We’re just gonna say it: There is no October tradition better than watching classic Halloween movies. Truly, the best way to celebrate the spooky season is to chill on the couch with a bottle of hard cider and a movie with Scorpio vibes that never gets old, no matter how many times you’ve watched it.
That’s especially true this year, when many Halloween traditions aren’t possible for a lot of people. Luckily Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, and more streaming services are easily available. Whether you’re in the mood for scary horror movies or looking for more family-friendly fare, there are plenty of classic Halloween movies to keep you entertained all October long. See our picks, below.
1. Mama
When two little girls’ father kills his wife and then himself and they escape, it’s into the woods. They survive for years in a rickety cabin before they are found and taken back to civilization. Only, they seem to have brought someone back with them…
2. The Conjuring
Part of a series of scary movies, this one follows demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren into a house where a malevolent spirit has taken up residence
3. The Bridge Curse
A TV reporter has been given the job of checking out an urban legend about a haunted bridge in a school. Through non-linear storytelling, the audience sees how the story circulates and how it claims victims. Will the journalist survive?
4. Truth or Dare
In the vein of another horror flick, ‘It Follows’, in this movie a group of friends on a road trip who get suckered into playing the ‘truth or dare’ game. Except this isn’t an ordinary game. And it doesn’t stop until everyone’s dead.
5. Insidious The Last Key
A woman who has seen ghosts her entire life must return to the place it all started – her childhood home, which is full of painful memory and a very, very deadly entity.
6. Bulbul
This movie gives horror a new meaning, because it delves into the treatment of women in India in times gone by. It deals with the desperation that comes with rape and the rage brought on by jealousy. It also deals with possession by a ‘churail’, or demon. Only, it makes you wonder if the possession is truly a bad thing.
7. Tumbbad
When a boy discovers the village secret – hidden in a well is the path to all the gold he can carry, he is spellbound. The only caveat? He must contend with a deity who will give him a terrible death if he’s caught.
8. Mirrors
When ex-cop Ben Carson turns security guard for a gutted building, he thinks things will be cushy. Then he realizes the mirrors in the store are gateways that allow evil things to follow him home.
9. Quiet Place
If they hear you, they hunt you. A family must live in silence to avoid mysterious creatures that hunt by sound. On the same lines is ‘Bird Box’, starring Sandra Bullock, in which the only way to stay sane is to keep your eyes closed shut. In this movie, Bullock and her kid are one of the few survivors in the world and trying to find a way to a refuge.
10. The Uninvited
A young girl who has been in psychiatric care goes home to find her father’s girlfriend who happens to be her late sick mum’s nurse trying to be friendly. And then the visions begin.