Who doesn’t like a good scare?

Nothing gets the blood pumping quite like a good horror film, and Halloween is the perfect opportunity to settle in for a night of terror-infused fun.

Even scarier is dealing with strange children ringing your doorbell and asking for sweets, but that’s a story for another day.

Forbes is here to help you make the most of your scare-fest by narrowing the endless horror choices down to five winners.

This year offered a particularly good selection of horror flicks, ranging from the psychologically terrifying to the downright gory.

The ground rules are simple: most of these are overtly horror films, but I also am willing to include films that reaches across multiple genres — horror/sci-fi in particular is a common combination, and is represented by a few entries on my list. If you don’t agree and prefer horror of a more straightforward traditional variety, don’t worry, there’s plenty of that here too.

Here are the top five scariest films of 2018, with an added suggestion at the end:

5. Annihilation

A sublime sci-fi/horror story about love, loss, isolation, and the ways in which we change and evolve as people during adversity to survive and understand who we are and how we have changed. It’s also horrifying, eerie, and visually hypnotic, with a superb ensemble cast. It’s a great follow-up project for writer-director Alex Garland, whose first feature Ex Machina was one of 2015’s best films.

4. Halloween

The definitive follow-up we’ve waited 40 years to see, to the 1978 iconic slasher picture. This sequel foregoes the comparatively restrained depiction of slaughter found in the first film, but those changes were to appeal to evolved tastes of horror fans now accustomed to seeing the blood and hearing the death-gurgles of victims.

Check out the SPL!NG review for more info.

3. Sorry To Bother You

The cinematic debut of writer-director Boots Riley (singer-songwriter of bands The Coup and Street Sweeper Social Club) is a visionary dystopian sci-fi satire that becomes increasingly nightmarish, it turns into a sort of creature-feature body-horror mashup.

2. A Quiet Place

A horror movie so exceptional and original, in any normal year it would’ve easily been the best of the genre. This is also a dark horse candidate for Best Picture, and possibly Best Original Screenplay, and will likely end up on at least some of the Academy ballots. John Krasinski hit a home run his first time at bat as a director, and his on-screen chemistry with real-life spouse Emily Blunt adds to the powerful dramatic effect of the movie’s family-in-peril narrative.

1. Hereditary

The greatest horror film of 2018 is also among the finest horror pictures ever produced, and one of this year’s best films in any genre.

…Terrifyingly brilliant and emotionally engrossing, it keeps you off balance for the entirety of its runtime. Hereditary scored almost $80 million from a $10 million budget. It also wowed critics, earning an 89% at Rotten Tomatoes overall and 96% among Top Critics.

Lock the door, draw the blinds, and disable the doorbell – horror movie time.

A few more suggestions – if you’re after something truly terrifying, or a little different, check out the cinematic sensations Raw and A Ghost Story.

Raw, in particular, should have made the Forbes top five list after causing audience members to faint in, or walk out of, the movie theatre. You’ll see why when you watch the trailer.

Cancel your plans for this weekend and celebrate a late Halloween by curling up on the couch with some pizza, some popcorn and a terrifying film.

Happy Halloween everyone, and to all a good fright.

[source:forbes]