Have a Spookily Entertaining Season at Home With the 50 Best Halloween Movies of All Time

Can't wait for Halloween? Whether you're craving spooky or silly, we've got something that you're bound to find worth watching on our list of the best Halloween movies ever. 

For this list, we've selected theatrically released feature films and TV movies set on Halloween night—or at least where the holiday is a significant plot point. Of course, we've included classic Halloween movies like Hocus Pocus, The Nightmare Before Christmas and the long-running eponymous slasher franchise. 

There are lesser-known gems here, too. This list of the best Halloween movies includes comedies, thrillers, ghost stories, family-friendly scary fare, Netflix Halloween content, Disney Halloween movies—and of course, lots and lots of scary horror.

Here are the 50 best Halloween movies of all time.

Best Classic Halloween Movies

Halloween (1978) 

Made with elegance and artistry, haunting music, a high level of taste and—crucially—unrelenting suspense and scares, John Carpenter's classic about a masked madman terrorizing babysitters remains an untouchable genre staple. It doesn't feel like hyperbole to call Halloween one of the best movies of all time—and perhaps the single most ripped-off film in history. The most successful independent film for decades, Halloween spawned countless slasher imitators. It's never been bettered.

Hocus Pocus (1993)

Distributed under Disney’s Buena Vista banner (that’s for fare aimed at older kids and even adults), this horror/comedy/musical hybrid initially tanked with critics and audiences, losing Disney as much as $20 million at the box office. Now, Hocus Pocus is a perennial essential on TV and home video, with a Halloween presence comparable to A Christmas Story over the holidays. It's safe to say the film has turned a hefty profit by now.

Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy and pre-Sex & the City Sarah Jessica Parker star as the Sanderson sisters, 17th-century Salem witches who survive by sucking the life out of small children. Yeah, it’s kind of surprising this ever got greenlit. Thank goodness it did, though. Minor quibbles with anachronistic references and other details aside, this enterprise is a lot of fun, plain and simple. And the Disney+ exclusive sequel is also delightful even if it doesn't quite live up to the original. 

Related: 50 Best Hocus Pocus Quotes

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

Like fellow holiday classic Gremlins, director Tim Burton’s Halloween-Christmas mashup is one of the scariest movies ever aimed—ostensibly—at kids. The stop-motion musical has grown so iconic and popular that it’s become its own brand, but it’s important to remember just how special the film is on its own merits. Film critic Roger Ebert even compared the picture to Star Wars.

Related: 50 Best The Nightmare Before Christmas Quotes

Sleepy Hollow (1999)

Tim Burton‘s head-spin on the 1820 story is a successful blend of gore, humor, exceptionally strong production values and a twisted plot. Johnny Depp stars as Ichabod Crane, a squeamish constable investigating horrific murders within the sleepy titular town. A substantial box-office hit, Sleepy Hollow won an Oscar for its sublimely atmospheric art direction.

Donnie Darko (2001)

Richard Kelly's science fiction thriller stars Jake Gyllenhaal as a high schooler suffering from doomsday visions. The movie received a limited release with little publicity (the plot heavily features a plane crash, and the movie was released in October 2001). But the enthralling storytelling proved popular over time, and Donnie Darko became one of the ultimate independent films. Some circles even consider this to be one of the best movies of all time.

Best Old Halloween Movies

Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) 

Yes, Frank Capra's classic black comedy is set on Halloween day. Cary Grant stars as a writer who marries into a majorly crazy family. It's based on Joseph Kesselring's 1941 stage play.

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)

The first half of this early, RKO-released Disney novelty is winsome and poetic; the back half becomes fairly chilling. An adaptation of The Wind and the Willows leads into Disney’s take on Washington Irving‘s story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Bing Crosby voices Ichabod Crane, an 18th-century dandy who courts the affections of the beautiful Katrina Van Tassel. Ichabod is antagonized by the Headless Horseman, and it all leads to a conclusion that’s surprisingly grim for Disney fare. The projectile flaming pumpkin is a giddy 3D-without-3D scary treat, so striking and memorable it was referenced in Tim Burton‘s 1999 R-rated Oscar-winner.

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966)

The all-time Peanuts classic first aired in Oct. 1966 on CBS. It's aired near Halloween of every year since. This is the first Peanuts special with a title whose phrase ends with, "Charlie Brown." This remained the formula for nearly every subsequent special.

Related: When Is It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown Airing This Year?

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) 

No list of the greatest family films ever made is complete without Steven Spielberg's science fiction heartstring-tugger. E.T. captured the hearts and imaginations of millions, dethroning 1977’s Star Wars to become the highest-grossing film at the time. Like so many of Spielberg’s finest films, much of E.T.‘s greatness comes from the sweeping orchestral score by John Williams.

The Monster Squad (1987)

Over three decades before they teamed up for the nostalgia-heavy, fairly entertaining and undeniably disappointing The Predator, Fred Dekker and Shane Black helmed this PG-13, mostly kid-friendly fantasy adventure about five boys who find themselves facing off against the Universal Monsters. Though it’s not on the same level in terms of quality, the mildly scary Monster Squad has a tone similar to that of Gremlins. Catch a Monster Squad poster in a bedroom background in Netflix's The Haunting of Bly Manor.

Creepshow (1982)

Horror maestros Stephen King and George Romero collaborated on this horror-comedy anthology film. Creepshow was shot primarily on location in Pittsburgh and Monroeville, and Friday the 13th's makeup wizard Tom Savini was hired to give the picture a comic-book feel.

Related: Scream Cast, Where Are They Now?

Creepshow 2 (1987) 

King and Romero once again collaborated on the follow-up—which contains only three segments (the original had five) due to budget constraints. Creepshow 3 was released direct-to-video without the involvement of King or Romero; you can skip that one.

Best Halloween Horror Movies

Halloween II (1981)

The first sequel to the long-running series, a continuation of that Halloween night that picks up moments after the first film ended, Halloween II did alright at the box office, but didn't receive the rave critical reception of the first. Ironically, the sequel fell back on the tropes of the dime-a-dozen imitators the first one inspired: over-reliance on gore over suspense, excessive nudity, dumb characters...that kind of thing. Still, many fans regard Halloween II with esteem.