7 Of The Top Horror Masterpieces To Start October Right!

October is upon us, and it’s time to enjoy some of those favorite things about the witching season. Sweatshirt season, hot apple cider, the fall colors, and the hours of thrills, chills, and screams that will get your blood pumping on those cold fall nights. It’s the season of the witch, and it’s time to get the crap scared out of you and feel your heart beating through your chest.

Everybody has a different definition of scary. Some of the greats of all time were only scary for their time and didn’t hold up to the test of time. This year, let’s look at the ones that keep coming around — 10, 20, 30, or even 40 years later, and a few masterpieces from recent years.

The Cabin In The Woods

Five friends arrive at a cabin in the woods for a bit of vacation, and little do they know untold horrors are awaiting them. One after another, the five college friends are taken by ghoulish backwood zombies. The entire time there’s something far more sinister and bizarre at play. This one can be funny, shocking, and scary at times, somehow managing often to be all three simultaneously.

A Quiet Place

A family must live in a post-apocalyptic world but somehow manage to do it in silence. Hiding from mysterious monsters that will hunt you if they hear you, a man and woman try to protect their young as they move about looking for safety and survival. A Quiet Place is smart, clever, and elementally frightening as you imagine what you would do.

Witchboard

Exploring the mysteries of the Ouija board, a man's girlfriend becomes obsessed with a ghost she contacted using the ouija board. Reluctant old friends join forces to exercise the evil spirit and protect the woman they’ve both got feelings for, played by the late Tawny Kitaen. What the movie lacked in quality it makes up for in spirit, some great jump scares, and a feeling of unease for anyone that played with the not-so-magical Parker Bros boards.

House On Haunted Hill

The story of people all gathered for a night inside an old asylum where horrible, scary, and bizarre experiments occurred. Unbeknownst to the partygoers, the spirits of the dammed souls are still roaming through the House On Haunted Hill. The classic version is fun to watch and compare to the more modern remake and the effects in the modern version add to the suspense and the horror of this classic.

Halloween (1978)

Halloween brought us one of the pinnacle boogeymen of the 20th century, Michael Myers. It’s one of the classics of modern horror mostly because of its simplicity and its insinuated meanings. What is Michael? Why can’t he die? A purely evil being starts inside a little boy and rages for a generation. Stars Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Pleasence make this one that will be watched for many more years to come.

Jaws

When a young woman is killed while skinny dipping the local sheriff (Roy Scheider) must team up with a marine biologist and a shark hunter to go find the giant beast that is terrifying the sleepy little New England tourist town.

“We’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

— Roy Scheider

A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)

We all know him, and we all love him. Freddy Kreuger is the iconic dream killer that attacks the dreams of his victims, killing them in a bizarre and gruesome fashion. Some incredible scenes of horror have come from the Elm Street movies, even if they went off the rail sometime around the fourth installment. The movies starred many up-and-comers in Hollywood, all anxious to get their throat slit, their guts torn out, their entrails played with, and a never-ending case of insomnia.

What Makes A Great Horror Movie

What makes a great horror movie? October is the season of the witch, but horror is fun all year round. So, what makes a great horror movie should include it being something we can't go without the other eleven months of the year.

The greatest horror movies tap into our humanity, our fears, and our preconceived notions. There are horror movies that have been going strong for more than four decades, and ones that people have forgotten. The Exorcist movies still speak to people because of their religion, their belief in god, and their desire not to go to hell.

Any alien horror movie, like the Alien movies, starring Sigourney Weaver, plays on the fears of what’s out there. As humans, we have fears. Sometimes our fears are irrational. Sometimes, as we’ve all become aware, they’re very rational.

Whatever it is that people might be afraid of, whether it’s the boogeyman, the dark, the unknown, or the ghastly, there’s a film out there with your name on it so enjoy this October, catch a creature feature, and watch your heads.