Watching scary movies was always a huge part of Halloween when we were kids.
My brother and I dressed up in our crazy homemade costumes (my idea of a punk rocker circa 1985 was frightening, for sure). We put our coats on over the costumes to sufficiently ruin them, snapped a glow stick and trick-or-treated around the block.
When we got home, we spread out on the living room floor, comparing our loot. Chocolate = good. Loose candy corn = bad, and potentially poisonous.
During our sugar fest, we watched scary movies. Oh, and our parents let us stay up late (OMG, 10 p.m.!).
I crave a night to watch scary movies every year around Halloween.
These are my 13 favorite scary movies. I have a soft spot for many, many others, but these have survived multiple viewings and still give me goosebumps.
So let’s pop some popcorn. Then, let’s lock the doors, grab a baseball bat for safety and get scared.
13 Scary Movies for Halloween
1. Rosemary’s Baby
Will scare you if these things freak you out: Witches, creepy children, pacts with the devil, conspiracy theories, creepy elderly people, paranoia
2. Children of the Corn*
Will scare you if these things freak you out: Creepy children, the middle of nowhere, ghost towns, cults, cornfields, ritual sacrafices
*this one gave me nightmares when I was a kid
3. A Nightmare on Elm Street
Will scare you if these things freak you out: Sleeping, nightmares, child molesters, bladed gloves, nobody believing you when you tell them your friends were murdered in their sleep, creepy lullabies, boiler rooms
4. Poltergeist
Will scare you if these things freak you out: Creepy children, ghosts, the phrase “they’re here,” clowns, “the light,” psychics who have creepy voices, skeletons, houses built on old burial grounds
5. Dawn of the Dead (2004)
Will scare you if these things freak you out: Zombies, blood, malls, running for your life, living with perfect strangers, relentlessness, bad escape plans
6. The Silence of the Lambs
Will scare you if these things freak you out: Cannibals, serial killers, serial killers who skin people, serial killers who skin people to make a “human suit,” insane asylums, being forced to recall your traumatic childhood, escaped cannibals, lotion
7. Se7en
Will scare you if these things freak you out: Serial killers, gruesome murder scenes, the seven deadly sins, retribution, hidden meaning, dark libraries, punishment, cunning schemes, Kevin Spacey, severed heads
8. Alien
Will scare you if these things freak you out: Deep space, robots, aliens, ill-thought-out quarantine protocols, acid blood, parasites, aliens growing inside you, aliens bursting through your chest, spaceships self-destructing, claustrophobia, dark corridors
9. Final Destination
Will scare you if these things freak you out: Death, premonitions, convoluted signs, airplanes, elaborate killings, stalling over railroad tracks, decapitations, exploding computers, being hit by a bus, slipping in the shower
10. Pet Sematary
Will scare you if these things freak you out: Creepy animals, creepy children, ancient burial grounds, semi trucks, the undead, stubborn people who bury dead pets and children and spouses in evil cemeteries, scalpels, sliced Achilles tendons, spina bifida
11. The Birds
Will scare you if these things freak you out: Birds
12. Hostel*
Will scare you if these things freak you out: Reckless behavior in Eastern Europe, naive tourists, creepy children, torture, evil rich people with an arsenal of painful-looking weapons, people going missing, chainsaws
*this film has THE best ending
13. An American Werewolf in London
Will scare you if these things freak you out: Backpacking, full moons, people being mauled by wild beasts, werewolves, waking up in a public place naked, unconsciously killing people
