My Essential Halloween Watchlist

Vega
Sep 30, 2020
4 min read

This is Halloween, this is Halloween. Let's face it, all of October is Halloween, not just the 31st. Every year, I prepare for the festivities of All Hallow's Eve, Samhain, All Souls Day, etcetera and such, by running through a crap-ton of Halloween and horror movies throughout the month. Over the years, I recognized that certain movies made it into the rotation on a regular basis and, thus, became my Halloween watchlist. A mixture of creepy and fun, the main theme of each film embodies some element of All Hallow's Eve. So this won't be a scary movie list or just a bunch of bloody guts goodness, but an actual list of Halloween movies that I watch every October (or at least get to 90% of them).

Note: I tried really hard to make the list 13 movies, you know, because of unlucky 13. But I didn't want to add films simply for the numbers. Also, yes, it does bother me that it's a list of 9 and not 10.

9. Trick (Hulu)

The newest addition to my rotation, this 2019 slasher film clearly wants it's titular character to become the next Michael or Jason. While it doesn't reach those heights, I thought the movie was intriguing enough and lived up to it's name, with effective twists that help expound on the Trick legend. Every Halloween since a mass killing at a Halloween party, the presumed-dead Trick returns to deliver a bloodbath. Is it the same person or something supernatural? Nothing original and with a different director and bigger budget, this could've been Halloween gold, but it is still pretty good and worth a watch. Plus, I'm a sucker for new slashers.

8. Halloweentown (Disney+)

I know that for many people, Halloweentown is one of THE staples of Halloween. I didn't watch it until my late teens (once) and so it doesn't resonate the same with me. It's a hit or miss each year about whether I get to it, but there's an entire town where ghouls and creatures and the like live together, with the main characters discovering their witchy heritage. A coming-of-age movie set in the familiars of Halloween, a family must come together while coming into their powers and save the town from an evil demon.

7. The Nightmare Before Christmas (Disney+)

Halloween is literally the nightmare before Christmas, depending on how crazy your Thanksgivings get (yay family!). Tim Burton's classic stop-motion, musical goodness has long been a topic of debates on whether it was a Halloween or Christmas film. Well, I've clearly made my stand. You can hate everything about this film, from Oogie Boogie to stealing Christmas, but don't tell me that "This is Halloween" and "What's This" don't float through your head at some point in October.

6. Halloween III: Season of the Witch (Rent/Buy on VOD)

The black sheep of the Halloween franchise, Season of the Witch is like the adult version of the Goosebumps story "The Haunted Mask". For those that don't know, Halloween was not intended to be a Michael Myers franchise, but an anthology series exploring different aspects of the holiday. But the popularity of Michael Myers and the backlash against this film from those expecting more of him prompted a shift back to the boogeyman in Halloween IV. Nevertheless, Halloween III has become a cult classic and centers around a murderous plot involving a Celtic ritual, halloween masks, and a television commercial.

5. Tales of Halloween (Shudder)

The poor man's version of my number 1 pick, Tales of Halloween is an anthology film with 10 interconnecting stories that carries the concept better than most other attempts. While a rated-R horror film, I think it would've benefited from a darker tone, but I won't complain about the fun Halloween hijinks. None of the stories are inherently bad, but some are definitely much sillier than others and lean more sci-fi than horror. You have to at least watch it for Sweet Tooth. That is a legend I can get behind.

4. The Houses October Built (Hulu/Prime Video)

What pops into your head when someone says "Halloween"? Is it candy? Pumpkins? Costumes? For me, it's haunted attractions and while a number of movies have attempted to capture the creepiness of the "What Ifs" surrounding the taboos of haunted attractions, very few have succeeded. A found footage film that follows a crew of friends searching for an extreme haunt, things get creepy as they begin noticing the same figure seemingly following them to new attractions.

3. Hocus Pocus (Disney+)

Hocus Pocus taught me one of the most important lessons of my childhood: never light strange candles on Halloween. This movie squeezes a little bit of everything in: Salem, Massachusetts, kooky witches, a bit of teenage love, a zombie, a touching reunion, a talking cat, and a catchy song, this movie can sure put a spell on you. Who didn't want a cat like Binx growing up? Between Salem from Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Binx, I'd be hard-pressed to choose one.

2. Halloween (Shudder/Hoopla)

I mean, it's called "Halloween". Michael Myers has forever served as the precipice of slasher horror for me. Many would argue that the only Halloween-ish thing this movie has is that it takes place on Halloween. But Michael represents the basis of many legends and fears: the boogeyman. An entity. A shape. Watching from the shadows. I also think the film should be one of the ultimate studies for how to create an effective horror movie. No money, no CGI, but sets one hell of an atmosphere. Plus, can it be Halloween without that John Carpenter score? I would think not.

1. Trick 'r Treat (Rent/Buy on VOD)

My crème de la crème of Halloween films. An extremely well-done anthology film that introduced a new household name to the horror pantheon, Sam (from Samhain if you didn't guess). A character that has become more popular over the years and has become the unofficial horror mascot of Halloween, Sam enforces the Halloween traditions. Throughout the film, as the various characters celebrate Halloween throughout their town, Sam observes and delivers punishment to those disrespecting that scared night.