Hallowe’en is approaching. My personal favourite among the winter festivals as it combines several of my favourite activities eating, dressing up in ridiculous costumes and watching scary movies. Doing all three at once is positively encouraged. However, whether your taste in films runs to classic monster movies or more recent stalk and slash efforts, television tends to provide us with the same tired old fodder we’ve all seen too many times. So here are five of the best alternative horror movies for Hallowe’en viewing and as a bonus none of them are in English or Japanese.

The Host (Gwoemul)

For those who like their horror of the Asian variety but have seen a few too many un-dead wraith girls with long lank hair lately, give this Korean monster movie a try. Part monster movie, part political satire (with a side of family drama) The Host manages to combine all the best elements of classic monster movies with some fabulous special effects courtesy of those talented folks at Weta Workshop.

Oh and the most courageous character in the entire film is a fourteen-year-old girl.

Eyes Without A Face (Les Yeux Sans Visage)

A French cult horror film, it is on the surface a mad scientist film, featuring as it does the obsessive Dr Génessier on a quest to repair his daughter’s mutilated face. His attempts to conduct a successful face transplant leave a trail of corpses behind him. The tension remains high throughout, with some scenes that could have escaped from a Hitchcock thriller. However, it’s the character of Christiane his daughter, a strange mixture of princess-in-the-tower and Frankenstein’s monster, that makes this film truly interesting, becoming arguably the earliest example of the ‘final girl’ horror trope.

Switchblade Romance (Haute Tension)

Fair warning though, the INXS song ‘Never Tear Us Apart’ may never be quite the same.

Dead Snow (Død Snø)

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What are your favorite horror films?