It's mid-October and the inflatable monsters are out, area pumpkin patches are bustling, and kids young and old are daydreaming of what ghoulish delights await them on Halloween. I'm looking forward to the weekend where I can snuggle up in the dark and clutch my cocoa and honey tight. With all the streaming options these days, it's easy to spend 2 hours negotiating with your partner about which movie is best. Since those hours are best spent cuddling, let this curated list take some of the decision work off your plate.
Note: All Kanopy titles are linked through the ICPL catalog through the "A Kanopy streaming video" link. Click there to go directly to the movie page. Coralville residents and library card holders can use Kanopy as well. Same content, different library card!
Lusting for more blood? Explore 31 Days of Horror movies on ICPL's Kanopy website. Never used Kanopy? Grab your ICPL library card and Create a Kanopy Account.
Black Sunday.
STREAMING VIDEO KANOPY
Horror
In one of the most auspicious directorial debuts in movie history, Mario Bava bridged the gap between the gothic horror picture and the European art film with Black Sunday (aka La maschera del demonio or The Mask of Satan). Made in 1960 and now considered a cult classic, it continues to reverberate through the cinema, inspiring and influencing new generations of filmmakers. In an absolutely mesmerizing performance, Black Sunday stars Barbara Steele as Asa Vajda, a beautiful woman tortured and executed as a witch, but not before pronouncing a curse upon those who have condemned her, a curse that is fulfilled some 200 years later. This newly mastered HD edition is the original Italian cut of the film, complete with Roberto Nicolosi's expressive score and three minutes of footage deleted from the U.S. release version.
Only Lovers Left Alive
DVD MOVIE SF/HORROR Only
Fantasy
Set against the romantic desolation of Detroit and Tangier, an underground musician, deeply depressed by the direction of human activities, reunites with his resilient and enigmatic lover. Their love story has already endured several centuries at least, but their debauched idyll is soon disrupted by her wild and uncontrollable younger sister. Can these wise but fragile outsiders continue to survive as the modern world collapses around them?
A Jim Jarmusch vampire film? Please and thank you. This film is incredibly visually stylized. Rock star manes and stark black, white, and red colorization. Goth at its pinnacle of sexy ennui.
- Melody
Nosferatu.
STREAMING VIDEO KANOPY
Horror
This new presentation of Murnau's classic is mastered from original German material recently made available to Kino and is the most complete version available. An expressionist retelling of Bram Stoker's Dracula so faithful to the original tale of vampirism that Stoker's widow sued.
Hugely influential in the filmmaking, the horror genre, and in vampire mythology as well, Nosferatu is a silent film classic that any art film lover must see before they die. I was lucky enough to see it on the big screen at the Englert with the Alloy Orchestra providing the music. It was a night I'll never forget!
- Melody
What We Do in the Shadows
STREAMING VIDEO KANOPY
Comedy
Housemates Viago, Deacon, and Vladislav (Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi, & Jonathan Brugh) are three vampires who are trying to get by in modern society; from paying rent and doing housework to trying to get invited into nightclubs. They are just like anyone else - except they're immortal and must feast on human blood. When their 8000 year-old roommate Petyr, turns 20-something human hipster Nick, into a vampire, the guys must guide him through his newfound eternal life.
A vampire mockumentary in the vein of classic Christopher Guest (Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show). This comedy is super-quotable ("BAT FIGHT!") and laugh out loud funny. Taika Waititi, who plays Viago, was the biggest draw for me to see the super silly Thor Ragnorak, which he directed.
- Melody
Night of the Living Dead
DVD MOVIE SF/HORROR Night
Horror
There is panic throughout the nation as the dead suddenly come back to life. The film follows a group of characters who barricade themselves in an old farmhouse in an attempt to remain safe from these bloodthirsty, flesh-eating monsters.
For fans of Get Out. Fun fact: this film is in the public domain because the original distributor neglected to place a proper copyright indication. (Comments from video and film expert Bond.) This film is also available at icpl.kanopy.com.
- Melody
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
STREAMING VIDEO KANOPY
Horror
A masterpiece of psychological horror and the film that has come to epitomize the mysterious highly stylized German expressionist cinema. A demented hypnotist and his ghastly henchman spread death througout the German countryside. Newly remastered from the archival German material and tinted according to original instructions with evocative score.
Another classic silent film hugely influential in the world of cinema.
- Melody
Black Christmas
STREAMING VIDEO KANOPY
Horror
Black Christmas is a 1974 Canadian psychological slasher film produced and directed by Bob Clark, and written by A. Roy Moore. It stars Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea, Margot Kidder, Andrea Martin, Marian Waldman and John Saxon. The story concerns a group of sorority sisters who are receiving threatening phone calls, while being stalked and murdered by a deranged killer during the Christmas season. Inspired by the urban legend "The Babysitter and the Man Upstairs" and a series of murders that took place in the Westmount section of Montreal, Quebec, Moore wrote the screenplay under the title Stop Me. The filmmakers made numerous alternations to the script, primarily the shifting to a university setting with young adult characters. It was shot in Toronto from 1974 to 1974 on an estimated budget of $620,000, and was distributed by Warner Bros. in North America. Black Christmas was released on October 11, 1974 in Canada, and December 20 in the United States under the title Silent Night, Evil Night. It has received critical praise, with film historians noting it for being one of the earliest slasher films[2] to conclude without revealing the identity of its villain, as well as serving as an influence on John Carpenter's Halloween (1978). Aside from earning a cult following[3] since its release, a novelization written by Lee Hays was published in 1976, and a remake of the same name, produced by Clark and directed by Glen Morgan, was released in December 2006.
Bob Clark loved Christmas so much he directed both the holiday classic A Christmas Story and the slasher classic, Black Christmas. This film is a favorite of bookmobile librarian Shawna.
- Melody
The Strangers: Prey at Night
DVD MOVIE SF/HORROR Strangers
Horror
A family of four staying at a secluded mobile home park for the night are stalked and then hunted by three masked psychopaths.
Home invasion horror set to an '80s soundtrack! A 2018 favorite from bookmobile librarian Shawna.
- Melody
Happy Death Day
DVD MOVIE SF/HORROR Happy
Horror
A college student relives the day of her murder with both its unexceptional details and terrifying end until she discovers her killer's identity.
Imagine Groundhog Day with a gruesome twist! Another 2018 favorite from bookmobile librarian Shawna.
- Melody
Halloween
DVD MOVIE SF/HORROR Halloween
Horror
On October 31, 1963, six-year-old Michael Myers brutally stabs his sister Judith to death with a kitchen knife at their home in Haddonfield, Illinois. He is sent to Smith's Grove-Warren County Sanitarium and placed under the care of psychiatrist Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasance). Loomis suspects that there is more to Myers than meets the eye and plans to have him committed indefinitely, despite the fact that Michael seems docile and does not speak a word. At the age of 21, Myers escapes from Smith's Grove while being transferred, and returns to Haddonfield with Loomis in pursuit. While Loomis tries to convince authorities of the boy's evil nature, Meyers goes on a murderous rampage while he stalks and terrorizes a young woman who caught his attention.
Must have a strong enthusiasm for horror films for this classic. I personally need my films to be more psychologically scary than hide-my-eyes-the-whole-movie scary. Halloween is a film well beloved by horror expert and bookmobile librarian Shawna.
- Melody
Get out
DVD MOVIE SF/HORROR Get
Horror
A young black man meets his white girlfriend's parents at their estate, only to find out that the situation is much more sinister than it appears.
This is a newer film and we have tons of copies since so many people wanted to see it. It earned a 99% on Rotten Tomatoes' Tomatometer!
- Melody
I was stoked to see this movie on Kanopy because it isn't free on the other streaming services on my Roku. This is my personal first choice for date night because I love '60s horror illustrations. Black Sunday includes all my favorite things: witches, curses, and ancient crypts. It was apparently banned in the UK for the level of violence and gore and has remained a super scary cult classic. I can handle 1960s gore, can't I?
- Melody