Highly Scary Halloween Movies to Watch This Week

Spooky season is back! From eerie decorations to costume parties, celebrating Halloween can be a lot of fun, especially if you are a fan of classics like Rosemary’s Baby, Count Dracula, supernatural horror, or anything written by Stephen King.

One of the great Halloween traditions is to binge-watch some scary movies. As long as you have a strong stomach and don’t get too attached to the main character, a good horror movie is a great way to spend the afternoon or evening (if you are brave). If you are not a fan of the scary stuff, you can try a horror comedy film.

Here is a list of some of the best Halloween movies to stream:

1. Hereditary (2018)

This movie begins with a tragic driving under the influence (DUI) cannabis incident for a young man that results in the death of his sister. There is some wise social commentary about responsible use. But what happens after the accident is some of the best new writing in the horror genre, as a family descends into strange paranormal events stemming from rituals and secrets held by their grandmother.

Unlike other scary movies, Hereditary doesn’t borrow from conventional horror tropes. From an eerie monster house with dolls to a tic sound from a young woman that will unnerve you, this movie is full of jolts and unexpected twists. If you are planning a horror film movie night during the spooky season, this movie is a great one to add to your list.

2. Shaun of the Dead (2004)

This is a romantic comedy, horror comedy, and hilarious comedy wrapped into one movie (rom-com-zom?) It is an homage to the original George C. Romero’s “Dawn of the Dead” film. Set in the borough of Couch End, London, Shaun (Simon Pegg) and Ed (Nick Frost) are two best friends fighting to save their buddies and Mom from a zombie apocalypse.

Shaun’s girlfriend, Liz (played by Kate Ashfield), had broken up with him the night before because date nights always ended up at The Winchester, a local pub. To her chagrin, The Winchester becomes a reasonable safe haven for the survivors.

British humor is refreshingly different, and Shaun of The Dead switches from scary to hilarious frequently throughout the film, with great classic tunes from Queen and The Smiths. Ed plays the Hollywood stereotype of a midlife, unemployed cannabis user.

3. Friday the 13th (1980)

In 1980, horror movies were taken to a new level with the release of Friday the 13th. The film was made on a small budget (and you can tell) of $550,000. However, it earned almost $40M in domestic box office sales and $60 million worldwide. It also became an international horror movie cult classic.

Teenaged camp counselors arrive to help reopen a summer camp and are assigned cabins to supervise the children. No children were harmed in the making of Friday the 13th, but quite a few counselors meet their end, unable to escape a killer’s rampage.

The camp where the original Friday the 13th movie was filmed is Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco in New Jersey. To date, the camp is still in operation. It even has a collection of memorabilia from the movie for tourists who want to see Crystal Lake (Sand Pond), where the Vorhees saga began. The Boy Scout camp is closed in the summer, but in the Spring and Fall, a company called Crystal Lake Adventures leads tours for die-hard fans.

If you love the original movie, there are ten other scary movies featuring the immortal Jason Vorhees. There is also a showdown between Freddy Krueger and Jason, as well as a weird finale with Jason, Freddy, and the protagonist Ash from The Evil Dead.

4. Poltergeist (1982)

If you watch this movie today, it is no less scary than it was when it premiered in 1982. You may enjoy the retro rewind, seeing all the old 80’s clothes, hairstyles, and cars too. The movie is set in a subdivision home in a planned community in California called Cuesta Verde (Green Hill).

Steve, the husband, is a very successful real estate agent. His wife, Diane, is a stay-at-home mom, caring for their teenage daughter, Dana, eight-year-old son, Robbie, and five-year-old daughter Carol Ann. The parents also have a penchant for puff puff pass.

When you move into a new house, you expect some quirks and surprises. But nothing could prepare this family for the paranormal haunting. The household’s terrifying secrets and consequences for everyone but the eldest daughter, Dana. She is lucky to be at a sleepover party with friends the night things get bad.

5. 420 Massacre (2018)

Four college-aged female friends gear up for a camping weekend out in the woods to celebrate 420. What could go wrong? The movie starts with the girls receiving an ominous warning from a local police officer that the mountain range is full of illegal grow operations.

Instead of steering clear, the intrepid group of friends goes looking for the hidden pot farm. They stumble across a young man who is injured and in a state of panic. The criminals protecting their cultivars are equipped guerilla style. The moral of the story? Save the big bong and heavy-hitting cannabis at home.

6. Woodshock (2017)

Kirsten Dunst starred in Woodshock, and there are many scenes where she is smoking a lot of cannabis. Her acting as a “high” person was on point, but it turns out there is a good reason why her performance was so realistic. Somehow, the fake pot joints (which were made from herbal tobacco) were replaced with others made from potent marijuana.

Dunst was incredibly high when she was filming that particular scene (no acting required). In fact, in an interview, Kirsten Dunst told Jimmy Kimmel she became so uncomfortably high that she thought she’d have to go to a hospital. The star was unable to keep filming, and production sent her home to rest.

The accidental consumption accident is ironic. The film Woodshock is about a woman who works in a marijuana dispensary. When her mother becomes last-stage terminally ill, Theresa (Kirsten Dunst) mixes cannabis with some chemicals to end her mother’s suffering.

The emotional fallout from that causes Theresa to become depressed, and she, too, starts smoking pot laced with harmful chemicals. It feels artful and random in terms of the drug-hazed plot and watches more like a film festival flick.

7. Young Frankenstein (1974)

If you are a Mel Brooks fan and have never seen this classic horror film? You need to check it out. Fun fact! Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder wrote the screenplay together, and of course, Wilder played the role of Dr. Frankenstein.

It is meant to be a horror comedy, but with Mel Brooks, it leans more to comedy. So, if you are looking for a real horror movie, Young Frankenstein will fall short. The vintage film also has several moments of social commentary about how we view monsters.

It gets a little cerebral and deep in certain parts but is mostly slapstick throughout the movie. Speaking of vintage, check out this review of the film from Roger Ebert, dating back to January 1, 1974. Ebert seemed to like the movie a lot. Watch the trailer here.

8. Practical Magic

In Hocus Pocus, it was the Sanderson Sisters, but in Practical Magic, it is Sally (Sandra Bullock) and Gillian Owens (Nicole Kidman) who play sisters with special magical powers. Gillian’s unkind boyfriend, Jimmy (Goran Visnjic), dies unexpectedly, and chaos ensues.

The story was written by Alice Hoffman and hits all the traditional tropes about witches and witchcraft—down to the hidden coven in their own family and a lingering curse. Spell casting, a resurrection gone wrong, and malevolent forces wreak havoc, making it an interesting action horror set in a haunted house.

Practical Magic is a great movie to watch with female friends or family members. There are some beautiful moments that touch on the importance of loving female relationships and loyalty.

9. The Exorcist: Believer

The original Exorcist was released on December 26, 1973. Not only was it a system shock because since George C. Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead,” there hadn’t been a horror movie with such terrifying intensity. The fact that it appeared in theatres the day after Christmas was no accident either, and it added to the mystique of the film.

The Exorcist follows the story of one young woman (Regan) who becomes possessed by an evil force. In “The Exorcist: Believer,” a father must find help when he realizes that his daughter and her friend (Angela and Catherine) have become possessed. This search leads him to find Chris MacNeil, Regan’s mother, for help.

If you thought one child suffering from demonic possession was scary enough, this new chapter gives you two. And some pretty terrifying scenes. It may be the kind of movie you don’t watch alone.

10. Hocus Pocus 2 (2022)

Can you call Hocus Pocus a scary movie? It depends on who you ask, but most people consider the 1993 original to be a horror movie. Three sister witches, Sarah Sanderson (Sarah Jessica Parker), Winifred Sanderson (Bette Midler), and Mary Sanderson (Kathy Najimy), reprise their roles as the resurrected Salem witches.

What is great about this sequel, released last year, are the historical flashbacks to the Sanderson girls and how they met their demise in Salem almost 350 years ago. A young woman lights a candle on her 16th birthday and brings back the Sanderson Sisters to the present day.

The adorable zombie character everyone loves, Billy Butcherson (the former love interest of Winifred Sanderson), rises from the grave to help the protagonists defeat the evil trio. Sometimes scary but often funny, Hocus Pocus 2 is one of those entertaining Halloween movies that won’t give you bad dreams.

Where Are the Best Places to Find Streaming Halloween Movies?

One of the good things about looking for a retro scary movie or two is that they are easy to find on streaming services. For instance, there is a large horror film category streaming on Hulu. Prime Video is another good place to look for horror film titles.

Have a happy and safe Halloween season from all of us at MedWell Health & Wellness.