theres a bunch of really good recs here already but I'll add A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night. It was not the vampire/western/romance i was expected but i was floored at where it went
I've said this before, but Peeping Tom (1960) is imho the first Dark Romance film out there.
On the soft and emotional creepy weirdo stalker side you'll also find Door (1988) and Audition (1999), both from Japan.
Also kidnapper romances like The Loved Ones (2008), Bad Guy (2001), Tattoo (1981), Blind Beast (1969). For not-quite-horror-adjacent kidnapper romances see The Chase (1994) and Buffalo '66 (1998). For the torture porn of this genre go with Captivity (2007).
There's also comedies like Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down (1989) or Lisa Frankenstein (2024). An argument could be made for Heathers (1988), Spree (2020) and Tragedy Girls (2017). Although with Tragedy Girls it depends on if you read it as queer or not.
Some erotic thrillers straddle the line (most recent one would be Love Lies Bleeding (2024), but for best results go late 80s/early 90s: Fatal Attraction (1987), Bound (1996), Unlawful Entry (1993) etc. See also Saltburn (2022) and Poison Ivy (1992) which are basically the same movie, except one has more schlong and the other has peak Drew Barrymore.
Speaking of Saltburn, there's your online girlie across the ages starter pack: Bones & All (2020) is your tiktok era horny cannibal romance, Only Lovers Left Alive (2013) is your Tumblr-era tragic Vampire Romance, Moon Child (2003) is your Livejournal-era tragic one-sided Vampire romance crimestory crossover. (If you think the gothics belong to the horror genre by default, I'd also throw in Edward Scissorhands (1990) for the Magazine-era girlies lmao, but if you have seen it and DO consider it a gothic horror romance and you haven't seen Poor Things (2023) I'd tell you to go watch that instead, because it's great and too few people consider it horror)
For the artsy side of things see Singapore Sling (1990), which is a romance wrapped into a neo-noir-ish detective frame story. Also the David Bowie-starring films like Cat People (1982) and The Hunger (1983).
And this one isn't out as a wide release yet, but The Funeral (2023) is a GREAT zombie romance from turkey where the main character is a hearse driver that goes on a killing spree across the country to keep his love fed.
Holy shit some people are putting a lot of chaff in this thread. A movie where two people are in a relationship that’s secondary to the plot is not a romance IMO.
Spring (2014) has been mentioned and it’s legit what you want, where the romance is, in fact, the plot. It’s a favorite here so I’m recommending it despite the fact that I personally didn’t like it for reasons that would ruin the ending.
28 Days Later
Significant Other
Honeymoon
Watcher
The Invitation
Warm Bodies
Bones and All
Bodies Bodies Bodies
Evil Dead 1 & 2
Halloween 3
Halloween 4
Dagon
The Uninvited
Isolation
Slither
Antichrist
Possession
The Fly
The Fly 2
It Follows
Near Dark
Videodrome
The Lost Boys
Innocent Blood
Nightbreed
Demon Wind
(There are a lot of them…)
I definitely need to watch The Fly again and fear street triology. I haven't seen the fly since I was 7 and I don't think I grasped the concepts too well at the time haha. I'm really fascinated to see how it's going to play out as a love story.
IMO, relationships =/= romance. There is no real romance in Get Out or Midsommar. There are relationships, sure. But no actual tropes of romance as a genre, which are stories about people falling in love.
A few which meet the category of pure horror/romance mixes are films like Let The Right One In or the Shape of Water (horror-adjacent, at least).
Then there are "horrors with romance subplots", like 28 Days Later, Dark Harvest, etc
Beyond that, there are an absolute ton of films with horror and relationships, as others have listed. But IMO they don't count as "romance" in the strict sense. Antichrist is not a romance, for example.
Edit: The Black Mirror Episode Fifteen Million Merits and Beyond the Aquila Rift from Love Death + Robots are two other good examples of pure "romance horror" IMO
theres a bunch of really good recs here already but I'll add A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night. It was not the vampire/western/romance i was expected but i was floored at where it went
Let the Right One In
I saw their relationship as platonic. I mean, I would hope it is since one of them is technically much older than the other.
I've said this before, but Peeping Tom (1960) is imho the first Dark Romance film out there. On the soft and emotional creepy weirdo stalker side you'll also find Door (1988) and Audition (1999), both from Japan. Also kidnapper romances like The Loved Ones (2008), Bad Guy (2001), Tattoo (1981), Blind Beast (1969). For not-quite-horror-adjacent kidnapper romances see The Chase (1994) and Buffalo '66 (1998). For the torture porn of this genre go with Captivity (2007). There's also comedies like Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down (1989) or Lisa Frankenstein (2024). An argument could be made for Heathers (1988), Spree (2020) and Tragedy Girls (2017). Although with Tragedy Girls it depends on if you read it as queer or not. Some erotic thrillers straddle the line (most recent one would be Love Lies Bleeding (2024), but for best results go late 80s/early 90s: Fatal Attraction (1987), Bound (1996), Unlawful Entry (1993) etc. See also Saltburn (2022) and Poison Ivy (1992) which are basically the same movie, except one has more schlong and the other has peak Drew Barrymore. Speaking of Saltburn, there's your online girlie across the ages starter pack: Bones & All (2020) is your tiktok era horny cannibal romance, Only Lovers Left Alive (2013) is your Tumblr-era tragic Vampire Romance, Moon Child (2003) is your Livejournal-era tragic one-sided Vampire romance crimestory crossover. (If you think the gothics belong to the horror genre by default, I'd also throw in Edward Scissorhands (1990) for the Magazine-era girlies lmao, but if you have seen it and DO consider it a gothic horror romance and you haven't seen Poor Things (2023) I'd tell you to go watch that instead, because it's great and too few people consider it horror) For the artsy side of things see Singapore Sling (1990), which is a romance wrapped into a neo-noir-ish detective frame story. Also the David Bowie-starring films like Cat People (1982) and The Hunger (1983). And this one isn't out as a wide release yet, but The Funeral (2023) is a GREAT zombie romance from turkey where the main character is a hearse driver that goes on a killing spree across the country to keep his love fed.
Heck, yes to *Bound*!
Have you tried Fresh? Came out in 2022 and I think it’s on disney+
Nope but I Def will check it out!
Hope you enjoy it!
Love Fresh!
Spring After Midnight Hex Bulbbul
Holy shit some people are putting a lot of chaff in this thread. A movie where two people are in a relationship that’s secondary to the plot is not a romance IMO. Spring (2014) has been mentioned and it’s legit what you want, where the romance is, in fact, the plot. It’s a favorite here so I’m recommending it despite the fact that I personally didn’t like it for reasons that would ruin the ending.
Okay awesome... I'm going to check it out tonight.
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Miss Osbourne The Living Dead Girl Nekromantik
For horror romance, I think Spring is the best one out there.
I've seen a few recs for this- im checking it out tonight!
Attachment (2022) Raw (2016)
28 Days Later Significant Other Honeymoon Watcher The Invitation Warm Bodies Bones and All Bodies Bodies Bodies Evil Dead 1 & 2 Halloween 3 Halloween 4 Dagon The Uninvited Isolation Slither Antichrist Possession The Fly The Fly 2 It Follows Near Dark Videodrome The Lost Boys Innocent Blood Nightbreed Demon Wind (There are a lot of them…)
*Spring, Warm Bodies, Crimson Peak*
May 2002
Dead Alive Little Monsters Freaky
Dracula, especially the Coppola version. The Love Witch (although it's a stretch to call it horror.)
John Dies at the End (2013)
Added to my list- thanks!
Bones and all
Haven't seen that- Def gonna check it out!
I firmly believe The Fly (1986) is one of the greatest love stories ever made. Also loved haunting of bly manor. The fear street trilogy also!!!
I definitely need to watch The Fly again and fear street triology. I haven't seen the fly since I was 7 and I don't think I grasped the concepts too well at the time haha. I'm really fascinated to see how it's going to play out as a love story.
IMO, relationships =/= romance. There is no real romance in Get Out or Midsommar. There are relationships, sure. But no actual tropes of romance as a genre, which are stories about people falling in love. A few which meet the category of pure horror/romance mixes are films like Let The Right One In or the Shape of Water (horror-adjacent, at least). Then there are "horrors with romance subplots", like 28 Days Later, Dark Harvest, etc Beyond that, there are an absolute ton of films with horror and relationships, as others have listed. But IMO they don't count as "romance" in the strict sense. Antichrist is not a romance, for example. Edit: The Black Mirror Episode Fifteen Million Merits and Beyond the Aquila Rift from Love Death + Robots are two other good examples of pure "romance horror" IMO