70 Best Halloween Movies of All Time
From horror classics to family-friendly Halloween movies, these will keep you busy throughout spooky season.
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As cooler weather approaches and the fall season nears, one thing comes to mind: how to celebrate Halloween. While some may be planning the ultimate Halloween costume, others prepare for spooky season by watching as many of the best Halloween movies as possible. With that in mind, get ready for your scary movie marathon with our list of the all-time best Halloween movies to watch in October.
Now, we all love to jump out of our seats with a classic horror movie, and there are plenty of scary movies on Netflix and other streaming platforms. We rounded up Halloween movies that have stood the test of time, along with some more recent favorites. Some choices feature a particular creepy premise, like The Craft or Midsommar. Others are films that are forever associated with the holiday, like Halloweentown or Hocus Pocus. Many include classic Halloween creatures, from witch movies and vampire movies to ghost movies.
This list has the perfect choice for whatever mood you're in, and you can keep these in rotation even beyond October 31. We’d also like to note that while some of the picks on this list are family-friendly, most of the selections do feature blood, guts and gore. If you're looking for a Halloween classic to watch with little ones, check out our list of the best scary movies for kids.
Sweeney Todd (2007)
A film adaptation of the hit Stephen Sondheim musical, folks attend the tale of a long-lost barber who finds himself back in London. There, he seeks revenge on a judge who wrongfully exiled him in order to lay claim to his wife.
RELATED: Best Musical Movies of All Time
Corpse Bride (2005)
In this animated feature from Tim Burton, the story follows a young woman looking for a groom to marry her ever since she was murdered on her wedding night. When she meets Victor, it starts a journey for the star-crossed couple filled with twists, turns and lots of goosebumps — the kind only Tim Burton can achieve from his audience!
RELATED: Best Animated Movies of All Time for Kids and Adults
Hocus Pocus 2 (2022)
The 1993 classic spurned a phenomenon among movie goers, and over three decades later, folks finally get back in step with the Sanderson sisters! This time, they're resurrected in 21st-century Salem, filled with new characters and new technology to wreak havoc with. If anyone can replace a broomstick with a Roomba for a flying mechanism, it's these sisters!
RELATED: Will There Be a 'Hocus Pocus' 3?
Midsommar (2019)
Florence Pugh stars as a college student who goes with her friends to a nine-day Midsummer festival at a commune in Sweden. Upon arrival, the group suffers a devastating turn of events, with the consequences getting creepier by the minute. Will anyone make it out alive?
Five Nights at Freddy's (2023)
When a troubled security guard is in need of a job, he woefully finds himself working at an abandoned pizzeria. He discovers the mascots floating around are not only alive, but they are possessed by children who disappeared while eating at the restaurant. Maybe his mission is more than just making sure nothing gets stolen ...
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (2009)
Darren is a typical teenager, looking for more out of his life than living in a sleepy town. When a freakshow circus makes its way to his area, he discovers the ringleader is none other than a vampire. This leads Darren to want to join the traveling spectacle, but it comes with a devastating price.
Knock at the Cabin (2023)
When a young couple and their daughter decide to take a vacation in a remote cabin, the trio don't expect to be taken hostage by four armed strangers. The family is then given a heartbreaking choice: sacrifice one of their own or bring about an impending apocalypse affecting the entire world.
Halloween (1978)
Given that this iconic film — featuring the unstoppable killing machine that is Michael Myers — shares a name with the year's spookiest holiday, it's just about as classic as they come. It's worth it for the atmospheric John Carpenter score alone. Recently, a new trilogy gave the tried-and-true series a refresh with its original star, Jamie Lee Curtis. In Halloween, Director David Gordon Green re-focused the series on the Strode women, and the way they react to the return of Michael Myers. A sequel, Halloween Kills, followed in 2021, and the trilogy came to a conclusion with Halloween Ends.
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966)
For many, it's simply not Halloween season until the whole family has gathered on the couch to watch this animated special starring the Peanuts gang. Will the Great Pumpkin finally show up this year?
RELATED: How to Watch 'It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown'
Rosemary's Baby (1968)
Mia Farrow is chilling as the pregnant young Rosemary, who must face the truth about the secret origins of the mysterious child she's carrying. It's a true, slow-burn terror.
Nosferatu (1929)
Can a horror movie from 1929 still hold up close to 100 years later? Take one look at F. W. Murnau's creature, embodied brilliantly by actor Max Schreck, and you'll say the answer is a resounding yes.
Poltergeist (1982)
Even now, if you say, "They're heeeere," in a creepy voice, people will shudder. It's all thanks to this story about a house possessed by angry spirits.
Psycho (1960)
Everything about Hitchcock's Psycho, from its string-filled score to its creepy twist ending is classic. And yet, when you watch it — whether it's for the first time or the hundredth — it still brings up feelings of dread.
Beetlejuice (1988)
A Tim Burton invention, Beetlejuice is a family-friendly horror film tracing a couple who find themselves stuck haunting their home in the afterlife. It's one of the few movies that puts you on the side of the ghosts haunting the house.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Leatherface stands up there with the greats when you talk about horror-movie franchise icons. The first one is a grimy, seedy tale of five friends who pick up a hitchhiker, only to be drawn into a house where a chainsaw-wielding killer lurks. The film launched a host of sequels, reboots and sequels to the reboots, including 2022's Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a Netflix film that has Leatherface pitted against influencers seeking to gentrify his neighborhood.
Get Out (2017)
Jordan Peele's masterpiece, which uses horror as a vehicle to explore racism, is an absolute must-see. You'll be thinking about this one long after you turn the lights out.
Child's Play (1988)
Imagine Toy Story, but without, well, all the things that give it Disney's stamp of approval. Instead of Woody and Buzz, this movie follows a young boy who receives a doll that takes on a possessed life of its own. When you're finished with the film series, you can move on to the Chucky TV show that ran on SYFY and now streams on Peacock.
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
It's up for debate whether this classic falls into the Halloween or Christmas category. Either way, Tim Burton's imaginary world is a sheer delight. (So maybe watch it once a week from October to December?)
RELATED: Is 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' a Halloween Movie?
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
George A. Romero has made his career directing the best zombie movies, usually using the undead as a stand-in to say something about mass culture at large. But even if the metaphors go over your head, just watching the flesh-eating creatures is scary enough on its own. There are six sequels: Dawn of the Dead (which is sadly not streaming, but the 2004 remake is), Day of the Dead, Land of the Dead, Diary of the Dead and Survival of the Dead.
M3GAN (2023)
The Model 3 Generative Android — that's M3GAN to you — was designed to relate to kids and protect them. But when the prototype is paired with a girl grieving her parents, she takes her directive too far in one of the most fun horror movie to come out in years.
Marisa (she/her) has covered all things parenting, from the postpartum period through the empty nest, for Good Housekeeping since 2018; previously, she wrote about parents and families at Parents and Working Mother. She lives with her toy-collecting husband and daughter in Brooklyn, where she can be found helping out her team at bar trivia or posting about movies on Twitter and Bluesky.
As the entertainment and news associate editor for Good Housekeeping, Adrianna (she/her) writes about everything TV, movies, music and pop culture. She graduated from Yeshiva University with a B.A. in journalism and a minor in business management. She covers shows like The Rookie, 9-1-1 and Grey's Anatomy, though when she’s not watching the latest show on Netflix, she’s taking martial arts or drinking way too much coffee.
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