'The Midnight Club' on Netflix: Top 5 horror movies to keep you up at night before the TV series drops
This Halloween, prepare to be chilled to the bone as Netflix is coming out with an original series, 'The Midnight Club'. Based on the spine-tingling 1994 novel by Christopher Pike, the series will have the viewers on the edge of their seats. Don't you love that about horror, the unpredictability, the weird eerieness, and that lingering excitement that persists and youdoesn't let you sleep? 'The Midnight Club' promises to be nothing less.
The TV series was created by Mike Flanagan and Leah Fong, with Flanagan serving as showrunner and executive producer along with Trevor Macy. The series stars Iman Benson, Adia, Igby Rigney, Ruth Codd, Aya Furukawa, Annarah Shephard, William Chris Sumpter and Sauriyan Sapkota. Heather Langenkamp, Zach Gilford, Matt Biedel, and Samantha Sloyan have recurring roles. Until the series comes out, if you want to watch some horror movies in the spirit of Halloween, here are the Top 5 scariest horror mystery movies you can binge watch.
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Let's start with the comparatively less scary ones to the most so you can save the best for the last.
5. 'Annabelle: Creation'
'Annabelle: Creation' was released in 2017, and received glowing reviews. It is a prequel to 'Annabelle' in 2014 and the fourth installment in 'The Conjuring' franchise. The film stars Stephanie Sigman, Talitha Bateman, Anthony LaPaglia, and Miranda Otto, and depicts the haunted Annabelle doll's origin. However, that is not it. 'Annabelle' is said to be a haunted Raggedy Ann doll, housed in the now closed occult museum of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. The doll ended up there after strange and dangerious things started happening to a student nurse who was given the doll in 1970. The movie's official synopsis reads, "Sam Mullins and his wife, Esther, are happy to welcome a nun and six orphaned girls into their California farmhouse. Years earlier, the couple's seven-year-old daughter Annabelle died in a tragic car accident. Terror soon strikes when one child sneaks into a forbidden room and finds a seemingly innocent doll that appears to have a life of its own." Parents might really think twice before buying their children toys, especially after watching this movie.
4. 'Poltergeist'
Knows as "the scariest movie ever made" in the '80s, this is another gem that will keep you awake. Strange things start happening in the house of an average California family, the Freelings - Steve (Craig T Nelson), Diane (JoBeth Williams), teenaged Dana (Dominique Dunne), eight-year-old Robbie (Oliver Robins), and five-year-old Carol Ann (Heather O'Rourke) - when ghosts start communing with them through the television set. Initially friendly and playful, the spirits turn malevolent, and, when Carol Ann goes missing, Steve and Diane turn to a parapsychologist and eventually an exorcist for help. Directed by Tobe Hooper and written by Steven Spielberg, this movie gives the term "couch potato" new terrifying dimensions.
3. 'The Exorcist'
Loosely based on real events, 'The Exorcist' revolves around young Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair) who starts acting odd. She levitates and speaks in strange languages, forcing her mother actress mother Chris (Ellen Burstyn) to seek medical help, only to hit a dead end. A local priest (Jason Miller), however, finds that things are not as simple as they look and that the girl may be possessed by some otherworldly fiend. The priest makes a request to perform an exorcism, and the church sends in an expert (Max von Sydow) to help. The movie was a hit. People fainted and vomited while watching the movie and some even reportedly had a heart attack and a miscarriage.The film was nominated for an Oscar, the first horror film achieve this feat. However, the eerie occurrences don't stop there. The film is supposed to be cursed and many people involved in production claimed feeling uneasy and that they were playing with something they should not touch. During post-production, nine people working on the film died. According to The Independent, Jason Miller who played the priest of the film was approached by a real-life priest, who had no knowledge of the film he was working on, handing him a medallion. The priest is said to have told Miller, “Reveal the devil for the trickster that he is, he will seek retribution against you or he will even try to stop what you are trying to do to unmask him.” Disclaimer: We cannot guarantee if OTT platforms are immune to "curses".
2. 'The Conjuring'
This was the starting point from where the 'Conjuring' series took off. In 1970, paranormal investigators and demonologists Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) and Ed (Patrick Wilson) Warren are summoned to the home of Carolyn (Lili Taylor) and Roger (Ron Livingston) Perron. The Perrons and their five daughters have recently moved into a secluded farmhouse, where a supernatural presence has made itself known. There's enough jumpscares in the film to have you checking your blood pressure. Though the manifestations are relatively benign at first, events soon culminate in a terrifying crescendo, especially after the Warrens discover the house's macabre history. This was later confirmed by Warner Bros, which stated that the film was loosely based on real-life events surrounding the Warrens. This is definitely not for the faint-hearted, or heart patients for that matter.
1. 'The Exorcism of Emily Rose'
'The Exorcism of Emily Rose' was released in 2005 and definitely takes the top spot on our list. Rev Moore (Tom Wilkinson) is prosecuted for the wrongful death of a girl thought to be demonically possessed, because he administered the church-sanctioned exorcism that ultimately killed her. Prosecuting attorney Ethan Thomas (Campbell Scott) contends that the young woman, Emily Rose (Jennifer Carpenter), suffered from schizophrenia and should have been medically diagnosed. Meanwhile, defense lawyer Erin Bruner (Laura Linney) argues that Emily's condition could not be explained by science alone. Through the court case, people can see the terrifying events that happened to Emily Rose. The film is based on an actual case Many may not know it, but the horrifying events of the 2005 film 'The Exorcism of Emily Rose' were not entirely fictional but were loosely based on the actual experiences of a German girl named Anneliese Michel who died due to dehydration and malnutrition after she was subjected to 67 exorcisms.
'The Midnight Club' releases on Netflix on October 7.