Not every movie needs a serial killer or supernatural monster to be a perfect watch during the Halloween season. Sometimes all it takes is some ominous vibes, a pervasive sense of isolation, or the more subtle creeping suspicion that something sinister is lurking beneath the surface. If you feel like watching movies this weekend that fit the October mood but aren’t your typical Halloween fare, then I’ve got a mix of outright horror, gothic murder mystery, existential science fiction, and one downright poisonous romance.
Each scratches a different genre itch, but all five are dark, stylish movies with a pervasive sense of dread. They’re also all downright great films worth watching regardless of the season. On the surface, Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread is a decadent period romance about Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day-Lewis), a renowned dressmaker whose meticulous routines define the day-to-day operations of every person working in his London fashion house.
Reynolds fancies himself completely in control of his art, his home, and the countless women who cycle through his life. That is, until he meets Alma (Vicky Krieps), a young waitress who becomes his model, muse, and lover. It all sounds quite romantic, but Phantom Thread is an unsettling gothic tale about a young woman entering the strange world of a brilliant, domineering man.
With that comes a feeling of danger. And, because Reynolds commands absolute control over his domain, the fashion house is filled with hushed conversations and dogmatic rituals that make the whole operation feel more like a cult than a creative enterprise. A persistent feeling pervades that something is subtly, profoundly wrong.
What initially appears to be another lopsided relationship between an artist and his muse gradually becomes something much more twisted. Alma refuses to remain another passive woman drifting through Reynolds’ perfectly ordered life, and their battle for control over each other evolves into a bizarre form of intimacy. The result is sinister, funny, and surprisingly unsettling.
Each of Rian Johnson’s Benoit Blanc movies exists in a distinct corner of the whodunnit genre. The first Knives Out is a cozy New England murder mystery defined by class resentment, while Glass Onion delivers a COVID-era caper that takes place during a sunny vacation for a bunch of rich goons. Wake Up Dead Man, meanwhile, sends Daniel Craig’s eccentric detective to somewhere much darker: church.
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