CHICOPEE, Mass. (WWLP) – October 23rd is National Horror Movie Day, which is the perfect day to promote the thrills of being scared by great horror films.

Springfield students carve pumpkins for city Halloween event

The National Day Calendar states that an abundance of horror movies are available for viewing in theatres and on streaming apps as we are just eight days away from Halloween.

Halloween Countdown

October 31 2025 12:00 am

Horror movies have been around since the late 1800s, when Georges Méliès, a French filmmaker, created a short film called “Le Manoir du Diable” or “The Haunted Castle.” The film was only three minutes long and included witches, demons, and special effects that created supernatural occurrences.

Horror films have been a huge part of movie culture, with classic and influential works that continue to captivate audiences. The goal is to elicit strong emotional responses from the viewer, including fear, anxiety, shock, and disgust.

Types of horror movie genres

There are three different horror movie genres, which are:

1. Fear and suspense horror movies aim to make the audience feel fear or anxiety. They often use suspenseful build-ups, jump scares, and eerie atmospheres.

2. Supernatural or paranormal horror films involve supernatural or paranormal phenomena like ghosts, demons, monsters, vampires, zombies, or otherworldly forces.

3. Psychological horror movies delve into the psychological aspects of fear by exploring themes like insanity, obsession, or the breakdown of the human psyche.

Horror movies in theaters

• Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc

• Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Infinity Castle

• The Conjuring: Last Rites

Top 10 scariest horror movies

Rotten Tomatoes has put together a list of the top 10 scariest horror movies ever:

1. The Exorcist (1973) – This film became the highest-grossing R-rated horror film ever and the first to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. It’s well-known for the mass hysteria it inspired across the country, from protests over its controversial subject matter to widespread reports of nausea and fainting in the audience.

2. Hereditary (2018) – This is a dark family drama about the nature of grief couched within a supernatural horror film.

3. The Conjuring (2013) – This inspired-by-true-events chiller based on the experiences of real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren.

4. The Shining (1980) – The film’s relatively few jump scares are still absolutely chilling, but its true power lies in the way it crawls under your skin and makes you experience Jack Torrance’s slow descent into madness.

5. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) – Texas Chainsaw’s grimy aesthetic helped lend it an air of authenticity, which made it all the more frightening, and the massive, menacing presence of Gunnar Hansen’s Leatherface paved the way for other brutes like Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees.

6. The Ring (2002) – A remake of Japanese director Hideo Nakata’s acclaimed thriller about a cursed videotape, Verbinski’s take kept the original film’s striking visual imagery, the ghost of a young girl in a white dress with long black hair covering her face, and found that it scared the hell out of audiences no matter where they were from.

7. Halloween (1978) –  Halloween is frequently cited as one of the earliest examples of the slasher genre as we know it today, and while it may not feature the same kind of realistic gore we’ve come to expect of films in that category, it packs a lot of tension and some inventive thrills in a relatively small-scale package.

8. Sinister (2012) – A true-crime writer moves his wife and kids into a house where a family was murdered, only to discover the new place might already have a rather evil tenant.

9. Insidious (2010) – An effective chiller featuring what is frequently regarded as one of the best jump scares ever put on screen.

10. IT (2017) – The fear of clowns is a very real thing, even if it’s become so commonplace to announce it that it feels disingenuous. Add a healthy dose of jump scares, a handful of impressive set pieces, and some top-notch CGI, and you’ve got a recipe for a horror film that’s both fun and full of scares.

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