It’s  that time of year again, when the days become shorter, and the nights become colder, and when the ghosts and goblins come out, and when everyone is entitled to one good scare.

For more spine tingling thrillers check out “5 Movies You Should Watch This Halloween”

Nightmare before Christmas – Technically the Nightmare before Christmas can count as both a Halloween movie and a Christmas movie.

When the king of Halloween Town , Jack Skellington (Danny Elfman) discovers a portal that leads to Christmas Town, an alternate version of Halloween town, where instead of cobwebs and spiders, the town is covered in snow and Christmas décor, Jack wants to start celebrating the holiday with the rest of the town. Although his plan goes awry thanks to Oogie Boogie (Ken Page), the films antagonist, who is completely against the idea of Christmas, with the help of his close friend, Sally (Catherine O’Hara), they try to save Christmas.

The movie does a great job of spreading Halloween and Christmas spirit in classic Tim Burton fashion. This is a must watch during Halloween and Christmas.

Halloween (1978) – Halloween is a horror classic to say the least. It’s also one of the very few horror movies (and probably the first) to actually take place on Halloween. Although the movie has a pretty basic and stereotypical slasher movie plot, it’s very well done.

On Halloween night 1963, 6 year old Michael Myers murders his older sister and is sent and locked into a mental institution. However, on October 30th, 1978, Michael escapes and returns to his hometown of Haddonfield, Illinois to track down, and kill his younger sister (Jamie Lee Curtis).

The movie also follows Michael’s doctor, Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence) who is fully aware of what Michael is capable. Dr.Loomis knows what Michael’s motive is and he feels that it is his responsibility to stop him.

One of the highlights of the movie isn’t the ending or the climax, but when Loomis is staked out in Haddonfield waiting for Michael, and when Loomis describes Michael being nothing but pure evil.  “The blackest eyes” monologue really adds to the films overall tone. Overall the movie is fantastic from start to finish. With an eerie beginning that ends with a huge cliffhanger, Halloween is without a doubt a must watch on Halloween.

Nightcrawler – Nightcrawler follows the story of Lou Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal), a desperate man looking for work in the underbelly of Los Angeles. After seeing Lou assault a security guard, steal and sell scrap metal from around the city, and steal a bike, all in the opening scene, the viewer starts to truly feel for Lou and gets a clear understanding of him. Lou is a man with a goal, and he will do anything necessary to achieve that goal. Throughout the course of the movie you start to see that in everything he does. After trading in a stolen bike for a cheap camera and a police scanner, Lou begins his new career of freelance journalism. After a few hits on the local news, Lou recruits a fellow man in need of work, Rick (Riz Ahmed) to be his assistant/driver.

Lou and Rick spend their nights creeping around the eerie, dirty, crime filled streets of LA. As the movie progresses Lou starts to risk everything as his character takes a huge detour. Lou shows no empathy and will do whatever it takes to get the hottest story. The movie also does a great job of showing the madness and corrupt nature of news media.