The leaves are changing, the temperature is dropping and suddenly all we want to do is turn off the lights, grab some snacks and watch movies that make it feel like Halloween.
And listen, not every movie on a Halloween watchlist needs to leave you afraid to sleep! Some of the best movies to watch this time of year are genuinely terrifying, while others are campy, nostalgic, magical or simply have that indescribable fall feeling.
From Disney Channel classics we grew up watching to slashers, witches, vampires, ghosts and Tim Burton masterpieces, we’re revisiting some of our favorite movies to put on during spooky season.
These aren’t ranked because asking us to choose between Halloweentown, Scream and Jennifer’s Body feels unnecessarily cruel. Instead, consider this your XO Diva D Halloween watchlist!
JENNIFER’S BODY (2009)
Megan Fox as a demonically possessed high school cheerleader?
Cinema.
Jennifer’s Body has rightfully undergone a massive cultural reevaluation since its 2009 release, and spooky season is the perfect excuse to revisit it. It’s bloody, funny, sexy, weird and endlessly quotable with Megan delivering one of the most iconic performances of her career.
HALLOWEENTOWN
Few things scream childhood Halloween quite like Disney Channel’s Halloweentown movies.
Marnie discovering she’s a witch and traveling to an entire town where it’s basically Halloween 24/7? We wanted to live there. Honestly, we still do.
The original movies have become required October viewing, and Debbie Reynolds as Grandma Aggie will forever have a special place in our hearts.
SCREAM
“What’s your favorite scary movie?”
You can’t have a Halloween marathon without Ghostface.
The Scream franchise managed to make slasher movies scary, funny and self-aware all at once, with Sidney Prescott becoming one of horror’s ultimate final girls. Whether you’re starting with the 1996 original or turning it into a full franchise marathon, Scream belongs on the October schedule.
CASPER (1995)
Sometimes we don’t want terrifying ghosts. We want a friendly one.
Casper has everything a perfect nostalgic Halloween movie needs: a haunted mansion, ghosts, Christina Ricci and just enough spooky atmosphere without actually ruining your sleep.
And yes, the “Can I keep you?” scene still gets us.
TRICK ‘R TREAT (2007)
If Halloween itself were turned into a movie, it might be Trick ‘r Treat.
The anthology horror film intertwines several stories unfolding on Halloween night, with the instantly recognizable Sam tying everything together. It’s dark, creepy and completely drenched in October atmosphere.
TWITCHES
Tia and Tamera Mowry playing twin witches separated at birth who reunite on their 21st birthday and discover their magical powers?
Disney Channel knew exactly what it was doing.
Twitches, and obviously Twitches Too, are peak 2000s Halloween nostalgia.
IT
Okay, Pennywise is horrifying.
BUT knowing that’s Bill Skarsgård underneath all that makeup somehow makes the newer It movies slightly easier to handle. Slightly.
The modern adaptations deliver plenty of actual horror, but the friendship between the Losers’ Club gives the movies so much heart that they’re surprisingly rewatchable even when Pennywise isn’t busy traumatizing us.
HOCUS POCUS & HOCUS POCUS 2
The Sanderson Sisters simply ARE Halloween.
Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy created something truly special with the original Hocus Pocus, and nearly three decades later, they finally returned for Hocus Pocus 2.
Come October, we’re going back to Salem.
CORALINE (2009)
Technically a children’s movie.
Emotionally? Absolutely terrifying.
Between the Other Mother, those BUTTON EYES and the unsettling stop-motion world, Coraline somehow gets creepier as you get older. It’s also visually gorgeous and one of those movies that feels tailor-made for a dark October night.
BEETLEJUICE & BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE
It’s showtime.
Tim Burton’s original Beetlejuice is the perfect combination of macabre, funny and bizarre, with Michael Keaton’s performance remaining iconic decades later. Then Beetlejuice Beetlejuice brought us back into that wonderfully strange universe with another dose of afterlife chaos.
THE CRAFT (1996)
Before we had TikTok witches, we had The Craft.
Four teenage girls exploring witchcraft, power, friendship and revenge made this a ’90s cult classic, and its dark aesthetic alone earns it an annual spot on the Halloween watchlist.
MONSTER HOUSE
Another children’s movie that had absolutely no business being this unsettling.
A HOUSE that is literally alive and eating people? Excuse us?
Monster House is funny, creepy and packed with Halloween atmosphere, making it one of those animated movies that’s just as fun to revisit as an adult.
HALLOWEEN
Michael Myers. That mask. That music.
John Carpenter’s Halloween helped define the slasher genre, and the franchise that followed turned Michael into one of horror’s most recognizable villains.
There are a LOT of Halloween movies at this point, so choose your timeline and proceed accordingly.
THE CORPSE BRIDE
Victor accidentally proposes to a dead woman and gets dragged into the Land of the Dead.
Romantic!
Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride is hauntingly beautiful, strange and surprisingly emotional. Between the stop-motion animation, music and gothic visuals, it’s practically made for fall.
SCOOBY-DOO (2002)
Is it horror? No.
Does it belong here anyway? Absolutely.
The live-action Scooby-Doo gave us Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prinze Jr., Matthew Lillard and Linda Cardellini as Mystery Inc., plus Spooky Island, monsters and enough early-2000s camp to last a lifetime.
DOCTOR SLEEP (2019)
If you’re looking for something considerably darker, Doctor Sleep is the move.
The sequel to The Shining follows an adult Danny Torrance decades after the events at the Overlook Hotel and expands that universe into something much bigger. Ewan McGregor and Rebecca Ferguson are fantastic, and the movie balances psychological horror with supernatural terror.
THE LITTLE VAMPIRE (2000)
If you grew up in the early 2000s, this one might unlock a memory you forgot you had.
A lonely boy befriending a young vampire while his family searches for a way to become human again? Adorable. Spooky. Nostalgic.
Put it on immediately.
US
Jordan Peele knows how to make you uncomfortable.
Us turns a family vacation into an absolute nightmare when terrifying doubles arrive outside the family’s home. Lupita Nyong’o’s performance alone makes this essential viewing, but you’ll probably be thinking about the movie long after the credits roll.
FUN SIZE (2012)
Halloween chaos, but make it Nickelodeon.
Victoria Justice stars as a teenager whose Halloween plans completely unravel after losing her younger brother while trick-or-treating. It’s silly, chaotic and VERY 2012 — which is exactly part of its charm.
PSYCHO
We can’t talk about horror without going back to one of the movies that helped shape the genre.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho remains one of cinema’s most influential thrillers, and that shower scene has been referenced and recreated so many times that you probably knew about it before ever seeing the actual movie.
CASPER MEETS WENDY
Hilary Duff as a tiny witch.
Do we really need to explain further?
Casper Meets Wendy brought together our favorite friendly ghost with Wendy the Good Little Witch, played by a very young Hilary. Pure late-’90s nostalgia.
RUN SWEETHEART RUN (2020)
Need something less nostalgic and a lot more intense?
Run Sweetheart Run follows a woman whose seemingly normal blind date becomes a terrifying fight for survival. It’s tense, fast-moving and perfect if your Halloween marathon needs something a little darker.
THE ADDAMS FAMILY
They’re creepy and they’re kooky, mysterious and spooky…
You know the rest.
Whether you’re revisiting the classic Addams Family movies or another version of everyone’s favorite wonderfully bizarre family, the Addams belong in spooky season.
And Wednesday Addams remains an icon. Obviously.
TWILIGHT
Vampires. Werewolves. Constant gloomy weather. Pacific Northwest forests. Robert Pattinson staring intensely across a cafeteria.
That’s fall.
The Twilight saga might not technically be Halloween viewing, but something about October makes us want to go directly back to Forks.
LITTLE MONSTERS
Monsters hiding underneath children’s beds sounds like horror until Howie Mandel shows up as one of them.
The 1989 cult favorite Little Monsters mixes comedy, fantasy and just enough childhood creepiness to earn a place in the seasonal rotation.
HARRY POTTER
Another one that isn’t technically Halloween, but come ON.
Hogwarts in the fall? Floating candles? Ghosts? Witches and wizards? Giant pumpkins? The Great Hall Halloween feast?
The Harry Potter movies have an undeniable autumn coziness that makes a full series marathon feel completely appropriate this time of year.
BEWITCHED
Nicole Kidman playing an actual witch cast as Samantha in a remake of Bewitched while Will Ferrell has absolutely no clue what he’s gotten himself into?
It’s light, charming and perfect when you need something magical without the horror.
E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (1982)
And finally, yes, E.T. counts.
Maybe aliens aren’t the first thing you associate with Halloween, but one of the movie’s most memorable sequences literally takes place on Halloween, with E.T. being disguised and taken out among trick-or-treaters.
Plus, there’s something about Steven Spielberg’s suburban fall atmosphere that makes the movie feel right at home in an October marathon.
WHAT ARE YOU WATCHING THIS HALLOWEEN?
That’s the beauty of spooky season: one night you can watch Michael Myers chase people around Haddonfield, the next you can visit Halloweentown, and by Sunday you’re watching Edward Cullen dramatically tell Bella that she’s his own personal brand of heroin.
Balance! Whether you want something terrifying, nostalgic, campy, magical or just vaguely autumnal, there’s something on this list for every Halloween mood.
Now turn the lights down, grab the candy and start watching. Happy spooky season, divas!
