Valentine’s Day is behind us, but love is still in the air. Cuddle up with that special someone and turn on any of these 13 movies for a night of romance and horror.
Honeymoon
What’s more romantic than a getaway to a remote cabin, just you and your significant other? In the case of Bea and Paul, pretty much anything. Things go haywire for the isolated couple in this 2014 thriller, a pleasant subversion of its romantic setup.
Let the Right One In
Relationships require honesty, being up front about who you are and owning your past. Let the Right One In is an entry in romantic horror that pushes that idea to another level. Centered on Oskar, Eli, and their incredibly complicated relationship.
My Boyfriend’s Back
Love is stronger than death in My Boyfriend’s Back. After spending his dying breath on asking a girl to prom, Johnny then rises from the dead to make good on that. It’s as kitschy and fun as you’d hope from a teenage horror-comedy from the 90s, and absolutely worth checking out.
Nina Forever
Rob just can’t move on from the death of his girlfriend. She won’t let him. It’s a genuine effort, with a lot to say about love, death, grieving and relationships. A morbid yet fascinating experience, Nina Forever is a unique experience in the pantheon of horror.
The Conjuring
Essentially an instant classic, The Conjuring is about a haunted house investigation led by the Warrens, an actual couple played here by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga. There’s an unexpected charm and joy to their performances, a happy reprise from the otherwise bleak goings on of this fine piece of supernatural horror.
Beetlejuice
It’s romance, but not as we know it. Beetlejuice an offbeat comedy about a recently deceased couple trying to reclaim their house. From the bureaucratic afterlife to gothic Winona Ryder to sandworms, Beetlejuice is just a fun bit of weird from the tail end of the 80s.
Bride of Chucky
Sometimes true love can’t wait. It gets impatient and uses voodoo to resurrect the dead and beloved. So it goes with Tiffany and Chucky. It’s the franchise’s first big step into self-aware, goofy comedy, but it works. So long as living dolls don’t creep you out, you should get a kick out of this one.
Bride of Frankenstein
It would be remiss to leave Bride of Frankenstein off this list. While the majority of the film focuses on the Monster (as the Bride doesn’t exist yet), the final moments shared between the two make it worthwhile. It’s a horror classic, arguably better than Frankenstein, and gave us a wonderfully iconic duo.
Crimson Peak
Guillermo Del Toro’s Crimson Peak is a neatly executed period piece full of budding romance, mystery, and the supernatural. A more apt genre would be “romantic thriller” but between there’s just enough of the horrific here to warrant a viewing.
Warm Bodies
Love at first sight is complicated when one of you is undead. So it goes for Julie and R. At its core, Warm Bodies is a teenage love story, but the bits of gruesomeness peppered throughout, along with the militant presence of John Malkovich push it beyond that genres limitations.
Audition
Audition is a Japanese film that takes a long look at relationships, obsession, and abuse. It’s a dark and brutal, a visceral experience that upends the romantic expectations of its characters to drive at deeper points for the audience.
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night turned heads when it debuted, and with good reason. Visually striking, thematic and moving, A Girl Walk Home Alone at Night isn’t just a movie about a boy and a vampire, it’s also one of those horror films that reminds the world what horror can do.
My Bloody Valentine
While it isn’t romance heavy in terms of plot, the whole tone of a city wide Valentine’s Day celebration is too good to not earn this movie a spot on the list. Juxtaposed with the town’s coalmining business, My Bloody Valentine is a violent, surprisingly sinister, and funny-at-the-right-moments slasher.
