Three days until Halloween means last-minute suspense/thriller watching

That’s right, Halloween is almost here. This year we’ve been able to obtain an interview with one of the best horror writers around. Who will it be? Check back here on Halloween for a special borg.com interview.

For many, this week means tracking down spooky shows on Netflix, cable, or in the theaters. Back in 2011 the four borg.com writers posted each of their top favorite Halloween flicks. Since 2011 new films that fit the genre continue to be made, like The Woman in Black reviewed here last year, but there was also a few to skip, like Johnny Depp in Dark Shadows and John Cusack in The Raven. This year we were impressed by the totally fun and totally watchable Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter, and the over-the-top but fun Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters. There are plenty of opportunities to get your fix of dark, spooky, creepy, or just plain scary movies.

One film available on Netflix we haven’t reviewed yet here at borg.com is 2009’s Orphan, which should appeal to fans of The Others and Skeleton Key. Orphan stars Bates Motel’s Vera Farmiga and Skeleton Key’s Peter Sarsgaard as a couple adopting a third child into their family, played by the brilliant young actress Isabelle Furhman. It also features Warehouse 13’s CCH Pounder and Genelle Williams–both as nuns. Orphan is excellently creepy and an all-around good thriller worth checking out. And speaking of Vera Farmiga, if you haven’t been watching Bates Motel, you should. It’s a great creepy spin-off of Hitchcock’s Psycho, and Season 1 is available now on DVD and Blu-ray from Amazon.com.

Here is the link to our Halloween movie series from 2011 where you can view all of our recommendations. Some of the staples of Halloween horror did not make our lists, like Friday the 13th, Halloween, Saw, Scream, The Omen, Rosemary’s Baby, Poltergeist, Nightmare on Elm Street, or Amityville Horror. Jaws got our joint highest ranking, making three of our lists, and The Shining, The Exorcist, The Exorcist 3, Watcher in the Woods, The Ring, and Paranormal Activity seem to rise above the rest, showing up on two lists. Seaside locales were the favorite location for scares, with Jaws, Rebecca, The Birds, The Ring, The Fog (both the original and remake) all taking place there, and creepy little girls are the favorite subject of–count ‘em–NINE of our haunts (The Ring, The Exorcist, Let Me In, Paranormal Activity 3, Watcher in the Woods, The Sixth Sense, The Shining, Turn of the Screw, and The Others). And we can now add Orphan and The Woman in Black to that creepy assembly. (We Are What We Are was due out this year–another creepy little girl story, but it’s only been released in the UK so far). For us the supernatural won out over monsters, saws and axes. Four movies were by John Carpenter, three by Alfred Hitchcock. The oldest movie was Rebecca from 1940, the newest came out in 2011, Paranormal Activity 3. And look, we’ve got another one of those available now, too.