Fall 2025 Horror Movie Diary (Part 2)

Misery (1990)

Rewatch. In Misery, Rob Reiner directed one of the great Stephen King adaptations. It’s tight as a drum and features two great actors going toe-to-toe. James Caan plays the famous author who drives his car off a snowy road and Kathy Bates, in her first major film role, plays an obsessed fan who holds him captive while nursing his injuries. With Caan in survival mode and Bates fully deranged, there is a lot of acting firepower on display. William Goldman’s script keeps things snappy while continuously ratcheting the tension. Quick question… Misery isn’t being forgotten, is it? Have you seen it? To me, this is one of the true blue horror/thrillers of its time but I can’t remember the last time I’ve talked about it with anyone. Anyway, it’s classy, still packs a punch, and should be a great entry-level horror movie for those who don’t indulge this genre often.

Recommended If You Like: The Shining (1980), Christine (1983), The Dead Zone (1983), Dolores Claiborne (1995)

The Witch

Rewatch. Robert Eggers has made a name for himself with historically set horror films and The Witch was his first feature. Eggers’ films have grown in scale and complexity, but in The Witch, simplicity breeds authenticity. It’s the story of a Puritan family living in exile in 17th Century New England that begins to observe supernatural occurrences. It’s very scary. The family’s isolation is palpable thanks in part to the incredible shooting locations. Eggers has proven good at finding locations and shooting them in a way that makes them feel untouched by humanity, alien even. Another Eggers-ism that seems to have started here is his interest in building something like a docudrama out of historically sourced lore, e.g. historical accounts of witch trials. I know there are a lot of films about witches, but Eggers seems to have forged his own method for telling these kinds of stories and I’m here for it. Also, this is the first starring role for Anya Taylor-Joy!

RIYL: The Lighthouse (2019), The Northman (2022), Nosferatu (2024)

The Mist (2007)

Rewatch, but first-time viewing of the black and white version. Another Stephen King adaptation, this one from Frank Darabont, who had already adapted The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile from King’s works. Thomas Jane leads the ensemble cast which includes Andre Braugher and a handful of actors who would follow Darabont to star in his forthcoming first season of The Walking Dead. The story kicks into gear when a gaggle of townsfolk hole up in a grocery store when everything as far as the eye can see is engulfed in an impenetrable mist. The terror is driven in equal parts by Lovecraftian creatures and the factionalizing that happens when people of different backgrounds are thrust together. I think the pacing is not quite maintained at the level needed for a true horror classic, but The Mist deserves a lot of credit for following through on a great premise with a bold ending.

RIYL: War of the Worlds (2005), Color Out of Space (2019)

The Fly (1986)

Rewatch. David Cronenberg is among my very favorite filmmakers and The Fly may be his most perfect creation. His reimagining of the 1958 film starring Vincent Price features the impossibly beautiful Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis. He’s an inventor on the brink of unveiling a teleportation device and she’s a tech journalist looking for a big story. There’s no fat here – the very first scene makes the audience care about Seth and Veronica through a meet-cute that simultaneously plunges viewers into Seth’s experiments. The Fly delivers plenty of horror, but as is the case with Cronenberg’s films, it’s also a deeply affecting tragedy. A tragedy that also features some of the grossest makeup effects to ever grace a major studio film.

RIYL: Videodrome (1983), Dead Ringers (1988)

Witchfinder General (“The Conqueror Worm”) (1968)

First-time viewing. Speaking of Vincent Price, he stars in Witchfinder General (a.k.a. The Conqueror Worm as it was known for a time to American audiences) as the title character, Matthew Hopkins, who traveled around England during the English Civil War (~1645), torturing confessions out of suspected witches. While Hopkins was a real life historical figure, Witchfinder General reportedly plays loose with the history and is more of an exploitation film.

RIYL: The Devils (1971)

Candyman: Day of the Dead (1999)

First-time viewing. The original Candyman (1992) from Clive Barker and Bernard Rose is one of the great films of the 90s, horror or not. Candyman: Day of the Dead is not especially good but it did have me weighing the relative merits of various sequel movie templates. Which is better (or worse): the uninspired direct follow-up (think Halloween II… from 1981, not Rob Zombie’s Halloween II, which rocks) or a derivative rehash of the original with new characters (think Halloween 4). It’s not a very high bar, but for my money this third Candyman was more entertaining the previous one (Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh, 1995).

Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)

Rewatch. This is among my favorite Halloween movies and almost certainly the one I’ve watched the most. For the non-sickos blissfully unaware of the ins and outs of this franchise, this is the one without Michael Myers. Things get rolling when a man is killed under mysterious circumstances and the only piece of evidence is a Halloween mask. Enter the hard-drinking doctor/womanizer/detective played by Tom Atkins who takes it upon himself to get to the bottom of it. It gets more unhinged from there as he joins forces with Ellie (Stacey Nelkin) in investigating the reclusive mask-maker (Dan O’Herlihy). The deranged story is almost indefensible and falls apart under even mild scrutiny. But it’s just a delight. Although he didn’t direct, John Carpenter’s presence is felt in the music and the effective use of the seasonal trappings. It’s not hard to like a movie this wacky and this committed to the bit.

RIYL: Halloween (1978), Pumpkinhead (1988), Trick ‘r Treat (2007)

Hocus Pocus (1993)

Rewatch. A Halloween classic that works pretty well as a horror-starter for younger viewers. I think this one is a staple in a lot of households every fall. I don’t have much to add to the legend but, like Halloween III, it’s somehow a surprisingly dark, twisted tale and a comfort watch at the same time. No wonder it lives on.

RIYL: The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Casper (1995)

Knock Knock (2015)

Rewatch. Okay… I have a real soft spot for Eli Roth’s films. He loves to dabble in the disreputable and has delivered a handful of modern exploitation classics that I love but pretty much can’t recommend to anyone. I wouldn’t position Knock Knock as a niche classic but it’s propulsive and highly watchable. Keanu Reeves stars as the man who lets two young women (Lorenza Izzo and Ana de Armas) in to get out the rain. Again, listen… I’m not broadly recommending this movie. It’s Eli Roth and if you know, you know.

RIYL Funny Games (1997; 2007), Hostel (2005)

When a Stranger Calls (1979)

First-time viewing. I was actually eyeing the 2006 remake before pivoting to the original (neither of which I’d seen). When a Stranger Calls is an interesting case where the movie you think you’re watching ends and gives way to something else entirely. The terror-by-phone scenario is a great set-up but that’s really just the opening sequence. The film loses its way from there, becoming a garbled commentary on homelessness among other things. The beginning and end pack some thrills but I was pretty let down by the film that gave us the line, “It’s coming from inside the house!” A few critics at the time remarked upon how this movie showed landline phones invading the serenity of the home. They’re not wrong but applying that concern to landlines feels pretty quaint now.

Quarantine (2008)

First-time viewing. How do we feel about English-language remakes? Just a year after REC hit Spain, Quarantine hit the US. I didn’t actually compare the dialog, but asisde from the language change, the experience of these two movies is practically identical. The original had significant novelty. It’s found-footage; it features a documentary crew that gets in over its head; it’s got scary infected folks. Quarantine also has all of these things, but if you’ve seen REC, is it worth it to watch almost the same exact movie again, shot-for-shot in most cases, when you’ve already seen the Spanish version? I don’t know the answer. Maybe the answer is to just pick one and then avoid the other. Quarantine is fine, maybe even good, but it’s tough to recommend if you’ve seen the Spanish version.

RIYL: 28 Days Later (2002), V/H/S (2012)

Sinners (2025)

Sinners has it all. It’s thrilling in the way a good vampire movie should be and also much more than that. The way it incoporates music into the story feels revelatory and deepens the experience. Sinners represents a leveling-up for Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan and it’s one of the best films of 2025. It’s scary but crowdpleasing; spactacular but thoughtful. It’s one of those movies you’ve just got to see.

RIYL: The Thing (1982), From Dusk Til Dawn (1996), Get Out (2017)

Like last time, here is the order in which I would recommend the movies discussed above:

1. Sinners (2025)
2. The Fly (1986)
3. Misery (1990)
4. The Witch (2015)
5. Witchfinder General (1968)
6. Hocus Pocus (1993)
7. Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)
8. The Mist (2007)
9. Quarantine (2008)
10. Knock Knock (2015)
11. Candyman: Day of the Dead (1999)
12. When a Stranger Calls (1979)

Keep an eye out for ‘Part 3’ coming soon!