When it comes to Halloween many people will pull out the old classic horrors to give themselves a fright, or a slasher to fill their bloodthirsty needs. The obvious ones most will pull out are the likes of Halloween, Texas Chainsaw Massacre etc. However many people are sleeping on some of the more obscure horror films which have just as much to offer as the bigger, more well known horrors… so here’s five of the more obscure horror films to sink your teeth into.
The Midnight Meat Train (2008)
“One night, a struggling photographer saves a woman from some thugs in the subway. When she disappears, he tries find out what happened to her. His obsession soon leads him down the path of horror.”
Starring a pre-A-Lister Bradley Cooper as a struggling photographer who happens to save a woman from some thugs in the subway, the film follows him as he tries to find out where she’s disappeared to after the event. What follows is a unique, bloody and gruesome story as he finds himself following a serial killer who stalks and butchers his victims on the US Subway System.
Stitches (2012)
“After a clown is killed in a party mishap, he comes back from the dead to seek revenge on the people responsible.”
After an unfortunate yet hilarious accident at a children’s party gets a clown killed, the clown comes back to seek revenge on those he considers to blame. A slasher horror holding nothing back, to say Stitches is an obscure horror is putting it lightly.
Not taking itself too seriously, the film leans heavily into almost slapstick humour, involving all sorts of props and odd methods of execution by the clown.
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Inbred (2011)
“Four juvenile delinquents and their caretakers encounter bloodthirsty villagers during a team-building exercise in Yorkshire, England.”
Most people would use the Yorkshire Dales as a place to go on vacation, somewhere to get away from the hum-drum nature of city life, and to relax and rejuvenate. Not the case in Inbred, where a group of delinquent children are taken to a getaway to work on themselves and their behaviour.
Unfortunately they’re met with a little resistance, to say the least, with the group and two teachers meet a less than welcoming group of locals who are determined to use them as torturous playthings. Inventive deaths including being filled with gasoline till exploding point, landmine explosions and using the local livestock as a weapon. Go in blind and give it a go.
Deathgasm (2015)
“Two teenage boys unwittingly summon an ancient evil entity, known as The Blind One, by delving into black magic while trying to escape their mundane lives.”
Heavy metal is a staple of the horror genre, be it the soundtrack or in this case, the setting. Deathgasm is an New Zealand indie horror film that is based on a group of high school students accidentally summoning a great evil when they happen upon the sheet music of the devil. Sounds ridiculous, right? Well the film doubles down on that ridiculousness with all sorts of stupidity, including but not limited to the killing of zombie like creatures with a double ended dildo.
The film is a one long ride of gore and humour, filled with blood and guts and hilarious one liners that you’ll find yourself quoting for days after.
Related: 31 Days of Horror: 5 of the Best Modern Horror TV Shows to Sink Your Teeth Into
Severance (2006)
“A weekend in the mountains goes horribly wrong for the sales team of a multi-national weapons company when they become the victims of crazed killers who will stop at nothing to see them dead.”
Another British horror movie starring a young Danny Dyer before his somewhat famous turn in bigger movies and television shows, it follows a group of co-workers as they go on a team-building work retreat. What would normally result in a weekend of spa treatments, swimming, cucumber on the eyes and an unadvisable hookup between at least two of the group turns into a gory, bloody weekend of death and murder at the hands of the crazed killers in the woods.
Featuring a lot of typical British dark comedy, including my personal favourite scene involving a bear trap, it’s not going to win any Oscars, but it is good, old-fashioned blood and guts.
There’s our picks for obscure horrors, but there’s countless more. What obscure horrors would you have picked?
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