Halloween is almost here. What a better time to curl up on the couch and watch a scary movie. Each day this week we’re recommending some lesser-known horror films to keep you creeped out until the big night next Tuesday.

You’re Next

Aubrey and Paul Davison decide to celebrate their wedding anniversary by inviting their four children and their significant others to a family reunion at their remote and slightly rundown weekend estate. But the family reunion goes awry when their home comes under siege by a mask-wearing team of crossbow-bearing assailants. The family has no idea who’s attacking them or why. All they know for certain is that nobody is safe.

Near Dark

In Kathryn Bigelow’s tale of vampires in the American Southwest, the creatures of the night aren’t elegant, cloaked aristocrats. They’re a gun-toting gang that dresses and acts like a motorcycle gang. Caleb, a restless young man from a small farm town, meets an alluring drifter named Mae. She reveals herself to be a vampire, who “turns” Caleb into one of her kind rather than kill him. But the rest of her “family” is slow to accept the newcomer. The ancient leader, Jesse, and his psychotic henchman Severen lay down the law; Caleb has to carry his own weight or die. However, he can’t bring himself to kill. The film avoids the complex vampire mythology of such films as Interview with the Vampire. Instead, it emphasizes the intense, seductive bond that forms between Caleb and the violent but tightly knit gang.

The Haunting

One of the most highly regarded haunted house films ever produced, Robert Wise’s The Haunting (based on Shirley Jackson’s novel The Haunting of Hill House) weaves the dark tale of a questionably sane young woman and a sinister house which holds a terrifying past. Invited to join anthropologist Dr. Markway, ESP expert Theodora, and probable heir to the estate Luke Sanderson in order to dispel the near mythical tales that surround the house, unstable Eleanor Vance agrees to spend a few nights in the house following the death of her mother. As they slowly begin to discover, the horrific and seemingly unbelievable tales may hold more truth than the skeptical guests might have previously expected. With a seemingly unstoppable supernatural force lurking in every shadow, the probability of anyone escaping the evil clutch of the cursed mansion seems increasingly remote.