Friday The 13th: Scary Movies You Can Watch Tonight

Khauff

I would rate Khauff (April 2025) on Amazon Prime as probably the best supernatural series to come out of India in quite some time. Madhu moves into a women’s hostel in Delhi, but is met with extreme hostility from the other girls in the same wing, who never leave the confines of the hostel. Why don’t they ever move out, and what sort of evil is associated with the hostel, is something which unravels over the course of the series.

The story is brilliant, and there is suspense all throughout the series, right up to the last episode. Surprises are galore, and all the actors have done justice to their roles. Rajat Kapoor as Hakim, and his altered voice, is a role we never saw coming, and Monika Panwar as Madhu deserves an award. But again, everyone is solid in their roles — whether it is Geetanjali Kulkarni as Constable Ilu Mishra, Chum Darang as Svetlana — along with the other flatmates, especially the one who has a stuttering problem.

Monika strikes a particular pose during her eerie moments, which is both new and scary. The way dawa khanas and tantric doctors have been involved in the story is certainly something that should be explored in other projects too. One reason why the creator and writer must be congratulated is that — also, why this series is one of my current horror favourites — is because it gives us a supernatural story without using any moments of gore, which has become so unnecessarily common in both Bollywood and Hollywood movies, and that is something which should be taken into account by so many other directors going forward.

The level of planning can be depicted via a particular scene when an assaulter is killed by a group of women. There is nothing predictable about it. It’s not that you just take a danda and hit him on the head. It is how something like this would actually happen — how all of them get together, use the resources which are there in their surroundings, and try to overpower him — and it doesn’t look scripted at all. One trigger warning though — there are themes of sexual assault in the series, which are related to the script.

Fear Street: Prom Queen

Fear Street: Prom Queen (May 2025) on Netflix is based on the novel The Prom Queen (1992) from the Fear Street book series by R.L. Stine. Set in 1988, it’s about a killer who starts murdering all the prom queen candidates of Shadyside High on the night of their senior dance. What I liked about this movie was they’ve given it the Stranger Things treatment — whether it’s the timeline, music, or the neon lights. And just like in every ’80s movie, there is a ‘Wolf Pack’ — the mean girls from high school. The bullies are very in-your-face, and you have all the ’80s pop culture used effectively throughout — whether it is Johnny Depp posters on walls or Roxette’s hit song The Look. So if you’re looking at a fun slasher flick tonight, this is the one to watch.

What is Friday the 13th?

Friday the 13th is considered to be an unlucky day because of various reasons. The Last Supper, where Jesus and 12 disciples ate, is linked to this day because Judas, who betrayed Jesus, was the 13th guest. In Norse mythology, the number 13 is associated with Loki, the god of mischief, who is the 13th guest at a dinner, after which Balder, the god of light, dies. The Knights Templar, a powerful religious order, were arrested on Friday, October 13, 1307, by King Philip IV of France and were persecuted.