I’ll admit horror movies are an acquired taste, but if you’re into it, there’s no denying you’ll go all out for scary movie night on Halloween.
Tim Burton, Wes Craven, Rob Zombie, Stephen King and Alfred Hitchcock are no strangers to you. You love scaring yourself silly, locking the basement door and falling asleep with every light in the house on…
Or maybe you don’t.
Either way, Halloween-inspired movie nights are fun at any terror level, so I compiled a list of standbys ranked from level 4 (not even a little scary) to level 1 (completely unnerving) and included a fifth category to list my top Netflix picks.
Level 4 – Family Favorites (not even a little scary)
- Hocus Pocus
- Nightmare Before Christmas
- It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown
Others: The Goonies, Monster House, Scooby Doo and the Witch’s Ghost, Scooby Doo Zombie Island, Frankenweenie, The Little Vampire, Casper, Scooby Doo Ghoul School, Shrek and the entire Harry Potter series (all eight movies).
Level 3 – Spooky (gothic, but not really scary)
- Edward Scissor Hands
- The Rocky Horror Picture Show
- Beetlejuice
Others: Shaun of the Dead, Zombieland, Van Helsing, The Lost Boys, World War Z, Young Frankenstein, Blade, Interview with a Vampire, The Craft, The Birds, The Witches of Eastwick.
Level 2 – Creepy (scary)
- Child’s Play
- Scream
- House of 1,000 Corpses
Others: The Haunting, It, Paranormal Activity, Blair Witch Project, Jeepers Creepers, 30 Days of Night, The Ring, Night of the Living Dead, The Hitcher, Salem’s Lot, Carrie, The Last House on the Left, Saw, Wolf Creek.
Level 1 – Sleeping with the lights on… (completely unnerving)
- Halloween
- Psycho
- The Shining
Others: Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Strangers, The Hills Have Eyes, The Devil’s Rejects, The Omen, Poltergeist, The Silence of the Lambs, The Collector, Hostel.
Best of Netflix
- Corpse Bride
- Sleepy Hollow
- The Exorcist
Others: The Addams Family, The Babadook, Practical Magic, Children of the Corn, Amityville Horror, Hush, Jaws, The Underworld, Goosebumps, Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet Wolfman, Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein, Cujo.
Top 5 Netflix Horror T.V. series: The Walking Dead, American Horror Story, Penny Dreadful, Bates Motel and Hemlock Grove.
Note: This list does not include sequels.
