Hack House, Haunted Hospital, Divorce Demon

Horror spinster Lizzie Borden was America’s first slasher, hacking her dad and step-mom while the slept with an axe meant for chopping wood. (Who knew axes were multi-purpose?) While Jack The Ripper might very well be the world’s first serial slasher killer, plying his trade back in 1888 London, the legend of Lizzie Borden remains as popular and intriguing as it did when she turned her parents into red kindling back in 1892 in Fall River, Massachusetts. She was ultimately acquitted and ran out the clock until her passing in 1927 from pneumonia and not during a meal prepping accident while using a stainless steel Mezzaluna™ salad and vegetable chopper. And now, thanks to Spirit Halloween™, you can enter a contest for a chance to tour and have breakfast in the actual Lizzie Borden house. (The breakfast features sliced ham, hand-cut hash browns and freshly gashed fruit.) 

From Spirit Halloween’s™ Instagram™ contest post: “Follow the rules and enter for the chance to win the Ultimate Lizzie Borden House experience. Prize includes a guided house tour, a late-night ghost tour, complete with professional ghost-hunting gear, a private breakfast in the Borden family dining room, a ghost-hunting starter kit and a lesson for two at US Ghost Adventures Ghost-Hunting Course, a Lizzie Borden gift shop package, and winner’s choice of a Ghost Tour experience in Salem or a True Crime experience in Boston for two.”

So while we get in the spirit of Halloween and enter the Lizzie Borden contest by clicking this, here are a few out now/upcoming horror/sci-fi movies that may or may not slay you…

LATE CHECKOUT / Out now (DVD, Blu-ray)

“When a group of friends return to their hometown to rent a cabin for a weekend getaway, everything seems wonderful…until the sun sets. Little do they know a string of brutal killings are happening nearby and somewhere lurking in the darkness is a masked madman watching their every move. One thing is certain, some of these guests might not check out at all!”

The most cliched horror movie trope of all time and it STILL gets turned into movies. Many cite Friday the 13th Part II (1981) as ground zero for this template. I cite lazy filmmakers.

MYSTERY WRITERS / Release pending 2024 (VOD)

“Mystery Writers is inspired by true encounters at Taiwan’s most haunted building.”

I looked it up and it’s real — Taiwan’s most haunted building is the Xinglin Hospital, located in the ancient capital of Tainan. It officially shut down in 1994 due to bankruptcy…and ghosts.

INCUBUS: NEW BEGINNINGS /Release pending 2024 (VOD)

“A group of friends come together to support one of them in her divorce, but what starts as a weekend getaway turns into a fight for their souls.”

Isn’t that what happens normally in a divorce?

MALAM PENCABUT NYAWA / Release pending 2024 (VOD)

“A teenager can enter other people’s dreams. When he witnesses a dark spirit taking people’s lives in their dreams, he quickly realizes that it’s related to the mysterious deaths that are happening in the real world.”

The title translates as Night of the Life Taker. I liked it better, though, when it was called A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).