Scream or Skip, that is the question. With so much horror out there to watch and play, our senior entertainment writer, Lucy Buglass, is here to help you decide what's worth your time (or worthy of a Scream) and what's not (so you might want to Skip). Her goal is to help you spend less time scrolling, and more time enjoying some great TV shows, movies, and games. Read the full series here.
September was a surprisingly stacked month for horror. I was spoiled for choice when putting together this month's horror movie recommendations, and I've got a real mixed bag to cover here too.
Most notably, September saw new entries into the Creep and Silent Hill franchises. This means there's some familiarity here for fans keen to dive into these well-established horror worlds. But, as always, Shudder had a good helping of new originals to keep us entertained too.
I spent much of this month with the following three titles, and here's what I thought of each one.
TV — The Creep Tapes season 3
Where to watch: Shudder, AMC+
Lucy's verdict: Scream
Mark Duplass can do no wrong, in my opinion. After making an appearance in the hugely successful Backrooms this year, he's gone back to his original horror roots. Indeed, The Creep Tapes season 3 is the latest installment in his found footage nightmare, and it's incredibly good.
If you're keen to deep dive into Peachfuzz's character, season 3 does exactly that. Josef's (Duplass) serial-killer alter ego is front and center here, and this feels like it's going back to the Creep we know and love. We're uncomfortably up-close to Josef here, seeing many things from his point of view, making for an effective third season which might sit with you for a long time.
It's well worth checking out the first two Creep movies if you haven't already, which are available on Prime Video in the US and Netflix in the UK.
Movie — Parasomnia
Where to watch: Shudder
Lucy's verdict: Skip
Shudder's new movie Parasomnia has an interesting premise, but it ultimately didn't do enough to keep me engaged. The movie follows a woman who has recurring night terrors — and each time they happen, awful things happen around her in the real world.
When she struggles to keep these terrors at bay, a threat emerges and terrorizes her, which makes up much of the movie's 85-minute runtime. Unfortunately, Parasomnia suffers from an over-reliance on jump scares teamed with some predictable narrative beats, so I wasn't a huge fan of this movie.
It is on the shorter side, so you may want to try it anyway, or check out the line-up of new Shudder releases to find something new.
Game — Silent Hill: Townfall
Where to play: PS5, PC
Lucy's verdict: Scream
Silent Hill has a new spin-off game starring Welcome to Derry's Jovan Adepo. It's set in the coastal town of St. Amelia, and I spent my weekend getting lost in this creepy new world.
It's important to note that Silent Hill: Townfall is separate from the main storyline, so you won't find well-known characters like Pyramid Head here. Instead, you play as newcomer Simon in a slow-burn narrative that encourages you to explore in first-person. Despite a few initial glitches like the map not loading in, I did settle nicely into Silent Hill: Townfall, and I was particularly impressed by the central location, which is modeled off a quiet Scottish town.
Silent Hill: Townfall is a relatively short game which is easy to complete in a weekend, and I recommend giving it a go.
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