Now that everyone has dived into the Halloween spirit, a great way to celebrate is to watch movies that capture the essence of spooky season. Whether it’s a kid-friendly film or a movie that send chills down your spine, we all love to bundle up and watch Halloween movies. Here’s a list of the 10 best films to watch during October.
Coraline
This dark horror stop-animation film follows Coraline on her journey through a magic portal in her new house. Now in a different realm, her “new family” appears to be everything she wants, but there’s a darker force at hand as her “new” mom wants to sew buttons into her eyes. After watching this film, you will be terrified at the sight of buttons for a while.
Corpse Bride
Directed by Tim Burton, this dark fantasy focuses on Victor van Dort, a bachelor who’s preparing to get married to save his fiancé’s family from bankruptcy. While practicing his vows, he places the ring on the finger of deceased Emily, who gladly takes him as her groom. Now married to a corpse, Victor must find a way to get back to the realm of the living or his betrothed will be married to another man. It’s not a slasher but a good film to watch with the kids.
Beetlejuice
Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice! The 1988 film features Adam and Barbara, a deceased couple, who are upset a living family is moving into their home. They enlist the help of “exorcist” ghost Beetlejuice to get rid of the family, but Beetlejuice has alterior motives. The couple, with the help of the daughter of the family, must send Beetlejuice back before he takes lives to enter the mortal worlds. What’s a better way to celebrate Halloween than watching a perverted ghost and a family perform a séance?
Monster House
Trick-or-treaters D.J and Chowder are convinced Old Nebbercracker’s house is a toy and man-eating house after they witness the house eat Chowder’s basketball. After watching two police officers get eaten by the house, D.J. and Chowder enlist the help of candy-seller Jenny to go inside and find a way to destroy the spirit that controls it, which they believe is in the furnace. Monster House definitely puts a spin on the beloved “haunted house”.
It (1990)
Based on Stephen King’s novel, Pennywise the clown is finally challenged by seven misfit children, who call themselves “The Losers Club”. It’s up to them to put an end to his reign of terror. The movie is spilt into two chapters: the first being The Losers Club against Pennywise as children, and the second is The Losers Club returning to Derry as adults. A deadly spirit who takes on the form of a clown and consumes children every 27 years just screams “spooky season.”
Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
One of the most classic Halloween villains, Freddy Krueger, terrorizes teenagers in their sleep. Freddy Krueger appears in their dreams with a blade-fixed glove on his hand and attacks them in their dreams, harming them in real life and they must figure out how to stop him before they all end up dead. His scarred face and famous red and black sweater are sure to stick in your nightmares after watching the gore and blood of this original movie.
Halloween (1978)
In this slasher horror movie, Jamie Lee Curtis fends for her life as Michael Myers goes on a killing spree after escaping from a sanatorium. Michael Myers stalks two teenage girls on their way to babysit at his former house as he is chased down by a sheriff and his psychiatrist. If a psychopathic murderer who escapes from an asylum and dons a scary white mask doesn’t showcase the spirit of Halloween, I don’t know what does.
Jeepers Creepers
Released in 2001, siblings Trish and Darry Jenner encounter a demonic creature as they are traveling home for Spring Break. They find out the creature emerges every 23rd spring to feast on human body parts to feed and create his own body. The siblings fight to survive and avoid being captured by this creature called “The Creeper.” Fun fact – the film features a song by the same name, and when the song is playing, The Creeper appears.
Hocus Pocus
Three witch sisters consume the souls of children in Salem, Massachusetts in order to regain their youth and are cursed by a father of a child whose soul they stole. 300 years later, three children visit their cottage, now a museum, and light a black candle, subsequently resurrecting the witches. Now, the children must kill the witches before they kill all the children of Salem. Black cats, witches and spell books, oh my!
Friday the 13th (1980)
Another popular villain, Jason Voorhees, is the center of this 80’s slasher film. Camp counselors are refurbishing cabins after the camp is shut down due to the drowning of a boy, Jason Voorhees, who died because counselors weren’t paying attention to him. Trapped at the campsite because of a storm, a killer is on the loose and murders the counselors one by one while the others try to find a way to escape their murderous rampage. Voorhees, along with Krueger and Myers, form the Halloween trifecta of villains who capture the spooky spirit with their murders and tragic backstories.
These iconic spooky movies give life to the holiday and they give children and adults costume ideas and maybe even a few nightmares.
Featured graphic courtesy of Adobe Stock
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