If there is one universal constant it's that finding a decent horror film is an exercise in futility. Horror movies by design are cheap, lousy, and short on gray matter, unless of course that gray matter is being bashed out of someone's skull. They're entertainment at it's most base rank, which is probably why they're usually the most fun to watch, in large groups if necessary.

Now that October has officially clawed it's way onto the calendar, and it's the month of dying trees, German beer festivals and horror movies being released like undersized trout, it's time to recommend a few horror flicks you may never have heard of before. Are these great films? One or two are, maybe. They are entertaining horror movies though, fully tested in the home market, (well my home market) and for the most part much better than the big studio horror releases we get every few months. What they do have in common is that these films aren't so well known, so if you're alot like I am, and finding a movie that nobody has heard of before is a big deal, then these 10 movies might just be what you're looking for.

Obviously the list below is most definitely NOT for the horror aficionado. That type of person has seen every single one of these a few times over. This is a "Best of" list for the horror cherry.

 

10)Creep/2004/Christopher Smith- Does Creep ever have it's dumb moments... I'm not going to lie to you and say it doesn't. But these are just "moments" in an otherwise gruesome horror film about a monster in the labyrinth of the London Underground. Franka Potente, (Run Lola Run, Bourne Identity) ends up locked down in the tunnels of London's mass transit system, sometime after comfortably safe hours, with the creepiest serial killer by any stretch of the imagination. There are scenes in Creep that will make most jaded horror-movie buff agonize painfully in their seats. The Creep himself, (played wonderfully weird by Sean Harris) is reason enough to see this horror film.   

9)Black Christmas/1974/Bob Clark- No, most definitely not the ultra-poopy 2006 remake. Avoid that film if at all possible. I'm referring to the original film, the first slasher movie ever made. Black Christmas hit theaters four years before john Carpenter's Halloween, and along with that flick it managed to do what few slasher movies dared to do back then, or even now... Actually frighten the viewer. Black Christmas is set in a sorority house, the night before Christmas, and someone or something keeps making terrifying prank phone calls to the young women inside. Bob Clark's Black Christmas is an intense, spooky horror film from the golden 70's era of horror. 

8)Below/2002/David Twohy- Like your horror films spiced with a little "supernatural"? Below's about a haunted submarine, set during World War II. It doesn't get any more claustrophobic and spooky than this. In fact the real surprise about this film is that it's got a great story to compliment the scares, as well as a terrific cast of actors. Folks bored with the usual haunted house flick, or the dreadfully dull Japanese "killer ghost" crud need look no further than Below... It attempts something different in the horror genre, and actually succeeds.

7)Nosferatu the First Vampire/1922/F.W. Murnau- If you've seen Nosferatu before then you're probably wondering why I picked such a known classic horror film for this list. The simple answer is the soundtrack. This edition of Murnau's masterpiece is scored by sludge-metal band Type O Negative. Believe me when I tell you that this silent movie with the addition of Type O's music creates a mood of euphoric oddness. You can pop on this version of Nosferatu at any gathering, and the visuals together with the goth-metal soundtrack will put anyone in a vampire's trance. Plus you can get it for like 8$ on Amazon marketplace. This is a true horror movie oddity.

6)Bubba Ho-Tep/2002/Don Corscarelli- I'll recommend this horror comedy about a geriatric Elvis in a nursing home battling an ancient soul-sucking mummy because it's: A) Such an insane premise. B) Extremely charming and funny as hell. C) Stars Bruce Campbell in the role that should have got him an Oscar nomination, playing Elvis Aaron Presley. D) Ass kicking. E) All of the above.... If you haven't seen this, please do. There isn't another film of any kind like it.

 

5)My Little Eye/2002/Marc Evans- Here's a terrific little horror movie with a great setting and premise. It's about five people who sign on for a reality TV show located in a spooky old house in the middle of nowhere. They'll get to split one million dollars as long as nobody leaves the house for the six month run of show. Pretty soon all sorts of things begin happening that would make any sane person want to leave. And as soon as humanly possible too. What makes My Little Eye so interesting is the setting and the way the film is shot to look like an actual reality TV show. It's a spooky little movie too. Light on blood, and heavy on atmosphere. Sort of like a Tampax commercial...

4)Dead Birds/2004/Alex Turner- Set during the American Civil War, about a bunch of bank robbers who hide out in the creepiest abandoned Southern plantation this side of the river Styx, Dead Birds is a supernatural freak-out like no other flick before it. Honestly though, the opening minutes of the film are not encouraging. They're cheap minutes, poorly written and loaded with over-the-top gore effects. A bank robbery should not feel like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre in my estimation. But once that junk floats down the sewer the rest of the film is pretty darn good. Scary too. And the plantation the film is set in is pretty much sinister in every frame of the movie. Terrific cast as well.

3)Frailty/2001/Bill Paxton- Bill Paxton, (Aliens, HBO's Big Love) chose this film as his first foray into film directing. The story is about a semi-normal single parent household, a father raising two young boys. Their relationship quickly goes strange, then wrong, then bloody, after the night the father, (Paxton) is visited by an angel from God himself, and is told he's needed in a war against evil. He's given a few tools to help in his battle, some farm gloves, a lead pipe, and an axe named Otis. The problem is, to the kids it seems like daddy may have lost his mind, and the evil demons he's fighting, well they sort of look like everyday people. This film is disturbing from about nine thousand different directions. The major one being including children in serial axe murder. If you haven't seen Frailty, and need a heavy-handed, original horror film to weird you right-the-hell-out, look no further.

2)Ravenous/1999/Antonia Bird- I love this film. Seriously it's one of my favorite horror movies ever. Set in an outpost in the American west, Ravenous re-imagines the story of the Donner Party... Well sort of. It's a film about cannibalism, no doubt about that, but it's also a pitch black horror comedy. It's a horror movie that switches gears about four different times on you, so that once you think you've got the flick dialed in, it crests another peak of supernatural weirdity, (not a word by the way...) and moves off in a new direction. I'm officially rambling now. See Ravenous because it's got both Guy Pearce, (Memento, L.A. Confidential) and Robert Carlyle, (Trainspotting, The Full Monty) in it. See it because it's a wicked take on cannibalism set during the "Manifest Destiny" era of American history. It also boasts the greatest horror movie soundtrack of all time. Just see it. You'll thank me later.

1)Session 9/2001/Brad Anderson- Want to get your creep on? Of course you do, it's October now. Brad Anderson's Session 9 is the horror genre's best kept secret. It's a heavy flick. Heavy on spooky, heavy on outstanding acting, heavy on unseen menace. Most of the film takes place in the Danvers State Insane Asylum, abandoned since 1992. The film is about a hazmat crew, hired on to rid the abandoned building of asbestos, and their week spent attempting to do their jobs. I won't go into detail about what happens to these guys, but I will say that horror movie settings have never been this oppressive or bone-chilling before. The acting is top-shelf, Peter Mullan, (Children of Men) Josh Lucas, (American Psycho) and David Caruso (CSI Miami) all do their best work in this film. That it's an officially branded "horror movie" is saying something. That it's also a horror movie that should give anyone a solid case of the gooseflesh is also saying something as well. One of the horror genre's finest sons...