A wise lady once said: “Frickin bats, I love Halloween,” and I would have to agree. One of the main reasons for this is that during the fall season, horror movies are everywhere. Now I wouldn’t call myself a horror film expert or fanatic, but I’ve seen a good amount and I love the genre. A great deal of the time horror films get written off as just cheap and lacking depth, but creating a truly great horror movie is one of the most difficult things a filmmaker can do. To show my appreciation for these movies and possibly give you some recommendations of what to watch during the spooky season–or even during the holiday season–here are my top five favorite horror movies. 

5.) Get Out

The most recent entry on my list, Get Out came out less than five years ago and has already taken its place as a classic horror film. Director Jordan Peele–who I already loved for his work with Keegan-Michael Key on Key and Peele–absolutely knocks it out of the park in his directorial debut. This film somehow juggles being horrifying, inquisitive, and gut-bustlingly hilarious and never loses its focus. If you want an expert mix of horror, social commentary, and comedy this Halloween season, Get Out is the movie for you.

4.) Scream

The first time I saw this movie, I liked it. But my most recent time watching it, I realized that I adore this movie. It practically spawned the self-aware horror genre and is one of the few films in that specific genre to be effective in its premise without becoming obnoxious. The director of the film, Wes Craven, was a horror legend and he’s at his best in this. All the performances–especially Matthew Lillard who is on another planet in this movie–are all great. The humor works, the scary scenes are scary, plus it’s got Henry Winkler. What more could you ask of a good Halloween flick? Quick side note, don’t watch Scream 2. It’s hot garbage.

3.) Halloween

Halloween is the quintessential Halloween movie. It is literally called Halloween. Likely the best pure film to come out of the whole slasher-film genre, Halloween is just a really well-put-together horror movie. Michael Myers is terrifying and a horror icon for a reason. The direction from John Carpenter is excellent, with there being multiple scenes I can recall legitimately giving me goosebumps. Don’t even get me started on the score–also made by Carpenter–which is probably the most iconic piece of Halloween music period. It’s a horror classic for a reason.

2.) The Thing

I’d say every film on my list thus far is relatively accessible, and then there’s The Thing. The second film in a row from director John Carpenter to make my list, The Thing is certainly not a film for anyone sensitive to gore or uber-realistic practical effects. But if you can manage to stomach the visuals from the film, I promise you it is an absolute masterpiece. One of the most anxiety-inducing films I’ve ever seen, you cannot trust a single character in the film and it is so good and so terrifying. Quite possibly my favorite pure horror movie of all time, The Thing is a must-watch for all fans of the horror genre. Furthermore, just look at Kurt Russell and his beard in this film. Need I say more?

1.) Ghostbusters

I mean, come on. It’s Ghostbusters. I could end the paragraph there and you’d be like “well, yeah. It’s Ghostbusters.” However I cherish this film, so I’ll talk about it. It’s certainly the least-scary and most-comedic movie on my list, but when Ghostbusters establishes what the problem is, it gets serious, and honestly a bit chilling. While the film as a whole is a comedy, the actual monsters and ghosts in the film are scary and provide the film with a semi-serious backbone. From this, humor at its finest emerges and gifts us one of the greatest films ever made. Now is it the film I would recommend if you want a movie that will keep you checking under your bed at night? No. But if you want a movie with perfect performances, comedy, writing, and a bit of that Halloween flavor of fright, you can never, ever go wrong with Ghostbusters, which is why it tops my list of the best movie to watch this Halloween season.