10 terrifying classic horror films to watch on Halloween

This post-apocalyptic horror film breathed new life into the zombie genre. Well-received for its atmosphere and fast-moving zombies, this eerie unpredictable movie follows four individuals who navigate society as it crumbles after the accidental release of a highly contagious virus.

A pioneer of the found-footage technique that would go on to be featured in flicks like “Paranormal Activity” and “Cloverfield,” “The Blair Witch Project” is based on the purportedly true story of three student filmmakers who went missing after setting off in the woods to film a documentary on a local legend known as the Blair Witch. The film was marketed as being made up of footage which was found one year later. Watch this one with the lights off if you dare.

Even if you haven’t seen this horror classic about the encounter between a female embezzler on the run and the owner of a small motel, you know that iconic and terrifying shower scene. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock and shot in black-and-white by a television crew, this movie is not only a horror classic but considered by many a cinematic masterpiece.

“Get Out” is a film about a young African-American man’s experience meeting the family of his white girlfriend and the uncovering of their disturbing secret. Written and directed by Jordan Peele of “Key and Peele,” this 2017 film is a pitch-perfect foray into the horror genre that summons plenty of notable films in the genre including “Rosemary’s Baby.”

A genre-bending tour de force as much dark comedy and mystery as it is slasher, this Wes Craven-directed film is an infectious cult classic starring an iconic 90s cast including Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courteney Cox and Matthew Lillard.

This cerebral adaptation of Stephen King’s novel of the same name is a classic. Shrouded in Stanley Kubrick’s stylized direction, Jack Nicholson’s manic performance and a highly mythologized making-of history, this film still has the power to haunt viewers four decades later.

This supernatural horror film is about two paranormal investigators who assist a family in Rhode Island encountering disturbing events in their farmhouse. It is the first film in the Conjuring Universe franchise.

Based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, “It” is about seven children in Derry, Maine tormented by a shapeshifting evil that preys on the town’s youngsters every 27 years. An updated take on Tommy Lee Wallace’s 1990s miniseries, and the first proper film adaptation of the story.

This haunting classic probes the demonic haunting of a 12-year-old girl in Washington, DC and the intervention of her mother and two priests who hold an exorcism to excise the demon.

Well this one’s a no-brainer. This John Carpenter-directed slasher stars Jamie Lee Curtis in her debut role, as she is targeted by the horrifying Michael Myers, a mental patient who terrorizes his hometown after he escapes the sanitarium, where he was put 15 years earlier for murdering his teenage sister on Halloween night.