31 horror films you need to watch this October

Whether you’re into spooky settings, ghostly gasps, or even a little humor mixed with your screams, check out these essential horror films for October.

Ah, October. The time of year when the air starts to feel crisp, the leaves start to change and fall, there are pumpkins sitting on every doorstep and candy around every corner at your local grocery store. All that autumn goodness, however, leads to one of the worst dilemmas of the year as a result: how to experience all the best that fall has to offer, while also cloistering yourself away to watch horror movies all day.

Getting your money’s worth out of all October has to offer is a genuine challenge. There’s so much cider to drink, so many Halloween-themed recipes to bake, so many skin-crawling horror films to devour day after day. How are you supposed to pick?

But maybe it’s not about cramming as many awesome horror movies into a single month as possible. Maybe the key is restraint, and quality over quantity, and taking the time to stop and enjoy—oh, who the hell am I kidding. It’s clearly all about abandoning all extraneous obligations like having hobbies or a social life, and instead watching the absolute maximum amount of horror movies you can manage in one glorious month.

To that end, what follows is a list of some of the absolute best horror movies you’re likely to find, arranged in an order meant to complement or contrast each movie as you go. Some are funny, some are classics, and some are downright terrifying; whether you’re planning on doing a movie a day or just cherry-picking throughout the month, you’re bound to find something you’ll love. The list is by no means comprehensive of every good horror movie out there; there are, after all, far more than 31. So skip around, mix and match, rearrange and swap in your favorites—but most importantly, clear your schedule. There’s so much horror, and so little time.