IN TIME for spooky season, horror movies are filling the movie theaters and online streaming platforms. Here is a quick rundown of what you can catch this Halloween.
IN CINEMAS
There are quite a few suspense-filled thrillers and supernatural horror movies in theaters that have been newly approved by the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board for this week.
There is Talahib, a tension-filled adventure about paranormal killings, which premiered in the Sinag Maynila Film Festival back in August. Rated R-13, the Alvin Yapan-directed horror film invites viewers to see the titular fields of tall grass in a terrifying light. Meanwhile, the Indonesian horror-thriller Vina: Before 7 Days will also be hitting the theaters. Loosely based on a true story, the R-16 film centers on a woman targeted by motorcycle gangs out for ghostly revenge.
Ayala Malls Cinemas will be having its own festival of classic horror films from Oct. 30 to Nov. 5. Available at all 23 Ayala Malls Cinemas across the country, with tickets costing just P150, it’s a good choice for those seeking an affordable thrill.
The “Thrill Fest” titles are: The Lost Boys (R-13), a 1987 horror comedy by Joel Schumacher, where a boy and his brother must end a vampire gang that is ravaging their town; Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride (PG), a 2005 stop-motion animation adventure about a man who mistakenly marries a corpse and ends up in the Land of the Dead; and Trick’R Treat (R-16), a 2007 comic horror anthology by Bryan Singer made up of four terrifying tales set in Halloween.
ON STREAMING SERVICES
There is a mix of old and new horror movies available on many different platforms.
On Netflix, the newly released Filipino film Outside attempts something new. Directed by Carlo Ledesma, it is a psychological horror set in a zombie apocalypse in the countryside of Negros province. For an older title, the 1975 Steven Spielberg shark thriller Jaws is on the platform only until Nov. 15.
HBO GO has a lineup of new horror films as well. Trap, which had its theatrical run back in August, is M. Night Shyamalan’s take on a pop concert turned into a set-up to catch a serial killer. The platform also has the latest Stephen King adaptation, Salem’s Lot (2024), where an author returns to his hometown only to discover that it is being preyed upon by vampires.
Those curious about what Filipino director Mikhail Red and actress Nadine Lustre have been up to after 2022’s Deleter can head to Prime Video. There, their brand-new Nokturno will premiere on Oct. 31. It follows a woman who finds her town is under a curse, cast by folkloric figures called kumakatok.
Over on Disney+, a 2024 prequel to the classic Omen series, The First Omen, presents the tale of a woman forced to birth a cursed child in a convent in Rome. For a bit of nostalgia, the gothic adventures Edward Scissorhands (1990) and The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) are also on the platform. — Brontë H. Lacsamana