Halloween and scary movies go together like candy corn and trick-or-treating. You can’t have one without the other. That’s why I’ve come up with 25 Halloween movies to fill up your month of October. From cult classics (The Craft, Donnie Darko), to scary AF (Halloween, Rosemary’s Baby), to hilariously funny (Hocus Pocus, Casper). You’ll even find some lesser known indie films (Maniac, The House of The Devil) on my list. All of these movies are available to stream on sites like Netflix and Hulu; or if you have a subscription, HBO Go, Amazon Prime, and Showtime. Now it’s time to get your popcorn and snacks ready, light a fall scented candle, dim the lights, and get ready to be terrified.
The Craft
R / 1996 / Supernatural Horror
“We are the weirdos, mister.” This 90s film is about four outcast teenagers who attend a Catholic prep school and are infatuated by the occult. They begin to start casting spells on everyone (and each other), but soon they’ll learn that there are negative consequences to putting a hex on someone.
Watch on Amazon
Scream
R / 1996 / Horror
A High school student (Neve Campbell) and her friends are terrorized by a serial killer known as “Ghostface” a year after her mother was murdered, and they’re all suspects. Who can they trust?
Watch on Amazon
Sequels:
IT!
TV-14 / 1990 / Supernatural Horror miniseries
Pennywise, a sadistic serial killer clown haunts and terrorizes a group of pre-teens during the 1960s and brings their worst fears to life. Years later when he returns they come back to their hometown to defeat him once and for all.
Sequels:
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
NR / 1974 / Horror
A group of stranded friends are hunted by a cannibalistic family and become their next meal. PS: Leatherface is inspired by the serial killer Ed Gein. How creepy?!
Watch on Amazon
Remakes & Sequels:
- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986) – Apple TV
- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: A Family Portrait (1987) – Amazon
- Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990) – Amazon
- Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1995) – Amazon
- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) – Amazon
- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006) – Apple TV
Donnie Darko
R / 2001 / Sci-fi Thriller
Set in 1988, Donald “Donnie” Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a troubled teenager who sleep walks and befriends a giant rabbit named “Frank.” Frank tells him the world is going to end in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes, and 12 seconds. Donnie then seeks to find what the doomsday revelations actually mean.
Watch on Amazon
The Babadook
Unrated / 2014 / Psychological Drama, Horror
A mother who lost her husband due to a violent death starts reading her son a new bedtime story. When her son tells her the monster in the book is living in their home she fears that his grief has turned to a psychological disorder. She soon discovers that it’s not his imagination and evil is all around them.
Watch on Amazon
The House of the Devil
R / 2009 / Horror
Set in 1983, a college student takes on a babysitting job during the full lunar eclipse. She soon learns that she has become a plot in the family’s satanic ritual. Even though this movie was filmed in 2009, it takes on the feel of an 1980’s slasher film.
Watch on Amazon
Halloween
R / 1978 / Horror
Michael Myers murdered his sister on Halloween night and was committed to an insane asylum. Fifteen years later on Halloween, Myers escapes and returns home to start killing all over again. In a race against time, can he be stopped before it’s to late?
Watch on Amazon
Sequels:
The Exorcist
R / 1973 / Horror
Inspired by the true story of Ronald Doe, a 12-year-old girl becomes possessed by a demonic spirit and her mother enlists the help of two priests to remove the spirit from her body.
Watch on Amazon
Remakes & Sequels:
Rosemary’s Baby
R / 1968 / Psychological Horror
Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow), is a young housewife. Her and her husband Guy (John Cassavetes) move into an old New York City apartment building with a sordid history and surrounded by odd neighbors, only to find Rosemary mysteriously pregnant. Is there more to this building than it seems?
Hocus Pocus
PG / 1993 / Family Comedy
In Salem, Massachusetts three witches (the Sanderson sisters), are resurrected after three centuries on Halloween night when the black flame candle is mistakenly lit by a virgin. Now, a talking black cat, a few teenagers and a young girl must stop the sisters once and for all.
Interview with a Vampire
R / 1994 – Drama, Horror
Set in 1791, two vampires (Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt), tell their life story of friendship, love, and loneliness, and how they turn a ten year old girl (Kirsten Dunst) into a child vampire.
Watch on Amazon
The Addams Family
PG-13 / 1997 / Family Comedy
The story of an odd and eccentric American family who don’t care how others view them.
Watch on Amazon
Don’t Breathe
R / 2015 / Drama, Horror
A group of friends break into a blind man’s house to try and rob him. They quickly discover it’s not going to be as easy as it seems and that they’ve made the biggest mistake of their lives. They chose the wrong victim.
Watch on Amazon
Casper
PG / 1995 / Family Comedy
A ghost hunter and his daughter break into an abandoned house to search for treasure only to find three obnoxious prankster ghosts and one friendly one named Casper.
Watch on Amazon
Hush
R / 2016 / Horror Thriller
A writer who has lost her hearing and her voice retreats to an isolated cabin in the woods and is stalked by a masked killer.
Watch on Netflix
The Amityville Horror
R / 2005 / Horror
A remake of the 1979 film, which is based on the true story of the Lutz family. Ronald DeFeo Jr., murdered his family back 1974. A year later the Lutz family moves back into the house of mass murders to become terrorized by demonic forces.
Watch on Amazon
Watch the original on Amazon
The Shining
R / 1990 / Horror
Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) is a recovering alcoholic and aspiring writer who takes his family to a historic hotel and is hired to be the off-season caretaker. Soon after their arrival his son begins to see the gruesome past of the hotel and its future. He sees what drove its previous caretaker to murder his family and then kill himself.
Friday The 13th
R / 1980 / Horror
A group of teenagers reopen the abandoned campground, Camp Crystal Lake after a child previously drowned there. They are stalked and murdered by a serial killer.
Watch on Amazon
Sequels:
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