Hollywood has had a long-running love affair with horror movies. These are our favourite chillers to send shivers up your spine this Halloween
The Others (2001)
Director: Alejandro Amenábar; Stars: Nicole Kidman, Christopher Eccleston, Fionnula Flanagan, Eric Sykes
A woman named Grace retires with her two children to a mansion on Jersey, towards the end of the Second World War, where she's waiting for her husband to come back from battle. The children have a disease which means they cannot be touched by direct sunlight without being hurt in some way. They will live alone there with oppressive, strange and almost religious rules, until she needs to hire a group of servants for them. Their arrival will accidentally begin to break the rules with unexpected consequences.
Let The Right One In (2008)
Director: Tomas Alfredson; Stars: Kåre Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson, Per Ragnar
Oskar, a bullied 12-year old, dreams of revenge. He falls in love with Eli, a peculiar girl. She can't stand the sun or food and to come into a room she needs to be invited. Eli gives Oskar the strength to hit back but when he realizes that Eli needs to drink other people's blood to live he's faced with a choice. How much can love forgive? Set in the Stockholm suburb of Blackeberg in 1982.
Friday the 13th (1980)
Director: Sean S. Cunningham; Stars: Betsy Palmer, Adrienne King, Jeannine Taylor
One summer at Camp Crystal Lake, a group of young counsellors begin to get ready to lead campers. Unfortunately for the former, someone isn't happy about what's going on in the camp and enjoys playing kill the counsellor. As bodies fall to the ground in the camp, no one is safe.
The Addams Family (1991)
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld; Stars: Anjelica Huston, Raul Julia, Christopher Lloyd, Christina Ricci
The Addams step out of Charles Addams' cartoons. They live with all of the trappings of the macabre (including a detached hand for a servant) and are quite wealthy. Added to this mix is a crooked accountant and his loan shark and a plot to slip in the shark's son into the family as their long lost Uncle Fester. Can the false Fester find his way into the vault before he is discovered?
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Director: Henry Selick and Tim Burton; Stars: Danny Elfman, Chris Sarandon, Catherine O'Hara
Jack Skellington, the pumpkin king of Halloween Town, is bored with doing the same thing every year for Halloween. One day he stumbles into Christmas Town, and is so taken with the idea of Christmas that he tries to get the resident bats, ghouls, and goblins of Halloween Town to help him put on Christmas instead of Halloween -- but alas, they can't get it quite right.
Scream (1996)
Director: Wes Craven; Stars: Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Drew Barrymore
A year after her mother's death, Sydney Prescott (Neve Campbell), and her friends started experiencing some strange phone calls. They later learned the calls were coming from a crazed serial killer, in a white faced mask and a large black robe, looking for revenge. His phone calls usually consist of many questions, the main one being: What's your favourite scary movie? Along with many scary movie trivia, ending with bloody pieces of innocent lives scattered around the small town of Woodsboro.
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Director: Wes Craven; Stars: Heather Langenkamp, Johnny Depp, Robert Englund
On Elm Street, Nancy Thompson and a group of her friends (comprising Tina Gray, Rod Lane and Glen Lantz) are being tormented by a clawed killer in their dreams named Fred Krueger. Nancy must think quickly, as Fred tries to pick them off one by one. When he has you in your sleep, who is there to save you?
Poltergeist (1982)
Director: Tobe Hooper; Stars: JoBeth Williams, Heather O'Rourke, Craig T. Nelson
A young family are visited by ghosts in their home. At first the ghosts appear friendly, moving objects around the house to the amusement of everyone, then they turn nasty and start to terrorise the family before they "kidnap" the youngest daughter.
Halloween (1978)
Director: John Carpenter; Stars: Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tony Moran, Nancy Kyes
The year is 1963, the night: Halloween. Police are called to 43 Lampkin Lane only to discover that 15 year old Judith Myers has been stabbed to death, by her six year-old brother, Michael. After being institutionalized for 15 years, Myers breaks out on the night before Halloween. No one knows, nor wants to find out, what will happen on October 31st 1978 besides Myers' psychiatrist, Dr. Loomis. He knows Michael is coming back to Haddonfield, but by the time the town realizes it, it'll be too late for many people.
The Exorcist (1973)
Director: William Friedkin; Stars: Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Linda Blair
A visiting actress in Washington, D.C., notices dramatic and dangerous changes in the behaviour and physical make-up of her 12-year-old daughter. Meanwhile, a young priest at nearby Georgetown University begins to doubt his faith while dealing with his mother's terminal sickness. And, book-ending the story, a frail, elderly priest recognizes the necessity for a show-down with an old demonic enemy.
The Shining (1980)
Director: Stanley Kubrick; Stars: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd
Signing a contract, Jack Torrance, a normal writer and former teacher agrees to take care of a hotel which has a long, violent past that puts everyone in the hotel in a nervous situation. While Jack slowly gets more violent and angry of his life, his son, Danny, tries to use a special talent, the "Shining", to inform the people outside about whatever that is going on in the hotel.
Get Out (2017)
Director: Jordan Peele; Stars: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Bradley Whitford
Chris and his girlfriend Rose go upstate to visit her parents for the weekend. At first, Chris reads the family's overly accommodating behaviour as nervous attempts to deal with their daughter's interracial relationship, but as the weekend progresses, a series of increasingly disturbing discoveries lead him to a truth that he never could have imagined.
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Directors: Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez; Stars: Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, Joshua Leonard
Three film students travel to Maryland to make a student film about a local urban legend... The Blair Witch. The three went into the woods on a two day hike to find the Blair Witch, and never came back. One year later, the students film and video were found in the woods. The footage was compiled and made into a movie. The Blair Witch Project.
A Quiet Place (2018)
Director: John Krasinski; Stars: Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Millicent Simmonds
Two parents do what it takes to keep their children safe in a world full of creatures hunting every sound they can hear. Not a sound can be heard from the family hiding in silence, but all it takes is one noise and everything can go wrong.
Carrie (1976)
Director: Brian De Palma; Stars: Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, Amy Irving
It's nearing the end of the school year. High school senior Carrie White is a social outcast, largely due to being unwise to the ways of the world based on her upbringing. Her mother, Margaret White, is a religious fanatic, her extreme views primarily targeted against sex, which she believes is a sin. She even believes natural associated processes such as menstruation are a sin, about which she has refused to mention to Carrie. Mrs. White's beliefs were taken to that extreme largely because of her own failed marriage and her husband Ralph long ago having run off with another woman. The only adult authority figure who tries to help Carrie with her life is her phys ed teacher, Miss Collins, who is nonetheless warned not to get too close to go against how Mrs. White chooses to raise Carrie, Mrs. White whose beliefs are well known in the community. An impromptu event that happens among Carrie's phys ed classmates against her leads to her classmates being punished.
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Director: Tim Burton; Stars: Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder, Dianne Wiest
In a castle high on top of a hill lives an inventor's greatest creation - Edward, a near-complete person. The creator died before he could finish Edward's hands; instead, he is left with metal scissors for hands. Since then, he has lived alone, until a kind lady called Peg discovers him and welcomes him into her home. At first, everyone welcomes him into the community, but soon things begin to take a change for the worse.
The Ring (2002)
Director: Gore Verbinski; Stars: Naomi Watts, Martin Henderson, Brian Cox
Rachel Keller is a journalist investigating a videotape that may have killed four teenagers (including her niece). There is an urban legend about this tape: the viewer will die seven days after watching it. If the legend is correct, Rachel will have to run against time to save her son's and her own life.
The Sixth Sense (1999)
Director: M. Night Shyamalan; Stars: Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment, Toni Collette
Malcom Crowe (Bruce Willis) is a child psychologist who receives an award on the same night that he is visited by a very unhappy ex-patient. After this encounter, Crowe takes on the task of curing a young boy with the same ills as the ex-patient (Donnie Wahlberg). This boy "sees dead people". Crowe spends a lot of time with the boy much to the dismay of his wife (Olivia Williams). Cole's mom (Toni Collette) is at her wit's end with what to do about her son's increasing problems. Crowe is the boy's only hope.
Hereditary (2018)
Director: Ari Aster; Stars: Toni Collette, Milly Shapiro, Gabriel Byrne
When her mentally ill mother passes away, a woman named Annie (Toni Collette) and her husband (Gabriel Byrne), son (Alex Wolff) and daughter (Milly Shapiro) all mourn her loss. The family turn to different means to handle their grief, including Annie and her daughter both flirting with the supernatural. They each begin to have disturbing, otherworldly experiences linked to the sinister secrets and emotional trauma that have been passed through the generations of their family.
Rosemary's Baby (1968)
Director: Roman Polanski; Stars: Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon
Desirous of starting a family, the young Catholic housewife, Rosemary Woodhouse, and her struggling actor husband, Guy, move into the Bramford: New York's iconic building which brims with unpleasant stories of obscure dwellers and ghastly occurrences. Before long, the young couple is befriended by their somehow eccentric next-door neighbours, Roman and Minnie Castevet, and, shortly after, Rosemary gets pregnant. However, little by little--as the inexperienced mother becomes systematically cut off from her circle and friends--alarming hints of a sinister and well-planned conspiracy begin to emerge, enfolding Rosemary in a shroud of suspicion and mental agony. In the end, why is everyone so conveniently eager to help; furthermore, why is Guy allowing it?
What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
Directors: Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi; Stars: Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi, Cori Gonzalez-Macuer
Follow the lives of Viago (Taika Waititi), Deacon (Jonathan Brugh), and Vladislav (Jemaine Clement) - three flatmates who are just trying to get by and overcome life's obstacles-like being immortal vampires who must feast on human blood. Hundreds of years old, the vampires are finding that beyond sunlight catastrophes, hitting the main artery, and not being able to get a sense of their wardrobe without a reflection-modern society has them struggling with the mundane like paying rent, keeping up with the chore wheel, trying to get into nightclubs, and overcoming flatmate conflicts.
Dog Soldiers (2002)
Director: Neil Marshall; Stars: Sean Pertwee, Kevin McKidd, Emma Cleasby
A British Squad is sent on a training mission in the Highlands of Scotland against Special Operations squad. Ignoring the childish "campfire" stories heard about the area, they continue with their mission and come across the bloody remains of the Special Ops Squad, and a fierce howling is pitching the night sky... With two mortally wounded men, they make an escape, running into a zoologist by the name of Megan - who knows exactly what hunts them. What began as what they thought was a training mission turns into a battle for their lives against the most unlikely enemies they would have expected - werewolves.
Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)
Director: Francis Ford Coppola; Stars: Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, Anthony Hopkins
This version of Dracula is closely based on Bram Stoker's classic novel. Young barrister Jonathan Harker is assigned to a gloomy village in the mists of eastern Europe. He is captured and imprisoned by the undead vampire Dracula, who travels to London, inspired by a photograph of Harker's betrothed, Mina Murray. In Britain, Dracula begins a reign of seduction and terror, draining the life from Mina's closest friend, Lucy Westenra. Lucy's friends gather together to try to drive Dracula away.
Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Director: Tim Burton; Stars: Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci, Miranda Richardson
The curse of the headless horseman is the legacy of the small town of Sleepy Hollow. Spearheaded by the eager Constable Ichabod Crane and his new world ways into the quagmire of secrets and murder, secrets once laid to rest, best forgotten and now reawakened, and he too, holding a dark secret of a past once gone.
Fright Night (1985)
Director: Tom Holland; Stars: Roddy McDowell, Chris Sarandon, William Ragsdale, Amanda Bearse
For young Charley Brewster, nothing could be better than an old horror movie late at night. Two men move in next door, and for Charley with his horror movie experience, there can be no doubt that their strange behavior is explained by the fact that they are a vampire and his undead day guardian. The only one who can help him hunt them down is a washed-up actor, Peter Vincent, who hosts Charley's favorite TV show, Fright Night. Vincent doesn't really believe that vampires exist, but does it for the money.
What Lies Beneath (2000)
Director: Robert Zemeckis; Stars: Harrison Ford, Michelle Pfeiffer, Katharine Towne
Norman Spencer, a university research scientist, is growing more and more concerned
about his wife, Claire, a retired concert cellist who a year ago
was involved in a serious auto accident, and who has just sent off her daughter Caitlin (Norman's stepdaughter) to college. Now, Claire reports hearing voices and witnessing eerie occurrences in and
around their lakeside Vermont home, including seeing the face of a young woman reflected in water. An increasingly frightened Claire thinks the phenomena have something to do with the couple living next door, especially since the wife has disappeared without apparent explanation. At her husband's urging, Claire starts to see a therapist; she tells him she thinks the house is being haunted by a ghost. His advice? Try to make contact. Enlisting the help of her best friend, Jody, and a ouija board, Claire seeks to find out the truth of What Lies Beneath.
It (2017)
Director: Andy Muschietti; Stars: Bill Skarsgård, Jaeden Martell, Finn Wolfhard
In the Town of Derry, the local kids are disappearing one by one. In a place known as 'The Barrens', a group of seven kids are united by their horrifying and strange encounters with an evil clown and their determination to kill It.
Corpse Bride (2005)
Director: Tim Burton, Mike Johnson; Stars: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Emily Watson
Set back in the late 1800s in a Victorian village, a man and woman by the names of Victor Van Dort and Victoria Everglot are betrothed because the Everglots need the money or else they'll be living on the streets and the Van Dorts want to be high in society. But when things go wrong at the wedding rehearsal, Victor goes into the woods to practice his vows. Just as soon as he gets them right, he finds himself married to Emily, the corpse bride. While Victoria waits on the other side, there's a rich newcomer that may take Victor's place. So two brides, one groom, who will Victor pick?
An American Werewolf in London (1981)
Director: John Landis; Stars: David Naughton, Jenny Agutter, Joe Belcher
Two American college students are on a walking tour of Britain and are attacked by a werewolf. One is killed, the other is mauled. The werewolf is killed but reverts to its human form, and the local townspeople are unwilling to acknowledge its existence. The surviving student begins to have nightmares of hunting on four feet at first but then finds that his friend and other recent victims appear to him, demanding that he commit suicide to release them from their curse, being trapped between worlds because of their unnatural deaths.
Hellraiser (1987)
Director: Clive Barker; Stars: Andrew Robinson, Clare Higgins, Ashley Laurence
When Kirsty's father, Larry, and stepmother, Julia, move into Larry's childhood home, Kirsty and her boyfriend take a room nearby. Unfortunately for all involved, Larry's house is already occupied: before the family's arrival, Larry's disreputable brother, Frank, used a supernatural puzzle box to summon a gang of other-dimensional demon sadists. Now, Frank requires a series of blood sacrifices to escape the clutches of Pinhead and the cenobites.
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