Thirteen Creepy Horror Movies to Watch This Halloween

Horror movies are a must-have for Halloween. And if they're about the holiday itself, it's a double thrill. Lifehacker recommends what to watch to get into a “terrible” mood.

The actions of these 13 films occur exclusively (or primarily) on Halloween.

House of Hell (2015)

• Where to look: Prime Video, Shudder, Tubi.

Hell House (2015) is a film exploring the deaths of 15 people on Halloween night 2009 at the opening of a haunted house attraction.

Five years have passed since the tragedy. Locals believe that the hotel is a door to hell, but no one knows what really happened that terrible night. A documentary crew returns to take a closer look at the hotel and find out the truth.

Midnight with the Devil (2023)

• Where look: Hulu, AMC+, Shudder.

The plot revolves around the events of a late-night talk show that aired on Halloween night in 1977, during which the host, in an attempt to raise ratings invites a supposedly possessed girl to the show.

On the subject: Where to Celebrate Halloween in New York: 30+ Places with Treats and Fun

Terrifying (2016)

• Where look: Prime Video, Peacock, Tubi.

On Halloween night, a maniacal clown terrorizes three girls, as well as everyone who gets in his way.

Halloween (1978)

• Where watch: Shudder, AMC+, digital rental.

Psychopathic killer Michael Myers killed his own sister on Halloween as a child. 15 years later, the maniac is back to his old ways and terrorizing a small town. He escaped from a mental hospital to kill again.

Night of the Demons (1988)

• Where look: Prime Video, Peacock, Tubi, Shudder, AMC+.

A group of young people on the eve of Halloween decide that going to a school masquerade ball is uninteresting and unoriginal. At the suggestion of a strange girl Angela, the company goes to a large and gloomy old abandoned house. Having entered it, the company begins to examine it, and then, in fact, have fun. Soon Angela suggests a more original entertainment - to try to see their past in an old mirror. During one of these sessions, one of the girls sees the face of a demon in the mirror and, out of fear, drops the mirror, which breaks. The company of young people does not even suspect that by this action they have freed the demon from captivity. After being freed, the demon begins to kill young people one by one, and turn their bodies into the same demons.

Ghost Watch (1992)

• Where watch: Shudder, Tubi, AMC+, digital rental.

For the past ten months, Pamela Early and her two daughters Kim and Susan have been terrorised by an evil spirit. The BBC1 team became interested in the story and, together with parapsychologist Dr Lyn Pasqua, joined the investigation.

The group spends the night in the house. The TV crew almost proves that the "alarm" was false, when suddenly there is a reason to doubt...

Houses built in October (2014)

• Where watch: Hoopla, digital rental.

Every year on the eve of Halloween, several thousand "houses of horror" are erected in the United States, full of spectacular entertainment for fans of all kinds of scary stories. Five friends go in search of the most terrifying of these attractions and find it. But the price for the desire to tickle your nerves turns out to be too high.

Halloween III: Season of the Witch (3)

• Where look: Peacock, AMC+, digital rental.

A crazy toy designer decides to sacrifice millions of children at once on Halloween and prepares a batch of Pumpkinhead masks that mystically work on All Saints' Day.

Scream 6 (2023)

• Where look: : Paramount +, digital rental.

Four survivors of the Woodsboro massacre - the Carpenter sisters and twins Chad and Mindy - have moved to New York City, where they are trying to start their lives over. Sam is seeing a therapist and, to Tara's dismay, is terrified of her every move, but it soon turns out that he is right. The Ghostface maniac has started killing again, and Mindy suggests that neither new acquaintances nor old friends should be ruled out as suspects.

Hocus Pocus (1993)

• Where look: Disney +, digital rental.

While exploring a haunted house on Halloween, three teenagers in Salem, Massachusetts, accidentally unleash a trio of evil witches from the 1600s—the Sanderson sisters (Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy). Critics dismissed the film as nonsense in 1993, but it quickly became a cult classic and one of the most popular Halloween movies ever.

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019)

• Where watch: Netflix, digital rental.

This is a screen adaptation of Alvin Schwartz's horror stories, inspired by urban legends and folklore. A group of teenagers investigate cases of eerie and mysterious deaths in their small town.

Trick or Treat (2007)

• Where look: : Max, digital rental.

In four intersecting stories, characters break Halloween traditions and get into big trouble. We meet: a teacher who is actually a serial killer; a virgin student waiting for her prince; a married couple in which the husband loves Halloween, but the wife does not share his enthusiasm; a group of teenagers planning a cruel prank.

Beetlejuice 2 (2024)

• Where look: digital rental.

Lydia's teenage daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega) is as rebellious as her mother once was. She finds a model of the city the house's old owners built in the attic. Now the portal to the other world is open, and Beetlejuice wants to be among humans again.