Some of you might not have Halloween plans because you’re a loser. However, if you’re like me and dress up in a costume and walk around with eight year olds, you’re a cool kid and you don’t need to read this article. 

 If you are a loser, I can give you some plans; here are some lesser-known horror movies that aren’t “Halloween” or “IT” for you to watch during this spooky season. 

Lost Highway 

“Lost Highway” isn’t a traditional genre horror movie, but it is horror in the sense that it explores the deepest, darkest parts of the human mind. The movie is a nightmare, in the sense where you have this dread that you know something bad IS going to happen. The worst part is you can’t wake up. 

All of David Lynch’s movies dive right into the psyche (a concept disturbing in itself), but “Lost Highway” is his most disturbing movie. “Lost Highway” is the type of movie where you watch as a sleep deprived teenager who loves Nine Inch Nails, only watching it for Trent Reznor and the awesome soundtrack, alone in a dark room. It’s the type of movie you watch once but never desire to watch again (unless you’re me and it’s one of your favorite movies); not because it’s bad (it’s not) but because it truly puts you in the shoes of the main character. It makes you paranoid just like Fred and Pete, the two leads. “Lost Highway” makes it known that nobody, not even protagonists, are reliable.

Now, if I tell you the plot, it’ll spoil the whole thing. The best way to watch this movie is to go in blind. Don’t look at youtube videos, don’t look at posts, don’t even ask about it to someone you know has watched it. Just go watch this lynchian masterpiece and then come back to me and talk about it. It’s genuinely nightmare fuel. 

You can watch “Lost Highway” on Amazon Prime.

Skinned Alive

“Skinned Alive” by Jon Killough is probably the best-worst movies’ I’ve ever seen. We follow a family of three: Crawldaddy, the matriarch, Phink, the geeky-ish son, and Violet, the eccentric daughter. The family is going cross-country, selling leather which isn’t made of animals, but rather humans. The Crawldaddy family seems to kill literally anyone in sight for no reason. They don’t even skin half of their victims, they just kill them? It seems their only motivation is for the hee-hees and ha-has. 

Not only do we follow the Crawldaddy’s but we also follow a divorced, depressed alcoholic Paul Hickox. He is an ex-cop who got let go for police brutality against a hispanic woman. So, that’s why he got divorced and became a functioning alcoholic. It becomes almost funny how sad his life is because it’s so unserious. His problems are very serious, but the way they’re described aren’t; his wife leaving him for her divorce lawyer and taking EVERYTHING, him being drunk during the entire movie, and him just not caring about life, which means the audience doesn’t either.  

Either way, both plot points are absurd and hilarious. This movie has such a low budget (you can tell) and isn’t taken seriously AT ALL by the director or actors. That’s why I said that it was the best-worst movie I’ve ever seen. It’s such a 90s movie too, yet it looks eerily modern from the way it was shot and directed. If you want a gory, badly humorous, 90s horror film, watch “Skinned Alive.” You won’t regret it, even if it does take seventy-eight minutes of your life you’ll never get back. 

You can watch “Skinned Alive” for free on Tubi and Plex. 

As Above, So Below

“As Above, So Below” has an undeserving 29% on Rotten Tomatoes (critics are stupid), but this movie was one of the first movies that genuinely freaked me out. I remember watching it when I was around nine years old and we had been going to a lot of caves. “As Above, So Below” didn’t help my fear of caves. 

The plot follows Scarlett, a Lara Croft knockoff who is looking for the secret for immortality: Flamel’s Philosopher’s Stone. She’s trying to follow her father’s legacy who was also looking for the stone, like every British person who steals anything from any ethnic looking background. Scarlett ends up in Paris, France, where she recruits a group of locals who know the Catacombs like the back of their hand. As the group goes farther into the Catacombs, they experience literal hell. 

“As Above, So Below” is also a found footage film, making it seem more real like when people thought “Paramoral Activity” or “The Blair Witch Project” were real when they first came out. I don’t know how anyone would believe any of these movies are “real” but nine year old me definitely believed they were. 

Though, one cool thing is that they ACTUALLY did film in the Catacombs and was the first and only film to get the permits to legally do so. So, I guess that plays into the realism of the movie. As much as I don’t find this movie that scary anymore, as I’ve seen A MILLION TIMES, it’s a really good film and definitely bonechilling on the first few watches.

This movie is easier to follow than “Skinned Alive” and “Lost Highway” and should be viewed by the average or beginner horror fan. “As Above, So Below” is easier to watch than “The Blair Witch Project.” The plot is extremely easy to follow and you know what is happening. I guess those crystal girlies don’t stop at anything to get their rocks. 

You can watch “As Above, So Below” on Amazon Prime. 

The VVitch

“The Witch” aka “The VVitch” is one of my favorite horror movies EVER. I’m sure you’ve seen “Nosferatu” by Robert Eggers, and if you haven’t, disregard everything I just said and go watch the 2024 “Nosferatu.” But, if you have, you are probably familiar with the style of the 2024 movie. All of Eggers’ movies are like this, but “The VVitch,” Eggers’ first movie, executed this style the best.

Isolation itself is a curse. Set in 1630s New England, banished from their Puritan settlement, William and his family set off to go live near the deep, unknowing woods. While they live by the woods, an evil supernatural force preys upon them, and the family blames each other for these forces, especially Thomasin, the eldest daughter and main character.

“The VVitch” relies heavily on its setting. The forest is isolated. Cold. Dead. The only ones that are out there are the family. They are already being tormented by the unruly forest, the witch is just the addition to this horror. The movie isn’t about the witch and her harassment, but rather the complete solitude this family is experiencing. Isolation can cause psychosis, it’s like a spell the mind casts on itself. Maybe that’s what this family had been experiencing, just like many during the mass hysteria of the New England witch trials. 

There is something raw and anxiety-inducing about “The VVitch.” The fear isn’t the witch, but the unknown. It’s about how if you are so isolated, life becomes horrifying. 

You can watch “The VVitch” on HBO Max and Hulu.