When you graduate to adulthood, you leave behind your costume and trick-or-treating and settle into a new version of Halloween: curling up on the couch in the comfiest PJs with a scary movie and someone to grab during the jump cuts. With Halloween stalking us around the block, we dug through the Sessions archives for our picks of our favorite spookiest projects. Settle in and get ready to scream.
Happy Death Day isn't just another routine hit in the overflowing Blumhouse hit factory. This fan favorite time loop horror thriller comedy is beloved for a reason. Skillfully blending screams with laughs, a la the torchbearer Scream, Happy Death Day has been aptly described as Groundhog Day meets Final Destination. The blended genre requires a tongue firmly in cheek but the film doesn't neglect the scares. It all adds up to an enjoyable, often frightening and funny film that paved the way to director Christopher Landon's sequel, Happy Death Day 2 U and Freaky. Perfect to watch with good friends and better libations.
Scream was the horror movie that ushered in a whole new era of navel gazing horror movies, spawning the likes of Happy Death Day. Reuniting master of horror Wes Craven with original Scream screenwriter Kevin Williamson (who took a break from Scream 3), Scream 4 brought Sydney Prescott (Neve Campbell) back together with Dewey Riley (David Arquette) and Gail Weathers (Courteney Cox), and a slew of young Hollywood actors, including Hayden Panetierre, Rory Culkin, Alison Brie, Lucy Hale and Emma Roberts kicking off her scream queen phase. Scream 4 would be the last in the franchise for over 10 years, and the last directed and written by dynamic duo Craven and Williamson, until Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett took over the helm with their successful sequel released this year.
Before he donned the face mask and unleashed the snark, Ryan Reynolds channeled his outer Jack Nicholson and convincingly portrayed the possessed father in the remake of Amityville Horror. Paired with Melissa George and debuting Chloe Grace Moretz, the real life horror story based on the 1977 novel and first adapted into a film in 1979, grossed over $100m at the box office and was the second in a long line of successful horror reboots from Radar Pictures. We don't recommend watching this one with the family.
Speaking of questionable parents, A24's Hereditary is a masterwork of psychological horror involving one's bloodline. Directed by Ari Aster, Hereditary was A24's biggest box office hit until it was recently surpassed by another Sessions project, Everything Everywhere All At Once. With an incredible performance by Toni Collette (who we all know should have been nominated for an Oscar) and a haunted performance from Alex Wolff, Hereditary remains a landmark of heady horror films.