The leaves have turned orange as jack-o-lanterns and crimson as the technicolor blood depicted on your TV screens. Days have gotten shorter and the nights are growing colder. Halloween has finally arrived! But with such an emphasis on horror-related media, you might be feeling a little burned out on the classics. After all, how many times can you really watch Halloween or a Friday The 13th film before they lose effectiveness?
Welcome to the Underrated and Uncanny: The Hidden Gems of Horror Vol. 2!
Lucky for you, I’m somewhat of a trash bin of horror knowledge and connoisseur of the macabre. I’ve selected a few of my favorite horror movies people rarely talk about. While these films definitely aren’t among the greatest of all time, they are excellent alternatives to your standard spooky fare. Check them out if you dare!
Lake Mungo (2008)
I’ve never cared for the found footage sub-genre in horror. I typically pass on anything made in that style. However, Lake Mungo uses the aesthetic perfectly to convey a story that’s both heartbreaking and terrifying.
The movie is styled as a documentary about how a family comes to terms with the mysterious drowning of their daughter. That’s really all I can say without giving too much away. If you’re into true crime or the kind of horror that gets under your skin, please give Lake Mungo a look.
Monkey Shines (1988)
An athletic law student Allen Mann (Jason Beghe) is hit by a truck during his routine morning jog. The accident leaves him a quadriplegic. With his life turned upside down and relationships crumbling, Allen struggles to adapt to his condition. To lift his spirits and help Allen manage his day-to-day routine, his friend gives him a Capuchin monkey named Ella as a service animal. The two develop a deep bond, but when the experimental injections she received slowly cause her to be extremely territorial, Allen finds himself in a deadly game of cat and mouse.
Monkey Shines isn’t a traditional horror movie from director George A. Romero, but more of a combination of drama and suspense.
The idea of a killer service monkey is somewhat laughable by premise, but Romero plays it completely straight and makes good use of tension throughout. Elevated by a wonderful cast, Monkey Shines is a severely underrated psychological thriller and one of Romero’s better films!
We Are Still Here (2015)
After the death of their son, Paul and Anne move into a house in the New England countryside for a change of scenery. However, when eerie vibes convince Anne (Barbara Crampton) that her son’s spirit has joined them, they soon find out he hasn’t come alone.
It’s a premise so familiar that there could very well be a “grieving parents fight ghost” sub-genre to itself. But We Are Still Here isn’t really what the first half of the film pitches. And even though it takes a little while to get started, the payoff is completely worth it!
Madman (1981)
Just as Halloween started the slasher trend of the 80s, Friday The 13th inadvertently kicked off the camp-horror sub-genre. Apparently, young adults secluded in the woods far away from authority figures make for a good horror tapestry! While Madman is essentially the battled-tested “inhumanly strong killer offs teenagers one by one” shlock, I do want to give it some extra points for flair.
The flair in question is kind of unintentional for this brand of horror. But it’s there nonetheless.
Setup like a campfire tale, the story is oddly meta. Plus, the characters flow through an incoherent daze. While this is due to questionable or non-existent acting ability in the not-so-teenaged cast, but it sort of gives the movie a dream-like quality. Madman may be paint-by-numbers, but the vibe is cool and I totally wasn’t expecting the twist ending.
Brainscan (1994)
History has shown time and time again that parents will always think anything that interests teenagers is somehow evil. Rock n’ roll in the ’50s, long hair in the ’60s, weed in the ’70s, and of course heavy metal in the ’80s. By the time the ’90s rolled around, Satanic Panic gave way to visceral horror in video games. But instead of making an argument for teens, 1994’s Brainscan leans into it for a murderous psychological thriller.
Edward Furlong plays Michael, an introverted teenager battling loneliness, trauma, and depression by going hard into horror movies, grunge rock, and video games. Things take a hard turn when Michael plays Brainscan, a hyper-realistic first-person-shooter where the player must murder an innocent. After completing the first disc, Michael emerges from his room to find out he may have committed murder in real life!
Aided by the game’s mascot Trickster (think Freddy Krueger meets Iggy Pop), Michael finds himself in a tangled web of paranoia, murder, and horror.
Despite being clearly a product of its time, Brainscan isn’t as cheesy as it could have been. There isn’t obnoxious MTV editing, gratuitous nudity, or gore. In fact, a majority of the film feels more like the exploration of a youth dealing with PSTD along with common teen angst. However, as the clock slowly runs out for Michael and Trickster, the line between virtual and reality becomes non-existent and horror is taken to the proverbial next level.
Shakma (1990)
A group of medical students spend the night at school playing a live-action role playing game akin to Dungeons & Dragons. However, they’re eventually stalked and offed by Shakma – you guessed it, a monkey experiment gone wrong! Trapped in the building with no way to call for help, the students must rely on their wits if they plan on surviving the night.
Shakma isn’t intense, overtly gory, or even remotely original. But the lack of self-awareness and commitment to its own premise makes Shakma a slight cut above typical direct-to-video shlock. It’s almost hilarious how far the filmmakers go to make excuses for the characters to be trapped. That alone makes Shakma a fun watch. I guess I really am a sucker for the monkey-horror sub-genre!
Secret Santa (2017)
Nothing screams Halloween spookiness like a Christmas movie! Right? Wait, what? From the master of diverting expectation, Adam Marcus (director of the controversial Jason Goes To Hell), comes a mean-spirited horror romp about a family much more dysfunctional than yours could ever be! Unfortunately, I can’t really give a synopsis for Secret Santa without spoiling it. But the gist of it is something we’ve all kind of experienced: when a family gets together for Christmas dinner, personalities clash and carnage ensues.
However, in this particular case, the carnage ensuing is quite literal!
Thanks to Marcus’ dark humor and theater background, Secret Santa feels like a vitriolic theater production taking aim at the obsession with society’s excess. With over-the top-blood, gratuitous gore, and dialogue sharp as a murder weapon, Secret Santa is mean, ugly, and devilishly hilarious. Just like the sick murder fantasy we’ve all probably had during a family holiday get-together.
Lady In White (1988)
Locked in a closet as a Halloween prank, 9-year-old Frankie (Lucas Haas) experiences the ghostly apparition of a little girl murdered a decade before. After that night, Frankie is bent on unraveling the mystery behind the murder and uncovering the secrets of his small town.
Lady In White isn’t scary in terms of visual scares or tension, but a sophisticated take on a traditional urban legend. I would go as far as saying this film isn’t a horror movie. But the atmosphere, narration, and scope of the mystery just feel like an eerie ghost story you’d hear around Halloween.
There isn’t a single jump scare or a drop of blood to be found, but the presentation is spot on. Between the dynamics in Frankie’s family and the early 1960s visuals, the movie is both wholesome and nostalgic. However, the subject matter and subtle references to grooming, racism, and mortality through the eyes of a child make Lady In White a perfect film for the Halloween season. Even for viewers who don’t like horror.
For more horror-related debauchery, please check out Vol.1 here or Bearded Gentlemen’s horror section by clicking here.