Spooky season has officially begun. To kick it off, it is time to grab some pumpkin spice candies and binge some Halloween favorites. Here is my list of 10 must-watch films to scream to this October.
#1 Beetlejuice (1988)
Rating: PG
Rotten Tomatoes: 83%
Spooky Level: 4/10
After a couple suddenly die in a car crash, they must learn to navigate the afterlife. When the Deetz family moves into their house (which they are forced to haunt for 125 years) and begin to redecorate, they seek the aid of a ghost named Betelgeuse to scare them out. Of course, when you invite in a “bio-exorcist” into your home, things can get a little bit messy. Be careful not to say the name of this film three times.
#2 Hocus Pocus (1993)
Rating: PG
Rotten Tomatoes: 30%
Spooky Rating: 1/10
By the end of Hocus Pocus you’ll be singing “I put a spell on you”. This movie has it all: magic books, talking cats, teenage romance, zombies, flying vacuums, and of course witches. Trouble brews in Salem when a skeptical teen boy named Max lights a candle, causing the Sanderson sisters to be brought back from the dead on Halloween. With the help of a cursed talking cat, the three must stop the hilarious coven before they can consume the life out of every child in town.
#3 The Shining (1980)
Rating: R
Rotten Tomatoes: 86%
Spooky Rating: 10/10
Based on Stephen King’s 1977 horror novel, this chilling psychological thriller stands the test of time. Jack Torrance movies his wife Wendy and young son Danny (who possesses “the shining” or ability to see spirits) out to a secluded Hotel in Colorado after he takes the job as caretaker for the off season. He hopes the peace and quiet will help cure his writer’s block, although in reality the isolation goes to his head. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
#4 Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Rating: R
Rotten Tomatoes: 68%
Spooky Rating: 8/10
This Tim Burton masterpiece is a little darker than his films you grew up on. Ichabod Crane is a constable in late 1700s New York who is struggling to convince his superiors to end the state’s barbaric practices and solve murders using modern science. He is sent to the farming town Sleepy Hollow to hunt down a serial killer who has been cutting off heads. Not long after arriving, Ichabod discovers the case is not all that it seems: the perpetrator may not be of the land of the living.
#5 Alien (1979)
Rating: R
Rotten Tomatoes: 97%
Spooky Rating: 7/10
Okay, so I know this movie might not feel as “Halloweeny” as the others on the list, as it’s free of any ghouls, ghosts, or goblins, but for the scare factor alone it earned its spot on my top ten favorite Halloween movies. A crew is awoken early on a commercial space ship returning to earth to answer a distress call. All they find is a nest of Alien eggs. When a facehugger is brought onto the ship, chaos is unleashed leaving the seven fighting for their lives.
#6 Carrie (1976)
Rating: R
Rotten Tomatoes: 93%
Spooky Rating: 7/10
The second adaption of a Stephen King Novel to make my list, Carrie is the horrifying story of a young, alienated teen girl who is facing bullies at school and her abusive mother at home. After getting her first period in gym class, Carrie becomes the laughing stock of the school. Things change after Carrie discovers she possesses supernatural powers and is accepted by her peers. Now, this may sound like a strange iteration of Matilda, but don’t be fooled, this revenge story takes a significantly more bloody path.
#7 Coraline (2009)
Rating: PG
Rotten Tomatoes: 90%
Spooky Level: 4/10
Being part infatuated and part terrified by the mysterious other mother, staring at you with her horrible button eyes, seems to be a collective childhood experience. Coraline has been one of my long time favorite Halloween movies. The story follows an 11 year old girl by the same name who has just moved into Pink Palace Apartments. Things begin slowly as she tries to entertain herself while her parents work constantly. Events take a more sinister turn after her new friend Wybie gives her a doll of her likeness with button eyes. The doll leads her to a world unlike her own, “The Other World”, which is filled with people identical to those she is familiar with, apart from their eery button eyes. Soon it becomes clear something is off with this seemingly perfect fantasy land.
#8 Ghostbusters (1984)
Rating: PG-13
Rotten Tomatoes: 97%
Spooky Level: 2/10
A team of scientists become entrepreneurs hunting spirits rampant in New York after being fired from the university. At first they are met with fame and success, but a bigger force is at play in the spirit world. The catchy song alone earns this movie a spot on my Halloween binge list until the end of time.
#9 Ghostbusters (2016)
Rating: PG-13
Rotten Tomatoes: 74%
Spooky Level: 2/10
In this version, the Ghostbusters are four brilliant and hysterical women (cue the screams: “The feminists are taking over!”). Like in the original, these ladies start up a business rounding up ghosts around New York and discover a conspiracy to unleash an evil force on the city.
#10 Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
Rating: R
Rotten Tomatoes: 80%
Spooky Level: 2/10
Describing this fantastically bizarre cult classic is a real challenge. A newly wed couple seeks help from an ominous castle after their car breaks down. There they meet Dr. Frank-N-Furter, a “Sweet Transvestite”/mad scientist and witness his greatest feat: the construction of a perfect man: Rocky.