Sure, there are fancy restaurants and impressive bouquets of flowers. However, maybe you’re sick of fighting for reservations and stressing out the local florist. Maybe you’d rather spend Valentine’s Day inside, ordering takeout and watching a movie—preferably a scary one, because what’s more romantic than having an excuse to snuggle up to that special someone?
Horror isn’t just blood and guts; it’s got heart, even if those hearts are frequently being impaled by stakes. Sometimes, love stories are the focus; other times, the genre delves into the darker side of romance with sharp commentary and a wicked smile. Regardless of what floats your boat, there is something on this Valentine’s Day list for everybody.
1. The Addams Family Movies Are Valentine’s Day Ready
No one does romance like Morticia and Gomez Addams. You’ll be hard-pressed to find another couple in the genre that offers such a healthy depiction of love. The two started captivating hopeful romantics back in the ’60s, but Anjelica Huston and Raul Julia‘s iconic performances and sizzling chemistry in The Addams Family (1991) and Addams Family Values (1993) remain unmatched.
2. Warm Bodies Takes a Bite into Zombie Romance
Looking for a post-apocalyptic love story? Warm Bodies checks that box as a unique love story between Nicholas Hoult‘s undead bachelor and Teresa Palmer‘s skeptical survivor. It’s got humor. It’s got charm. And it’s got a pretty solid message. Taking a page from Beauty and the Beast, Warm Bodies reminds audiences to look beyond rotting exterior to learn who a person truly is.
3. Bram Stoker’s Dracula Does Gothic Romance Right
Despite having Bram Stoker’s name in its title, Francis Ford Coppola’s movie very much does its own thing. As such, it is more of a retelling than a true adaption, and romance gets a well-deserved chance to shine. According to Hollywood, vampires are sexy, and Bram Stoker’s Dracula does wonders to prove this point. When Dracula is waxing poetic about “crossing the oceans of time” to find his true love, it’s hard not to swoon.
4. Want an Updated Dracula? Look to The Invitation
The Invitation has been called Dracula fan fiction by many. For A03 fans, that’s certainly not a bad thing. However, unlike Dracula, The Invitation is a women-centric movie, even if its trailer makes it seem anything but. Nathalie Emmanuel and Walter Thomas Doherty exude that innate chemistry that is sure to captivate audiences. Not to mention, they’re both pretty damn hot.
5. My Bloody Valentine Is the Quintessential Holiday Slasher
1981’s My Bloody Valentine cemented itself as THE Valentine’s Day horror movie. Come on. Just look at that name. Following in the footsteps of holiday-themed offerings like Halloween and Friday the 13th, the shameless marketing strategy paid off among slasher fans. Harry Warden might not be quite as well known as his mask-wearing contemporaries, but his mining attire is arguably more chilling. There is no romance in this movie, but there is gore… and lots of it!
6. Jakob’s Wife Explores the Good and Bad of Marriage
What happens when you take two horror icons and allow them to embrace their campy genre roots? You get Jakob’s Wife, a horror-comedy with substance. After transforming into a vampire, Anne (Barbara Crampton) begins to question her safe but stale 30-year marriage to the titular Jakob (Larry Fessenden). The movie doesn’t necessarily reinvent vampire lore but focuses on exploring the complexities of marriage and loss of identity instead. The love between Anne and Jakob is still there; it’s just messy, complicated, and clouded by societal constructs.
7. Scream 3 Spotlights the Franchise’s Favorite Couple
Should you jump into Scream 3 if you haven’t seen the other movies? Of course not. Recommending Scream 3 comes with more than a gentle recommendation of Scream and Scream 2. While watching those, you’re bound to fall in love with Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) and Dewey Riley (David Arquette), whose slow-building romance really gets its chance to shine in the third installment. Gale and Dewey are likable characters in their own right, but there’s just something extra special when they come together.
8. Audition Turns Romantic Dramas into Nightmares
Audition starts with widower Shigeharu Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi) using a phony audition to interview women for the very real role of his wife. He decides on Asami (Eihi Shiina), and from there, the movie evolves from bizarre romantic drama into something truly and utterly disturbing. It’s the last 20 odd-so minutes of this movie that will haunt you. However, the ride there is equally as important. Audition doesn’t hesitate to critique romantic dramas in the most brutal of ways, making it the perfect choice for an Anti-Valentine’s Day of sorts.
9. The Transfiguration Is a Gritty Vampire Story
At its core, The Transfiguration is a coming-of-age story about Milo (Eric Ruffin), a teen who believes he is a vampire, and the unexpected ally he finds in Sophie (Chloë Levine). More people need to watch this movie! From commentary on gang violence to the struggle of escaping a bad situation, The Transfiguration has something to say. It’s raw and tragic, making Let the Right One In almost seem like a rom-com by comparison. If you can manage the tears, this slow burn is well worth it.
10. May Is About Unrequited Love
May is one of the most unusual and unique Frankenstein-esque retellings. The atmosphere is unmatched (don’t let the dorky trailer narrator fool you), trading gothic landscapes for modern suburbia. Still, much like the iconic monster, Angela Bettis‘ titular social outcast never gets the love they crave. It’s a poetically tragic movie about bi-sexual identity and self-discovery. May might be the villain on paper, but she’s a character you never stop rooting.