31 Must-See Halloween Themed Scary Movies to Watch in October

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Intro To Halloween-Themed Movies

Halloween is the holiday celebrated every year on October 31st. People celebrate Halloween in a variety of ways.

They do so by having Halloween parties where people can dress up as whoever or whatever they want for contests or just to have fun.

Kids celebrate Halloween by going trick-or-treating and knocking on their neighbors’ doors for candy. Some people will even go to festivals where they participate in games and explore haunted trails and haunted houses.

But what if some of you prefer to stay indoors and not go too big on celebrating?

Luckily for all of you, I have a list of 31 scary movies to watch throughout the month of October to keep you in the Halloween spirit. And while you watch these movies, you can eat Halloween candy and treats while entertaining yourself with these must-watch scary movies.

1. Halloween (1978)

What better way to kick off Halloween than a movie of the same name?

This movie is a classic horror film to watch. It came out in 1978 as a low-budget independent film that became a hit at the box office, bringing in $47 million back then.

The movie is about a deranged psychopath named Michael Myers, who escapes from a mental hospital after being confined there for 15 years after killing his older sister on Halloween night.

When Michael Myers escapes, he stalks a young teenage girl (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her friends. Throughout the movie, Michael Myers is deemed The Boogyman.

With that being said, a movie titled after a holiday sticks true to the plot. All the more reason why Halloween is number 1 on this list.

2. Scream (1996)

I love this movie. I was four years old when it came out, and I watched it a lot after it came out on video. I still watch it and the sequels to this day. It’s my favorite horror/thriller movie franchise of all time. And, of course, I consider it a must-watch for celebrating Halloween.

Scream (1996) is a Wes Craven film about a killer who references horror movies (Halloween listed at number 1 included) to play out his kills. The killer’s main target is Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), a teenage girl whose mother was murdered a year before the events in the movie take place. While being terrorized by the killer in a ghost face mask, Sidney and her friends ponder the rules of how to survive a horror movie when the killer tries to make a real-life one in their small town.

This film redefined the rules of horror movies and the way viewers watch them after its release.

For example, I remember reading on IMDB in the trivia section that the use of caller IDs increased massively in the country after this film was released.

Overall, a scary movie that acknowledges the rules of other scary movies to survive is unique in many ways, which changed how people watch horror movies as a whole. So if you’re up to watching any scary movies for Halloween, watch this for sure.

New Sequels

In 2022, a 5th Scream movie was released. Even though it’s titled as Scream (2022), it’s considered a requel, which is a mix of a remake and a sequel with legendary characters helping a new generation of kids being targeted by Ghostface because they have connections to victims of the past. It was a huge success, which led to a sequel of the requel, ScreamVI. The 6th installment takes place a year after the events in the previous movie.

Side note, Scream VI follows the survivors of the previous film to New York City and the setting takes place during Halloween

3. Dark Shadows (2012)

So Dark Shadows is a mixture of horror, fantasy, and comedy. The movie came out in 2012 and is based on a television show that aired from 1966 to 1971.

The movie takes place in 1972 and follows Barnabas Collins (Johnny Depp). He’s a cursed vampire who had been chained up and buried in a coffin for almost two centuries by an evil witch (Eva Green) who cursed him and has ruined their family fishing business by having one of her own.

Throughout the movie, Barabas bonds with his current living relatives, who are a dysfunctional family with some having secrets of their own. However, with Barnabas’ return, he fights back to reclaim the family business so it can be restored to its former glory along with him familiarizing himself with a new time and era.

His missions play out in hilarious ways such as trying to woo the new governess (Bella Heathcoat), bonding with hippies before drinking all of their blood, and hypnotizing Angelique’s fisherman so they can work for the Collins family.

I recommend watching Dark Shadows because it has a mixture of fantasy and comedy and there are other creatures in the film besides a witch and a vampire, and they are creatures associated with Halloween anyway.

Even though I will not classify this as a horror movie, it is worth watching, especially if you’re in the Halloween spirit.

4. Dawn of The Dead (2004)

If you want to go for a scary movie that has some action for Halloween, then watch Dawn of the Dead. I will warn you: it can be a bit graphic. I mean, it is rated R.

A group of residents in Milwaukee take refuge in a large shopping mall in order to evade zombies that are plaguing their city and probably the rest of the world.

I have always found this movie interesting because it’s a scary movie, but there are also some action scenes.

When you think about people living in a mall to hide out from zombies, you would want to see them get creative with their survival skills. Luckily, you see that in this movie when the characters decide to arm themselves with weapons from stores within the mall they are currently residing in.

Depending on how you view this movie, Dawn of the Dead will be anything but boring. And, as I mentioned, this movie is a bit graphic, so be mindful as to why this movie is rated R.

It is a movie about zombies, after all, so if you want to watch a movie for Halloween, then watch this one.

5. Scream 2 (1997)

This movie is a sequel to the 1996 box office hit I listed at number 2. Another must-see to get in the Halloween spirit.

The sequel takes place one year after the events of the first movie. Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) and Randy Meeks (Jamie Kennedy) are attending college in Ohio and are trying to get on with their lives.

However, their attempts to move on with their lives fail when a new killer targets people and begins a killing spree to duplicate the events from the previous film.

Normally, some would say that the first movie is always better than the sequels, and some would say that some sequels are just as good as the first. Scream 2 does show perspective as to how the rules are in sequels, what to expect, and how to strategize to survive a sequel.

I watched this movie a lot growing up, and I promise you that this is a good movie to watch for Halloween-themed movie month.

6. The Sixth Sense (1999)

The Sixth Sense is a great example of a horror-thriller mix to watch for Halloween.

The movie follows Bruce Willis as a child psychologist. He gets attacked at the beginning of the movie by a former patient. Sometime after his attack, he takes on his next case, an 8-year-old boy (Haley Joel Osment) who is haunted by ghosts.

Throughout the movie, Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) and his young patient go on a quest to discover how he can use his ability to help the ghosts who haunt him.

While learning about the little boy’s 6th sense, both doctor and patient come across discoveries that lead to unexpected consequences.

Back in 1999, during the film’s release, critics claimed this movie was “The #1 Thriller of All Time”.

Needless to say, watching a thriller with ghosts throughout the movie is a must for Halloween-themed entertainment.

7. Zombieland (2009)

In my opinion, I don’t really see this film as a scary movie. It’s more of a comedy than anything. It follows a group of people (Woody Harrelson, Jessie Eisenberg, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin) living in a post-apocalyptic world after being overrun by zombies.

The reason why I believe this movie is more of a comedy, well, to those who have seen this movie, you know what I’m talking about.

For example, Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) plays the banjo to lure out zombies and loves to get creative with weapons to kill any zombie he comes across, and when he gets angry, he breaks or smashes anything he sees. And he has a fetish for Twinkies.

The characters in this movie have their names after cities in the United States – Tallahassee, Columbus, Wichita, and Little Rock – and they all have certain goals to accomplish.

Tallahassee is going to his wit’s end throughout the movie to find a Twinkie to munch on, Columbus wants to find his family, and sisters Little Rock and Wichita want to go to an amusement park in Los Angeles because it’s supposedly zombie-free.

A movie with adventure and comedy based around a world filled with zombies is definitely a must-watch for anyone who wants to watch a movie to celebrate Halloween.

8. The Addams Family (1991)

A movie about a wealthy and eccentric family; however, they’re not your average family.

Based on cartoons created by Charles Addams and a short-lived TV series from 1964-1966, the 1991 film follows the wealthy yet eccentric family with their macabre lifestyle and the return of long-lost family members, Fester Addams (Christopher Lloyd).

The reason why this movie is on the list is that the movie, as a whole, gives off Halloween vibes. I mean, they dress and live their lives as if every day is Halloween.

The family matriarch, Morticia Addams (Angelica Huston), looks pale as a ghost – maybe even a vampire, in my opinion. Her husband, Gomez (Raul Julia), has a goth-like appearance but an energetic and vibrant personality. Their children, Wednesday Friday Addams (Christina Ricci) and Pugsley Addams (Jimmy Workman) resemble their parents, and often play together, but often do so in ways that would be considered dangerous to others outside their family.

You also have the butler, Lurch, who looks like a very tall Frankenstein creation, the servant, who is a detached hand that walks on its fingers named Thing, and Uncle Fester, who looks like a walking corpse.

Need I say more as to why this movie is on my list? How much more Halloween-themed can you get than a family whose appearance looks like something you would see only on Halloween?

9. Hocus Pocus (1993)

A Disney movie about three sisters and wicked witches (Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Najimy) who return to 1993 Salem, Massachusetts, on Halloween – 300 years after being executed.

A Halloween-themed movie like this one should be considered a classic to all millennials alike.

The film provides a mixture of comedy and thrills as three kids try to stop the chaos the resurrected witches intend to inflict by sucking the life force out of children to retain their youth – after one unwisely lights the black flame candle, resurrecting them – with guidance from a talking black cat who was once human and cursed by the three witches after failing to save his little sister from their clutches 300 years earlier.

There is a sequel, with Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy reprising their roles as the wicked witches.

This is a must-watch to get in the Halloween spirit. And hopefully, when the sequel comes out, it will be just as entertaining and thrilling as this movie.

10. The Ring (2002)

For someone who loves to watch scary movies, especially at a young age, it would be hard to find a movie that would leave me freaked out even after watching it.

However, that’s exactly what this movie I have here at number 10 did to me. I was ten years old when this movie came out in theatres, and I remember seeing it on a Friday night with my sister.

The Ring is a 2002 film that follows Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts), a Seattle journalist who investigates a mysterious videotape that her teenage niece, Kaite, watched exactly seven days before dying. Rachel investigates by retracing Katie’s steps by going to a cabin she and her friends stayed at the weekend before.

While camping out in a cabin in the mountains, Katie and her friends watched a videotape with disturbing and bizarre images, and after watching it, they received a phone call from a girl saying they will die in seven days. Exactly seven days later, they all die, and their time of death is the same as well, prompting Rachel to investigate even further.

Rachel, of course, watches the videotape and receives the same phone call. Throughout the movie, Rachel investigates the images and the history of the videotape as to how and why it was made and figures out what the images and places on the videotape mean.

Rachel’s investigation leads to a bunch of suspense and thrills throughout the movie.

One scene in particular that scared the crap out of me when I watched it was the scene where the little dead girl in the video crawls out of the well and walks towards the TV screen and out of the television set. The guy in the room who sees this happening is obviously freaking out, and the little dead girl kills him just by staring at him dead on.

It may not seem so scary now as this movie was made back in 2002, but it is very entertaining and thrilling to watch, especially during Halloween.

11. Shaun of The Dead (2004)

Another zombie apocalypse movie to watch to get in the mood for Halloween is Shaun of the Dead. It’s a comedy-horror mix about a guy named Shaun (Simon Pegg), who is kind of a slacker with no ambition and spends his days working at an electronics store, playing videogames all the time with his best friend Ed (Nick Frost), and chugging down drinks at a local neighborhood pub.

With his life being dull and boring, Shaun’s girlfriend, Liz, breaks up with him, and he promises to win her back. And he sets out to do this while zombies are overrunning their hometown of London.

When this movie came out, I was 12 years old, and I thought it was a movie that made fun of Dawn of The Dead (Number 4 on this list) because the titles are a bit similar.

However, it’s nowhere near being a parody of Dawn of The Dead. In fact, according to IMDB, this movie was released very close to the release date of Dawn of The Dead, and the release date for this movie here at number 11 was held back for a bit to avoid confusion with Dawn of The Dead.

A zombie horror comedy that takes place in modern-day London is definitely entertaining. This movie feels more like a comedy than a horror movie, but the fact that it has zombies is a must for this list of Halloween-themed movies to watch.

12. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

A Halloween-themed scary movie on this list to watch is another classic called A Nightmare on Elm Street.

The movie follows a group of friends who begin to have nightmares about a guy named Freddy Krueger, whose body is completely burned. He wears a glove with razors on the fingers, and he’s able to kill them in their sleep.

Before he was killing people in their dreams, he was a serial killer who preyed on young children. After Freddy Kreuger was released from police custody, the parents of the children he targeted and murdered confronted him and killed him by setting him on fire.

Then, several years later, Freddy Kreuger, dead and all burnt up and wearing his razor glove, seeks revenge by targeting the kids on Elm Street by invading their dreams and killing them.

This movie does have sequels to it, and it became a remake in 2010. The remake is very good, too. The plot has a few differences to it and so do the characters, but overall, it’s a good movie to watch during Halloween.

13. Friday The 13th (1980)

What better Halloween-themed movie to have at number 13 than Friday the 13th?

The movie starts in the late 1950s when a young boy named Jason drowns and dies in the lake at Camp Crystal Lake, and a year after his death, two camp counselors are murdered.

Later, in 1980, the camp reopened after being closed for so long due to the events shown at the beginning of the movie. Unfortunately, when the camp reopens, people start to get killed one by one by an unknown person watching them nearby.

I’m not going to give away any details about this movie because some of you may not have seen it, but if you have, it’s definitely a must-watch classic horror movie that came out at the beginning of the 80s.

Still considered a classic, and there are sequels to this movie that go more in-depth with the killer and the reasons why Camp Crystal Lake plays a key role in his M.O.

The sequels do show the killer wearing a hockey mask and wielding a machete. Needless to say, watching a classic scary movie like this one is considered a must-watch Halloween movie on my list.

14. Freddy vs. Jason (2003)

Two classic movie monsters fighting each other in a movie together is mandatory on this Halloween movie list.

So, in this movie, the kids on Elm Street live happily and joyfully until Freddy Kreuger – from the grave – has been gone for a very long time. And that’s because everyone has forgotten all about him.

The whole town treats Freddy Kreuger like the plague because of his ability to kill people in their dreams. So, to be remembered, he finds Jason Voorhees. He manages to rise from his grave and go after the kids on Elm Street as a way to spread fear, making it easier for Freddy to gain easier access to their dreams (or in this case, their nightmares).

However, once this plan gets put into motion, Jason cannot stop killing, thus making Freddy very angry, and they begin to fight each other.

I enjoyed watching this movie because the plot element seems very in-depth and entertaining, especially because two different horror movie monsters come together and eventually fight one another.

Furthermore as to why it’s a good movie to watch to get in the mood for Halloween.

15. Scream 3 (2000)

Another sequel on this Halloween-themed scary movie list to watch is Scream 3.

In this sequel, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) is now in hiding. She’s living completely off the grid in isolation and seclusion. She has a dog, a security system in her house, and on the gate surrounding her home, and keeps a gun within reach.

However, when a third sequel is made based on the events she survived in the previous movies, someone dons the Ghostface mask and starts to kill the cast of the movie being made. Thus, making Sidney comes out of hiding and faces another Ghostface killer once again; unfortunately, she also comes to face secrets about her mother she had never known before.

Out of all the movies in the Scream franchise, this one is very entertaining and unique because the plot revolves around a movie that’s a sequel to events the main characters survived in the first two films (A movie within a movie).

The movie goes back to the very beginning as to why all the killings began in the first place, revealing backstories and everything else that happened before and during the events from the first movie that the audience didn’t see.

With the Scream franchise considered a classic (at least it is to me), I have to put this on my list of Halloween-themed movies to watch in October.

16. I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)

Another 90’s horror flick on my Halloween-themed scary movies list is I Know What You Did Last Summer. The film came out back in 1997, and it’s based on a suspense novel for young adults that was published in 1973.

The movie follows four friends who had just graduated high school, and on the 4th of July, they run someone over and decide to dump the body in the ocean instead of calling the police. One year later, they are stalked and terrorized by a guy wearing a fisherman’s coat and wielding a hook.

Based on what I’ve read about the book and the movie, they are both completely different. In the movie, a group of friends runs over someone who is an adult, whereas, in the novel, it’s a kid on a bicycle that they run over. Also, none of the main characters die in the book, but there are a few people who die in the movie.

I have never read the book, but I watched the movie a lot while growing up. It’s a good 90’s horror flick and a must-watch for Halloween.

17. Zombieland: Double Tap (2019)

Another sequel to a movie on the Halloween-themed scary movies list is Zombieland: Double Tap. (ONE OF THE FILMING LOCATIONS IN THIS MOVIE WAS IN MY HOMETOWN, MACON, GA)

This movie has a special place in my heart because, as I mentioned, it was filmed in my hometown. I actually went to see this movie last year to celebrate my fiance’s 24th birthday, and Woody Harrelson is his favorite actor.

Speaking of Woody Harrelson, he returns as Tallahassee, along with Columbus, Wichita, and Little Rock. The movie takes place ten years after the events of the first movie. Zombies are classified into different categories: for example, some zombies are called Homers because they are slow and fat, like Homer from The Simpsons. Others are called ninjas because they can sneak up on anyone; hawkings are zombies considered smart, and then you have T-800s because they are hard to kill, like the Terminator from the James Cameron movies.

In this sequel, the four main characters are living in The White House, and Little Rock feels lonely because she wants to be around people her own age. So when she and Wichita leave, Little Rock goes with a guy named Berkeley to a place called Babylon, which prompts Wichita to return to Columbus and Tallahassee with help to find Little Rock.

In doing so, they embark on a journey to find Babylon with hopes of convincing Little Rock to come home, along with fighting new classifications of zombies (as I mentioned above) in the process.

This is not a scary movie for me because after watching both Zombieland films, they seem more funny and adventurous than scary. So, it’s a no-brainer as to why I had to add this sequel to my Halloween movie list.

18. House of Wax (2005)

So, this movie is a remake of a 1953 version. I don’t know the plot of the 1953 film, but I do remember watching this one when it came out in ’05.

House of Wax is a movie about a group of friends headed to a football game, but when they decide to take a detour, they come across the strange town of Ambrose, with a wax museum as the main attraction.

And how exactly does this film fall on the list of Halloween-themed scary movies?

Well, for starters, it’s definitely a horror movie. The strange town these groups of friends come across is basically a ghost town, and the people in it are all wax.

And when I say people, I mean the wax people you see in the film were living human beings who were killed, and their bodies were embalmed in wax and put on display all over Ambrose.

I’m not going to give away any more details about the movie but I will tell you it’s very interesting and creepy and scary enough for Halloween.

19. Donnie Darko (2001)

Donnie Darko! I don’t think this movie can be classified as a scary movie, but because it involves some mystery and sci-fi, I figured, why not?

In this movie, Jake Gyllenhaal plays Donnie Darko. A troubled teen starts receiving visits from Frank, a tall man in a bunny rabbit suit who tells him to do things for him after Donnie barely escapes a strange accident in which an engine from a jet falls into his bedroom.

Before this incident, Frank, the tall man in the bunny rabbit suit, tells Donnie that the world will end in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes, and 12 seconds (that day, the world ending would be on Halloween).

Throughout the movie, Donnie contemplates everything from how he survived to how he sees things that others cannot, including Frank. All of what he sees and does leads Donnie to believe that time travel can be at play with the events happening in this movie.

Donnie Darko is definitely a psychological film, and it’s one of those movies where you have to pay attention to the movie as a whole. With that being said, I recommend watching this film for Halloween.

20. Scream 4 (2011)

The most recent film in the Scream franchise is Scream 4, at number 20.

The movie takes place ten years after the events from Scream 3. Sydney (Neve Campbell) is now an author of a successful self-help book and she returns to her hometown of Woodsboro for the last stop of her book tour.

However, her return prompts a new Ghostface killer to resurface and kill people in the small town as a way to do a live reboot/remake.

David Arquette and Courtney Cox also return as Gale and Dewey, now husband and wife living in Woodsboro, and also trying to solve the murders as Sherrif and rogue reporter.

With this movie, there are new rules that must be abided by to survive a reboot. As quoted in the movie by Charlie Walker (Rory Culkin) – a student and film geek at Woodsboro High and a friend of Sidney’s cousin, Jill (Emma Roberts) – “The unexpected is the new cliche!”

And since I already mentioned that I grew up watching the Scream movies, it’s a no-brainer why I had to add this movie to my Halloween-themed scary movies to watch.

And BTW, there will be a Scream 5 that is expected to come out on January 12, 2022, according to IMDB. That is also a must-see if any of you are fans of the Scream franchise like myself.

21. 1408 (2007)

A Stephen King movie starring John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson.

Knowing the works of Stephen King and how he writes horror stories is why a film based on a short story by Stephen King is a must on my list of Halloween-themed scary movies. I have never read any of his books, but based on the movies I have watched based on Stephen King’s work make me view him as a modern-day Edgar Allan Poe.

In this movie, John Cusack plays a writer named Mike Enslin, who analyzes haunted places after visiting them and writes about them in his books. When he gets a postcard in the mail about a hotel in New York, written with a message telling him not to stay in 1408, he becomes curious, prompting him to call the hotel and make a reservation for that room.

Samuel L. Jackson plays the hotel manager of The Dolphin Hotel and begs Mike not to stay in there because anyone who has stayed in that hotel room never made it out alive, not even lasting an hour.

Throughout the movie, Mike Enslin goes through paranormal experiences in room 1408 and starts fighting for a way to get out and survive the next hour.

A movie about a haunted room in a posh hotel in New York City where paranormal occurrences happened is interesting. After watching it several times, I would personally recommend watching it to get into the Halloween spirit.

22. I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998)

A sequel to the 1997 film listed at number 16, this film takes place a year later after the events from the first movie. The main character, Julie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) left her hometown of Southport, North Carolina to attend college in Boston.

In the process of dealing with post-traumatic stress from being stalked and nearly killed by the psychotic fisherman in the first movie, Julie’s roommate (Brandy) wins tickets to stay at a lavish resort in the Bahamas.

Thinking of escaping from her problems to relax in paradise doesn’t go as planned for Julie as she and her friends are being chased yet again by a killer wielding a hook in a fisherman’s coat.

This film is a good movie to watch during Halloween, as it is a 90s horror/slasher flick. I always enjoyed watching 90’s horror/slasher movies growing up because they always seemed suspenseful and thrilling but not so much as scary as other classics such as Halloween, Friday the 13th, and A Nightmare on Elm Street.

I figure if one film is going to be on this list of movies to watch for Halloween, and it has a sequel, then watch the sequel(s) as well so you can see how the plot and character development play out in the franchises. Either way, it will definitely be interesting to watch.

23. It (2017)

Another movie on this list based on the work of Stephen King is It. It is a movie about a group of misfit kids who call themselves The Losers Club, and in their hometown of Derry, Maine, they battle a monster who preys on children by shape-shifting in the form of a clown named Pennywise in the year 1989.

The Losers Club calls this monster It. I’m not sure why, but if I recall, I think it has something to do with not being sure how to classify this monster, and the fact that this monstrous clown scares them is enough just to call it an It because they’re unsure of what to call it.

This clown preys on children because their fear is what gives him power. When children in Derry begin disappearing more times than the national average, the Losers Club begins to study the history of their town as a way to figure out how to fight him, especially if the adults don’t believe or are oblivious to the fact that their small town is cursed.

Before this movie came out, there was a mini-series that came out in early 1990, and that one scared the crap out of me when I was a little kid.

Now, as an adult, I have to admit that watching this version is definitely scary to watch because it’s about a monster in the form of a clown that loves to cause chaos.

Furthermore, since this is a Stephen King movie, after all, and he’s known to write scary stories, I thought adding this movie to my Halloween list is a must.

24. House on Haunted Hill (1999)

Another late-90s horror film on my list of Halloween-themed movies to watch is about an amusement park mogul who offers $1,000,000 to a group of random people to spend the night in a supposedly haunted house with a grisly past.

But, to claim the $1,000,000, they must survive the night in the haunted house.

People at first think that it’s just a silly joke, but when eerie things begin to happen that cannot be explained, they start to wonder if it’s really haunted.

Throughout the movie, the guests learn that the haunted house they are occupying was once an insane asylum where a particular doctor performed unorthodox experiments on his patients.

Also, the night they thought was meant to be for fun soon turns into a fight for survival when the house seals itself shut, and they have to confront the ghosts of the former insane asylum.

I always enjoyed watching this movie because it’s the type of movie where people explore a supposedly haunted place. Within the confined walls, they make discoveries that have been hidden and/or buried.

A film with a bit of mystery mixed in with fantasy and horror is a must to watch for Halloween. With that being said, I recommend watching this movie because it’s entertaining.

25. Addams Family Values (1993)

Another sequel on this list of Halloween-themed scary movies is Addams Family Values. The first movie ended with Morticia, who was pregnant with a third child, and Uncle Fester, who was reunited with his family after enduring amnesia after disappearing several years before.

While Pugsley and Wednesday adjust to having their new little brother, Pubert – they do so by trying to get rid of him, and if you have seen this movie, you know what I mean, and if you haven’t, just watch it and see for yourself – Morticia and Gomes hire a new nanny, Debbie (Joan Cusack) who sets her sights on Uncle Fester.

And this new nanny, Debbie, well, let’s just say her interest in Uncle Fester is a hidden agenda, and she does whatever it takes to succeed in her mission. Doing this also gives the other members of the Addams family (especially Wednesday and Pugsley) ammunition to fight back with hilarious and bizarre results.

I know The Addams Family isn’t a scary movie, but it does give off an amusing Halloween-themed vibe to watch and enjoy.

26. Happy Death Day (2017)

What I have here at number 26 on my list is Happy Death Day, a slasher movie with suspense and thrills.

The movie follows college student Tree Gelbman (Jessica Rothe) on her birthday, and she gets killed by someone wearing a baby mask.

The little twist to this plot is that after Tree gets killed, she wakes up again in the dorm room of a guy she had met but doesn’t remember meeting him. Tree immediately experiences deja vu by reliving her birthday and keeps getting killed by the unknown masked killer and wakes up right after getting killed.

Throughout the movie, Tree investigates her murder and tries to figure out who is behind the mask to stop reliving the day she was born and the day she will get killed.

This movie isn’t your average slasher film, but it does have some thrills and mystery mixed in with some comic relief.

The movie as a whole is very interesting and when I first saw the previews of this movie, I was unsure about watching it, and now that I have, I say it’s a must-watch for Halloween.

27. It Chapter 2 (2019)

A sequel to the 2017 film, this movie takes place 27 years after the members of the losers club defeated Pennywise (It) in the first movie, hence the reason why this movie is at number 27 on my Halloween-themed scary movies list. 27 years later, in the year 2016, The losers club – Bill, Ben, Beverly, Eddie, Stanley, Mike, and Richie – are all grown up and have moved away from Derry, Maine, except for Mike (Isaiah Mustafa), who has remained living in Derry.

But one night, some thugs attack a young gay couple, and when one of them is thrown over the bridge, he falls into the river but is saved by Pennywise before he takes a huge bite out of the young man’s chest.

Later, when Mike receives word about this attack, he finds a message on the bridge and learns that It has returned – prompting him to make a phone call to the other members of the losers club about a promise they made 27 years earlier.

So once again, now, as adults, the losers club becomes aware of the evil clown’s return, and they return home as well (except for one due to suicide).

But Pennywise’s return has some drastic consequences as the group of friends have to face their greatest fears and find something from their past to defeat It once and for all.

The movie stars James McAvoy, Bill Hader, Jessica Chastain, and others. I remember reading somewhere online that Jessica Chastain mentioned that this movie would have a massive amount of fake blood use, more than any other movie ever made. I believe she said something like that, but don’t quote me on that.

A monster that shape-shifts into a clown is something that would be classified as very scary. Since this is a Stephen King movie, it can be something to watch for Halloween.

F.Y.I

Because of the success of this duology, HBO Max is releasing a prequel series in 2025 titled Welcome to Derry. This series will take place in a different time, exploring decades before the events of these two films. The first movie provided information about other events that took place, during which Pennywise would come out of hibernation to feed.

28. The Ring 2 (2005)

Another sequel on this list is The Ring 2.

Even though this movie came out three years after the first movie, it actually takes place six months later after the events of the first film.

In this movie, Rachel (Naomi Watts) and her son have moved out of Seattle, Washington, and into a small town called Astoria, Oregon, for a fresh start.

However, their fresh start is anything but when news breaks about a local teenager dying from mysterious circumstances. When Rachel goes to investigate, she discovers that the teenage boy watched the deadly videotape that she and her son had survived six months ago.

And with the evil Samara Morgan seeking to be alive and live for real, Rachel does whatever it takes to save her son, Aiden by digging deeper into Samara’s past and figuring out what she must do to save her son and defeat Samara once and for all.

Filled with mystery and thrills, this movie is a must-watch on this list.

29. Happy Death Day 2U (2019)

Another sequel again!

Happy Death Day 2 U starts with Tree Gelbman (Jessica Rothe) in a relationship with Carter (Israel Broussard), the guy whose dorm Tree kept waking up in from the first movie.

In this movie, we learn how and why Tree kept reliving her birthday over and over in the first movie. It happens again, except this time, it’s her boyfriend’s roommate, Ryan (Phi Vu), who starts dying and reliving the same day over and over. This results in Tree stepping in, and she figures out that Ryan has created an experiment with a machine with a reactor that creates a time loop.

When Tree, Carter, Ryan, and Ryan’s lab partners try to set things right with this machine, their mission goes awry to where tree not only starts reliving her birthday over and over again, but she’s waking up in an alternate timeline and being killed over and over again by someone else.

So, to get things right, Tree, along with Carter, Ryan, and Ryan’s lab partners, tried to fix the machine, correct the reactor, and figure out who is repeatedly killing Tree.

This movie may be classified as a horror movie, but it has some suspense and comedy in the mix, too. I personally find it more funny than scary, but that’s my opinion. I would definitely watch this as a Halloween-themed binge-watch.

30. Stay Alive (2006)

So I saw this movie when I was 14, and it’s very entertaining for a scary movie.

The movie is about a group of friends and avid gamers (Jon Foster, Samarie Armstrong, Frankie Muniz, Sophia Bush, Adam Goldberg, and Jimmi Simpson) who decide to play an underground video game after one of their childhood friends meets (Milo Ventimiglia) an untimely death after playing the video-game called Stay Alive.

So, what does a video game have to do with this being a scary movie?

Well, think of it as the Ring (see number 10), but instead of watching a videotape that kills you after watching it, it’s a video game; however, if you play the video game Stay Alive, and if the avatar/character you created that you’re playing gets killed in the game, you die the same way you were killed when playing.

This video game, Stay Alive, is based on the life of an evil noblewoman, Countess Elizabeth Bathory, who in the movie was a serial killer who tortured and killed young girls before bathing in their blood to keep herself looking young. And with it being an underground video game in the movie, the group of avid gamers tries to figure out who she is as a blood countess to defeat her instead of meeting a bloody fate.

I do recall reading about Countess Elizabeth Bathory a few times while I was in school, and in the 17th century, she was known as a female serial killer who killed young virgin girls to keep a youthful appearance. Some sources say she bathed in their blood, and others claim that she would drink blood from her female victims.

You can find articles on her from sites like History Today and Biography to learn more.

To get back to the point. Stay Alive is a movie based on her grisly life story, and the creators of this movie depict that as a horror story turned into a video game. The plot of this movie may seem unusual, but it can very much be classified as a movie to be watched on this list.

31. Halloween (2018)

And last but not least on my list, Halloween (2018), a direct sequel to the 1978 film listed at number 1.

This film takes place 40 years after the first movie. Laurie Strode never fully recovered from the night of her attack four decades earlier. She is interviewed by two journalists who mention that Michael Myers has been in the Smith’s Grove Sanitarium and that he will finally be transferred to a maximum-security prison.

Since Halloween night in 1978, Laurie Strode has dealt with a remarkable amount of post-traumatic stress, which has resulted in a couple of failed marriages, losing custody of her daughter – who is estranged from Laurie and is now an adult and happily married with a teenage daughter of her own – and has spent the last 40 years waiting for him to return so she can kill him (as she has stated in the movie).

The 1978 film became a success when it was released, and to this day, it is considered a classic horror film. In this sequel, Michael Myers does escape and comes after Laurie as she had predicted. Still, the killer, once called The Boogyman, not only comes after Laurie but also goes after her daughter, Karen, and granddaughter, Allyson.

I remember seeing this movie when it came out in theaters in 2018, and I wasn’t disappointed when I watched it. This sequel will give you a rush of suspense and thrills when it comes to a classic scary movie.

And with that being said, this concludes my list of Halloween-themed scary movies to watch in October. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Just So You Know

Like the Scream franchise, Halloween also became a requel with two sequels to follow the 2018 release: Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends.

Related to Halloween-Themed Movies To Watch

If you enjoyed this post on my list of movie recommendations for Halloween, then you can check out my post on Mean Girls. It’s not a horror movie, but it does have a party scene that takes place on Halloween.

Photo Credits

photo credit: Rich.S. <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/94565827@N05/37929316472″>Night of 1,000 Jack O’Lanterns</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/”>(license)</a>