October is for Horror II: 3 Netflix Hidden Gems

As the Ladies' resident expert of movies and shows involving blood splatter, and since I did one of these posts last year, I decided now was a good time to prowl through Netflix for 3 more hidden gems to help get you into the mood for the best, or at least the spookiest (spoopiest?) month of the year.  This time around I am going for a bit more variety, rather than just 3 straight horror movies.  Think of them as choices in the spirit of trick-or-treating.  Not one wants a bag full of just one kind of candy.

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil

I love a good horror comedy, but it's a tough genre to do really well.  For me it works best when there's a real love and understanding of what is at the root of some standard horror tropes.  Movies like Shaun of the Dead, Cabin in the Woods, and Zombieland do this particularly well. Enter Tucker and Dale vs. Evil with its flipped around take on the "backwoods murder hillbilly" trope.  Frankly I think it's more fun to go into the movie with less knowledge of the plot so I'm not going to give you much on purpose. I didn't read any summaries myself and that made each reveal more fun.   Plus, it stars Allen Tudyk, who is just a delight in  his role. A word to the squeamish: while this movie is surely considered a comedy, it's also pretty gory.  If that's not your thing, this isn't for you.   Note: It's been reported that a sequel to this 2010 original is in the works.  After enjoying this one so much I'm excited to see where these characters will go next.

4 out of 5 bodies through a woodchipper

Extraordinary Tales

Wait, what?  Tiny Doom is going to write something about an animated thing?  Yeah guys, I am, I've got layers.  Well, it's an animated thing with blood splatter so I guess I'm not really going too far off task here. Curated by veteran Disney animator and Spanish writer-director Raul Garcia,   Extraordinary Tales is an animated anthology of 5 tales by Edgar Allen Poe.  We are talking about some pretty time-honored Halloween fare.  Each tale has its own animation style, and the voice talent (ranging from Christopher Lee  - in one of his last projects before his death, Bela Lugosi, and Julian Sands) makes this an almost hypnotic watch.  It's not scary so much as it satisfies a craving for the Gothic and the creepy. It's probably best viewed in the evening or on a dreary afternoon.

3.5 out of 5 red death masques

The Awakening

They had me at "lady ghost debunker" with this one.  A BBC film, The Awakening is a period piece in which that invokes both horror and mystery tropes.  Florence Cathcart uses science to expose charlatans and debunk claims of haunting.  However, each time she succeeds at her task it's a bit heartbreaking because she is also hoping for evidence of the supernatural so that she can contact her partner who was lost in the war. Think, the Houdinis.  When she gets called to a case in a boy's boarding school more is revealed about her past, including some memories she buried regarding her upbringing.  This movie is a slow burn of creepiness, with some big reveals at the end. I found the ending to be sort of ambiguous and sort of not, but I think it leaves things open enough that if you want to believe, you can.  If you liked The Woman in Black, you might like this.

3.5 out of 5 creepy British boarding school kids