Halloween is just around the corner, so know is the perfect time to look back over the scary movies that have been released since January, and take stock of the best ones! We also put World War Z into this list, but decided it was a little too action-y to fully belong on the horror list, so here are the five scariest movies we've seen this year so far.

THE CONJURING

Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga play a husband-and-wife who also happen to be a paranormal debunkers, or exorcists when the occasion calls for it. When they happen across the case of the haunted home owned by Lili Taylor, Ron Livingston and their five daughters, they are pushed to the limits of their capabilities, with some truly nerve-shredding goings-on. This is a callback to the old-school 70s horrors, one of the creepiest movies of the decade, and absolutely the best horror movie of 2013.

CITADEL

After his pregnant wife is murdered by a pack of violent youths, an agoraphobic father finds himself holed up in a high-rest block of flats with his new-born child. However, these youths have become feral (or have they? There is some suggestion that the man's fear of them have demonized them in his mind), and have completely taken over the neighbourhood, murdering anyone who crosses their paths. Playing on some very current fears, this is the kind of movie that will pop into your mind as you find yourself walking down darkened back alleys alone at night.

ANTIVIRAL

Definitely the oddest horror film on this list, to the point where we're not even sure that you can safely call it a horror film. In the near future, celebrity obsession has reached its peak, with superfans paying to be infected with the same illnesses as their idols. When Syd (Caleb Landry Jones) doses himself with the same infection as his favourite superstar, his world turns upside down when she turns up dead. This is body horror mixed with hard-hitting socio-subtext, and will get under your skin even as its giving your brain a bit of a workout.

EVIL DEAD

The remake of the 1981 cult classic, this rips out any attempt at humour and replaces it with blood, blood and more blood. A group of teens head to a cabin in the woods, in order to help one of them go cold turkey from her drug addiction, but happen across a cursed book that brings forth an almighty evil that wants to consume them all, one by one. Ridiculously violent rather than outright scary, this is an absolute must for gore-hounds.

SLEEP TIGHT

A Spanish horror flick from one of the directors of the incredible [REC] and [REC]2 (if you haven't seen them, stop what you're doing and rectify this immediately, as they are fantastic), Sleep Tight tells the story of an apartment block super-intendent who is infatuated with one of the tenants in the building, and goes to some very, VERY extreme lengths to get closer to her. A bit of a slow-burner, but once all is revealed, you will be double-checking every nook and cranny of your apartment before going to bed for the next couple of weeks!