Off The Top is a new feature that has its writer list the first examples that come into their head before giving a quick introduction to each.

1. Let the Right One In (2008)

Who would have thought that an irrelevant Morrissey lyric would be the namesake for one of the most inspired re-imaginings of the vampire this century? While most may have only heard of this film due to its US remake, Let Me In, starring Chloe Grace Moretz, it’s the Swedish original that’s truly the one to watch. While the chilly, snow-buried landscapes of Scandinavia may have lost their lustre with their appropriation in ITV’s Sunday dramas, the fantastic acting of the child leads as well as the unnerving and dream-like tone created by director Tomas Alfredson transcend such comparisons. While following John Ajvide Linqvist’s novel plot, the decision to leave out the enigmatic Eli’s gruesome backstory fully enables the romance to take hold and let the horror truly startle.

2. Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

So we’ve done vampires, what about the Anti-Christ? Is there any other movie (based on a book of course) that has done the trope better? But what is fantastic about this movie? It’s not gruesome or shocking in the way that one would typically expect of a horror film, but Rosemary’s Baby is an established classic and set a standard in horror films that shouldn’t be forgotten: the transformation of everyday fears into the gruesomely surreal. Mia Farrow’s postnatal distrust of husband and child is superbly acted, while Roman Polanski’s claustrophobic direction enhances the unsettling terror of Ira Levin’s bestseller. Its end scene and revelation still feels more lurid than any work of Eli Roth. Ignore the upcoming TV remake starring Zoe Saldana, the Oscar-winning performances of the original are not to be missed.

3. Jaws (1975)

Admittedly, this is a questionable choice, mainly as what used to be considered an out-and-out horror film at the time has now been revised as the foundation for the summer blockbuster. Steven Spielberg was rushed by studio executives to make a film that capitalised on Peter Benchley’s 1974 novel and produced the highest grossing film Hollywood had ever seen. But rewatch the film and notice the slasher movie tropes of the pre-credit kill, the killer’s POV shots, the immortal villain or the pithy one liner. The likes of Halloween and Friday the 13th owed more to Jaws than we had ever thought.

4. Stephen King’s IT (1990)

Well, this is an embarrassment on the writer’s part — why didn’t one think of Kubrick’s immaculate The Shining instead of this unusual mini-series where Tim Curry plays an age-old supernatural entity that disguises itself as a clown and menaces people with balloons? It just came off the top of the head and those are the rules of this feature. Yet the fact that this was made constitutes the power King has as an author, where monsters and scenes that wouldn’t work outside of a book are forcibly adapted on to the silver screen. It’s also a very fun horror film — while overly-long, it is thoroughly strange and by far a go-to watch when looking for something a little goofier this Halloween.

5. Don’t Look Now (1973)

Nicolas Roeg’s masterful adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s novella is an exercise in flawless film grammar — his symbolic use of colour and the fluid editing style accentuate a horror film that’s as much terrorised by grief as the serial killer who’s running rampant around Venice. Roeg’s film generally follows its written forebearer — that of a married couple trying to cope with the loss of their daughter via a business trip to Venice — but key changes actually improve upon the original. By having the film’s daughter die of drowning, the mourning parents’ move to Venice is a horribly portentous and foreboding one that affects us more than the literary death of meningitis. Made at the height of its director’s powers, Don’t Look Now would be the greatest horror film of the seventies if it wasn’t for Kubrick’s The Shining (another domestic drama with hints of the supernatural). Possibly overlooked by our generation, definitely seek this one out.