With the change in weather, we're beginning to see the leaves change color, the air become cooler, and the sun setting earlier than we'd like (or not?). As fall creeps in, it's time to put your summer clothes in storage, and now welcome in typical fall fashion: sweatpants, sweatshirts, maybe a lite jacket, and some of our favorite cozy horror films to keep you comfortable and warm.
It’s sweater weather →
THE HORRORVERSE TEAM
Still from Beetlejuice (1988)
IN THE NEWS
by Brett Petersel | Bluesky | Instagram | Letterboxd
🩸 Shudder’s “Season of Screams” continues with October’s lineup
Still in celebration mode (10 years!), Shudder has unveiled their October lineup, which features new Originals (V/H/S/Halloween, Other), Series (The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula: Titans Season 2), and Watch Parties. Check out the lineup on Shudder’s Letterboxd here.
🐺 Coyotes surround theaters on October 3rd
In Colin Minihan’s Coyotes, Justin Long and Kate Bosworth star as a married couple whose relationship is a bit rocky, but have bigger problems to deal with… such as a ton of killer coyotes surrounding their home. Do they make it out alive? Find out on October 3rd when it premieres exclusively in theaters.
📅 Arrow Video celebrates Gialloween and more with their October lineup
The folks at Arrow Player have a fun October lineup scheduled, with titles such as Haunted Ulster Live and Flowers in the Attic arriving on the platform, as well as new Seasons (Rue Morgue Selects, Gialloween)
GORE-MET PAIRINGS
by Sarah Stubbs | Bluesky | Instagram | Letterboxd
TRAILERVILLE
DOUBLE TROUBLE
by Bee Delores | Bluesky | Instagram | Letterboxd
For this week's newsletter, I knew I wanted to pair a classic with a new film that are both equally cozy and creepy. My mind quickly drifted to 1963's The Haunting, a perfectly cozy film you should watch beside a roaring fireplace, but I needed something relatively new and perhaps criminally overlooked. After scrolling through my Favorite Black &. White Horror Films list on Letterboxd, I set my sights on Fight, which I reviewed for B-Sides & Badlands out of FrightFest 2024. It has all the makings of a cult classic and serves as the perfect companion piece to the Robert Wise classic.
One of the pinnacles of haunted house stories, alongside The Old Dark House, The Haunting is a masterclass of mood and scares that relies solely on tricks of the mind and what may or may not be lurking in the shadows. Adapted by Nelson Gidding, from Shirley Jackson's 1959 novel The Haunting of Hill House, the film follows anthropologist Dr. John Markway (Richard Johnson) and his party guests spend the night in an allegedly haunted house so Markway can capture supernatural phenomena. As the night wears thin, one guest, Elanore (Julie Harris), goes mad and believes the house is speaking directly to her. Wise works with cinematographer Davis Boulton to bring a chilly unease to the visual storytelling that also mirrors the characters' chaotic paranoia. It's a classic for a reason.
Magic happens when a filmmaker capably transports you to another time and place. It’s no easy feat to build such an expertly crafted and immersive world that the audience forgets where they are for 90 or so minutes. In Fright, writer/director Warren Dudley magnificently ferries the viewer back into the 1930s. From the dialogue and setting to the theatrical score, Dudley’s latest offering feels like a long-lost film that we’re only just now discovering. Existing in the realm of The Uninvited and The Haunting, Fright takes cues from 1940s-60s horror in such a way that feels authentic to the time. It’s appropriately classic, timeless even, in how it unravels the story and invites the audience into its spooky web. Emily (Gwyneth Evans) struggles with a severe case of agoraphobia. It’s crippling to such a degree she can’t even fathom opening the front door. She spends her days reading and writing in her diary, expressing deep angst for and dreams of the outside world. She wants to be like any other 18-year-old girl. But she harbors a fear of monsters that she believes await her just outside. Her inner turmoil soon leaks out of her brain and manifests into bumps in the night and shadows dancing on the walls. It's now streaming on Tubi and deserves at least a few watches.
HORROR FILMS TO GET COZY WITH
So long, summer. Hello, fall season. With the change in weather (and our attire) and time for when the sun sets, it’s time to stay inside and get cozy with a horror film or five. Check out our list of films that we love staying inside with.
WHAT TO WATCH
RIYL: TRICK ‘R TREAT (2007)
Cozy and autumnal vibes go hand in hand during this time of year, so the Horrorverse crew pulled together some recommendations if you want something similar to Trick 'r Treat! Check out the list on Letterboxd.
TIMEWARP
by Bee Delores | Bluesky | Instagram | Letterboxd
The Raven, a Cozy Favorite, Turns 90
A cozy horror film is hard to define with words. I just know it when I see it. When I first saw Lew Landers' The Raven (1935) two years ago, I was immediately struck by its creepy coziness. The way the second half contains a raging thunderstorm (much like another cozy favorite, The Old Dark House) as the characters climb into bed for a deep slumber makes me want to snuggle with my cats underneath a fuzzy blanket. Starring Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff, the extraordinarily eerie picture slowly crawls up on you with its impenetrable moodiness and deafening madness.
While not an actual adaption of the Edgar Allan Poe poem (it's based on an original screenplay by David Boehm), lines are quoted from it throughout the film and add a thematic lining. When young dancer Jean Thatcher (Irene Ware) suffers a brutal car crash, her father Judge Thatcher (Samuel S. Hinds) and and her fiancé Dr. Jerry Halden (Lester Matthews), beg Dr. Richard Vollin (Lugosi) to come out of retirement and perform neural surgery. Vollin, fascinated with death and suffering, eventually agrees. After Jean recovers, he becomes absolutely obsessed with her. Jean shrugs off his advances but later attends a quaint party he throws in his home.
Meanwhile, a banker robber and murderer named Edmond Bateman (Karloff) visits Vollin and asks for a new face. But it comes with a catch: Bateman must perform murder in exchange. Vollin, always the trickster, mutilates Bateman's face, and in order to get a NEW new face, he must kill. Bateman then becomes Vollin's servant for the fancy gathering and is met with disgust and screams from the partygoers. He's not so keen on keeping that face, so he'll do whatever it takes to follow through with the murder plot.
Once everyone turns in for the night, mayhem ensues after Vollin leads Judge Thatcher down to the underground laboratory. As an Edgar Allan Poe fanatic, Vollin mounts his revenge with a trap ripped from one of Poe's greatest writings. With Lugosi delivering a diabolical performance, The Raven is right up there with Dracula (1931). He's an unhinged mastermind here, a nice counterweight to Karloff's more grounded turn.
Lew Landers is a craftsman behind the camera. He settles you into the coziness and drama, letting the corners curl like burning a piece of parchment paper. 90 years later, The Raven remains one of the era's best films and a horror story for the ages. Do yourself a favor, and press play on a crisp, cool autumn evening. You'll thank me later.
