It's spooky season, dear readers, and every moviegoer worth their weight in gold is likely scouring the world's many streaming services for the best horror movies available. Most casual horror fans may be content to re-watch established classics like “Halloween,” while more enterprising gorehound fans will carefully study Shudder's carefully selected films. However, jaded, more experienced fear fans will need stronger coffee to overcome their fear, and these brave souls may plunge head-to-head into the overcrowded trough of Night Flight or Eternal Family, searching for oddities that the average soul cannot endure. Are you going to watch a gentle movie like “Hocus Pocus” this October, or would you rather try “Bloody Muscle Bodybuilder in Hell”?
We can certainly say that actor Kevin Bacon, a great actor with impeccable taste, is a lover of the genre and enjoys organizing his own monthly horror movie marathons. On October 10, 2024, Bacon took to Twitter/X with a 55-second video in which he quickly lists his 20 favorite horror films. The vast majority of them were releases from the last decade, which proves that the actor paid attention to the genre, but there were also well-worn classics.
The list is very diverse, as Bacon selected films from all over the world. Horror fans may already be familiar with all 20 of his film selections – none of them are completely unknown – but casual moviegoers may need a reminder to watch movies like “Martyrs” or “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night.”
Bacon also cheekily chose two films he starred in (including one of the better horror films of the '90s), as well as one recent film starring his daughter, Sosie Bacon.
The full list of Bacon's favorite horror films is below.
Kevin Bacon's 20 Favorite Horror Movies
A bacon bouquet looks like this:
- “Audition” by Takashi Miike (1999)
- “Don't Look Now” by Nicolas Roeg (1973)
- “One Cut of the Dead” by Shin'ichirō Ueda (2017)
- “Dawn of the Dead” by George A. Romero (1978)
- “Shaun of the Dead” by Edgar Wright (2004)
- “28 Days Later” by Danny Boyle (2002)
- Jordan Peele's Get Out (2017)
- Ana Lily Amirpour “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night” (2014)
- “Let the Right One In” by Tomas Alfredson (2008)
- “X” by Ti West (2022)
- “Pearl” by Ti West (2022)
- “MaXXXine” by Ti West (2024)
- “The Witch” by Robert Eggers (2015)
- “The Witch of Love” by Anna Biller (2016)
- “The Blair Witch Project” by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez (1999)
- “The Descent” by Neil Marshall (2005)
- “Slither” by James Gunn (2006)
- “Rite of Summer” by Ari Aster (2019)
- “Martyrs” by Pascal Laugier (2008)
- “Hereditary” by Ari Aster (2018)
- Parker Finn's “Smile” (2022)
- “A Stirring of Echoes” by David Koepp (1999)
Of course, Bacon has many personal connections to several of the films above. He played the lead in Stir of Echoes, an excellent movie about a working-class guy who begins seeing ghosts after undergoing hypnosis. Bacon also had a supporting role as a sleazy private detective in “MaXXXine,” as well as “X” and “Pearl,” as the three films form a trilogy. The actor also starred in James Gunn's “Slither,” a horror comedy about infectious worms, after collaborating with Gunn on the Christmas special “Guardians of the Galaxy,” in which he played himself.
Meanwhile, Bacon's daughter, Sosie, was the star of “Smile,” a movie about a shape-shifting creature that appears to its victims as smiling strangers. The sequel to “Smile” will debut in cinemas on October 18, 2024.
The above list is undeniable and you really can't go wrong with any of them. You've probably seen many of them. If we start today, aspiring horror fans will be able to watch one of Bacon's films every day until Halloween. Bacon listed his choices in no particular order, so choose whichever movie you want to start with. If you want to skip a few days and then run the marathon in three or four sittings, that's also acceptable.
Also, let's throw in the 1990 Ron Underwood movie “Tremors” starring Kevin Bacon for good measure. This is one of the best monster movies ever.
