Halloween is one of the most popular holidays and everyone has their own traditions or favorite parts. Of course children love going door to door for candy and adults hand it to them with smiles on their faces at the cute costumes.
However, my favorite part of Halloween is the scares. The haunted houses, the corn fields and the horror movies. I watch new horror movies year round, but when October comes, I always rewatch my favorites to get me excited for the season.
I’d like to share my all-time favorites for anyone looking for movies to watch this Halloween season and for horror lovers like me.
It (2017)
If anyone is looking to get into horror, this is a great place to start. Tense moments are broken with fun humor by the group of children, yet it still has great scares for big moments. Pennywise has many creepy moments that give this film its scares. The cast is absolutely perfect and you easily fall in love with these characters. There’s so many details to pick apart, and it has beautiful cinematography. It’s an amazing adaptation of Stephen King’s novel, and it’s so much more than a horror movie.
Streaming: HBO Max, Hulu, Amazon Prime
The Conjuring (2013)
I absolutely love horror movies that are based on real-life events. It makes everything that happens just a bit more unnerving. There are so many aspects that build up an insane amount of tension. The film has big scares, and the acting helps sell it overall. It kicks off an amazing franchise which gives us classic horror villains like Annabelle.
Streaming: HBO Max, Hulu, Amazon Prime
The Thing (1982)
The first watch of this movie will have anyone on the edge of their seat and keep them overthinking and guessing. It’s an amazing view into paranoia, and the audience never knows more than the characters. I believe the isolated atmosphere and eerie vibes are what makes it spooky. Along with that, it has incredible practical effects for a movie so long ago.
Streaming: Peacock, Amazon Prime, YouTube
Saw (2008)
Normally, I can’t get behind torture films, but the puzzle-like qualities and moral dilemmas keep me glued to the screen. The investigative plot helps peel away from the gory violence which also makes everything a bit more interesting. Jigsaw, the villain, has such compelling reasonings behind his work which sets him apart from the usual horror killer. Not only that, but this movie has set itself into horror history with one of the most iconic endings.
Streaming: Tubi, Hulu, Amazon Prime
Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988)
I find this movie less scary than the others on this list, but that doesn’t make it bad. It can be silly at times and it just makes it more fun to watch again and again. There are still lots of reasons this movie is amazing. The designs of the clowns are truly nasty in an unsettling way. Many of the kills in this movie are iconic and a lot of them are really creative which just makes me appreciate it a lot more than classic slashers.
Streaming: Amazon Prime, AMC+, YouTube