Tokyo Gore Police (2008) is Yoshihiro Nishimura’s splatterific directorial debut a few futuristic, samurai sword-wielding police officer whose mission is to seek out “engineers” – freaky mutants whose bodies have morphed into lethal firearms. Featuring penis canons, vagina dentatas and acid-spewing breasts, it’s gooey, hilarious and delightfully gory. (GY)

FEAR STREET TRILOGY (2021)

The Fear Street Trilogy (2021) is THEE most iconic horror series on Netflix. It only got here out in 2021 and didn’t get the like it deserved. The series has three movies based in 1666, 1994 and 1978. Every few a long time, Shadyside becomes a hotspot for mass murder, and the killer is at all times a stable resident who just seems to snap – however the trilogy has a serious twist. The storytelling is so gripping, which makes it super bingeable. It’s also super gay and romantic, so there are moments of relief amidst all of the blood, guts and horror. (HJ)

THE CELL (2000)

As most cult movies do, The Cell (2000) completely tanked when it was released on the turn of the millennium, but truthfully, it’s essential to give this one a likelihood. The film tells the story of gifted detective Catherine Deane (J.Lo), who signs herself as much as enter the mind of a serial killer using some mad latest tech in a bid to save lots of his latest victim from a deeply grisly fate. Drawing inspo from artists Damien Hirst and horror legend HR Giger, in addition to music videos by the likes of Nine Inch Nails and Madonna(!), this terrifying trip into the darkest recesses of the human mind is a visible feast from start to complete – bolstered further for fashion fiends by Eiko Ishioka’s insanely good costumes. (ED)

Vince Vaughan can also be really hot on this film. (DS)

DON‘T LOOK NOW (1973)

Don’t Look Now (1973) is Nicolas Roeg’s nightmarish study of grief set against the grandeur of Venice. Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland star as a bereaved couple haunted by fleeting apparitions of their drowned daughter. Because the film creeps toward its diabolical climax, they increasingly catch sight of their lost child in her distinctive red hooded coat as she continually eludes them within the labyrinthine city. With its occult themes, stylish cinematography and uncanny sense of escalating terror, Don’t Look Now is amongst probably the most influential works of classic British horror cinema. (Emily D)

HALLOWEEN (1978)

It’s an on-the-nose alternative but for me, there isn’t a query: Halloween (1978), John Carpenter’s masterpiece about an escaped serial killer who returns to his hometown. There are such a lot of things I like about it: its rating stays the creepiest piece of music ever written (I challenge you to whack it on Spotify on a night stroll and never feel as if you’re being stalked by some malevolent entity). The film is amazingly taut, well-paced and suspenseful, and Jamie Lee Curtis is impossibly endearing because the protagonist. And while Halloween has been interpreted as an oblique satire of the alienation of American suburbia, I find its sun-drenched, autumnal aesthetic strangely idyllic. If ‘Halloweeniness’ exists as an emotion, no film evokes it for me more. (JG)

JENNIFER’S BODY (2009)

Because of marketing and misogyny, Jennifer’s Body didn’t get the respect and acclaim that it deserved when it first got here out in 2009. Thankfully, since then, it has undergone a critical reevaluation and turn into a beloved feminist and queer horror classic. Many individuals have written very mental and nuanced think pieces about it, including Carmen Maria Machado, within the anthology It Got here from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror, which I urge you to read here. 

Many more people (413 million on the last count) have also watched this specific scene, which inspired countless women to understand they were very gay. (AP)

THE LOVE WITCH (2016)

I’m profoundly afraid on a regular basis, so I don’t really understand the appeal of watching dread-inducing horror. Isn’t that what Twitter is for? Give me romance! Give me the animated green hills of Japan! For that reason, I’m just going to go together with The Love Witch, since it does the alternative of each other horror I’ve seen: it makes me chill out. The visuals are so hazy, dreamlike and slow; the ladies so magnetic; the characters so familiar in all their shameless narcissism. I, too, would really like to concoct intoxicating potions and swan across the LA hills in soft chiffon. Desperate for a little bit enchantment on this life. (DS)

HOUSE (1977)

Actually, what? I take it back. I do love horror movies. Particularly this 1977 classic, which was allegedly written by a 10-year-old child. House – or “HAUUUUUUUUUSSSUSSUUUUUU!” – works higher once you go in completely blind, so I won’t say far more. Just activate, tune in and have a panic attack. (DS)

CONFESSIONS OF A SHOPAHOLIC (2009)

Psychological thriller Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009) made me who I’m today. It’s a nightmarish skewering of consumerism; a carnivalesque sendup of the style industry and the way it demands us to part with our morals to accumulate the subsequent big thing. The costumes are also deliberately excessive and garish, which makes it feel like an actual assault on the senses. Quite bonkers, really. Love Isla Fisher though – what a performance! Bravo. (DR)

TWILIGHT (2008 – 2012)

Wow. What a journey. (TS)

A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971)

I’m very bad with proper horror – gore, jumpscares, etc etc – so I’ve gone for a more psychologically disturbing pick: A Clockwork Orange (1971). It’s at all times difficult to adapt a book to the screen – let alone a book that was banned multiple times – but I don’t think anyone could have done a greater job with Anthony Burgess’ novel than Stanley Kubrick. In the event you haven’t watched or read it: it’s set within the near future and follows the protagonist, Alex, who might be probably the most evil, depraved characters to return out of the twentieth century. Come for the dark humour and Malcolm McDowell’s stellar acting, stay for the large questions the story asks about rehabilitation, morality, justice and freedom. (SS)

THE SHINING (1980)

The Shining (1980) depicts the mental deterioration of Jack Torrence, played by Jack Nicholson, on the behest of some supernatural forces on the Overlook Hotel. Shelley Duvall offers an all-time great performance, even though it is alleged this was attributable to Kubrick’s brutal directional practices, making it hard to inform acting from real fear. Even though it‘s already ingrained deep into popular culture folklore, it’s still a genuinely terrifying film – one which embeds itself deep under your skin from the off, remaining there for the entire two and a half hours. It’s also a deeply layered and complicated work that, past the initial fear of the primary watch, requires a number of viewings to completely unpack. (LM)