Scream
NOT the film (even though there is the Scream film to watch on Netflix too)! This is the Scream Netflix series, set in the modern day, with a fresh cast and entirely new storyline which avoids any link to Sydney and her deceased friends from the films. There is a new mask, new loves, teenage problems, lies and betrayal and a fair amount of gore with some scares along the way – plus the mystery of trying to work out who is behind the mask! Netflix have uploaded two seasons with a total of twenty-three episodes to enjoy and a special Halloween episode too.
2. Stranger things
This is another Netflix series I would highly recommend. You might have seen it advertised around social media, because I did, and I thought it just looked silly. Once you get into the show, even though it’s weird and unique, it has a good cast with an interesting storyline. It involves Christmas lights, ‘beings’ coming out of walls, a missing boy, a runaway girl and teenage issues that some can relate to. Don’t worry – no gore, just some frights and strange comings with a comedic feel involving the young boys in the series.
3. Bates Motel
Ever seen psycho? This is a version of the classic story surrounding Norman Bates (Freddie Highmore) when he is only a teenager, giving us an insight into why he became a killer and became so fixated with his mother (Vera Farmiga). There are currently three seasons uploaded onto Netflix for you to enjoy over a number of weeks (or days?)
4. Hush
This is a 2016 psychological thriller that involves a creepy invader that toys with a deaf woman’s (Kate Siegel) life, but she fights back and won’t be killed as easily as he thinks. She lives in the forest with limited neighbours to aid her in escaping, he cuts her communication. She cannot hear him behind her, will she escape her own home before he reaches her?
5. The Addams Family
For a more light-heartened and comedic Halloween film you must watch the classic Addams Family, no gore or scares featured – a definite family film to watch with your flatmates or family in this creepy season.
6. The Woman in Black
This film is rated a 12A, but I highly recommend it should be a 15… There are a lot of jumpscares, so be prepared! It even features Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) as well as a star from Call the Midwife (Jessica Raine) and Ciarán Hinds from Frozen and Harry Potter. The film focuses around a widowed lawyer who ventures to a remote village to put a deceased client’s affairs in order, but the village holds a terrible secret with children being killed by a spirit of a woman looking for someone.
7. The Craft
Sorry boys but this one’s more for the ladies, The Craft focuses around four teenage witches that has a dark ‘Clueless’ film feel to it so it’s a good one to watch with your girlfriends! It even features the characters from Scream – Neve Campbell who plays Sydney Prescott and Skeet Ulrich who plays Billy and the main actress is Robin Tunney from Prison Break. For the first half of the film it’s more comedic, bitchy and high school based but the rest of the film takes a dark twist involving dark magic…
8. Would you Rather
Iris (Brittany Snow from Pitch Perfect) and seven other desperate people become trapped in Shepard’s (Jeffrey Combs) mansion, all wanting different things. Shepard forces them to play a sadistic game for a large sum of money, but the dilemmas that they each must make become increasingly deadly. It’s basically a twisted game of the usual drinking game ‘would you rather’ with sinisterly, gruesome consequences.
9. The House at the End of the Street
The main star in my final suggestion to watch this Halloween is Jennifer Lawrence, who plays Elissa. In this film she has moved to a new town with her mother (Elisabeth Shue). As unexplainable events start to occur, we wander could it be the girl who murdered her parents and disappeared in the house at the end of their new street?