22 Best Halloween Movies To Get In The Mood For Witching Hour

"The Addams Family try to rescue their beloved Uncle Fester from his gold-digging new love, a black widow named Debbie."

This sequel to 1991's The Addams Family manages to surpass the excellent original. The original cast, along with new addition Joan Cusack, upheld their legacy as the definitive versions of their characters, particularly Morticia (Anjelica Huston), Gomez (Raúl Juliá), Fester (Christopher Lloyd), and Wednesday (Christina Ricci). 

"A teenage boy named Max and his little sister move to Salem, where he struggles to fit in before awakening a trio of diabolical witches that were executed in the 17th century."

Hocus Pocus is the cheesy, harmless Halloween movie for when you don't want to experience anything other than nostalgic comfort. The Sanderson sisters are total divas played to perfection by Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy, and their antics — singing "I Put A Spell On You" and communing with a neighbor dressed as Satan — haven't lost any rewatch value.

"When a young girl living with her secret witch mother learns she too is a witch, she must help her witch grandmother save Halloweentown from evil forces."

This is, admittedly, purely a nostalgia pick. But if you've loved Halloween since you were a kid, there's always room for this one in your October movie queue.

"Jack Skellington, king of Halloween Town, discovers Christmas Town, but his attempts to bring Christmas to his home cause confusion."

Is it a Christmas movie? A Halloween movie? Doesn't matter, watch it in October AND December! The stop-motion animation is beautiful enough to warrant a second viewing, and everything about it is just as iconic as any Disney classic.

"When Bella Swan moves to a small town in the Pacific Northwest, she falls in love with Edward Cullen, a mysterious classmate who reveals himself to be a 108-year-old vampire."

As much as we collectively clown this franchise, the first Twilight movie is a great teen vampire romance. The vampires are beautiful but threatening, the central relationship is kinda creepy, and the gloomy vibes of Forks, Washington are perfect for fall. It even has an extra violent climax that toes the line of its PG-13 rating.

"A group of young friends from the Bronx fight to save their neighborhood from gentrification...and vampires."

At the other end of the teen vampire film spectrum, you have Vampires vs. the Bronx, an underrated comedy with a hilarious young cast. The social commentary is cleverly disguised under the vampire theme, but it won't take you long to make the connection between the bloodsuckers and gentrifiers. Culturally specific, irreverent, and just creepy enough, it's a hidden gem.

"A circle of teenage friends accidentally encounter the ancient evil responsible for a series of brutal murders that have plagued their town for over 300 years. Welcome to Shadyside."

Netflix's Fear Street trilogy is firmly under the teen horror umbrella, but don't let that lull you into a fall sense of security. These movies are as gory and violent as the most intense '80s slasher. A scene shows someone's head going through a bread slicer in brutal detail. 

"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."

Nothing says Halloween like a centuries-old poltergeist haunting a tacky family, white people fighting over real estate, and the queen of kooky spooky cinema, Winona Ryder. It's all held up by a delightfully deranged turn by Michael Keaton as the title character.

"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."

Corpse Bride is the gothic romantic cousin to Nightmare Before Christmas, and both movies share an endearing, soft-spoken-but-brave heroine with blue skin. Similarly to Sally, Emily the Corpse Bride is excellent costume inspo.

"Two witch sisters, raised by their eccentric aunts in a small town, face closed-minded prejudice and a curse which threatens to prevent them ever finding lasting love."

Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock playing witchy sisters? Witchy sisters who kill abusive men but are still romantics at heart? All set in a northeastern small town? Flawless Halloween recipe.

"A newly-engaged couple have a breakdown in an isolated area and must seek shelter at the bizarre residence of Dr. Frank-n-Furter."

The plot of Rocky Horror is just a string of increasingly silly scenes, but the vibes are immaculate. It's the only raunchy horror-comedy musical of its kind, full of earworms and even a dance tutorial. 

"Teenager Nancy Thompson must uncover the dark truth concealed by her parents after she and her friends become targets of the spirit of a serial killer with a bladed glove in their dreams, in which if they die, it kills them in real life."

Freddy Kreuger made his iconic debut in 1984, giving people nightmares ever since. Of the iconic modern-era horror murderers, a list including Jason Vorhees, Leatherface, Michael Myers, and Pennywise, he remains the best/worst.

"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."

The franchise has a gazillion different timelines, but Laurie Strode has been running from Michael Myers for over four decades to the delight of millions. Not that anybody's "trowma" is a laughing matter. This is clearly a horror franchise, but the idea of Michael, who is surely an old man by now, continuing to pursue the Strode family and other victims is absurdly silly. Give it a rest, man!

"A vampire tells his epic life story: love, betrayal, loneliness, and hunger."

The recent TV series adaptation of Ann Rice's Vampire Chronicles is excellent and expands on the best parts of the 1994 film, specifically baby vampire Claudia and the toxic, layered relationship between new vampire Louis and veteran vampire Lestat. The book-canon romance between the two men was relegated to subtext (if you squint), but the movie benefits from Tom Cruise and Kirsten Dunst's stellar work, particularly from Dunst, who was 12 at the time.

"In the summer of 1989, a group of bullied kids band together to destroy a shape-shifting monster, which disguises itself as a clown and preys on the children of Derry, their small Maine town."

That clown is freaking terrifying. What else is there to say? It's a good thing Bill Skarsgård is hidden under so much makeup, otherwise I'd never be able to watch him in anything else. The younger cast is excellent, too.

"A secretary on the run for embezzlement takes refuge at a secluded California motel owned by a repressed man and his overbearing mother."

Hitchcock movies age well. That's especially true of Psycho, which is so good you shouldn't watch it unless you're okay with not showering for a few days. The shower scene itself barely has any blood or gore, making what Hitchcock pulled off with a shadow and screeching music nothing short of a nightmarish miracle.

"A wealthy New York City investment banking executive, Patrick Bateman, hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as he delves deeper into his violent, hedonistic fantasies."

Patrick Bateman is the worst, but you can't look away as he sociopathically cuts down the people in his orbit. Such is the power of Christian Bale, whose performance as Bateman was criminally underrated at the time. 

"After tragedy strikes, a grieving father discovers an ancient burial ground behind his home with the power to raise the dead."

Strictly speaking, Pet Sematary counts as a zombie movie, what with all of the reanimated corpses. And like the best zombie films, it uses the zombie theme to deal with how grief and death affect those who are left behind.

"The centuries old vampire Count Dracula comes to England to seduce his barrister Jonathan Harker's fiancée Mina Murray and inflict havoc in the foreign land."

As is to be expected of the king daddy of all vampires, this adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel has influenced a ton of other vampire movies and is very dreamy and gothic; if your perfect Halloween aesthetic is Phantom of the Opera–esque, this is the movie for you.

"Count Dracula moves from Transylvania to Wismar, spreading the Black Plague across the land. Only a woman pure of heart can bring an end to his reign of horror."

Just look at the guy. Nosferatu has exactly the sort of ooky-spooky look you want to bring into your living room this Halloween. This artsy adaptation is absolutely gorgeous and stars the formidable Klaus Kinski as Dracula and the beautiful, ethereal, incredible, showstopping Isabelle Adjani as Lucy. 

"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."

Good for you, Carrie! F the haters. The '70s era special effects might take the edge off some of the movie's scarier scenes, but not every movie needs to make you cower in fear. If you're looking for some Halloween viewing and want an old-fashioned horror flick that's actually good, Carrie is where it's at. 

"When a mysterious entity possesses a young girl, her mother seeks the help of two Catholic priests to save her life."

The power of Halloween compels you to put on one the all-time horror movies, so good that it was the first of its genre to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. It was plenty controversial at the time of release, even though it toned down some of the novel's wilder moments, and, depending on how much horror you typically watch, may still shock you in 2024.