5 Hidden Gems worth seeking out for October.
Vash (2023) Directed By: Krishnadev Yagnik – Easily the biggest Horror/Thriller discovery of the past year, but you have to find the right movie. There was more than one movie from India released in 2023 under the title Vash. The story was also remade as a more traditional Bollywood film called Shaitaan (Devil), which also stars the same actress as the daughter. Some people have heard of Vash Level 2 (2025), which made last year’s Letterboxd list of the 10 Best Horror movies. It’s about a family on vacation who encounters a mysterious man who gains mental control over their daughter. He needs the family to willingly give up the teenager to him or else he will unleash her to destroy the family. It combines ideas from Weapons, Obsession and Killing of a Sacred Deer, but isn’t directly taking from any of them. The framework is like a senior thesis for any aspiring Horror director. You could easily go weird or play up the discomfort, and this version’s content is very restrained, but it’s a claustrophobic, nail-biting Thriller.
Touch Me (2025) Directed By: Addison Heimann – Last year I recommended Heimann’s first feature, Hypochondriac, but this is even better. A daffy, sexy, colorful and weird film that speaks about that strange feeling we have that something may be missing from out life. That something may involve aliens and tentacles. It’s Hellraiser for the current generation.
Scare Campaign (2016) Directed By: Colin Cairnes, Cameron Cairnes – From the creators of Late Night With the Devil comes a scary, twisty, violent romp that would go nicely with Ready or Not.
Dollhouse (2025) Directed By: Shinobu Yaguchi – What looks like a Japanese Annabelle, ends up closer to The Ring. Some of this may have inspired Other Mommy. Pretty scary too.
Scare Campaign: The Making of the Patterson Project (2025) Directed By: Max Tzannes – Found Footage comedy that folds into a Widow’s Bay style Horror Comedy. The Horror is mostly bread crumbed until the very end, at which point it becomes like one of those V/H/S segments where everything descends into chaos.
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