Best Horror Movies for Halloween

Image by blackrabbitkdj courtesy of Pixabay

Halloween is one of the best times of year — by default — to watch horror movies. Some would suggest that there is something about confronting what Jung would have called the shadow within us — that unseen aspect or aspects hiding in the shadows of our psyches, influencing us via our unconscious. Some would say that horror movies are cathartic because it is hard-wired within the human animal to need in moments some kind of adrenaline rush that many — unless they are soldiers, first responders, or are systematically exposed to trauma or violence—don’t often have: that heightened state of senses honed, synapses firing to a lesser degree — just activated enough without quite triggering a fight, flight, or freeze response that one would inherently feel in response to very real, mortal danger.

In other words, even the most normal human beings need something to release that natural adrenaline lurking within that sometimes could use a fright response to access it — and hopefully, such release is done in a healthy manner. Rollercoasters are one way — and especially this time of year, during Samhain, Halloween, Dia de los Muertos — horror films are another.

For this occasion, I’m offering some of my favorite films — some I discovered some time ago from the German Expressionist silent era — some from a classic time during the 1960’s and 70’s that bring back childhood…