Weekend Watchlist 10/31: Halloween

Happy Halloween! The weather’s getting colder, the vibes are getting spookier, and it’s the perfect time for some seasonal movie watching.

That means this week we’re focusing on some recent under-the-radar horror gems. Not a scary movie person? No worries. Our choices this week have different levels of scariness, depending on what you’re down for. They do all start with the word "Dead," though.

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Here’s what’s new on streaming this week: Conclave director Edward Berger’s Ballad of a Small Player on Netflix, Nia DaCosta’s Hedda adaptation (which I’ve heard great things about) on Prime, Jurassic World Rebirth on Peacock, and Sorry, Baby (recommended by Alice Wu!) on HBO Max.

Dead Mail

If you like: Horror movies without jump scares, detective movies, the postal service
Watch at: Shudder, AMC Plus, for rent
Watch trailer

This low-budget horror mystery set in the 1980s has a great first third and a great back third, and sometimes that’s all you need. It helps that the premise rules: A kidnapped man manages to place a bloody letter in the post box, but without an address attached. The post office’s brilliant dead letter investigator decides to dig into it, as he and his team use all the tools at their disposal to try and find whether this kidnapping is legitimate and where the person is being held. 

Dead Mail looks terrific, especially for its budget – the grainy texture of the images recreates the atmosphere of low-budget 1980s horror thrillers – but the real joy is in the old school post office investigating. I would love more detective stories set within that framing.

Dead Talents Society 

If you like: Beetlejuice, funny ghost movies, Halloween movies that aren't that scary
Watch at: Netflix
Watch trailer here

One of the most delightful new movies of the year, this Taiwanese horror comedy takes place in a world where ghosts have to become urban legends or risk disappearing forever. When a young, timid dead girl finds out her deadline is coming up, she teams up with a ghostress diva and her enthusiastic manager to try to turn her fortunes around by building her own talent for scares.

Dead Talents Society is a funny, creative, and entertaining spin on the ghost society premise – you have a whole ghost ecosystem including a ghost media, ghost bureaucracy, and a ghost economy. While characters do creepy things like walk on ceilings or crawl backwards, the scare factor is lessened because those characters are the protagonists, doing their best to satisfy their living audience. It features excellent performances from the leads, and is ultimately a heartfelt story about the weight of expectations. It’s a true hidden gem on Netflix.

Deadstream

If you like: Found footage, scary movies, movies about streaming
Watch at: Netflix
Watch trailer here

Here’s another hidden Netflix gem, and one that only recently landed on the platform. Deadstream follows Shawn, a disgraced and insensitive live-streamer attempting to make a comeback by staying a night in a haunted house, told diegetically through his videos and streams.

As obnoxious as Shawn is, luckily he cares about aesthetics, and promises the most cinematic live-streaming experience possible. Deadstream delivers without breaking your immersion. Shawn can cut between his cameras with a flick of the wrist, allowing the stream to be edited in real time. He sets up motion-detecting cameras around the property which the feed will automatically cut to if it detects movement – it’s a great device for scares, even when you don’t see anything in the image.

Directed, written, produced, and edited by the married couple Vanessa and Joseph Winter (Joseph also plays the lead and composed the soundtrack), Deadstream is an extraordinarily promising directorial debut from a duo that understands streaming culture. They makes the most out of the movie's unique premise, delivering on a fresh found footage experience.