Top 10 Halloween Hangover Horror Movies to Watch!

So how’s the old stomach feeling today, folks? Better yet, who in the Sam Hain scheduled Halloween to coincide with Thirsty Thursday?! Those bastards!

Well, as we all keel over and coddle a post-Halloween hangover, be it from too much booze or too much candy, likely both, it’s time we take her easy on this casual Friday. After a full-month of ghouls and ghosts priming us for All Hallows Eve, we deserve a break from the deadly serious and morbidly macabre. Therefore, we’re turning to some lighter, breezier fare to get us through the pounding headache and knot-turning stomachache. It’s all dumb fun from here on out. Here is our Top 10 Halloween Hangover Movies To Watch!

#10. IDLE HANDS

I’m not quite certain why it’s so, but I know deep down that I enjoy IDLE HANDS more than most. More than I should even. A lame-brained guilty-pleasure if ever there was one, I think it has everything to do with the chronically stoned tone and slack-jawed vibe the movie’s imbued with throughout. No, you’re right, it has everything to do with nubile Jessica Alba in angel wings! The Halloween-set horror-comedy follows Anton (Devon Sawa), whose hand is suddenly possessed by a serial killer with a mind of its own. The slapstick humor and slapdash horror make for an easy movie to sit back, relax and pack a bowl to. Or five, one for each finger!

#9. PARENTS

This might be a toughie for the gastronomically challenged, but so what, we’re here to heal this damn hangover by whatever means necessary. And yes, it is necessary to witness Bob Balaban’s mordantly dark horror-comedy PARENTS, especially if you never have before. Look, if you dig the lighthearted tone of Netflix’s Santa Clarita Diet, you’ll likely love the hell out of PARENTS. The premise follows a young boy who becomes increasingly convinced that his 1950s-style Leave it Beaver mom and dad are cooking up more than a gourmet menu in their kitchen. Are the PARENTS killing neighbors and cooking them raw?!

#8. CLUB DREAD

How about a little hair of the dog? Seriously, what better way to wash down a hangover than partake in a boozy and baleful Bacchanal emceed by the late great Bill Paxton? For the uninitiated, the film follows a passel of vacationers who are stalked and slashed by a mysterious killer on a remote island. Now, I know most dismiss CLUB DREAD as the inferior follow-up to SUPER TROOPERS, but look again, as a trenchant skewer of the slasher genre itself, the parodic island-set whodunit is extremely entertaining. If ever there was an overtly dumb-fun horror flick to turn off your brain and thoroughly enjoy, CLUB DREAD is it!

#7. SCOUTS GUIDE TO THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE

I can only attribute the round rebuke of the hugely underrated SCOUTS GUIDE TO THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE to nothing more than zombie fatigue. I’m not just saying this because I had the chance to visit the set either, I mean it, this movie is a lot of f*cking fun. With hilarious bits of dialogue, gorgeous gore-sodden makeup and FX work by Tony Gardner, and electric chemistry among the three young principals, the movie churns a well-worn formula and overly-derivative material over into something wildly entertaining. The weaponry and concomitant death-modes alone in the film warrant a watch, never mind the brainless (get it, zombies)

#6. BUBBA HO-TEP

While we almost steered you to Don Coscarelli’s riotous hallucinatory mind-f*ck known as JOHN DIES AT THE END, that’s probably a bit too much in your weakened condition at the moment. So instead, let’s have a full-throated chuckle at Bruce Campbell donning the oversized Elvis digs (it is Halloween, after all) in the wonderfully imaginative and highly amusing BUBBA HO-TEP. Damn this flick is a blast! When Elvis finds himself stuck in a nursing home, he turns to senile inmate Jack (Ossie Davis) to find a way out. One problem: an ancient Egyptian jinni is out for cold-blooded murder! Silly, irreverent and downright pleasurable!

#5. WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS

I honestly can’t recall laughing out loud as hard and often during any horror-comedy like the way I did during the sidesplitting WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS. Maybe SHAUN OF THE DEAD, that’s it. I mean, there’s a reason why this flick has been adapted to the small screen as a series: because it’s hysterical! Co-directed by now all-world director Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement – both of whom also star – the tale of mild-manner vampires living together as totally normal flat-mates is brilliantly observed and perfectly performed. The scene where the vampire clan crosses paths with the rival werewolf gang is enough to coat your twisted rot-gut with a warm fuzzy feeling!

#4. THE BABYSITTER

Who knew McG had a sense of humor? Oh, we jape out of love, and love is exactly the word we’d use to describe how we felt about the hyper-paced and ultra-gruesome horror-comedy THE BABYSITTER. Seriously, this movie f*cking rules! Filmed in 2015 before Netflix bought the streaming rights (no, Netflix has never done an “original” anywhere near as good as this), the film follows Cole (the perfectly-cast Judah Lewis), an outcast who has a strong relationship with his gorgeous and popular babysitter, Bee (Samara Weaving). As night falls, Bee recruits a cabal of teenage demoniacs to hold a ritual in Cole’s living-room, which leads to an unthinkable amount of bloodshed.

#3. VELVET BUZZSAW

While it’s true the lofty expectations left behind by Dan Gilroy’s NIGHTCRAWLER lead to a bit of a disappointment, I still think VELVET BUZZSAW amounted to a pitch-perfect blend of humorous cynicism and horrific mysticism. Truthfully, the movie reminded me of an elongated Tales from the Crypt episode made in the 1990s. Which could be a whole lot worse! It has that kind of light air to it, never taking itself too seriously, and never phoning it in completely. The tale of eccentric art critic Morf Vandewalt (Jake Gyllenhaal) becoming slowly possessed by a piece of living art painted with real blood has much to say about the nature of commerce and doing whatever it takes to succeed, including murder.

#2. CRIMEWAVE

Sorry, but there’s no way to cure a hangover without the healing powers of Sam Raimi. However, we’re turning to a magically manic elixir many to most have likely never even heard about. Seriously, how many of you have seen Raimi’s post-EVIL DEAD, pre-EVIL DEAD II joint-collaboration with the Coen brothers called CRIMEWAVE? Yup, perhaps the single-most cartoonish horror movie ever made, and that says a lot coming from Raimi. Written by Joel and Ethan Coen and directed by Raimi, the flick follows a pair of wacky exterminators who, after killing the boss of a house-alarm business, begin to stalk everyone associated with him. An absolute must-see!

#1. ARACHNOPHOBIA

I’ll go to my grave believing ARACHNOPHOBIA is a perfect movie. Not just a perfect horror-comedy, but an overall movie. It successfully achieves exactly what it’s set out to do. The squeamish chills derived by the universal phobia of spiders are and will forever remain effective, but it’s the light touch of humor balancing the creepy-crawly spookiness that elevates the movie beyond reproach. Jeff Daniels tows the tonal line between humor and horror so well in the film as an easily frightened doctor trying to earn new patients in a new town. John Goodman as the hilarious exterminator, Delbert, adds extra amusement to a movie that serves genuine fear by the time the basement finale occurs.