Now that the dark nights are drawing in…what better way to enjoy the month of October than by watching some classic Halloween films.
During October you will be doing plenty of Halloween related things. Like choosing your costume, decorating your house, carving a pumpkin, and watching some Halloween films, obviously! But sometimes your mind goes blank when you try to think of some classics that you need to watch. So instead of spending movie night scrolling through Netflix trying to find the perfect film, we’ve put together a list of 26 classic Halloween films you need to watch this year. All of them are bound to get you in the Halloween mood.
Hocus Pocus
PG | 1993 | Family/Fantasy | 1hr 36mins
This 1993 film is the perfect choice if you are sitting down with the family and want to watch a film that includes witches. Hocus Pocus is all about 3 witches who resurrect after 300 years from a teenager called Max who lights a cursed candle which frees the witches. Now the witches are freed they want to complete a spell that makes them immortal but Max and his friend Allison have to work together to steal their spell book from them before it’s too late.
Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas
PG | 1993 | Family/Fantasy | 1hr 16mins
This musical follows the story of Jack Skellington, who is known for being the king of Halloween Town. But due to boredom one day he ends up stumbling into Christmas Town. This is where he gets the brilliant idea to take the ideas from Christmas Town and put it into Halloween Town with the help of the resident bats, ghouls and goblins. But of course it isn’t that easy and some things go wrong along the way.
Nightmare on Elm Street
18 | 1984 | Horror/Mystery | 1hr 31mins
If you are looking for a real classic that will scare you during Halloween month then this could be the one for you. Released in July 1984, A Nightmare on Elm Street is all about the infamous Freddy Krueger. A group of friends are being tormented by the clawed killer in their dreams, Nancy has to quickly figure out how to stop this as Freddy is killing each of her friends off one by one. As the story unfolds you learn why he has targeted this group of friends and why he wants revenge.
Halloweentown
U | 1998 | Family/Fantasy | 1hr 24mins
The story follows siblings Marnie, Dylan and Sophie Piper who go on an adventure to Halloweentown. It starts when their grandmother Aggie who comes to visit as she wants the eldest Marnie to start her witch training but Marnie witnesses her grandmother use magic when arguing with Gwen, the kids mother. They then follow their grandmother back to Halloweentown where they have to fight the dark force that attacks them.
Beetlejuice
15 | 1988 | Comedy/Fantasy | 1hr 32mins
This 1988 film is all about Adam and Barbara, who are a couple that are dead. But they still live in their house and have decorated it to make it their own. Which has been ruined by a family moving in, they tried their best to scare them away but that made them become the main attraction as this family saw a way to make money. So Adam and Barbara have no choice but to call upon Beetlejuice to help them out, but Beetlejuice has a lot more that he wants to do than just help the couple.
Monster House
PG | 2006 | Horror/Fantasy | 1hr 31mins
Nebbercracker is a scary and miserable neighbour that DJ, Chowder and Jenny know to stay far away from. Until their football lands on his front garden. That’s where they have the first encounter with Nebbercracker and he ends up collapsing and going to hospital. Which is when the 3 kids have time to explore the house which is where they realise the house is a monster! This animation film follows them as they decide to work together and create a plan of how to get to the heart of the house and destroy it.
Scream
18 | 1996 | Horror/Mystery | 1hr 40mins
Scream is a film about a crazed serial killer who wears a white faced mask and a black robe. Usually he kills for revenge and starts with phone calls asking his victim’s different questions, but one in particular he always asks is ‘What’s your favourite scary movie?’ Sidney Prescott’s mother died a year ago and now she and her friends are getting some strange phone calls that end up being from the crazed serial killer. She has to think fast to try and figure out who the killer is and if they are the culprit for her mother’s death.
The Addams Family
PG | 1991 | Comedy/Fantasy | 1hr 39mins
The Addams Family are quite wealthy and live with all sorts of weird and wonderful things like a detached hand for a servant. A crooked accountant and his loan shark find out about this family and decide to put the loan shark’s son into the family as their long-lost Uncle Fester. As an imposter he will need to try and find where the family keep all their fortunes before they figure out he isn’t really the long-lost relative that they believed he was.
Ghostbusters
12 | 1984 | Comedy/Fantasy | 1hr 45mins
A classic Halloween film that everyone will definitely know about but one that you have to watch again and again is Ghostbusters. The story follows scientists Peter Venkman, Raymond Stantz and Egon Spengler. After they lose their jobs as scientists they decide to start their own establishment called Ghostbusters. They then take to the streets of New York City to fight all the evil ghosts that have come to disrupt the peace and create mayhem through the city.
Casper
PG | 1995 | Family/Fantasy | 1hr 36mins
When Carrigan Crittenden realises there are ghosts in her mansion she hires paranormal expert Dr James Harvey to exorcise them away. But that becomes a problem when Dr James Harvey’s daughter Kat befriends Casper, the friendly ghost. Casper explains how his not so friendly uncles Stretch, Fatso and Stinkie want to drive everyone away from the mansion. So it is up to the Harvey’s to work together and help the ghosts cross over to the other side.
The Haunted Mansion
PG | 2003 | Fantasy/Comedy | 1hr 39mins
Jim Evers and his wife/business partner Sara get a call off Edward Gracey who is looking to sell his mansion. This could be the biggest deal of their career so Jim, Sara and their two children to go visit the mansion. When they are there a torrential thunderstorm leaves the Evers family stranded in the old mansion with Edward Gracey. This is where they get told stories about the hauntings and the mysteries of the mansion by Gracey.
Halloween
18 | 1978 | Horror/Thriller | 1hr 31mins
On Halloween night in 1963, Michael Myers who was 6 at the time brutally murdered his 17 year old sister. He was sent to jail for 15 years, and on 30th October 1978 whilst getting transferred for his court date, Michael Myers (now 21) manages to steal a car and escape. This is when he returns to his quiet hometown Haddonfield, Illinois where he looks for his next victims. As the title suggests, this is the perfect film to watch during the Halloween period.
Silence of the Lambs
18 | 1991 | Thriller/Horror | 1hr 58mins
Silence of the Lambs follows trainee FBI agent Clarice Starling who is looking to advance her career. She has been asked to question Dr Hannibal Lecter who is a serial killer who cannibalized his victims and is now locked up inside a maximum security prison. The reason she is questioning Lecter is because there is a new killer that has gained the name ‘Buffalo Bill’ who is killing young women by drowning them and stripping large swaths of skin. She needs to trigger Lecter and expose herself emotionally to him to see if she can get any information out of him that might help her catch this new killer.
House on Haunted Hill
18 | 1999 | Horror/Supernatural | 1hr 33mins
This supernatural horror film is all about a millionaire who offers a group of diverse people 1 million dollars. All they have to do is spend the night in the house on haunted hill that has an extremely horrifying past. All of them figure it’s a quick way to get some money so they agree to say the night. But then after mysterious things start to happen they realise that the story hasn’t been made up just to mess with their heads, it is in fact all true and the house is extremely haunted.
Hotel Transylvania
PG | 2012 | Family/Comedy | 1hr 31mins
Back in 1895, Dracula created a resort in Transylvania where he could raise his daughter Mavis away from humans. And now, in the present day, he has opened the resort as a hotel for all his monster friends to come over and stay to celebrate Mavis’ 118th birthday! But just as the celebrations are about to start 21 year old Jonathan, a human stumbles across the hotel and enters. Dracula tries to prevent Mavis from falling in love with him.
Corpse Bride
PG | 2005 | Fantasy/Musical | 1hr 14mins
The Corpse Bride is set in the late 1800s in a Victorian village, Victor Van Dort and Victoria Everglot are due to get married as the Everglots need the money and the Van Dorts want to be high in society. All is well with the wedding planning until the wedding rehearsal when Victor goes into the woods to practice his wedding vows. This is where he finds that he has accidently married Emily who is the corpse bride. Victor must decide who he will pick out of Victoria and Emily.
The Sixth Sense
15 | 1999 | Thriller/Horror | 1hr 47mins
A quote everyone knows from this film is “I see dead people” whether you have watched The Sixth Sense or not you will know this quote. The Sixth Sense follows Malcom Crowe, a child psychologist who starts treating Cole Sear, a young boy who can act as a medium of communication with spirits. Malcom has had an ex-patient who had the same ills as Cole and is now the boy’s only hope as his mum is at her wit’s end with the increasing problems her son is having.
Coraline
PG | 2009 | Family/Horror | 1hr 40mins
After Coraline moves into her new home she feels bored and neglected by both her mum and dad. But one day she discovers a secret door that leads to another dimension that creates her idealized version of her home and family but everyone has buttons for eyes. Things aren’t exactly as they seem and the sinister secrets slowly unfold as she goes between both versions of her family home. She must decide whether she wants to stay with her real parents or swap to a button eyed life forever.
Scary Movie
18 | 2000 | Horror/Comedy | 1hr 28mins
If you are looking for a horror inspired comedy then Scary Movie is the one for you. The story follows Cindy Campbell and her friends a year on from when they accidently ended up killing a man. Now they have a stalker who is leaving threatening messages whilst trying to kill them all one by one. If you liked the movie Scream you will like this comedy inspired by the killer in that film.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
15 | 1975 | Musical/Horror | 1hr 40mins
A newly engaged couple end up breaking down in an extremely isolated area and need to find shelter whilst they wait. The only place they find is the bizarre residence of Dr Frank-n-Furter, the eccentric, cross-dressing scientist. Inside his mansion the couple find a houseful of characters like a rocking biker, a creepy butler. Frank-n-Furter’s unveils his latest creation, Rocky – a muscular man through the use of rock songs and elaborate dances.
The Exorcist
18 | 1973 | Horror/Supernatural | 2hr 12mins
The Exorcist is all about Regan, a young girl who starts to act rather strange after playing with an Ouija board. Her worried mother decided to seek medical help and struggles until she finds a local priest who thinks that Regan may have been seized by the devil. He decides he wants to perform an exorcism on her and makes the request which is when the church sends in an expert to help him out with the job of removing the devil from inside the 12 year old.
Scooby-Doo
PG | 2002 | Mystery | 1hr 26mins
It has been two years after Mystery Inc. had to close its doors but now Scooby Doo, Fred, Daphne, Shaggy and Velma has been individually summoned to Spooky Island. There have been a series of paranormal incidents happening at the hot spot where everyone goes for Spring Break. They must forget their issues and work together like the good old days to figure out what has been going on and solve the mystery.
IT
15 | 2017 | Horror/Thriller | 2hr 15mins
The 2017 remake of the iconic IT is definitely one you want to add to your list if you are looking for a horror. It is based in the summer of 1989 where seven helpless and bullied children are forced to go against their fears. Pennywise who is a shape shifting clown reappears in town and kidnaps Bill’s little brother Georgie. They have to work together and face their fears to defeat Pennywise and get Georgie back before he feeds on him.
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
U | 2005 | Family/Comedy | 1hr 25mins
Perfect for all the family, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is all about a huge vegetable-ravaging beast. The issue starts with this beast destroying all of the vegetable plots right before the day of the Giant Vegetable Competition. This is where Wallace & Gromit come to the rescue as Lady Tottington asks them to track the beast and save the village from it!
Goosebumps
PG | 2015 | Horror/Fantasy | 1hr 43mins
Teenager Zach Cooper moves to a small town where he meets his next door neighbor Hannah. He quickly discovers that Hannah’s dad is R.L. Stine who is the author of the bestselling Goosebumps series. The monsters that he wrote about in his book are real but he has locked them up inside the books. Until one day Zach accidently let’s all the monsters free from their books and they begin to terrorize the town. They have to then work together to put all the monsters back away in the books.
Double, Double, Toil and Trouble
U | 1993 | Family/Fantasy | 1hr 33mins
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olson star as Kelly and Lynn, 7 year old twins. They discover that they are in debt that much that they might lose their house soon. All of this is because of their Aunt Agatha. So they decide that they need to try and trick their evil Aunt Agatha out of a magic moonstone that she has as it will help them save their family home.
Hopefully we have helped you put together a list of classic Halloween films that you want to watch during the spooky season this year.
