Once again, the Halloween season is upon us. That means candy, costumes and, of course, all the spooktacular movies you can cram into the month of October.
Thanks to the magic of streaming services, finding frightfully festive films to watch is easier than ever. To make this task even simpler, though, we here at Epicstream have compiled a list of 10 Halloween movies you can watch on Netflix right now:
Tales of Halloween
Directors: Darren Lynn Bousman, Axelle Carolyn, Adam Gierasch, Andrew Kasch, Neil Marshall, Lucky McKee, Mike Mendez, Dave Parker, Ryan Schifrin, John Skipp, Paul Solet
Cast: Adrienne Barbeau, Hunter Smit, Caroline Williams, Clare Kramer, Greg Grunberg, Barry Bostwick, Tiffany Shepis, Trent Haaga, Alex Essoe, Lin Shaye, Marc Senter, Pollyanna McIntosh, Kier Gilchrist, Dana Gould, James Duval, Graham Skipper, Adam Green, Sam Witwer, Kristina Klebe, Pat Healy
Nothing says Halloween quite like a good old-fashioned anthology, and Tales of Halloween is just that – 10 separate tales, all woven together by the common thread of Halloween night. What the film lacks in terms of quality, at least in comparison to some of the other entries on this list, it more than makes up for in how it captures the spirit of the Halloween season. Naturally, many will compare Tales of Halloween to 2007’s Trick ‘r Treat, and while this film isn’t quite as successful as the latter, it certainly comes close.
The Sixth Sense
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Cast: Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment, Toni Collette, Olivia Williams, Donnie Wahlberg, Mischa Barton
You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who hasn’t heard, or even said the iconic line, “I see dead people,” at some point in their life. That’s because The Sixth Sense fully captured the zeitgeist of the late 1990s/early 2000s suspense/thriller/horror films, and the surprise ending is easily director M. Night Shyamalan’s best twist to date. The film follows a child psychologist and a boy who’s able to communicate with the dead, and… well, in case you somehow don’t know what the big twist is, let’s just leave it at that. In any case, The Sixth Sense is a brilliant piece of cinema, and if you’re in the mood for a smarter kind of horror film this Halloween, it’s definitely worth your while.
The Shining
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Cast: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Scatman Crothers
The Shining is, without a doubt, one of Stanley Kubrick's most notable masterpieces – a true classic in horror cinema. It’s a film that has managed to scare the living hell out of its audiences since its release in 1980, and still does to this day. Loosely adapting the Stephen King novel of the same name, The Shining is a story that appears on the surface to be about ghosts and insanity, but underneath, it’s a story that deals with issues of child abuse, immortality and duality. If you’ve never seen this film, you owe it to yourself to give it a chance – preferably with a friend, and not alone.
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Director: Henry Selick
Cast: Danny Elfman, Chris Sarandon, Catherine O’Hara
While Tim Burton generally gets most of the credit, his writing would have fallen upon deaf ears without director Henry Selick’s management of The Nightmare Before Christmas’ brilliantly spooky aesthetic and charming voice cast. The film follows Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of the titular Halloweentown, who becomes obsessed with Christmas and decides to hijack the holiday. Targeted towards children, this is a film that has just as much appeal for older viewers, with memorable and enchanting musical numbers fueled by passion and emotion. True, it doesn’t have the same narrative fuel and graceful lyrics to match Disney’s best animated musicals, but nevertheless, it certainly comes close.
It Follows
Director: David Robert Mitchell
Cast: Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Daniel Zovatto, Jake Weary, Olivia Luccardi, Lili Sepe
Sexy and supernatural don’t always go hand-in-hand. However, It Follows somehow makes these strange bedfellows mesh. The film is about a woman named Jay, who finds herself haunted by a strange and sinister force after a seemingly innocent sexual encounter, and the only way she can break the curse is by passing it on to someone else. It’s certainly a unique twist on psychological and supernatural horror, and like any good horror film, it makes great use of cinematography and music to establish its chilling atmosphere. Plus, for those who find themselves easily startled, It Follows is light on jump-scares, which is a refreshing change of pace.
The Babadook
Director: Jennifer Kent
Cast: Essie Davis, Noah Wiseman, Daniel Henshall
After the violent death of her husband, a widow named Amelia struggles with life as a single mother, as well as her son’s seemingly irrational fear of monsters lurking in their home. However, despite the very real horror The Babadook packs, this is ultimately a film about coping with loss, failure and loneliness. These raw human emotions, which are terrifying in their own right, take precedence over cheap jump-scares, and the end result is a film that delivers thought-provoking, psychological horror at its best.
The Conjuring
Director: James Wan
Cast: Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Ron Livingston
Sometimes, you simply can’t beat old-school horror scares, and The Conjuring delivers them in droves. The story follows a pair of paranormal investigators who are hired to research a sinister presence haunting a Rhode Island family’s farmhouse, but what they discover is a satanic evil that will require all of their spiritual strength to exorcize. What’s most perhaps most impressive is that this film earns its R-rating on scares alone, and doesn’t rely on sex, cursing or even gratuitous gore to elicit a reaction from viewers. Furthermore, director James Wan expertly capitalizes on the audience’s innate fear of the unknown, displaying incredible restraint by not showing too much but instead leaving it to our imaginations, which can sometimes be the scariest thing of all.
Hellraiser
Director: Clive Barker
Cast: Andrew Robinson, Clare Higgins, Ashley Laurence
In Hellraiser, we see a cheating wife come face to face with her reanimated dead lover, who’s being pursued by the ghastly demons known as Cenobites that were holding him captive in their underworld. For the most part, this film is pretty universally praised by horror purists; however, at its core, Hellraiser is a macabre love story riddled with subtext about how love and sex can destroy us. Nevertheless, it’s a movie that will send chills up your spine, and anyone who calls themself a fan of the horror genre owes it to themselves to add this to their queue.
Children of the Corn
Director: Fritz Kiersch
Cast: Peter Horton, Linda Hamilton, R.G. Armstrong, John Franklin, Courtney Gains
If you’re an adult with a seemingly irrational disdain for kids, perhaps it’s because you’ve seen Children of the Corn one too many times. Taking place in a small Nebraska town, this film, loosely based on a Stephen King short story, focuses on a young couple that’s haunted and hunted by a preacher-like boy named Isaac and his cult following of children. Whether you’re young or old, the notion of children murdering adults and taking over an entire town is quite terrifying, but it’s admittedly a premise that’s somewhat more successful as a concept than in the film’s actual execution. Nevertheless, Children of the Corn is a staple of the religious horror subgenre, and while the plot may be a tad thin, the characters are truly memorable.
Coraline
Director: Henry Selick
Cast: Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, John Hodgman, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, Keith David, Robert Bailey Jr., Ian McShane
Based on a book by Neil Gaiman, Coraline is the story of an 11-year-old girl from a broken home who discovers a parallel world that’s everything she’s ever dreamed of… Until it isn’t. Much like The Nightmare Before Christmas, director Henry Selick takes brilliant writing and brings it to life with a charming and visually striking aesthetic, not to mention some outstanding vocal performances. Hauntingly beautiful in every way, Coraline is the epitome of an instant classic.