I have watched more horror movies this October than I have in years. It’s a genre I typically steer clear of since much of it seems nihilistic and foul. But there are also some worthwhile films, too. Here are three worth watching:

Jacob’s Ladder (1990)

The title is a biblical reference to Jacob’s dream at Bethel, Genesis 28:12, when Jacob has a “dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.”

The story is about Jacob Singer (Tim Robbins), a Vietnam War veteran turned U.S. postal worker, mourning the death of his son and struggling with hallucinations that he believes are demons. Much of the movie is concerned with whether these disturbing sights and experiences truly are demons or whether he is suffering the lasting effects of drugs administered to him as part of an Army experiment that the U.S. government is trying to cover up.

I did not see the end coming. (I’ll say no more so that you won’t either.) It was one of those films that was worth watching, but I have no desire to see it again.

The Shining (1980)

Based on the novel by Stephen King, The Shining is the story of Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) who agrees to be the winter caretaker at the Overlook Hotel in Colorado, along with his wife, Wendy (Shelley Duvall), and young son, Danny (Danny Lloyd). Danny has an imaginary friend, Tony, “the little boy who lives in my mouth” who tells him things that have happened or are going to happen. Dick Hallorann (Scatman Crothers), the head chef at the Overlook, explains to Danny that this is “the shining” — psychic abilities — which he has, too.

Alone with his parents, Danny senses the presence of evil at the Overlook, which is haunted by the memory of a former caretaker who, during the long and isolated winter, went mad, murdered his wife and two daughters with an axe, and shot himself. Who can stop history from repeating itself?!

I first watched The Shining when I was 12 years old. For years, it lived on in my memory as the most terrifying movie I had ever seen. Rewatching it, I felt it was considerably less terrifying than I remembered but still enough to make me start. Beyond the scary, there is much to appreciate in the story, the acting, and the directing. Highly recommend. Though not for kids!

Sleepy Hollow (1999)

Tim Burton’s adaption of Washington Irving’s classic ghost story, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” is gory in a goofy way. Ichabod Crane (Johnny Depp) is a constable summoned to Sleepy Hollow from Manhattan to investigate a series of brutal murders. All the victims have been decapitated in a strangely tidy fashion. The townspeople insist the culprit is the headless horseman who is coming and going from hell, murdering his victims and keeping their heads as souvenirs. After coming face-to-face with the horseman, the initially skeptical Crane accepts this theory and begins to investigate who is controlling the devil and why.

I also watched this for the first time when I was probably too young to appreciate it. It’s not as good as the (1949) Disney adaptation, but it doesn’t try to compete with it. So long as you don’t take the movie too seriously, it’s an enjoyable film.