Since last Halloween, I have been putting in some extra Horror Movie watching time, to provide a list on what you might like to watch on your spooky night. This year, I’m going to provide 4 of my top picks in each Horror sub-genre. I won’t be using the same movies from last year, so if you need a reminder please look at my top five in their categories for 2021 – Halloween Movies to watch.
Categories –
- Halloween Movies for Kids
- Halloween Comedy Movies
- Monster/Creature Movies
- Paranormal Movies
- Psychological/Thriller Movies
- Slasher Movies
There is something to watch for Everyone. Most of the genres are in there. Click on the movie title to read more about the movie and if you would like to see the trailer you can click on the image. Hope you have a Happy Halloween!
Halloween Movies for Kids
The Addams Family
The Addams Family Movies are very fun to watch as a kid. It takes an absurd look at what the iconic family considers normal and how they interact with the world around them. I enjoyed these movies as a kid and there is a second one (Addams Family Values) that you might enjoy, if you like the first one.
The Addams Family (1991, PG) Director – Barry Sonnenfeld
When a loan shark learns about an eccentric family’s missing relative, she orders her son to masquerade as the long-lost uncle so that she can loot the family.
Starring – Anjelica Huston, Raul Julia, Christopher Lloyd
Addams Family Values (1993, PG) Director – Barry Sonnenfeld
Family members of a strange household try to rescue Uncle Fester from his gold-digging wife who also happens to be a serial killer whose speciality is killing rich men to collect their inheritance.
Starring – Anjelica Huston, Raul Julia, Christopher Lloyd, Joan Cusack, Christina Ricci, Carol Kane
Ghostbusters
Who doesn’t love these movies? They are truly fun for the whole family to enjoy on Halloween. I remember watching Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters 2 as a kid and have loved them ever since. Time for a fun nostalgia look back at what these great movies did in movie making.
Ghostbusters (1984, PG) Director – Ivan Reitman
When Peter Venkman, Raymond Stantz and Egon Spengler lose their jobs as scientists, they start an establishment called Ghostbusters to fight the evil ghosts lurking in New York City.
Starring – Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis, Rick Moranis
Ghostbusters II (1989, PG) Director – Ivan Reitman
Having gone bankrupt and out of work, the Ghostbusters have now retired. But their services are required again when a series of events involving ectoplasmic slime threaten the city and Dana’s baby.
Starring – Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis, Rick Moranis, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts
Corpse Bride
(2005, PG) Director – Tim Burton
As you know from my previous Halloween movie watch list, I love Tim Burton movies. The Corpse Bride is another scary kids classic. I loved this movie and I’m sure the kids will like it too.
A shy young man inadvertently brings a deceased woman to life when he practises his wedding vows near her grave. Trouble ensues when she thinks he is married to her.
Starring (voice) – Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter
The House with a Clock in Its Walls
(2018, PG) Director – Eli Roth
This is a fun family movie to watch and is based on the 1973 novel. Jack Black and Cate Blanchett really create a wonderfully colourful cast that enchants the viewer. This movie is a bit underrated, but I really enjoyed it. We have another Jack Black goofy comedy movie and I’d recommend a watch (hehehe watch) with the family, if you have time (hehehe time). Apologise about the clock puns.
Lewis Barnavelt, a young boy, sets out on an adventurous journey with his uncle to try and find a clock that has the power to wreak havoc in the world.
Starring – Jack Black, Cate Blanchett, Owen Vaccaro, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Sunny Suljic, Kyle MacLachlan
Halloween Comedy Movies
Willy’s Wonderland
(2021, MA) Director – Kevin Lewis
This movie is hysterical. I wasn’t sure what to expect and it really made me laugh. Nicholas Cage, has done a lot of movies and this one should be in, at least, the top ten. The fact he played the whole movie without talking, only using his face and body movements to let the audience know what his characters thinking was a brilliant call. Generally you feel a foreboding or sense of fear in a horror movie. But this movie has a more action like feel to make the viewer feel like it’s a game. If you’re confused about the movie, I highly suggest playing “Five Nights at Freddy’s” game franchise. The movie is the game, just with Nicholas Cage as the hero.
It is a truly original concept for a horror movie and though the reviews are mixed, I highly recommend this movie.
When a man’s car breaks down in a town in the middle of nowhere, he takes on a janitorial job at Willy’s Wonderland to pay for repairs. He soon finds himself in a dark world of terrifying creatures.
Starring – Nicolas Cage, Emily Tosta, Ric Reitz, David Sheftell, Beth Grant
Idle Hands
(1999, MA) Director – Rodman Flender
This is a great movie that I enjoyed as a teenager. The idiom of “Idle hands are the devils playthings” takes a literal meaning in this Horror Comedy movie. You will not be disappointed.
A teenaged slacker finds his parents turned into headless Halloween decorations and realises that his right hand has a blood-thirsty mind of its own that wreaks havoc.
Starring – Devon Sawa, Seth Green, Elden Henson, Jessica Alba, Vivica A. Fox
John Dies at the End
(2012, MA) Director – Don Coscarelli
Soy Sauce, a new street drug, claims to send its users across temporal and spatial boundaries. But the ones who return from this journey aren’t humans anymore and pose a threat to the world.
This movie provides the ultimate mind bending possibilities within a fantastic plot. It is 100% not predictable, and you need a rather flexible mind to appreciate the writer of the comic novel (Pen name) David Wong. He posses a philosophical question at the beginning of the film (Just to get you in the right head space for this movie):
“Solving the following riddle will reveal the awful truth of the universe, assuming you do not go utterly mad in the attempt.
Say you have an ax – just a cheap one from Home Depot. On one bitter winter day, you use said ax to behead a man. Don’t worry – the man’s already dead. Maybe you should worry, ‘cause you’re the one who shot him. He’d been a big, twitchy guy with veined skin stretched over swollen biceps, tattoo of a swastika on his tongue. And you’re chopping off his head because even with eight bullet holes in him, you’re pretty sure he’s about to spring back to his feet and eat the look of terror right off your face.
On the last swing, the handle splinters. You now have a broken ax. So you go to the hardware store, explaining away the dark reddish stains on the handle as barbeque sauce. The repaired ax sits undisturbed in your house until the next spring when one rainy morning, a strange creature appears in your kitchen. So you grab your trusty ax and chop the thing into several pieces. On the last blow, however – Of course, a chipped head means yet another trip to the hardware store.
As soon as you get home with your newly headed ax, though… You meet the reanimated body of the guy you beheaded last year, only he’s got a new head stitched on with what looks like plastic weed-trimmer line and wears that unique expression of you’re-the-man-who-killed-me-last-winter resentment that one so rarely encounters in everyday life. So you brandish your ax. “That’s the ax that slayed me,” he rasps.
Is he right?”
Starring – Chase Williamson, Rob Mayes, Paul Giamatti, Clancy Brown, Glynn Turman, Doug Jones, Daniel Roebuck
The Cabin in the Woods
(2011, MA) Director – Drew Goddard
Ok think of Evil dead but the stoner survives… which is rare for horror movies. It takes a funny view point as you look at all points of the plot from, shall we say, opposed views? Plus Chris Hemsworth… yum…
Five college friends head out to a remote cabin for a getaway, but things don’t go as planned when they start getting killed. They soon discover that there is more to the cabin than it seems.
Starring – Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, Anna Hutchison, Fran Kranz, Jesse Williams, Richard Jenkins, Bradley Whitford
Monster/Creature Movies
The Mist
(2007, MA) Director – Frank Darabont
I really enjoyed this movie as the “monsters” change throughout and gives us some insects and animal type creatures, most people already get a scare from. It creates a sense of constant danger due to not knowing what might happen next. Through the whole movie you are questioning what is happening outside, in the mist, and being unsure of the decisions that the characters are making. Stephen King has created another book/movie that is sure not to disappoint the fans of his work.
David and his son are trapped in a supermarket along with some other townsfolk, when suddenly a mist engulfs the entire city, bringing along bloodthirsty creatures that devour anyone in their path.
Starring – Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Laurie Holden, Andre Braugher, Toby Jones
28 Days Later / 28 Weeks Later
These movies were the first time I could see a logical sense to how an outbreak might be handled for a zombie apocalypse. I really enjoyed both of them and how it captures a more “realistic” character growth in dealing with the horrific circumstances. Plus has Jeremy Renner from the Avengers (aka Hawkeye) and Robert Carlyle from Once Upon a Time (aka Rumplestiltskin).
28 Days Later (2002, MA) Director – Danny Boyle
Twenty-eight days after the outbreak of a deadly virus in London, which infects everyone and turns them into braindead killers, the survivors try to cope with their losses and find sanctuary.
Starring – Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Christopher Eccleston, Megan Burns, Brendan Gleeson
28 Weeks Later (2007, MA) Director – Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
When an incurable virus starts killing people in Britain, they are forced to evacuate their homes. All hell breaks loose when they try to return to their country and are again attacked by the virus.
Starring – Robert Carlyle, Rose Byrne, Jeremy Renner, Harold Perrineau, Catherine McCormack, Mackintosh Muggleton, Imogen PootsIdris Elba
The Mummy / The Mummy Returns
The Mummy and The Mummy Returns are my favourite movies. I loved these movies, so much as a kid, that I started studying any Egyptology book that I could find. They included an amazing amount of detail and the brilliant acting of Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah and Arnold Vosloo transport the viewer into an amazing and captivating experience. I know it’s more action based than normal horror movies, but if you haven’t watched them, I would highly recommend them.
The Mummy (1999, M) Director – Stephen Sommers
Adventurer Rick O’Connell, Egyptologist Evelyn and her clumsy brother inadvertently wake up a bedevilled mummy, Imhotep, Pharaoh Seti I’s high priest, during a dig at the ancient city of Hamunaptra.
Starring – Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, Arnold Vosloo, Kevin J. O’Connor, Jonathan Hyde
The Mummy Returns (2001, M) Director – Stephen Sommers
When a cult resurrects the mummified body of Imhotep, an evil Egyptian high priest, to use his power to trounce the Scorpion King and his supernatural army, an Egyptologist is caught in the crossfire.
Starring – Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, Arnold Vosloo, Oded Fehr, Patricia Velásquez, Dwayne Johnson
Bram Stoker’s Dracula
(1992, M) Director – Francis Ford Coppola
This is the only vampire movie that has made my list. I’m a bit put off by the vampire genre due to the constant repetition throughout. I don’t particularly find them scary. The first one, that’s based off the book by Bram Stoker, I did enjoy. I do understand the fascination and cult classic genre, but the genre has been played out and a few, if any actually exist to pay tribute to the authors actual writing. I will also mention a series (Dracula) which I found quite enjoyable.
If you want the backstory; Count Dracula’s character was closely linked to Vlad the Impaler. Stoker, was said to have read Wilkinson’s book on Vlad (1820 book by the British consul to Wallachia, William Wilkinson. Wilkinson delves into the history of the region, mentioning the notorious warlord Vlad Tepes). And if ever there were a historical figure to inspire a bloodthirsty, monstrous fictional character, Vlad III Dracula was a good choice. This is one time in horror stories that the real life version was actually more horrific than the character!
Starring – Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, Anthony Hopkins, Keanu Reeves
Paranormal Movies
Devil
(2010, M) Director – John Erick Dowdle
I really enjoyed this movie. It’s a story from the wonderful brain of M. Night Shyamalan and is an amazingly directed movie, that captures the viewers attention. I really like twist endings and the movie builds the tension for all the characters brilliantly.
Five strangers get stuck in an elevator and they start panicking. Things take a dark turn when a series of unnatural occurrences begin to affect them.
Starring – Chris Messina, Logan Marshall-Green, Geoffrey Arend, Bojana Novakovic, Jenny O’Hara, Bokeem Woodbine, Jacob Vargas
It Follows
(2014, MA) Director – David Robert Mitchell
This movie makes me laugh a bit, due to the fact I see it kind of like those sex education lessons about STD’s, though this time we’re putting teens off of having premarital sex by saying a demon might chase them lol. Remember, before having sex you need to check for any sexually transmitted diseases and always check that they aren’t being followed by a demon… Perfect way to scare teenagers!
The movie does provide a fright and has a good storyline, though the ending is a bit of a disappointment. My theory is that since the demon is passed onto the next person you have sex with, wouldn’t it make sense to find a very high demand prostitute and the demon would be busy for years hunting down the numerous people? Lol.
Starring – Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Olivia Luccardi, Lili Sepe, Daniel Zovatto, Jake Weary
Thirteen Ghosts
(2001, MA) Director – Steve Beck
I liked the storyline and the amazing set design in this movie. My only complaint would be that I would have liked to have known the backstory behind the dark zodiac ghosts. There is an actual dark zodiac which can be looked up here. I looked the stories up, please see here, for more information. I just wished that they would have included some details about the ghosts and how they were chosen within the actual film.
Arthur, along with his two kids, inherits his Uncle Cyrus’ glass house in which 12 ghosts are jailed. They, along with a nanny and attorney, then get trapped inside a devilish machine of that house.
Starring – Tony Shalhoub, Embeth Davidtz, Matthew Lillard, Shannon Elizabeth, Rah Digga, F. Murray Abraham
Lights Out
(2016, M) Director – David F. Sandberg
Don’t know about you, but when I was a kid, the darkness scared me. After watching this movie… it successfully rekindled that old fear. I wonder if I’m considered too old for a night light?
A young woman realizes that her mother is possessed by a supernatural spirit that hunts only in the dark. However, a spate of murders compels her to confront the spirit and save her family.
Starring – Teresa Palmer, Gabriel Bateman, Alexander DiPersia, Billy Burke, Maria Bello
Psychological/Thriller Movies
The Ploughkeepsie Tapes
(2007, R) Director – John Erick Dowdle
This is a found footage movie that is being analysed by homicide investigators (I’m quite fond of this type of horror movie). It is like a documentary of these truly horrific murders that a serial killer has made over decades. It is very disturbing and has made me check all closets before going to bed. It is very realistic, as in, that it shows how this could actually happen and makes the viewer feel that it’s true (It’s not based on a true story – most horror movies aren’t). It is just influenced by past life serial killers and their crimes. But I would highly recommend it to place on your watch list.
The Visit
(2015, M) Director – M. Night Shyamalan
This one has a slow build and creates an uneasy feeling throughout. It follows a found footage style, common to some horror movies and is directed by M. Night Shyamalan. I enjoyed the movie and recommend it.
Becca and Tyler plan a week-long stay at their grandparents’ place, whom they have never seen. Little do they know that their visit will be the most terrifying experience of their lives.
Starring – Olivia DeJonge, Ed Oxenbould, Deanna Dunagan, Peter McRobbie, Kathryn Hahn
Midsommar
(2019, R) Director – Ari Aster
Midsommar is quite an intense movie as we look at the culture of an unknown remote village in Sweden, through the eyes of American graduate students who are invited by a foreign exchange student to participate in the Midsummer festivities. The world created by the sets and beautiful surroundings, create an almost peaceful atmosphere that you can feel. There is nothing foreboding or scary, just an exploration of the village and their culture. Slowly, the film starts showing the darker side of their practises. Which gets explained away by cultural differences. I think that we are prone to be more accepting of differences due to political correctness and tolerance within cultures. So they explain away acts which would horrify most people. The interesting point for this movie, is that it’s not focused on the killing, the killing is the least important part from actually exploring the culture and almost oddly acceptable reasoning of their way of life. I really recommend this movie, as it creates a view in which you can emphasize with the characters and events that unfold.
Starring – Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor, William Jackson Harper, Vilhelm Blomgren, Ellora Torchia, Archie Madekwe, Will Poulter
The Circle
(2015, M) Director – Aaron Hann, Mario Miscione
I recommend this movie for people that like mind games and survival instincts. It’s pretty intense and you see the characters internal struggles with the choices they make.
Fifty strangers facing execution have to pick one person among them to live.
Starring – Michael Nardelli, Carter Jenkins, Lawrence Kao, Allegra Masters, Julie Benz
Slasher Movies
Rob Zombie Movies
I don’t know why these movies always make me smile. I think that Rob Zombie just makes pretty captivating slasher horror movies (31, Devils Rejects, 3 from Hell, House of 1000 Corpses)that are refreshing stories from the normal repetitive subgenre (see here).
House of 1000 Corpses (2003, MA) Director – Rob Zombie
Two young couples travel to discover unusual roadside attractions and end up meeting a hitchhiker. Soon, they find themselves in the home of a strange family who turn out to be serial killers.
Starring – Sid Haig, Bill Moseley, Sheri Moon, Karen Black
Devils Rejects (2005, MA) Director – Rob Zombie
Sheriff Wydell and his men attack and nab one of the Firefly’s, a family of sadistic serial killers known as ‘The Devil’s Reject’. Those who escaped have now kidnapped a few more people at a motel.
Starring – Sid Haig, Bill Moseley, Sheri Moon Zombie, Ken Foree, Matthew McGrory, William Forsythe
3 from Hell (2019, R) Director – Rob Zombie
Three members of the notorious Firefly family, Baby, Otis and Foxy, embark on a deadly adventure to continue their clan’s murderous rampage.
Starring – Sheri Moon Zombie, Bill Moseley, Richard Brake, Jeff Daniel Phillips, Dee Wallace, Emilio Rivera, Richard Edson, Kevin Jackson, Pancho Moler, Steven Michael Quezada, Clint Howard, Barry Bostwick, Danny Trejo, Sid Haig
31 (2016, MA) Director – Rob Zombie
Five carnival workers are kidnapped the night before Halloween and held hostage in a large compound. At the mercy of their captors, they are forced to play a twisted game of life or death called 31. For the next 12 hours, they must fight for their lives against an endless parade of homicidal maniacs.
Starring – Sheri Moon Zombie, Jeff Daniel Phillips, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Meg Foster, Kevin Jackson, Richard Brake, Jane Carr, Judy Geeson, Malcolm McDowell
Fear Street Trilogy
These movies were fun to watch. R.L Stine has grown from kid horror, to young adult horror with these three movies. The three movies are captivating (as are the books) as we go through the different time periods and different characters to find out why the poor town of Shadyside is plagued by the ill luck and is labelled as the murder capital of the United States.
Fear Street Part 1 – 1994 (2021, MA) Director – Leigh Janiak
After a series of brutal slayings, a teen and her friends take on an evil force that’s plagued their notorious town for centuries.
Starring – Kiana Madeira, Olivia Scott Welch, Benjamin Flores Jr., Julia Rehwald, Fred Hechinger, Ashley Zukerman, Darrell Britt-Gibson, Maya Hawke
Fear Street Part 2 – 1978 (2021, MA) Director – Leigh Janiak
A summer of fun turns into a gruesome fight for survival as a killer terrorizes Camp Nightwing in the cursed town of Shadyside.
Starring – Sadie Sink, Emily Rudd, Ryan Simpkins, McCabe Slye, Ted Sutherland, Gillian Jacobs, Kiana Madeira, Benjamin Flores Jr., Olivia Scott Welch, Chiara Aurelia
Fear Street Part 3 – 1666 (2021, MA) Director – Leigh Janiak
In 1666, a colonial town is gripped by a witch hunt that has deadly consequences for centuries to come, while teenagers in 1994 try to put an end to their town’s curse before it is too late.
Starring – Kiana Madeira, Ashley Zukerman, Gillian Jacobs, Olivia Scott Welch, Benjamin Flores Jr., Darrell Britt-Gibson
Mom and Dad
(2017, MA) Director – Brian Taylor
I don’t understand why some people place this movie in comedy. It is truly terrifying as it basically puts the people that a kid truly trusts and who is meant to be their protector, as the highest threat to survival. The behaviour of the parents is completely bizarre as they seem perfectly logical and almost treating the way they are behaving as a normal task or function. But, from the viewers perspective it has to be the furthest thing away from natural or normal. Plus, it’s not explained, why it is happening. You hear random news broadcasts etc in the background, so you get a basic idea of what’s happening, but not the complete picture. It emphasises and takes a look at the whole child and parent dynamic. Who hasn’t at one point looked at their kids and thought of them as terrors? The difference is that parents normally have a bond or enough love to ignore these behaviours. It explores the frustrations, hardships and what a “normal” family dynamic is like. Then takes it to extremes of the internal struggle. The last line of the movie sums it up perfectly; Nicholas Cage – “Don’t you know we love you too? But sometimes we want to……”
Carly and her brother, Josh, are forced to protect themselves from harm when an unknown phenomenon causes all parents to violently attack their children.
Starring – Nicolas Cage, Selma Blair, Anne Winters, Zackary Arthur, Robert T. Cunningham, Lance Henriksen
Final Girl
(2015, MA) Director – Tyler Shields
This movie might not be for everyone, but I have always respected the strength it takes to turn from victim into predator. This movie is a good showing of how to fight your own fears or the monsters which hide in the shadows. Instead of being a victim, become a hero. I really enjoyed the movie and would recommend it to anyone who thinks a bit of justice is needed against the monsters/bullies of the world.
Starring – Abigail Breslin, Alexander Ludwig, Wes Bentley, Cameron Bright, Francesca Eastwood
Maxine the Magnificent 
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