Valentine’s Day has come and gone and we are back to our dreary lives. Now, if you’re like me, you did not make any plans for Heart’s Day. That’s fine. Why not take your significant other out on the day after? Go simple. Chill out at home and put on a horror flick. Everyone knows the mentality behind the move. It gives you the perfect opportunity to put your arm around your date and prove your machismo. Not to mention the spike in adrenaline and blood flow.

Instead of going for the outright horrors, why not show your date you have a sensitive side as well? Here are 8 romantic movies that also happen to be scarier than an unexpected tax audit.

1. Let the Right One In

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Let the Right One In is a vampire film. Now before you lump it in with Twilight, please understand that this is a PROPER vampire film. This film has its fair share of disturbing and grim moments. Blood flows freely, but so does the love.

Take away the whole vampire angle and it is a coming of age film that tackles first love. It is a gorgeous film with emotional depth that people of every age should be able to relate to. There are hardly any contrived moments and you definitely won’t see any teen anguish or vampires shining and shimmering in the moonlight. Oskar and Eli > Edward and Bella.

2. Bram Stoker’s Dracula

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Another vampire film that doesn’t suck. Get it? Suck. So, this is a film that features a classic performance from Gary Oldman, decent jump scares, Keanu and his terrible English accent and Winona with her terrible English accent. The reason that this flick is on the list is because the overarching story is Dracula’s quest to recapture his great love whom he lost centuries ago. While his appearance is quite grotesque, and Oldman pushes his performance to the brink, at his very core, Dracula is a heartbroken sap just like the rest of us.

He quickly falls for Winona (as would any heterosexual male) who he thinks is his long lost love. Cue Usher’s “You Remind Me”.

3. Cloverfield

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Cloverfield is a unique take on the classic monster movie. Now, there is one common denominator in all monster movies: they are about the monsters. Cloverfield has a monster in it, yes, but it isn’t about the monster. The story that drives Cloverfield is the love between Rob and Beth.

Barry Gibbs posited the question: “How deep is your love?” Well, Rob fought off a monster from another galaxy. That one is a keeper, Beth.

4. The Fly

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Ever felt like your lover was changing? Ever felt that the person you are with is no longer the person you fell in love with back then? Well, at least he/she isn’t morphing into a HUMAN-SIZED FLY. If you can stick it out despite that fact, that’s amore.

Scientist Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) is on top of the world. He has just invented a teleportation device and he has fallen in love with a beautiful journalist (Geena Davis). Unfortunately for Seth, he is in a David Cronenberg film. Now, when Cronenberg does love stories, you get blood and gore instead of flowers and sunshine. A fly gets into the teleportation machine which in turn makes Seth morph into a giant insect. While that sounds like a straight up sci-fi, body horror, Cronenberg injects it with just the right amount of emotion to make you identify with Seth’s character. You feel the human beneath the distorted exterior. You feel the tender love between Seth and Veronica. You feel the urge to say, “He’s pretty FLY for a white guy”. I’m sorry.

5. Shaun of the Dead

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Unlike the genius scientist Seth Brundle, Shaun (Simon Pegg) is a 30-something loser who seems content to waste away his life working a dead end job, playing video games and getting drunk with his best friend (Nick Frost). Not exactly an eligible bachelor. Suffice to say, his girlfriend (Kate Ashfield) is growing ever so tired of the doldrum that is life with Shaun. Liz breaks up with Shaun sending him into a tailspin.

He wants her back. He wants to prove to her that he’s more than just a sales clerk.  What better way to prove your worth than to protect your beloved from a throng of zombies?

6. Audition

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Audition is the perfect example of a slow burn. The first half of the film plays out like an ordinary love story. It follows the life of Aoyama, a video producer and widower that is tired of being alone. At the behest of his best friend,Yoshikawa, he decides to hold an audition for his new love. As the audition process ensues, Aoyama comes across the file of Yamazaki Asami. He quickly becomes obsessed.

This is where Audition goes from a run of the mill romcom, to stomach turning horror. We quickly discover that Asami isn’t exactly the type you should bring to family reunions. All the tell tale signs are there: the crazy eyes, the murky past, moving garbage bags in her apartment.

7. Rec 3: Genesis

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Imagine this: It’s the day of your wedding. Everything is dandy. The guests are all there, the decorations are just right, the weather is perfect, you even have the best wedding video team. You’re walking down the aisle then a zombie starts chasing you. Bummer.

The vow “Till death do us part” is quickly tested in this Spanish horror. The newlyweds Clara and Koldo must find each other amidst the chaos and living dead. While there are some bad ass scenes involving chainsaws and swords, the best thing about this film is the romance.

8. Candyman

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Candyman contains all the essential elements of a good horror film: gore, blood, explicit language and LOVE. Every woman wants a man that shows up when she calls. Well, say his name five times in a mirror and Candyman shows up before you can turn the lights back on. And that is just what Helen Lyle (Virginia Madsen) does. Throwing her life into this terrifying nightmare.

Candyman was put to death for knocking up a wealthy white woman during the civil war.  Thus turning him into a spiteful being out for blood. On his quest for revenge, he falls madly in love with Helen. Candyman just works on multiple levels. It gave the horror genre an iconic figure and it was also a sophisticated and captivating story. The premise of the film would have been sugar coating (pun intended) for any other slasher flick, but this movie cuts deeper (pun intended).

Have you seen any of these movies? Tell us about it below!