12 Movies To Watch If You Loved Halloween Kills

"Halloween Kills" is sensational. As our own Marshall Shaffer remarked in his review, the movie "manages to put a playful but petrifying spin on mythology without resorting to cheap self-referentiality," and he is absolutely right. "Halloween Kills" is stacked to the rafters with gory kills, franchise callbacks, and familiar faces, including Nancy Stephens and Kyle Richards as older versions of the same characters they played in John Carpenter's original. 

Available to watch now both in theaters and streaming on Peacock, "Halloween Kills" is the perfect way to ease into the Halloween spirit. Those of us here at /Film are liable to watch the movie dozens of times, but for audiences looking for something similar that hits some of the same beats, here are 12 movies to watch if you loved "Halloween Kills" (other than both John Carpenter's "Halloween" and David Gordon Green's 2018 reboot, to which "Halloween Kills" is a direct sequel). Let's begin.

"Terrifier" is a cult hit, a movie so deliciously deranged and abounding with gonzo gore, a sequel was swiftly greenlit for release in 2022. Directed by Damien Leone, David Howard Thornton stars as Art the Clown, a masked maniac who stalks a nondescript town one Halloween evening, violently killing anyone unfortunate enough to encounter him. The gore is so outrageously violent, "Terrifier" remains unrated. Additionally, Art the Clown has ascended toward something of a modern horror icon, a silent yet sensationally engaging masked killer.

Produced on a meager, partially crowdfunded budget, "Terrifier" never fails to entertain. While the gore can occasionally push boundaries — it certainly isn't for the squeamish — the final product belies its modest origins. /Film's own Chris Evangelista remarked that "Terrifier" is "one of the goriest movies I've ever seen" (he isn't a fan), yet he too concedes that there's a certain oddity that has attracted a cult following. Though it won't work for everyone, fans of unrated, unhinged, and totally unpredictable slasher horror should look no further than "Terrifier."

The horror community has long been divided on whether "Scream" or "Scream 2" is the best in Wes Craven's long-running meta slasher series (which is poised for a fifth film next January). Wherever one lands (personally, I think they're both perfect in their own distinct ways that renders comparison moot), "Scream 2" is one of the genre's definitive sequels. Like "Halloween Kills," it ups the ante, broadening its scope, accelerating the violence, and focusing preeminently on the roots of trauma and its capacity to infect an entire community.

Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) returns, this time as a college student once again embroiled in the middle of a masked massacre. Stronger, more resolved, and resolute about surviving, she's one of the genre's best final girls, one now concerned not only with herself, but the lives of those closest to her. Laurie Strode, is that you? It's a fantastic sequel and a worthwhile slasher in its own right. Get ready to scream again.

The original "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" from 1974 is a classic for good reason. Little, perhaps nothing, has matched co-writer-director Tobe Hooper's grounded intensity and verisimilar thrills. Though only a movie, so much of it feels real, raw in acting and execution. Its remake, conversely, is unequivocally a movie. It's a very, very good movie, though. Directed by Marcus Nispel and produced by Platinum Dunes, 2003's "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" undoubtedly ignited the horror remake craze, and — as is true with most trends — the first is usually the best. Slicker, more expensive, and veritably more violent (Hooper's original features next to no on-screen blood and gore), "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" remake is very much a movie of its time.

Post 9/11 anxiety, contemporary demands for more violence, and a caustic interrogation of American mythos, "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" is "Halloween Kills" set in Texas. It's violent, intense, and unrelenting in its slaughter. It's a refraction of the modern world and never shies away from showing just how ugly things have gotten. It's unpleasant, uncomfortable, and absolutely deserving of a watch.

Todd Strauss-Schulson's "The Final Girls" is criminally overlooked. Relegated to VOD when it absolutely deserved a wide-release, it's one of the genre's most inventive outputs this century. Genre icon Taissa Farmiga stars as Max Cartwright, the daughter of actress Amanda (Malin Åkerman), whose most famous role was in the (fictional) eighties slasher "Camp Bloodbath." Amanda is killed in an auto accident, and to assist Max in processing her grief, her friends drag her to a local midnight screening of the film, hoping that seeing her mother on-screen will accelerate the bereavement cycle.

A fire breaks out, and Max and her friends (including Alia Shawkat and Nina Dobrev among a familiar cast) find themselves transported into the world of the movie. Strauss-Schulson plays with the slasher template similarly to how Green and Co. do in "Halloween Kills," though notably without the excessive gore ("The Final Girls" is a solid PG-13). Don't let the rating discourage you, though. With a preeminent focus on grief, trauma, and community healing — the cast of characters in "Camp Bloodbath" are more than just slaughter — it's got one of the biggest horror hearts I've seen. Here's hoping the slasher renaissance, courtesy of Green and the likes of Jordan Peele, can help accelerate a sequel.

"You're Next" has an ingenious premise. In the years since "Scream," and, to be honest, Carpenter's original "Halloween," there was little room to radically rework the slasher formula. There was only so much work to be done recalibrating weapons, motives, and origins. Instead, "You're Next" confidently took a familiar sandbox — namely, a group of masked killers invading a rural country home — and opted instead to rework something different: the final girl.

Sharni Vinson stars as Erin, the girlfriend to Crispin ("Hatchet 2's" AJ Bowen) en route to his parents' anniversary celebration at an isolated New York estate. There, they're joined by his siblings and their partners, a menagerie of mumblecore faces including Amy Seimetz and Joe Swanberg, for a weekend of bickering and buried resentment. That is, of course, until a group of armed maniacs lay siege to the house, killing everyone and anyone in their way. 

Vinson's Erin, however, is the variable they didn't account for. See, she isn't simply Crispin's girlfriend. Unbeknownst to him and everyone else, she's grown up on a survivalist compound, making this the exact kind of scenario she's prepared for. She's a force to be reckoned with, conveying both vulnerability and resolute intelligence as she endeavors to survive the night. Without Vinson's Erin, it's hard to imagine that Green's recalibrated vision of Laurie Strode would have worked.

"Ready or Not" is "You're Next" without the survivalist roots. Still, Samara Weaving's Grace is conceived in the mold of both Erin and Laurie Strode. Beyond the thematic similarity of all three having to survive the night when pursued by masked maniacs, there are gritty undertones of trauma and grief (Grace, for instance, is a foster child) that drive these women forward.

Grace specifically has found herself embroiled in a longstanding family tradition. Her husband, Alex (Mark O'Brien), is a member of the Le Domas family, proprietors of the Le Domas Family Games Company. The family, however, is cursed, and every newcomer must draw a card from a puzzle box. Most are innocuous; though Grace, unfortunately, draws hide and seek, a card that mandates Grace hide and the family track her down to kill. What follows is a tense, yet lighthearted when necessary, cat and mouse game as Grace realizes the truth and endeavors to outsmart her pursuers. Like "Halloween Kills," the deaths are quick and brutal, and the resonance is rooted in overcoming adversity. With directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett directing the forthcoming fifth "Scream" entry, slashers are back, baby.