The 31 Best Halloween Movies of All Time
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Though we encourage you to consume scary stories and films all year long if that's your thing, we implore everyone to watch at least one scary movie during spooky season. Second only to putting up Halloween decorations, they're the best way to get in the spirit of the holiday (especially when there's trick-or-treating candy handy for the viewing party). We're actually fans of putting up decorations and making Halloween treats or cocktails while we watch or listen to a ghostly podcast—why not? You could even invite a couple friends over and make a scary-good party out of it.
To save you from scrolling through your apps for hours, we've rounded up our favorite scary movies to watch on Halloween and throughout the fall season, from thrillers to family-friendly classics and straight-up horror flicks with plenty of jump scares. Indeed, Halloween movies come in many forms, from socially conscious horror with a message to slashers that barely need a plot to entertain. To remind you of genre-defining classics and maybe introduce some obscure gems you haven't seen yet, here are the 31 best Halloween movies ever.
Suspiria
Part supernatural thriller, part high-fashion period piece, Luca Guadagnino's (of Call Me By Your Name fame) 2018 remake of Dario Argento's 1977 film Suspiria will take you on a wild, weird ride. It stars Dakota Johnson as an American student enrolling in a prestigious dance academy in late 1970s Berlin and Tilda Swinton as the head dance teacher (and witch coven leader), so you should expect plenty of disturbing body contortions, trippy mirror scenes, moody backdrops, and stellar performances.
Carrie
Being a teenager is basically being a poltergeist, right? Based on Stephen King's novel of the same name, the 1976 cult classic Halloween film stars Sissy Spacek as a shy young girl who's being bullied by her classmates and tormented by her fanatically religious mother when she realizes she has supernatural powers—for better or for worse.
Pearl
Pearl is a dark coming-of-age tale slash villain origin story about a totally deranged young woman (the film's namesake) living with her German immigrant parent and helping them run their farm. That is, until she decides not to, because she'd rather be "a star"—we'll just leave it at that for now. Set in rural 1918 Texas against the backdrop of WWI, the ascent of the silent film industry, and the influenza pandemic, Pearl is both an unnerving physiological horror film and a brilliant, beautiful, and bizarre Technicolor nod to earlier films, like The Wizard of Oz. Directed by Ti West, Pearl is part of the X trilogy, and though it was released second (the third and final installment of the trilogy, MaXXXine, will likely be released sometime in 2024), it's actually the origin story of the antagonist in X.
X
Though it doesn't really matter which order you watch them in, we recommend watching X right after you finish Pearl (for the second time, because, rest assured, you'll want to rewatch it immediately). X takes place on the same Texas homestead that features in Pearl, though this time it's 1979 and a group of filmmakers has arrived at the farmhouse they've rented to shoot an adult film to find that the owners, an elderly couple, might have other plans for them. It's a wild slasher, perfect for Halloween.
Get Out
Jordan Peele's biting and inventive thriller centers on a young Black man named Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) who's going home with his white girlfriend (Allison Williams) to meet her parents for the first time. While the whole family delights in positioning themselves as liberal and post-racial (Rose's dad would have voted for Obama a third time!), there's a dark plot behind why Chris has been invited there in the first place.
Hocus Pocus
Hocus Pocus is a Halloween classic the whole family can enjoy year after year. Everyone's favorite 17th-century witches, the Sanderson Sisters, come back from the dead when a skeptical youngster from California awakens them with a spell. Adventure ensues! If it isn't already a staple spooky season tradition, here's your reminder to revisit the Disney masterpiece annually.
Hocus Pocus 2
For some lighthearted yet festive Halloween vibes, put on Hocus Pocus 2. As in the original 1993 version, a group of teenagers in Salem, Massachusetts (of course), accidentally summons the Sanderson sisters, a motley coven of witches, who wake up hungry for children to eat in order to maintain their youthful beauty. Oh, and the beloved Billy Butcherson makes a comeback too!
The Boogeyman
Adapted from Stephen King's short story of the same name, The Boogeyman begins where King's story leaves off: When a disturbed man whose family members keep dying turns up at a therapist's home office for help before he dies by suicide midsession, the therapist ends up grappling with his own domestic traumas. Left to raise two daughters on his own after his wife's untimely death, the therapist struggles to put his life back together while also supporting his kids. And in the meantime, there might be something else, something monstrous, haunting the family home. Could it be the Boogeyman?
Watch on Hulu or Disney+ this fall.
A Ghost Story
For a more cerebral, slow-burning, and emotional watch this Halloween, stream A Ghost Story. Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck move into a potentially haunted house until one of them ends up haunting it as a sad, white-sheeted ghost. Contemplative and quiet, the film spans centuries, begs existential questions, wrestles with grief, and presents interesting theories about what people are haunted by and how they cope.
Hereditary
A generally destabilizing creepiness and paralyzing jump scares abound in this horror flick about a family mourning the death of a mysterious grandmother. Toni Collette received plenty of accolades and even some Oscar buzz for playing Annie, a mother desperate to figure out how the strange and terrible events befalling her loved ones are connected to that initial passing.
Crimson Peak
This movie by The Shape of Water filmmaker Guillermo del Toro is a feast for the eyes—a gothic romance with a requisite ghostly element. When young and innocent Edith (Mia Wasikowska) is swept off her feet by Sir Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston), he brings her to his now-penniless family's crumbling mansion to live with him and his cold sister (Jessica Chastain). The ghosts who visit her there have something sinister to communicate to the new bride.
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
What's a Halloween movie marathon without a vampire flick? If you love the vampire genre but want to see a film that gives it a new and empowering spin, watch A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night. Set in a fictional Iranian ghost town and shot completely in black-and-white, it's beautiful but bleak too in a way that's perfect for Halloween. It's also visually captivating enough to watch on mute while reading the subtitles, but you shouldn't because the soundtrack (a mashup of classic westerns and Iranian punk bands) is so excellent. The protagonist vampire isn't just any old blood-sucking villain. This time, she preys on men who disrespect women.
The Invisible Man
In this modern take on the classic movie monster, Elisabeth Moss plays a domestic abuse survivor who's terrorized by an invisible threat—the very same one she used to live with. This adaptation is a clever and searing depiction of gaslighting and how hard women have to fight to be believed, as Moss's character's own sanity is called into question when she insists that her violently possessive husband (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), who happens to be a brilliant scientist specializing in optics, faked his own death and is now stalking her with the use of a suit that renders him invisible.
Practical Magic
Here's another family-friendly Halloween movie about the power of sisterhood (and witchcraft, of course). Worth watching for the set design (created by Robin Standefer and Stephen Alesch, the design power couple behind Roman and Williams Guild) and costumes alone, Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman play two sisters raised by their quirky aunts in a small New England town. They also happen to come from a long line of witches cursed by an ancestor to never find true love.
Psycho
No list of scary movies is complete without Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece, Psycho. One of the most influential thrillers of all time, it features a tour-de-force performance by Anthony Perkins, a universally recognizable score, an iconic death scene, and a handful of bold twists that helped shape the future of the genre.
Halloween
Jamie Lee Curtis was solidified as one of the great scream queens of all time in this 1978 slasher flick. As a babysitter stalked by a murderer who escaped from a facility for the criminally insane, Curtis helped kick off a franchise that still lives on today. Though the continuity of the Halloween series is a little wonky, you'll also want to catch the 2018 sequel to see her character Laurie Strode as a kick-butt survivalist who has stayed ready for the return of Michael Myers.
The Cabin in the Woods
Never seen this one before? Trust us: The less you know about The Cabin in the Woods going into it, the more fun you’ll have. Suffice it to say that it's a great choice for any October night when you want to laugh—and hide behind your hands.
The Witch
A young woman (Anya Taylor-Joy) is suspected by her superstitious Puritan family of being a witch after her baby brother is stolen (and sacrificed) on her watch. And while there is a very real supernatural threat in this recent cult classic, much of its spooky atmosphere comes from the physical isolation of this outcast brood and their oppressive fear of womanhood.
Martha Marcy May Marlene
If you haven't seen this disturbing Sean Durkin psychological thriller, you may as well change that on Halloween. It unfolds from the perspective of a traumatized cult victim after she makes an escape, and thus the viewer inherits the protagonist's (Elizabeth Olsen) distorted sense of time and building paranoia. So if you enjoy spellbinding thrillers with subtle, open-ended twists, add Martha Marcy May Marlene to your watchlist.
The Omen
There are few scary movie tropes more unsettling than creepy kids, and The Omen's Damien (Harvey Spencer Stephens) is the creepiest of them all. The 1976 movie follows Robert Thorn (Gregory Peck), an American ambassador who comes to realize after several violent and grotesque incidents that the child he "adopted" without his wife's knowledge after their own biological son died is actually the Antichrist.
Saw
Neither Saw nor its sequels are for squeamish viewers. But if you love body horror and crave a mind-bending twist, check out this inventive flick about an anonymous killer slowly torturing his victims for reasons at first unknown.
It
Stephen King's novel It and the 1990 miniseries adaptation go back and forth in time from a summer when a group of outcast tweens who call themselves the "losers" first encounter the evil force—most often taking the form of a razor-toothed killer clown—that has a death grip on the town of Derry, Maine and when they return as adults, having forgotten all about it. It, which came out in 2017, focuses on that first part alone, shining a light on childhood trauma and softening the scares with the moving camaraderie among its young cast. It Chapter Two continues the story.
Jennifer's Body
A movie that didn't get its due praise until well after its release, Jennifer's Body stars Megan Fox as a high school cheerleader who becomes possessed by a succubus, leading to her having an insatiable craving for devouring boys. The reason for that craving is revealed as the movie goes on and has had critics and fans looking back on it as a feminist classic.
It Follows
After consummating her relationship with her boyfriend, Jay (Maika Monroe) is relentlessly pursued by an unnamed force that can track her anywhere—an affliction passed on through sex. What's most likely to give you nightmares is the way the "it"—which is carried by people of all ages and genders—moves, constantly walking towards its prey with a moderate, steady pace that's horrifically inhuman.
The Innocents
Henry James's novella The Turn of the Screw has been adapted many times, most recently as the Netflix series The Haunting of Bly Manor. This 1961 take stars Deborah Kerr as a governess who moves into a remote country estate to care for two orphaned siblings. She comes to realize that their strange behavior may have something to do with the tragic love story of two former Bly residents. But can the increasingly distressed governess's version of events be trusted?
Scream
In 1996, horror master Wes Craven and Dawson's Creek creator Kevin Williamson teamed up to create what's maybe the best self-aware slasher movie ever made. Scream plays with and on teen horror movie tropes, creating something fresh, fun, and, yes, jump-out-of-your-seat scary, with the help of some of the dreamiest names of the 1990s.
The Shining
Stanley Kubrick's feature film famously changes the ending of Stephen King's novel about a caretaker (Jack Nicholson) who goes mad while trapped in a haunted hotel with his small family. But it's also renowned for its macabre visuals and no-holds-barred performances. For a chaser, check out Doctor Sleep, the 2019 film adaptation of King's sequel, which centers on the adult Danny Torrance (Ewan McGregor), who still has "the shine."
The Conjuring
This 2013 horror film launched what's known as The Conjuring universe, which comprises its sequels and spinoffs. But we still love the original best. Based loosely on the experiences of real-life paranormal experts Ed and Lorraine Warren (played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga), this movie follows as they attempt to figure out what's haunting the farmhouse of their new clients.
The Exorcist
Focusing on the possession and attempted exorcism of 12-year-old Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair), The Exorcist has scarred countless viewers since it premiered in 1973. Because of the unfortunate events that have befallen people involved in making it, there's even a theory that it carries a curse.
The Ring
The English-language adaptation of the bloodcurdling Japanese horror movie Ringu (also worth a watch if you can find it) stars Naomi Watts as a mother and journalist named Rachel, who starts to investigate an urban legend about a videotape that kills each viewer seven days after they watch it—unless they pass it on. The deeper Rachel digs into the origins of the sentient short film and the identity of the ghost girl she sees in her dreams, the closer she gets to saving her son, who got his hands on the tape while she wasn't looking.
The Babadook
A young widow looks on horrified as her only son becomes fascinated by the spine-chilling main character in a children's book, allowing it to physically enter their lives. The Babadook, with his creepy top hat and menacing claws, has all the hallmarks of a monster hiding in a closet, but he also represents the family's living grief.
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