With Halloween around the corner, I thought I would count down my top 10 favorite horror movies.  I’ve chosen to exclude “Jaws”, since it would just be too obvious a choice.  Truth be told, you’re gonna see a lot of horror’s usual suspects here, but hopefully there’ll be some surprises as well.  I should stress that these aren’t necessarily the scariest movies I’ve seen, just my favorites from the genre.

Fair warning: spoilers are known to haunt this post.

10.) “The Orphanage”

“The Orphanage” doesn’t exactly re-invent the wheel.  It’s about a mother who returns to the facility that cared for her in her youth.  She and her husband plan to reopen it to help disabled children.  A ghostly wrench is thrown in their plans when their ill son goes missing.  There are a lot of familiar elements: a large and gloomy estate, imaginary friends that are so much more, and creepy, unsettling kids.  It functions just fine as a family drama — Belen Rueda is really strong as the mother who will stop at nothing — but it makes this list because it’s frankly one of the most frightening films I’ve seen.  Director J.A. Bayona constructs sequences that are all-timers.  It has two of the best jump scares: one involving a woman crossing the street and another the immediate aftermath.  Later, a medium wanders the orphanage at night, her committed performance is bolstered by glowing green eyes (thanks to infrared cameras) and eerie sound design.  Finally, a game of one-two-three-knock-on-the-wall is distressingly suspenseful as the camera leisurely shows us what we want (or don’t want) to see.

9.) “The Sixth Sense”

With movies like “The Happening” and “The Last Airbender,” it’s easy to forget how strong a filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan once was.  I like “Unbreakable” and “Signs,” but it’s hardly controversial to say “The Sixth Sense” remains his masterpiece.  Everyone remembers the ending — and it’s wonderfully constructed — but this is so much more than a twist film.  We’ve got two compelling central characters: a young boy who sees ghosts and a child psychologist looking to make good after a traumatic event.  Shyamalan finds ways to visually tell the story, such as a series of P.O.V. shots as the boy moves to and from his psychologist during a game.  Then there’s that ending — turns out Bruce Willis’s traumatic event was fatal. The twist works on a number of levels.  First and foremost, it holds together.  The ending adheres to the rules that the movie laid out (convenient though they may be).  As opposed to other films with similarly slippery endings (“I’ve been dead the whole time,” “I made all these people up,” “It was all a dream”), our protagonist’s actions have real-world consequences.  Finally, it concludes his arc.  Having helped a child in need, he can peacefully depart.

8.) “The Exorcist”

Everyone knows the story of “The Exorcist” — a young girl is possessed by the devil.  But actually I don’t find William Friedkin’s film to be that scary.  Sure, there are some chilling moments.  A priest’s vision of his deceased mother on the girl’s bed still gives me goosebumps, but the film succeeds as a character-based drama.  We learn early on that Father Karras, the priest charged with performing the exorcism, is suffering a crisis of faith.  And when he’s confronted with the devil…well, that’s the stuff of drama.  Actor Jason Miller is the heart of the movie, wearing Karras’s anger, sadness, and confusion in the lines on his face.  It’s a testament to the film that its third act is so compelling.  At face value, there’s nothing particularly spectacular about it:  one set, three actors, lots of yelling.  But thanks to the great character work, we’re completely invested.

7.) “Shaun of the Dead”

The first feature-length collaboration between Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost is still the best.  Though I enjoy the hell out of “Hot Fuzz” and “The World’s End,” neither of those films manage as stunning a blend of comedy, drama and genre.  In “Shaun of the Dead,” the titular character is a young man stuck between adolescence and adulthood — the former embodied by his endearing yet childish roommate, Ed.  Amidst turmoil with his girlfriend, who would like Shaun to do something with his life, a zombie outbreak erupts.  The film is stunning in the way it has you laughing one minute and on the edge of your seat the next.  Check out a scene where Shaun’s stepfather turns into a zombie.  Shaun tells his mother, voice brimming with emotion, “There’s nothing left of the man you loved!”  His stepfather then promptly mutes a loud car stereo.  While the writing is tight and the performances are excellent, Wright has carefully crafted his story for the silver screen.  There’s an amusing cut of sorts where a drunk Shaun scribbles on his refrigerator then falls asleep in the kitchen.  The camera remains stationary, but through a quick lighting change — Boom! — it’s the next morning and Shaun hasn’t moved.

6.) “The Thing”

John Carpenter’s masterpiece — sorry “Halloween” fans — was not viewed particularly favorably upon its release.  Audiences in 1982 were looking for a close encounter of a warmer and fuzzier kind.  Paging “E.T.”  “The Thing” tells the story of a group of researchers in the Antarctic who stumble upon a shape-shifting alien with a penchant for assimilation.  There’s plenty of splatter here, thanks to Rob Bottin’s still stunning practical effects, but the real draw is the dread and paranoia that ensues from the creature’s arrival.  One great bit of tension comes from our protagonist, played by Kurt Russell, implementing a blood test to identify the creature.  Appropriately, the novella the film is based on is called “Who Goes There?”  So many of the film’s thrills come from our characters not knowing who to trust, and this may never be more potent than the film’s haunting final moments.

Stay tuned this Friday, Halloween, for my top 5 horror movies.  Comment below with some of your favorites!