October has come! And Halloween is knocking at the doors. It is the best time to get your Halloween costume ready, carve those pumpkins and get your candies together.
All you need is a good collection of spooky movies to watch along with your family and kids.
Movies that not just maintain the Halloween spirit up but also elevate your experience for this festive season.
Whether you are into classic horor movies like Halloween, Candyman or you like slasher movies, we are putting all kinds of horror movies, and other related sub-genres as well in this list.
If you’re a fan of dark, gothic and fantasy horrors, we have some for you too or you might be someone completely into gore and bloody movies, there are few of those as well.
Either you’re a horror fan or just a person looking for some good horor movies to watch on Halloween, whether with your family or with your friends, here are some of the best choices to look at.
Candyman (1992)
If there’s to ever talk about the greatest horror movies of all time, Candyman, released back in 1992, perhaps one of the best modern gothic ghost stories cannot, and mustn’t be excluded.
And so, we are not excluding it in this list as well or better let’s get this out of the way first by putting this top of the list.
Even though, unfortunately, this movie is often labeled as a slasher movie, which is fine (we all love slashers!) but it is taking away the full-credit to all those nuances, conviction and work put in this movie.
If you look at it closely, the film consists so much of detailing and literary nuances through the film, and also a lot of traditions reflected in the story making it narrative rich and meaty, you wouldn’t just stop at saying this movie is a great slasher. It’s definitely more!
This movie is basically inspired by a story penned by Clive Barker and further re-purposed with another story that sets roots in America’s known biggest sin- slavery!
The film features Tony Todd, who is this elegant but imposing spirit who comes from this tragic and unspeakable past to get his revenge or justice.
Even though this film doesn’t get as much credit as it should be, it is still to be said as one of the greatest horrors or just greatest movies of all time.
The Black Phone
This one is a story penned by Joe Hill which gives you the total feel of his dad Stephen King’s stories.
You get this very clear place as Denver suburbs, setting and time as around late 1970s entails a story about these young coming of age kids who are able to wield powers but give everything is creepy about them.
In the movie, Mason Thames, a teen boy, is basically kidnapped by this creep played by Ethan Hawke.
But apparently, this boy is able to communicate with all those previous victims of his through a mysterious phone line, hence the title The Black Phone.
This movie with a largely horror element doesn’t really rely on the usual horror tricks and gimmicks, so there are no gore or jump scares to rile the audience up.
The narrative stays true to its core, the vibe it carries through the movie with certainly great direction from Scott Derrickson and great performances from its cast.
Where To Watch: Peacock
The Conjuring (2013)
No way, we are leaving this movie out from a Halloween movie list! The Conjuring, released in 2013 is a game-changer in the horor movie genre.
The film that pretty much defined the the commercial success or credibility of horor franchise in Hollywood.
Whether it is the title card of “Based on a true story” or different period setting and backdrops of this cinematic universe, the movie is a perfect combination of class and mass type of filmmaking.
The film is heavily influenced by the filmmaking style of the 1970s that tries to balance the subtleness for a class and bluntness of the mass.
So there are indeed stylish choices, compelling storylines and more dramatic choices in the narrative filmmaking but then, there is a lot of subtlety and nuisance in the characters, the story and how it is visually presented.
And that’s pretty much the reason why The Conjuring Universe or movies was able to achieve such a great deal of commercial as well as critical success.
The director behind the film is James Wan, a guy with so much credibility, the best known for another successful franchise starter movie Saw.
What special about the movie is how well audience connect emotiaonlly with the characters due to their impactful and highly relatable performances, mainly by Patrick Wilson and Lilli Taylor.
Halloween (1978)
One of the greatest horror flicks and very aptly chosen for this list for the best Halloween movies as the title itself is ‘Halloween”, released back in 1978.
Halloween is indeed one of those iconic horor movies you can count on to give you the best of everything, the true classic, the trendsetter.
We did get a reboot and all of the classics, same with this Halloween but the Original, the classic one remains still one of the most entertaining horror movies to watch.
So, Jamie Lee Curtis following the footsteps of her scream queen mother Janet Leigh makes her debut in this movie, playing a high school student Laurie Strode.
The story goes as this highschool student Laurie was get stalked amidst of her babysitting gig by an escaped killer who apaprently murdered her sister 15 years back.
There is no doubt on the fact that this movie takes this basic premise of the Slasher genre with uttermost simplicity and yet makes it into an art to appreciate for.
What you can only say is this movie is for true Horror fans, the purist as well, and it speaks to all kind of horor or slasher genre audiences.
Where To Watch: Shudder
Beetlejuice (1988)
You cannot complete the list of the best Halloween movies without including Beetlejuice which is known especially for its enticing villain.
The villain is played by great performer Michael Keaton, one amongst his best on-screen playing the titular character Beetlejuice.
He is basically a malevolent, mischivious and crazy spirit who decided to help a dead couple to haunt a family who are trying to buy their house.
But soon things escalated to the next level making this much scarier and even fun, definitely making this movie one of the best halloween movies to watch.
Where To Watch: Peacock
Trick ‘r Treat (2008)
This Halloween-worthy movie was released in 2008, much later as compared to the classic horror ones like many in this list as well.
But this one does become a modern Halloween cult classic that every fan of horor or halloween movies enjoy.
So this one is basically a combination of four short movies put together in one, all connected to each other by a creepy yet bit adorable trick-or-treater who shows up in each of these horrifying stories in this small town on the night of Halloween.
This movie certainly gives you the feel of those classic horrors in 80s where there is a good blend of all campyness, comedy, gore, jump scares and some show of skin as well.
In a nutshell, if you are bringing people for a Halloween party, and want to start with a perfect Halloween fun movie with friends, this is a perfect one.
Where To Watch: Kanopy
Scream
Not just the first movie but the entire Scream franchise proved to be the slasher franchise that ended slasher movies, making everything so self-aware, meta and kind of geeky.
But this movie is undeniably a fun ride for horror and especially for slasher fans. You get this classic 90s vibe with all slasher genre tropes in this mystery thriller, campy but yet fun movie.
Coming right from Wes Craven, the movie is about this group of teenagers in a California high school who are being targeted by a ghost masked killer.
There is so much in the film that is genuinely terrifying like the opening phone call sequence with Drew Barrymore.
The best part is, if you liked this one, you don’t have to stop, you can just go on and on to watch the other four movies in the franchise.
Where To Watch: Paramount+
Coraline (2009)
Coraline has to be the spookiest animation movie that is basically created for kids, and that’s quite rare to see in the first place but that’s not all!
So, even for the adults, this movie that features these very different looking folks with their button eyes and weird textures and appearances has a tendency to get under the skin.
How many movies that claim to be in the horror genre have the ability to do so, like for real?
This one is indeed a true hidden gem that is totally worthy to explore on Halloween night, to watch with your family and kids ( just not too young!)
This film is directed by Henry Selick, the one who helmed another great animation movie The Nightmare Before Christmas, so there is indeed a credibility to go with.
And that pretty much translates in this movie as well, done with incredible artists at Laika with their such extraordinary stop-motion animation.
The story is basically brough into life from a dark fantasy novella penned by Neil Gaiman but way more elevated through ground-breaking, unneriing and highly immersive parallel world-building and stylistic filmmaking choices.
Overall, the film isn’t just great at the story level but also a true piece of art which is worth appreciating while watching, thinking how much went on to show this particular frame for a few seconds.
Also, Dakota Fanning lends her voice for the protagonist in the film, also the titular character, a young girl who finds this mysterious door that opens to another world.
And in that, different dimension, she meets another version of her with almost everything the same but just perfect and ideal.
But even though this sounds like a fantasy plot, the treatment is pretty horor, thriller and mystery as far as the genre goes.
Where To Watch: Apple TV
The Witch (2016)
The Witch, a much later entry in the horror genre, but entirely perfect to get you into the Halloween mood as this is one of the best scary you can get on-screen.
The film was released in 2016 by Robert Eggers is arguably known to be one of the best horor movies of the decade, goes proudly with other notable ones in these few years like The Lighthouse, Midsommar and Hereditary.
So, if you are not kidding about watching a true scary movie, and you are all set to clench your fist raise your heartbeat and go full-in, this one is for sure.
The story of the film is set in 1630, where this teenager played by Anya Taylor-Joy, you might know her from The Queen’s Gambit, relocates to this remote countryside where they feel threatened and horrified by this mysterious eerie presence in a nearby forest.
The Witch is going to unnerve you, skip your heartbeat and feel you all messed up in your stomach, and that’s pretty much a definition of a true, good horor, without any extra stuff to rile you up.
Where To Watch: HBO Max
Child’s Play
Child’s Play is one of the cheesy, fun and still iconic horor-slasher franchises to revisit. In fact, this is such a fun movie to watch on Halloween’s night.
Even better, you can watch all the movies in the franchise as a movie marathon if you plan to spend late night watching horor movies.
The movie is about this psychopath who is on the loose running for his life from the cops, and at the verge of dieing in a shootout, he transfers his soul to a doll named Chucky, using black magic.
And now this serial killer possesses a doll named chucky wants to kill a young boy whom he gifted to.
Even if the movies in this franchise are sometime silly and dumb, it is still so much corny and fun ride to go through.
Where To Watch: AMC+
The Addams Family (1991)
If you are into all the dark and gothic vibe, The Addams Family, released back in 1991 is a perfect treat for you, especially to re-watch or watch ( if you somehow haven’t yet) on Halloween night.
So, this gothic-vibe horror film goes perfectly well even for young children, this is something Barry Sonnenfeld needs to be appreciated for.
The film is about this spooky, dark and gothic-looking family living their best life in modern-day America.
What you can expect is great performances in the movie from the cast Raul Julia and Angelica Huston.
Carol Kane, Christopher Lloyd and young Christina Ricci worked in this film very well too, making an ideal casting for this film.
The sequel of this film does something that rarely happens in movies, which is surpsassing the first or the original film which does speak to the quality for the overall franchise as well.
Where To Watch: Paramount+ | Apple TV
The Craft (1996)
The Craft, is the movie that features the icons of 90s such as Fairuza Balk, Rachel True, Robin Tunney and Neve Campbell.
And we get this group of teen highschoolers who are also basically the most powerful group of witches we have seen on screen.
The plot of the movie very gracefully blends the traditional high-school setup or story like you see in teen dramas and shows with these supernatural elements.
So, at one side, you see these teenage characters that you already know of, that are fused with witches’ elements in the story.
Then, these young witches explore their powers, and try to push their limitations but it soon goes out of hand when they start using it for their own good.
All four young women start to use their power to take revenge against people who traumtize them, and after that things just go haywire.
Get Out
You know that feeling when you watch a scene in a movie (mostly in a horor, mystery or thrillers) that something bad is going to happen, the eerie feeling, the silence and oddness.
Well, that’s Get Out for you! The whole movie pretty much feels like that! Since the very beginning of the movie, you feel in your gut that something is wrong, even when things seem good.
This Jordan Peele directorial film comes out as the modern classic, one of the best of these few decades in the horror and mystery genre.
Whether the direction, the performances or the mystery lingering through, and the climax- everything about this movie is perfectly gel together and never dissaspoints.
A good thriller makes you invested in characters, feel for them, so if something bad happens to them, you feel bad too, and that makes the movie work. This movie gets that very well.
The plot of the movie is not very complicated to begin with. It is a story of this young Black photographer who is going to visit her white girlfriend’s parents for a weekend but only to discover that something sinister is going on amongst these wealthy white families.
Where To Watch: FX Now
Ghostbusters
Let’s go bit away from all the true horrors, and more towards fun horror, and you cannot go there without the best one in the list, ie. Ghostbusters.
It is about the trio of these scientists who are disgraced, but now able to capture ghosts in New York city after which they get to save the world from a paranormal takeover.
They happen to become the first line of defence against a doorway to the evil dimension opening to New York, which can potentially destroy everything.
Ghostbusters has always been a classic, a pop-culture milestone for the U.S and in fact all around the world.
And you can always go for a Ghostbusters movie marathon, watching the rest of two movies in the series including the reboot of 2016 featuring Mellissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, Kristen Wilg and Leslie Jones.
There is another addition recently in 2021, which is basically a follow-up to the actual franchise, not necessarily a reboot title Ghostbusters: Afterlife featuring Mckenna Grace, Finn Wolfhard, Paul Rudd and others as well.
Where To Watch: Hulu
The Shining
The famous adaptation of Stephen King’s bestselling novel is a one of the notable movies in the psychological horor genre.
The Shining is one of those films that haunts you even if it gets over. Every scene of this movie is a masterpiece!
It features Jack Nicholson as this writer who agrees to work for a hotel and take up a job as a winter caretaker of this secluded hotel for which he also brought her wife and a young son.
As time goes on, he gradually feels the presence of this supernatural but sinister force at the property that soon drives him insane.
This film has a special place in the horror genre, and has always been a classic for fans, something worth re-watching on Halloween eve.
Where To Watch: HBO Max
The Addams Family (2019)
Well, even though this one is not the best Addams Family film, it is undeniably entertaining and fun, especially if you have kids in your life.
This one can be a true family entertainer on Halloween, to get together, get some popcorn, candies and other edibles and enjoy this with your kids.
The Addams Family, released in 2019 was the animated version, apparently they get the animation treatment to their original source material.
The story starts when this eccentric and dark family of Addams move to this bland, boring and non-happening suburb and soon become the talk of the town.
Where To Watch: Amazon Prime Video
Casper (1995)
Another family entertainer, a great fun movie to watch with kids or family together on Halloween, is Casper.
This in fact, is more on a sweeter side of Ghosts, something hardly scary rather than a friendly and cute-looking ghost story.
The basic plot of the movie is about this cute friendly ghost Casper befriending a teen girl who just moved to this haunted house with her family.
Where To Watch: Peacock | HBO Max
It (2017)
The classic Stephen King horor can be very well defined by this adaptation titled It’ featuring these young groups of kids in a small town located in Maine putting up against a demonic entity.
This demonic entity basically takes up the form of the creepiest clown, a horrifying creature that takes the kids.
What could beat the good old-fashioned true Stephen King adaptation horror with kids, small town and a terrifying clown.
Where To Watch: HBO Max | Netflix
The Fear Street Movies (2021)
So this is a three-part movie or a trilogy coming from R L Stine, the one who wrote all those Goosebumps books later made his novel series as Fear Street, on which these Netflix movies are based upon.
To say the least, this adaptation was something sort of the biggest film experiment by Netflix, as they release three consecutive movies in the row, one by one on Fridays from July 2021.
So, rather than going for one movie at a time, and then going for the next one in response to whether the first movie works or not, they just went on not just making but also releasing all three movies.
All these three movies are connected to each other, and are set in different years. The first movie was set in 1994, next one in 1978 and the last one in 1666.
Overall, the story surrounds these teenagers who are dealing with some sinister and evil force in their town which dates way back and connected to them in a way.
Well, it is interesting to see how these movies are intertwined, so that keeps you in the loop to watch another.
The cast members, atleast the primary ones, are carryover to the next movie even though settings change. More than that, there are a lot of gory and bloody deaths to watch in this trilogy series.
So, you can say this one is a fun ride. Might not be good enough to give it a re-watch if you’ve already seen it but can be really fun for first-timers to get through the series at one go on Halloween.
Hereditary (2018)
Clearly, one of the best horor movies of this decade, ranking high with other very few movies in this genre to rise up against the less-conviction movies or not-required sequels.
Hereditary is a story about this family who started to notice this weird series of events that are to say the least, disturbing and gut-wrenching after the death of their secretive grandmother.
A horror that must get all the respect for its conviction in their narrative rather than relying too much on cheap thrills, jump scares or mindless gore.
Very few movies in the horor genre, without showing too much, have the capability to make you feel sick in your gut and truely terrifying in their presentation. This is undeniably one of them!
And what even elevates everything, or some say the very reason of why this works, is the excellent performance of the talent powerhouse actress, Toni Collette who plays the mother in the movie.
Where To Watch: Showtime
Suspiria (2018)
This one is a remake of the 1977 horror classic of the same title from Dario Argento. Suspiria , released in 2018 was directed by Luca Guadagnino.
And to begin with, this proves to be one of the best horor remakes maintaining the balance of adaptation and authenticity.
The film features Dakota Johson playing Susie, a new dancer who comes all the way from Ohio to Berlin only to study or learn dance at this elite dance academy and soon becomes the head dancer.
As the story goes on, more students and teachers found to be dead or missing, it becomes very clear that something not just sinister but also supernatural is going on that is yet to be unfolded.
Tilda Swinton, in this movie, plays three different roles, so that’s something to look forward to. Apart from that, the movie is totally worth watching with friends on Halloween.
And since it is kooky, campy and also fun, it is indeed a good watch but more importantly, it is also very very scary for sure.
Where To Watch: Amazon Prime Video | Apple TV
E.T the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
How can you miss this classic sci-fi that is ideal to watch on Halloween? So, we are not!
This is one of the best family films that you can watch with your young kids as well on Halloween eve.
The movie is a heartbreaking tale of this young boy meeting and befriending an extraterrestrial alien who get standed on earth.
Against all the odds, he helps him from all the threats and goes back to his planet. No one can forget the iconic bike rides in costumes, the Halloween and classic bicycle to the moon shot.
The movie has a great emotional quotient which makes it perfect for movie nights with some humor, some action and kids as well.
And since it is a Steven Speilberg directorial film with such a stellar cast such as Henry Thomas, Peter Coyote and Drew Barrymore.
Where To Watch: Apple TV | Amazon Prime Video
Jennifer’s Body (2009)
Again, something to look at the more fun side of Halloween horrors, Jennifer’s Body is a perfect recipe for a pre-party Halloween movie night.
This movie, even though it did get a lot of criticism and wasn’t taken very well, aged very well amongst the horor or slasher fans in general.
In fact, this Kary Kusama directorial teen horor film went on to earn the status of cult classic just a few years back.
And that mostly happened due to all these niche fans of the movie who brought people’s attention to this movie.
They actually gave quite the credit to the movie by pointing out the fact that this movie was not just really good but ahead of its time as well.
If that’s not the reason that compels you to watch this, the movie does feature Megan Fox as Jennifer, a teenager from Highe school.
She apparently gets possessed by some evil force and in order to look young and good, she starts feeding on boys.
But soon, her best friend, Needy played by Amanda Seyfriend, takes up the job to stop her, and save her boyfriend from getting eaten up by her best friend.
The movie is incredibly funny, bit campy, quotable and so much to watch for. So this definitely can be at the top of your list for watching Halloween movies all night.
Where To Watch: Paramount+ | Amazon Prime Video
Midsommar (2019)
This movie gained so much buzz in recent years that even if you haven’t actually watched the movie Midsommar, you must have seen some memes on the internet.
Or perhaps you heard about the film, how horrifying or gory it is, or say how good it is. If you surround yourself with moviewatchers, they perhaps even recommended you to watch it.
There might be a chance that someone quoted the most iconic line in this movie to you which is “Do you feel held by him?”
More related to break-ups, in fact it is said to be the break-up movie of all break-up movies ever made.
This movie features Florence Pugh, playing this heart-broken girl, trying to emotionally recover from a devastating tragedy in her family.
She basically tags along with her questionable boyfriend and his even worst friends to attend this festival that is known to be happening only once every 90 years.
Before you know more, this film is the brainchild of Ari Aster, the director of Hereditary, so now you can expect how twisted this movie is going to be.
So the movie, in no time turns into a horrifying story that includes a neopagan cult, flower crowns, weird rituals and these horrors that are going to happen in the broad daylight to a girl who is just trying to get through her pain.
Assume the worst, and you still will be shocked!
Where To Watch: Showtime
The Crow (1994)
The Crow, is a movie that you should defintely watch on Halloween, and technically this should be the first as the plot of the movie takes place the night before October 30th.
It is simply a great movie to watch every year on the night sometime around 11 pm so the movie goes on until after midnight, so you can begin your holidays on a high note.
This dark, violent and gothic action movie is actually based upon a graphic novel created by James O’ Barr.
The story is about this musician who was murded with his fiance but again brought back to life just after one year by an unknown mystical crow to avenge deaths.
Even real-life tragedy is connected to this film as Brandon Lee was unfortunately killed while filming the movie scenes and that accident became a bad omen for the legacy of the movie.
Still, the film managed to become highly influential over the time and that could have made Brandon Lee one of the biggest stars in the world if he survived.
The cast as well as the director Alex Proyas did such a great job making the film overall outstanding for generations to come.
Where To Watch: Fubo | Showtime | Apple TV
The Evil Dead (1981)
One of the iconic horror and slasher franchises coming from the collaboration of the director Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell, released the first movie in 1981.
So, they came up with this low-budget horor and gore masterpiece named The Evil Dead, that went on to be a pop-culture phenonmenon.
This movie proves to be a nasty horror movie where a book of the dead is unleashed with all the demons to a group of teens.
Even though there is so much gore, bloodyness and nastiness in the movie, the first one is so much fun and such a rollercoaster.
This is indeed a movie that you are going to enjoy on Halloween along with your friends with lots of food and beer perhaps!
At one time you will be laughing and then sometimes you will be shocked to your core. This horror classic surely deserves a re-watch on Halloween.
Where To Watch: iTunes | Youtube Rent/Buy
Featured Image Source: HSWF