Fangirlish is going big this Halloween with a bunch of posts celebrating the spookiest time of the year. And yes, our reality is much scarier than any of these movies, books, or TV shows, but maybe we can be of assistance with a little distraction. Without further ado, here are 20 of our favorite Halloween movies!
1. Halloween (1978)
Why We Love It: Halloween is an absolute classic that delivers horror movie realness with an unforgettable soundtrack that still haunts our dreams.
Summary: Fifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween night 1963, Michael Myers escapes from a mental hospital and returns to the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois to kill again.
Available to rent or buy on Amazon Prime and Apple TV.
2. Beetlejuice
Why We Love It: Michael Keaton gives an unforgettable performance as the scoundrel Beetlejuice, whose only real purpose is to cause chaos wherever he goes.
Summary: The spirits of a deceased couple are harassed by an unbearable family that has moved into their home, and hire a malicious spirit to drive them out.
Available to rent or buy on Google Play, Amazon Prime, and Apple TV.
3. The Addams Family
Why We Love It: The Addams Family was the creepy emo goodness that we all needed in our young lives. Also this movie taught us that being weird was more than ok. It was welcome.
Summary: Con artists plan to fleece an eccentric family using an accomplice who claims to be their long-lost uncle.
Available to rent or buy on Google Play, Amazon Prime, and Apple TV.
4. Friday the 13th (1980)
Why We Love It: Friday the 13th taught us that being young and having sexy times at a camp totally leads to death, mayhem, and destruction. You’ve been warned!
Summary: A group of camp counselors are stalked and murdered by an unknown assailant while trying to reopen a summer camp which was the site of a child’s drowning and a grisly double murder years before.
Available to rent or buy on Google Play, Amazon Prime, and Apple TV.
5. Hocus Pocus
Why We Love It: Bette Midler is an absolute queen and Hocus Pocus gave us some our very own first crushes that live onto this day. You know who you are!
Summary: A curious youngster moves to Salem, where he struggles to fit in before awakening a trio of diabolical witches that were executed in the 17th century.
Available to rent or buy on Google Play, Amazon Prime, and Apple TV.
6. Pet Sematary (1989)
Why We Love It: The child actor they cast for Pet Sematary is super creepy and somehow the most adorable thing ever. I’d run towards him!
Summary: After tragedy strikes, a grieving father discovers an ancient burial ground behind his home with the power to raise the dead.
Available to rent or buy on Google Play, Amazon Prime, and Apple TV.
7. Trick ‘r Treat
Why We Love It: That little guy with the sack on his head will haunt our dreams forever. It’ll haunt yours as well! Plus Anna Paquin? Who can say no to that?
Summary: Five interwoven stories that occur on Halloween: An everyday high school principal has a secret life as a serial killer; a college virgin might have just met the guy for her; a group of teenagers pull a mean prank; a woman who loathes the night has to contend with her holiday-obsessed husband; and a mean old man meets his match with a demonic, supernatural trick-or-treater.
Available to rent or buy on Google Play, Amazon Prime, and Apple TV.
8. Monster House
Why We Love It: Monster House surprised with its twists and turns, giving us a fun, engaging, and weird movie that needs to be watched every Halloween!
Summary: Three teens discover that their neighbor’s house is really a living, breathing, scary monster.
Available to rent or buy on Google Play, Amazon Prime, and Apple TV.
9. Child’s Play (1988)
Why We Love It: Child’s Play taught us to never take our dolls for granted or trust them fully because they could be evil serial killers just waiting for you to drop down your guard.
Summary: A single mother gives her son a much sought-after doll for his birthday, only to discover that it is possessed by the soul of a serial killer.
Available to rent or buy on Google Play, Amazon Prime, and Apple TV.
10. The Craft
Why We Love It: The Craft was the 90’s personified with a healthy dose of emo that we all wanted to be part of, whether we admitted it to ourselves or not.
Summary: A newcomer to a Catholic prep high school falls in with a trio of outcast teenage girls who practice witchcraft, and they all soon conjure up various spells and curses against those who anger them.
Available to rent or buy on Google Play and Amazon Prime.
11. The Nightmare Before Christmas
Why We Love It: The Nightmare Before Christmas is a magical experience that made us love stop motion animation, Halloween, and Christmas all at once.
Summary: Jack Skellington, king of Halloween Town, discovers Christmas Town, but his attempts to bring Christmas to his home causes confusion.
Available to rent or buy on Google Play, Amazon Prime, and Apple TV.
12. The Conjuring
Why We Love It: The Conjuring is one of the first movies in ages that scared the living hell out of us with its storytelling, visuals, and ghosts aplenty.
Summary: Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren work to help a family terrorized by a dark presence in their farmhouse.
Available to rent or buy on Google Play, Amazon Prime, and Apple TV.
13. Us
Why We Love It: Jordan Peele saw that we hadn’t been scared via original content and delivered on a movie like none we’ve ever seen before, full of scares, music, and terror.
Summary: A family’s serene beach vacation turns to chaos when their doppelgängers appear and begin to terrorize them.
Available to rent or buy on Google Play, Amazon Prime, and Apple TV.
14. Carrie (1976)
Why We Love It: Like other classics on this list, Carrie took a look at youth, growing up, and the consequences that come with dealing with the supernatural in a world that paints itself as nothing more than ordinary.
Summary: Carrie White, a shy, friendless teenage girl who is sheltered by her domineering, religious mother, unleashes her telekinetic powers after being humiliated by her classmates at her senior prom.
Available to rent or buy on Google Play, Amazon Prime, and Apple TV.
15. Paranormal Activity
Why We Love It: Paranormal Activity was on the cutting edge of original storytelling and deserves to be seen with it’s original ending and not the movie theater one.
Summary: After moving into a suburban home, a couple becomes increasingly disturbed by a nightly demonic presence.
Available to rent or buy on Google Play, Amazon Prime, and Apple TV.
16. Children of the Corn (1984)
Why We Love It: Children of the Corn made us fear names like Malachai and Isaac while showing us how much of a badass Linda Hamilton truly is!
Summary: A young couple is trapped in a remote town where a dangerous religious cult of children believes that everyone over age 18 must be killed.
Available to rent or buy on Google Play, Amazon Prime, and Apple TV.
17. Sleepy Hollow
Why We Love It: Back when we were young and innocent, Johnny Depp was a dream boat and we loved the emo take on Sleepy Hollow.
Summary: Ichabod Crane is sent to Sleepy Hollow to investigate the decapitations of three people, with the culprit being the legendary apparition, The Headless Horseman.
Available to rent or buy on Google Play, Amazon Prime, and Apple TV.
18. Corpse Bride
Why We Love It: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, and stop motion animation. Need we say more?
Summary: When a shy groom practices his wedding vows in the inadvertent presence of a deceased young woman, she rises from the grave assuming he has married her.
Available to rent or buy on Google Play, Amazon Prime, and Apple TV.
19. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Why We Love It: A Nightmare on Elm Street scared us to death and haunted our nightmares like they were supposed to do especially with someone as scary as Freddy.
Summary: The monstrous spirit of a slain child murderer seeks revenge by invading the dreams of teenagers whose parents were responsible for his untimely death.
Available to rent or buy on Google Play, Amazon Prime, and Apple TV.
20. Casper
Why We Love It: Who would’ve thought we’d have a crush on a ghost? Not I!
Summary: An afterlife therapist and his daughter meet a friendly young ghost when they move into a crumbling mansion in order to rid the premises of wicked spirits.
Available to rent or buy on Google Play, Amazon Prime, and Apple TV.
