15 Spooky Movies To Get You In The Halloween Mood
It comes as no surprise that horror films remain the most popular during Halloween. This season is the ideal time to watch scary movies which have quickly become a tradition. So, when slashers, demons, zombies, and so much more come out for trick and treats, why not sit in for a night of fun and pure terror?
15 Spooky Movies To Get You In The Halloween Mood
Scary Stories To Tell In the Dark
Based on Alvin Schwartz’s of the same name, Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark revolves around a group of friends Stella, Auggie, and Chuck who pranked bully Tommy Milner. He and his gang chase them in retaliation until a young drifter named Ramón hides them in his car. They go to explore a local haunted house that belongs to the wealthy Bellows family who helped found their town, Mill Valley. They find a book of horror stories written by the family’s young daughter, Sarah. Allegedly, she was accused of witchcraft when children mysteriously began to die. She, then, supposedly committed suicide. Tommy finds them and locks the group inside the house along with Ruth, Chuck’s sister. They escape and Stella takes Sarah’s book. Thus, the start of the stories comes to life.
Practical Magic
In a small Massachusetts town, the Owens family remains under the suspicion of witchcraft after their ancestor Maria survive an attempted execution. Heartbroken that the father of her unborn child never returned to her, she cast a spell to prevent herself from ever falling in love again. The spell developed into a curse upon her descendants, dooming any man an Owens woman loves. The movie Practical Magic revolves around two sisters — Gillian and Sally Owens. As children, Sally casts a spell on herself to ensure that she will only fall in love with a man who possesses certain impossible traits, aiming to never fall in love. Meanwhile, Gillan cannot wait to fall in love. When they became teens, Gillan elopes with her boyfriend and leaves for Los Angeles after making a blood spell with Sally that they remain faithful to one another.
Halloweentown
Halloweentown is probably the most family-friendly movie in this list. It revolves around Aggie, the grandmother of 13-year-old Marnie, 12-year-old Dylan, and 7-year-old Sophie. She is also the mother of Gwen who has been trying to live a normal life as a mortal. But, Aggie is intent on training the kids to become a witch. During Halloween, despite Gwen’s objections, Aggie tells them a bedtime story called Halloweentown, a mystical place where witches, vampires, and all sorts of monsters live in peace away from mortals. When Aggie leaves, Marnie, Dylan, and Sophie covertly follow her and they arrive in Halloweentown where secrets are uncovered and the kids’ lives change.
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas is a stop-motion animated musical dark fantasy film. It revolves around Jack Skellington, the King of Halloween Town who has begun to grow tired of the same annual routine and wants something new. He wanders in the woods where he encounters six trees containing doors leading to other holiday-themed worlds. He, then, stumbles upon Christmas Town. Jack sequesters himself in the house of its ruler, Santa Claus, to study Christmas further. He, then, makes a scheme to take over the holiday.
Friday the 13th
The Friday the 13th franchise started in a 1958 setting at Camp Crystal Lake. Counselors Barry and Claudette sneak inside a storage cabin to frolic around. An unseen assailant, then, murders them. Then, in 1979, camp counselor Annie drives to the reopened camp where she receives a warning from its troubled past which all started when a young boy drowned in the lake in 1957. She hitches a ride, only to be killed moments after. At the camp, other counselors and the owner refurbish the cabins and facilities. Unfortunately, the warning was true as they battle against an unknown assailant.
Scream
Scream is a cult classic, marking a change in the slasher genre as the movie satirizes its clichés. Credited with revitalizing the slasher genre in the 1990s, its success spawned a series of sequels. The movie starts off by introducing Drew Barrymore as Casey Becker. Many thought that she’d be the final girl dubbed to be the last to die in the film. However, this movie shocks many as she dies a few minutes into the film. The movie, then, continues to introduce Sidney who has been struggling with the first anniversary of her mother Maureen’s rape and murder. She gets a taunting phone call and is attacked by the killer. The movie, then, continues as the killer goes on a rampage, targeting Sidney and those around her.
Get Out
Get Out is comedian Jordan Peele’s directorial debut. And, the critically-acclaimed low-budget shocker revealed the horror of liberal racism in America, giving viewers a terrifying look at the fractured myth of a post-racial country. The movie revolves around Chris Washington, a Black photographer from Brooklyn, New York. He prepares for a weekend visit to Upstate New York to meet the family of his white girlfriend, Rose Armitage. At the time, he felt hesitant and tried to make sure if her family knows that she was in an interracial relationship. She, then, assures him that they weren’t racists. Of course, they weren’t… of course.
Misery
Based on Stephen King’s 1987 novel of the same name, Misery revolves around famed novelist Paul Sheldon, the author of successful series of Victorian romance novels featuring a character named Misery Chastain. He wanted to focus more on serious stories and writes a manuscript for a new novel that will launch his post-Misery career. While traveling from Colorado to New York, he was caught in a blizzard and gets into an accident that renders him unconscious. A nurse named Annie Wilkes finds and brings him to her remote home. She, then, claims to be his number one fan… who would do everything for him.
Us
Another movie to remain under the direction of Jordan Peele, Us follows Adelaide who as a young girl wanders away from her parents and enters a funhouse where she encounters a doppelgänger of herself in the house of mirrors. As a result, she stops speaking and becomes withdrawn from her family. Years later, she goes on a vacation with her husband Gabe, and their children Zora and Jason. Although she is apprehensive about the trip, she still goes on with it to introduce her family to her friends. The family, then, encounters their own doppelgängers in a spree of assault.
Carrie
Adapted from Stephen King’s 1974 of the same name, Carrie revolves around a shy 16-year-old Carrie White who lives with her fanatically religious and unstable mother Margaret. She is constantly ridiculed by her peers due to her cluelessness. When a bullying incident bars her peers from going to prom, her bully Chris plots vengeance with her boyfriend Billy. Sue, feeling remorseful, asks her boyfriend Tommy to ask Carrie to prom. Carrie believed that it was a ruse and Tommy assures her that it was real. Unfortunately, prom ensued and chaos followed.
The Witch
Set in the 1630s, The Witch (stylized as The VVitch), follows a family who settled in New England. William and his family — wife Katherine, daughter Thomasin, son Caleb, and fraternal twins Mercy and Jonas — were banished from a Puritan colony over a religious dispute. The family builds a farm near a large, secluded forest and Katherine bears her fifth child, Samuel. One day, Thomasin was playing peekaboo with Samuel, and the baby abruptly disappears. It is soon revealed that a witch has stolen the unbaptized Samuel, killing him and using his body to make a flying ointment for her broomstick and her body. And, this seemingly causes the family to promptly experience tragedy after tragedy.
Hush
Hush circulates around deaf horror writer Maddie. She lost her ability to hear and speak after a bout of bacterial meningitis at age thirteen, losing both permanent after a botched corrective surgery. Hoping to advance her career as an author, she lives in an isolated home in the woods with her cat. Her friend Sarah visited her one evening to return a copy of her book. Later that night, on the other hand, a masked killer with a crossbow attacks Sarah and chases her to Maddie’s house. Unfortunately, Sarah’s pleas for help as her bangs on the door go unnoticed. Realizing that Maddie is dead, the man quickly decides to make her his other victim of the night. Despite her disability, she continues to fight off the man in a game of cat and mouse.
It
Based on Stephen King’s 1986 novel of the same name, It follows a twelve-year-old Bill who crafts a paper sailboat for his six-year-old brother Georgie. The younger boy sails the boat along the rainy streets of the small town of Derry, Maine only for it to fall down the drain. He sees a clown in the drain who introduces himself as Pennywise, the Dancing Clown. He, then, entices Georgie to come closer before ripping his arm off and dragging him into the sewer. The following summer, then, follows Bill and his friends, Richie, Eddie, and Stan. They befriend Ben and Beverly. Together, they named themselves The Loser Club. They defend themselves and each other from bullies and encounter things they fear from “it.”
Midsommar
Midsommar defies typical horror conventions with a bright atmosphere and flowery settings. The movie follows Dani who has been trying to recover from trauma after her bipolar sister kills herself and their parents. However, the misery puts a strain on her relationship with her emotionally distant boyfriend. They fight all the time and don’t listen to each other. Learning that her boyfriend and a few of their mutual friends will be going to Sweden for a festival that only occurs once every ninety years. While in the commune, Dani and her friends find out about the horrors within.
Hereditary
Hereditary follows the Graham family as a mysterious presence haunts them after the death of their secretive grandmother. Annie is a miniature artist living in Utah with her husband Steve, their son Peter, and their reserved daughter Charlie. A week after her mother’s funeral, Annie finds out that her grave has been desecrated. Going to a support group for the bereaved, she reveals that the rest of her family suffers from mental illness that resulted in their death. As a close grandma to Charlie, Annie grows very concerned. Unfortunately, one night Peter lies that he was going to a school event which promptly follows tragedy after tragedy to befall on the family.
Which one would you rather watch on Halloween? Let us know!
