45 Chilling Halloween Movie Suggestions, Based on How Scary They Are

Married couple Brad (Barry Bostwick) and Janet (Susan Sarandon) stumble upon the mansion of Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry) after they get a flat tire. They soon discover that Dr. Frank-N-Furter's abode is all but ordinary as they meet all sorts of crazy characters, including creepy siblings Riff Raff and Magenta, as well as Frank-N-Furter's own creation, Rocky Horror. Get ready to sing and dance through this cult classic.

A team of scientists (Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, and Ernie Hudson) who hunt and capture ghosts find a gateway to a different dimension that poses a major threat to New York City. Sure, we have the Ghostbusters reboot to look forward to in 2020, but this one is the classic.

Tired of high school's toxic social hierarchy, Veronica (Winona Ryder) and her boyfriend, J.D. (Christian Slater), take vengeance on the popular "Heathers" clique. And when we say "take vengeance," we mean (*whispers*) murder. But as soon as Veronica has second thoughts about their actions, J.D. shows a different, much scarier side of himself.

When a man (Christopher Lloyd) claims to be Fester, the missing brother of Gomez Addams (Raul Julia), the family welcomes him before learning that he has ulterior motives. But the Addams family proves that they're a tough clan to mess with.

Kristy Swanson steps into the role as the stake-wielding Buffy whose trained to fight vampires by a man named Merrick Jamison-Smythe (Donald Sutherland). She soon helps fellow student Oliver Pike (Luke Perry) learn the way of vampire slaying as they prepare for the ultimate supernatural battle.

Teenager Max Dennison (Omri Katz), his sister Dani (Thora Birch), and their friend Allison (Vinessa Shaw) explore an abandoned house in Salem, Mass., and accidentally free the Sanderson sisters (Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy), a trio of witches who used to live in the house. To keep them from becoming immortal, the young friends much steal and destroy the witches' spell book.

Jack Skellington (Danny Elfman) is Halloween Town's esteemed pumpkin king. But he becomes a bit blasé about his yearly duty of leading all the Halloween celebrations. He sets on new path when he comes across Christmas Town and decides to kidnap Santa Claus to take over.

Young love is truly something special, especially when you're involved with . . . an entity. In this movie, a girl named Kat (Christina Ricci) becomes involved with Casper (Malachi Pearson), a friendly ghost, after she and her father James Harvey (Bill Pullman) arrive at the phantom's house. Casper makes an impression on Kat and James, but the rules of the afterlife — and Casper's mischievous uncles — complicate their budding relationship.

Imagine finding out you some from a family of witches. Trippy, right? Well, that's what happens when 13-year-old Marnie Piper (Kimberly J. Brown) discovers she and her siblings Dylan (Joey Zimmerman) and Sophie (Emily Roeske) are part of a sorcerous bloodline. After secretly following their grandmother, Aggie (Debbie Reynolds), onto a magical bus, the three children find themselves in the world of Halloweentown. Soon after, Aggie begins training Marnie in the art of magic, which comes in handy when an evil force threatens to take over the world.

Real estate agent Jim Evers (Eddie Murphy) decides to take his wife Sara (Marsha Thomason) and children Michael (Marc John Jefferies) and Megan (Aree Davis) on a vacation. The quartet is then summoned to Gracey Manor where they quickly learn that the abode is a gold mine for paranormal activity and diabolical spirits.

Twin sisters Alex and Cam (Tia Mowry, Tamera Mowry) reunite on their 21st birthday and must use their magical powers to protect their homeland from an evil being. It's the ultimate demonstration of sister power.

Friends DJ (Mitchel Musso), Chowder (Sam Lerner), and Jenny (Spencer Locke) learn that their neighbor Nebbercracker (Steve Buscemi) is living in a house that's not only haunted but alive and seeking vengeance. Unfortunately, nobody believes their heinous story, so they must get down to the bottom of things and duke it out with the evil spirit.

After moving into a new home, a young Coraline (Dakota Fanning) finds a secret door that leads her into a parallel world. There, she meets her alternate family and enjoys spending time with them until they try to trap her in their dimension forever. What's a girl to do? Get the heck out of there as soon as possible.

Following the death of his parents, a boy named Lewis (Owen Vaccaro) goes to live with his Uncle Jonathan (Jack Black). He then meets their neighbor, Mrs. Zimmerman (Cate Blanchett), and learns that she and Jonathan specialize in magical arts. When Lewis accidentally awakens the dead and releases dark forces into world, the trio must come together for an epic fight.

The premise of Night of the Living Dead is simple: dead people come back to life to eat the living, and it's frightening AF. If you're looking for a real scare that won't totally scar you for life, this is a worthwhile watch.

A woman named Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) wakes up in an underground bunker after getting into a car accident. The owner, Howard (John Goodman), introduces himself to a withdrawn Michelle and warns her that the outside air has been contaminated by fatal chemicals. Still, something about Howard is off . . . very off.

Ah, yes, the classic Carrie. Who doesn't love the story of a bullied Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) developing supernatural powers and unleashing pent-up anger on her peers? It might have been remade in 2013, but nothing compares to the original 1976 thriller.

Fifteen years after killing his sister on Halloween, Michael Myers (Tony Moran) escapes from a mental hospital and returns to his Illinois hometown to keep the murder spree going. There couldn't be a better movie to watch on Halloween; it's literally the name of the film.

Yes, it's showtime. In one of Michael Keaton's most well-known roles, the actor plays Beetlejuice, a humorously crude spirit summoned to help deceased couple Barbara (Geena Davis) and Adam Maitland (Alec Baldwin) scare a family (Catherine O'Hara, Jeffrey Jones, and Winona Ryder) out of their former house. But Beetlejuice's so-called help proves to have adverse effects as his motives become questionable.

Sure, Pet Sematary was remade in 2019, but the original version has an undeniable foothold in the horror genre. This tale centers around on the death of Doctor Louis Creed's (Dale Midkiff) son, Gage (Miko Hughes). But when Louis finds out he can bring Gage back to life, he takes a major risk in doing so, leading to grotesque results.

Teenager Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) is terrorized by a killer a year after the murder of her mother. The mysterious malefactor also targets her friends, but you'll soon find out that not everyone in Sidney's circle is trustworthy.

A group of high school witches — Sarah (Robin Tunney), Bonnie (Neve Campbell), Rochelle (Rachel True), and Nancy (Fairuza Balk) — use their abilities to wreak havoc on their peers. Eventually, the power goes to their heads as they each face consequences for their actions.

Three film students (Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, and Michael C. Williams) visit a small town to collect footage about local murderer Blair Witch. What could possibly go wrong? Turns out, a lot . . . a lot can go wrong (getting lost in the woods, being attacked by an unseen force, etc.). Not even the buddy system can save these friends from what's coming for them.

You've probably heard the famous line "I see dead people" before. This movie is where that chilling phrase comes from. A young boy named Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment) has the ability to — you guessed it — see dead people. It's a dark secret that he keeps from everyone, except psychologist Dr. Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis). Together, they try to figure out what Cole's powers entail, which rouses something sinister.

Interracial couple Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) and Rose (Allison Williams) take the next step in their relationship by spending a weekend upstate with the latter's parents. A few things seem off about Rose and her family, which leads Chris to uncovering something deeply disturbing about the brood.

When married couple Adelaide and Gabe Wilson (Lupita Nyong'o and Winston Duke) take their kids, Zora (Shahadi Wright Joseph) and Jason (Evan Alex) on a getaway, trouble ensues when evil doppelgängers arrive to seek revenge for unfathomable reasons.

All is well between Grace (Samara Weaving) and Alex (Mark O'Brien) after they wed. That is, until Grace is hunted by her husband's parents in the wee hours of the morning as part of an interesting family tradition. The things we do for love.

Three teenage friends stumble upon an ominous house belonging to a woman named Sarah Bellows (Kathleen Pollard). After exploring the home, they leave with a book of horror stories written by Sarah. They then witness new tales appear in the novel and their grisly fates are inked.

College student Dani Ardor (Florence Pugh) and her boyfriend, Christian Hughes (Jack Reynor) already have a strained relationship after Dani experiences a brutal tragedy. So when Christian's friend invites him to Sweden for a special midsummer celebration, he reluctantly brings Dani along. But it would've been best to stay in the U.S., considering they become the targets of a pagan cult.

Spouses Evelyn and Lee Abbott (Emily Blunt and John Krasinski) and their children, Regan (Millicent Simmonds), Marcus (Noah Jupe), and Beau (Cade Woodward) must live in silence to steer clear of terrifying creatures that hunt anything that makes a sound. Evelyn and Lee are determined to find a way to fight against the powerful monsters while doing anything to protect their kids. This movie will leave you wanting more, so it's a good thing a sequel is already in the works.

A group of bullied children in the small town of Derry, Maine, join forces to defeat a sinister monster that takes the form of a murderous clown named Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård). In order to fight against the devilish being, the gang must overcome their greatest fears. If you're brave enough to get through this movie, try your hand at watching the equally terrifying (but also funny) sequel, It Chapter Two.

This one is for the hardcore horror fiends. This petrifying tale centers around a young girl named Regan (Linda Blair) who has been possessed by the devil. She levitates, she controls things with her mind, and she scars pretty much anyone who dares to watch this film. Local priest Damien Karras (Jason Miller) and exorcist expert Father Lankester Merrin (Max von Sydow) try their best to extract the demonic being inhabiting Regan's body, but it's a horrifyingly complicated feat.

This is not your typical dance movie. This remake of the 1977 original, stars Dakota Johnson as Susie Bannion, an American dancer who travels to West Berlin to perform with the renowned Markos Tanzgruppe academy. Her arrival follows the disappearance of fellow dancer Patricia Hingle (Chloë Grace Moretz), who goes missing after she accuses the school's matrons of using witchcraft. Needless to say, Patricia was on to something.

Promise me something: if you see someone's grave has been vandalized, don't investigate anything. Maybe buy a new tombstone or spruce up the grave site, but leave it at that. Unfortunately, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre characters Sally (Marilyn Burns) and Franklin (Paul A. Partain) aren't given that advice when they see their grandfather's grave has been depredated. After setting out to find out why, they come across group of murderers and must fend off the chainsaw-wielding Leatherface (Gunnar Hansen), who dons a mask made of human skin.

On paper, setting up a summer camp in an area with a known history of murder sounds like an awful idea, but . . . actually, any way you try to spin that sounds dreadful. Too bad campers Jack (Kevin Bacon), Alice (Adrienne King), Bill (Harry Crosby), Marcie (Jeannine Taylor), and Ned (Mark Nelson) did just that in this classic slasher. The result? Oh, you know, being stalked by a killer and having to fight for their lives. Ah, the great outdoors!

I may or may not be shuddering just thinking about this horror-stricken mystery. (Do we really need a sequel to just to keep scaring the bejesus out of everyone? Yes? OK.) This psychological thriller follows writer Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) as he discovers his son Danny (Danny Lloyd) has psychic abilities and the hotel in which they're staying holds hellish secrets.

Sweet dreams are hard to come by for a group of teenagers who are hunted by Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) in their sleep. The catch? If Freddy gets a hold of his prey in their dreams, the victims die in real life. Is there any way to stop him? A girl named Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) must figure that out before it's too late.

A mother gifts her son, Andy (Alex Vincent), with a new doll named Chucky. But there's nothing cute about the plaything. The doll's mangled hair is scary enough, but watching it harbor the soul of a murderer will definitely keep you up at night.

When four teenagers mysteriously die a week after watching a harrowing videotape, investigative reporter Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts) looks at the video herself and attempts to figure out it's morbid effects before she perishes in seven days.

Couple Katie (Katie Featherston) and Micah (Micah Sloat) move into a new house, and it's not long before an evil spirit begins to terrorize them. Katie reveals that she's been haunted by the entity since she was a child, so Micah sets up video cameras throughout the house, hoping to capture whatever arcane phantom is looming around.

College student Samantha Hughes (Jocelin Donahue) takes a babysitting job to help pay for an apartment. It seems like a normal gig until she arrives at the home of Mr. Ulman (Tom Noonan) and his wife (Mary Woronov). Rather than watching a child, Samantha is asked to watch Mrs. Ulman's ailing mother. And by "ailing mother," we mean a wicked witch who needs Samantha's blood to complete a ritual.

Carolyn (Lili Taylor), Roger (Ron Livingston), and their daughters seek the help of demonologists Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) and Ed (Patrick Wilson) when their home is occupied by an execrable energy. But the power of the entity might be too strong to overcome as a series of gruesome events continue to take place in the house that has a sketchy history.

Following the deaths of their parents, sisters Lilly and Victoria are taken in by a spectral motherly figure, who they call "Mama." After years of living in an abandoned cabin with Mama, the siblings are found by their Uncle Lucas (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and his girlfriend, Annabel (Jessica Chastain). The couple takes the children in, not knowing about Mama, and discovers that the girls' phantom protector isn't ready to let them go.

A widowed Amelia Vanek (Essie Davis) notices her son Sam (Noah Wiseman) exhibiting disturbing behavior. Things get even worse after Sam asks his mother to read a book called Mister Babadook. The tale describes a monster that tortures anyone who's aware of its existence. Amelia becomes increasingly suspicious of the novel when Sam insists that the Babadook creature is real. And those suspicions quickly become reality.

New England settler William (Ralph Ineson), his wife Katherine (Kate Dickie), and their children fall victim to a mysterious force after one of the siblings disappeares without a trace. The family begins to point fingers, blaming one another for the demonic oddities plaguing their clan. The scariest part? Most of it is taken from real-life inspiration.