31 Great Ways To Entertain Yourself During The 31 Days of Halloween

#1 Insidious Franchise

I just love this franchise! It's quirky and different, and I love it when things come full circle. Some may think this movie is cheesy, but if you play attention to the plot you'll recognize Insidious for it's creativity. It'll even catch you off guard with some unexpected jump scares.

#2 The Descent

The amount of tension and dread crammed into the first half of this movie is palpable. You can almost hear the heartbeat of the characters. The characters themselves (an entirely female cast save for the one male in the first 5 minutes of the movie) are superb, well-acted, believable, and bad ass. And though the second half becomes slightly derivative of nearly every other creature-feature, it's the two main characters and the atmosphere of the caves that keeps it from ever feeling dull.

#3 The Babadook

The Babadook is an emotionally-driven story of loss and hope that constantly makes you question who you should be rooting for. I absolute loved this movie. I didn't find it scary, but it somehow made my skin crawl and left me with a sense of dread.

#4 It Follows

It Follows has a 70s nostalgia to it and an equal-parts timelessness to the characters and story that is as much an STD-allegory as it isn't. It's not the best film on this list, but it is worth a watch.

#5 You're Next

A clever home invasion-style movie that's raw, visceral, and brutal without being obtrusive like most of Eli Roth's movies. I very much enjoyed the carnage and tenacity exhibited by the characters.

#6 28 Days Later

Zombie movies don't really get much better than this. The case can be made for Romero's earlier films, specifically Night and Day, but Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later was a stunning look at a post-apocalyptic world overrun by not-zombies infected with a rage virus, essentially a more aggressive rabies. The grainy presentation of the movie might put some viewers off, but I felt it gave the film more personality and depth compared to the pristine, high definition zombie movies with buckets of blood and a CGI-budget.

#7 Dead Silence

This movie wastes no time getting into it. I can normally figure out plot twists before they happen, but this movie left me pleasantly surprised.

#8 Scream

Slasher films were all but pronounced dead in the late 90s. That is until Wes Craven's Scream brought it roaring back to life. Whether that was a good or bad thing remains to be seen; Scream, however, was an absolute blast. Part meta-humor before meta-humor was even a thing, part slasher, part-commentary, Scream was arguably Wes Craven's crowning achievement. I make it a habit every Halloween to re-watch this movie.

#9 The Evil Dead (Original or Remake)

This is an iconic horror film and I think that they did it justice with the reboot up until the ending, lol. If you're not squeamish this is a must watch especially if you like possession flicks.

#10 The Innocents

A Gothic horror inspired by Henry James' Turn of the Screw, The Innocents is the quintessential haunted house movie. It has everything from creepy children, disruptive ghosts, hidden secrets, and a brilliant score to round it all out. The introduction alone is one of the most unsettling things I've seen in a movie.

#11 Sinister Franchaise

Sinister is a subtle, poetic inquisition into the hypnotic power of horrific images ... oh and it's frightening entertainment at its best.

#12 Alien

Speaking of badass women, Ripley is perhaps the most recognized of all. The Descent was called a "modern day Alien," and that's some high praise considering the importance of this film. Alien set the standard for the slow burn. It wasn't about the kill, it was about the hunt. Not to mention H.R. Giger's creature design for the Xenomorphs is still unmatched.

#13 REC

If you aren't someone who shrugs off subtitles, then watch REC. No, don't watch that terrible remake Quarantine. And if you already have, I'm sorry. REC is a tour de force of adrenaline from the moment things start to go wrong. It's an amalgamation of zombie movie, haunted house, and the occult, just shy of a four way with government conspiracy.

#14 The Conjuring

Who would've guessed that the director of Saw would end up being the most inventive horror filmmaker working in the industry? James Wan brilliantly takes us back to the retro days of horror, delivering an extremely stylistic, visually striking horror film that stands tall amongst the classics. With virtually no sex, no gore and no cursing The Conjuring earns its R-rating on scares alone.

#15 Mama

The title may be tacky, but this Canadian-Spanish co-production, with Guillermo del Toro lending his name as producer, is one of the better horror films to have come out from the West in recent years, despite being filled with the usual clichés, actually contain a proper story, and delivered really well in terms of chills, thrills and everything that's necessary to creep you out and make you jump at your seat.

#16 Occulus

This movie is brilliantly conceived and executed. There are only really 6 people in the film. The parents, and the children at 2 different ages. The film is not really linear, and it took me a while to get the flow of the constant changing from today and yesterday. Once I got it, I found it very clever.

#17 Silent Hill Franchise

Silent Hill is doing double duty on this list because I also recommend playing the games.

Movies-The atmosphere was perfect, the acting was on point, the creatures were amazing, well, everything was amazing.The town itself looks just like the town we love, and it's almost like coming home again. You'll see what I mean when you finally get to see the film. Just be prepared for a disturbing, bloody (oh man, the blood), and genuinely creepy ride.

Games- So far to date this is the only only game that I had to play with the lights on. Granted I was a kid back then, but still.

#18 Amnesia: The Dark Descent

The pinnacle of horror games. Amnesia: The Dark Descent started a trend that would be followed by the likes of Slender Man, Outlast, and many more: a culture of Youtuber's recording themselves being scared shirtless. None of them were ever quite as effective as Amnesia, though.

#19 Condemned: Criminal Origins

An action game in spirit, Condemned: Criminal Origins was also downright terrifying in parts. If you've played the game, you remember those mannequins. I know you do. And while nothing in the game comes close to the single terrifying moment from Condemned 2 (the bear), the first one, as a whole, is far more tense and thematic.

#20 The Evil Within

The Evil Within tears them from your chest and crucifies you. It strangles you with your own tendrils and feeds you your own beating heart, mouth locked shut and tied with entrails, forcing you to chew and swallow. But when the last sliver slides down the back of your throat, you'll look up and smile a sadistic smile before asking "more, please".

#21 SOMA

Frictional Games took what they learned from Amnesia and Penumbra and perfected it in SOMA mostly. The story is astonishing and tense, and is where the true horror of the game comes from. The monsters are fine and everything, but the greatest pleasure to be found in this game is uncovering just what the hell happened in the underwater research station known as PATHOS-II, and how you ended up there.

#22 Souls/Borne series

Is this cheating? If so, I don't care. While not exactly horror games, there are few that I can think of that inspire as much dread and despair in players than a Souls/Borne game. If that's not the definition of horror, I don't know what is.

#23 Dead Space

Dead Space is appealing across a wide cross-section of gameplay styles. Wrap an engrossing plot that is a veritable warren of intermingling themes around this and you've got a game that is basically a guaranteed experience.

#24 Twin Peaks

Though the show starts off as a (fairly) standard murder mystery, by the second season all bets are off: BOB, the one-armed man, the dancing dwarf, nightmares, Windham Earle, and of course, the Black Lodge. As bizarre as it is poetic, Twin Peaks is often credited as paving the way for shows like The X-Files and LOST as well as video games like Alan Wake and Deadly Premonition.

#25 The Walking Dead

A strong start that tapered off in later seasons, The Walking Dead is still a ratings powerhouse and, if nothing else, an entertaining zombie fest.

#26 The Twilight Zone

The premier anthology series for adults that's as powerful and meaningful now as it ever was. What could be crammed into 22 minutes of pure dread and terror would now take 16 seasons, a spin-off, and a comic book series to replicate.

#27 Are You Afraid of The Dark?

If The Twilight Zone is for adults, then Are You Afraid of The Dark? is for kids and adults. Don't be embarrassed if you're still frightened by some of these episodes. This was a brilliant show that made horror accessible without watering it down for children. Highlight episodes: The Tale of the Pinball Wizard, The Tale of the Ghastly Grinner

#27 Gloom

A humorous card game driven mainly by narrative and story where players try to kill off their characters in the most morbid, ridiculously exaggerated ways.

#29 Dead of Winter

The premiere zombie game on the market right now, Dead of Winter combines the desperation of surviving in a world overrun with zombies (the search for food, resources, and survivors), while throwing in the fan-favorite traitor mechanic to keep everyone on their toes. The Crossroad cards also add variety to the game, making sure no playthrough is ever identical.

#30 Pandemic

One of the most popular games of the last few years, Pandemic is a cooperative race to stop the global outbreak of four deadly diseases. Players must combine the abilities of the characters they control to first contain, and then extinguish each virus, before they spread too quickly. Things can go from bad to terrible in a single turn, so always be vigilant.

#31 Dread

A tabletop RPG for the story fans. Dread is built from the framework of traditional pen-and-paper games but takes out all of the logistics: dice rolling, stat management, etc. Instead, players use a Jenga tower to perform actions. A toppled tower usually results in a character's death. The horror can be as terrifying or as tame as the host or moderator wants it to be, but the real dread comes from that tower of terror.