Movies to watch during Halloween

The best part of the year is finally here: Halloween season! A season full of pumpkin-flavored everything, the changing of the leaves, feeling free to dress up as whatever (while still being respectful), and my favorite part– watching spooky movies. From scary, thrilling Halloween movies to fun, family-friendly movies, movies are my favorite things to do during the season. So, to celebrate the spooky season, I put together a list of films to watch during Halloween.
Here are some of the older, iconic movies. Of course, starting with the legendary “Ghostbusters” is a must. This classic was released in 1984, and was so successful that it had three sequels and a reboot following it. “Ghostbusters” is an easy comedy to enjoy with anybody, not to mention the song (also titled “Ghostbusters”) that came along with it. “Beetlejuice” is a great watch, with an amazing mix of comedy and unsettling themes. Also, the almighty Winona Ryder is the main character. Another one is “Hocus Pocus,” released in the summer of 1993, ironically for a Halloween movie. “Hocus Pocus” is a movie about a teen boy accidentally reviving a trio of sister witches who eat the souls of children to stay young, and the whole movie follows him trying to save his younger sister and kill the witches before it’s too late. “The Addams Family” and “Addams Family Values” are two more unforgettable movies. The first movie brings back the series that originally started in the 1960s that went on for two seasons. This new series gave us the iconic Christina Ricci as Wednesday Addams, who is likely the first actor you think of when Wednesday Addams pops into your head. For the last nostalgic movie, “Halloweentown” makes the list. This movie was great for its time. This is about a young girl called Marnie who just found out her family are witches and has to save their family’s hometown, Halloween Town, from destruction.
For animated, claymation, and stop-motion Halloween movies, there are countless high quality films. Sadly, I was forced to only pick a few. To start, Tim Burton’s “The Corpse Bride.” This movie is just so good that I can’t put it into words. “Coraline” is another stop-motion movie but this time directed by Henry Selick, who also directed “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and “James and the Giant Peach,” two other popular movies. The movie is based on Neil Gaiman’s book, “Coraline,” which is a lot darker than the movie version. I’ve heard that “Coraline” gave a lot of kids nightmares when they were younger, but I’m too cool to be scared. You’ll just have to watch this movie and see if it’s too creepy. The last movie, which is my all-time favorite out of all these movies, is “Monster House.” I love this movie with all of my heart. It starts out normally the day before Halloween, but strange things start happening at the neighbor’s house and the kids want to investigate. It is an amazing movie, with a twist some people won’t expect.
To include some darker, scarier movies for the people who love horror, here are some that fit into the genre better. A movie I love is the 2018 film, “Hereditary.” This movie is about a family unraveling the horrible truth after their grandmother passed, some crazy twists and turns happening during it. “Midsommar” is another amazing movie, a lot more of a psychological-thriller horror. “Midsommar” is absolutely a favorite of mine, it is just so good that I constantly rewatch it. Though it isn’t set in the usual gloomy-rainy environment of a Halloween movie, I will warn people that it is on the gory side. This next one is a series of movies, the “Fear Street” trilogy. This series has a huge place in my heart since watching it in the summer of 2021, and since then I have attempted to make all of my friends watch it. “Fear Street” is about a curse that was put on the town, Shadyside, and the main character with her girlfriend and friends try to put a stop to the strange things that are happening to the town. Another movie I enjoy watching is “The Shining,” a name almost everybody has heard at least once. It is an older movie, having been released in 1980, but it is one of the most famous works of horror to date. The last movie I want to recommend is the 2017 Spanish movie, “Veronica.” “Veronica” is about a teenage girl who uses a spirit board to attempt to contact her deceased father, but ends up summoning something entirely different.
Although every one of these movies are fantastic, there are obviously other movies to watch during the month of October. There are so many films that you may classify as Halloween-themed or that are simply wonderful to create a creepy atmosphere. Others may have very different choices from mine; these are simply my personal favorites. Overall, I hope that at least one person watches a film from this list.
Some honorable mentions include: Scream, Carrie (1976), Perfect Blue, Parasite, The Call, Us, Gremlins, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, X, Terrifier, Saw Trilogy, Candyman (1992), The Strangers, the Descent, Sinister, and Casper.