It’s that special time of the year when horror movies become the genre of the month for Halloween. And it’s a great time for horror movies as they’ve become both critical successes and financial blockbusters. While most of the current movies offered up this October are of the typical brand of slasher and gore-porn horror, there are plenty of varied and surprisingly shocking horror films this year you need to check out. Here is About Her’s list of the scariest movies of 2017.
IT
Stephen King’s classic novel is finally given a theatrical presentation that puts the budgeted miniseries to shame. Focusing entirely on the first chapter, IT follows a plucky group of kids, this time of the late 1980s, trying to uncover the mystery of the sewer-dwelling clown Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård). Skarsgård’s Pennywise is far more terrifying than Tim Curry’s performance from the TV miniseries. This version now showcases more teeth, more illusions, more scares and a hauntingly creepy atmosphere that makes the clown a true embodiment of childhood fears. That moment where he bursts through a projector screen as a giant is nothing short of disturbing.
It Comes At Night
This film could be considered a bit of a tease because, spoilers, there is no “it” that comes at night. Taking place after a deadly disease has wiped out most of humanity, a family struggles to survive at a cabin in the woods. When they encounter another family seeking help, heavy questions of morality are questioned and the tension boils to an uncomfortable degree. There is the threat of some horrible plague that can easily ravage the two families, but considering their levels of distrust, the disease may be the least of their problems. Only recommended if you want to truly be scared and feel sick to your stomach by the end without witnessing a spec of gore.
Gerald’s Game
A strange and weird premise for a horror film, Gerald’s Game finds a woman handcuffed to a bed during an erotic romp in the bedroom. Accidentally, she kills her husband while in the act and starts seeing strange visions with no means of escape. Based on a Stephen King novel, this is a very bizarre horror picture that is sure to whip up some controversy with its shocking ending.
Get Out
Playing like an episode of The Twilight Zone, a young black man finds himself freaked out at his white girlfriend’s family reunion. It’s weird enough that the only black people in the house seem strangely unlike themselves, but even weirder when he uncovers the secret plot behind his presence. It’s a strange horror picture that serves as ripe societal commentary as well that is sure to go down as a cult classic akin to They Live.
Buster’s Mal Heart
Buster’s Mal Heart finds Rami Malek playing a stressed guy dealing with a boring night job, a poor family and the lingering thoughts of a coming inversion of dimensions by the year 2000. Part surrealness, part horror, part comedy, this is a very psychological horror that crawls deep under your skin and toys with your perspective. The film jumps around in time and visions to the point when you’re not sure who in Rami’s life is real, who he killed or how he truly ends up by the end of the millennium.
