40 Must‑Watch Cult Horror Films for Halloween
What turns a horror picture into a cult classic? In a single word: rewatchability. With Halloween fast approaching, the search for terrifying, shocking, goofy, timeless or delightfully campy movies to play again and again feels especially urgent. Vogue adds extra points for films that make a fashion statement. Dario Argento’s *Suspiria* has inspired designers from Nicolas Ghesquière to the Rodarte sisters; Yves Saint Laurent created the wardrobe for Catherine Deneuve in the blood‑soaked romance *The Hunger*; and Eiko Ishioka’s Japanese‑inflected costumes for *Bram Stoker’s Dracula* remain striking decades later. Below is a roundup of 47 of Vogue’s favorite cult horror titles, spanning fresh releases and a few enduring, stylish classics.
1. *Obsession* (2026) – Inde Navarrette delivers a wild, virtuoso performance at the heart of Curry Barker’s unsettling thriller. She plays Nikki, a colleague and crush of Bear (Michael Johnston) who is transformed by a “One Wish Willow” into a disturbingly obsessive, murderous girlfriend. The film probes male entitlement and toxicity with a relentless, swirling intensity. Viewer discretion is advised.
2. *Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma* (2026) – Jane Schoenbrun’s newest mind‑bender opens with a nostalgic, blood‑splattered sequence that pays homage to classic 1980s slashers. Hannah Einbinder stars as an eager filmmaker tasked with reviving a waning horror franchise, while a glamorous Gillian Anderson appears as the original final girl who still haunts the dilapidated set. When the spear‑wielding killer Little Death returns, chaos erupts.
3. *Backrooms* (2026) – Kane Parson’s box‑office hit brings the internet phenomenon to the big screen with genuine scares and an unsettling atmosphere. Its odd mythology rewards multiple viewings, and only time will tell if it secures a permanent place in the cult canon.
4. *Primate* (2025) – Johannes Robert’s low‑budget thriller offers a late‑night thrill ride. A pet chimp named Ben, living with a Hawaiian family, contracts rabies and turns lethal. The film’s brisk 89‑minute run makes the horror fly by.
5. *I Saw the TV Glow* (2024) – Jane Schoenbrun’s second feature follows her first in quality, delivering an eerie, yearning indie work that hovers between horror and art house. It portrays youthful alienation through vivid, sometimes alarming imagery that lingers long after the credits roll.
6. *Longlegs* (2024) – Osgood Perkins, prolific in the genre, presents a dark tale set in the misty forests of the Pacific Northwest. In the tradition of *Se7en*, a series of occult murders unfolds, starring Nicolas Cage as a grotesque, glam‑rock, satan‑obsessed monster whose presence is both bizarre and frightening.
7. *Nosferatu* (2024) – Robert Eggers reimagines the 1922 F.W. Murnau classic with sumptuous, eerie costumes designed by Oscar‑nominee Linda Muir and worn by Lily‑Rose Depp. The story follows Ellen Hutter, portrayed by Depp in a career‑best turn, as she becomes the new wife of an ambitious real‑estate agent (Nicholas Hoult) who journeys to Transylvania to meet the menacing Count Orlok, played by Bill Skarsgård. Rats swarm cobblestone streets, corpses accumulate, and Ellen’s night‑time convulsions intensify toward a horrific climax.
8. *Oddity* (2024) – Irish director Damian McCarthy, known for the 2026 supernatural thriller *Hokum*, offers a second feature that earns true cult status. Set in rural Ireland near an isolated asylum, the film follows the wife of an asylum doctor who is visited late at night by a desperate patient pleading to be let inside. Her decision triggers a uniquely unsettling narrative.
9. *Red Rooms* (2024) – This stylish, hyper‑modern horror follows a fashion model who becomes obsessed with a man accused of streaming brutal rapes and murders to a devoted online audience. Juliette Gariépy plays Kelly‑Anne, a hacker who attends his trial as a groupie, living in antiseptic luxury high above the city while slipping into the dark corners of the internet she cannot resist.
10. *The Substance* (2024) – Demi Moore delivers a career‑defining performance as an aging actress who injects a mysterious substance into her body, promising a more perfect version of herself. The film explores the mind‑bending consequences of this choice as her reality begins to unravel.