The Best Horror Movies to Watch This Autumn

Every September, someone asks me for the best horror movies to watch once it starts getting dark at half past six, and I used to answer with whatever I'd watched most recently. That's a bad system. It gets you a list full of films you saw once, said "well, that was fine" about, and never went near again. So this year I actually sat down with my shelf and asked myself which ones earn their place, the ones I put on without needing convincing, and which ones I keep because they look nice next to the telly.

The list is shorter than I expected, and a bit more predictable than I'd like to admit. Turns out I'm not a very original person when the nights draw in. I just want the same handful of films, in roughly the same order, every year.

The best horror movies to watch when the flat feels too quiet

There's a specific kind of evening, usually a Tuesday, where the flat goes a bit too silent and I need something on that fills the space without demanding much conversation. This is where the Halloween 1978 Blu-ray box set comes in. I know everyone says this one, and everyone is right to. It's slow in a way modern horror rarely bothers with any more, and the score does half the work before anything's even happened on screen.

If I want something with a bit more chat and a bit more knowing humour, it's the Scream Blu-ray box set. I've had arguments about whether it still holds up. It does. It's the one I'll happily have on with someone talking over the top of it, which, given my usual rule about that, tells you something.

The ones that reward actually paying attention

Some of these need the phone put down properly, not just face down on the arm of the sofa where I can still see it light up. The The Shining Blu-ray steelbook is the obvious one. I've seen it enough times that I could probably recite the carpet pattern from memory, and it still gets me every single time, which is either a compliment to the film or a worrying thing to admit about myself.

Less obvious, but just as deserving, is the Rosemary's Baby 4K restoration. This one asks for patience most modern horror doesn't bother earning any more. Nothing jumps out at you. It just quietly convinces you that everyone around you might be in on something, and by the end you're side-eyeing your own neighbours a bit. Ten out of ten, genuinely unsettling flat behaviour.

The one I use to test whether someone is worth having round again

This sounds dramatic, but it's a real system. If someone can sit through the The Exorcist 4K Ultra HD without laughing nervously, checking their phone, or asking me to pause it "just for a second", they're allowed to come back for the next film night. It's not a fair test. It's still the test.

For anyone new to horror who wants something with the same period atmosphere but a gentler landing, I'll admit the Nosferatu 1922 restored Blu-ray is a good place to start. It's old enough that nothing about it can genuinely startle you, but the shadows and the pacing still teach you why everything since has borrowed from it.

None of this is a ranked chart, and I'd be lying if I said the order doesn't change depending on my mood, the weather, or how much coffee I've had. But if someone asks me tonight for the best horror movies to watch, this is still the list I'd give them, in whatever order the DVD shelf happens to be in.

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