I've watched countless horror films – these are the only ones that genuinely scared me

After watching Smile 2, not only was I gunning for Naomi Scott to receive a Best Actress Oscar nomination (which would make her the first woman in history to earn one for starring in a horror movie sequel), but no one could smile near me for about a week without giving me heart palpitations.

As great as the first movie was, Smile 2 takes the idea and RUNS with it. Naomi plays a pop star planning a big comeback after a tragedy, only to be 'given' the Smile curse and plagued by those around her being possessed by an entity that never stops grinning. You'd think a smile wouldn’t be that scary, but you'd be wrong. Not to mention, I think movies about pop stars are that much better when the fictional songs are absolute bangers. New Brain? Actually release the single, Naomi!

This horror flick felt like the only thing the internet talked about for weeks, and for good reason. The story follows a man infatuated with his friend, but too nervous to tell her how he feels. Instead, he makes an ironic wish for her to be obsessed with him, only for the wish to come true with horrific results. I can't remember the last time a horror film had such a hold on me - this is one you'll be thinking about long after the final terrifying moment.

A woman lives in an isolated house with her two children, who have a rare condition that makes them allergic to sunlight, forcing them to live in perpetual darkness. When three new servants join the household, the young daughter becomes insistent that there are strangers living among them who claim the house belongs to them.

With a profound sense of dread, great acting from Nicole Kidman, and a few brilliant jump scares, The Others is an absolute classic for spooky season.

A child psychiatrist is tasked with helping a troubled young boy who 'sees dead people' in this classic Bruce Willis horror. While rife with terrifying, jumpy moments, this film is best remembered for its genius plot twists and an Oscar-worthy performance from a young Haley Joel Osment as the child plagued by the dead.

A group of teenagers find an embalmed ceramic hand that can summon the dead and do what teenagers naturally do - bring it out at parties and take turns summoning spirits to freak one another out. However, the fun and games go horribly wrong when one person remains possessed for longer than is safe, unleashing menacing spirits into the human world. I especially loved the ending of this brilliantly executed horror - which already has a sequel in the works.

While Get Out is widely considered Jordan Peele's greatest horror film, I found his follow-up, Us, far more terrifying, largely thanks to a masterclass performance by Lupita Nyong'o. The story follows a family on holiday who are stalked at their home by distorted, uncanny doppelgängers intent on taking over their lives.

Elisabeth Moss stars in this nerve-shredding stalker thriller. A woman escapes her violent and abusive partner and attempts to rebuild her life. However, her former partner was a brilliant optics scientist, and when she begins noticing small items being moved around her, she develops a horrifying theory - that he has somehow managed to make himself invisible. Disbelieved at every turn, is she really being hunted by her invisible ex, or is it all in her mind? Absolutely heart-pounding stuff.

Why did 17 children, all belonging to the same class, run out of their homes in the middle of the night and vanish? Was it their teacher? Did it have anything to do with the one pupil left behind? Or was it linked to a terrifying newcomer in town? A truly unique horror film that will leave you seriously freaked out.

A YouTube phenomenon inspired this brilliant film starring Chiwetel Ejiofor as a furniture store owner who discovers the entrance to a parallel world in his basement, where the vast, eerie expanse seems to stretch on forever without quite resembling reality. So where is he, and what is happening? A seriously creepy movie that is well worth a watch.