Sometimes, you just have to return to the classics.
That鈥檚 especially true as While you queue up your here are 10 iconic horror movies from the past 70 years for inspiration, and what AP writers had to say about them when they were first released.
We resurrected excerpts from these reviews, edited for clarity, from the dead 鈥� did they stand the test of time?
鈥淩ear Window鈥� (1954)
鈥淩ear Window鈥� is a wonderful trick pulled off by Alfred Hitchcock. He breaks his hero's leg, sets him up at an apartment window where he can observe, among other things, a murder across the court. The panorama of other people's lives is laid out before you, as seen through the eyes of a Peeping Tom.
James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Thelma Ritter and others make it good fun.
鈥� Bob Thomas
鈥淗alloween鈥� (1978)
At 19, Jamie Lee Curtis is starring in a creepy little thriller film called 鈥淗alloween.鈥�
Until now, Jamie's main achievement has been as a regular on the 鈥淥peration Petticoat鈥� TV series. Jamie is much prouder of 鈥淗alloween,鈥� though it is obviously an exploitation picture aimed at the thrill market.
The idea for 鈥淗alloween鈥� sprang from independent producer-distributor Irwin Yablans, who wanted a terror-tale involving a babysitter. John Carpenter and Debra Hill fashioned a script about a madman who kills his sister, escapes from an asylum and returns to his hometown intending to murder his sister's friends.
鈥� Bob Thomas
鈥淭he Silence of the Lambs鈥� (1991)
鈥淭he Silence of the Lambs鈥� moves from one nail-biting sequence to another. Jonathan Demme spares the audience nothing, including closeups of skinned corpses. The squeamish had best stay home and watch 鈥淭he Cosby Show.鈥�
Ted Tally adapted the Thomas Harris novel with great skill, and Demme twists the suspense almost to the breaking point. The climactic confrontation between Clarice Starling and Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine) is carried a tad too far, though it is undeniably exciting with well-edited sequences.
Such a tale as 鈥淭he Silence of the Lambs鈥� requires accomplished actors to pull it off. Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins are highly qualified. She provides steely intelligence, with enough vulnerability to sustain the suspense. He delivers a classic portrayal of pure, brilliant evil.
鈥� Bob Thomas
鈥淪cream鈥� (1996)
In this smart, witty homage to the genre, students at a suburban California high school are being killed in the same gruesome fashion as the victims in the slasher films they know by heart.
If it sounds like the script of every other horror movie to come and go at the local movie theater, it鈥檚 not.
By turns terrifying and funny, 鈥淪cream鈥� 鈥� written by newcomer David Williamson 鈥� is as taut as a thriller, intelligent without being self-congratulatory, and generous in its references to Wes Craven鈥檚 competitors in gore.
鈥� Ned Kilkelly
鈥淭he Blair Witch Project鈥� (1999)
Imaginative, intense and stunning are a few words that come to mind with 鈥淭he Blair Witch Project.鈥�
鈥淏lair Witch鈥� is the supposed footage found after three student filmmakers disappear in the woods of western Maryland while shooting a documentary about a legendary witch.
The filmmakers want us to believe the footage is real, the story is real, that three young people died and we are witnessing the final days of their lives. It isn鈥檛. It鈥檚 all fiction.
But Eduardo Sanchez and Dan Myrick, who co-wrote and co-directed the film, take us to the edge of belief, squirming in our seats the whole way. It鈥檚 an ambitious and well-executed concept.
鈥� Christy Lemire
鈥淪aw鈥� (2004)
The fright flick 鈥淪aw鈥� is consistent, if nothing else.
This serial-killer tale is inanely plotted, badly written, poorly acted, coarsely directed, hideously photographed and clumsily edited, all these ingredients leading to a yawner of a surprise ending. To top it off, the music鈥檚 bad, too.
You could forgive all (well, not all, or even, fractionally, much) of the movie鈥檚 flaws if there were any chills or scares to this sordid little horror affair.
But 鈥淪aw鈥� director James Wan and screenwriter Leigh Whannell, who developed the story together, have come up with nothing more than an exercise in unpleasantry and ugliness.
鈥� David Germain
Germain gave 鈥淪aw鈥� one star out of four.
鈥淧aranormal Activity鈥� (2009)
The no-budget ghost story 鈥淧aranormal Activity鈥� arrives 10 years after 鈥淭he Blair Witch Project,鈥� and the two horror movies share more than a clever construct and shaky, handheld camerawork.
The entire film takes place at the couple鈥檚 cookie-cutter dwelling, its layout and furnishings indistinguishable from just about any other readymade home constructed in the past 20 years. Its ordinariness makes the eerie, nocturnal activities all the more terrifying, as does the anonymity of the actors adequately playing the leads.
The thinness of the premise is laid bare toward the end, but not enough to erase the horror of those silent, nighttime images seen through Micah鈥檚 bedroom camera. 鈥淧aranormal Activity鈥� owns a raw, primal potency, proving again that, to the mind, suggestion has as much power as a sledgehammer to the skull.
鈥� Glenn Whipp
Whipp gave 鈥淧aranormal Activity鈥� three stars out of four.
鈥淭he Conjuring鈥� (2013)
As sympathetic, methodical ghostbusters Lorraine and Ed Warren, Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson make the old-fashioned haunted-house horror film 鈥淭he Conjuring鈥� something more than your average fright fest.
鈥淭he Conjuring,鈥� which boasts incredulously of being their most fearsome, previously unknown case, is built very in the 鈥�70s-style mold of 鈥淎mityville鈥� and, if one is kind, 鈥淭he Exorcist.鈥� The film opens with a majestic, foreboding title card that announces its aspirations to such a lineage.
But as effectively crafted as 鈥淭he Conjuring鈥� is, it鈥檚 lacking the raw, haunting power of the models it falls shy of. 鈥淭he Exorcist鈥� is a high standard, though; 鈥淭he Conjuring鈥� is an unusually sturdy piece of haunted-house genre filmmaking.
鈥� Jake Coyle
Coyle gave 鈥淭he Conjuring鈥� two and half stars out of four.
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鈥淕et Out鈥� (2017)
Fifty years after Sidney Poitier upended the latent racial prejudices of his white date鈥檚 liberal family in 鈥淕uess Who鈥檚 Coming to Dinner,鈥� writer-director Jordan Peele has crafted a similar confrontation with altogether more combustible results in 鈥淕et Out.鈥�
In Peele鈥檚 directorial debut, the former 鈥淜ey and Peele鈥� star has 鈥� as he often did on that satirical sketch series 鈥� turned inside out even supposedly progressive assumptions about race. But Peele has largely left comedy behind in a more chilling portrait of the racism that lurks beneath smiling white faces and defensive, paper-thin protestations like, 鈥淏ut I voted for Obama!鈥� and 鈥淚sn鈥檛 Tiger Woods amazing?鈥�
It鈥檚 long been a lamentable joke that in horror films 鈥� never the most inclusive of genres 鈥� the Black dude is always the first to go. In this way, 鈥淕et Out鈥� is radical and refreshing in its perspective.
鈥� Jake Coyle
Coyle gave 鈥淕et Out鈥� three stars out of four.
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鈥淗ereditary鈥� (2018)
In Ari Aster鈥檚 intensely nightmarish feature-film debut 鈥淗ereditary,鈥� when Annie (Toni Collette), an artist and mother of two teenagers, sneaks out to a grief-support group following the death of her mother, she lies to her husband Steve (Gabriel Byrne) that she鈥檚 鈥済oing to the movies.鈥�
A night out with 鈥淗ereditary鈥� is many things, but you won鈥檛 confuse it for an evening of healing and therapy. It鈥檚 more like the opposite.
Aster鈥檚 film, relentlessly unsettling and pitilessly gripping, has carried with it an ominous air of danger and dread: a movie so horrifying and good that you have to see it, even if you shouldn鈥檛 want to, even if you might never sleep peacefully again.
The hype is mostly justified.
鈥� Jake Coyle
Coyle gave 鈥淗ereditary鈥� three stars out of four.
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Researcher Rhonda Shafner contributed from New York.
Sophia Tulp, The Associated Press
