It’s the weekend leading up to Halloween, so hold on tight and put these films over the weekend to get you in the right mood for a Monday night full of frights.

Friday Night – Lost River – Genre: Indie/Fantasy

Lost River is actor Ryan Gosling’s spectacular, stylish, and bizarre directorial debut. It follows single mother Billy (Christina Hendricks) and her sons Bones and Franky, as Billy is swept into the dark underworld of Detroit whilst Bones, on the run from the criminal Bully (Matt Smith), discovers a secret underwater town. If that summary sounds confusing, it’s because it is; Lost River is more of a dream — or nightmare — than a movie, with mesmerising neo-noir visuals (think Drive or It Follows) and a slow, chilling soundtrack creating a surreal, fantastical atmosphere thick enough to get lost in. It isn’t perfect, as the plot can be thin at times, but it’s a weird, wonderful watch nonetheless.

Saturday Night – Let Me In – Genre: Horror

Let Me In tells the story of Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee), a 12 year-old boy who is neglected by his parents, bullied by his classmates and is generally lonely, finding comfort in peering into his neighbours’ windows and lives. Things start getting strange as people and animals go missing in the small town, and as Owen’s new neighbour Abby (Chloë Grace Moretz) starts to get involved in his life. The cinematography is brilliant, each shot adding to the film’s darkness and sense of horror. It’s a dark, tense film which will leave you lying in bed with an uncomfortable, inescapable feeling of dread. Perfect for Halloween weekend.

Sunday Night – The Others – Genre: Horror/Mystery

Halloween wouldn’t be complete without a ghost story, and The Others is a classic. The premise is familiar: Grace Stewart (Nicole Kidman) and her two young children move into an old, remote house in the English countryside as they wait for her husband to return from the second World War. When the servants arrive at the house, Grace starts to notice strange occurrences and begins to worry that they may not be alone. It seems like a boring premise, but it’s not; director/writer Alejandro Amenábar, who also scored the film, perfectly executes all the individual elements of a horror film and brings them together to give us a near-perfect ghost story.

Mikhail Hanafi

(Image courtesy of Overture Films)