October is the month of the best movies, both in theaters and classic oldies. I cannot wait to start my October movie madness, with the leaves changing and the weather getting chillier and chillier. Friday the 13th was in October which has started Halloween early for me. In honor of Friday the 13th, I have compiled a list of thirteen of my favorite movies to watch during the October.

1. The Silence of the Lambs

This classic 1991 thriller, is great to start the Halloween season. Tracking a new serial killer, Clarice Starling seeks help from an imprisoned psychologist turned cannibal, Hannibal Lector, to find him. Dr. Lector's eerily calm demeanor is chilling and perfect to set the mood for fright. The mysterious idea that Lector was based on a real-life murderer, has haunted people for years and adds extra intrigue to the movie. Not to mention the serial killer actually killing people who will also send shivers down your spine. I love this movie for some thrills, but not nightmares.

2. Monster House

You can never go wrong with early 2000s animation. This movie has a special place in my heart, seeing as I watched it every year when I was young. The rickety house across the street from DJ has a mysterious past, and small disappearances happen around the house. DJ and his friends take time to investigate the living house and uncover how to stop it. The leaves changing and the children trick or treating make Halloween innocent again, but this movie gives it a twist with a monster house that wants to eat the trick or treaters. This movie is a favorite to me, but to those who didn't watch it when they were young may find it less nostalgic.

3. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

The new rendition of this movie is great, but I think eighties horror movies are the best to watch with friends during the Halloween season. In this story, multiple students are being haunted in their sleep by a nightmarishly burned Freddy Cruger. One by one they start to die and the remaining kids try to stop him before he kills them too. Older horror movies are good for both a fright and laughs. A Nightmare on Elm Street makes you never want to sleep again and keeps you aware of what lurks in the dark; perfect for the Halloween season.

4. The Nightmare Before Christmas

The Nightmare Before Christmas is the another classic children's Halloween movie. If you watched this when you were a kid, I don't think you can go a Halloween without watching this movie. Jack Skellington from Halloweentown plots to take over Christmas by taking the place of Santa Claus, but his plan doesn't entirely work out. Singing along to "This is Halloween" gets me in the Halloween mood like nothing else and Tim Burton's directing is always known to produce the ideal creepy aesthetic.

5. The Shining

Now this movie is special to me because it was filmed in my home state (Colorado) at The Stanley Hotel. The supposed haunted room 217 inspired Stephen King to write the novel The Shining. Jack Nicholson plays Johny Torrence, a writer turned homicidal maniac who terrorizes his family, based on his son's disturbing premonitions. This is also a classic eighties horror movie that is scary but can still be a fun movie to watch with friends to give frights for the Halloween season.

6. Coraline

Coraline is one of my favorites because it brings childhood Halloween movies to another level. To this day I still find the story of Coraline unsettling, even though it is an animated children's movie. Coraline moves into a new house with her parents and finds a portal to an alternate universe where she gets everything she ever wanted, including parents that actually pay attention to her, but it soon starts to fall about with a disturbing sequence of events. The creepy doll-like button eyes provide enough fright for anyone, not to mention to the stiff motion of the wax animation. But it is still a wonderful childhood movie and I watch it every Halloween.

7. Saw

Saw is a seven movie film series, with the eighth one coming out October 27. But I don't believe any can beat the one that started them all. The 2004 debut was terrifying then and only continues to grow on me each Halloween.Two men regain consciousness trapped in a room by a demented serial killer and must complete the serial killer's puzzle if they want to live. Watching the two men try to complete the puzzle is the really terrifying part because it almost makes you imagine what you would do if you were in the same situation. This movie is the perfect Halloween movie to watch if you want the classic gore of Halloween.

8. Hocus Pocus

Adult or kid, this movie is timeless and is my go-to Halloween movie. With the cheesy lines and the ridiculous characters of Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy this movie is a great choice if you are not looking for horror. Max and Dani recently moved to Massachusetts where they meet Alison. While exploring an abandoned house they accidentally release three evil witches. The kids then have to work together to try and stop the witches from becoming immortal. The magic and mayhem in this movie will never get old and will always be on my Halloween watchlist.

9. Scream

This cheesy '90s horror movie is my favorite to watch with friends with popcorn a few days before Halloween because it can still give you a fright but the cheesy fight scenes with the killer are fun to dissect with your friends. In a small town, someone has taken their love for horror movies and become one themselves by toying with people using trivial questions and then killing them, but no one knows who this mysterious killer is. For me when I think of a scary movie my mind automatically thinks of Scream for a typical thrilling scary movie to enjoy with friends.

10. Sleepy Hollow

Any movie with Johny Depp is a gem, but this particular one is great for Halloween. Yet another Time Burton film, where a detective is sent to the town of Sleepy Hollow to investigate the mysterious decapitations of three people by a said headless horseman. During his visit, Detective Crane gets more and more uneasy with the town and the search for the headless horseman. This story mixes fantasy and fright like most Tim Burton films and has the perfect ambiance for a classic Halloween tale.

11. IT (1990)

The recent rendition of this 1990 horror film based on the Stephen King novel is a great choice, but I would encourage you to watch the 1990 version as well. Seven kids from a small town in Maine struggle to stop the demonic clown Pennywise, as he continues to take kids into the sewer and kill them. Both Tim Curry and Bill Skarsgard are great, and while causing terror for both the people on the screen and the audience, they both have different takes and angles on the demonic character that will haunt you. Whichever version you decide to watch, you will not be disappointed.

12. Poltergeist (1982)

You can't make a Halloween movie list without at least one true ghost movie, and poltergeist is that movie for me. The 2015 remake of this movie is good but it doesn't compare to the original. The classic scare of Carol Ann with her hands on the television gets me every time. This movie has the Freeling family communicating with ghosts through their television set, who at first are seemingly harmless, but then Carol Ann goes missing and the family takes action to get her back and get rid of the ghosts. Though the eighties special effects do not deliver the same fright as some effects in the newer version, the original cast and directing draw me back every year to Poltergeist.

13. Friday the 13th

Since this list is in honor of having Friday the 13th fall in October I could not end the list with any other movie than Friday the 13th itself. To this date, there are 12 movies from the Friday the 13th franchise with another one said to be coming out in 2018 and each is cheesier than the last, but who doesn't love cheesy Halloween movies? Any movie you choose from this franchise is classic and all entails the killer Jason Voorhees, stalking and killing a group of teenagers in the woods. This, like Scream, is a typical horror movie plot line and is great to watch with a group of friends to pick apart all the stupid things the victims do that get them killed.

Whether you want to really scream or you want a laid back movie to put you in the Halloween spirit, I hope this list has provided you with plenty of movie options for the rest of October. Best witches and happy Halloween!