Move over cheesy rom-coms, this year the folks at What Sleeps Beneath are putting a stake in the heart of traditional Valentine’s Day films and are relishing in the romantic (and sometimes twisted) horror movies. Contrary to popular belief, amidst all the jump scares, gore, and hauntings, a few love stories are hidden within the otherwise dark and spooky genre. Whether you’re binge-eating candy hearts and chocolate or avoiding the holiday altogether, we hope that you’ll find new reasons to gush over the occasional story where love and horror intertwine.

Out of all the pieces of pop culture that feature vampires, the Castlevania franchise stands out for one particular reason. Everyone’s favorite character? The castle. Rarely is the setting of a storyline one of the first things that fans recall. While it’s mostly fans of the Castlevania video games who are responsible for this pop culture preference, the castle depicted in the critically acclaimed Netflix series has also received praise.

Does the music a director chooses really have an impact on your viewing experience? Surely, if the visuals are strong enough, the sounds don't matter? There's some merit in these assumptions, given that cinematic classics such as Nosferatu are completely silent. However, movies have come a long way since the 1920s. Today, the right music can elevate a scene and make it more than the sum of its visuals.

Looking for a delightful Valentine’s Day film? The Loved Ones features teenage love gone dangerously wrong, subverting gender stereotypes and harkening back to the tried and true slashers that we all love.

Released in 2018, Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum is one of the hidden gems of modern horror. Created by Jung Bum-shik of the Korea Republic, the premise of the film is found footage. However, the way it plays out after the introduction is very much in the moment, with the cameras on the characters used as a way to show different perspectives and areas of the asylum.

Joshua Chaplinsky’s Letters to The Purple Satin Killer follows the story of Pennsylvania native serial killer Jonas Williker entirely through letters written to him by his mother, the bereaved, investigators, and even self-proclaimed “fans.”

Leigh Whannell's Wolf Man offers breathtaking Pacific Northwest scenery and standout performances, but does its werewolf lore and emotional depth bite hard enough to leave a mark?

Hauntings are a very well-known horror phenomenon. From Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House and its many adaptations to the countless haunted houses that pop up every October, to haunted house movies like J. A. Bayona’s The Orphanage (2007) and The Conjuring (2013), directed by James Wan, horror audiences are no strangers to ghosts. But a horror story that is often unjustly left off of horror lists, though it features prominently on many Christmas ones, is Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol.

A claustrophobic animated short, a biting satire on our phone habits, a creepy ghost story, and a take on the possession film—these are four unnerving short films that are worth seeking out in 2025.

Regardless of the way the vampire is depicted, be it as a bat-like human or an eternally beautiful being, they never fail to draw in audiences. They are known entities for as much as they are incredibly varied these days, coming with the promise of supernatural power and monstrous behavior that forces humans into tricky situations and moral conundrums. Across all mediums, vampires are as varied as they are intriguing.

Kaveh Daneshmand’s directorial debut, the French-language Endless Summer Syndrome, embraces the dark secrets that run quietly beneath the surface of a family.

Explore how films delve into paganism and Santa Claus to reveal the mystical roots of Christmas. From The Wicker Man to Krampus, discover dark holiday traditions and folklore reimagined on screen. Dive into ancient rituals, solstice myths, and the untold stories of yuletide horror.

The highly anticipated film Nosferatu by Robert Eggers was released on Christmas Day, and does not disappoint.

Some horror movie locations are tried and tested. You know, haunted house, crumbly old castle, graveyard, and, more recently, amusement parks. Sometimes, though, a bit of originality is nice, but it takes a special cast and a brilliant director to bring non-spooky venues to life. I’ve got three examples of totally non-spooky settings that were put together so brilliantly that—now? They’re truly spine-tingling.

Cinematic trilogies are common, but few tell the epic anti-hero story as well as the Friday The 13th films. These beloved movies capture one of the most iconic horror characters of all time: Jason Voorhees.

How can The Tingler—a post-atomic horror film about a lobster-like creature that manifests on your spine whenever you are afraid—possibly be compared to something as life-affirming and fancy-free as a musical? If we set aside genre and look at the form and content of both The Tingler and another self-reflexive picture from the same decade, Singin' in the Rain, the correspondences between the different genres are fascinating.

Steffen Haars' Get Away, a horror-comedy blending dark humor and folk horror, debuts December 6 in U.S. theaters and streams on Shudder in 2025.

If you go back through the annals of time, the horror genre has been riddled with zombies. In fact, their persistence and spine-tingling presence has enchanted audiences across various forms of creative arts and entertainment—specifically film, literature, and gaming.

An empty road late at night, your car suddenly stops, fog shrouding the way, and you sense a sudden chill beside you. Scary, isn't it? But sometimes the uneasiness you feel is due to an unknown presence or perhaps something more! Mankind's obsession with the paranormal has persisted through urban legends, uncanny places, and scary movies.

In both mainstream and indie circles, true crime-inspired thrillers are on the rise, and directors at this year’s Pittsburgh Moving Picture Festival Thriller Picture Show did not disappoint.