By: Grant Vance ~Staff Writer~

October, as with many of its other monthly brethren and sistren, is associated with its fair share of traditions surrounding its central holiday. This particular holiday, of course, is Halloween, which ushers in several fan-favorite activities including pretending to be someone else, caring an excessive amount about pumpkins and the cheerful fun of consenting to nightmares by watching an excessive amount of horror films.

Though costuming and the appeal of orange squash are straightforward enough, the horror genre is a mixed bag, supplying a wide range of quality and content. To help you avoid the shame of hosting a bad marathon, the Newswire has some suggestions for what to watch this October. A good horror film is hard to come by these days, making the great additions to the genre especially welcome. A couple standouts that have been released within the last couple of years include “It Follows,” “We Are What We Are,” “The Babadook,” “House of the Devil,” “You’re Next” and “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night.” All of these films are generally diverse, ranging in subject matter from family cannibalism to Iranian vampires. Spooky.

New additions are wonderful, but they would not have gotten where they are without inspiration from the classics, specifically the slasher sub-genre. This is a genre most typically associated with the ‘70s and ‘80s, typically about overbearingly tall killers with scary knives and masks. A couple standouts from the genre include “Halloween,” “Friday the 13th,” “Nightmare on Elm Street” and “Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” Considering these are all long-running franchises with numerous versions, remember to always watch the originals and choose sequels cautiously.

Some other classics outside the slasher sub-genre worth noting are “The Exorcist,” “Rosemary’s Baby,” “The Evil Dead,” “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,” “The Thing,” “Psycho,” “The Fly” and “Alien.” These are all personal favorites containing many of the varying qualities of a great horror film.

Last are the more comical varieties of horror, typically parodying or satirizing the different tropes and clichés within the genre. The hall of fame for this style of horror film includes “Cabin in the Woods,” “Evil Dead 2,” “Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon,” “What We Do in the Shadows” and anything from the “Scream” franchise that is not “Scream 3.” Though this is far from a complete list of every horror film worth a watch, it is certainly a good place to start. Happy horror spectating.