Ah, Halloween, the one night of the year when it is acceptable for grown men to go out in public dressed like J. Edgar Hoover did in private. It’s also yet another excuse for horror movie list-making, and who doesn’t love that?

Five Great Horror Movies

Prince of Darkness (1987)

Director John Carpenter has more style, better instincts and is just a whole lot cooler than many of his genre contemporaries. All of Carpenter’s horror films exhibit an unrivaled ability to balance shock scares with genuine tension and near-mythological undercurrents. A creeping sense of apocalypse drives Prince’s exploration of the physics of evil, along with a punishing amount of “Don’t Go In There!” moments.

Re-Animator (1985)

A major influence on Evil Dead 2, Re-Animator supplements the timeless question of “What if you could bring dead people back to life?” with questions such as “What if, along the way, you decapitated them, sawed through their chests and did very unpleasant things with their body parts?” Expertly navigating the line between hilarity and horror, Re-Animator is almost too successful in its accomplishments – you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll want to take a shower.