The Ultimate Halloween Horror Streaming Guide
To celebrate spooky season, here is a list of 36 essential Halloween or Autumn-set horror films plus where to stream them online with links curated via JustWatch.com. Featuring “The Stuff of Horror Movies” art collection by GABRIEL EDWARDS.
The Stuff of Horror Movies art collection is a series of 666 drawings, each based on a different horror film by artist Gabriel Edwards. I’ve included Halloween-related artwork below. Check out the rest of the horror movie collection or buy prints at the links below:
https://linktr.ee/thestuffofhorrormovies
http://www.gabrieldedwards.com/
https://www.instagram.com/gabrieldedwards/
https://www.instagram.com/thestuffofhorrormovies/
https://www.etsy.com/shop/StuffOfHorrorMovies
https://www.teepublic.com/user/thestuffofhorrormovies
1. The Amityville Horror (1979):
The Amityville Horror follows a couple moving into a suspiciously cheap waterfront house which happens to have hosted a gruesome killing spree, the newcomers soon have their relationship tested, their children terrorized, and their faith questioned when they fall prey to increasing supernatural activities.
It soon devolves into an absolute living hell, thanks to its overwhelming creep factor and undeniable "based on a true story" mystique that the film carries, Amityville remains to be a definitive haunt flick.
2. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005):
Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is the story of good-hearted young Charlie Bucket, who lives with his desperately poor family, and wins a tour of the world’s best chocolate factory with four other kids. They are led around the sugary landscape by eccentric chocolate maker Willy Wonka and his Oompa-Loompa workers.
Did you notice the flashback scene? Wonka's mean father (Christopher Lee) sends the candy he got on Halloween flying into the fireplace-a surprisingly potent touch of October to the proceedings.
3. Day of the Dead (1985):
In George A. Romero's Day of the Dead, a group of scientists and soldiers in a Florida bunker must contend with questions about what to do with the shambling legion while the rest of humanity is being consumed by zombies.
Make sure you keep an eye out during the opening – a calendar turned to October featuring a pumpkin patch briefly reinforces the film’s Halloween-season setting before an early jump scare.
4. The Evil Dead (1981):
Five friends head to a cabin in the woods in Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead, not knowing that they are setting free flesh-possessing demons.
You might know of Bruce Campbell's involvement with this one; in fact he himself revealed that everything that happened at the cabin in The Evil Dead and Evil Dead II took place in the month of October.
The month it is, in fact, a Halloween weekend in the early 80s (often considered to be around 1982 according to the documents in the Ash vs Evil Dead series showing Ash's police files).
5. The Exorcist (1973):
A New Age Take on an Old Horror. It’s an age-old demon vs. Holy men showdown! The Exorcist was an adaptation of William Peter Blatty’s equally celebrated book and a film directed by William Friedkin that Blatty himself adapted into the screenplay.
This is a narrative of an all-loving mother of Reagan who becomes the unwitting holder of a devil in her 12-year-old daughter’s body and she hires two priests of the Catholic faith to help evict the demon via an exorcism to keep Reagan’s precious life safe.
A tip: Look out for the short Halloween scene just into the film where Reagan’s mother walks through the Georgetown streets covered in leaves as trick-or-treaters pass by while Mike Oldfield’s “Tubular Bells” plays on the soundtrack.
6. Fear Street Part One: 1994 (2021):
While rooted in ‘90s nostalgia, Fear Street Part One: 1994 centers on a group of friends who stumble upon a series of murders dating back over 300 years, all connected to a cursed past in Shadyside.
At the beginning of the movie, a masked man goes on a murdering spree at the local mall, slashing his coworkers before he is eventually stopped and shot by Sheriff Nick Goode.
The mall slasher called Skull Mask is identified as Ryan Torres, whose killings at the Shadyside Mall are part of a curse connected to Sarah Fier.
7. John Carpenter's Halloween (1978):
Ten years after John Carpenter's Michael Myers murders his sister on Halloween, in 1963, he escapes from the sanitarium to do the same thing in a town in Illinois, called Haddonfield.
John Carpenter’s Halloween combined very sparse instrumentation, cool autumnal vibes and some fantastic suspense & tension.
8. Halloween II (1981):
This is a follow-up which picks up right where to the first one leaves off and continues the horror into a dark hospital making it a bit more dreamy, and having a whole lot more guts to the formula. It’s fan-approved.
Halloween II ups the gore and horror while also adding to the legend of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode.
9. Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982):
The “no Michael Myers” sequel initially sparked fury due to its apparent ditching of the iconic serial slasher, however, the film sees kids nationwide scrambling to get their hands on masks from Silver Shamrock in the build-up to Halloween as Dr. Daniel Challis begins to investigate a diabolical plan from owner Conal Cochran.
It's quite possibly the most "Halloween" of all the Halloween movies due to its creepy mask plot, synthwave score, truly irksome marketing tune, and generally catastrophic seasonal vibe.
10. Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988):
After a disappointing sequel, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers effectively brings back our favourite slasher to Haddonfield in all his menacing, mask-wearing glory. Ten years after his original massacre, he journeys back to Haddonfield to murder his young niece on Halloween night.
Opening up in a rural Midwestern landscape at dusk, Halloween 4 begins not with a jump or a stalk, but with a stark sense of autumnal decay, the sort that sets the tone long before a person comes along. Halloween 4 has perhaps the greatest opening scene—not just in the franchise, but in Halloween horror overall.
11. Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989):
Controversial though it may be, Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers is nevertheless packed with Halloween atmosphere, rural remoteness, and killer tension.
Set one year later, the Shape returns to the rural idyll of Haddonfield in an effort to dispatch his now-tongue-less niece.
12. Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995):
But, given its dark nature and its steeped-in occult and cult mythology, the movie does possess a grayer, bleaker outlook. While somewhat convoluted on a story level, Halloween 6 is a rewarding movie experience that fans deeply devoted to Michael Myers' mythology may still enjoy.
Michael Myers resurfaces to stalk and take his young adult niece, Jamie Lloyd, six years after their first confrontation. With her new born child in tow, Jamie evades her uncle's murderous rage as both child and aunt appear to be connected with a darker, sinister occult following.
13. Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998):
A return to form for Curtis, the 1998 installment Halloween H20: 20 Years Later manages to mix the ‘90s slasher appeal with the legacy series’ roots.
In it, Laurie Strode-as de facto dean of a northern California school and assumed last name-has a final encounter with the Shape while her son is caught in the crosshairs.
While it lacks visual Halloween details, H20 focuses on the inner development of the original survivor.
14. Halloween: Resurrection (2002):
Widely considered the weakest of the bunch by many of the franchise's devoted fans, it does give us a glimpse into the earliest part of the 21st century and of course, a Halloween-night slay-off.
After three years of leaving his sibling alone, he once again comes to visit Laurie and then he travels into the town of Haddonfield and begins to slaughter the production crew for a reality show they are recording inside his former family home.
If you are seeing all of Michael Myers' films, then the stop in here, despite everything, is mandatory.
15. Rob Zombie's Halloween (2007):
Rob Zombie's Halloween 2007 brings us an updated version of Michael Myers, with ultra violence and more psychological depravity. While I did not find this one to be a favorite amongst the Halloween series, this installment can be credited with certainly giving you a 'Halloween Feel'.
After spending 15 years in a mental institution Michael has since been a man of grow and is still dangerous as ever, so while in the mental hospital they can't keep Michael anymore so he escapes and immediately head back to Haddonfield in search of his baby sister, Laurie.
Halloween 2007 does feature an 'extremely' gritty atmosphere and more over-the-top gore then the original installment had and because of this gives it an even more October'-ish' feel than Carpenter's original did.
16. Rob Zombie's H2: Halloween 2 (2009):
Rob Zombie's bizarre and polarizing (and sometimes quite morbid) Halloween 2 (2009) more resembles a fever dream than a slasher flick.
Laurie Strode grapples with her brother Michael returning to their childhood stomping ground of Haddonfield, Illinois for yet more havoc, and that brother begins to plot yet another date with his sister.
The psychological haze imbues this October movie-night with a distinct feel unlike any other in the saga.
17. David Gordon Green's Halloween (2018):
Back to the basics of the original, Halloween (2018) offers an updated take centred on trauma and legacy.
It centres the story of Laurie Strode coming face to face with her old opponent – an unstoppable serial killer, Michael Myers – after surviving his bloody rampage four decades ago on Halloween.
Michael Myers is at it again, unleashing hell once again on Halloween – Haddonfield is ripe for a spooky celebration for those long-time October movie fans out there.
18. Halloween Kills (2021):
Loud, bloody and out of control, the movie fully embraces the group hysterics and frenzied slaughter.
A mob of surviving victims take on Michael Myers and swear to see the end of him once and for all.
The movie gets maximum mileage out of the Halloween night vibe with masks, spooky decor and the escalating terror of suburbia.
19. Halloween Ends (2022):
Maybe the most divisive modern addition to the franchise, Halloween Ends looks more at the obsession and psychological side of terror.
A surge of violence will soon send Laurie Strode into an war against a evil beyond her power, an evil controlling a messed-up young man dating her granddaughter.
Love it or loathe it, it brings a definitive end to the Haddonfield lore.
20. Hell House LLC (2015):
The Best Modern Found-Footage Horror Movies Hell House LLC! It all began at a haunted house where imagery of clowns and rapidly escalating supernatural occurrences ultimately caused deadly chaos and hysteria.
It all started five years prior when a Halloween haunted attraction opening night went terribly wrong and killed 15 staff members and tour participants, and now a documentary crew is coming back to reexamine the former business for the real truth behind the tragic event.
21. Hocus Pocus (1993):
Though it’s far from classic horror, Hocus Pocus evokes a warm Salem atmosphere filled with witches, dress-up, black cats, and holiday nostalgia.
A teenage guy and his little sister go to Salem where he cannot blend in until he resurrects three evil witches in the 17th-century witch trials.
Many fans will say it is not the beginning of the Halloween season until the Sanderson Sisters are brought back to life.
22. House of 1000 Corpses (2003):
Halloween evil is distilled in this anarchic, blood-soaked, loud, and damn-near unbearable grindhouse horror from hell with haunted attractions, homicidal maniacs and Americana twisted to the extreme.
It all comes to fruition when a pair of young couples traveling across the rural Texas backwoods searching for the lowdown on murder urban legends are kidnapped and taken captive by a freaked out, evil, perverse killer family.
23. Livid (2011):
Livid is another gorgeous French fright-fest that blends gothic gloom with nightmarish-delusions and nasty fairy tale darkness.
When a suspected treasure said to lie within the crumbling, former classical dance academy of Mrs. Jessel, is uncovered, Lucie and her pals get caught in a bit of a death trap.
Oh and lookieloo, trick or treaters in Silver Shamrock like masks, looking out on Halloween III-like vibes.
24. The Monster Squad (1987):
Universal Monsters are set to meet 80s teen Halloween movie in The Monster Squad.
The story follows a group of 12-year-old kids who run a Universal Monsters fan club and end up fighting the real thing when Dracula and the other classic monsters invade their hometown.
25. Night of the Demons (1988):
Set at a Halloween party in a spooky mortuary, Night of the Demons provides a synth soundtrack, gooey gore, and over-the-top ghostly gags that mark it out as a true 1980s horror classic.
Ten teen hooligans decided to throw a party at an abandoned mortuary on Halloween. When some supernatural spookiness gets turned on, demonic ghouls seal the place and transform it into a dance floor straight out of damnation.
26. Night of the living Dead (1968):
George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead - 1968 Perhaps no movie has influenced modern society in a more ghastly way than this iconic low-budget frightfest, which took a simple premise of suburban terror and stretched it to its most horrifying extreme.
The premise of this classic is this: A disparate group of survivors holed up in an old farmhouse tries to make it through the night and hold off an endless tide of brain-eating zombies who have suddenly erupted in this remote corner of the Northeast.
With classic black-and-white photography, this film still remains a perfect combination of social commentary and relentless dread.
27. Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985):
Surprise, huh? Well let me burst your bubble! When quirky man-child Pee-wee Herman’s prized bike is ripped off in front of his eyes in Tim Burton’s quirky comedy of errors: Pee-wee's Big Adventure. Pee-wee sets off on a coast-to-coast journey of strange and hilarious incidents in pursuit of recovering his bicycle.
If you consider a score that sounds like Halloween-meets-a-circus, Pee-wee’s House decorated with a whole assortment of ceramic jack-o'-lanterns, skeleton decors, the “Halloween” store filled with masks, Elvira making a guest appearance as a member of a biker gang, that nightmarish clown imagery, the Francis character adorned as the Devil, and a Day of the Dead procession, "Pee-wee's Big Adventure" Is Totally a Halloween Movie.
28. Poltergeist (1982):
A young family in the suburbs find their idyllic life shattered when a portal to “the other side” opens up inside their very own home in Steven Spielberg and Tobe Hooper's supernatural horror thriller Poltergeist. But when their youngest daughter is abducted by spirits beyond their control, it will be up to the rest of the family to venture into their home's darkest corners to rescue her.
Part Spielbergian wish fulfillment and part Hooperian suburban dread, Poltergeist merges domesticity and ghoulish violence (complete with actual skeletal remains and a handful of genuinely unforgettable jump scares) in a package that's arguably the definitive 'gateway' horror film of all time (faintly in the spirit of Halloween, of course).
29. Pumpkinhead (1988):
Stan Winston’s creature feature Pumpkinhead is about a revenge demon awakened from the grave beneath a pumpkin patch, which is roaming and terrorizing the countryside. Revenge demon, for hire!
When his son’s accidental death in a rural accident drives him insane with grief, a vengeful dad summons a demon to unleash bloody hell on all the people who caused the crash.
30. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975):
The quintessential cult classic, half-musical, half horror-comedy, The Rocky Horror Picture Show-all camp gothic glamour, extravagant outfits, and late-night theatrics-is as much of a Halloween institution as carved pumpkins.
A newly engaged couple find themselves at the door of a creepy castle run by an alien transvestite scientist, who’s on the eve of presenting a fantastic new experiment.
31. Silver Bullet (1985):
Small-town drama gets werewolf drama in this Stephen King-based tale of suspense and shock.
An ambitious and spooky rite of passage that moves through changing seasons to hit its climax on Halloween, Silver Bullet is endlessly watchable.
32. Scanners (1981):
David Cronenberg's Scanners provides a frosty, paranoid mix of body horror and mind games. This disturbingly prophetic film for 1980s horror, features a now-legendary head exploding moment, and disturbing notions of mind infiltration.
The research scientist trains the telepathic scanning man to combat a renegade Scanner of psychic powers that wants to take arms against normal people.
I don’t think I recall a pumpkin appearing in the film but here’s one in the above piece of art. Did I just miss a pumpkin that was hiding in plain sight?
33. Sleepy Hollow (1999):
A Fog-Drenched Halloween Gothic Tale Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow drips with autumnal dread, the kind of mist-laden gothic experience where every image feels designed for Halloween. Spooky glowing jack-o'-lanterns, dead leaves, and decaying trees in the woods – it’s a visually rich holiday dreamscape.
Ichabod Crane is dispatched to the small town of Sleepy Hollow to solve a rash of beheadings with three innocent lives as collateral. A phantom of terrifying legend… The Headless Horseman, is the accused perp.
34. Terrifier (2017):
Introducing the modern gore-fueled horror icon Art the Clown, this ultra-gory slasher focuses on in-camera practical effect savagery and a sustained nail-biting experience built for dedicated fans of hyper-violence.
Art the Clown, a mute psycho, is on the rampage on Halloween as he targets two unsuspecting friends, as well as anyone else he encounters.
35. Terrifier 2 (2022):
The film adds lore to Art the Clown’s mythos while ratcheting up the surrealism and Halloween candy-colored seasonal themes, along with the usual hyper gore and brutal shock.
Resurrected by an unknown and unholy force, Art the Clown is back in Miles County to wreak havoc upon two siblings on Halloween night.
36. Trick 'r Treat (2007):
Trick ‘r Treat is the definitive Halloween anthology, featuring several stories centered on October 31st and Halloween traditions and rituals. Featuring pumpkins that glow, trick-or-treat mayhem, and horror icon Sam.
Five Halloweens: A principal has a secret evil double life that he practices. A young woman longs for her "candy" and sets out to lose her virginity on Halloween night. Group of young hooligans are pulling out a nasty stunt for October. A woman who loathes the creepy holiday doesn't respect the rules; then there’s a mean, elderly gentleman encountering a demonic trick-or-treater.
The Stuff of Horror Movies art collection is a series of 666 drawings, each based on a different horror film by artist Gabriel Edwards. Check out the other horror movies in the collection or buy prints at the links below:
https://linktr.ee/thestuffofhorrormovies
http://www.gabrieldedwards.com/
https://www.instagram.com/gabrieldedwards/
https://www.instagram.com/thestuffofhorrormovies/
https://www.etsy.com/shop/StuffOfHorrorMovies
https://www.teepublic.com/user/thestuffofhorrormovies
Wow _ those almost look like sticker pages!
ReplyDeleteYeah I can see that :)
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