Love lies bleeding: 15 horror movies that are perfect for Valentine's Day

Everyone celebrates Valentine’s Day in their own way, and sometimes that way can be hiding in their room and watching movies until all the roses and pink hearts pass. For horror fans, whether they’re coupled up or not, the holiday (like virtually every holiday) is an opportunity to delve into seasonally appropriate scary movies.

But Valentine’s Day horror is not just about slaughtering innocent lovers caught alone in cars. Valentine’s Day horror, and romantic horror in general, is a broad subgenre with lots of flavors to sample, giving you the chance to customize your V-Day viewing as much as you like. So, in honor of this year’s upcoming Valentine’s Day, here are 15 horror films, in alphabetical order, that are perfect for the holiday. Pop open a box of chocolates and enjoy. If you dare.

Bones And All (2022)

Part road movie, part horror film, all love story, Luca Guadagnino’s Bones And All, an adaptation of Camille DeAngelis’ celebrated novel, follows two outsiders, played by Taylor Russell and Timothée Chalamet, as they fall in love after learning they have the same craving for human flesh. What follows is a challenging, heartbreaking, and yes, romantic odyssey about two people contending with their monstrous side together, determined to love and be loved even as the world pushes back against their lives.

Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)

Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the horniest movie on this list by quite a margin, is Francis Ford Coppola’s vision of the world’s definitive vampire tale. The film is a classic for a lot of reasons, including its ability to rope in viewers who aren’t really there for all the horror stuff. The horror is there, to be sure, but even with the monsters and blood, the film is simply beautiful, from its stars to its costumes to its cinematography. It’s an absolute feast for the eyes, and it’s also the kind of movie that’ll make you hunger for something more than food.

Bride Of Chucky (1998)

How do you make one of the wildest, most entertaining horror franchises ever even wilder and more entertaining? Just add Jennifer Tilly, of course. Funny, fascinating, and anchored by the twin voice performances of Brad Dourif as Chucky and Tilly as his bride, Tiffany, Bride Of Chucky marks the beginning of a new era for everyone’s favorite killer doll. If you love what Chucky is now, it’s because of this camp classic horror-romance.

Crimson Peak (2015)

Guillermo del Toro’s unapologetically decadent love letter to all things Gothic Romance, Crimson Peak has everything you’d want from the genre. There’s a big spooky house, memorable ghosts, sexy stars like Tom Hiddleston and Jessica Chastain, and, of course, a sense of barely restrained passion threatening to burst out of the screen at any moment. If you want to watch a ghost story and you also want to fall into bed with someone later in the night, it’s an excellent choice.

The Fly (1986)

David Cronenberg has always been adept at weaving strange love stories into his body horror masterpieces, and The Fly is no different. After all, who hasn’t had a relationship where the other person slowly turned into a human/fly hybrid before our eyes, simultaneously disgusting and fascinating us? Cronenberg films are often concerned with romance interrupted by one partner going down a path the other can’t follow, and The Fly is both a great example of that and a great display of Jeff Goldblum at his absolute wildest.

Let The Right One In (2008)

All love is frightening in its own way, but young love, specifically first love, is a maelstrom of emotions that’s difficult to capture on film. With Let The Right One In, director Tomas Alfredson captures that strange feeling of early, uncertain attraction with sensitivity and skill, all while telling a tremendously compelling horror story about a vampire forever trapped in a young body, the boy she befriends, and the outside terrors they face.

Lisa Frankenstein (2024)

Do you love Jennifer’s Body? Do you sometimes wish that film was even more over-the-top in its incisive embrace of horror tropes? You’re in luck, because writer Diablo Cody has returned to teen girl horror with Lisa Frankenstein, and she’s once again delivered. The story of a teen girl (Kathryn Newton) who’s paired up with a resurrected corpse (Cole Sprouse) in the midst of peak 1980s fashion and high school drama, it’s funny, gruesome, and surprisingly romantic. If you want to go out for your horror this Valentine’s Day, consider this a date night hit.

Mandy (2018)

Named for the doomed wife (Andrea Riseborough) of a logger (Nicolas Cage) who goes after a sinister cult to avenge her death, Mandy is a dark, acid-dripped nightmare that’s all about the torrent of emotions that come with losing someone. It’s not exactly the sexiest film on this list, but if you want a story of undying devotion complete with chainsaw duels, jungle cats, Cheddar Goblins (just watch and see), and Nicolas Cage going absolutely bonkers, you need this movie.

Misery (1990)

Love comes in many forms, some of them toxic, but few onscreen relationships have ever been as thoroughly messed up as the one that develops between Kathy Bates and James Caan in Rob Reiner’s Misery. He’s an injured romance novelist trapped in a cabin in the dead of winter, she’s a nurse and psychopath who also happens to be his biggest fan. Together they make movie magic wrapped up in a very frightening, one-sided love affair, broken ankles and all.

My Bloody Valentine (1981)

Yes, watching My Bloody Valentine on Valentine’s Day is sort of obvious, but we wouldn’t keep doing it if the film hadn’t knocked its premise out of the park. The story of a Canadian mining town that’s home to a brutal local legend, and the Valentine’s Day party wrecked by said legend, it remains one of the best slasher films to emerge from the subgenre’s initial early 1980s boom. The kills remain absolutely brutal, and they’re relentlessly decorated in red and pink hearts for extra festive fun.

Pontypool (2008)

Sometimes Valentine’s Day can feel like you’re snowed in while a riot goes on all around you, pulling at you until you’re finally sucked in. If that sounds like your experience, then you’ll definitely want to watch Pontypool. Set in a small Canadian radio station during a strange outbreak on Valentine’s Day, it’s one of the best horror films released in the 2000s, and a fantastic use of a single location to conjure absolute terror.

Possession (1981)

Andrzej Zulawski’s Possession is, put simply, one of the most unsettling horror films you will ever watch. It’s also a kind of love story, albeit one that documents the dissolution and transformation of a marriage through horror concepts. That makes it both perfect to watch as a single person on Valentine’s Day and as a couple who wants to watch something challenging together. Be warned, though, the incredible Isabelle Adjani’s relentless, powerful performance will leave you stunned in both good and bad ways.

Spring (2014)

Long before they were tapped to helm Marvel shows like Moon Knight and Loki, writer/directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead established themselves as two of the best low-budget genre filmmakers in the game with a series of haunting, beautiful, and inventive horror films. Arguably the best of these, Spring follows a grieving man who travels to Europe to escape the horrors of home, and finds something altogether different hidden in the ancient stones of Italy’s cities. Elegant, gripping, and genuinely moving, Spring is a rare horror-romance hybrid that manages to deliver the goods in both genres.

The Strangers (2008)

The Strangers begins with a couple at odds. Liv Tyler’s Kristen has just rejected her boyfriend James’ (Scott Speedman) marriage proposal, and they’ve both come home to a secluded house laid out as though they were set to celebrate. That tension lays a strong foundation for writer/director Bryan Bertino’s debut, one that Bertino quickly builds on with an onslaught of creepy masks, slow-building home invasion, and eventual carnage. The Strangers is home invasion horror done right, yes, but it’s also a powerful story about the ways in which a couple is tested, and how far they’ll go to survive.

Valentine (2001)

Yes, we’re ending the list with another obvious choice, but Valentine is just plain fun. Released in the post-Scream slasher boom of the late ’90s and early 2000s, it follows a group of college students as they’re stalked by a killer in a Cupid mask, harboring what seems like an old romantic grudge. It’s no Scream, but it’s got a great cast, a great look for its killer, and loads of twisty slasher whodunit appeal. It’s the perfect film for jilted lovers and slasher addicts alike.