Horror Movies to Watch While You Wait for Candyman
There’s a week till Nia DaCosta’s take on the classic hits theaters. Here are some movies to watch in the meantime.
The Candyman Franchise
Catch up with the franchise with the first three movies.
- Candyman
- Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh
- Candyman: Day of the Dead
Urban Legend (1998)
From the era of Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer comes to this not-so-great (but great if you like bad) horror about a serial killer that is inspired by urban legends. It stars Jared Leto, Alicia Witt, and horror veteran Robert Englund.
A university is beset by a rash of gruesome murders that resemble old urban legends. When her friend Michelle is killed by someone hiding in her car, Natalie begins to notice the pattern. Her suspicions grow stronger when her own roommate is strangled to death. Soon the quiet college campus is transformed into hunting grounds for a maniac, and Natalie struggles to find the killer and stop the bloodshed before she becomes the next victim.
Tales From The Hood (1995)
Clarence Williams III tells a collection of scary and satirical tales in this Spike Lee produced anthology. The two follow-ups aren’t quite as good, but perfect if you want to do a horror movie marathon on your couch.
A creepy mortician, Mr. Simms, attempts to scare teenage drug dealer Stack and his friends straight by telling them four horrifying stories. One is about a guilt-riddled cop who goes crazy after ignoring his corrupt partner. He also tells of a meek schoolboy with terrifying supernatural powers. Although the young thugs want to take their drugs and escape Mr. Simms, he still has two more tales to tell.
via Shout Factory
The People Under the Stairs (1991)
One of director John Carpenter’s more underrated movies puts economic disparity under his horror lens. While it’s not his best work, it’s super creepy and has plenty of scares and gore.
When young Fool breaks into the home of his family’s greedy and uncaring landlords, he discovers a disturbing scenario where incestuous adult siblings have mutilated a number of boys and kept them imprisoned under stairs in their large, creepy house. As Fool attempts to flee before the psychopaths can catch him, he meets their daughter, Alice, who has been spared any extreme discipline by her deranged parents. Can Fool and Alice escape before it’s too late?
Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994)
The sixth movie in the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise focuses on a more philosophical question: does our fear of Freddy make him real? It’s all about questioning reality. You can make sense of this one even if you haven’t watched anything else in the franchise (though you should watch the first one because it’s a classic).
Reality and fantasy meet in unsettling ways in this installment of the long-running horror series, which finds director Wes Craven and actors Heather Langenkamp and Robert Englund all portraying themselves. As Heather considers making another film with Craven, her son, Dylan, falls under the spell of the iconic disfigured villain Freddy Krueger. Eventually, Langenkamp must confront Freddy’s demonic spirit to save the soul of Dylan.
The Skeleton Key (2005)
A revenge from beyond the grave story starring John Hurt and Kate Hudson. There’s more to this house and this family’s legacy than what’s on the surface.
Caroline Ellis, a good-natured nurse living in New Orleans, quits her job at a hospice to work for Violet Devereaux, an elderly woman whose husband, Ben, is in poor health following a stroke. When Caroline begins to explore the couple’s rundown Bayou mansion, she discovers strange artifacts and learns the house has a mysterious past. As she continues to investigate, she realizes that Violet is keeping a sinister secret about the cause of Ben’s illness.
Get Out (2017)
If you haven’t seen this Oscar-winning movie, go watch it already. It’s brilliant.
Now that Chris and his girlfriend, Rose, have reached the meet-the-parents milestone of dating, she invites him for a weekend getaway with Missy and Dean. At first, Chris reads the family’s overly accommodating behavior as nervous attempts to deal with their daughter’s interracial relationship, but as the weekend progresses, a series of increasingly disturbing discoveries leads him to a truth that he never could have imagined.
via Universal Pictures
