Halloween is a time to explore what might, despite appearances, be the most political of genres – horror. Operating on various levels, horror films tap into our fears and – unlike the real-world horrors unfolding across our social media feeds and on news websites – provide a safe space with clear limitations and demarcations for exploring our hidden traumas and darkest taboos.
As one of the most effective and succinct forms of social commentary, the horror film evokes universal and timeless fears in contemporary settings. And in horror, everything is on the table – including politics. (This is an approach not advocated by American author Mark Twain, who exclaimed how one should “Never discuss politics or religion in polite company”. While one could accuse horror of many things, thankfully, polite is not one of them.)
Because horror is inherently political. Despite the apparently frivolous trappings of gore and fright, from its Gothic origins in 18th century literature right up to the cinema of today, it has always been a transgressive genre preoccupied with protest and subversion. While its gratuitous depictions of violence, particularly meted out to women, and invocation of reductive binaries between good and evil might suggest that it leans to the right of the political spectrum, horror is a decidedly liberal genre.
Conservative anomalies do, of course, exist – perhaps the most infamous being fan favourite The Exorcist (1973). Though presented in a liberal register, given the gore and apparent blasphemy, it is ultimately a film which punishes a single working mother for leaving her daughter alone. It takes not one, but two “fathers”, or priests, to save the day.
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Legend has it that the more transgressive, albeit more nihilistic Protestant response was found in The Omen, released three years later in 1976. In quite a loaded move, politics and demonolatry coalesce when the devil’s young spawn Damien is adopted by the US ambassador to Great Britain. After the ambassador is murdered, Damien is seen in the final scene at the graveside holding hands with the American president, and it has always been read that he will be adopted by him (let’s not give the real life version any ideas.) In Omen III: The Final Conflict (1981), Damien himself becomes ambassador.
Both proactive and provocative, horror attacks oppressive sociopolitical systems, destabilising the status quo and often exposing the fallacy of civilised society. It might fool viewers into thinking it is mere entertainment, but it is a political Trojan horse concealing all manner of subversive social messages. It entertains and terrifies audiences even as it provides them with uncomfortable insights into who, and more importantly, what we are.
Consider how the origin of the word “monster” is linked to the word “demonstrate” – in other words, the monster’s job in horror is to show or to reveal. The monster is typically cast as the harbinger of societal degeneration rather than its cause. This strikes to the core of tales such as Frankenstein and explains in part the current popularity of Monster: The Ed Gein Story on Netflix (2025).
Upsetting the apple cart was, according to the grandfather of zombies, George A Romero, the ultimate job of horror. Romero’s own groundbreaking Night of the Living Dead (1968) was transgressive in its own way, featuring Duane Jones, a black actor in the leading role – a rarity at the time. The exceptionally bleak ending, in which Jones’s character Ben is killed in a rather pyrrhic victory over the living dead, proved prophetic given the assassination of Martin Luther King jnr just months before the film’s release. Even today, it stands as a powerful critique of class, race, and disillusionment about the American dream. Romero’s flesh-eating ghouls which emerged towards the end of the 1960s heralded a new wave of horror. The genre’s condemnation of the televised horrors of the Vietnam War was unforgiving. From Last House on the Left (1972) to Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), films of the era pointed to something psychically broken within American culture.
From one generation to the next, horror continues to hold a mirror up to reveal the man within the monster, and the monster within the man.
Here are 10 of the best political horror films to watch this Halloween.
- The Purge franchise (2013-2021; directors Everardo Valerio Gout, Gerard McMurray, James DeMonaco) While perhaps not the most subversive in terms of its overt denouncement of American politics and exploration of regressive “might is right” values, it is a prophetic and haunting reminder of just how close we are at any time to total anarchy.
- The Hunt (2020; director Craig Zobel) In this human hunting game, liberals go on safari in an elaborate and deadly game of cat and mouse, killing conservative Republicans – while providing audiences with a pretty rambunctious critique of the hypocrisies and bias inherent in both sides of the political debate.
- Get Out (2017; director Jordan Peele) Considered one of the most powerful sociopolitical commentaries of recent years, Peele’s scathing look at race relations in the 21st century points to a country still grappling with deep-seated issues around racism and class.
- Addams Family Values (1993; director Barry Sonnenfeld) In a world in which diversity, eccentricity and difference is increasing othered, Sonnenfeld’s sequel is perhaps one of the most subtle yet biting critiques of traditional family values, white supremacy and historical revisionism. Of note is Wednesday’s particularly scorching condemnation of Thanksgiving as the dark, morally bankrupt colonial origins of the “holiday” is exposed. It remains a rare rebuke of one of America’s most cherished occasions.
- Society (1989; director Brian Yuzna) In this “eat the rich” body horror, the Beverly Hills one per cent is exposed as a cabal of flesh-eating sex-crazed monsters feasting on the bodies of the lower class.
- They Live (1988; director John Carpenter) Considered one of the most enduring and provocative anti-establishment commentaries within pop culture, Carpenter’s cult classic opens our eyes to the bombardment of subliminal messages forcing us to consume and procreate all in the service of a more powerful and nebulous overlord – capitalism.
- Dawn of the Dead (1978; director George A Romero) The unfettered capitalism and consumerism of Reaganomics and neoliberal economic policies comes under the spotlight, as zombies are seen as marauding hordes of mindless shoppers.
- The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974; director Tobe Hooper) Considered something of a paradigm of new wave horror in the 1970s, Hooper’s arid and morally desiccated masterpiece exposes the rot within middle America as marginalised working-class families are abandoned and left to fester.
- Last House on the Left (1972; director Wes Craven) Craven’s rape revenge directorial debut repackages the atrocities committed by Americans during the Vietnam War and provides audiences with a powerful commentary about the ferocity and monstrosity that lurks within us all.
- Häxan (1922; director Benjamin Christensen) This silent-era classic horror film covers themes like the damage of patriarchal oppression, religious zealotry and mental health as alternative and decidedly progressive explanations for witchcraft hysteria.
Dr Sarah Cleary is an academic specialising in horror, popular culture and censorship
