The Best Movies (For Halloween)

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Director: William Friedkin

Stars:  Ellen Burstyn, Linda Blair, Max von Sydow, Jason Miller, Lee J. Cobb

The Exorcist is widely considered one of the greatest horror movies of all time, and whether you agree with that assessment or not, it’s pretty undeniable that the movie’s influence has been far-reaching and lasting. The plot might sound relatively simple to you now, but remember that the movie can be credited in part with popularizing the concepts and images that we associate with exorcisms in general. The basic structure revolves around a possessed 12-year-old girl Regan and her increasingly disturbing behavior that the adults around her eventually believe can only be rectified through a brutal exorcism. But the movie’s true excellence is that it’s just a very well crafted horror movie, evidenced by its nerve-wracking atmosphere full of tension and all-consuming dread.

Director: Duwayne Dunham

Stars: Kimberly J. Brown, Debbie Reynolds, Judith Hoag, Joey Zimmerman, Emily Roeske

If you’re a millennial and were even remotely aware of Disney Channel as a kid, you’ve seen Halloweentown (or at least one of the many sequels). It centers around the truly preposterous idea that Marnie, a 13-year-old true blood American girl, along with her younger and just as American sister, is not allowed to celebrate Halloween. What’s even more confusing about this refusal of one of life’s greatest joys is that Marnie comes from a long line of witches, a fact that is revealed when her flamboyant grandmother Aggie arrives for her annual Halloween visit. This year, Aggie is intent on initiating Marnie on the ways of being a witch, even though her mother Gwen is initially resistant to the entire concept. But when families begin disappearing from the town, the women must come together in all their supernatural wisdom to solve the disturbing mystery.

Director: John Carpenter

Stars: Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasence, P. J. Soles, Nancy Loomis  

If what you’re looking for this Halloween is some iconic vintage horror, look no further than the appropriately titled Halloween. Even though it’s a movie that any pop culture fan ought to have already seen, it’s worth a rewatch this year if only because a new sequel (which will perhaps confusingly ignore all the other existing Halloween sequels) has been confirmed with original scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis returning to the role that first launched her career. But the original slasher—which is credited as the first movie to introduce the terrifying idea of a horrible monster that comes back to life after you kill him—is still as gripping as it was when it was first released. The story of Michael Myers, a killer from the ripe young age of six, bursting out of prison to haunt his town and stalk his next victims is undeniably hair raising, if only for Myers’ seeming lack of motive but exacerbated by his violence.

Director: Kenny Ortega

Stars:  Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, Sarah Jessica Parker, Omri Katz, Thora Birch

Arguably the one true Halloween movie, Hocus Pocus has got to be in your Fall rotation. You’ll likely recognize the three witches at the heart of this story—namely Winifred, Sarah, and Mary—from fall or Halloween-related memes that start to clutter your Instagram feed around the beginning of October, but the only way to really understand its cult status is to just watch the movie with an open mind. As the story goes, the three previously named witches are accidentally resurrected by Max, a virgin (get the jokes out now, guys), who has recently moved to Salem, Massachusetts a.k.a Witch Country, and is trying to impress a girl at his school. The three witches are actually very horrible and begin to follow through on a centuries old plan to literally suck the souls out of the children of Salem, but are thwarted first by the bizarre world of 20th century America and then by Max and his friends.

Director: Edgar Wright

Stars: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Kate Ashfield, Lucy Davis, Dylan Moran

Just because it’s Halloween doesn’t mean we can’t all share a few laughs, right? This Edgar Wright zombie satire is a surefire choice if you (or your friends) are feeling blasé about the entire concept of Halloween and want a few good reasons to laugh at the idea of horror in general. Marked by the classic wry British humor, Shaun of the Dead follows the life of a relatively ordinary English bloke named Shaun just trying to deal with his mom and stepdad and whether his girlfriend is going to break up with him or not when the zombie apocalypse arrives, which really cuts into his pub time. The movie descends into a surprisingly bloody and refreshingly clever satire of horror movie tropes for a truly enjoyable experience.

Director: Mike Flanagan

Stars:  Carla Gugino, Carel Struycken, Bruce Greenwood, Henry Thomas, Chiara Aurelia

As if Stephen King wasn’t already considered one of the best and most prolific horror writers in the genre, he’s now admittedly having a bit of a moment in cinema, too. Of course, King novels have always been an inspiration for directors interested in adaptations, especially after the success of 1976’s Carrie, but this year’s historic box office success of It has reminded younger audiences of the mass appeal of King’s stories. But Gerald’s Game, released on Netflix right around the same time as It, is a more faithful and therefore more chilling adaptation of a Stephen King story. It also helps that the story is more specific and much more adult than It: a woman begins hearing voices and having bizarre visions after accidentally killing her husband during a particularly kinky night of sex. The fact that the movie was released on Netflix means Gerald’s Game benefits from an unbelievably dark grittiness you can only find far away from the lights of a big blockbuster, making it all the better for a Halloween movie night.

Director: David Robert Mitchell

Stars:  Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Daniel Zovatto, Jake Weary, Olivia Luccardi

For the Halloween purists out there, the modern phenomenon of sexy costumes can be kind of a drag (besides, you know, the obvious ~inconvenience~ that is the sexism usually involved in the same.) In fact, sex in general is usually totally antithetical to most horror movies, because as we all know whoever has sex first will also always die first. But there is a better way to mix up sex and Halloween in a way that doesn’t involve sexism or certain death, and It Follows is a great start. That’s because in this psychological horror film, the “monster,” which presents as an omnipresent, all-knowing, physical manifestation of death itself, is spread through—of all things—sex. The result is a totally novel and intelligent modern horror movie, with dedicated performances and truly horrifying premises.

Director: Jennifer Kent

Stars:  Essie Davis, Noah Wiseman, Daniel Henshall, Hayley McElhinney, Barbara West, Ben Winspear

One of the best horror movies on Netflix and possibly the only one famous for inspiring a LGBT icon via a set of bizarre memes, The Babadook ought to be your go-to horror movie if you’re planning on staying in this Halloween. You can watch the movie for its supremely well acted rendition of a relatively easy to understand plot: a young mother is horrified to learn that the monster in her young son’s picture books that she dismissed as a mere fantasy illustration is, in fact, real, petrifying, and out to make everyone in his presence go absolutely insane. The true sell of the movie is just how believable the events are considering the director’s ability to create suspense and the ability of the actors to own the story. But the best part is that if you are feeling too spooked after it ends, you have a healthy amount of the aforementioned Babadook-is-gay memes to peruse right afterwards, which should help soothe your mind and may even make you laugh a tiny bit.

Director:  Ana Lily Amirpour

Stars: Sheila Vand, Arash Marandi, Mozhan Marno, Marshall Manesh, Dominic Rains

Every horror fan has to admit that the genre can, at times, become overly dependent on tropes, resulting in predictable or repetitive films that might be good for a couple of jump-scares, but not much else. Imagine the exact opposite, and you have A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night. Even the most basic description of the movie—it’s the “first Iranian vampire Western”—is refreshingly unique and intriguing. Set in a fictional seedy Iranian town, the movie gets its energy from a set of characters from a gritty underworld, including pimps, prostitutes, heroin users, and, of course, a mysterious female vampire set on invoking her own form of justice besides her undeniable taste for human blood.

Director: Yeon Sang-ho

Stars:  Gong Yoo, Jung Yu-mi, Ma Dong-seok, Kim Su-an, Kim Eui-sung

If you’ve ever been on a college campus the morning after a big Halloween party, you might think you know what a zombie apocalypse looks like, but if you want all the fun of a zombie takeover without the stress or hangover, Train to Busan might be for you. It’s one of the best movies ever invented in the zombie subgenre of horror, particularly because it manages to elevate the already high threat level of zombies by placing its protagonist and his young daughter on a moving train in the throes of a brutal zombie outbreak. The result is a brilliant claustrophobic nightmare capable of curing zombie fatigue or converting anyone who does not declare themselves a fan of typical zombie fare.