31 Days of Horror: The Meta-List of Many Horrors

Horror isn’t just a genre; it’s an amalgamation of pop culture, cozy traditions, and things that go bump in the night. This year, we're taking our 31 Days of Horror across the entire cultural spectrum. We’ll be taking a look at movies that scare us, games that kept us paranoid, scary books we cozy up with under blankets, music that sets that spooky tone and seasonal food we’re craving–or strange food you’d have to tie us up and force feed us. Whether you’re looking for something truly terrifying or a cozy autumn haunt, come back every day this month for a new bite-sized review or spooky adjacent list.

It’s been a hell of a spooky season. We’ve had a lot of fun bringing you a new horror feature every day. But it doesn’t have to end! Spooky can be a year-round thing.That’s why we compiled for you a list of some of our favorite horror movies, video games, and TV shows. This list couldn’t possibly be comprehensive, but we did try to curate for you a diverse list that looks at more than just horror genres. 

We realize these categories might be a bit vague or too specific–but part of the fun was finding movies that we loved that we could fit into this particular pattern. Next year we’ll have an entirely different set of categories, but you can use this list to have some scary fun on  through into the new year.

Slow Burn

Jacob's Ladder (1990)

A grieving Vietnam War veteran's grip on reality slowly unravels as he is plagued by horrifying hallucinations, forcing him to navigate a nightmarish descent akin to madness to uncover the truth. Director Adrian Lyne used low frame rates and actors physically shaking their heads to create the iconic, twitching, faceless figures that haunt Jacob–a visual aesthetic that is commonly used in horror to this day. - Antal Bokor

Let the Right One In (2008)

A frequently bullied boy in a freezing 1980s Swedish suburb forms an intimately deep, unsettling bond with his mysterious new neighbor who turns out to be a centuries-old vampire that chooses to look like a child to seem innocent. Unlike any other vampire movie I’ve seen at the time, it largely subverts traditional monster movie tropes with its quiet, atmospheric restraint over explicit carnage–and when there is carnage, it is largely out-of-focus, and framed in a way to seem heroic or convince the viewer that this ancient creature truly needs our help. A masterclass in genre subversion and slow burn horror. - Antal Bokor

Penumbra: Overture (2007)

After receiving a cryptic letter from his supposedly dead father, a physicist travels to the freezing wastelands of Greenland and becomes trapped in a decaying, abandoned subterranean mine system. While it has been criticized (rightly) for its combat, I always perceived it as clumsy and desperate–perfect for a horror game. You could consider this a rough draft for other seminal titles like Amnesia: The Dark Descent, but I think Frictional Games nailed the atmosphere and tension on their very first go. - Antal Bokor

The Devil’s Backbone - (2001)

I love Guillermo Del Toro’s twisted, beautiful mind, and The Devil’s Backbone pairs the horror of horrible people with impending doom and a truly creepy ghost story, and finishes it off with some delicious justice. – Marielle Bokor

The Sixth Sense - (1999)

The first time I watched this I was writing a college paper for my film class that was exploring Bruce Willis and changing gender roles in horror and action films. I had a lot of catching up to do there, but I loved the Sixth Sense for so many reasons. It really caught me with its story and delighted me with the twist, whether I’d already pondered the possibility or not.  - Marielle Bokor

Inside (2016)

I have to admit, I still don’t know what happened in Inside exactly. I guess it’s an ongoing internet mystery. Which makes it perfect for our slow burn category. You play as a boy as he navigates what appears to be a strange dystopia that uses lobotomized (mindless) people for some nefarious reasons.

Are you one of these controlled automaton people? Have you escaped to your freedom? None of these questions are answered, and instead you’re left with a big flesh ball at the end and loads more questions. It’s one of the most shocking, grotesque body-horror payoffs in gaming history, and it has a certain catharsis that makes it one of the most memorable I’ve ever played.  - Antal Bokor

Watcher -(2022) 

Nowadays slow burn horror is a bit hard to fins, especially with everyone’s attention span being reduced to a hair. But when a great slow burn horror emerges from the vast hordes of jumpscares and relentless gore, it’s like a breath of fresh frightening air. Watcher embraces that slow burn as it puts you in the shoes of a young woman in a new country where a serial killer just so happens to be prowling the streets.. Its methodical pace makes your skin crawl with ever passing gaslighting and makes your paranoia reach new heights until you just can’t take it and find yourself at one of the most satisfying endings in recent memory.  You can check out our longer look at Watcher here! - Julian Ramirez

Gory Gory Hallelujah

Zombi 2 (1979)

It’s not Romero, it’s so much gorier. Zombi 2 has the type of gore we’re accustomed to in the mainstream 47 years later but was shocking at the time. You’ll never look at sharks or eyeballs the same. - Aaron Cynic

Dead Alive (1992)

– There’s so many things that make this special, not the least of which is the priest shouting “I kick ass for the LORD!” but what really makes this Peter Jackson film shine is all the campy gore.

People get mowed, beheaded, and …well, some people have sworn off custard after this movie. I’ll leave it at that. – Marielle Bokor

Ready or Not, Ready or not 2: Here I come,(2019/2026) & Abigail (2024)

Nobody loves human bodies exploding more than Radio Silence, the team behind these three movies. Seriously and literally, there are so many humans getting blown up it might as well be the Fourth of July. If you are hankering for people being turned into goop, check these out.  - Julian Ramirez

Dead Space (2023)

Engineer Isaac Clarke boards the silent, derelict USG Ishimura only to discover its crew has been slaughtered and reanimated into grotesque, mutated monstrosities in this ground-up remake of the 2008 classic. While the original is a classic, this 2023 remake elevates the source material by adding an “intensity director” to make backtracking dangerous, and turns the USG Ishimura into one seamless interconnected ship.

While aiming for center mass works against traditional enemies, the reanimated dead need to be dismembered with whatever available tools—which turn out to be futuristic sci-fi engineering and mining equipment that does the job better than even traditional weaponry. - Antal Bokor

The Forest / Sons of the Forest (2018 / 2024)

Thrust into a brutal fight for survival after a crash landing on a remote, densely wooded peninsula, players must scavenge, build, and defend themselves against terrifyingly intelligent tribes of cannibalistic mutants. The first game introduced a story into a sandbox survival game—which wasn’t as common back then as it is now. While aspects of the games can be seen as janky, the enemies are truly terrifying.

Not because they’re relentless, but because they seem so real—the AI doesn’t just blindly attack, it stalks, observes, and even tests your perimeter defenses. They even mourn their dead, and are scared by effigies using their dead as building material. Next thing you know you’ll be collecting baskets of body parts for both defense and sustenance. And that’s not even mentioning the mutant monstrosities that start to appear the longer you play. 

Psycho Killer

American Psycho (2000)

Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) is the quintessential type A investment banker. He’s driven, charming at times, competitive, meticulous, misogynistic, narcissistic, and sociopathic.

He’s also a serial killer with an extremely high body count. Or maybe not. Or maybe he only killed some people. - Aaron Cynic

Candyman - (1992)

-It might not be fair to categorize Candyman this way, it fits for high body count. Set in our hometown here in Chicago, Candyman explores things like racism and classism at the same time it’s invoking urban legend and the way we scared ourselves as kids. Tony Todd is unforgettable as Candyman, and this is still one of my favorite movies. - Marielle Bokor

Child’s Play (1988)

When I was a kid, this came on cable at my grandparent’s house when we were in the den after a holiday meal. I remember reading the description and thinking “there’s no way a stupid doll killing people is gonna scare ME.”  Friends, I was so wrong, and I’ve feared evil dolls ever since... – Marielle Bokor

Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)

- You might think, this isn’t horror! And you’re a little right, because while it take place on Halloween it’s technically listed as a “black comedy” but when you really think about it, our cute little aunties in the film are legit serial killers. Sorry if that’s spoilers but a movie this good simply can’t be spoiled and also, it came out 82 years ago. - Marielle Bokor

Cabin Fever

Cube (1997), Cube 2: Hypercube (2002)

Seven strangers are trapped inside a labyrinth of rooms with no memory of how they arrived or knowledge of why they’re there. Many of the rooms are booby trapped, and navigating the cube requires puzzling through a mystery of numbers while dealing with both the traps and interpersonal tension and suspicions. - Aaron Cynic

Evil Dead - (1981)

True story: I was at a cabin in the woods in a huge thunderstorm the first time I saw the Evil Dead movies. Evil Dead is how I fell in love with horror, and I think it’s because it’s the perfect mix of absurd and scary with the perfect amount of campy gore on top.

I love Bruce Campbell, I love the lore around the films, I love how absolutely ridiculous the movies increasingly get and yeah, this is in my top 5. - Marielle Bokor

The Shining (1980)

As a writer, I always thought that Jack Torrance had a pretty sweet opportunity. Just, don’t kill your family and you’re all set. But the damn pesky ghosts that inhabit the Overlook Hotel won’t let Jack work, causing a supernatural sort of cabin fever that drives him to madness and the desire to kill his wife and telepathic son.

This is a legendary, foundational film by a legendary director whose extreme perfectionism was able to create a hotel that was physically impossible and visually striking—while also maintaining deep isolation and loneliness. Kubrick's pioneering use of the Steadicam as it glides behind telepathic Danny’s Big Wheel through the hotel's spatially impossible hallways will always be some of the most iconic horror put to celluloid. - Antal Bokor

Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)

Taking place in not so much a cabin in the woods as a rich kid’s parents house in the woods, Bodies Bodies Bodies is a wonderfully annoying look at rich twenty-somethings devolving into pettiness and bloody murder. After a lackluster start to a game of Bodies Bodies Bodies (think murder mystery theatre) turns real when one of the party members (Pete Davidson of all people) winds up with their throat actually split wide open.

What follows is kinda annoying, totally crummy people accusing each other of being the murderer. It's fun, annoying (seriously folks this movie is not for the faint of heart or gen z phobic) , and we get Lee Pace as an older burnout. - Julian Ramirez

Ghost in the Machine

SOMA (2015)

One of my absolute favorite horror experiences ever, it replaces gore and jump scares with deep, philosophical dread that will linger long after the credits roll. Grappling with the terrifying nature of consciousness duplication during the last days of humanity on a research station on the bottom of the ocean, it’s a perfect storm of dread and horror.

It not only asks what it means to be human, it shows us the direct results of consciousness being crammed into barely working machines that are now convinced they are living people. The agonizing implications of its ending still haunt me.  - Antal Bokor

Pulse / Kairo (2001)

A terrifyingly bleak, slow-burn apocalyptic nightmare that, while coming out of the early digital age, feels even more relevant today. Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa crafted this prophetic Japanese horror masterpiece about ghosts invading the world of the living through the dial-up internet.

Pulse captured the crushing loneliness of the digital age long before it was cool to do so. People are quietly disappearing, leaving only black stains on the walls and forbidden rooms hastily sealed with red tape. Rather than relying on cheap scares, Kurosawa builds a suffocating atmosphere where the true horror isn't the ghosts themselves, but the overwhelming realization that human connection is fading into nothingness. - Antal Bokor

System Shock 2 (1999)

This is the first game to truly scare me, and that was mostly thanks to the terrifyingly insane SHODAN. Awakening from cryo-sleep aboard the derelict starship Von Braun, you find the crew slaughtered by a parasitic hive mind known as The Many. As a precursor to BioShock, it shares more than a few story beats.

However, nothing in BioShock was ever as scary as SHODAN constantly taunting you, bolstered by the rest of the game's brilliant sound design—like the cybernetic midwives apologizing as they try to murder you. It creates an unparalleled atmosphere of deep-space isolation, body horror, and mystery as you unravel what happened. - Antal Bokor

The Ring (2002)

Imagine you were never allowed to see horror movies as a kid. Maybe you snuck one or two here and there, but that was me, and The Ring was the first horror movie I saw in a theater “legally.” Oh my God. There was something visceral about it and I related too hard to forbidden tapes and urban legends. The Ring scared the shit out of me and gave me the rush I’d been missing, and to this day I love it, Ringu and J-Horror.  – Marielle Bokor

Doki Doki Literature Club (2017)

I reviewed this as part of a  narrative game festival I covered, and I miraculously hadn’t heard about it before that. It hooked me in with its deep narrative, and pretty soon I couldn’t distinguish between  the game itself and real life anymore.

I stayed up too late playing this, and was beyond immersed, and I specifically remember having to keep the lights on for a few hours before bed when I was done. This should be a classic for all horror fans. - Marielle Bokor

Too Many Teeth

Dawn of the Dead (1978)

There still hasn’t been a zombie movie that has outdone Dawn of the Dead. George A. Romero didn’t just invent the modern zombie, he perfected it with this absolute masterpiece. While Night of the Living Dead was a masterclass in claustrophobia, Dawn of the Dead is an active apocalypse that shows society collapsing under the threat of the rising dead.

A sprawling, neon-lit consumerist nightmare, it traps its survivors inside the Monroeville Mall in a brilliant, cynical satire that is also an incredibly effective horror movie. With a soundtrack by Italian legends Goblin, and produced by Dario Argento (Suspiria, Deep Red), Dawn of the Dead stands as perhaps the greatest zombie movie ever made. -Antal Bokor

The Descent (2005)

This movie is scary even before the monsters show up. An anxiety-inducing nightmare from the moment the spelunkers get in the cave, the subterranean creatures add a whole other dimension of panic.

The film follows a group of women on an expedition into an uncharted Appalachian cave system, and The Descent perfectly captures the absolute terror of being trapped in the dark while being chased by horrible, people-eating creatures. - Antal Bokor

Carrion (2020)

As far as cathartic power fantasies go, Carrion wouldn't be the first, but it has a near-flawless execution. A "reverse horror" game, Carrion features you playing as the monster as you hunt down scientists in a mysterious research facility. Whatever it is they did, you know they had it coming.

They’ll bring out big guns—including mechs—to stop you. But clever hiding, powerful upgrades, and being an unstoppable, amorphous mass of flesh filled with teeth really help you out as you rip through the facility, snatching terrified scientists, and consuming them to grow larger.  - Antal Bokor

G.T.F.O. (2021)

 I almost put this under slow burn, because it’s so hard that even with four people that you couldn’t really get freaked out by everything that’s there to scare you quicker if you wanted to.

However, in remembering the things that do lurk in the dark, they’re all too pale, too moist, and have way, way too many teeth.

You earn your scares in this game, and then they immediately kill you and your whole team and erase the last 4 hours of careful work getting down to them. -Marielle Bokor

Cosmic Horror

Coherence - (2013)

While not as otherworldly as the meta category would suggest, Coherence is the very definition of the cosmos inflicting madness upon characters. When a ragtag bunch of friends get together for a dinner together, a passing comet begins wreaking havoc on reality. No aliens or monsters other than the passing rock and what some people will do to survive. Check out our full look at Coherence here! - Julian Ramirez

Event Horizon (1997)

One of the movies that served as a foundational text for sci-fi horror in video games and movies for the next couple of decades. Games like Dead Space and System Shock 2 probably owe some amount of creative inspiration to this Paul W.S. Anderson classic. A rescue ship is sent to investigate the lost experimental ship, the Event Horizon, after it literally traveled through hell—and brought something back with it. Anchored by a terrific performance by Sam Neill and a take-no-shit Laurence Fishburne. - Antal Bokor

The Thing (1982)

One of my favorite horror films ever, The Thing is a timeless masterpiece about a group of Antarctic researchers who have a run-in with an alien entity that can perfectly mimic other lifeforms.

It’s a masterclass in tension, as you never know who is the creature and who isn’t. The creature is truly grotesque, and its legendary animatronic creations are as creative as they are horrifying. - Antal Bokor

In the Mouth of Madness (1994)

Probably one of the best, most unapologetic translations of pure cosmic horror put to film, it blurs the line between fiction and reality until the concept of sanity is removed and supplanted with a horrifying new reality.

It follows the brilliant Sam Neill as an insurance investigator looking for the truth behind the disappearance of Stephen King-like author Sutter Cane. Not only do his works create obsessive fans, but they might actually lead to the end of the world. Thankfully, the Harry Potter books didn’t have the same effect. Do you read Sutter Cane? If not, there’s a movie! - Antal Bokor

Bloodborne (2015)

There are many types of fear, like that of the unknown. But there is also the fear of what we know. And Bloodborne not only shows you the unknowable horror, but makes you kill it to progress. Dripping in a dreadful atmosphere and full of monsters, it removes the veneer of reality to show you that the horror is on a literal cosmic scale about halfway through.

The more you know of this world, the more terrifying it becomes—both in narrative and through gameplay. And it’s probably the best “souls” style game that FromSoftware has made. -Antal Bokor

The X-Files (1993)

 Long before serialized prestige television took over, The X-Files was quietly delivering some of the most terrifying hours of broadcast network TV. While the overarching alien mythology hooked a generation, it’s the standalone "Monster-of-the-Week" episodes that earn it a permanent spot on this list. From the claustrophobic dread of the stretchy mutant Tooms in "Squeeze" to the deeply upsetting, famously banned-from-TV horror of "Home," the show simply wasn't afraid to push the boundaries of prime-time television.

Anchored by the legendary skeptic-and-believer chemistry between Mulder and Scully, it perfectly balanced procedural investigation with genuine terror that had me sleeping with the lights on as a kid. Shows like Fringe came close, but nothing has ever been quite like the original run of The X-Files. - Antal Bokor

Pluribus (2026)

This is one of the scariest shows I’ve ever watched. It is essentially an invasion of the body snatchers that we willingly let right into our world, anchored by a brilliant, Emmy-winning performance from Rhea Seehorn. “The Others” aren’t terrifying, grotesque aliens, but smiling, gracious hosts designed perfectly to let your guard down.

While we have way more questions than answers at this point, the first season of Pluribus is a masterful example of otherworldly horror. It captures the sheer existential dread of an entire civilization losing its identity, leaving behind a smiling apocalypse witnessed in horror by only two people, and accepted as a luxury by the few others left with their minds intact. - Antal Bokor

Low fi

The Blair Witch Project (1999)

Another foundational film, it’s hard to overstate just how much this movie changed the horror landscape and created the blueprint for found-footage films going forward. It also should be praised for its early-internet, alternate-reality viral advertising that convinced most of my friends that this movie was based on real events, and that the filmmakers we were watching actually died in those Maryland woods.

Its brilliance relies heavily on telling, and showing very little. The film uses the creeping dread of getting lost, and the agonizing, slow reality of a group of friends realizing that they’re not going to survive this. A brilliant bit of filmmaking that is impossible to replicate. - Antal Bokor

Signalis (2022)

If you miss the golden age of PS1-era survival horror, Signalis is a love letter written in blood and cosmic dread. It’s one of those games that captures the retro feeling without making itself a clone of a specific retro horror game. Developer rose-engine perfectly captures the punishing resource management and puzzle-solving of classic Resident Evil and Silent Hill, but wraps it in an incredibly oppressive retro-futuristic aesthetic.

You play as Elster, a Replika android searching a ruined off-world mining facility for her lost human partner. What starts as a tense fight against corrupted androids quickly spirals into a mind-bending, Lovecraftian nightmare about memory, identity, and reality itself. It’s a masterclass in atmosphere that proves low-poly graphics can still deliver high-tier terror. - Antal Bokor

Limbo (2010)

Before developer Playdead perfected the art of silent, oppressive storytelling with Inside, they introduced us to the monochromatic nightmare of Limbo. What I first thought would be an artsy puzzle-platformer quickly turned into a bleak, brutal video game.

Iconic, terrifying encounters like the giant spider solidified it as one of my favorites. In-game, you’re never told who you are, or why you’re doing what you’re doing—you’re just forced to keep moving right and survive whatever horrible fate is in store. It’s effortlessly scary, and it does it all with a monochrome, minimalist presentation. - Antal Bokor

Laughing Scared

Club Dread (2004)

At first glance Club Dread may seem like a bad spoof movie ala all the post Scary Movie parodies of the 2000s. But like a real spoof comedy, It's more of a pastiche of the genre than a long line of remember-when-this-happened-in-a-better-movie jokes.

Taking place at a Jimmy Buffetesque  theme resort, the guys from Broken Lizard craft a pretty fun murder mystery kill fest with raunch humor you’d expect from the Super Troopers crew. It does heavily take from things like I Know What You Did Last Summer 2, Sleepaway Camp, and a few others, but never feels lazy in its borrowing. Definitely of its time, but so is every other great comedy and horror.   - Julian Ramirez

Tucker & Dale vs. Evil (2010) 

Horror comedies don’t always work, beyond a few rare exceptions—especially one that leans into its gore as heavily as Tucker & Dale. It’s turned into the gold standard of how to do it right. It takes the “creepy backwoods hillbilly” trope and flips it around, giving us two incredibly sweet, well-meaning friends who are just trying to fix up their new vacation cabin.

Enter some vacationing college kids, and you get a lot of accidental gore and a bloodbath that is entirely the fault of panicky, judgmental students. Anchored by the unbelievable chemistry between Tyler Labine and Alan Tudyk, it is a brilliant, blood-soaked comedy of errors that has a surprising amount of heart.  - Antal Bokor

Silent Night, Deadly Night 2 (1987)

GARBAGE DAY!  There’s a lot of lore behind this movie getting made, and it’s technically a reshoot of the first, maybe? I’m picky about my shitty B movies - they can’t intentionally try to be bad, but somehow this feels earnest, and stupid, and …scary? Maybe a little. It’s a fun watch. - Marielle Bokor

Widow’s Bay (2026)

An island community that is cursed and the hijinks that ensue isn't exactly what I thought I’d be adding to this list. I know most of this feature focuses on films and games, but a few Apple TV standouts absolutely deserve a mention. While this show could easily fit into our Cosmic Horror or Final Girl categories, it is so incredibly funny that it truly deserved its Best Comedy Series Emmy win. It’s essentially Parks and Recreation, but if Pawnee were cursed.

There are so many standout moments I can’t possibly list them all here. It’s effortlessly funny, anchored by a great cast, and features a story that pushes boundaries most other series wouldn’t even consider. It’s just brilliant television. - Antal Bokor

Unmasked Part 25 

While we haven’t really reached chapter 25 of any horror franchise (no, the Aminitty series does not count), Unmasked imagines a world where a very, and i mean very, Jason-like murder named Jackson has reached his breaking point and is kinda done with all this killing nonsense. He’s met Shelly,  a blind girl who sees him for who he truly is and he’s ready to settle down! Unmasked Part 25 is as dry as a comedy as an English film can get without forgetting the slasher gore you’d come to expect. It’s fun, very on the nose, and goes places you certainly would expect. - Julian Ramirez

Shaun of the Dead (2004)

I’m such a Romero zombie lover that I was actually not a fan of Shaun of the Dead originally. I thought it was taking the piss a little too much. But the truth is, I was wrong. And while Hot Fuzz is my favorite of the Cornetto Trilogy, it would not have been possible without the groundwork laid by Edgar Wright with Shaun of the Dead.

Simon Pegg is brilliant as protagonist Shaun, and his chemistry with Nick Frost is undeniable. Hilarious, scary, gory, and everything in between, Shaun of the Dead is a fantastic film. - Antal Bokor

Final Girl

Alien: Isolation (2014)

 This is the only item I put on this list that I haven’t finished because it’s too scary. There’s a primal fear that the Xenomorph puts into me—a deep childhood leftover that makes Alien: Isolation a uniquely harrowing experience for me. However, it’s brilliant in its gameplay, pacing, and creature mechanics.

The alien isn’t just performing pre-scripted jump scares; it’s driven by a complex AI system that actively hunts you, learns your behavior, and stalks the halls in a way that’s completely unscripted. It’s pure nightmare fuel that makes you feel like you're genuinely being hunted—because you are.  -Antal Bokor

Alien (1979) 

Ridley Scott did a great job showing us a feature that wasn’t just a gleaming utopia–but was actually dirty and lived in. The Nostromo was grimy, leaking, and industrial–full of blue collar workers, not snobby scientists. But then they answer a distress call, bring something on board (despite the established quarantine protocols!) and next thing you know the crew is being picked off by a relentless, terrifying murder machine.

What follows is a masterclass in slow-burn claustrophobia and biomechanical dread, courtesy of H.R. Giger's legendary Xenomorph design  While the Alien franchise has greatly expanded, this original film showed us just enough to be terrifying, and let our imaginations fill in the terrible gaps. Signourney Weaver plays Ellen Ripley who is the ultimate survivor. - Antal Bokor

Barbarian (2022)

This is one of those movies I kept hearing about but couldn’t imagine actually enjoying. So I bit the bullet and sat down—extremely skeptical—and proceeded to watch one of my favorite horror movies I’ve seen in decades. The less you know about it, the better. Director Zach Cregger (of The Whitest Kids U' Know fame!) takes audience expectations and smashes them repeatedly—and with nominal amounts of gore—in the face.

It’s a movie that feels more genuine than most other modern horror. The mid-movie pivot is legendary for its tonal shift, turning full-blown horror into a bit of a black comedy before bringing it solidly back into horror territory—but ending with surprising poignancy. Absolutely brilliant. - Antal Bokor

Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

Remember when I said I wasn’t allowed to watch horror movies? This movie is the reason. Me and my cousins watched it on Thanksgiving weekend as little kids, and the thought of a killer that could get you in your sleep just terrified me. Hiding under teh covers won’t help - it’ll just make it worse. Freddy still scares the bejesus out of me.  – Marielle Bokor

It Follows (2014)

In horror movies, sex has always preceded violent death or other forms of horror. It Follows codifies this in the rules of the movie’s supernatural pursuer. The creature following is literally transmitted sexually. Not just an allegory for young people having sex, it’s an exercise in constant dread.

Often you don’t know what to expect from the follower, and you’ll find yourself scanning the background of the film for any out-of-place people walking a little too purposefully. It also has a fantastic soundtrack by Disasterpeace. It’s a brilliant horror film that weaponizes the anxiety behind young love and sex, something that would feel far too on the nose if handled by anyone less capable than director David Robert Mitchell. - Antal Bokor