Horror Movies for Halloween

Alongside with the horror films we also gathered information about the origin of trick-or-treating.

Trick-or-treating

A tradition known around the world has ancient roots. It originates form a Celtic festival called Samhain held on the night of October 31st. It was believed that the dead returned to earth on that night that’s why people lit bonfires and offered sacrifices to the dead. During the celebration of Samhai some villagers dressed in animal skin to drive away phantom visitors. When Christianity spread into the Celtic lands (now Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France) the Christian traditions and Samhain blended. In England poor people would visit the houses of wealthier families and receive pastries in exchange for a promise to pray for the souls of the homeowners’ dead relatives. The practice was later taken up by children, who would go from door to door asking for gifts such as food, money and ale. In Scotland and Ireland young people dressed up in costumes and accepted offerings from various households. In exchange instead of praying they would sing a song, tell a joke, perform a trick. This habit resembles the most today’s tradition.

Here are some horror movies to keep you up at night. We also gathered 10 movies based on true events.

Horror:

1. House of 1000 Corpses (2003)

Two young couple travelling through Texas end up trapped in a house owned by serial killers.

2. The Possession (2012)

A girl buys an antique box unaware of the spirit hunting it. Her parents must end the curse before the curse ends their daughter.

3. Curse of Chucky (2013)

A red head doll is the source of all the evil and chaos in the house.

4. Friday the 13th (2009)

A group of campers encounter Jason Voorhees who is trying to kill them.

5. Don’t Breathe (2016)

A thief breaks into a helpless blind man’s home. At least that’s what she thinks.

6. The Exorcist (1973)

A young girl is possessed by a harmful entity, her mother seeks the help of two priest to help her.

7. Rosemary's Baby (1968)

A young couple trying to have a baby move into the wrong neighbourhood.

8. Trick 'r Treat (2007)

5 different stories that occur on Halloween about a serial killer, a demonic trick or treater and a mean prank.

9. Train to Busan (2016)

A zombie virus breaks out in South Korea forcing the passengers on a train to Busan to cope and survive.

10. A Tale of Two Sister (2003)

A family in haunted by the deaths within the family.

11. Shutter (2004)

Mysterious shadows appear on the photos of a photographer’s photos after an accident. He and his girlfriend realise that they can’t escape their past.

12. Us (2019)

A family’s vacation turns into chaos when the family member’s doppelgangers show up and start to terrorize them.

13. Creep (2014)

A videographer accepts the job to film a dying man’s videojourney. But when he notices the odd behaviour of the man his real intensions come clear.

14. Cube (1997)

Six strangers and put in an endless maze filled with deadly traps.

15. Gerald’s Game (2017)

An older couple is trying to spice up their sex life with handcuffs. The husband dies of heart attack leaving his wife handcuffed to the bed. She must escape somehow.

16. Perfect Blue (1997)

A pop singer becomes an actress but she goes insane after a fan keeps stalking her. Maybe the stalker is the ghost of her past.

17. Tusk

Two guys operate a radio, one of them goes to Canada for a story. The old man who promised the story is gone mad because of his past. He intoxicates the guy and operates him into an animal to relive and change his past.

18. The Exorcism of Emily Rose

A 19-year-old girl dies following an exorcism. The film focuses on the trial of the priest who performed it.

19. The Hills Have Eyes (1977 and 2006)

Wes Craven’s cult classic (and its remake) centers around a traveling family whose car breaks down, leaving them stranded and in the clutches of cannibals.

20. The Strangers (2008)

Three killers in masks terrorize the suburban home of a couple in this invasion thriller.

Based on a true story:

1. Orphan (2009

A couple adopts a 9-year-old girl who is not nearly innocent as she claims to be.

2. Strangled (2016)

True story of a Hungarian serial killer

3. Hounds of Love (2016)

A teen girl is held hostage by a crazy couple and must plot her escape. Based on the Birnie murders in 1986.

4. Ravenous (1999)

This film is about cannibal (Alfred Packer) who confessed to murdering and eating his fellow travellers when stuck in the chilly Colorado mountains during the brutal winter.

5. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (2016)

A serial killer Henry Lee Lucas murdered hundreds of people in the 1980s. This film shows his techniques and killings.

6. An American Haunting (2006)

An American Haunting follows the real story of a man whose death was caused by a spirit. It’s the only case in U.S. history where that has ever happened. Set in Tennessee, this movie showcases the horrors of the Bell Witch and how she killed John Bell.

7. Borderland (2007)

When three friends head to a Mexican border town to have some fun in this movie, they get mixed up with a cult specializing in human sacrifice.

8. Poltergeist (1982)

In Poltergeist, a family’s home is invaded by ghosts that abduct one of the daughters. The film was inspired by unexplained events like loud popping noises and moved objects that occurred in 1958 at the Hermanns’ home in Seaford, New York.

9. Annabelle (2014)

The creepy porcelain doll from The Conjuring gets her terror on in this spin-off of The Conjuring. The ghost-hunting Warrens have claimed there was a real Raggedy Ann doll that moved by itself and wrote creepy-ass notes saying things like, “Help us.” The woman who owned it contacted a medium, who claimed that it was possessed by a 7-year-old girl named Annabelle who had died there.

10. The Disappointments Room (2016)

Kate Beckinsale stars in the movie as an architect who moves to a new home with a mysterious room in the attic that she eventually learns was previously used as a room where rich people would cast off disabled children. It was reportedly inspired by a Rhode Island woman who discovered a similar room in her house that she says was built by a 19th-century judge to lock away his disabled daughter.