Horror movies are surprisingly popular around Valentine’s Day. But with so much on offer, what’s worth a watch if you want a real fright? We’ve perused the current slate on the UK version of the site – and here’s what you can treat yourself to, at time of writing. Want something lighter? See some more romantic suggestions here.
Veronica
This movie became quite the sensation when it landed on Netflix just under a year ago.
Said to be based on a real police report, it sees a Spanish teenager and her siblings terrorised by a spirit in their home following an encounter with a ouija board.
There’s a reason why some viewers said it was so scary they couldn’t even reach the end.
Gerald’s Game
This one works so well because it’s so intimate it’s uncomfortable.
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The movie – based on a 1992 book by Stephen King – sees a straight married couple heading to a hotel, in a bid to breathe new life into their relationship.
When they try something kinky in the bedroom, the man keels over and dies from a heart attack – while the woman is handcuffed to the bed.
What follows is a relentlessly tense psychological chiller in which she tries to free herself whilst dealing with some long-buried trauma.
Hush
A deaf novelist is pestered by a creepy person in a weird mask when she heads to a secluded cabin in a bid to finish her novel.
The fact she can’t hear anything while the game of cat-and-mouse ensues only serves to make this even more unbearable.
10 Cloverfield Lane
Has John Goodman saved Mary Elizabeth Winstead from global disaster – or kidnapped her?
This thriller will keep you guessing right up until its genuinely jaw-dropping finale.
The Silence of the Lambs
An iconic movie that won Best Picture at the Oscars, it’s arguably the biggest entry in the filmographies of Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins.
More a psychological thriller than an outright jumpy scare-fest, it still more than leaves its mark on viewers – all this time after its initial release.
Not only is it deeply affecting, it’s also a real bucket-list movie.
Paranormal Activity 3
At the time of its release, PA3 broke the record for a horror film’s opening day at the US box office.
Set 18 years after the events of the first two films, it’s a good old found-footage romp that delivers jump after jump after jump.
Insidious
Released in 2010 with an impressive cast including Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne, this movie went down so well it sparked a huge array of sequels; making $97 million at the box office.
The story stars the A-list pair as a couple whose son inexplicably enters a comatose state and becomes a vessel for ghosts in an astral dimension who want to inhabit his body.
The Boy
This 2016 effort was also a box office hit; about a woman who is hired as a nanny… to a porcelain doll.
A creepy couple and a creepy doll? You already know this is going to leave you deeply shaken.
Clown
Clowns, as It has already taught us, are great fodder for the horror genre.
In this 2014 horror, a man puts on a clown costume for a birthday party – and is alarmed when it appears to become attached to his body, and eventually become part of it.
Soon he learns that it’s actually the hair and skin of an ancient demon from Northern Europe – and he is now becoming that demon. Gruesome stuff.
Velvet Buzzsaw
This one only came out a matter of weeks ago.
Jake Gyllenhaal, Zawe Ashton and Toni Collette are among the stars, and the movie had a generally positive reaction from critics.
It’s about art criticism – and not nearly as boring as that sounds.