If you’re not a film nerd who cares about the vanity cards (production-company logos) at the beginning of movies, you’re probably not an A24 obsessive. Those who are film nerds know the studio excels at horror, and that you can create a solid Halloween watchlist using only A24 movies—which is what I’ve assembled this month.
Feel free to argue over the inclusions and exclusions—and Happy Halloween!
Under the Skin (2013; streaming on Netflix and Tubi): Even though it starred Scarlett Johansson just as her Marvel Cinematic Universe stardom was blowing up, her sci-fi oddity Under the Skin still lives in obscurity. The slow and creepy nature of the film, in which Johansson plays an alien in a human body, is the polar opposite of a glossy action flick; the movie is imbued with a lo-fi vibe that’s as bleak as it is fascinating. Weirdly enough, Johansson’s blank, emotionless performance is one of her best.
The Witch (2015; Netflix, Tubi): Anya Taylor-Joy’s film debut is a powerful one as Thomasin, a Puritan teenager facing the temptation of evil in 17th-century New England. Exiled from a settlement, Thomasin’s family builds a new home on the edge of a secluded forest, which turns out to be the home of—you guessed it—a witch. The family’s sense of joy at new beginnings turns to dread as a hallucinatory nightmare unfolds. The Witch has all of this and a talking goat.
Green Room (2016; Netflix): Ready to see Star Trek’s amiable Capt. Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) as a terrifying neo-Nazi leader? No, you’re not. When a touring hardcore band needs to find a make-up gig for a canceled date, they end up at a way-off-the-grid punk club in the Pacific Northwest. Soon, they learn that the joint is a white supremacist watering hole (red flag), then they witness a murder (all the red flags). Green Room is a down-and-dirty, fight-for-survival thriller with a—literally—killer soundtrack.
Hereditary (2018; HBO Max): A benchmark horror movie that answers the question, “How can things get any worse?” a dozen times in a quick-but-fraught 127 minutes, Hereditary was A24’s biggest hit before Everything Everywhere All at Once. After enduring a series of family tragedies, Annie (Toni Collette) begins dabbling in the occult, only to learn that her late, estranged mother was a coven leader. Hereditary’s calculated derangement accelerates by the minute like a runaway trauma train.
Midsommar (2019; HBO Max): A troubled couple (Florence Pugh and Jack Reynor) travel to Sweden to attend a midsummer festival, but instead, they find themselves trapped in a pagan orgy of drugs, sex and death—Tripadvisor fails again. The flowery and dreamlike aura of Midsommar belies a dark and horrific underbelly, a paradox not unlike the critical reaction to the film, which ranges wildly from glowing to gruesome. One aspect everyone agrees upon: Pugh is, as always, fantastic.
Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022; Hulu): It’s more of a black-humor mystery than a straight-up horror movie, but Bodies Bodies Bodies is still a bloody good time. A party at a remote mansion goes all the way wrong for a group of uber-privileged 20-somethings (including Pete Davidson) when a “murder” game becomes all too real, and partygoers start getting killed. Bodies Bodies Bodies has drawn comparisons to the Scream franchise and Jennifer’s Body, which is some good alt-horror company.
X (2022; HBO Max, Tubi): X is both a tribute to and an upending of the slasher genre, co-starring a pre-Wednesday Jenna Ortega as a member of a small crew shooting an adult film in 1979 Texas. They think they’ve found the perfect shot location at a countryside farmhouse, but when the elderly woman owner finds what they’re up to, things go sideways, bloody fast. Director Ti West turns the sex, gore and terror up to 11, aided by the haunting soundtrack by goth-rocker Chelsea Wolfe.
Pearl (2022; HBO Max, Hulu): Pearl is an X prequel and an origin story for that film’s geriatric villain, who herself aspired to be a movie star in the early 1900s. Unfortunately, young Pearl (Mia Goth) has inherited a sadistic streak from her domineering mother. And when an affair with the town movie-house projectionist and a big talent audition don’t go her way, the bodies begin piling up in dazzling Wizard of Oz-like Technicolor. Pearl won’t sync up with Dark Side of the Moon, though—try a Black Sabbath album.
Talk to Me (2023; HBO Max, Hulu): The first film from brothers Danny and Michael Philippou treats demonic possession as a party drug. Teens discover a ceramic hand that supposedly houses a medium’s embalmed paw. Hold it; say the magic words; and a demon moves into your body. It’s a hit with the kids, who post their experiences on social media and encourage friends to try it. If Talk to Me sounds like a cautionary tale about drugs, it is. See also: Bring Her Back, the Philippous’ 2025 frightener.
Maxxxine (2024; HBO Max): After X and Pearl, Maxxxine completes Ti West’s trilogy as X’s Maxine Minx (Mia Goth, again) lands her first non-porn film role in 1985 Los Angeles. Of course, it’s a horror movie sequel (nice touch) that Maxine can’t quite focus on while a private detective (Kevin Bacon) threatens her with VHS tape evidence of her X exploits from six years earlier. She’s also connected to “satanic” Hollywood murders, but not in the way you might think. Maxxxine wraps the trilogy in maximal fashion.
Y2K (2024; HBO Max): Saturday Night Live’s Kyle Mooney co-wrote and directed Y2K, which serves up an alternative New Year’s Eve 1999 where the digital disaster those of us who were alive then feared would happen, actually happens—but it’s so, so, so much worse. Y2K is a high-school comedy and a rise-of-the-machines terror tale that works in both lanes, and it even features a cameo by Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst that just seems inevitable. Overall, stupid but satisfying.
