• Halloween

Halloween is far and away the greatest horror movie of all-time. John Carpenter beautifully directed this 1978 film in which we find a clinically-insane killer named Michael Myers returns to his hometown of Haddonfield after escaping from a mental hospital and he looks for his next victims. Overall Halloween combines everything a viewer wants out of a horror movie on Halloween, in that it has an iconic villain, great music, thrilling kills and is an absolutely terrifying thriller.

• The Thing

Next on the list is another John Carpenter film and this time it’s The Thing. This film is about a group of research scientists in Antarctica that begin to get brutally killed off. This movie beautifully blends horror with sci-fi elements and is Kurt Russell’s career-defining performance. The Thing is one of the greatest horror films of all-time and is jam-packed with action, horror and the greatest monster make-up of all-time.

• Alien

Alien was director Ridley Scott and star Sigourney Weaver’s break-out film and still is one of the most terrifying movies ever. The entire film takes place on a spaceship and sees this small crew get ravaged by an alien, which is now famously known as the xenomorph. Watching this movie today, the scares are dated, but it is filled with tension and will stay on your mind for weeks after.

• A Nightmare on Elm Street

A Nightmare on Elm Street suffers from the comical elements of its sequels, but people forget how good the original movie was. With a great premise, in the dreams of teenagers’ being invaded by a serial killer, and the most iconic horror movie character of all-time, Freddy Krueger, this film is packed with scares that will make you scared to fall asleep.

• The Exorcist

Like A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Exorcist suffers from the endless amounts of films that have parodied it since its original release. This film is regarded by many as the scariest film of all-time, and makes the viewer feel encapsulated by its atmosphere and extremely tense throughout the film until it hits its iconic climax and exorcism scene. The performances in this film are incredible and The Exorcist definitely deserves your time.

• Poltergeist

Poltergeist is an absolutely brilliant haunted house movie and is one of the only horror movies that is ok to watch with the whole family. This movie has incredibly compelling characters and a story that makes you want to see where this film is going. Poltergeist is a movie that is fun to watch on Halloween but will scare the crap out of you.

• Carrie

Carrie, outside out the brilliant The Shining, might be the greatest Stephen King adaptation. Carrie is about a teenager who is going through puberty and is bullied by her classmates and abused by her mother, and this boils in her to the point that she unleashes her anger on the people that have wronged her. Carrie is a film that will make you realize that you should never bully anybody.

• Scream

Scream is without a doubt, the greatest horror-comedy of all-time. The now iconic Ghostface killer has been killing people in the town of Woodsboro and all the victims have a connection to young Sidney Prescott, played by a magnificent Neve Campbell. Director Wes Craven, who also directed A Nightmare on Elm Street , makes fun of the classic horror tropes in this film and turns the genre on its head with clever killings and characters that you care about. Scream is the most fun movie that you could watch on Halloween.

• Texas Chainsaw Massacre

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a horror movie that demonstrates that no matter who you are, anybody is killable in a horror movie. The killer, Leatherface, kills a group of teenagers off with numerous weapons but obviously with a chainsaw. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre still remains terrifying now even though the movie came out over 40 years ago.

• The Omen

The Omen is one of the most iconic horror movies of all-time because of its main character, the child Damien. Damien is inherently the devil born on Earth and the film are about how his parents find out and deal with the fact that the child is this demon. The movie succeeds because of its reveals, acting and how tense it makes the viewer. The Omen is a classic horror film and you will remember this film for the rest of your life.