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A trashy student reviewing a trashy show

Reality television is trash

That being said, there is a huge market for it, and it usually reflects what the people want.

The beloved “Bachelor’s” market profits off viewers watching attractive people “fall in love.” Although this show has remained popular, it’s clearly not checking all the boxes.

Netflix has jumped on the idea that unlike what we see on “The Bachelor,” people want authentic, less superficial love. That’s tricky for reality television, but alas they have tried to take it on, in the new reality T.V. show “Love is Blind.”

“Love is Blind” is a show where contestants talk to eligible bachelors and bachelorettes through opaque pods, in hopes to find their true love without actually seeing them. For the sake of this article, we are going to skip over the fact that every contestant is extremely attractive, every woman is wearing a full face of makeup despite not being seen and we are mostly only exposed to heterosexual desires because if we unpack that, I will get a migraine. A grain of salt … we are taking this with a grain of salt.

Before I continue, I would just like to admit that I am not a huge fan of reality television. I never understood the point of “Jersey Shore” or “Keeping Up with The Kardashians” (and, I feel like I may have just lost some readers). So, that being said, I am definitely not here to review the show. There are many more qualified pop culture experts who would do a better job than me. I do, however, want to look at why a show like this exists, and why dating in 2020 is always framed as a nightmare.

Is it really necessary for us to delete our Tinder apps and head to Atlanta, Georgia to find true love through an opaque wall? Is this really where we’re at, team?

The other day I asked my grandfather why he married my grandmother. He told me that she was smart, pretty and nice. They dated, and he thought, wow—smart, pretty and nice, let’s get married. My grandmother, of course, can tell you the exact shoes my grandfather was wearing on their first date, and how the hand-me-down button-up white shirt he had on was just a smidge too small. She just knew he was the right guy. A simpler time, right?

When I think about dating in the past, I always feel like it was easier. Wasn’t it just flowers, phone calls and drive-in movies? No texting, getting ghosted, emojis and definitely no swiping. What a dream.

Except that’s not necessarily fair. As society evolves and changes, so do relationships.

Dating apps get a bad rep, and I can tell you from experience they can be quite draining and discouraging. This being said, the world of online dating is complex. I mean listen, guys, some of my best friends are on the apps. Do you know how damn lucky you would be to swipe on them?

I think to completely write off online dating as a concept is quite difficult. Instead of hating on the apps completely, like the hosts on “Love is Blind” (even though it’s good marketing), we might benefit from a more productive conversation surrounding this dating strategy.

There’s something that smells pretentious to me when people say they would rather meet organically and not on the apps.

I mean, of course, it would be nice to have a smart guy come up to you on the metro, ask you about the feminist literature you were reading, take you out for coffee and spend it talking about how he has 2 sisters and loves his mom. But, as we ask our Google Homes to tell us the weather, and we shove two white plastic headphones that don’t even have a string in our ears, isn’t this just, like, the future? Isn’t finding someone on an app not that crazy, considering everything else we do using technology?

I know I’m oversimplifying the dark world of online dating, but I really just want to talk about the stigma. It’s okay to be vulnerable and try the apps, delete them 16 times and then redownload them—I think it is just part of our 2020 story.

There’s also space for you to disagree with me. I’m not even sure if I agree with me, it really depends on the week. Love isn’t one thing. It’s wonderful, devastating, exhausting and may very well include a little swiping.

Dating is hard at the end of the day, and “love being blind” is just a cheesy song lyric. 

 

Graphic by Sasha Axenova

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Netflix’s Sex Education: a real Sex Education

Sweet applesauce, high school was a messed-up time. We were anxious, we were tired (why exactly, unsure) and most of all we were horny. Well actually, I probably didn’t even know what that word meant in my early high school years, but other, less naive kids definitely did.

Last year, when I opened Netflix in an attempt to turn off my brain, quite the opposite happened. I clicked on a show called Sex Education and was forced to reflect on a time in my life that I did not want to revisit—the dreaded adolescent years.

With witty writing and impeccably awkward characters, I found myself transported to Moordale Secondary School. With its modern Mean Girls vibe set in a gorgeous rural area in the UK, I was sucked in.

Naturally, I finished the first season by the end of the week. Season 2 just came out, and that took me even less time.

This British comedy follows main character Otis Milburn, played by Asa Butterfield, an incredibly emotionally-intelligent adolescent, navigating his horrific pubescent years. With issues like not being able to successfully masturbate and lack of experience with women, his struggles are a healthy mix of charming and awkward.

With a sex therapist as a mother who has clear boundary issues, sexual education has seeped into Otis’ brain through osmosis. With his uncanny ability to understand the complexity of sexual experiences, he found himself helping the school bully overcome issues in his sex life. When Maeve Wiley, played by Emma Mackey, witnesses Otis’ gifted advice, the two set up a sex therapy business within the school.

The show’s 40 million viewers now have the opportunity to learn about sex—beyond unrealistic romantic comedies and porn sites. It’s not pretty. It’s not sexy. It’s awkward, weird, beautiful, disastrous and most of all, relatable.

We follow different characters, with all sorts of different sexual realities, expressing a nuanced and representative version of sex—as opposed to what we usually see in the media.

It would be nice if we could all lose our virginity to Ryan Gosling after he sweeps us off our feet in a mysteriously sexy abandoned house, but unfortunately we can’t all be Rachel McAdams…not even Rachel McAdams.

Alright, enough shade on The Notebook, I love that movie. That being said, the importance of showing the uncomfortable nature of sex is crucial for the development of healthy and safe relationships. As we push forward in the #metoo era and continue to learn about sexuality as a diverse spectrum, shows like Sex Education help viewers dip their toes into many different kinds of relationships. This results in creating more realistic, accessible and healthier expectations and concepts of sex.

Whether its sexually-confused Otis, closeted Adam Groff, lonely Maeve Wily, eccentric Lily Iglehart or insecure Ruby Mathews, there are elements of these characters that are within us all.

The show has managed to demonstrate that women can be intelligent and sexual, while also alluding to the realistic competition that hyper-femininity can promote in our culture. In season 2, they show how women are stronger together, even if they don’t think they have anything in common. “Popular girls” are united with “nerds” and “weirdos” by expressing their shared experience of navigating the world as a woman. Just watch season 2 episode 7, you’ll end up in tears—trust me.

Okay enough out of me. Go! Watch it!

I promise you, you’ll learn so much more about sex than you did in high school and you might even want to move to the UK. 

Graphic by @sundaeghost

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Uncut Gems is pure and utter chaos

The Safdie Brothers’ new film is cinematic perfection

In a single word, Uncut Gems can be described as chaos. To call it that, however, would be a disservice to the insane and loud film meticulously crafted by Josh and Benny Safdie, the masterminds behind 2017’s indie hit, Good Time.

Uncut Gems follows New York jeweller, Howard Ratner (Adam Sandler), who’s in way over his head trying to pay back numerous large debts he owes to his loan shark, Arno (Eric Bogosian). In an attempt to rid himself of these debts, Ratner purchases an opal from Ethiopia that he believes to be worth over $1 million dollars, which he would then auction off to get his money’s worth.

The rest of the movie follows Ratner as he tries and fails on several occasions to get his money and pay off everyone he’s indebted to. The movie oozes nervous energy at every turn with Ratner making choices so incredibly stupid and egregious that you’ll probably be pulling your hair out strand by strand as you watch.

Sandler’s performance as Howard Ratner is electrifying; this is clearly his best in a film next to Punch-Drunk Love, and his snub in the “Best Actor” category for Uncut Gems at the Oscars is simply baffling. In his acting debut, ex-NBA star Kevin Garnett also plays a major role as himself in the Safdie brothers’ film. Though there was some uncertainty as to how good a basketball player might be in a serious movie, any doubts should be erased before going into the film.

Then there’s Julia Fox who plays Ratner’s mistress, Julia. This is also her film debut and will hopefully not be her last as she is the definitive show-stealer.

The Safdie brothers co-wrote the movie with Ronald Bronstein, and there’s no shortage of great one-liners and sharp conversations between all the cast members. Despite that, there’s an awful lot of yelling that sometimes makes the dialogue incomprehensible; yet, that chaos makes you understand why tensions are always so high.

Uncut Gems’ pace is brisk with very few slowdowns throughout the film; this accentuates what became of Ratner’s life. He’s got a family but is so shrouded by his inability to gamble well that he ends up losing them, since his estranged wife, Dinah (Idina Menzel) wants nothing to do with him anymore. 

Uncut Gems takes place in 2012, and the Safdie brothers do an incredible job of making the movie actually feel like it’s 2012. The iPhone 4S with a pre-iOS 7 overhaul on it, The Weeknd singing “The Morning” off his debut mixtape, House of Balloons, and of course, the tense series between the Philadelphia 76ers and the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals contribute to a perfect setting that encapsulates what 2012 felt like to a tee.

Having finally been released on Netflix, Uncut Gems is widely available to everyone, and given that the cost of entry of the movie is a simple Netflix subscription, there is no excuse for missing out on one of the most captivating, chaotic and entrancing movies of the past decade. Sandler infamously said that he’d make an awful movie on purpose if he wasn’t nominated for “Best Actor.” He didn’t and, much to my dismay, now we’re probably going to get another Sandy Wexler.

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The Irishman is a marvel of a film

Strong themes make this long film worth the watch

Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman is a complicated film. Bound to the confines of a nursing home, truck-driver-turned-hitman, Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro) narrates several decades of his life, discussing entering organized crime and the hits of his career. Sheeran enters this world through a Pennsylvania mob family, the Bufalinos, and along the way meets Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino), the leader of a labour union with connections to organized crime. On the surface, The Irishman is a story about a man climbing the ranks in the criminal world. Underneath, there’s so much more to it, with themes of guilt, loyalty, relationships and family.

Although the premise is simple, several chapters in Sheeran’s life are depicted nonlinearly. The timeline of the film is edited expertly by Thelma Schoonmaker, who has been Scorsese’s editor for over 50 years. With that in mind, The Irishman takes very striking liberties with its editing, from abrupt music cues and cuts, non-simultaneous intercuts, out-of-place jumpcuts and shots that only make narrative sense once the movie is over. At some points, the time jumps can be confusing, making some scenes difficult to follow, but the film was easy to understand even with that uncertainty. Needless to say, the editing was risky and seemingly unusual at times.

The film had a great sense of time, place and character. Everything was thought of meticulously, slowly building up to a climax in the film’s final scenes. Of the three and a half hours, the first two were fantastic, and the last 15 minutes were extraordinary. The pacing was strong and the tension was there. But, there was a lump in the middle that lost my interest and was difficult to get through. I’ll admit, it is a very long movie, and it does feel that way. For young people who didn’t grow up with Scorsese gangster flicks, it could even seem boring and hard to finish. It took me more than a day to watch it, so don’t be afraid to take your time.

The Irishman could be interpreted as a simple gangster flick, but it transforms into something more. We feel Sheeran’s family crumble as his daughter rejects him, his friends become more and more powerful and difficult choices about loyalty emerge. By the end, you realize it’s a story about relationships and, sadly, regret. It asks questions about growing old, and makes you wonder if Sheeran’s actions were actually worth the loneliness they would cause later on.

The core message of the film could have been conveyed in two hours. But, Scorsese made it three and a half, and somehow, none of that time feels unwarranted. Sure, it’s slow, but it takes its time with each scene. It allows dialogue to flow, it allows actors to become cemented into their performances and it allows the scene to resonate with the audience.

The Irishman is a refreshing break from the onslaught of films that are paced way too quickly, and for that reason, I think Schoonmaker and Scorsese did it right. 

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Marriage Story: all good things must come to an end

Director Noah Baumbach captures the complexities of life and love

When I first saw the trailer for Marriage Story on my Netflix feed, I was certain that it was going to be a cheesy, sappy, love story. I was wrong. In fact, it is quite the opposite. Directed by Noah Baumbach, Marriage Story recounts a couple’s struggles as they go through a divorce.

Watching the film feels all too familiar. It begins with two monologues, performed by a married couple, Charlie (Adam Driver) and Nicole (Scarlett Johansson) respectively. Each monologue depicts the heartwarming personalities of either individual, as they read aloud what they love about each other. Snippets of their romanticized, wholesome marriage set the scene; a house full of books, creatives living in New York City, family board game nights. They live an ideal life. What could possibly go wrong?

Like all good things, the viewer observes Charlie and Nicole’s relationship inevitably come to an end. The couple begin the separation process amicably, but it ultimately does not end this way. As lawyers get involved, the divorce becomes unpleasant, aggressive and heart-wrenching.

The film touches upon the realities of relationships and divorce while raising numerous issues that impact families and individuals in relationships alike.

The characters are charming, the plot is interesting and relatable and yet, I remain troubled. As the plot develops, the viewer learns of Charlie’s affair. Although Charlie cheated, the viewer is not mad at him for it. Instead, we are left feeling infuriated at Nicole and her decision to go through the divorce with lawyers, and therein lies a bigger problem.

Marriage Story demonstrates the realities faced by many mothers and parents. As mentioned by Nicole’s lawyer, Nora, mothers have a higher bar to meet. Charlie is a good father, a seemingly nice person with a charming personality, and thus, we neglect the fact that he cheated. Instead, we empathize with him, with the distance between him and his son, and at the thought that he may lose the money he uses to pay his staff at the theatre company.

The compliments and personalities of the characters from the opening scene linger in the back of the viewer’s mind, making it all the more difficult to grasp their divorce. It is safe to say that at this point, much like in our own lives, we are invested in their relationship and hoping they will rekindle their love.

In one heart-wrenching scene, Charlie and Nicole are moved to tears after a vile argument. Adam breaks down, sobbing, after wishing death and illness on his soon-to-be ex-wife. Guilt, regret, and sorrow are among the unpleasant emotions the viewer is left feeling after being privy to such an intimate and pivotal point in the couple’s relationship.

Anyone who has experienced the ramifications of divorce, be it firsthand or secondhand, will experience a melancholic familiarity in Marriage Story. Baumbach captures the complexities of life through the depiction of a compelling family dynamic, all while raising pertinent issues surrounding notions of parenthood.

Marriage Story is real and raw. The characters fight and sob, but do not makeup. There is no fairytale ending. The closing credits begin and, not unlike the characters, we are not left feeling closure, but rather the type of lingering sadness you get when you know something is over, and are left remembering how good it once was.

 

Film still from Marriage Story

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The movie Tall Girl reviewed by a tall girl

Netflix just came out with a movie called Tall Girl. Guess what it’s about?

Sixteen-year-old, six foot one, “misunderstood” student Jodi is trying to get through high school, despite intense bullying due to her height. The movie wasn’t that good, but that’s not why I’m here.

For context, I’m six feet tall.

Life has consisted of my parents explaining that I really was five years old, despite being almost a foot and a half taller than my peers. I was the tallest in my class until high school, and – you guessed it – I did play volleyball and basketball. Being tall is the biggest and most obvious part of my physical identity. Quite like the movie depicts with Jodi, my height is usually the first thing someone notices about me.

If you’re a tall girl, then you know exactly what I mean. Growing up in a society where women are taught to take up less space, be “dainty” and “cute,” can be difficult when you are basically making out with your knees on every bus, train, or airplane.

Just like Jodi, I used to want to shrink. Actually, a lot of the thoughts and worries she had, I had too. The movie displayed a lot of truths about the experience of tall women, but one thing it very obviously lacked was perspective.

Jodi fits every societal beauty norm. She is straight, lean, white and cis-gender. I guarantee that if this were real life, Jodi would not be bullied or ostracized to feel like an other as she was in this movie. It placed Jodi into a narrative of systemic discrimination, and that’s the problem.

Jodi is not a minority. She’s not even an outcast. She’s a privileged young woman that wants to fit in with her peers – quite like I did. Listen, I get it. I still have trouble feeling confident with my height. Some days I feel like it’s truly all people can see. However, framing Jodi this way is not only inaccurate, but it causes distortion and misunderstanding regarding a larger problem of prejudice.

So, to be clear, I am talking about two very different things. The first thing is my experience with my physical identity and the reality of existing in the world with a larger body. I can speak to this experience being difficult and frustrating. I can speak to being teased, feeling undesirable, and wanting so badly to fit in. The second thing, nonetheless, is very different; and the distinction here is crucial. What Jodi and I cannot directly relate to is being marginalized. This movie blurs that line. It places tall white women into a discussion that we should not lead.

Look, I would love to see more tall women with leading roles on television. Watching someone I can identify with physically on screen makes me feel empowered. This, on some level, speaks to the power of representation. This being said, I think it’s pertinent to note that as a white woman, I am constantly being represented, be it on television, movies, magazines, etc. This representation allows white women to have a range of emotions, personalities, characteristics, and nuances that people of colour, and other marginalized groups lack in film. This movie placed Jodi in a specific box and chalked it up to her height, when in reality, Jodi would not have been consistently influenced by this stigma.

Teen movies and romantic comedies have an impact on how we view the world, especially for women. If Netflix really wanted to make a movie with a tall girl in it, I would have been thrilled, along with 15-year-old me. But by framing it as a negative part of her personality, and not letting her just exist as a tall girl with normal problems, relationships and interactions, it really failed for me.

Instead, they created an oversimplified and erroneous depiction of an issue that is not systemic and is more to do with having trouble finding size 13 women’s shoes.

 

Photo Source: Netflix

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I watched Dave Chappelle’s new comedy special so you don’t have to

I love dark humour. I live in a generation raised by memes and shaped by absurd, Dadaist comedy. I also live in a more open-minded, progressive, and inclusive generation than anyone before mine. How do I reconcile the two?

It’s not that complicated. If you make a joke that’s funny, I’ll laugh. Just don’t be a complete asshole while you do it. I’m looking at you, Dave Chappelle.

While having been in the business for over 35 years, Chappelle still finished as the third highest-paid comic last year, according to recent Forbes statistics. His new stand-up special, Sticks and Stones, was marketed as this sort of celebration of all that is politically incorrect and supposedly funny. In reality, it’s closer to a fading comedian who operates in the same capacity as a Reddit troll.

He opens the show complaining about cancel culture and shows a remarkable lack of understanding of the very industry he thrives in. By mocking the suicide of Anthony Bourdain, (because apparently rich people can’t struggle from anything), Chappelle not only completely misinterpreted some of the harsh realities surrounding suicide, but belittled everything Bourdain went through.

He then moved on to practically brag about being a victim blamer and did his best impression of the shrug emoji when entertaining the fact that the allegations made against Michael Jackson might hold some truth.

“Even if he did do it *shrugs*,” said Chappelle. And then went on to explain why it should be an honour and an incredible sexual achievement to be assaulted by someone that famous. He seemed to not notice the blatant irony as he had the audacity to criticize the #MeToo movement and defend Louis C.K.’s actions.

Next up came the same old, overused, and painfully unfunny joke about trans athletes. He continued to go on about how Lebron James could just announce that he identified as a woman and score as much as he wanted. Chappelle—who is widely regarded as one of the greatest comics of all time—is now stuck rehashing the same level of comedy as idiots who yell out “bUt WhAt If i IdEnTiFy aS An ApAcHe HeLiCoPtEr.” That was just the tip of the transphobic iceberg.

Oh, by the way, this was all within the first twenty minutes. Now, I could end up writing a doctoral thesis on everything wrong with the following 40-minute shitshow, like his complaining about not being able to use homophobic slurs in his skits or referring to the LGBTQ+ community as “the letter people,” but my blood pressure can only take so much.

What Chappelle is doing right now is clinging to the last bit of clout he has in a changing world of comedy. More and more TV shows, skits, and comics are realizing that you can be open-minded and progressive and still be absolutely hilarious, all while pushing the envelope and tackling dark humour.

Dave Chappelle is one of the people that stands to suffer from that shift in comedy. He appears so dead-set on shaming you for enjoying an inclusive comedy experience that people like Hasan Minhaj or John Oliver can provide.

Chappelle tried so hard to sound edgy but he just ended up coming off as an ugly, asinine mix between your annoying, boomer uncle’s Facebook feed and an 11-year-old that just discovered what the word “dank” means.

Dave Chappelle will always go down as one of the greatest pioneers of comedy and one of the first from that field to become an international mega-star. That’s why it pains me so much to see him so unapologetically insufferable.

Did I crack a smile once or twice while watching? Sure. But it’s disheartening to see such a funny human stoop so low that they would appeal to the lowest common denominator of an audience. Instead of changing with the times and showing some range, he’s doubled down on being as unabashedly insulting to as many people and communities as possible.

 

Graphic by Victoria Blair

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Punisher Season 2: Netflix’s redemption

Frank Castle returns in all his grim and violent splendor 

To fans of the Marvel Netflix shows, it came as a big surprise when Netflix announced that they would be cancelling Iron Fist, Luke Cage and Daredevil, due to a massive decrease in viewership last year, according to Screen Rant. Many thought Marvel Netflix originals were coming to an end, which is why it was unexpected to most when Netflix released the second season of Punisher on Jan. 18. With this new addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, viewers are presented with 13 more episodes delving into the war-torn psyche of Frank Castle.

For those who need a refresher, Frank Castle, or “The Punisher,” is a former marine, as well as a member of the Cerberus Squad, a covert special operations task force created by William Rawlins, director of covert operations in the CIA, as part of a plan to smuggle heroin from Kandahar to the United States. Due to problems with Rawlins’s leadership, Castle decided to take his leave and return to his family, only to lose them in a shooting orchestrated by Rawlins in order to prevent Castle from finding out the truth about his smuggling operation. Wanting nothing more then revenge, Castle takes on the mantle of a violent and ruthless vigilante in order to achieve it.

The season starts with the meeting of a new protagonist, Amy Bendix, a cunning grifter who’s caught in a fight that’s completely out of her depth, presenting Castle with a new conflict that demands his brand of violent justice.

Their paths cross with a hitman named John Pilgrim, an ex neo-nazi turned devout Christian who takes orders from powerful people, a nod to one of the Punisher MAX comics’ antagonists, The Mennonite, who was also a religious hitman hired to hunt Castle. His pursuit of the jarhead and Amy leads him to New York, where, just like in The Mennonite, he is subjected to all sorts of temptation, which ultimately leads to his downfall.

And, of course, we see the return of Billy Russo, struggling with amnesia and psychosis following his traumatic disfigurement at the end of season one. In this season, he takes on his colder, darker “Jigsaw” persona from the comics to continue to taunt and toy with Castle.

As far as comparing it to the previous season, there were some major improvements. Firstly, there was the camerawork. In the first season, what bothered a lot of viewers was that there were awkwardly long  30 to 45 second bust shots of certain characters giving their lines in a monologue without anything interesting happening in the background. In the second season, they seemed to have learned from their mistakes and varied the shots during those long monologues. Secondly, there were major improvements in the story as a whole. The first season can be boiled down to a continuation of Castle’s origin story, where he realizes that his mission is not yet complete and goes back to work with the help of Micro, a former NSA agent who shares enemies with our favourite vigilante. However, the second season plays on the aftermath of said mission: what does Castle do now that he got his revenge? Does he move on to live a normal life? Is that even possible for a man like him, so psychologically entrenched in war and violence? This entire season rests upon the fact that there is no Punisher-free life in his future, and he learns to accept it.

Overall, the second season was a successful redemption from the first, giving as much depth to Castle’s character as the villains’, making it a much more interesting tale. Even though it’s a Netflix Original that doesn’t have to stick to the canon story, they made references to both the movie and the comics that definitely did not go unnoticed, making the show richer as a whole.

Graphics by @spooky_soda

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Get into the Halloween spirit with these horror flicks

Let the Right One In is sure to creep you out this Halloween.

Cut the time browsing movie streaming sites for the best spooky movies with these picks

With the emergence of Netflix and other movie-streaming services, it’s never been easier (or harder, depending on how you look at it) to select a movie to watch. For movie lovers especially, assembling a movie-marathon list can happen with just a few clicks on your remote control.

Halloween is just around the corner. For those who appreciate spending the spooky holiday indoors, curled up on the couch with popcorn and a few Halloween-themed movies, it can be a little intimidating to choose from all that Netflix has to offer— especially when you’re tempted to rewatch the same classics every year like The Exorcist and Friday the 13th (or Hocus Pocus and Halloweentown for the faint of heart).

But have no fear (or do, ‘cause it is Halloween, after all), we have you covered with some of the best, albeit less familiar, Halloween movies currently streaming on Netflix and other streaming devices like Shomi.

The Silenced (2015)

If you’re not into gory horror, then the atmospheric Korean thriller The Silenced is for you. Detailing a young girl’s stay at a boarding school in 1938, the film follows a similar storyline to the 1977 horror classic Suspiria, and manages to stay away from the cheap scares the Korean horror sub-genre has become known for. Instead, it produces a consistent narrative with an unexpected and shocking ending. You can watch The Silenced on Netflix.

Let the Right One In (2008)

Perhaps you’ve seen the American adaptation of this film—which was decent, but not as good as the original Swedish version, directed by Tomas Alfredson—but don’t trick yourself into thinking you already know the story. While the remake draws heavily from Alfredson’s original vampire coming-of-age tale, nothing compares to his slow-burning tactics and chilling visuals that erupt into an ending sure to haunt you until next Halloween. You can watch Let the Right One In on Shomi.

Extraordinary Tales (2015)

If you’d rather steer clear of live-action films, Extraordinary Tales is an animated account of some of Edgar Allen Poe’s darkest stories, including “The Pit and the Pendulum” and “The Tell-Tale Heart.” In addition to the spooky animation, the film uses archive voice footage of legendary horror film actor Bela Lugosi for part of its narration. You can watch Extraordinary Tales on Netflix.

Rear Window is one of the classic horror films to watch this October.

Rear Window (1954)

We couldn’t make this list without including at least one film from the suspense horror master Alfred Hitchcock. If you like classic films, you’ve probably seen Hitchcock’s Psycho or The Birds. However, Rear Window is a classic in its own right, and is often overlooked. This thriller, which inspired 2007’s Disturbia, sees James Stewart as a man who, while on bed rest with a broken leg, fixates on one of his neighbours who he thinks has committed murder. He discovers the truth about this murder mystery with the help of his girlfriend, Lisa Carol Fremont, played by Grace Kelly. You can watch Rear Window on Netflix.

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