With the creepy season in full swing, another movie list is in order. Luckily, this is my favorite genre. As a kid, my mom let me and my sisters each pick out a Blockbuster movie on Fridays, and the three of us took turns watching our films over and over through the weekend.

My sisters usually grabbed movies like American Pie or The Wedding Planner, but for some reason, I spent my time on the horror aisle. There were fewer options and even less critical value at that time, but I found the thrill of these films better held my attention. Many were filled with jump scares and gore, reserved for the Halloween season, but the thriller genre is greater than that and has evolved to say much more.

The most rewarding of these films explore topics that are present in our lives, such as grief, mental illness, fears of declining health, social expectation, or religion. In the last 50 years, there have been a handful of directors to accomplish such, like Jaromil Jireš, Brian De Palma, Michael Haneke, and Lars Von Trier. Their films aren’t geared towards the Halloween season, rather they are eerie depictions of the everyday, the human predicament.

More recently, this genre has received even greater mainstream attention with directors like Robert Eggers and Ari Aster. Their films thrill and scare but also hold these very real human elements that make you think. These are the types of films I tried to compile in the list below. So, without any further delay, here are seven incredible thrillers to watch this Halloween (or any other time of the year).

1. Safe (1995)

Todd Haynes’ Safe is a satirical portrayal of a 1980’s suburban housewife who turns to New Age therapeutics to understand and grasp her sudden illness. The film centers on questions of post-industrial culture, health, and wellness, such topics that continue to be uncannily relevant today.

2. Funny Games (1997)

It felt essential to include one of Michael Haneke’s notoriously provocative films here. Funny Games is a self-aware horror film about a family who visits their summer estate and finds themselves victims of a sadistic game. This film is not for the faint-hearted, as Haneke will go to great lengths to make his point. The great auteur has an incredible ability to raise a mirror at us. Here, it is at humanity’s impulse to tune in for brutality.

Note: The director made an English/American version of the same film in 2007, but I wholly recommend his original 1997 version.

3. Hereditary (2018)

After the passing of the family’s matriarch, the daughter and grandchildren are left to grapple with their inherited and inevitable fate. A terrifyingly interesting take on familial trauma, curses, and cults.

4. Don’t Look Now (1973)

Don’t Look Now is a strange and unsettling depiction of loss. After the tragic death of their daughter, mourning parents head to Venice, Italy to carry out the husband’s commissioned work of restoring a church. The husband, a rational and skeptical man, becomes fragmented by his grief.

5. Under the Skin (2013)

Under the Skin looks at who we are from an outsider’s perspective. The film follows a disguised extraterrestrial sent to Earth to carry out a mission. While here, the alien discovers humanities’ motives, desires, and weaknesses.

6. The Witch (2015)

Atmospheric and highly meticulous director Robert Eggers transports his audience back to 1600’s New England to tell the story of a Protestant Christian family who is banished from their village. Left to fend for themselves at the edge of the woods, the family is tormented by religious themes and superstitions.

7. It Follows (2014)

It Follows is a full-on thriller with the perfect Halloween atmosphere. A teenage girl has intercourse with her boyfriend, but their seemingly innocent encounter appears to have passed on a relentless curse that could be inescapable. It Follows watches like a present-day release of the horrors that I loved growing up. Think Halloween meets The Ring, fit with an amazing 1980’s synth soundtrack and an unnerving impending doom.