Bored of the current barrage of bigger-is-better prequels, sequels, and remakes at cinemas?

Miss the days of Cinema Nouveau, when art-house movies were actually available in South Africa?

Just in time for Halloween, Showmax is bringing you two incredible – and incredibly disturbing – films to get the adrenaline flowing.

Raw shocked audiences at Cannes in 2016, winning the FIPRESCI Critics Prize, and then became the talk of the Toronto Film Festival, where audiences reportedly walked out, threw up, and fainted.

Yeah, that got your attention.

The no-under-18 horror movie went on to win 16 more awards for 30-something French writer-director Julia Ducournau. It was the fourth highest-ranked foreign film, and the fifth highest-ranked first feature, in Indiewire’s Critics Poll last year.

Garance Marillier stars as Justine, a brilliant 16-year-old student starting out at veterinary school. Everyone in Justine’s family is a vet, and also a vegetarian.

After Justine is forced to eat raw meat for the first time as part of a first-year hazing routine, she starts to explore the pleasures of the flesh – in all its forms…

Brace yourself:

The New York Times described it as the story of “a scared teenager with the world’s worst eating disorder”; Screen Daily called it “a feminist take on body horror”; and Rolling Stone hailed it “a modern horror masterpiece… a clever feminist parable – and a contender for best horror movie for the decade”.

I’m calling it a film you’ll want to watch after you’ve finished your dinner.

Which brings us to the lighter side of death, A Ghost Story.

Days after wrapping the critically acclaimed Pete’s Dragon remake in the summer of 2016, writer-director David Lowery was already immersed in his next project—an independently produced, micro-budget ghost story set in his native Texas.

A Ghost Story reunites the stars of Lowery’s breakout feature, Ain’t Them Bodies Saints. Oscar winner Casey Affleck stars as a recently deceased man, who is now a ghost shrouded in a white sheet, while Oscar nominee Rooney Mara plays his grieving widow.

There’s no awkward pottery class in this one:

After premiering at Sundance, A Ghost Story won 11 international awards and was named one of the top 10 independent films last year by the National Board of Review in America.

Rolling Stone hailed it as “one of the most moving films of the year… Hypnotic and haunting…  You’ve never seen anything like it”, and Vanity Fair called it “strange and thrilling… like nothing you’ve ever seen.”

While it’s not a super scary film, it is haunting and will likely stay with you long after the credits roll.

The good news is that you can watch both of these films exclusively on Showmax. For just R99 a month, Showmax gives you access to a huge online catalogue of TV shows, movies, kids’ shows and documentaries.

There’s no contract, no ads and you can cancel anytime you want. It’s also FREE for existing DSTV users – just add it to your bouquet.

If you want to sample the site before committing, you can also sign up for their FREE 14-day trial.

You have nothing to lose, except sleep after getting your horror binge on.