With Halloween approaching, we’ve put together a list of watch-worthy scary movies that’ll raise the hairs on the back of your neck, send chills down your spine, and make you want to sleep with the lights on. We’ve tried not to include any spoilers for those who haven’t seen the movies; however, many of these deserve a second viewing.

IT (Netflix)

A superb horror movie classic based on the best-selling Stephen King novel of the same name, with plenty of nail-biting, ‘on-the-edge-of-your-seat’ moments. Seven children (who call themselves ‘The Losers Club’) live in the small town of Derry in Maine, all social ‘outcasts’ and victims of peer bullying and parental abuse, are now having to face the attentions of an ancient shape-shifting monster that emerges from the sewer every 27 years to prey on vulnerable children by inducing and feeding off their worst fears. In the guise of a sinister clown known as Pennywise the Dancing Clown, this, bloodthirsty entity is bent on luring them into his clutches and killing them.

From the very beginning of the movie, where one of the Losers’ younger brother has his  arm torn off by Pennywise when he tries to retrieve his paper boat that disappears into a storm water drain, the tension runs high. The kids band together in an attempt to thwart Pennywise’s murderous spree and try to force him back into hibernation. Are they successful? Well, you need to watch the movie to find out.

CREEP (Netflix)

A videographer named Aaron is struggling to find work and accepts an assignment to travel to a remote cabin, where his new client, Josef, is staying. The reason given for requiring Aaron’s services, is that Josef is dying from an inoperable brain tumour and will die before the birth of his child, so he wants to record a video diary for his unborn child. All through the day, Josef‘s strange behaviour makes Aaron uneasy, and he then decides to leave immediately, but ‘coincidentally’ can’t find his car keys. He intercepts a phone call from Josef’s sister who urges Aaron to escape.

Of course, the story doesn’t end there. Back home, Aaron starts receiving sininster items in the mail from Josef, including a recording of Josef digging a grave. A final video is sent to Aaron, in which Josef offers to meet him in a public place to apologise and smooth things over. Aaron accepts. Does this end well? We’ll leave it to you to see what transpires …

FROM DUSK TILL DAWN (Netflix)

The script for ‘From Dusk Till Dawn’ was written by Quentin Tarantino, which will tell you a lot. He also co-stars with George Clooney in this movie. Other main characters include Harvey Keitel and Juliette Lewis. Combining a number of genres, including black humour and vampires, the film culminates in an outrageous over-the-top gothic horror gore-fest.

Tarantino’s character (who is bat sh*t crazy) has busted Clooney out of jail and they have robbed a bank, leaving a trail of dead people in their wake. They intend to cross over the border into Mexico to evade arrest and take their loot to safety. They find a perfect ‘vehicle’ in the sleazebag motel they are holed up in – ex-priest Keitel is travelling in a camper van with his two kids, and are taken hostage. They cross into Mexico and stop off at a grungy biker bar called the Titty Twister to await a money drop rendezvous, and that’s where the vampire thing kicks in with an almighty barroom brawl, with gut-wrenching special effects. How does it all end?  Watch it to find out. 

SHUTTER (Netflix)

A newlywed couple, Ben and Jane, relocate to Tokyo where Ben has landed a job as a photographer. While travelling by car in the countryside, Jane thinks she hits a girl standing in the road. They can’t find her body and decide to leave, thinking the girl wasn’t injured and had walked away. Later on, they start to find mysterious lights Ben’s photos, identified as ‘spirit photography’ by Ben’s Japanese assistant. Jane begins to have strange dreams and visions, and senses some kind of presence stalking them.

Ben begins experiencing severe shoulder pain, and begins look bent and hunched over, but the doctor finds no source of injury. Jane meets Ritsuo, whose career involves investigating paranormal activities, and he tells them that the lights in the photos are spirits. At a subway station, Jane spots the ghostly presence of the girl she ran over, causing her to believe that she killed the girl. Later, Ben has a similarly terrifying encounter. Then two of Ben’s friends are killed. Ben wants to leave Japan immediately, but Jane hands Ben their wedding photo, which shows a distorted picture of the girl in the road. Unknown to Jane, the girl, Megumi, is actually known to Ben and to the two friends that have been killed, and there is a horrific story about their relationship. Ben and Jane return to New York, thinking it is all over. However, Jane finds some recent photos of Megumi in an envelope that leads to Jane finding a camera in a trunk. She uploads the memory card onto her laptop and discovers what had really happened to Megumi with Ben and his two friends. Is this the end of the haunting and the trauma? No, it is not. 

THE SHINING (Netflix)

Director Stanley Kubrick brings this cold and frightening story (another Stephen King classic) to life. At first all seems normal. Writer Jack Torrance (Nicholson) applies and is accepted for the job of caretaker for The Overlook Hotel while it is closed for the winter.  With his wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and young son Danny he will cloister himself in this huge colonial-style snowbound hotel and write undisturbed. Hi employer warns him that a former caretaker had committed suicide after murdering his wife and daughters, but Jack appears unfazed and tells him that it won’t happen with him and his wife is fascinated by ghost stories and horror movies. Strange response?... Well …

Before he too departs, the chef gives them a tour, including the food storage locker. Then they’re alone; Jack sits at a typewriter pounding the keys, while elsewhere Wendy and Danny spend their days mostly watching TV. There is no feeling that the three function together as a family.

Danny, together with his imaginary friend Tony, is the one who sees visions of blood seeping through the closed lift doors and two strange little girls dressed identically in the corridor.

Wendy is the seemingly normal one, being a companion for Danny, and trying to cheer Jack up until he tells her abruptly to stop interrupting his work. Much later, in a shocking revelation, she discovers the reality of that work. Things turn very dark at this point. What is most disturbing about this movie is never knowing which character’s version of happenings is reliable and trustworthy. Maybe none of them. We now have a closed-room mystery: in an isolated hotel, three people descend into madness or terror, and we cannot depend on any of them for an objective account. This movie promises intense suspense right the way through. 

FREAKY (Showmax)

Seventeen-year-old Millie Kessler spends her days trying to come to terms with the death of her father and her mother’s inability to cope, plus survive high school and the mean behaviour of the in-crowd. But this all changes when she becomes the victim of the infamous local serial killer, the Blissfield Butcher (Vince Vaughn), who stabs her with a mystical dagger, causing Millie and he to magically switch bodies the next day, which is Friday the 13th (but of course!). A very disturbed and frightened Millie learns she has just 24 hours to get her identity back before she permanently becomes a middle-aged maniac.

Freaky is a slasher movie combined with the plot of the family-friendly comedy, Freaky Friday, where feuding mother and daughter find themselves in the other’s body, and learn what’s it’s like to be each other, leading to understanding.

Millie takes advantage of the power she has as a man (and a violent killer at that), and it’s payback time for those who demeaned her and harassed her, such as a nasty, creepy teacher or the boys who try to take advantage of her sexually. As a man she can see how other men treat women, and she’s enraged.

Vaughn, playing Millie in a man’s body gives an authentic and sensitive performance as a young woman, without all the high camp normally found in female impersonations. But back to the slash/horror part. Does Millie get to do what she needs to get her mind and body back into the same person? You’ll have to find out yourself.

HAUNT (Showmax)

It’s Halloween, and Harper isn’t keen on going out, but is eventually persuaded to by her roommate Bailey; however, she refuses to dress up in a costume. Later, with others at a downtown bar, things are becoming boring, and an idea is proposed to go looking for a ‘haunt’ – an industrial warehouse which is kitted out as a haunted house for scary entertainment. They choose one that is somewhat off the beaten track and, arriving there, they find a suitably creepy doorman handing out safety waiver forms and collecting cellphones. Stepping inside, the friends discover that this ‘haunted house’ is not as fake and funny as they would have guessed and real horror awaits them as they have to negotiate their terrified way through the maze. If you’re up for some mega chills and thrills, dim the lights and watch to find out more.

SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK (Showmax)

It’s Halloween, 1968, in the small town of Mill Valley, Pennsylvania. Three teen friends, Stella, Augie, and Chuck, play a prank on school bully Tommy who chases them in retaliation. The trio flees and meets up with a young drifter named Ramón who hides them in his car. They invite him to explore a local “haunted house” once owned by the wealthy Bellows family, who helped found Mill Valley. Inside, they find a book of horror stories written by Sarah, the Bellows’ young daughter who allegedly committed suicide after being accused of witchcraft when the town’s children began to die under mysterious circumstances`.

Having followed the group, Tommy locks them inside but they escape, and back home, Stella flips through the book, discovering a new story, entitled “Harold,” has appeared on a page that was blank moments before. Meanwhile, a drunk Tommy is stalked by Harold, a scarecrow that has come to life. The creature stabs him with a pitchfork, causing Tommy to vomit hay and undergo a violent transformation. He is later reported missing and Stella and Ramón find a human Harold dressed in Tommy’s clothes.

Thereafter follow various stories that (obviously) do not end well for the subjects or, more accurately the victims, including Chuck, Augie and Ramon. Stella attempts to reach out to Sarah (or her ghost) to get her to stop harming people through her stories and promises to reveal the truth about this tortured young woman who is innocent.

MIDSOMMAR (Showmax)

Unlike most of the movies featured here, this one takes place in bright sunlight in open fields fresh with grass and spring flowers. But is Midsommar  just as ominous as any haunted house in the dead of night?…

A young American couple, Christian and Dani, whose relationship is in trouble, travel with Christian’s friends to attend a Swedish midsummer festival that only takes place every 90 years. A field of people all dressed in white, flower garlands in their hair, paints a picture of innocence, openness and connection to the earth.  However, this paradise soon transforms into a sinister, dread-filled experience as the locals begin to reveal their agenda.

The visitors are coerced into taking hallucinogenic drugs on arrival, which immediately begins to create unease about their choice of summer holiday. Subjected to strange rituals in a language they don’t understand. In a dreamlike state, or should we say a nightmarish state, the friends are witness to some extremely disturbing scenes, while people start to disappear, and reality begins to lose its shape entirely. By this stage it’s too late to leave, and the horror story must play out to its conclusion.

DEVILSDORP (Showmax)

This is a chilling horror story, but a genuine one. In fact all of it is true and this four-part series is a documentary. You know the saying that goes “truth is stranger than fiction”? Well it’s all here, and took place right in the heart of South Africa, in the bleak town of Krugersdorp, to be exact.

Many people are fascinated with gruesome and bizarre happenings, especially when these occur close to home. But the quality of our fascination with a show like Devilsdorp is not titillating or exciting entertainment, rather it’s genuine shock and horror that such evil could happen here and by people whose neighbours would never guess would be capable of such remorseless conniving and killing. All in all, 11 people were brutally murdered over four years, led by ringleader and psychopath Cecelia Steyn, whose murderous followers included a popular schoolteacher and her two teenaged children.

Although Devilsdorp is essentially a crime story, the elements of Satanism, coupled with greed, gullibility and small-town mentality give it an edge of gothic horror that somehow makes this saga almost unbelievable.