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Cape Town - It comes round at least once a year, and sees the more superstitious among us avoiding all kinds of things - from getting married to taking a plane trip to getting out of bed.
Whether or not you suffer from Paraskevidekatriaphobia (that’s the official name for fear of Friday the 13th), this most dreaded of days is a brilliant excuse to stay indoors and prevent disaster by bingeing on the horror and thriller movies on Showmax, DStv Now, Netflix and Amazon Prime.
Something has taken possession of their son, so two parents bring in paranormal investigators to help. But they are up against pure evil in this brilliant and scary horror.
2. Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (Showmax)
Young Sally is lonely in the giant mansion her father and his girlfriends are restoring. Then she discovers tiny creatures living there, who have dark plans to kidnap her… With a screenplay by Guillermo del Toro, you know you’re in good hands with this one.
3. Resident Evil (Showmax)
Something has gone wrong in a facility deep underground and the special forces unit who go in are ready for anything.. except what they find in this action-packed thriller.
4. Resident Evil 2: Apocalypse (Showmax)
The survivors of the first movie must now fight to leave Raccoon City, before a nuke blows up everything. But the virus has also reached the surface...
5. Paranormal Activity (Showmax)
A supernatural presence might be haunting a family, so they set up cameras to check. What the footage captured will keep you awake for days...
6. Green Inferno (Showmax)
Setting out to save the Amazon forest, a group of activists instead crash into the jungle and are captured by a tribe of cannibals. Not for the faint of heart!
7. The Resident (Showmax)
A doctor finds the perfect apartment. Unfortunately she didn't bank on the landlord, who starts forming a dangerous obsession with her that spirals out of control… Starring Hilary Swank and Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
8. Pan’s Labyrinth (Showmax)
Beauty and horror come together in this adult fairytale about a girl who finds a special and terrifying secret in the garden, where she has a chance to become immortal. A Guillermo del Toro masterpiece, with subtitles.
9. Scary Movie 1, 2 and 3 (DStv Now)
Tired of slasher films that take themselves too seriously? The first three movies that are the shiniest, silliest jewels in the spoof-movie crown are available to binge on DStv now, starring Carmen Electra, Anna Faris and Shawn Wayans as stereotypical characters in movies like Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer. If you’d rather laugh than hide behind your couch cushions, these are the “scary movies” for you.
10. The Shining (Netflix)
Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 horror starring Jack Nicholson as a hotel caretaker who slowly loses his mind after he and his family get trapped in the isolated hotel during a snowstorm is widely regarded as the greatest horror film ever made. This isn’t a fast-paced gore-fest - the momentum and suspense build little bit by little bit, offering a hypnotic vision of one man’s descent into madness.
Co-written by Mark Duplass and Patrick Brice, this 2014 horror movie is about Aaron, a cameraman-for-hire (Brice) who answers a mysterious Craigslist ad posted by Josef (Duplass), the eponymous creepy guy, who wants Aaron to film a series of films for his unborn son. But it quickly becomes clear that Josef is downright weird, and has a sinister motive for hiring Aaron. Creep 2, the 2017 sequel, is also on Netflix.
12. The Ritual (Netflix)
In this bone-chilling horror movie set on a forested hiking trail in Sweden, perhaps the scariest thing is that, at first, you’re not a hundred percent sure what the greatest threat to the four friends is. Are there humans stalking them? What is that shadowy creature? Is this actually a monster film? And when you get the answer to these questions, you’ll realise you’re watching a uniquely clever horror that manages to subvert a number of the stereotypes of the genre. Of all the Netflix Original horrors currently available to stream, this is probably the one that’s most worth your while.
13. Skeleton Key (Amazon Prime)
Caroline Ellis (Kate Hudson) is a Hospice nurse who takes a job in a mansion on a plantation in Louisiana. She gets more than she bargained for, with ancient supernatural terrors haunting her every step. Soon, she realises that all the horrors she’s encountered are a result of the house’s mysterious, dark past. This stylish 2005 horror movie is pretty spooky, but with a PG-13 age restriction, it’s a good choice for a scary movie to watch with your teenage kids and/or your jumpy spouse.
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