With Halloween just around the corner, movie watchers all over Canada will be watching horror films to get them in the holiday spirit. It is often hard to find just the right horror film to watch, and can also be a hassle to get ahold of the perfect horror film. This October, horror magazine Rue Morgue is partnering with Netflix to bring a wide array of horror flicks into your home. Whether you’re into the classics, or the more modern chillers, there will be something for you on Netflix. We spoke to Rue Morgue’s Editor-In-Chief Dave Alexander, about the partnership, the genre itself, and why some of the best new horror films are slipping under the radar.

“I love Netflix, and I love that there’s all these cool horror titles on there that are kind of under the radar that a lot of people have an opportunity to see on Netflix” Explains Alexander. “The Loved Ones is a perfect example of that. It’s one of my favourite unappreciated gems. It was just dumped to DVD in North America after playing festivals and sitting around for a while.”

“I wanted to make sure we had some foreign stuff, some classic stuff, a little bit of Canadian stuff and things that were on TV, things that were older and all that” said Alexander explaining his selection process for the films.

Inquiring about which of the available films he would most highly recommend, Alexander tells me, “The ones that may need a little more love or deserve a little more. Would You Rather is another perfect example. It’s one of Jeffery Combs’ best performances. It just sort of exemplifies like, ‘here’s a really great idea that’s well executed with an interesting cast’. It’s nothing like you’ve ever seen before.”

“Horror in general speaks to us so closely because fear is perhaps our biggest motivating factor as human beings. To stay alive, there are all sorts of things we need to fear and avoid.” Alexander says, explaining why the genre has stayed so popular over the years. Though he feels that this can be used in a variety of ways. “The ability to exploit that can be very easy on sort of a basic level, like jump-scares or monsters, and it can get really complex in terms of psychological fears, fears of abandonment, fears of your child turning against you, like The Omen for example.”

So if great horror films are still being made today, why do the ones we see popping into theatres usually suck? Alexander says, “It’s very industry driven and movies are made for profit. When something becomes popular, everyone emulates it. They do sequels or adaptations of things that are already popular so often we’ll get films that are so heavily targeted to a teen audience that will spend money and go see it because it is a very important social exercise for them. A lot of horror fans are not interested in how illogical and stupid some of the films are. Horror fans want a little bit more, but those films often don’t get the major studio support or the push, but are often able to find a cult audience on DVD or Netflix.”

Some other horror titles available on Netflix for the Halloween season include: Child’s Play, The Fly, Pan’s Labyrinth, The Walking Dead, The Reef, and Young Frankenstein. So sit down, dim the lights, and treat yourself to a good scare.