30 Best Hidden Gem Horror Movies Perfect For Halloween

Shot as the standalone Horror Show and then awkwardly sold as the official third entry in the offbeat House series, this one was doomed by muddled branding and a rival horror film that helped it slip through the cracks over the years.

In House III: The Horror Show, Lance Henriksen plays a detective who corners an unhinged serial killer, played by a career-best Brion James. Once the murderer rides the electric chair, he comes back to torment our hero as a relentlessly vengeful spirit with supernatural powers to boot.

If that rings a bell, it’s because Wes Craven’s Shocker landed the very same year as House III and, with a near-identical hook, nabbed most of the attention. Look past the bad luck and you’ll find a bruiser of a B-movie. Director James Isaac (Jason X) delivers a confident feature debut, leaning into bold, colourful, suspense-driven visuals that neatly mirror Henriksen’s fraying grip on reality.

The real engine here is the pairing of House III's leads, two genre legends going head-to-head. Henriksen, cast against type as the straight-arrow hero cop - usually a dull archetype - brings a fierce, haunted edge, but this is Brion James’s show, as he attacks the role with gleeful menace, with his hulking frame and wild eyes making for a properly scary boogeyman. In a fairer universe, this could’ve kick-started his own Elm Street-esque franchise.