Severed Cinema’s 10 Horror Hidden Gems to Watch This Halloween 2026
Samhain season is upon us, and it’s time to dig a little deeper into the horror vault. Forget the usual Halloween favourites. This year, we’re looking at ten hidden gem horror films that might not immediately spring to mind when planning your Halloween viewing but deserve a spot on your watchlist. From psychological breakdowns and bizarre body horror to murderous folklore and genre-bending insanity, there’s plenty here to keep things interesting. So, turn down the lights, grab a bowl of popcorn, and let’s get into it!
10. Black Mountain Side (2014)
Canada’s answer to The Thing gets a psychological makeover in Nick Szostakiwskyj’s Black Mountain Side. The film follows an archaeological team that uncovers a mysterious structure buried beneath the snow-mantled northern wilderness. Things quickly go sideways. Cut off from civilization, the crew faces an unexplained illness, strange occurrences and a growing sense that something is terribly wrong. It’s a wonderfully bleak exercise in isolation, paranoia and gradual mental deterioration.
9. Spring (2014)
Imagine Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise meets The Fly, and you’re getting somewhere close to Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead’s Spring. Following a personal tragedy, Evan travels to Italy and falls for a mysterious young woman named Louise. Unfortunately, she’s harbouring a rather unusual biological secret, and her body is undergoing some seriously disturbing transformations. Spring is a surprisingly touching romance wrapped in imaginative body horror.
8. Buffet Infinity (2025)
Buffet Infinity is on the list for anyone looking for something completely different. This flick tells its story almost entirely through bizarre local television commercials and advertisements, gradually piecing together a strange tale involving a growing restaurant empire, a mysterious sinkhole and some seriously unsettling goings-on. It’s an incredibly original approach to storytelling, and watching the pieces come together is half the fun. The runtime does drag a little, but you’ve got to appreciate a film willing to take such an unusual spin on the genre.
7. Dream Eater (2025)
Found footage fans should give Dream Eater a look. What starts as a getaway to a remote cabin in the Laurentian Mountains turns into a nightmare when Alex begins experiencing increasingly violent episodes of sleepwalking. His girlfriend Mallory starts documenting the behaviour, but the deeper she digs into his past, the more disturbing things become. Dream Eater is atmospheric Canadian horror outing that makes excellent use of the found footage format.
6. Bakemono (2023)
Unearthed Films newly released Japanese creature feature from Doug Roos is a suitably nasty little offering. Set around a Tokyo apartment where unsuspecting guests encounter something truly grotesque, Bakemono delivers monster mayhem with a healthy appreciation for practical effects. It’s not trying to reinvent the creature-feature formula, and that’s perfectly fine. Sometimes you just want to watch something nasty crawling around and making life miserable for everyone involved.
5. Red Rooms (2023)
Pascal Plante’s Red Rooms is another Canadian terror that explores the disturbing intersection of true-crime obsession, serial killer sensationalism, and the dark web. Kelly-Anne becomes increasingly fixated on the trial of a man accused of murdering teenage girls, and her fascination soon takes her somewhere far more disturbing than the courtroom. There’s no supernatural nonsense here; just a chilling look at how easily curiosity can turn into something deeply sinister and spiral out of control. Red Rooms is uncomfortable, compelling and frighteningly plausible.
4. Masking Threshold (2021)
Ever wondered how far someone might go to silence a ringing in their ears? Johannes Grenzfurthner’s experimental Austrian horror film follows a data analyst suffering from severe tinnitus who isolates himself and turns his home into a makeshift laboratory. Determined to identify the source of the noise, he conducts increasingly bizarre experiments, documenting his findings along the way. Naturally, things get progressively more disturbing. An unusual, gruesome and downright uncomfortable piece of experimental horror that certainly won’t be for everyone.
3. Adult Swim Yule Log (2022)
This one absolutely floored me. Adult Swim Yule Log begins as exactly what it sounds like: a crackling fireplace YouTube loop video with Christmas music. Then things get weird. Very weird. What follows is an unpredictable mishmash of slasher horror, science fiction, supernatural madness, and dark comedy that completely disregards any expectation you might have going in. Casper Kelly has crafted something wonderfully ridiculous and genuinely entertaining. It even spawned a sequel, Branchin’ Out Yule Log 2. Forget Christmas. This fireplace is worth lighting up any time of year.
2. Unwelcome (2022)
This one really surprised me. A home-invasion thriller meets Irish folklore in Jon Wright’s Unwelcome. After a home invasion a London couple inherit a house in rural Ireland, hoping for a fresh start, only to discover their new property comes with some rather unpleasant neighbours. Living in the nearby woodland are the Redcaps, these awesome murderous goblin-like fairies with particularly nasty appetites for human blood. When tensions with some local troublemakers escalate, the couple find themselves caught between two very different kinds of monsters. Unwelcome is a thoroughly entertaining folk horror romp with some memorable creature effects and attack sequences.
1. The Devils (1971)
Calling Ken Russell’s The Devils a hidden gem might be pushing it, but this controversial masterpiece deserves to be experienced in all its restored glory. Starring Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave, the film recounts the disturbing true-life-inspired events surrounding Urbain Grandier, a priest accused of witchcraft after a convent of nuns claims to be possessed by demons. What follows is an outrageous tale of religious fanaticism, political corruption, sexual repression and mass hysteria.
The Devils was long plagued by censorship and missing footage, but now the definitive 4K restoration finally offers audiences the opportunity to experience Russell’s intended vision. If you have the chance to catch this one on the big screen before it leaves, you owe it to yourself to not pass it up. This is a landmark piece of provocative cinema that belongs on every horror fan’s must-watch list. It’s a shame that Russell didn’t live to see it released as intended in all its glory.
Happy Halloween, folks!
