20 Movies to Watch for Halloween

There are many ways to celebrate Halloween (and decorate for that matter).  With the temperatures cooling down many of us are spending more time inside, and that means more movie watching.  I like to divide Halloween movies into 4 different categories, you’ve got psychological thrillers (not Halloween specific but give you chills), horror (legit scared of the dark kind of stuff), classic 90’s (always makes me nostalgic and I’ve seen a gazillion times) and spooky (not scary and appropriate for most ages). Here’s a list of the best Halloween movies to watch this year.

If you are looking for a great series to binge for Halloween, check out this list of Thriller TV Shows.

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Psychological Thrillers

5. Se7en | Hulu

David Fincher directed this movie which has an all-star 90’s cast and includes Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, and Gwyneth Paltrow.  Seven is a mystery where two cops are tracking down a particularly sick individual who is very obsessed with the 7 deadly sins.

4. Misery | Amazon Prime Video

Stephen King is bound to show up on the best Halloween movie list.  In this tale of isolation and captivity. Kathy Bates won an Academy Award for Best Actress in her role as Annie Wilkes.  Absolutely bone-chilling.  

3. Get Out | Amazon Prime Video

Topically relevant and campy, this is a ground-breaking film by Jordan Peele.  When a couple’s relationship gets serious, things turn strange when the boyfriend goes home to meet the girlfriend’s family.  I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, which is especially psychologically thrilling.

2. Vanilla Sky | Amazon Prime Video

Quite a departure for Cameron Crowe, Vanilla Sky is the story of a man (Tom Cruise) who has everything and is caught between two very different women.  His life changes…

1. The Sixth Sense | Amazon Prime Video

M. Night Shyamalan’s breakout movie, a child is going through a difficult time seeing ghosts.  One of the most quoted lines “I see dead people”.  I’m not usually one for ghost stories, this is a can’t-miss.

Horror

5. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

A remake of the 1974 film by the same name, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre follows Leatherface, a deranged killer with a chainsaw.

4. Halloween | Amazon Prime Video

Although it spawned many sequels and re-make, I think the original is the best.  It was the beginning of a genre, where a deranged man goes on a killing spree…on Halloween.

3. A Nightmare on Elm Street | Amazon Prime Video

What seems like a childhood urban legend is basically the plot of A Nightmare on Elm Street. If you get murdered in your nightmare (by Freddy Krueger) then you are murdered in real life. Needless to say, this plot makes going to sleep terrifying.  A Nightmare on Elm Street made Wes Craven a household name.

2. Friday the 13th | Amazon Prime Video

Set in a summer camp, Friday the 13th follows Jason Vorhees on a killing spree.  It produced many sequels, but the original sets the whole thing in motion.  If you are a fan of American Horror Story Camp Redwood, you get it.

1. Saw | Hulu

After a long break from new franchises, Saw came out in 2004 launching a whole new series of movies.  It’s part psychological thriller, part horror, Jigsaw tortures people and makes them choose between unthinkable choices.  A real Sophies Choice moment (of which I’ve never seen the movie, but I get the gist of the reference).

Classic 90’s

5. The Craft | Amazon Prime Video

For anyone who played with a Ouija board with their friends when they were younger, this is for you.  A group of wannabe witches befriends a girl with actual powers.

4. Interview With a Vampire

Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, and a young Kirsten Dunst star as vampires surviving for over 200 years.

3. Edward Scissorhands | Hulu

Tim Burton and Danny Elfman are an incomparable pair in directing and composing.  A live-action, spooky take on Beauty and the Beast, a girl is taken by the outcast of the town.

2. I Know What You Did Last Summer

A group of friends causes a tragic accident and it comes back to haunt them.  It does not get any more 90’s than Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, and Freddie Prinze Jr. leading the cast.

1. Scream | Amazon Prime Video

What spawned one of the most recognizable masks, Scream is a campy version of a horror film from back in the day.  One by one the cast gets killed off, but by who they don’t know.

Spooky (not scary)

5. The Witches

A little boy and his grandma find themselves in the middle of a Witches convention, and a spell is cast.

4. Practical Magic | Amazon Prime Video

Two sisters, who happen to be witches, have trouble finding love in this rom-com starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman.  

3. Hocus Pocus | Disney +

A coven of witches is resurrected after a group of kids accidentally resurrects them.  Then the kids try to fix the mistake they made. 

2. Ghostbusters | Amazon Prime Video

The original 1984 version is still the best with a quintessential 80’s comedic cast.  A group of…Ghostbusters (like exterminators but for ghosts) are called when ghosts are loose in NYC. 

1. The Nightmare Before Christmas | Disney +

Bringing Tim Burton and Danny Elfman back together again for this stop-motion film and the soundtrack is everything!  While it’s a debate of this is a Halloween movie or a Christmas movie, I argue that it’s both and can be watched from October to December.  With songs like “This is Halloween” and ‘Jack the Pumpkin King’ as the main character, I don’t know how it can be disputed that it’s of course a Halloween movie.  When ‘Jack the Pumpkin King’ finds out there is more to the world then spookiness, chaos ensues.

I’ve already started to watch Halloween movies this year (seems like it’s the year of Hocus Pocus) and there are certain movies I watch every year (The Nightmare Before Christmas is at least once between Halloween and Christmas).

I’m most excited about what I haven’t yet watched.  I’ll be watching US (just never got around to it), The Witches (new remake), The Craft: Legacy (hoping the sequel lives up to the original), and Hubie (the new Adam Sandler which we know can go one of two ways).

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