Six of the Best Alternative Halloween Movies

If you’re looking for some alternative movie chills this Halloween, then prepare to be spoiled rotten (emphasis on the rotten). While the airwaves may be full of repeats of the usual Hollywood scares and big-budget freaky franchises, there are plenty more alternative horror films lurking in the cinematic shadows.

Halloween may have, in the past, been associated with negativity and the occult; it’s now treated with more fun and less seriousness. That goes from the playful act of carving a pumpkin to games using dark motifs in a light-hearted manner to the many many cinematic approaches to the hallowed date of October 31st. 

The movies range from little-known British cult classics to low-budget and beautiful vampiric Swedish fairytales, something weird and wicked this way comes. Here’s our pick of the best of the alt chillers to make your Halloween truly horrifying.

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014)

Described – tantalizingly – as a Persian-language, American Western horror film, A Girl Walks Home at Night was promoted as ‘the first Iranian vampire Western’ and was largely funded by a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo.

The film centers on a lonesome vampire who stalks the ghost town of Bad City and the few remaining townsfolk who are unaware of the danger that lurks unseen. A mash-up of genres, the movie is also a love story about the connection found between two tortured souls and is often darkly humorous – and the soundtrack’s to die for, too.

The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears (2013)

If an eerie atmosphere and spooky surrealism are what you’re looking for this Halloween, then The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears is a must-watch. This little-known French gem is visually stunning, and what it may somewhat lack in plot, it more than makes up for in ambiance and style.

Upon returning home from work, Dan (played by Klaus Tange) discovers that his wife is missing. He goes from apartment to apartment in his block, trying to find out what’s happened to her, but finds himself instead getting caught up in a web of his neighbors’ intrigue, secrets, and lies.

The movie was nominated for a slew of awards upon its release, winning the accolade for Best Cinematography at the fifth Magritte Awards.

A Horrible Way to Die (2010)

Fast gaining cult status, this movie follows an escaped serial killer, determined to track down his ex-girlfriend, telling the story from his perspective before switching to that of his quarry, who is trying to rebuild her life in a small town.

The scrambled timeline, naturalistic dialogue, and shaky camera work serve to build a gnawing sense of unease, while the twists and turns of the plot add to the sense of suspense and disorientation. This may not be your typical serial-killer-movie-gorefest, but it’s a thought-provoking, disturbing take on the genre.

Let the Right One In (2008)

For most of those who have seen this low-budget Swedish movie masterpiece, it ranks as one of the best – if not the best – vampire films ever made. With its haunting, fairytale vibe and the precision, slow-burn nature of the plot, Let the Right One In will draw you inexorably deeper into its narrative until you’re literally sitting on the edge of your seat.

The fear factor is high in this movie, helped by the building sense of dread and the occasional shocking visual. As an audience, we can’t help, too, but connect with the tragedy at the heart of the key characters’ lives, which all combine to keep the story alive (or undead?) in our minds long after the end credits have rolled.

Sleepwalker (1984)

This largely forgotten British movie from the 1980s should definitely have a place on your Halloween Alternative Horrors watch list. When a foursome, made up of a couple, and a brother and sister, heads out to a restaurant for a meal, the night takes a turn for the worst. Arguments between the group escalate, and the tension mounts – exacerbated by the creepy owner of the establishment and his somethings-not-quite-right-about-him employee.

Sleepwalker is generally regarded as one of the decade’s strangest movies – as well as being an intriguing chiller; it’s also a thinly-veiled critique of the political state of the UK at the time.

The Appointment (1982)

Finally, another little-known British cult classic from the 80s, The Appointment, is a truly terrifying take on the now well-trodden paranormal plot. In the opening scenes of the movie, we witness a schoolgirl being dragged into the woods by an unseen supernatural force – and it’s genuinely disturbing. The rest of the film largely focuses on the father of a teenage girl who, after he’s unable to attend his daughter’s recital, finds himself stalked by a paranormal presence.

The film is extraordinarily eerie and is also beautifully shot, with unusual camera angles used to ramp up the nervous energy and create sinister connotations.