Horror films are fun to watch all year round — especially this year, with so many excellent scary movies — but there's something special about watching them around Halloween.
The gore's a little bit ickier, the suspense gives you a few more goosebumps, and those slasher kills are delivered with a certain delicious zest.
So, what should you watch while prepping your trick-or-treat costume, giving your Halloween party an eerie boost or just yearning for something spooky? We got you.
Here's a list of 10 essential horror movies — a mix of old classics and modern favorites — that deliver the right frights and can be streamed right now.
Whether you think it's a sci-fi film, horror movie, haunted house flick in space or a darn good argument for chest plates, Ridley Scott's cosmic trip gone very wrong is bursting with goodness. The terror is real, y'all, and the killer extraterrestrial goes perfectly with the galactic claustrophobia.
Where to watch: Netflix
Everything that made Count Dracula — and vampires in general — cool began with Bela Lugosi. The slicked-back hair, thick Eastern European accent and flair for capes set the groovy ghoul's signature aesthetic for years to come. Yet it’s the actor’s stirring magnetism and calm demeanor that pull us all in when he utters lines like, “Listen to them. Children of the night, what music they make” — an inviting facade that belies his true malevolent nature.
Where to watch: Peacock, Prime Video
If you can't empathize with Daniel Kaluuya's victimized protagonist and his shocked, tear-stained face as he's taken to the Sunken Place, you might just be a soulless demon. Jordan Peele's social horror insta-classic is an impressively crafted take on race that changed the scary movie game.
Where to watch: Peacock
Hail Paimon? Hail Toni Collette! She tears it up in Ari Aster's supernaturally absorbing, demonic dissolution of a family whose grand matriarch was into some seriously weird stuff. "Hereditary" is full of shock and awe, with absolutely brutal deaths and an unshakable sense of doom.
Where to watch: Hulu, Tubi, Fandango at Home, Prime Video, YouTube
In this gory and gonzo take on the "monkey's paw" trope — one of the best movies of the year — Bear (Michael Johnston) is a lovelorn guy who uses a mysterious trinket to wish that his co-worker Nikki (Inde Navarrette) would love him. She shows him a whole lot of adoration, all right, to a deeply unsettling and unhinged degree.
Where to watch: Peacock
A cursed videotape that kills anyone who views it seven days later falls into the hands of Naomi Watts for a neat spook show. (Guys, ghost girl Samara is STILL freaking us out.) More importantly, it sparked an American interest in the original "Ringu" and other outstanding Asian horror of the time.
Where to watch: Netflix, Paramount+, Peacock, Pluto
The reason we're seven "Scream" movies deep at this point is because the first one was a chef's kiss of humor, violence and clever chutzpah. Ghostface gave us the definitive horror villain of the ’90s, the opening sequence with Drew Barrymore and a telephone remains an all-timer, plus its cleverness hasn't waned since horror tropes never die.
Where to watch: Paramount+
Ryan Coogler pulls off something devilishly spectacular with this genre-bending, 1930s-set flick, featuring a magnificent Michael B. Jordan doing double duty as twins who come home to Mississippi and have their party crashed by a band of charismatic bloodsuckers. A wondrous fright fest that’s mesmerizing in its filmmaking and meaningful in its message.
Where to watch: HBO Max
Australian brothers Danny and Michael Philippou announced themselves as essential young horror voices with this unforgettable indie flick about a teen (Sophie Wilde) and her friends who livestream being possessed by spirits via a strange embalmed hand. Might make you rethink that next TikTok.
Where to watch: HBO Max, Tubi
Wouldst thou like to live deliciously? Um, yes, please and thank you. The freaky period piece and tragic family drama features Anya Taylor-Joy as a troubled 17th-century teen on the cusp of adulthood who goes down a dark path and Black Phillip as the G.O.A.T. of hellish goats.
Where to watch: Prime Video
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