Friday the 13th has a big history attached to it and while some still can’t make out the reality behind its inception, they’re ready to consume anything entertaining. Many make it a point to get their fair share of spookiness on every Friday the 13th. While some visit a graveyard, others try their hands on Ouija board (I know I have). However, if you’re someone who likes spooky from far and doesn’t want to be really active for it, then watching a horror movie is the best bet for you.
I mean, really, what’s much better than winding up on your couch and watching a horror movie with a bowl of popcorns on your lap and dimmed lights? That too on Friday the 13th?
Horror movies come from one of the best genres in filmmaking that everyone should at least try to explore. Even when they think that they can’t make through it, try to explore the impossible and you’ll find yourself at the end with a huge adoration for everything spooky. Or, maybe you won’t, ever.
However, not many can master the art of making a horror movie. Years of perfection and good storytelling is the only key to success, in here. This comes from someone who has seen their fair share of horror movies over the years and has had various sleepless nights, at times even weeks. But, I’m not weakened by it.
So, we thought of cumulating a list of 13 movies that you should watch this Friday the 13th and completely get under the entire horror feels of the day.
1. The Shining
Written by the horror-king Stephen King, the shining has one of the most iconic stills in the history of filmmaking, especially a horror movie and so you need to add it onto your Friday the 13th list. A family heads to an isolated hotel for their winter holidays and an evil spirit influences the father into violence, on his very own family.
2. The Ring
The Ring’s storyline looks absolutely bizarre on paper, however, you won’t ever want to go through the trauma of watching something as horrifying and dreading as The Ring. This is why it’s a perfect watch for you, right now. The movie is about a journalist who investigates about a mysterious videotape which happens to cause the death of anyone in a week of watching it.
3. The Cabin In The Woods
The Cabin in the Woods is considered to be a millennium’s answer to the iconic “Scream”. The movie is about a bunch of very attractive twentysomethings that decide to go on an adventure at a remote cabin. However, what they get stuck in, is more horrifying than what they asked for.
4. The Blair Witch Project
The Blair Witch Project started the trend of found-footage phenomenon in movies. The movie was made on a very small budget, however, it proved that talent and creativity would always trump the usual hard falls in filmmaking. The audience in theatres were duped for a long time into believing that the story was absolutely true and something like this did happen to three film students in a forest.
5. Carrie (1976)
Another brilliant story produced by the reigning king of horror writing, Stephen King. Carrie is a story about a girl named Carrie, who is just surrounded by everything wrong. She has a lunatic mother that considers everything that she tries to do, a sin, had a horrific incident the first time she got her period and then fell a victim to a horrendous high-school prank. However, everything ends with the town succumbing into a fire created by Carrie herself.
6. The Babadook
This Australian horror movie will give you nightmares for a very very long time. The Babadook is a story of a struggling widow who thinks that the monster in her six-year-old son’s pop-up storybook might be real. This is one of the best and deeply moving psychological thrillers out there.
7. Creep
Another found-footage horror movie, which is an interesting watch, all because of Mark Duplass performance. Creep is the story of an increasingly awkward relationship between two men that feels frighteningly plausible.
8. The Exorcist (1973)
The Exorcist was released in ‘73 and back in the time, there was nothing as frightening or even remotely as interesting in the horror genre, as this one. Many considered The Exorcist to be way ahead of its time and that was the real reason behind all the others that came out in this series. The Exorcist is a story about a mother who seeks the help of two priests to save her daughter who has been possessed by a mysterious entity.
9. The Exorcism of Emily Rose
The Exorcism of Emily Rose is based on a true story and that single thought would just keep you traumatised, while and after watching the movie. The Exorcism of Emily Rose is a great combination of a horror movie and courtroom drama, which doesn’t happen quite often. And, it was the courtroom setting that added a whole lot of drama and suspense into the movie.
10. Saw
No matter if you’ve seen the movie till now or not, but everyone and I literally mean, everyone is aware of the Saw mask. Saw is one of the most psychological and gore-filled films on this list. There’s everything that one wants to see in a true-blue horror movie, an abundance of blood, severed limbs and messing with the viewer’s mind. What else do you want?
11. Insidious
The current super-hit series in Horror movies, Insidious is an excellent watch for your Friday the 13th schedule. Not long after a family moves into their new home, one of the older sons hits his head during a fall and becomes comatose. A few months after, apparitions can be seen walking through the house, one of whom lingers over the son’s at-home hospital bed. Very soon, two ghost-hunters visit the family and find something extremely rare and unusual in there.
12. Scream
It would be a crime to write a list of horror movies and not mention Scream in it, and we’re just not ready to do it. A year after the murder of her mother, a teenage girl is terrorized by a new killer, who targets the girl and her friends by using horror films as part of a deadly game. Scream released in ‘96 and it created a phenomenon that many simply copy and pasted in their now mediocre horror movies.
13. IT (2017)
Another Stephen King written gem. While the original IT was released in 1990 and has been the real reason while so many people are scared of clowns, the recent revival will leave you numb and it’s perfect for your Friday the 13th ritual. IT recently became the highest grossing horror movie, ever and there are millions of reasons behind it. However, the most important one is that the movie is really scary and it would leave you frightened for a long time.
So, are you ready for your horror movies filled Friday the 13th?
Jyotsna Amla