Spooky season is upon us. It’s time to decorate, carve pumpkins, eat candy, and, if you’re like me, watch horror movies. Tons and tons of horror movies. There’s nothing wrong with revisiting the classics every year, but maybe you’re getting tired of watching the same things over and over again. Here are 31 fun spooky choices that you can add to your watchlist this Halloween season.
1. Sleepaway Camp
Angela and Ricky are sent to Camp Arawak for the summer, where bizarre and violent accidents are claiming the lives of campers. You can read my review of Sleepaway Camp here.
Sleepaway Camp is available on Tubi and Peacock.
2. WNUF Halloween Special
Self-important news anchor Frank Stewart leads a live broadcast from the infamous “Webber House,” the site of a brutal murder where a young boy claimed a Ouija board-summoned demon forced him to kill his parents.
WNUF is available on Shudder.
3. The Descent
A year after a severe emotional trauma, Sarah (Shauna Macdonald) goes to North Carolina to spend some time exploring caves with her friends; after descending underground, the women find strange cave paintings and evidence of an earlier expedition, then learn they are not alone: Underground predators inhabit the crevasses, and they have a taste for human flesh.
You can read my review of The Descent here.
The Descent is available on Tubi.
4. The Hitcher
While transporting a car from Chicago to San Diego, Jim Halsey (C. Thomas Howell) picks up a hitchhiker named John Ryder (Rutger Hauer), who claims to be a serial killer. After a daring escape, Jim hopes to never see Ryder again. But when he witnesses the hitchhiker murdering an entire family, Jim pursues Ryder with the help of truck-stop waitress Nash (Jennifer Jason Leigh), pitting the rivals against each other in a deadly series of car chases and brutal murders.
The Hitcher is available on YouTube for free.
5. The Monster Squad
Five youngsters find themselves up against the combined might of Dracula, the Mummy, the Gill Man, and Frankenstein’s Monster, who arrive in town in search of a magic amulet.
You can read my review of The Monster Squad here.
The Monster Squad is available on Amazon Prime.
6. Goodnight Mommy
Twin boys who do everything together, from collecting beetles to feeding stray cats, welcome their mother home after her reconstructive surgery. But with her face wrapped in bandages and her demeanor distant, they grow suspicious of who she really is.
Goodnight Mommy is available on Tubi.
7. House of Wax
A group of college friends, including Wade (Jared Padalecki) and his girlfriend, Carly (Elisha Cuthbert), head to a school football game when they get a flat tire in a ghost town. They are forced to seek help in the only place that’s open: the local wax museum. Once inside the spooky and seemingly abandoned building, they find the works on display are not quite what they seem
House of Wax is available on HBO Max.
8. Pet Sematary
Doctor Louis Creed (Dale Midkiff) moves his family to Maine, where he meets a friendly local named Jud Crandall (Fred Gwynne). After the Creeds’ cat is accidentally killed, Crandall advises Louis to bury it in the ground near the old pet cemetery. The cat returns to life, its personality changed for the worse.
You can read my review of Pet Sematary here.
Pet Sematary is available on Paramount +.
9. Candyman
Skeptical graduate student Helen Lyle (Virginia Madsen) befriends Anne-Marie McCoy (Vanessa Williams) while researching superstitions in a housing project on Chicago’s Near North Side. From Anne-Marie, Helen learns about the Candyman (Tony Todd), a knife-wielding figure of urban legend that some of her neighbors believe to be responsible for a recent murder. After a mysterious man matching the Candyman’s description begins stalking her, Helen comes to fear that the legend may be all too real.
Candyman is available on Peacock.
10. Night of the Demons
Wild teenage girls (Mimi Kinkade, Linnea Quigley) hold a Halloween séance in an old funeral parlor to scare their friends.
Night of the Demons is on Tubi.
11. Haunt
On Halloween, a group of friends encounters an extreme haunted house that promises to feed on their darkest fears. The night turns deadly as they come to the horrifying realisation that some nightmares are real.
Haunt is available on Tubi.
12. Wishmaster
A gemologist (Tammy Lauren) unwittingly frees an evil genie (Andrew Divoff) that plays deadly tricks on her friends and acquaintances.
Wishmaster is available on Tubi.
13. Deadstream
A disgraced internet personality tries to win back his followers by livestreaming himself at an abandoned haunted house. When he accidentally unleashes a vengeful spirit, his comeback event becomes a fight for his life.
Deadstream is available on Shudder and Netflix.
14. Sinister
True-crime writer Ellison Oswald is in a slump; he hasn’t had a bestseller in more than 10 years and is becoming increasingly desperate for a hit. So, when he discovers the existence of a snuff film showing the deaths of a family, he vows to solve the mystery. He moves his own family into the victims’ home and gets to work. However, when old film footage and other clues hint at the presence of a supernatural force, Ellison learns that living in the house may be fatal.
Sinister is available on Hulu and Peacock.
15. Fright Night
Teenage Charley Brewster is a horror-film junkie, so it’s no surprise that when a reclusive new neighbor moves next door, Brewster becomes convinced he’s a vampire. It’s also no surprise when nobody believes him. After strange events begin to occur, Charlie has no choice but to turn to the only person who could help: washed-up television vampire killer Peter Vincent.
16. Re-Animator
At the University of Zurich, Herbert West brings his dead professor back to life. Following the horrific side effects involved in the procedure, West moves to the USA to further his studies.
Re-Animator is available on Tubi.
17. Ginger Snaps
The story of two outcast sisters, Ginger (Katharine Isabelle) and Brigitte (Emily Perkins), in the mindless suburban town of Bailey Downs. On the night of Ginger’s first period, she is savagely attacked by a wild creature. Ginger’s wounds miraculously heal, but something is not quite right. Now Brigitte must save her sister and save herself.
Ginger Snaps is available on Tubi.
18. Dolls
A group of motorists, including young Judy Bower (Carrie Lorraine), her horrible father (Ian Patrick Williams), her evil queen of a stepmother (Carolyn Purdy-Gordon), and a meek businessman named Ralph (Stephen Lee), become stranded at a spooky mansion during a nighttime thunderstorm. The house’s strange owners (Guy Rolfe, Hilary Mason) offer overnight lodgings, but with the dastardly intentions of making their visitors the playthings of their murderous toy dolls.
Dolls is available on Amazon Prime.
19. Sleepy Hollow
Constable Ichabod Crane is sent to the tiny village of Sleepy Hollow, where a headless horseman is leaving a trail of decapitated bodies.
Sleepy Hollow is available on Tubi.
20. Idle Hands
21. The Howling
In Los Angeles, television journalist Karen White (Dee Wallace) is traumatized in the course of aiding the police in their arrest of a serial murderer. Her doctor recommends that she attend an isolated psychiatric retreat led by Dr. George Waggner (Patrick Macnee). But while Karen is undergoing therapy, her colleague Chris (Dennis Dugan) investigates the bizarre circumstances surrounding her shock. When his work leads him to suspect the supernatural, he begins to fear for Karen’s life.
The Howling is available on Tubi.
22. The Burning
At summer camp, some teenagers pull a prank on the camp’s caretaker, Cropsy (Lou David). But the joke goes terribly wrong, and the teens leave Cropsy for dead after setting him on fire. But no one keeps Cropsy down.
The Burning is on Tubi.
23. Halloweentown
Marnie and her kids get a big shock when they follow Grandma home to Halloweentown – and find out they come from a family of witches. The town is the only place where supernatural beings can lead a ‘normal’ life, but trouble is looming, and on her 13th birthday, Marnie not only finds she is a witch, but that she and her family are involved in a fight against the evil that is threatening to take over the world.
Halloweentown is available on Disney Plus.
24. Demons
On the Berlin subway, Cheryl gets off at her stop and is pursued by a mysterious, masked man. Rather than attacking her, the man offers her tickets to a free screening at the Metropol, an isolated and recently renovated local cinema.
Demons is available on Tubi.
25. Poltergeist
Strange and creepy happenings beset an average California family, the Freeling family—Steve (Craig T. Nelson), Diane (JoBeth Williams), teenage Dana (Dominique Dunne), eight-year-old Robbie (Oliver Robins), and five-year-old Carol Ann (Heather O’Rourke)—when ghosts commune with them through the television set.
Poltergeist is available on HBO Max.
26. Freaky
Seventeen-year-old Millie Kessler spends her days trying to survive high school and the cruel actions of the popular crowd. But when she becomes the latest target of the Butcher, the town’s infamous serial killer, her senior year becomes the least of her worries. When the Butcher’s mystical dagger causes him and Millie to magically switch bodies, the frightened teen learns she has just 24 hours to get her identity back before she looks like a middle-aged maniac forever.
Freaky is available on Peacock.
27. The Loved Ones
A teenage boy finds himself at the mercy of a classmate’s demented party after he declines her offer to attend the school dance.
The Loved Ones is available on Pluto TV.
28. Curtains
Entering an asylum to prepare for a movie role, a young woman is double-crossed and left behind by her director. With six new starlets auditioning for her role at a remote mansion, a masked murderer seeks revenge.
Curtains is available on Tubi.
29. Orphan
Devastated by the loss of their unborn baby, Kate and John decide to adopt a child. At the orphanage, both feel drawn to a little girl named Esther, and soon the couple takes their new daughter home. But when a dangerous series of events unfolds, Kate begins to suspect that there is something evil lurking behind the child’s angelic exterior.
Orphan is available on HBO Max.
30. Carrie
In this chilling adaptation of Stephen King’s horror novel, withdrawn and sensitive teen Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) faces taunting from classmates at school and abuse from her fanatically pious mother (Piper Laurie) at home. When strange occurrences start happening around Carrie, she begins to suspect that she has supernatural powers.
Carrie is available on HBO Max.
31. Halloween
On a cold Halloween night in 1963, six-year-old Michael Myers brutally murdered his 17-year-old sister, Judith. He was sentenced and locked away for 15 years. But on October 30, 1978, while being transferred for a court date, a 21-year-old Michael Myers stole a car and escaped Smith’s Grove. He returns to his quiet hometown of Haddonfield, Illinois, where he looks for his next victims.
Halloween is available on Shudder.
Happy October Watching!
