20 HALLOWEEN Horror Movie Favorites! 🎃
October is always a fun month for horror fans. It gets darker earlier, stores are filled with Halloween displays, people decorate their houses, and costumes start showing up everywhere. There are Halloween-themed commercials, movies, and all kinds of spooky things to enjoy. Halloween was always a special time growing up, especially with my birthday in October and plenty of friends and family celebrating their birthdays around the same time.
Once November hits, the weather gets colder, the rain starts pouring, and the days get even shorter. That's why I try to squeeze as many movies as possible into my October watch list. I aim for at least one movie a night, sometimes two or three on weekends.
Here are some of the movies I love watching this time of year, including well-known classics and a few titles that deserve more attention.
The Evil Dead (1981)
Evil Dead is just... it's the one, a masterpiece! If I had to pick a single movie that kicks off October right, it's this. The original VHS playing in the background is enough to get me in the Halloween mood. The demons, the gore, the whole vibe, it works in a way that's hard to pin down but you feel it immediately. I haven't seen the newest entry, and I've heard mixed reviews, but I always try to give horror movies a fair chance before judging them. The original Evil Dead will always be a classic.
The Witching Season (2015)
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If you want Halloween atmosphere, The Witching Season is a great choice. This indie horror anthology features five short stories, with vintage Halloween decorations, pumpkin patches, and spooky houses. Those long shots of decorated houses and fall scenery nail it. You feel like you're actually out there trick-or-treating.
The music by Slasher Dave, who is also associated with Acid Witch, adds to the experience. You can watch the shorts on YouTube, and the collection has also been available on Tubi. Crack a beer and throw this on, if you're into indie horror that actually gets the Halloween vibe right, give this one a go.
The Fog (1980)
You can't have a Halloween movie list without John Carpenter's The Fog. Although it isn't specifically about Halloween, the atmosphere makes it a perfect October watch. An entire coastal town becomes covered in a weird fog, and ghost pirates kill people to get revenge for an old crime.
It's not exactly a gore-fest, but man, those locations are unsettling. The characters actually stick with you, and Carpenter's score does more heavy lifting than most full horror soundtracks. Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Atkins, Adrienne Barbeau, and Hal Holbrook make it classic. The iconic cover featuring a hand emerging from the fog is another reason I'd love to own the original VHS with that artwork.
Halloween Night (2006)
Halloween Night is an obscure, underrated slasher worth checking out. It's kind of like Halloween '78. A killer escapes from an asylum, wears creepy masks, and stalks a house party, picking off victims one by one. It's not the greatest movie ever made, but it has an old-school slasher vibe, tons of gore, and some imaginative kills.
The Basement (1989)
The Basement is for anthology fans. Released by Terror Vision, this collection features short stories with dark humor, creature designs, and practical makeup effects. The swimming pool segment is really funny, while the "Trick or Treat" story follows a teacher who hates Halloween and gets taught a lesson. There's also a zombie story involving people making a zombie movie when real zombies show up. There's a famous scene where he's like "Fuck George Romero!" If you like Tales from the Crypt, shot-on-video horror, hilarious dark humor, and outrageous effects, definitely check this one out. Cool movie!
Mad Ron's Prevues from Hell (1987)
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What's a Halloween list without a compilation video? Mad Ron's Previews from Hell combines classic horror trailers with a strange presentation involving zombies watching movies in a theatre. There are tons of trailers, creepy makeup effects, and dark humor, including a ventriloquist and his puppet delivering weird death-related puns.
Throw it on while you're putting up decorations or having people over. It's perfect background noise that you'll keep stopping to actually watch. If you love vintage horror trailers and old-school effects, this is awesome stuff to watch on Halloween.
Satan's Little Helper (2004)
Satan's Little Helper is a twisted Halloween fun movie with dark humor. This one will make you laugh if you're looking for something strange, funny, and a little mean-spirited.
Hollow Gate (1988)
Hollow Gate is another obscure slasher with bizarre acting. The killer escapes from a mental asylum and hunts people at a mansion, but his split personalities make him especially strange. He changes personalities and voices, and some of the dialogue is hilarious. One particularly ridiculous scene involves a man being mauled by golden retrievers. It isn't the most frightening slasher, but the dark humor and strange performances make it worth watching.
Spookies (1986)
Spookies is a complete mess when it comes to the plot, but it's also one of the most entertaining Halloween horror movies you can throw on. You get this insane buffet of creatures — a spider woman, these ridiculous farting basement things, some weird wolf dude, and a grim reaper knockoff. The fog, cool practical monster designs, and 1980s atmosphere make it a favorite to put on this time of year. I love Spookies!
Trick or Treat (1986)
Can't go wrong with 1986's Trick or Treat, another classic, following a teenager who resurrects a dead rock star by playing a record backwards. The rock star, Sammy Curr, is a memorable character who shoots lightning bolts from his guitar as he performs at a high school Halloween dance. Fastway provided the soundtrack, giving the movie a heavy metal edge. The Fastway soundtrack alone is worth it and it nails that mid-80s metal Halloween horror vibe. No False Metal!
Pumpkinhead (1988)
Pumpkinhead is one of those fall classic comfort movies I always throw on. Stan Winston's creature work here is incredible! Pumpkinhead might be the best monster design he ever did, and that's saying something. Lance Henriksen plays a grieving father who brings a demon back to life to take revenge on the teenagers who killed his son. This was always on TV when I was a kid. I'll always have a very special nostalgic place for this movie.
976-EVIL (1988)
I also have a soft spot for 976-EVIL, directed by Robert Englund in his directorial debut. A horror hotline becomes a connection to Satan, leading callers toward possession and violent behaviour. Some of the effects look dated and cheesy, but it's awesome to watch. I must've also caught this on TV a dozen times as a kid. It was always on.
WNUF Halloween Special (2013) and WNUF2 aka Out There Halloween Mega Tape (2022)
The WNUF Halloween Special is a clever mockumentary presented like a lost broadcast from an 1980s television station. The first special follows a news crew investigating a haunted house, with strange events becoming more serious and disturbing as the broadcast continues. The fake commercials are especially creative, and the characters are wonderfully over the top. If you grew up flipping through channels at 2am and landing on some bizarre local commercial, this one's going to hit different.
The second one, Out There Halloween Mega Tape, is not as good. It's more a talk show and alien documentary special set in and with 1990s-themed commercials. But the only way to watch the sequel is by ordering it on physical media at WNUF.bigcartel.com. They also have a spinoff special called Trick or Treat with Reed Richmond on DVD also for sale.
Hack-O-Lantern (1988)
Hack-O-Lantern is another cheesy but cool slasher. A young man is drawn toward Satanism by his grandfather, and years later, a masked killer begins slaughtering people. The kills are creative, the dialogue is completely ridiculous, the band DC LACROIX has a cool music video scene and there's this weird brother rivalry running through it where the insults they throw at each other are really funny. If you want something over the top and you want a Halloween slasher Hack-O-Lantern is a fun one to watch.
Late Fee (2009)
Late Fee is a low-budget anthology that begins on Halloween night. A couple visits a video rental store looking for something to watch, only to discover a mysterious movie that isn't supposed to be rented. The owner eventually allows them to borrow it, but they must return it by midnight. The disturbing shorts that follow are tied together by the couple's reactions and conversations. It's not the greatest anthology movie but they put a lot of effort into it. What more can you ask for? And the good thing about anthologies, if one segment sucks, just wait five minutes.
Dark Night of the Scarecrow (1981)
Dark Night of the Scarecrow is a made-for-television horror classic. When a vigilante mob falsely claims a mentally challenged man has hurt a young girl, they shoot him to death while he is in a scarecrow costume. The man comes back to seek revenge, dispatching each of the vigilantes in their own unique fashion. You genuinely hate these guys by the end, which makes watching them get what's coming to them way more satisfying than it probably should be. The acting, the atmosphere, the direction are on point. It's one of those that should be on every Halloween watchlist. I haven't seen 2nd one that came out about 2 years ago but idk it looks kind of silly.
Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)
It's amazing how much more popular Halloween III: Season of the Witch has become over the last 10 years or so. When I was growing up during the VHS rental era, my friends often warned me not to rent it, it sucks, because Michael Myers wasn't in it. Everyone expected another Michael Myers slasher movie and instead got... whatever the hell this is. Which is great.
The whole plot revolves around this genuinely unhinged scheme with Halloween masks, subliminal messages, and mind control. Way weirder than anything Michael Myers ever did. Tom Atkins is great, the soundtrack is creepy, and the masks are iconic. There are also some nasty moments of gore that make the film more disturbing than people might expect. Took long enough, but people are finally coming around on this one. It's one of the most original horror movies to come out of the '80s.
Night of the Demons (1988)
Night of the Demons is the ultimate Halloween horror movie. A group of young people attends a party in an abandoned funeral home, where supernatural events begin turning them into demons. The makeup and monster effects are scary awesome. With iconic scenes of Linnea Quigley with the lipstick and Amelia Kinkade dancing to Bauhaus's "STIGMATA MARTYR" under strobe lights.
But what really gets under your skin are the demonic transformations, especially when the voices start shifting, which is somehow creepier than the visual effects. Throw this on with a group and you'll have a blast and the Halloween party setting pushes it over the top. The sequels are worth checking out, too, but the original remains a classic.
Ernest Scared Stupid (1991)
Another childhood favorite of mine, Ernest Scared Stupid brings family-friendly fun to the Halloween season. I used to rent this movie all the time, and the troll effects and creatures were always a highlight. Ernest's, R.I.P., ridiculous behaviour and impressions are funny, but the movie can also be creepy for kids.
I remember getting scared watching it when I was around seven or eight years old. Even so, it's a good-hearted Halloween movie that the whole family can enjoy. It takes me right back to wandering the horror aisle at the video store, trying to convince my parents to let me rent something with a scary cover.
I hope everyone has an awesome Halloween season!
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