When Love Goes Wrong: 5 Horror Movies To Watch For Valentine’s Day

It’s a bit odd to think of a Halloween movie as romantic in any context. John Carpenter’s 1978 slasher is broadly considered one of the scariest, most influential mainstream horror films ever made. But director David Gordon Green didn’t do the obvious thing with 2022’s Halloween Ends, hinging the whole thing on a troubled young man named Corey (Rohan Campbell) who ends up becoming the unsuspecting protege of an aging, down-on-his-luck Michael Myers. Oh, also, there’s a love story with Allyson (Andi Matichak), aka Laurie Strode’s granddaughter. 

Save for the first scene in the film, which is pretty fucking wild, there is actually a nice love story that emerges between Allyson, who sees something in Corey that nobody else can see. It’s a bit of a redemptive look at love, before everything goes south and Corey becomes a cold-blooded killer. Love hurts, as the saying goes, and this is a truly painful look at love, in addition to being a sequel that is sure to be reassessed in the coming years/decades. Perhaps now is the right time to revisit it with fresh eyes. 

Guillermo del Toro isn’t just a master of genre filmmaking; he’s one of our modern masters regardless of the genre. While everyone has their favorites, del Toro truly outdid himself with 201’s “The Shape of Water,” an unlikely romance film starring Sally Hawkins as a deaf woman who falls in love with a fish man played by Doug Jones. It a rightfully acclaimed modern masterpiece would eventually go on to win Best Picture at the Oscars. It’s also the perfect love story for those with unconventional tastes. 

Aside from the fact that del Toro managed to make you totally buy the romance between these two, which is in itself a remarkable accomplishment, the performances contained within are nothing shy of breathtaking. Hawkins as Elisa manages to convey that sense of aloneness that a deaf woman in her position might truly feel. Jones, through god knows how many pounds of prosthetics, conveys a shocking level of humanity. It’s a brilliant film that makes one believe love is possible, no matter what. 

What’s more romantic than dolls possessed with the spirit of serial killers? The original Child’s Play trilogy doesn’t feature a lot of romance, admittedly, but once original writer Don Mancini took over the director’s chair for 1998’s Bride of Chucky, that all changed. More over the top, leaning more into the humor and, most importantly, introducing us to Jennifer Tilly’s Tiffany Valentine, this movie was a true turning point for the franchise. It also introduces a love interest for Chucky, in a bit of an unusual move for mainstream slasher villains. 

Yes, there is a human love story at play here between Jade (Katherine Heigl) and Jesse (Nick Stabile), but they are there to get caught up in Chucky and Tiffany’s web. Tiffany starts out the movie as human before Chucky ends up trapping her soul in a doll as well. It’s totally fucked up, yes, but it’s also exactly what a love story should be for a guy like Charles Lee Ray. For a great many horror fans, this precisely the right balance between romance and bloodshed for a day meant to celebrate love. Tiffany summed it up best when she said, “I'll kill anybody, but I'll only sleep with someone I love.”

Director John Landis delivered an all-timer of a monster movie in 1981 with An American Werewolf in London. It’s also an oddly great movie about love – and multiple kinds of love at that. There is, of course, the romance that blossoms between David (David Naughton) and his nurse Alex (Jenny Agutter) after his “accident” with an unidentified animal in the dead of night. But there’s also the very real bromance between David and his dearly departed best friend Jack (Griffin Dunne), which is at the heart of the film. Jack helps David reckon with what he’s become and what he must do to prevent further harm to anyone else. 

Long before the term bromance even really took hold, what exists between David and Jack is truly special, depicted in truly unique fashion. As far as romantic love goes? Seeing Alex look over David in the movie’s closing moments is one of those “pictures worth a thousand words” moments for the ages. This is one of those movies that is as good (if not better) than anyone’s memory. In my mind, any excuse to revisit a movie this good is worth taking. Valentine’s Day and wanting something a bit unconventional to get into the spirit of the season is as good of a reason as any. 

Of any movie on this list, none of them come close in terms of being underseen than 2020’s Spontaneous. Directed by Brian Duffield, of No One Will Save You fame, this hidden gem kind of got buried during the pandemic but, for those who have seen it, it’s become a cherished entry in the romantic horror canon. It’s equal parts remarkably touching and terribly brutal, all with a side of funny. It’s a tough balance to strike, but Duffield does so expertly. 

The movie centers on students at a seemingly normal high school who begin inexplicably and quite literally exploding. Mara (Katherine Langford) and Dylan (Charlie Plummer) are struggling to reckon with their new world where each moment could be their last. An unexpected romance blossoms between them amidst the bloody chaos. Because I imagine quite a few of you dear readers may not have seen this one, I’ll spare the gory details. 

What I can say is that this might be the best example of pure love on this entire list. It’s inspiring, sweet, tear-jerking, heartbreaking and beautiful. It deserves better than it got during its initial release but using Valentine’s Day as an excuse to discover a hidden gem feels appropriate. Go forth and stream.