Get ready for some spook-tastic classic cinema this Halloween! 

Poltergeist (1982)

Unnervingly, this ghost story will leave you wary of your own television. Critics say: "This is a barnstorming ghost story... consistently redeemed by its creator's dazzling sense of craft.

Paranormal Activity (2007)

Something of a modern classic, this shocking feature plays on a culture saturated with reality television and near omnipresent surveillance. Critics say: "It comes by its screams honestly, earning them with incremental, at times agonizing gradations of old-fashioned, what's-that-noise-in-the-hallway suspense."

Ju-On: The Grudge [呪怨] (2002)

t's a fun haunted house film with unnerving, creative imagery. Critics say: "When The Grudge... focuses on the scary stuff, there's no shortage of fun to be found. And there are several moments of quietly effectiveness creepiness.

Evil Dead (2013)

This new update to the 1981 original eschews some of the camp and piles on the gory scares, making it a decidedly creepier pick for the holiday. Critics say: "The gore is considerable (though often imaginative) and Alvarez's decision to forego CGI effects pays grisly dividends. That may not be a genuine tongue being slashed in half lengthwise (while still, it should be noted, in its owner's mouth) but damned if it doesn't look like one."

House [ハウス/Hausu] (1977)

On our Halloween movies list because: Every Halloween night deserves a haunted house, and this delirious Japanese flick presents the weirdest, most entertaining example in memory. Critics say: "Movies are rarely, if ever, as whirringly rich and strange as House."