Happy Halloween from CreativeFuture!

For fans of the horror genre, this time of year is better than Christmas. October is a revered month for them, a time for celebrating all things creepy, gory, and downright terrifying. At the U.K. premiere of clown-slasher film Terrifier 3, “eleven audience members walked out of the theater, nine during the opening scene, and one on-looker lost their lunch.” That movie went on to earn over $30 million at the box office, to which we can only say: “What is wrong with you people?!”

We’re sorry to say that we can’t add Terrifier 3 to our indie film roundup, because all of us at CreativeFuture were too scared to watch it. But to the sickos reading this at home thinking I have got to check that one out! – you can buy tickets here.  Just remember: We warned you!

If you want to check out the tremendous independent films we did see this year, check out the list below.

We organized the list by release date, from newest to oldest. If these titles sound appealing to you, too, then click the accompanying links to find out where you can see them in theaters or stream them legally.

Hold Your Breath (Mad Dog Films)

Imagine what The Shining would be like if it were set in Oklahoma during the Great Depression, when drought turned the southwestern plains into a Dust Bowl. Now, imagine that this new horror tale follows a mother as she tries to protect her family from the sinister dust creeping into her home – and mind!

That’s the premise of Hold Your Breath, the feature directorial debut by Karrie Crouse and William Joines. As The Daily Beast remarked, lead actress Sarah Paulson “delivers a terrific performance of maternal protectiveness and paranoia run amok, her every tremulous facial reaction a study in grief, angst, and hysteria.” Once you understand homemaker Margaret Bellum’s desperate struggle, you will never look at dusting the same.

Watch Hold Your Breath on Hulu.

Never Let Go (Lionsgate)

In a postapocalyptic world, the only safe place is a cabin in the woods. When its inhabitants, the last human beings, leave to look for food, they must hold ropes tethered to the sacred house. If they lose their grip, they will fall prey to evil spirits. At least, that’s what Momma believes.

With strange rites and a heavy-duty crossbow, Momma (Academy Award® winner Halle Berry) keeps her young sons safe from threats that they cannot see. While Samuel (Anthony B. Jenkins) trusts his mother, Nolan (Percy Daggs IV) grows skeptical. But Momma cannot allow her boys to throw away their lives in a senseless search for proof.

Watch Never Let Go in a theater near you, or stream it legally.

The Substance (Working Title Films)

Middle-aged actress Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) has reached the end of her usefulness to an entertainment industry that idolizes youth. But she is not ready to give up her career or her internalized standards of female beauty. Therefore, she turns to the substance, an illicit drug that makes her young again … for a price.

After the first injection, Elisabeth’s back grotesquely splits open to release her younger self (Margaret Qualley). Her consciousness begins to alternate on a weekly basis between her new and former bodies. As she revels in returned youth and fame, she dreads the weeks spent in her true form. Even though it’s dangerous to thwart the drug’s cycle, Elisabeth feels determined to leave her older body behind.

Watch The Substance, which won Best Screenplay at Cannes, in a theater near you, or stream it legally.

Strange Darling (Magenta Light Studios)

“Here, kitty kitty kitty,” calls the coked-up, mustachioed Demon (Kyle Gallner) as he hunts for the panicked Lady (Willa Fitzgerald). She is hiding inside a deep freezer at an isolated house in the mountains. Their one-night stand took a bad turn. Now, she is on the run.

But appearances are not what they seem in this harrowing tale of a devious serial killer. The story proceeds in chapters, arranged out of chronological order, so the audience gradually discovers what events led to the frantic chase. Even if you like to be frightened, this film would still be a questionable choice for a Halloween date.

Watch Strange Darling in a theater near you, or stream it legally.

Cuckoo (Neon)

In Cuckoo, Hunter Schafer stars as Gretchen, a teenager who leaves home to live with her father in a resort town in the Bavarian Alps after the death of her mother. While there, Gretchen becomes embroiled in a sinister plot and must face off against her father’s boss to protect her family from danger. While the film takes place in an idyllic vacation town, we soon find out that this beautiful mountain scenery hides a dark secret …

Find where you can stream Cuckoo legally here.

Oddity (IFC Films)

In Irish horror film Oddity, a woman teams up with her self-proclaimed psychic blind twin sister to investigate her husband’s murder. Both women are played by the same actress, Carolyn Bracken, in a stellar dual role. Lauded as one of the year’s best horror movies by several critics, Oddity has earned praise for its dark, foreboding atmosphere and tight filmmaking from director Damian McCarthy. The film premiered at South by Southwest, where it won the Audience Award in the Midnighter section of the film festival.

Find where you can stream Oddity legally here.

Longlegs (Neon)

Longlegs took the world by storm this summer and became a hit at the box office for indie distributor Neon and director Osgood Perkins. Nicolas Cage stars as the titular character, a serial killer believed to be responsible for a series of murders without having been physically present for any of them.

Opposite Cage is Maika Monroe as Lee Harker, a rookie FBI agent trying to track Longlegs down. A successful guerilla marketing campaign by Neon led many fans to the theater without knowing a thing about the film’s plot, while critics praised the film for its direction and for Cage’s demented performance.

Find where you can stream Longlegs legally here.

MaXXXine (A24)

In July, A24 released the highly anticipated finale to Ti West’s X trilogy, MaXXXine. Preceeded by X (2022) and Pearl (2022), MaXXXine features the return of Mia Goth as Maxine Minx, an adult film actress trying to break into the mainstream Hollywood film industry while being targeted by a mysterious killer. The film is set against the backdrop of the infamous “night stalker” murders in 1980s Los Angeles and has a nostalgic soundtrack of 80s hits to match. According to director Ti West, the film was inspired by the rise of home video, while its predecessors take inspiration from the Golden Age of Hollywood (Pearl) and exploitation cinema of the 1970s (X).

If you haven’t seen the previous two films, don’t worry – you can still enjoy MaXXXine. While the films feature reoccurring characters, they are meant to be enjoyed as standalone films that complement each other. So, give MaXXXine a watch.

Find where you can stream it legally here.

That’s our roundup! We hope you found a new indie film to watch for Halloween. Let us know what films you enjoyed most in the comments!

Until next time, find some creativity wherever you can. Stay safe, and be well. #StandCreative

Happy Halloween!