Halloween movies are a staple at this time of year. With Halloween quickly approaching it is only right to get some popcorn, snug under some blankets and enjoy one or two seasonable movies. Who cares if you don’t feel like going trick-or-treating? Maybe you want to pretend that no one is home so you can eat all of that candy yourself. Perhaps you simply enjoy the thrill of slashers or ghost stories. Whichever you are, I don’t doubt you have asked yourself the question: what movies can I watch this Halloween? Fear no more (get it?) – there are plenty of great Halloween movies out there. Even if you don’t like horrors or thrillers, I guarantee there will be something in this list for you.
A Quiet Place 1 & 2
The perfect movie for those who aren’t in the mood for horrendous and unnecessary gore. This movie follows the Abbott family in a dystopian world haunted by a creature that hunts by sound. The family, which includes children, live in near complete silence to avoid being hunted. While living within the sand path is safer, there is an entire world beyond it. In a fight for survival the family has to leave their home, still living a silent life. Only, in the outside world there are more monsters, except some of them are human.
The Babadook
Does believing in something give it power over you? Or does believing in it give you the power? In The Babadook a single mother must navigate life while her young son lives with the belief that there is a monster lurking within the house. Did the sudden and violent death of the woman’s husband bring about these dark fantasies or is there truly something in the basement?
IT 1 & 2
At least one person we know has a fear of clowns. Are they just creepy looking or is there more to the story. In IT, a clown named Pennywise torments the town of Derry, Maine. Seven children dubbed the Loser’s Club face this bloodthirsty, drain dwelling clown during what should be a fun-filled summer. Twenty seven years after their first encounter, Pennywise re-emerges in Derry to wreak havoc once again. This time, however, the Loser’s Club are adults and band together to defeat the shape-shifter once and for all.
Jeepers Creepers 1, 2 & 3
Jeepers Creepers where did you get those peepers? A magnificent trio of Halloween movies to get your mind racing. A chilling discovery in the basement of a church leads to Darry and Trish fighting for their lives after they begin to be hunted. An indestructible entity, who is known as the Creeper, pursues the siblings.
Some time after the events of the first movie, a scarecrow seemingly comes to life and attacks the son of Jack Taggart Sr. The pair, shocked as anyone would be by a scarecrow attack, seek an explanation. Nearby, however, a school bus breaks down and the insidious creature known as the Creeper begins his killing spree. Realising that the attack on his son and the school bus murders are connected, Jack Taggart Sr makes the decision to eliminate the Creeper.
The third movie follows a sergeant leading his task force on a horrifying mission to eliminate the Creeper. The Creeper’s last day of feeding approaches and it will likely be the only chance the sergeant gets to complete the job. While on the job, however, the hunters become the hunted as the sergeant begins to learn of the Creeper’s origin.
Ginger Snaps 1, 2 & 3
The perfect Halloween movie for anyone dreading that time of the month. Two sisters, Brigitte and Ginger, live in the suburban town of Dailey Downs. The night that Ginger gets her first period the girl is attacked by an unknown creature. She quickly heals but is not the same from that time onwards. With the dangers of the full moon and modern life, Brigitte has no choice but to save her sister as well as herself.
Brigitte is in a rehab clinic for teenage girls after the events of the first movie. There, she is separated from the drug she uses to keep her transformations at bay and slowly begins her descent into lycanthropy. While she goes to extreme lengths to ensure that the drug supply continues she is also being hunted by another werewolf.
Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning follows 19th century Ginger and Brigitte. The pair get lost in a forest while out riding and are rescued by ‘The Hunter’ and a Native American. The rescuers take the sisters to Fort Bailey where there has been an unusual disturbance. While no one seems to be talking about the incident to the sisters, they slowly realise what has happened.
Pet Sematary
All the best Halloween movies start with a family moving to a new house. The Creed family, made up of husband Louis, wife Rachel and two young children, move to Maine from Boston. The family soon find a burial ground a short distance from their house in the woods. When there is a death in the family strange occurrences begin to happen around them, leading to unimaginable consequences.
Hereditary
A Halloween movie with a terrifying sense of realism. Hereditary follows the story of a family uncovering cryptic secrets about their ancestry after the Graham family matriarch passes away. Uncomfortable truths are unearthed and terrifying realities become known to the remaining family. Will they be able to avoid the fate that they have now inherited?
Ma
When does friendliness turn into obsession? A great Halloween movie for the paranoid people out there – Ma. When some teenagers and a lonely middle aged woman become acquainted, they think they get the deal of a lifetime. The woman, who wants only to be referred to as ‘Ma’, allows the teenagers to use her basement for parties. Ma sets down some rules: no cursing, one person must always be sober and never go upstairs. The unlikely friendship turns into a horror as Ma becomes incredibly obsessive and the teenager’s favourite place becomes their worst nightmare.
The Shining
Here’s Johnny! A well loved Halloween movie everyone has at least heard of and one of many Stephen King masterpieces on this list. The Shining follows winter caretaker Jack Torrance who has taken up work at the Overlook Hotel in order to cure his writer’s block. He, along with his son, Danny, and wife, Wendy, move into the hotel. Plagued by psychic premonitions, Danny’s visions worsen and become increasingly disturbing as his father’s writing does not come to fruition. While trying to complete his writing work, Jack begins to discover the hotel’s sinister secrets which have a violent effect on him and puts his family in danger.
Doctor Sleep
Following the events of The Shining Dan Torrance, son of Jack Torrance, is an alcoholic who is still traumatised by the Overlook Hotel. While trying to forget the horrors of the hotel and move on with his life, Dan meets another with his extrasensory gift known as the ‘shine’. Abra and Dan come together to form an alliance in the fight against the True Knot – a cult full of shine-feeding figures who hope to gain immortality.
Us
Ever felt like there is an evil doppelganger who wants you dead? Adelaide Wilson and her family return to her childhood home on the beachfront. With traumatic memories from her past still raw, she is preoccupied with the idea that something bad is about to happen to the family. Before long, those fears come true and four masked invaders invade the house. The Wilson family has no choice but to fight for their survival but soon discover that the faces of their attackers are the same as their own.
Get Out
Don’t watch this one if you are already afraid of meeting your girlfriend’s parents for the first time. Chris and girlfriend Rose are at last at the stage where it is only right to meet the parents. Rose invites Chris for a weekend trip with her parents so they can all get to know one another, or so he thinks. Red flags about the family’s over accommodating behaviour are taken as a sign or them dealing with the interracial relationship their daughter has but Chris soon senses that something is wrong. As the hours pass by and the weekend continues, a number of disturbing discoveries reveal the unimaginable truth.
The Invisible Man
Cecelia’s mad scientist of an ex boyfriend stages his own suicide in order to torment her. Using his power, Cecelia’s ex becomes invisible and gas lights her to her breaking point. She is terrorized and stalked but the police do not believe a word she says on the matter. Eventually Cecelia makes the decision to handle the situation herself and rid herself of the Invisible Man.
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
Everyone loves a spooky house. In Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark you will certainly get just that. The dark mystery of the Bellows family has weighed heavy in the town of Mill Valley for as long as anyone can remember. The location of the dark mystery, the Bellows mansion, is stumbled across by a group of teenagers after Sarah Bellows creates a series of horror stories fashioned after her own life and family secrets. Now the group has to face terrifying monsters and survive in order to save each other.
The Hills Have Eyes
Imagine being stranded… in a desert… with flesh eating monsters. Ethel and Bob Carter get stranded on their way to San Diego with five members of their family. Stuck in the desert, two of the men in the group go to seek help from anyone and everyone who may be able to. The rest of the family must wait for them to return but must face the horrors of the desert. Due to nuclear testing done in the area decades before the family, mutant creatures now plague the vast space. Mutant creatures who seem to particularly enjoy human flesh.
The Nun
A movie from the Conjuring franchise with a twist. The Nun takes place in 1952 Romania where a young nun takes her own life. The Vatican sends a novitiate and a priest with his own dark past to learn the truth of the young woman’s suicide. While there, the pair learn more than they had hoped and uncover the order’s terrible secret. If they confront this force, however, their souls will be at stake, not only their mortal lives.
Children of the Corn
Children can be scary, children of the corn are even scarier. After finding a murdered body on the road on their drive to the Midwest, Burt and Vicky get to a town to alert the authorities. This town, however, only has children in it. These children follow a young and dark preacher by the name of Isaac Chroner. Before long, the couple are fighting for their lives as the fanatical children try to sacrifice the couple to the demonic entity that they follow.
Silence of the Lambs
Every Halloween movie list needs at least one violent psychopath. In Silence of the Lambs Clarice Starling, a talented FBI student, is sent to interview a brilliant but violent psychopath serving life behind bars. She is chosen in the hopes that her attractiveness and demeanour will get Dr. Hannibal Lecter talking and give them insight into a case the government is working on. This, however, proves to be a difficult task as she spends time with the cannibalistic murderer.
The Curse of La Llorona
Don’t walk around at night if you want to avoid murderous ghosts. Set in the 1970’s in Los Angeles, a social worker and her children are drawn into the realm of the deadly spirit La Llorona. In order to survive the ordeal the family’s only choice is to put their faith in a disillusioned priest, a man who also practices mysticism in an attempt to keep the evil away.
Dog Soldiers
This one is for the army folks out there. Set in the Scottish Highlands, a squad of British soldiers are running a routine training mission in the night. The squad are meant to meet a special ops team at a rendezvous point but find a massacre instead with a single survivor. When the attacker resurfaces, the squad are rescued by a zoologist, Megan, who tells them that they are being hunted by werewolves. The group find a farmhouse to spend the night in and set up a perimeter for their fight for survival. Now all they have to do is wait until morning comes and the moon disappears.
Which Halloween Movies Do You Want to Get Your Teeth Into?
There is no end to the number of Halloween movies you could enjoy this spooky season. If you were running low on ideas this autumn I hope this article gave you a few ideas for your next night in. There is just something about snuggling under a blanket and putting on a horror or thriller that nothing else can do. You can experience the thrill and danger without experiencing the thrill and danger. Whether you experience the fear of being chased by a homicidal maniac, or gas lit until you think you are losing your mind, there’s a movie out there for everyone.
That being said, I would like to add a few honourable mentions. Some of these movies might require a bit of extra time as they are entire franchises, but well worth the watch.
- Friday the 13th
- Halloween
- Underworld
- Scream
- Paranormal Activity
- Saw
- Scary Movie
- Texas Chainsaw Massacre
- The Purge
- Insidious
