For decades, Hollywood’s sickly-sweet romantic comedies and huge, sweeping love dramas have all been a deception, a hoax, an illusion. The truth is that looking for love may be risky, even gruesome. What about these horror films? They understand. From psychological thrillers about meeting your partner’s extended family to house invasion bloodbaths and odd dinner parties with your ex — and her new cult — horror knows that being single also means being ready to socialise… with serial killers, psychopaths, and creeps.
Fresh on Hulu is the latest example of how horror expertly captures the uncertainty and anxiety that comes with starting a romance with someone you’ve never met before. If you’re looking for more twisted relationships and awkward meet-cutes, here are 10 films to watch.
1. Midsommar (2019)
Director- Ari Aster
Dani, an American graduate student, is in state of trauma and still trying to come to terms with a horrific family tragedy. So she turns to Christian, her self-centered and aloof boyfriend, against the backdrop of their impending break-up. She joins two of Christian’s pals, as well as their cryptic buddy Pelle, to attend a once-every-ninety-years summer solstice event in an isolated pagan commune. It is located in the heart of the Swedish province of Hälsingland, in the hopes of mending their shattered relationship. Dani has finally had pleasure for the first time in a long time. However, in this warm and verdant haven of peace, harmony, and constant sunlight, the hospitable community’s strange traditions begin to taint the legendary ideal. As an uneasy feeling of unease creeps up on Pelle’s visitors. The naturalistic ceremonies, on the other hand, appear cruel to inexperienced outsiders.
2. Crimson Peak (2015)
Director- Guillermo de Toro
Edith Cushing is the young daughter of wealthy businessman Carter Cushing. She is visited by her recently decease mother’s black, deform ghost who warns her, “Beware of Crimson Peak,” near Buffalo, New York, in 1887. Sir Thomas Sharpe, an English baronet who has travelled to the United States with his sister, Lucille. To seek investors for his clay-mining innovation, meets Edith, a promising author, in 1901. Cushing rejects Thomas’ proposition, unimpressed by Sharpe’s prior efforts to raise finance. Edith’s mother’s spirit appears to her once more, this time with the same warning. Both Edith’s father and her childhood friend, Dr. Alan McMichael, disapprove of Thomas and Edith’s sexual relationship. Mr. Cushing contacts Mr. Holly, a private investigator, who uncovers unsavoury information about the Sharpes.
3. Get Out (2017)
Director- Jordan Peele
During a weekend in their Lake Pontaco mansion, Chris Washington, a promising young African-American photographer, prepares to meet his Caucasian fiancée Rose Armitage’s parents. Chris and Rose have been dating for five months. The Armitages have no idea that their daughter’s sweetheart is African-American. When Chris eventually meets Rose’s mother, a hypnotic psychiatrist, and her father, a neurosurgeon. He will quickly see that the family gets surround by black servants in the utter privacy of their gorgeous, yet secluded estate in the woods. The uncomfortable mood combined with sheer fear will quickly disrupt the family’s peaceful façade. As the cordial and polite atmosphere gives way to an unidentifiable, rather unrecognisable danger.
4. It Follows (2014)
Director- David Robert Mitchell
Jay quickly discovers that she has inherited an unusual curse after sleeping with a handsome stranger. Wherever she goes, lumbering, half-naked phantoms follow her, and their sole purpose is to see her dead. He, desperate for help, turns to her younger sister and a close group of pals. Jay eventually realises that the only way to avoid death is to sleep with someone else and pass the curse on to them. However, Jay’s pals are blind to the chasing phantoms. It quickly becomes clear that she is running out of time. With death approaching, the terrified young woman will have to make a difficult choice if she is to escape her horrible ordeal.
5. Jennifer’s Body (2009)
Director- Karyn Kusama
Needy Kesnicki is a bashful teen student in Devil’s Kettle, Minnesota, who idolises her brash cheerleader buddy Jennifer Check. They go to a bar to see the rock band Low Shoulder, and the band leader overhears Jennifer’s status as a virgin. Jennifer is kidnap through a band in their van after the place is set on fire. She subsequently shows up at Needy’s house covered in blood, vomiting a dark liquid, and acting strangely. Many male classmates comes out slain with pieces of their bodies consumed over the next few days. Jennifer is sacrifice by the band members in a dark magic ritual, as Needy discovers. but something went wrong because Jennifer was not a virgin and she transformed into a flesh-eating succubus. Needy tries to keep her boyfriend Chip away from Jennifer.
6. The Invitation (2015)
Director- Karyn Kusama
Will and Eden, who were previously happy, are torn apart by tragedy. Eden reappears in Will’s life a few years later, completely transformed, and as if that weren’t enough, she wants to make up for missed time with friends and relatives. Eden and her new husband, David, organise a sumptuous dinner party in Will’s former Hollywood Hills mansion to make it happen. However, as the night progresses, Will develops an odd sensation of unease, as he suspects there’s more to Eden and her companions than meets the eye.
7. The Lodge (2019)
Director- Veronica Franz, Severin Fiala
Aidan and Mia, who have been emotionally damaged by a terrible event, are stranded with their father’s new girlfriend, Grace, for the Christmas holidays. When their journalist father, Richard, has to leave them in the care of their pill-popping stepmother to-be, they will soon get the chance to demonstrate their actual thoughts about Grace, hunkered down in the family’s lonely lakeside cabin somewhere in the snow-capped wilderness of Massachusetts. But, as they get blocked off from the outside world by a relentless blizzard, mysterious, hair-raising incidents strain everyone to their limits, prompting vivid hallucinations of a tragic, long-forgotten past. The inner demons are now demanding more.
8. I’m Thinking of Ending Things (2020)
Director- Charlie Kaufman
A young woman (Jessie Buckley) goes on a road trip with her new boyfriend (Jesse Plemons) to his family farm, despite having second thoughts about their relationship. With Jake’s mother (Toni Collette) and father (David Thewlis) trapped at the farm during a snowfall, the young woman begins to rethink the nature of everything she believed or understood about her lover, herself, and the universe. An examination of sorrow, longing, and the human spirit’s frailty.
9. Fear (1996)
Director- James Foley
Nicole is a 16-year-old girl who, like most adolescent girls, enjoys having a good time. Nicole meets the handsome and intriguing David when she and her closest friend, Margo, go out to a party one night. They end up dating. Nicole notices after a few weeks that David is becoming increasingly possessive, and he becomes enraged when she chats to other males and doesn’t inform him where she’s going, etc. Because he’s seen walking Nicole home, David even punches up one of Nicole’s male pals. When Nicole breaks up with David, he is understandably upset and does all in his power to win her back. When that fails, he and a group of his thug buddies break into Nicole’s house, which has some unpleasant repercussions.
10. Life After Beth (2014)
Director- Jeff Baena
Beth Slocum’s solo stroll in the woods ends tragically with a lethal snake bite. Her parents and lover Zach are devastated by her death. Zach tries to make friends with Mr. and Mrs. Slocum after the funeral, but they reject him as well, and he’s determined to figure out why. He then notices Beth. Her parents are trying to keep her resurrection a secret, but zombie Beth gives Zach the chance to do everything he didn’t get to do with her when she was alive. However, life with the undead Beth proves to be particularly complicated for her still-living loved ones, as Beth’s conduct becomes increasingly erratic and odd happenings around town increase.
