Five horror classics to watch or rewatch this Halloween

There's nothing to fear but fear itself. Art by Basil Allen.

A time-honored Halloween tradition is watching scary movies, especially with friends or family. Many horror movies are a dime a dozen, since they have relatively low budgets and high revenue, but a unique horror can prove extremely compelling and can stick in the mind like a knife to the back. Here are five such critically acclaimed movies to consider watching whether you’re experienced with the genre or not:

#5: The Exorcist

The oldest movie on this list—dated to 1973—and based on a book, “The Exorcist” caused panic among 1973 audiences with its mere sneak preview. The plot of this cult classic is centered on the demonic possession of a young girl and the crisis of faith suffered by a Jesuit psychiatrist. The effects and tropes are somewhat dated now, but with one of the most iconic theme songs of any horror movie, and a stunning poster to boot, “The Exorcist” makes an incredible impression despite its age. 

#4: 28 Days Later

One of Cillian Murphy’s breakout roles, “28 Days Later” is set apart from “The Exorcist” by the fact that it’s the newest movie on this list. From 2002, this British zombie film follows a man awoken from a coma “28 days” into the apocalypse, and it leads with a surreal sequence inside an entirely empty London. While the subversion of "humanity are the real monsters” has become its own tired and mocked trope, “28 Days Later” was one of its cinematic pioneers, and derives much of its thematic texture from comparing and contrasting human evil to mindless zombie savagery. 

#3: The Thing

The epitome of Soviet-era horror, “The Thing” features one of the best depictions of a shapeshifter and of Lovecraftian horror you can find on screen. What’s unique about “The Thing”’s characters is that almost every decision they make is understandable and, in fact, quite intelligent. The competent protagonists complement the inscrutable antagonist and make the struggle to defeat the titular Thing all the more terrifying.

#2: Alien

For its time, “Alien” looks jaw-droppingly believable with its sci-fi environments and its fully practical monsters. This dark sci-fi story has spawned the largest franchise of anything on this list, but nothing fully captures the original’s charm. The protagonists are essentially normal working-class people, used as pawns by a corporation attempting to retrieve something they want to control but can’t. 

#1: The Shining

If you enjoyed “Backrooms,” “The Shining”—based on the Stephen King book of the same name—is the 1980s ancestor of that sort of liminal horror. With a cinematic focus on large empty rooms and ominous hallways, and a thematic focus on the toll loneliness takes on an already damaged and violent mind, it acts as the predecessor of liminal horror themes. Jack Nicholson’s role goes far beyond an axe-swinging slasher, showing a man whose worst instincts are enabled by a seemingly innocuous hotel retreat. While the movie has a supernatural subplot with a psychic kid and masked ghosts, the mundane yet deranged human villain is by far the most memorable part of this movie.