40 Best Horror Movies On HBO Max

Video rental stores may have gone the way of the dinosaur, but you can still capture that giddy sense of rifling through garish VHS covers when you flip through your local streaming service. Ah, the agony of choice — the horror fan's dilemma. Do you settle in for a sin-filled slasher or something more heady and psychological? Do you opt for the cynical self-awareness of the 1990s or the ghostly stuttering of silent cinema? There's oodles and oodles of horror fare to choose from on HBO Max. And we're here to make that sometimes stress-inducing decision-making process a little easier.

We've combed through HBO Max's library and identified the best of the spine-tingling best for your viewing pleasure. Below you'll find 40 excellent horror titles currently streaming on the service, each with the power to titillate and terrify. From heavy Hollywood hitters to international gems, there's something spooky for everyone. So have a look and see if anything in particular catches your eye. Who knows? Maybe a devious double bill is in order.

Updated on December 29, 2021: HBO Max is constantly updating its selection with new, scary titles that'll have you gasping in fright. So please note that this article is updated monthly to reflect changes to HBO Max's streaming availability.

A rare sequel that arguably outdoes its predecessor, "Blade II" follows a new, and decidedly unnerving, mutation within the vampire community: Reapers. Ruled by an all-consuming hunger for blood, this new strain of monster preys on humans and vampires alike. Recruited by the vampiric powers that be, it's up to the titular Daywalker himself to thwart the nightmarish plague. With more gore and style than "Blade," this sequel leans hard into the cyber goth aesthetic, with deliciously bloody results.

• Starring: Wesley Snipes, Kris Kristofferson, Ron Perlman
• Director: Guillermo del Toro
• Year: 2002
• Runtime: 116 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 57%

Frank is in the throes of a messy divorce from his mentally unwell wife, Nola, a permanent resident of the Somafree Institute. Disturbed to find bruises and scratches on their five-year-old daughter's body, Frank desperately attempts to gain sole custody. But the institute's strict visitation policy and the stubborn head psychotherapist prevent Frank from settling the matter quickly. During his attempts to invalidate Somafree's methods and protect his daughter, Frank uncovers the dark, fleshy truth behind the institute and its effect on his estranged wife — a truth that could only come from the mind of director David Cronenberg.

• Starring: Oliver Reed, Samantha Eggar, Art Hindle
• Director: David Cronenberg
• Year: 1979
• Runtime: 92 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 83%

Mary Henry is the sole survivor of a fatal car accident, though how she survived is something of a mystery. Mary's attempts to put the accident behind her seem to only invite more and more strangeness. Desperate for a fresh start, she moves to Utah and takes up a job as a church organist. There, she finds herself hounded by visions of a ghoulish, white-faced man, whose presence in the periphery of her life becomes more and more frequent. As the lurking, otherworldly visions consume her, Mary feels drawn towards the dilapidated, deserted carnival on the outskirts of town, which may hold the secret to her dark past.

• Starring: Candace Hilligoss, Frances Feist, Sidney Berger
• Director: Herk Harvey
• Year: 1962
• Runtime: 78 minutes
• Rating: PG
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 86%

The year is 1971. Husband and wife duo Ed and Lorraine Warren are faced with the most dangerous case of their careers as seasoned paranormal investigators. The Perrons and their five daughters recent move to a remote farmhouse has been plagued with supernatural occurrences, that while benign at first, have become increasingly violent. Tasked with discovering the root cause of the terrifying spectral encounter, the Warrens must find a way to lift the curse before its too late, resulting in some of the scariest scenes in modern-day horror.

• Starring: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Lili Taylor
• Director: James Wan
• Year: 2013
• Runtime: 111 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 86%

"Constantine" got a bad rap back in the day (as it's middling Rotten Tomatoes rating proves). But Francis Lawrence's debut feature is in the midst of a well-deserved renaissance. Is the film the most accurate comic adaptation out there? Hell no. But on its own terms, this theological/action-horror/neo-noir has style and spunk in spades. The film follows a hard-boiled freelance exorcist named John Constantine who's quite literally been to Hell and back. His near-death (well, death-death) experience has left him with the ability to see Earth for what it really is: a war zone of heavenly and demonic forces vying for the hearts and souls of humanity. With serious Satanic shenanigans on the horizon, Constantine and an LAPD detective named Angela team up to get to the bottom of the looming threat.

• Starring: Keanu Reeves, Rachel Weisz, Shia LaBeouf
• Director: Francis Lawrence
• Year: 2005
• Runtime: 120 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 46%

A unique spin on the vampire mythos, Guillermo del Toro's feature film debut is as touching as it is tragic. An elderly antiques dealer happens across a strange golden machine concealed within a statue. Created four centuries ago by an alchemist hoping to crack the code to eternal youth, the "Cronos device" grants its user everlasting life ... at a price. When the kindly grandpa begins to use the insect-like machine to turn back the clock, he's initially overjoyed at his newfound energy and good looks. But finding himself increasingly dependent on a device turning him into a monster, the old man must fight temptation in order to cling to what's left of his humanity.

• Starring: Federico Luppi, Ron Perlman, Claudio Brook
• Director: Guillermo del Toro
• Year: 1993
• Runtime: 92 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%

Based on the spine-tingling novel "She Who Was No More," this psychological horror staple is the best film Alfred Hitchcock never made. When the cruel and sadistic headmaster of a second-rate boarding school is murdered by an unlikely duo, his killers become increasingly unhinged by the series of strange events that take place after their victim's corpse disappears. Anxiously paced and brimming with atmosphere, "Diaboliques" is a meticulously crafted and thoroughly unsettling meld of the mystery and horror genres.

• Starring: Simone Signoret, Véra Clouzot, Paul Meurisse
• Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot
• Year: 1955
• Runtime: 116 minutes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%

A local girl is missing. And a retired cop named James is looking into it. But what he finds defies explanation — an apparent plague of teen suicides, a terrifying local legend, and hushed tones of a cult attempting to manifest a sinister entity. Part Lovecraft, park J-horror, part '70s paranoia thriller, "The Empty Man" was done dirty by its mid-pandemic release, and has mercifully found its audience as a modern cult classic. 

• Starring: James Badge Dale, Owen Teague, Marin Ireland
• Director: David Prior
• Year: 2020
• Runtime: 136
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 63%

From a shrieking, mutated lamb-faced baby to convulsing roast chickens, "Eraserhead" is an absolute must for anyone looking to see what all the fuss is about with this David Lynch fellow. An experimental body horror film that's dreamlike in both structure and in tone, "Eraserhead" loosely tells of a man named Henry Spencer as he grapples with his unexpected role as a first-time father. While navigating his oppressive industrial environment and the unbearable strains of modern life, Henry crawls his way through the unsettling, violent maze of young adulthood.

• Starring: Jack Nance, Charlotte Stewart, Allen Joseph
• Director: David Lynch
• Year: 1977
• Runtime: 89 minutes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%

The cabin in the woods that started it all, "The Evil Dead" was the gore-coated door kick that introduced audiences to the ooey-gooey talents of director Sam Raimi. Far more aligned with a grindhouse sensibility than the campy "Three Stooges" shenanigans that would later color the rest of the franchise, "The Evil Dead" plays its hand devastatingly straight. Brimming with the unmistakable passion of a fresh new genre filmmaker, "The Evil Dead" tells of a gaggle of hapless teens who wanted a remote romantic getaway, but instead, they get possessed by an ancient evil force after goofing around with an ominous book bound in human skin. Let this be a lesson, dear reader, leave the books to the nerds!

• Starring: Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Betsy Baker
• Director: Sam Raimi
• Year: 1981
• Runtime: 85 minutes
• Rating: NC-17
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%

Released six years after its notorious predecessor, "Evil Dead II" is a unique oddity as far as sequels go — a near beat-for-beat retread of the original's plot, with a bigger budget, a steadier directorial hand, and more physical comedy than you can shake a rubber chicken at. Yes, where the gritty edge of 1981's "The Evil Dead" lumped it in with notorious NC-17 bedfellows, "Evil Dead II" swan-dived headfirst into self-parody to the point that self-parody became the backbone of the franchise. As with the original, "The Evil Dead" tells of a gaggle of young, dumb characters who accidentally unleash an evil force when they read from the Book of the Dead. Beset with giggling monstrosities and comical amounts of viscera, it's up to chainsaw-wielding hero Ash Williams to keep his wits about him and kick some demonic butt. They don't come much groovier than this, folks.

• Starring: Bruce Campbell, Sarah Berry, Dan Hicks
• Director: Sam Raimi
• Year: 1987
• Runtime: 85 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%

William Friedkin's 1973 film tells the story of 12-year-old Regan MacNeil, an all-American girl who inexplicably adopts a profane, violent, and volatile new personality. As her mother runs out of rational explanations, she turns to her last hope: an exorcism. An undeniable classic brimming with heartache and slow-burn spectacle, it's no secret "The Exorcist" is still regarded as one of the scariest movies ever made. A masterpiece through and through, if this film has yet to cross your path, this is your opportunity to right that wrong.

• Starring: Ellen Burstyn, Linda Blair, Jason Miller
• Director: William Friedkin
• Year: 1973
• Runtime: 122 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 83%

The brilliant Dr. Génessier is wracked with guilt after inadvertently causing an accident that disfigures his beloved daughter, Christine. Her once beautiful face now a mangled, raw mess, the good doctor spreads rumors of his daughter's demise. Meanwhile, with the help of his complicit lab assistant, Génessier kidnaps young women in a desperate bid to right his wrong and restore Christine's face. If you think a film from the 1960s can't make you squirm, guess again!

• Starring: Pierre Brasseur, Alida Valli, Édith Scob
• Director: Georges Franju
• Year: 1959
• Runtime: 90 minutes
• Rating: TV-14
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 98%

Hoping to procure a unique gift for his son, Billy, a gadget salesman purchases an odd, intriguing animal from a shopkeeper in Chinatown. Known as a "mogwai," the creature comes with a laundry list of mysterious rules — no bright light, no water, and no food after midnight. Despite his best efforts, Billy inadvertently breaks all three rules, unleashing a devious and wildly violent horde of gremlins upon his town on Christmas Eve and giving us an '80s holiday-horror classic.

• Starring: Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Hoyt Axton
• Director: Joe Dante
• Year: 1984
• Runtime: 106 minutes
• Rating: PG
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 85%

Grave-robbing, possessed nuns, medieval torture, "Häxan" has got it all! Part dramatized documentary, part early entry in the folk horror canon, Benjamin Christensen's masterpiece sets off to chart the historical roots and modern consequences of witchcraft from the Middle Ages through the 20th century. An arguably forward-thinking (and decidedly creepy) meditation on superstition's mangled misunderstanding of mental illness, the film fittingly offers a veritable witch's brew of vignettes, ranging from the grotesque to the darkly humorous.

• Starring: Benjamin Christensen, Maren Pedersen, Clara Pontoppidan
• Director: Benjamin Christensen
• Year: 1922
• Runtime: 106 minutes
• Rating: TV-14
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%

Sure, you've heard people call movies "trippy" before. But "House" is in a league of its own. Part arthouse horror-comedy, part bananapants fever dream, "House" tells of Gorgeous, a young girl who takes a trip to the country to visit her aunt at their ancestral home. Joined by six equally ridiculously named friends, Gorgeous soon discovers that the titular house has a mind of its own. An absolutely wild ride from start to finish, "House" is like "Evil Dead II" on acid — a joy-filled and utterly surreal viewing experience with no parallel.

• Starring: Kimiko Ikegami, Ai Matsubara, Miki Jinbo
• Director: Nobuhiko Ôbayashi
• Year: 1977
• Runtime: 87 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%

No horror anthology can hold a candle to the masterpiece that is "Kwaidan". Meaning "ghost story" in archaic Japanese, the film adapts four traditional folk tales, realizing their haunting visions of icy vampiric women, cursed husbands, and undead armies with transfixing ferocity and uncompromising style. Trance-like and visually stunning, "Kwaidan" is truly haunting in every sense of the word.  

• Starring: Rentarô Mikuni, Michiyo Aratama, Tetsurô Tamba
• Director: Masaki Kobayashi
• Year: 1964
• Runtime: 183 minutes
• Rating: TV-14
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%

It's Halloween 1962, and bullies have locked 9-year-old Frankie in his classroom coatroom. Trapped at night, Frankie witnesses the apparition of a young girl being murdered. While her assailant is invisible, Frankie soon has a violent run-in with a suspicious man who may well be the guy who murdered the young girl. But after he recovers from the ordeal, Frankie is stalked by the killer who he gradually suspects may be someone close to him. Boasting incredible set design and a fog-drenched atmosphere, "Lady in White" is a charming chiller with a strong stylistic gait. 

• Starring: Lukas Haas, Len Cariou, Alex Rocco
• Director: Frank LaLoggia
• Year: 1988
• Runtime: 113 minutes
• Rating: PG-13
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 69%

Quite possibly the best horror musical ever made, "Little Shop of Horrors" is a toe-tapping hoot about the intertwined fates of a man-eating plant and a meek florist whose new "discovery" promises to turn his life around and win him the girl of his dreams. A darkly comic big-screen adaptation of the hit off-Broadway musical (itself an adaptation of a Roger Corman B-movie), "Little Shop of Horrors" is transportive and bloody, with a fantastic score from future Disney duo Alan Menken and Howard Ashman. Watching a giant alien plant massacre humanity is rarely this much fun.

• Starring: Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene, Steve Martin
• Director: Frank Oz
• Year: 1986
• Runtime: 93 minutes
• Rating: PG-13
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%

A murderer is on the loose — Hans Beckert, a serial killer who preys on children, and his crimes trigger an unprecedented police manhunt. Children stay home from school, and the cries of distraught mothers fill the streets. An atmosphere of fear and anxious vigilance disrupts normal city life not just for normal citizens but for the denizens of the seedy underworld, who find themselves equally horrified by Beckert's repellent compulsions. Realizing he's being pursued by cops and outlaws alike, the cornered killer panics. Relying not on buckets of blood but nerve-shattering pacing and a powerhouse performance by Peter Lorre, even at nearly 100 years old, "M" is sure to get under your skin.

• Starring: Peter Lorre, Ellen Widmann, Inge Landgut
• Director: Fritz Lang
• Year: 1931
• Runtime: 109 minutes
• Rating: TV-14
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 100%

There are very few "funny moments" in the realm of New French Extremity, let alone full-blown dark comedies. And this makes the existence of "Man Bites Dog" all the more miraculous. Viscerally unnerving and undeniably hilarious, the film tails a charismatic serial killer named Ben as he raises hell to the shock and awe of the complicit documentary team. But it's all fun and games until the crew members start participating.

• Starring: Benoît Poelvoorde, Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel
• Directors: Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel
• Year: 1992
• Runtime: 96 minutes
• Rating: NC-17
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 74%

Plucked from a Cairo prison to assist in the excavation of the lost city of Hamunaptra, swashbuckling legionnaire Rick O'Connell reluctantly leads his fellow explorers to the supposedly cursed city. Indeed, entombed beneath the sand is the disgraced high priest Imhotep, who suffered a fate worse than death for his affair with the Pharaoh's mistress. Naturally, the party unwittingly resurrect the rightfully pissed-off mummy using the Book of the Dead, and Imhotep sets about his reign of terror as he reconstitutes his withered body, resulting in a movie that's "Indiana Jones" meets Universal monster.

• Starring: Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah
• Director: Stephen Sommers
• Year: 1999
• Runtime: 124 minutes
• Rating: PG-13
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 61%

Iconic and blood-chilling to this day, George A. Romero's 1968 film reanimated the zombie genre with a fresh, politically charged sense of purpose. A group of strangers are forced to work together when they seek refuge in a rural Pennsylvania  farmhouse. The undead, risen from their graves for unknown reasons, wait outside, hungry and patient, resulting in a thriller that launched an entire genre, inspired filmmakers like Jordan Peele, and packs a devastating punch.

• Starring: Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea, Karl Hardman
• Director: George A. Romero
• Year: 1968
• Runtime: 96 minutes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%

While her son fights in a far away war, a woman and her daughter-in-law make a living by killing samurai who wander into their bog and selling their valuables. Upon learning that the son has died, the daughter-in-law begins an affair with Hachi, their neighbor. Disapproving of the romance and unable to woo Hachi herself, the mother attempts to frighten her daughter-in-law with a terrifying mask stolen from a deceased samurai. Needless to say, this does not end well.

• Starring: Nobuko Otowa, Jitsuko Yoshimura, Kei Satô
• Director: Kaneto Shindô
• Year: 1964
• Runtime: 102 minutes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 83%

The Freeling family lives in a planned community in Southern California, and life couldn't be better. That is, until the youngest daughter begins to converse with the television and the dishes begin to warp and self-destruct. As the odd paranormal occurrences continue to mount and intensify, the distraught family calls in for expert help to assess the situation before it's too late. With some truly impressive (and nauseating) special effects and one of the most iconic lines in horror history, "Poltergeist" will definitely haunt you long after the credits roll.

• Starring: Craig T. Nelson, JoBeth Williams, Beatrice Straight
• Director: Tobe Hooper
• Year: 1982
• Runtime: 114 minutes
• Rating: PG
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 86%

The dead have risen, and they are ready to party, baby. When a bumbling pair of employees at top-secret military supply warehouse accidentally release a deadly gas into the air, the noxious vapors have the unexpected side effect of raising the dead. As they crawl back into the land of the living, the zombies have one thing and one thing only on their minds: brains. One of the most assured directorial debuts of all time, "The Return of the Living Dead" is one of the rare horror comedies that's genuinely horrifying.

• Starring: Clu Gulager, James Karen, Don Calfa
• Director: Dan O'Bannon
• Year: 1995
• Runtime: 90 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%

We join a group of people in the California desert, who've gathered to watch a film that's an homage to the things in movies that happen for "no reason." The film that follows concerns Robert, a car tire that suddenly comes to life and discovers he has psychokinetic powers that can make animals and objects explode. As his adventure unfolds, Robert becomes obsessed with a beautiful human woman and goes on a rampage through a remote town. An absolutely bananapants ride that must be seen to be believed, "Rubber" is silly, satirical, and straight-up strange. Why do we like it? Oh, you know ... no reason.

• Starring: Stephen Spinella, Roxane Mesquida, Jack Plotnick
• Director: Quentin Dupieux
• Year: 2010
• Runtime: 82 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 68%

An antisocial derelict named Cameron Vale is recruited off the streets by the mysterious ConSec research agency. Under sedation, Cameron learns that he's a "scanner," an individual born with remarkable and potentially deadly telepathic and psychokinetic abilities. Tasked with eliminating a sadistic, power-hungry scanner named Darryl Revok, Cameron steadily uncovers the truth about his mental abilities and ConSec's own ominous involvement in the "scanner" phenomena. On top of that impressive plot, "Scanners" features one of the greatest gore moments ever put on film.

• Starring: Stephen Lack, Jennifer O'Neill, Michael Ironside
• Director: David Cronenberg
• Year: 1981
• Runtime: 103 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 70%

Soon-to-be retired police detective William Somerset is on his final case, and it's a doozy. Teaming up with the newly transferred David Mills, the pair are assigned to untangle an elaborate string of stomach-churning murders. As more and more bodies drop, the duo realize that they've got a serial killer on their hands obsessed with the seven deadly sins. A procedural crime-thriller with a horrific gait sure to upset even the more hardened of genre freaks, "Seven" is a neo noir nightmare with blood and guts to spare.

• Starring: Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow
• Director: David Fincher
• Year: 1995
• Runtime: 125 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 82%

A group of hapless coworkers from the sales department of the Palisade Defense Corporation arrive in Eastern Europe for a team-building exercise. Unfortunately, the hell of an HR-mandated work retreat is the least of their worries. A fallen tree blocks the route to their destination, forcing the co-workers to hike on foot ... straight through the woods harboring a psychotic killer. No amount of workplace morale boosting is worth losing a limb. "Severance" is what you get when you put "The Office" and "Friday the 13th" in a blender — a gruesome and entertaining debut from future "Triangle" director Christopher Smith.

• Starring: Danny Dyer, Laura Harris, Tim McInnerny
• Director: Christopher Smith
• Year: 2006
• Runtime: 95 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 66%

Jack Torrance wants to get some peace and quiet to write his book. Accepting a position as the winter caretaker at the remote Overlook Hotel seems like the perfect way to do it. With his wife Wendy and their son Danny in tow, Jack settles in for a season of complete and total isolation. But soon, the malignant influence of the Overlook begins to worm its way into Jack's fragile, booze-addled psyche. A bonafide classic and easily one of the most discussed horror films ever made, "The Shining" is as unnerving as its reputation suggests. 

• Starring: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd
• Director: Stanley Kubrick
• Year: 1980
• Runtime: 142 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 85%

Obsessed with the prestige of a potential Pulitzer Prize, investigative reporter Johnny Barrett is willing to do anything to set himself apart from his peers to win the cherished award. When Johnny learns of an open homicide committed at a local psychiatric hospital, he plots a scheme to crack the case himself. Admitted into the institution after coercing his girlfriend and a psychiatrist, Johnny begins his investigation ... only to steadily lose his grip on reality.

• Starring: Peter Breck, Constance Towers, Gene Evans
• Director: Samuel Fuller
• Year: 1963
• Runtime: 101 minutes
• Rating: TV-14
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%

Grace, a plucky young journalist, accidentally witnesses her neighbor violently murder a Black man. When the police arrive on the scene, they dismiss her claims and assert that nothing is amiss, forcing Grace to take matters into her own hands. After hiring a private eye to help her learn more about her neighbor's past, the pair are surprised and horrified when they start seeing double. With a heavy debt to the Giallo tradition and one of the most jaw-dropping climaxes of Brian De Palma's career, "Sisters" is a sinfully slick psychodrama with body horror to spare.

• Starring: Margot Kidder, Jennifer Salt, Charles Durning
• Director: Brian De Palma
• Year: 1972
• Runtime: 92 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 87%

When India Stoker's father dies in a car accident, she sinks into a deep depression. The sudden arrival of Charlie, a charming uncle she never knew existed, only adds to her emotional turmoil. When Charlie moves in with India and her increasingly unstable mother, India begins to suspect her "uncle" has ulterior motives. To her surprise, India finds herself drawn further and further in to Charlie's orbit, infatuated with a darkness she begins to recognize within herself.

• Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Matthew Goode, Nicole Kidman
• Director: Park Chan-wook
• Year: 2013
• Runtime: 98 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 70%

A crime wave grips the city, and all signs point to the criminal genius Dr. Mabuse, a psychopath and a gifted hypnotist. But how is the good doctor orchestrating the criminal rackets from behind bars? And what should the police make of the conflicting reports on his whereabouts? Mired in shadowy expressionism and inventively surreal, "The Testament of Dr. Mabuse" melds the police procedural with a ghost story, offering an untouchable blueprint for all genre-melds to follow.

• Starring: Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Oscar Beregi, Otto Wernicke
• Director: Fritz Lang
• Year: 1933
• Runtime: 121 minutes
• Rating: TV-PG
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 85%

A group of university students set off to make a documentary about a suspected bear poacher named Hans. When Hans rebuffs their request for an interview, they follow him into the woods one night in hopes of catching him in the bear-slaying act. Instead, they learn the truth about Hans' prey (psst: the hint is in the film's title). "Troll Hunter" is what you would get if "The Blair Witch Project" got in a car accident with a Christopher Guest documentary. It's humorous, sly, and has atmosphere to spare. 

• Starring: Otto Jespersen, Glenn Erland Tosterud, Johanna Mørck
• Director: André Øvredal
• Year: 2010
• Runtime: 103 minutes
• Rating: PG-13
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 82%

During an especially raucous girl's night, three unfulfilled single women flippantly describe their ideal man. When the devilishly charming, if probably ill-intentioned, Daryl Van Horne enters their lives, their prayers (or is that nightmares?) seem to be answered. Daryl begins to court each of them in turn, informing the trio that they are witches. And after watching "The Witches of Eastwick," you'll never look at cherries the same way again.

• Starring: Jack Nicholson, Cher, Susan Sarandon
• Director: George Miller
• Year: 1987
• Runtime: 117 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 76%

Darkly funny with a fiendish sense of the macabre, this modern horror anthology unravels four interlocking stories that take place on Halloween night. We've got a high school principal with a double life as a serial killer, a virginal college girl searching for the man of her dreams, a group of malicious teenagers on the wrong end of a mean-spirited prank, and a bitter recluse who's visited by an uninvited, pint-sized guest. It all adds up for good, ghoulish, gory fun.

• Starring: Anna Paquin, Brian Cox, Dylan Baker
• Director: Michael Dougherty
• Year: 2007
• Runtime: 82 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 83%

Straddling the line between a sound and a silent picture, "Vampyr" tells of a student of the occult who finds himself embroiled in a wealthy family's struggle against a predatory, blood-sucking presence. Living shadows swarm a castle, and a mysterious illness spreads throughout the estate after one of family's daughter's is bitten. In order to break the curse, the terrified survivors must locate the physical body of the original vampire and plunge a steak through its heart.

• Starring: Julian West, Henriette Gérard, Jan Hieronimko
• Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer
• Year: 1932
• Runtime: 73 minutes
• Rating: NR
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%