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When Halloween rolls around, NYC horror fanatics (right here) are never at a loss for options. You could check out one of my five picks for Halloween screenings this weekend, including an immersive Suspiria complete with live dancers. You could check out the 15 best horror movies on Netflix, classics like The Exorcist and Jaws. Or you could jog your memory with my authoritative list—accept no substitutes—of the 31 best Halloween movies of all time.
And yet there's still one more viewing choice: a scary new horror film that's actually debuting on Netflix today (it's available on the streaming site now). I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House—apart from having the coolest title of the year—was the big horror discovery at this year's Toronto International Film Festival. The movie, a labor of love for writer-director Oz Perkins, runs heavily against today's trends: It's defiantly ungory and the kind of movie that you need to lean into to appreciate.
But Pretty Thing is immensely worthy of your time, especially during one quiet afternoon, when you can hear the creaks in the floor, perhaps the patter of rain outside, and maybe something else…something that shouldn't be there with you. Oz's film is a ghost story about an old house and its spooked caretaker. Think the work of Shirley Jackson, poetic and ominous. Bob Balaban is in it, too. Check it out and let us know what you think.