Hola, hi (and happy Halloween). Hope you are doing well and keeping busy. Me? Well, it’s been a good month full of horror and whatnot, and, actually, I cannot remember the last time I binge-watched so many new horror movies (new to me, that is) from the sixties, seventies, and beyond.
Over the years, as a self-proclaimed horror aficionado, I have accumulated a sizable horror dvd collection of movies I love and enjoy rewatching, and also of movies I knew were must-haves even if I had never watched them myself. So, not sure what possessed me to do it in such a short period of time, but I somehow managed to finally watch all the never-before-seen rare pieces in my collection, that is, with the exception of the items belonging to the Asian Horror section because I have a life and those pending films (20+ and counting) will have to wait until I am done giving my brain a break. So much horror, so much.
Right, but did I only watch my dvd’s? No, I did not, I also had the audacity of watching a few other movies from my queues, plural. (Sidenote: This viewing exercise revealed to me that I do not really use Netflix, Hulu, or HBOMax for horror movies and that I should strongly contemplate cancelling my monthly subscription with each one of them.) Shudder and Prime proved their value and offered great horror choices but, come on, the winner of them all was Tubi which happens to be FREE!! I will proudly say it again, Tubi defeated all my paid streaming services and gave me all the odd and obscure horror films I never knew I wanted. Hurray!
While tallying up the hours invested last month in this horror hobby of mine, I realized I gave preference to movies from the 2010’s when it came strictly to streaming, so, I said to myself, heck, just for fun, why don’t I put together the top-ten list of movies I recently watched and that can be streamed—most of them for free—by other horror enthusiast who also appreciate weird and gory movies from the previous decade? And so I did, and so here we are.
Without further ado, here’s my top-ten list—in alphabetical order, each with my personal opinion, and with a direct link to the corresponding streaming service—of movies I watched over the past weeks, all highly recommended, all 2010’s, and all streamable at the time of this blog post.
American Guinea Pig: Sacrifice (2017), Tubi
Guinea Pig was an 1980’s Japanese horror film series focused on depictions of torture, mutilation, murder, etc. and was considered controversial for its time due to its violent nature. Fast forward to the 2010’s when the American version of the series got produced. Did I think 'Sacrifice' was controversial? No, not really, but it was gory as hell and had several what-am-I-watching moments, all well worth the 1h3m running time. Short and sweet? Yes, please.
Atroz aka Atrocious (2015), Tubi
Hands down one of the most extreme movies I’ve ever watched. Forget France’s Martyrs, forget Germany’s Nekromantik, forget Serbia’s A Serbian Film, forget Italy’s Cannibal Holocaust, here comes Mexico with Atroz and all its graphic violence, hate crimes, and paraphilias. Beware of the found-footage style scenes, you might need to remind yourself they are not real, just the product of a very skilled, very detail-oriented production team. (It’s not real. It’s not real. It’s not real…)
Be My Cat: A Film for Anne (2015), Tubi
I had heard great things about this Romanian movie, so, even though the storyline did not sound completely interesting to me, I decided to give it a go due to it being shot in found-footage style (one of my favorite horror subgenres), and also due to its unique filmmaking methods which warranted a handful of film festival nominations and wins for Writer/Director/Star Adrian Tofei. If you are looking for a strange horror movie to watch tonight, this no-budget film is for you.
Belzebuth (2017), Shudder
I loved (loved!) this Mexican movie and believe it is a must-watch for those of us who enjoy a good exorcism story. The film follows a hardened detective who joins forces with an American priest/Paranormal Forensic Specialist in finding the culprit behind the unexplained and sudden infant and child mass murders in the area. This is a serious horror film with a couple of lighthearted moments which allow us to unclench our jaw and relax our body, after all, it is a Mexican movie and we have to have Mexicanisms, que no?
Chain Letter (2010), Tubi
This one felt like cheating because, even though the movie came out in 2010, it fully gave that unmistakable mid-2000’s vibe which was distracting at times. Old technology, music, and fashion aside, this slasher had some really gruesome kills that made me squirm on my seat which says a lot about the film.
Gokseong aka The Wailing (2016), Prime
A coworker recommended this one to me and he was right, this movie was incredible, okay, maybe a little too long for my liking, but other than that I had zero complains for this bleak, tragic, ghost story from South Korea.
Homewrecker (2019), TUBI
Probably the tamest movie from this list, but definitely the one with the biggest payoff. The story follows two women, one married, one single, both attached to the same man; one younger, one older, both equally lost and lonely; one meek and agreeable, one loud and with a plan, both in mortal danger. I hate how real this movie felt, there was nothing fun about its familiarity. After everything was said and done, I was left unsettled but secretly wanting more.
Honeymoon (2014), TUBI
It is hard to say anything about his movie without spoiling it, so, let’s do the following: I will stay here while you click on that Prime link and if you love the first 10 minutes, well, you’ll love the last 10 a hundred times more.
The Legend of Wasco (2015), Tubi
Killer clowns are not only from outer space, they are from the lake in the woods, too. This low-budget slasher felt at times like a horror comedy thanks to the goofy husband, Tyler, whom I immediately felt annoyed by, although, goshdarnit, by the end of the saga became my favorite character of them all. Huge props to the terrifying clown trio for actually being, well, terrifying.
Yummy (2019), Shudder
This movie from Belgium was the biggest surprise out of the entire list since, with the exception of the title and the poster, I had no real knowledge about it. Was it about zombies? Sure. Was it about the struggle between a woman and her body image, of how she cannot exist in peace with her naturally large breast without men gawking at her, harassing her wherever she went, thus deciding to get a breast reduction at a sketchy facility, possibly jeopardizing her life in exchange for the promise of a new one, all while in the middle of a zombie outbreak? Uhh… what the what!?
That is it for me, my dear horror friend, hope you found this list worthy of your time and that you bookmarked a few link recommendations for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy your evening, talk to you soon.
In Love and Fear,
—Marath
© 2016-2023