The best horror movies to watch this Valentine's Day
- Jonathan
- 1 day ago
- 7 min read
An unranked list of horror movies to celebrate February 14th with.
This weekend is Valentine’s Day—a holiday we’ve come to associate with roses, candy hearts, and mass-produced greeting cards. A holiday in which the floral shops are busy and the dinner reservation slots become fewer every year.
With a marketable holiday centralized around love, we may not expect the holiday has some rather interesting origins that don’t quite align with stuffed teddy bears and chocolate. For example, the earliest celebration that took place during the Ides of February was Lupercalia in Ancient Rome. It was a Mediterranean festival in which priests would sacrifice goats and dogs to fertility gods before two of them would fashion the hides of the sacrificed animals into whips. They would then run down the streets, whipping every woman they passed, believing the hide’s whip could make a woman fertile.
While contemporary Valentine’s Day celebrations are a far cry from holy beatings, it can’t be denied that the origins of the holiday are horrific. As such, it’s fitting to share a list of the best horror movies to watch in celebration of it.
Whether you’re curling up on the couch with your partner or having a solo night in with some discounted candy, here is an unranked list of the best horror movies to watch on Valentine’s Day.
This article contains spoilers for the films listed.
My Bloody Valentine (1981)
This one is not any surprise, but how could I not include this classic slasher on a Valentine's Day-themed horror movie list? The 1981 original is director George Mihalka’s most famous film and one of Canada’s most popular slashers.
It's set in Valentine Bluffs, a mining town preparing for a traditional Valentine’s dance that was cancelled years prior after a neglectful accident in the mines caused one worker named Harry Warden to cannibalize his fellow miners after they became trapped. One year later, Warden killed the two supervisors who were responsible, warning the town to never hold the dance again (the supervisors neglected a safety check to get to the dance on time). With the dance being reinstated, the killings start up again.
The film has some gruesome kills born during the fabulous era of practical effects; boiling heads, bodies in drying machines, pickaxed hearts in candy boxes. Some of these effects were so gruesome that Mihalka reportedly vomited after seeing them.
The premise, and revealed motivation of the killer, may be campy, but 80s horror prevailed because of its foundation in camp.
There were numerous attempts to produce a sequel to the film that never came to fruition. A 3D remake was released in 2009, which featured some excellent kills and cinematography, but suffered from a lazy script.
My Bloody Valentine is available to stream on Pluto TV.
Sinners (2025)
The 2025 vampire flick, with a record 16 Oscar nominations, is a great film to enjoy the holiday with. In addition to intense gore and effective pacing, the film utilizes multiple themes, including the lengths people go for those they love; family members, friends, romantic partners.
Set during the Jim Crowe era, a juke joint’s opening night is interrupted when an ancient music-loving Irish vampire lays siege to it and infects most of the patrons. Despite the premise sounding borderline grindhouse, the film is one of the most beautifully shot films I’ve ever watched and utilized excellent characterization in its 137-minute runtime.
The film carries some heavy yet subtly shown eroticism. This goes beyond the classic “sex before slaughter” rule that dominates many horror films. Rather than portraying gratuitous sex and nudity, the intimacy in Sinners is driven by extreme and almost desperate desire—keeping with the inherent eroticism of vampire lore. One aspect that sets it apart is how the the pleasure of female characters is emphasized, showing male characters eagerly performing cunnilingus and female characters acting dominant over their submissive male partners.
Sinners is available to stream on HBO Max.
Jack and Diane (2012)
This independent work is a queer romantic-horror starring Juno Temple and Riley Keough. Temple plays Diane, a teen from England who falls in love with Keough’s rebellious character Jack in New York City. The attraction and feelings Diane develops towards Jack manifests in her body transforming into a creature (described as a werewolf in some sources).
While the story—and the depth of their romance—is admittedly hokey, and the writing is far from superior, there are some good metaphors that were either overtly intended or seeped from the mind of writer and director Bradley Rust Gray. Many of us can recall our teen years and how much we were willing to change ourselves in the name of “love.” Unfortunately the metaphors are about that deep.
While the quality may be somewhat bland, the film is a 2012 horror movie featuring lesbian main characters. While that year had progression in LGBTQ rights, it was not quite the same climate as today. At the time, many major studios would not even finance the film because it was a queer love story.
As contrasting as it sounds, many of the reasons it doesn’t get a lot of love are the reasons to put it on this Valentine’s Day. I think a lot of people forget that horror stands on a strong foundation of, well, bad films. Many of the horror films of the 80s were lackluster sequels of popular franchises. For better or worse, they helped the genre stand until it became what it is today. Sometimes the best way to enjoy a movie like that is to put them on with your partner and share some guilty smiles or laughs at the screen over a bottle of wine. While not part of a franchise, Jack and Diane is just that film.
Jack and Diane is available to stream on Pluto TV.
Companion (2025)
It goes without saying that 2025 was an excellent year for horror, which is why Companion made this list.
Written and directed by Drew Hancock and produced by Zach Cregger (who was originally going to direct), this dystopian sci-fi is about a humanoid companion robot named Iris, played by Sophie Thatcher, who kills a rich predator while on a getaway in the woods with her “renter” boyfriend Josh (Jack Quaid) and his friends.
Companion goes well beyond any “self aware machine” trope and does a fine job symbolizing control and manipulation in relationships, commenting on the male desire for a devoted and submissive partner whose literal existence is based on their companionship. But Iris is not portrayed as a mere victim, at least not for long, and her retaliation after gaining more than just self awareness makes for a vengeful reclamation of her life that is downright fun despite the heavy subject matter.
The fun in Companion is without parody or dismissal of the serious, which is one of its most impressive aspects. Its combination of dystopic (yet contained) qualities, humor, and relationship commentary makes for a great horror movie to watch on Valentine’s Day, either on your own or with your partner (or companion).
Companion is available to stream on HBO Max.
Lisa Frankenstein (2024)
Was it perhaps inevitable that a romantic comedy should end up on a list of films to watch on Valentine’s Day?
Directed by Zelda Williams and written by Diablo Cody (who also wrote Jennifer’s Body, which only narrowly avoided being on this list), this 80s-set horror romcom follows the relationship that develops between reserved teenager Lisa (Kathryn Newton) and the reanimated corpse of a Victorian-era pianist played by Cole Sprouse.
This humorous take on monster romances takes a gothic horror plot and places it in the nostalgic decade of the 80s. Despite a somewhat morbid sense of humor (cutting off a young man’s penis and sewing it onto a corpse), the film is full of laughs. Like Jack and Diane, it also has representations of real life tribulations that come with teen years, like grief and isolation. They manifest both literally and metaphorically.
It should also be noted for its killer soundtrack, featuring 80s new wave and goth rock that fits perfectly into a gothic horror set in that era. There is even a unique black-and-white sequence that references the classic French silent film A Trip to the Moon, while playing the song “Strange” by Galaxie 500.
It is currently available to rent or buy on Amazon Prime and Apple TV.
Honorable mention:
Valentine (2001)
I have conflicting feelings towards this film. It is a prime example of late 90s and early 2000s slashers. Directed by Jamie Blanks, who also directed Urban Legend, it contains decent kills and an all-star relevant cast that includes Denise Richards and Kathrine Heigl. Unfortunately, the plot of the film is like a toxic fantasy.
The opening takes place at a middle school Valentine’s Day dance in the 80s (yes, I know that decade seems to influence this list) where most of the students are wearing cherub masks. Frail young Jeremy’s invitation to dance is rudely rejected by multiple girls. Dorothy, the last girl he asks, accepts his invite and they proceed to kiss under the bleachers until they are seen by a group of bullies. To avoid embarrassment, she claims that Jeremy assaulted her. The bullies then pour punch over him, rip his clothes off, and beat him on the dance floor. Jeremy later grows up and goes after each of the women who rejected him at the dance, killing them while wearing the same cherub mask worn at the dance.
While Jeremy’s background as being bullied and falsely accused may be sympathetic, his motivation is not. This is exacerbated by the film giving no indication that he targeted the bullies who actually beat and humiliated him. His rage seems to be directed only at the teenage girls who had the audacity to tell him "no". Their rejections may be cold, but they do not justify murder. Indeed, slashers have historically held a certain degree of misogyny, and we tend to glamorize iconic villains like Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees, but this villain’s conscious desire to kill innocent women simply for not dancing with him in middle school is hard to overlook, especially when greater offenses took place.
Also, while I try not to judge a film by its fanbase, I urge caution when reading the comment sections on internet forums regarding this film.
However, I do see the appeal to slasher fans. There is an early chase scene in a morgue that still sticks with me.
Valentine is available to stream on Tubi.
I’m sure there will be agreements and disagreements over the entries on this list. But just as we celebrate Valentine’s Day as we see fit, we can also watch whatever we’d like.
Whether you’re watching sexy vampires, crazed miners in gas masks, sub-turned-dom robots, Victorian zombies, or lycan-esque lesbians, you can enjoy the holiday with either the peace and quiet of yourself, or in the company of someone else. But please do not don a cherub mask and go haywire if they don’t feel like it.