Obviously, the best part of Halloween is the candy. But the best part of the days leading up to Halloween is the wide range of horror movies to watch. Hollywood has made hundreds of thousands of horror movies, some scary and some not so scary. Here are reviews for both types of horror movies.

   Plot: African-American photographer Chris Washington (Kaluuya) reluctantly goes to the countryside house to meet the parents of his white girlfriend, Rose Armitage (Williams). Initially, he is worried that Rose’s parents won’t accept him because of his race. Once he gets there, however, they try their best to make him feel welcome–at least that’s what he thinks. He begins to notice mysterious occurences in the house. The rest of the horror/psychological thriller film follows Chris as he uncovers an underlying conspiracy on the estate.

    Review: Get Out isn’t a traditional horror movie with ghosts or unnatural beings; instead, the movie plays with psychological ideas, like some sort of mind game. Even though it starts off a little slow, the movie quickly picks up, accompanied by the suspense that the audience usually experiences during  a horror movie. The filmmakers seamlessly merge the horrorifying and comedic aspects within this movie. If you like a good mystery, then this is the movie for you.

    Fun Fact: The movie was filmed in 28 days!

    Plot: Siblings Becca (DeJonge) and Tyler (Oxenbould) visit their grandparents for the first time. Becca decides to shoot a documentary while they are staying there for five days. The documentary soon becomes a lot more than just the first visit with grandparents when the grandparents start acting unusually. In order to capture the siblings’ point of view, the movie is the actual footage they recorded.

    Review: Throughout the film, there is a good mix of both horror and comedy, which is present in the form of underlying jokes. Even though it could be a little more scary, the movie keeps the audience interested.

    Fun Fact: The film’s working title was “Sundowning.”

    Plot: Three filmmaking students camp out in Maryland to film a documentary about the legend of the Blair Witch. As expected, the students get lost, quickly being hunted by the subject of their project, the Blair Witch. A year after their disappearance, the footage they shot on their cameras is found. The Blair Witch Project paved the path for many recent horror movies, like Paranormal Activity and Cloverfield, by using “found footage” technique. The whole movie is the footage that was supposedly found on the filmmakers’ cameras. By using the video on the camera, the audience feels like they themselves are being hunted.

    Review: Even though the found footage technique was a unique idea, the movie gets dull very quickly. You won’t experience the “chills” that you usually get when you watch a stereotypical horror movie. I would say that the only good part in the whole movie would be the last 30 minutes when the movie actually gets scary.

    Fun Fact: In the first year of its release, the official website for this film included police reports and newsreel style interviews.

    Plot: Katie (Featherston) and Micah (Sloat) move into a new house. Unlike many horror movies, it isn’t haunted. Instead, Katie believes that she is the one that is haunted. She claims that an evil entity has been following her since she was a little girl. To find evidence, Micah sets up a camera to record the paranormal activities. The footage is what the audience experiences in the film.

    Review: Sound familiar? Paranormal Activity borrowed the found footage technique from The Blair Witch Project. The film doesn’t do a great job of putting the audience in the characters’ shoes, despite  the found footage idea. Even though the idea of a demonic presence sets up an eerie setting, it doesn’t live up to the “horror movie” expectation. The parts that are supposed to be scary aren’t that scary. In fact, the scary parts are unintentionally cliche. I wouldn’t recommend this movie if you want to watch a movie that has you on the edge of your seat.

    Fun Fact: Three different endings were shot for this movie.