Ahhh, is there any greater feeling than cuddling up to the woman/man that you love, watching a frightening movie on DVD, then spending the rest of the evening in a cold sweat, convinced that if you fall asleep – even for a second – they will start surgically taking you apart with a razor blade?

This weekend it’s Halloween, which means that a large portion of young people will dress up like dicks, and go around the streets badgering people for sweets, whilst others will go to parties dressed as orcs, and a very small percentage will kill for the first time. If you don’t fit into any of those categories, perhaps you should spend the night in watching one of these six chillers?

(we were going to do 666, but decided that six would just about cover it).

Don’t Look Now, 1973

A couple head off to Venice to get over the death of their drowned daughter, then things start to get really bloody eerie. It features weird premonitions, a woman who looks like a disgusting troll, and Donald Sutherland pleasuring Julie Christie in a very sensual manner. It’s psychological.

The Shining, 1980

Oh jeepers, when those twins appeared in that hallway, we damn near yelped. And how about the sexy naked lady who suddenly morphs into a decrepit old crone. Not to mention the blood in the lifts, and Jack Nicholson’s screen wife, with the face that could make for a two hour horror film if you just filmed her sleeping. Not to be viewed alone in a mansion.

The Vanishing, 1988

There are two versions of this film, one Dutch, the other American, starring Kiefer Sutherland – the second one is a big bag of rubbish. The first, however, is a wonderfully chilling tale of a man attempting to figure out exactly what happened to his lovely girlfriend, who went missing at a petrol station, whilst presumably stocking up on Ginsters pies and a copy of Razzle. Cue strange revelations, and a rather uncomfortable end.

The Wicker Man, 1973

The Equaliser goes to a remote Scottish island, where everyone is a total pagan, which makes him sick to the insides, because he is all about Jesus. Then things get really creepy. Britt Ekland is in it, but even her naked dance can’t quite erase the chilling visions of local people wearing fox heads, rabbit hands and duck beaks, whilst hunting down our hero, who finally goes berserk religious in a big blazing wicker man. The Nicolas Cage version is also scary, but only in that it’s totally shit.

The Haunting, 1963

Possibly the best haunted house film ever, this features a small group of people stupidly going to stay in a massive creepy house to see if anything paranormal might happen. And guess what? It does, everyone gets really freaked out, and because it’s one of those old black and white films, it’s double-scary.

Halloween, 1978

The film that spawned about a million sequels, most of which are dross. But this outing, about a psychopath in a scary mask tormenting and killing people, is genuinely chilling. It also marks the beginning of an upward curve in Jamie Lee Curtis’ movie career, which went on to peak in Trading Places, then suddenly slump to the ground with a thud when she chose to put on an up-the-bum leotard in Perfect, starring John Travolta.

This was a guest post by Josh Burt from Interestment. Him ace.

Follow hecklerspray on Twitter