Greetings ghosties!  Halloween season is here. If you haven’t already, it’s time to get the spookies on! Visit some haunts, read a scary novel, dress up in a ghoulish costume, carve some jack-o-lanterns.  Most of all, enjoy some horror movies.  Which ones, you ask?  If this is a question you are pondering, you have come to the right place.  I’ll hook you up. I got ya!  Let’s mine the classics. We’ll dig deep.  We’ll plunge through the years. How many years? Oh, I don’t know, let’s say, one hundred years plus a few more! 

Decade by decade, we will explore some of the most significant horror movies. By doing so, we will traipse through various subgenres. These include silent films, mysteries, creature-features, sci-fi, ghost stories, comedies, slashers, splatter, arthouse, body horror and much much more. Some are critically acclaimed. Others are universally panned.  Either way, the movies on this list made an impact, large or small, for better or for worse.  Not all of them are great movies. But most have gained the public’s attention at one time or another.

Now that you’re all stoked in your g-spots (ghost spots; those areas of your brain that store all those horror-mones that make you giddy for ghosts), here comes a disclaimer.  Not every horror movie that screamed its way on to the screen will be mentioned in this article. Chances are, some major ones will be excluded. Sorry folks, this is not meant to be a comprehensive list. I’m not an encyclopedia, after all, although I did make my choices by referencing Wikipedia’s list of horror movies decade by decade. So, what criteria did I use to determine which movies make the list? Not all of these are my favorites. Some of them I hadn’t seen but wanted to, so see them I did in preparation for this project and, hooray, here they are! I stand by what I wrote earlier about mentioning the popular, impactful, even the notorious.  But I’m sure I have neglected many that meet this criteria.  In the end, the answer is “these are just what I chose”, risking biases and succumbing to that evil, demonic thing named “subjectivity.” I feel so guilty about this but I am choosing to live with this.  If I can carry on, so can you!

Now for the good news!  I am including hidden gems in this list. These are not films well known but deserving of attention and praise.  Not every decade will feature this. This doesn’t mean in real life there are none to be found in the corresponding decade. They are there. You can find them. I believe in you. 

At times, I will link to YouTube or other media sites.  Please remember, these might not be available at the time this article is accessed. Just note they were all there on the date of posting.  If they are dead links, think of what remains as ghosts.  Very topical; dead things, ghosts. 

In the next post, it will begin.  Be ready.