Ten from the VoD Streamers for Halloween

Can't be arsed getting up from the couch to find a disc or try a fun round of spooky charades? Same here and it's not like we really get into Halloween in Australia, anyway. However, I've done the next best thing to a lucky dip and dragged out some things from the local streaming services. Caution: all such lists are folly. They never please all and sometimes please none. But these aren't necessarily from my favourite horror movies, more a mix of classics and new things that have caught my attention and then only from what you can click on from Netflix, Stan and SBS on Demand. I chose against Mubi (as I don't subscribe to it anymore) or TubiTV as while it has a few hard to see antiquities o' merit it can be daunting to navigate for the newbie (newbie? How old did I say I was?)  and Shudder still hasn't arrived here. And there are many I've left out. It was hard keeping it to ten. Anyway, Halloween.

THE EXORCIST (1973) - Netflix

I don't know how this happened but the version on Netflix is the original 1973 cut which is in every way superior to the bloated 2000 re-release. So, yes, this champ among horror flicks can be seen from the comfort of your living room while you hear all the sounds your house makes but normally don't notice. If you are watching with purpose tomorrow night and you haven't seen this cut (which should pinch the subtitle from the later cut as it now applies more accurately: the version you've never seen) choose this one. A great movie of any genre.

RAW (2016) - SBS on Demand

Starts as a kind of coming of age/loss of innocence but soon turns into a tale of newly discovered appetites and has a coda ending that lets its hitherto hidden tragedy into the light. French extremity is good for you.






LET THE RIGHT ONE IN (2008) - SBS on Demand and Stan

Superb fresh take on vampirism also manages to outrank its source material (at least the translation from Swedish that I read). Notes of Stephen King are undeniable but this gets a lot more queasy. Solid tale, also, of the costs and benefits of friendship.







SATANIC (2016) - Netflix

This tale of young adults dabbling in the dark (when they should be going to Lollapalooza as they set out to do) and paying the price is much, much better than that premise or the thumbnail art it gets on Netflix. There's a real mounting sense of sadness in the encroaching dark which does a lot of driving where, in a lesser film, it would just be scares. One character says with the eerie confidence of the self-taught zealot, "Hell is a beautiful confusion." It's poignant and chilling. And she ain't kidding.

SHUTTER (2004) - Netflix

A superb Thai outing in the then burgeoning world of Asian Horror in the 2000s, Shutter is a slowburn personal investigation which keeps its mystery icy and saves its weird and horrible surprise (note: surprise, not jump scare) for the very last. You won't expect it.





HEREDITARY (2018) - Netflix

Justly celebrated horror debut of Ari Aster packs a wallop early and then goes quietly bonkers as a family visited by grief also gets visited by some grievous folk. A pleasing mix of hard edged family drama (just watch Toni Collette go off) and the supernatural.






DUMPLINGS (2004) - Stan

An ageing star seeks a means of arresting the process that plagues us all and finds a wise woman who can help her. There's a price, of course, and it might turn you off Yum Cha for life.








THE THING (1982) - Netflix

Doesn't get much better than John Carpenter's reimagining of the story Who Goes There, pushing the horror into the very cells of the characters. See if you can get through the blood test scene without biting the tip of your tongue off.




THE POUGHKEEPSIE TAPES (2008) - Stan

Really, really, really not for everybody. This found footage mini-epic goes deep into the dark of a sexual sadist's mind and crimes. I still don't know if it indulges in the sleaze it portrays (like Compliance) or fearlessly examines it.






KILLING GROUND (2016) - Stan

An intentionally scattered timeline begins to find its pieces and we see the ghastliness they build. Significant indications of sexual assault (though almost all of it is shown as aftermath) but the real fight, when it happens proves that this film is not just about violence but our response to it and how that can be both triumphant and ugly.