The 30 Best Halloween Movies to Get You in the Mood for Spooky Season

From gory escape rooms to nightmare Zoom calls, we've got you covered.

Halloween (1978)

Candyman (2021)

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019)

The Purge (2013)

Hocus Pocus (1993)

Sinister (2012)

Happy Death Day (2017)

Midsommar (2019)

Escape Room (2019)

Jennifer's Body (2009)

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

Carrie (1976)

Get Out (2017)

Trick 'r Treat (2007)

The Exorcist (1973)

Audition (1999)

Scream (1996)

The Strangers

Ringu (1998)

House of Wax (2005)

Friday the 13th (1980)

Haunt (2019)

Death Becomes Her (1992)

V/H/S (2012)

Spiral: From The Book Of Saw (2021)

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)

Child's Play (1988)

Host (2020)

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The 30 Best Halloween Movies to Get You in the Mood for Spooky Season

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From gory escape rooms to nightmare Zoom calls, we've got you covered.

While horror movies were once reserved for Halloween, it's now acceptable to watch them at pretty much any time of year. And whether or not you're a fan of scaring yourself silly with creepy content, it doesn't hurt to start preparing for the holiday that's spawned a million franchises.

From gory escape rooms to nightmare Zoom calls, we've got you covered.

Perhaps you don't know how Michael Myers got his start or why Freddy Krueger haunts people's dreams. Maybe you're in the mood for some gruesome feminist horror, or you want to watch films set on Halloween itself.

From gory escape rooms to nightmare Zoom calls, we've got you covered.

Whatever you're in the mood for, we've rounded up some of the spookiest Halloween movies around.

Halloween (1978)

Halloween (1978)

The film has spawned a slew of sequels, some successful, some cringe-worthy. But it's undeniable that 1978's Halloween remains an iconic moment in American cinema that's guaranteed to creep you out.

Halloween (1978)

Throughout the years, Michael Myers has evolved. With 2018's Halloween, director David Gordon Green reset the timeline, making this movie a direct sequel to Carpenter's 1978 masterpiece.

Halloween (1978)

Jamie Lee Curtis is back as Laurie Strode, who has been living with the trauma of Michael's attack for 40 years. When he manages to escape (again), she's ready. Follow this up with 2021's Halloween Kills, and Halloween Ends, due in October 2022.

Candyman (2021)

Directed by Nia DaCosta, with a screenplay co-written by Jordan Peele, 2021's Candyman breathes new life (and bee stings) into the iconic franchise. If you grew up fearing the legend, the Candyman reboot will tap into your terror by expanding the universe.

Candyman (2021)

Visually terrifying, Candyman explores themes of gentrification, race, and the demonisation of Black victims. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II plays Anthony McCoy, an artist with an unhealthy Candyman obsession, who needs to find out what really took place at Cabrini-Green.

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019)

Set on Halloween in 1968, this horror anthology is packed with strange and frightening tales. A group of kids discover a mysterious book written by a young girl who committed suicide after being accused of witchcraft.

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019)

From hulking scarecrows waking up to spider bites spawning millions of tiny spiders, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is an unusual addition to any Halloween.

The Purge (2013)

2013's The Purge started a sprawling franchise, and serves as a stark indictment of what can happen when power and corruption meet. The premise is simple: on one night of every year, all crime is legal, even murder.

The Purge (2013)

In this first instalment, Ethan Hawke plays a family man profiting off of his supposedly purge-proof security systems. Three sequels, a prequel, and two seasons of a TV series have followed.

Hocus Pocus (1993)

Sinister (2012)

Ethan Hawke stars as a true-crime writer looking for his next story, who relocates his family into a house where some mysterious deaths occurred. He soon discovers a collection of Super 8 videos showing a series of increasingly grisly murders, and it's not long before his entire family is at risk.

Happy Death Day (2017)

Midsommar (2019)

Escape Room (2019)

Maybe you're a fan of escape rooms, but for some of us, the idea of being locked in a room and forced to solve a series of puzzles sounds like hell. Escape Room is based upon this very premise, except each room ends up being deadly for at least one player.

Escape Room (2019)

2021's Escape Room: Tournament of Champions takes the concept even further. Rather than attending an escape room this Halloween, just stay home and heed this film's warning instead.

Jennifer's Body (2009)

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

Carrie (1976)

Carrie might not be set on Halloween, but its aesthetic oozes October 31. Adapted from Stephen King's novel of the same name, Sissy Spacek plays the titular character, an awkward teenager with secret telekinetic abilities and an overbearing religious mother.

Carrie (1976)

When Carrie is unexpectedly invited to prom, she decides to attend, not realizing what some of the students have in store for her.

Get Out (2017)

Daniel Kaluuya stars as Chris, a photographer who gets invited upstate to meet his girlfriend's very white family. After unsettling interactions with the property's Black staff members, Chris suspects something strange is going on.

Trick 'r Treat (2007)

This little horror anthology didn't get enough love upon its release, but a growing cult of fans have made up for that in the years since. An eclectic cast including True Blood's Anna Paquin and Succession's Brian Cox makes Trick 'r Treat eminently watchable.

Trick 'r Treat (2007)

The movie tells four separate stories, all which feature burlap-sack-wearing trick-or-treater Sam, who appears whenever someone breaks a Halloween tradition.

The Exorcist (1973)

Parodied in just about every spoof, 1973's The Exorcist is the very definition of a horror movie classic. If, like me, you avoided the film as a kid, for fear of being possessed like the main character, you can rest assured that The Exorcist is gentler than its reputation might suggest.

The Exorcist (1973)

However, from its jaw-dropping practical effects to the eerie ambience throughout, there's never a bad time to revisit The Exorcist.

Audition (1999)

Japanese horror movie Audition, directed by Takashi Miike, focuses on Shigeharu, a widower staging fake auditions to meet a new partner, at the behest of his son. However, when he meets Asami Yamazaki during the process, he has no idea what she actually has in store for him. Much like

Audition (1999)

The Exorcist, Audition has become a film of legend, that is not for the faint of heart.

Scream (1996)

The Strangers

The Strangers

A shocking denouement reveals all. Follow it up with the equally brutal The Strangers: Prey at Night, starring Christina Hendricks and Martin Henderson, released in 2018.

Ringu (1998)

You may have seen the 2002 remake of The Ring, starring Naomi Watts, which is also very good. But if you're yet to explore The Ring's creepy origins, you should definitely seek out Ringu this Halloween.

House of Wax (2005)

Friday the 13th (1980)

Much like Nightmare on Elm Street and Halloween, 1980's Friday the 13th kickstarted a hugely successful franchise. Even though Jason Voorhees and that hockey mask are missing from the first instalment, it remains an important entry in the teen slasher genre.

Friday the 13th (1980)

After 20 years, a group of camp counselors return to Camp Crystal Lake to prepare for its grand reopening. Unfortunately for them, the "death curse" they've been warned about by locals is all too real.

Haunt (2019)

Attending an "extreme" haunted house on October 31 sounds like a fun idea, right? Wrong. When a group of friends step through the doors of an abandoned warehouse, they think they're in for a night of fun scares and costumed ghouls.

Haunt (2019)

However, it soon becomes clear that the violence taking place behind locked doors is very real. And the final twist should make anyone audibly ask, "WTF?"

Death Becomes Her (1992)

While Death Becomes Her is more of a black comedy than a horror movie, it's the perfect romp to watch on Halloween. Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn star as women warring over Bruce Willis. However, when they both drink a "magic potion" touting eternal youth, the side effects are pretty wild.

V/H/S (2012)

Featuring a series of found footage shorts by the likes of Ti West (2022's X) and Radio Silence (2022's Scream), V/H/S started a horror anthology franchise. In this first movie, one of the segments is set on Halloween itself, with the other stories exploring plenty of murder and mayhem.

Spiral: From The Book Of Saw (2021)

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)

While many might call a remake of Tobe Hooper's 1974 classic horror picture sacrilegious, 2003's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre stars Jessica Biel, and it's actually pretty decent. A group of friends are traveling through Texas when they stumble across Leatherface's house. Bad luck, indeed.

Child's Play (1988)

Chucky needs absolutely no introduction, especially now that a second season of his TV series is on the way. But 1988's Child's Play introduces us to Andy, a young boy who is given a coveted Good Guy doll for his birthday. Unfortunately, the doll is possessed by a serial killer.