Looking for a good scare? Here’s what to watch this Halloween

You know Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster and zombies. But what about the Chinese hopping corpses from “Mr. Vampire” or the sleepwalking murderer in “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari?”

Three University of Virginia Library employees want to introduce new audiences to some under-the-radar horror films that are worth your time. Cory Capron, Rich Miller and Bryan Kasik compiled a list of some of the most interesting and influential horror films in the library’s collection for UVA’s “ABCs of the Library” exhibition, under the section “H is for horror.”

Here are a few of their recommendations.

“The Execution of Mary Stewart”

It’s difficult to name the first horror movie, but Capron, a receiving and cataloging specialist, points to director Alfred Clark’s 1895 film “The Execution of Mary Stewart” as a predecessor to the genre.

“I tried to go back to the beginning of cinema,” Capron said. “It may not technically be a horror film, but it has all of the spectacle of ‘The House of Satan,’ which is considered the first horror film.”

Experts believe this movie is the first example of the use of special effects to show the beheading of Mary, Queen of Scots.

“The Student of Prague”

Loosely based on a short story by former UVA student Edgar Allan Poe, “The Student of Prague” is about the consequences of a young college student trading his mirrored reflection for success.

“The Student of Prague” is loosely based on an Edgar Allan Poe short story.

“The reflection becomes an evil version of the student, committing violent acts around the college,” Capron said.

The film, from 1913, shows a preoccupation with the idea of “the other,” as well as the trope of a Faustian bargain common in cinema from this time.

“The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari”

This 1920 film is a quintessential work of German expressionism, a category that includes the original 1922 “Nosferatu.”

The movie follows a hypnotist who uses a sleepwalking man to murder, often interpreted as a metaphor for the German war government.

“The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” is an example of German expressionist filmmaking.

“A lot of people think this is the beginning of horror films, but obviously, we have decades of things before this,” Kasik, a reference librarian, said.

“The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” influenced several horror films, including classics like “Frankenstein,” “Phantom of the Opera” and “Dracula.”

“Jaws”

“When a horror movie becomes mainstream, we tend to think of it as a thriller,” Miller, an IT systems engineer for the library, said.

“Jaws” falls under the monster horror subgenre. (Universal Pictures photo)

Such was the fate of Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws,” an early film from the director who had mostly worked in TV until “Jaws” became a blockbuster hit in 1975.