Whether you prefer funny, family Halloween movies or to watch something freaky and frightening, there are plenty of movies to go around on October 31st.
You may have your costume ready to go and carved pumpkins on the porch but, until you’ve watched at least one horror flick, Halloween simply isn’t complete.
But, what should you watch? There are more sub-genres of “horror” movies than ever, and choosing between psychos, slashers, zombies and family classics is not easy.
Consisting of movies that trick, treat and terrify, here is a list of 25 of the best movies to get you in the Halloween spirit (in no particular order). Though there are many more than 25 top Halloween movies, we had to draw the line somewhere.
Don’t take our word for it – we’ve included each film’s rating score from Rotten Tomatoes (critic and audience) and IMDb user rating.
Rotten Tomatoes - Critic Score: 87% (out of 100%)
Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 87% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 8.0/10
Known as one of the scariest films of all time, the story combines supernatural concepts of the devil, demons and the possession of children. Honestly, this movie is enough to make your head spin out of fear – just as Linda Blair’s does in the movie. If you’re scared easily, don’t watch this movie.
Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 84% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 8.2/10
A Halloween classic that you’ll never grow out of, all ages love when the Peanuts gang celebrates Halloween.
Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 80% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 7.6/10
What’s scarier than creepy children? This movie contains that, and more, likely enough to turn you off to the name Damien for life.
Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 94% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 8.6/10
Thanks to Alfred Hitchcock, the infamous psycho with serious mommy-issues, Norman Bates, still causes audiences to think twice about entering the shower. After all, we all go a little mad sometimes.
Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 70% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 6.6/10
The Halloween comedy you loved as a kid still has laughs and charm at any age. Follow three hilarious witches on their mission to hold onto their immorality.
Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 95% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 8.6/10
This movie isn’t horribly gory (a little) – what’s really frightening is the disturbingly charming main character, Hannibal Lecter, played by Anthony Hopkins.
Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 83% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 7.5/10
Whatever you do: Don’t. Fall. Asleep. You won’t have to worry about sleeping after seeing Freddy Krueger go on a killing spree.
Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 76% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 7.4/10
Talk about a horrible prom night – Carrie touches on supernatural, teenage bullying at its worst and what can happen when an outcast’s cruel treatment goes too far.
Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 80% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 7.4/10
Nobody delivers the creep-factor better than Tim Burton, who puts his spin on the classic Washington Irving story of the headless horseman.
Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 93% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 8.5/10
Based on a Stephen King novel, the film has all of the right elements to strike fear in our minds: a man descending into madness, a forgotten hotel, a child and, obviously, Jack Nicholson’s portrayal of a homicidal maniac.
Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 66% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 6.8/10
Sure, it’s silly and pretty cheesy, but Halloween wouldn’t be complete without a visit from the family that’s creepy, kooky and all together ookie!
Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 78% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 7.4/10
A ghost story that’s scary enough to make you afraid of your own television, this Halloween movie is sure to deliver spooks past the 31st.
Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 91% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 8.1/10
Both a Halloween and Christmas tale, this tale is sure to bring both fright and delight to your Halloween night!
Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 87% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 8.0/10
You may not think you’ll enjoy the art of silent film, but this Dracula adaptation remains timeless. Believe it or not, the performances are enough to send chills down your spine, plus the style of the film keeps it as one of the most unique to date. It’s a film that set the standard for horror flicks before there were horror flicks.
Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 89% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 7.9/10
The movie that’s been a Halloween classic for years, this movie seriously delivers scares. It’s one of the original Halloween horror slasher films.
Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 87% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 8.0/10
Roman Polanski’s first American film didn’t disappoint. The story unnerves audiences as it follows disturbing concept of being pregnant with the child of the devil.
Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 93% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 8.1/10
This Halloween flick parodies the tales of Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein. It’s still commands laughs, decades after its release.
Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 65% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 6.2/10
A teen movie that’s creepier than you’d expect, this tale follows teen outcasts who begin practicing witchcraft.
Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 88% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 7.8/10
A great movie for Halloween or any time of year, this classic follows three parapsychologists as they build a ghost-busting business.
Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 55% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 6.4/10
Shot in documentary-style, this film caused audiences to debate whether it was real or not. That’s the scary part - it seems completely real as the story unfolds with three students who have supposedly gone missing leaving only their footage on lost film equipment behind.
Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 88% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 8.0/10
Before everyone was obsessed with the zombie apocalypse, there was this movie. It launched the zombie film genre – the rest is zombie history.
Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 88% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 7.9/10
This film boasts all types of critic reviews that range from frightening to campy but one’s thing for sure – the film still entertains Halloween audiences to this day.
Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 78% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 7.2/10
Before they capitalized on the popular franchise, Scream viewers feared the “Ghostface” mask more than any other in the late nineties. Containing scenes with tons of guts and gore, horror fans will find that the movie has all the makings of any scary evening.
Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 90% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 8.0/10
A critically-acclaimed Swedish flick, this film is great for Halloween movie watchers who enjoy artistic films as much as horror. It follows a childhood romance between a human and a vampire – sans the cheesiness of any Twilight film.
Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 90% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 8.1/10
It’s one of the original silent horror flicks, which makes it a noteworthy cult classic. More noteworthy, however, is the fact that it still draws audiences in this modern day as it has all the makings of any great horror flick: a diabolical doctor, zombie-eqsue killers and mind control.
1. The Exorcist
(1973)Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 87% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 8.0/10
2. It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
(1966) Rotten Tomatoes - Critic Score: 94% (out of 100%)Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 84% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 8.2/10
A Halloween classic that you’ll never grow out of, all ages love when the Peanuts gang celebrates Halloween.
3. The Omen
(1976) Rotten Tomatoes - Critic Score: 85% (out of 100%)Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 80% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 7.6/10
What’s scarier than creepy children? This movie contains that, and more, likely enough to turn you off to the name Damien for life.
4. Psycho
(1960) Rotten Tomatoes - Critic Score: 96% (out of 100%)Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 94% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 8.6/10
Thanks to Alfred Hitchcock, the infamous psycho with serious mommy-issues, Norman Bates, still causes audiences to think twice about entering the shower. After all, we all go a little mad sometimes.
5. Hocus Pocus
(1993) Rotten Tomatoes - Critic Score: 33% (out of 100%)Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 70% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 6.6/10
The Halloween comedy you loved as a kid still has laughs and charm at any age. Follow three hilarious witches on their mission to hold onto their immorality.
6. The Silence of the Lambs
(1991) Rotten Tomatoes - Critic Score: 94% (out of 100%)Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 95% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 8.6/10
This movie isn’t horribly gory (a little) – what’s really frightening is the disturbingly charming main character, Hannibal Lecter, played by Anthony Hopkins.
7. A Nightmare on Elm Street
(1984) Rotten Tomatoes - Critic Score: 93% (out of 100%)Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 83% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 7.5/10
Whatever you do: Don’t. Fall. Asleep. You won’t have to worry about sleeping after seeing Freddy Krueger go on a killing spree.
8. Carrie
(1976) Rotten Tomatoes - Critic Score: 92% (out of 100%)Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 76% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 7.4/10
Talk about a horrible prom night – Carrie touches on supernatural, teenage bullying at its worst and what can happen when an outcast’s cruel treatment goes too far.
9. Sleepy Hollow
(1999) Rotten Tomatoes - Critic Score: 67% (out of 100%)Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 80% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 7.4/10
Nobody delivers the creep-factor better than Tim Burton, who puts his spin on the classic Washington Irving story of the headless horseman.
10. The Shining
(1980) Rotten Tomatoes - Critic Score: 92% (out of 100%)Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 93% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 8.5/10
Based on a Stephen King novel, the film has all of the right elements to strike fear in our minds: a man descending into madness, a forgotten hotel, a child and, obviously, Jack Nicholson’s portrayal of a homicidal maniac.
11. The Addams Family
(1991) Rotten Tomatoes - Critic Score: 60% (out of 100%)Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 66% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 6.8/10
Sure, it’s silly and pretty cheesy, but Halloween wouldn’t be complete without a visit from the family that’s creepy, kooky and all together ookie!
12. Poltergeist
(1982) Rotten Tomatoes - Critic Score: 87% (out of 100%)Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 78% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 7.4/10
A ghost story that’s scary enough to make you afraid of your own television, this Halloween movie is sure to deliver spooks past the 31st.
13. The Nightmare Before Christmas
(1993) Rotten Tomatoes - Critic Score: 94% (out of 100%)Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 91% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 8.1/10
Both a Halloween and Christmas tale, this tale is sure to bring both fright and delight to your Halloween night!
14. Nosferatu, A Symphony of Horror
(1922) Rotten Tomatoes - Critic Score: 97% (out of 100%)Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 87% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 8.0/10
You may not think you’ll enjoy the art of silent film, but this Dracula adaptation remains timeless. Believe it or not, the performances are enough to send chills down your spine, plus the style of the film keeps it as one of the most unique to date. It’s a film that set the standard for horror flicks before there were horror flicks.
15. Halloween
(1978) Rotten Tomatoes - Critic Score: 94% (out of 100%)Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 89% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 7.9/10
The movie that’s been a Halloween classic for years, this movie seriously delivers scares. It’s one of the original Halloween horror slasher films.
16. Rosemary’s Baby
(1968) Rotten Tomatoes - Critic Score: 98% (out of 100%)Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 87% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 8.0/10
Roman Polanski’s first American film didn’t disappoint. The story unnerves audiences as it follows disturbing concept of being pregnant with the child of the devil.
17. Young Frankenstein
(1974) Rotten Tomatoes - Critic Score: 94% (out of 100%)Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 93% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 8.1/10
This Halloween flick parodies the tales of Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein. It’s still commands laughs, decades after its release.
18. The Craft
(1996) Rotten Tomatoes - Critic Score: 50% (out of 100%)Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 65% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 6.2/10
A teen movie that’s creepier than you’d expect, this tale follows teen outcasts who begin practicing witchcraft.
19. Ghostbusters
(1984) Rotten Tomatoes - Critic Score: 97% (out of 100%)Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 88% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 7.8/10
A great movie for Halloween or any time of year, this classic follows three parapsychologists as they build a ghost-busting business.
20. The Blair Witch Project
(1999) Rotten Tomatoes - Critic Score: 85% (out of 100%)Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 55% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 6.4/10
Shot in documentary-style, this film caused audiences to debate whether it was real or not. That’s the scary part - it seems completely real as the story unfolds with three students who have supposedly gone missing leaving only their footage on lost film equipment behind.
21. Night of the Living Dead
(1968) Rotten Tomatoes - Critic Score: 96% (out of 100%)Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 88% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 8.0/10
Before everyone was obsessed with the zombie apocalypse, there was this movie. It launched the zombie film genre – the rest is zombie history.
22. The Bride of Frankenstein
(1935) Rotten Tomatoes - Critic Score: 100% (out of 100%)Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 88% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 7.9/10
This film boasts all types of critic reviews that range from frightening to campy but one’s thing for sure – the film still entertains Halloween audiences to this day.
23. Scream
(1996) Rotten Tomatoes - Critic Score: 78% (out of 100%)Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 78% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 7.2/10
Before they capitalized on the popular franchise, Scream viewers feared the “Ghostface” mask more than any other in the late nineties. Containing scenes with tons of guts and gore, horror fans will find that the movie has all the makings of any scary evening.
24. Let the Right One In
(2008) Rotten Tomatoes - Critic Score: 98% (out of 100%)Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 90% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 8.0/10
A critically-acclaimed Swedish flick, this film is great for Halloween movie watchers who enjoy artistic films as much as horror. It follows a childhood romance between a human and a vampire – sans the cheesiness of any Twilight film.
25. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
(1920) Rotten Tomatoes - Critic Score: 100% (out of 100%)Rotten Tomatoes - Audience Score: 90% (out of 100%)
IMDb - User Rating: 8.1/10
It’s one of the original silent horror flicks, which makes it a noteworthy cult classic. More noteworthy, however, is the fact that it still draws audiences in this modern day as it has all the makings of any great horror flick: a diabolical doctor, zombie-eqsue killers and mind control.
