Halloween Movie Recommendations from 4 Genres
Do you enjoy the old scary classics with Vincent Price characters or movies about Dracula? Do you have fun with slasher films, or more modern scary movies such as the Haunting of Hill House? Or do you lean toward funny films such as Beetle Juice or Hocus Pocus? Let’s take a look at four categories of Halloween movies and see if you recognize any of your favorites in each list.
Scary Classic Halloween Movies
Dracula (1931)
The first scary classic Halloween movie that comes to mind is Dracula. There have been so many versions of the Dracula story over the years and people love vampires; I’m not sure why but they do. If you want a good classic version, then I would recommend the 1931 Dracula starring Bela Lugosi and Helen Chandler.
House of Wax (1953)
One classic Halloween movie star to watch for is Vincent Price. If Vincent Price is in it, it’s probably scary and a good candidate for Halloween. One of my favorites of his is House of Wax. It is creepy. And Vincent Price does not disappoint.
The Shining (1980)
I absolutely hate to think of The Shining as old, but the original movie starring Jack Nicholson is a must-see classic, based on the story by Stephen King.
Carrie with Sissy Spacek has to be mentioned. It’s not always in the old classic movie section, but scary just the same.
Alfred Hitchcock is a master of suspense, but if you want an old scary classic, watch Psycho. After you watch Psycho, then watch this poor cat as she watches the film.
Slasher Halloween Films
I personally am not a big fan of slasher films, but I love the “poor choices” commercial where the teenagers are running around trying to find a place to hide in a horror movie. The big slasher film favorites of course are the Chucky Films, the Halloween Films, and the Scream films. Because these movies were so popular, they made sequel after sequel of each of the original films in this genre.
And who can forget all the Chainsaw Massacre movies and the A Nightmare on Elmstreet franchise? People do love to get scared and scream in these movies.
Modern Scary Halloween Films
These are some good, suspenseful scary films that have been made in the last 20 years that are not slasher films: Signs, The Haunting of Hill House, The Others, The Sixth Sense, and there are so many more. I am betting you can name a dozen more. There are at least that many more that have been made just for Netflix or Amazon Prime. The movie Bird Box is a suspenseful and great movie to watch for Halloween if you haven’t watched it.
Funny Halloween Films
This is the list that is guaranteed to make you chuckle and is probably ok for the younger kids as well. Starting with Hocus Pocus and ending up with It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, these films or cartoons are meant to amuse and entertain us without too much fright. Or just enough to have fun. Beetle Juice is in this category and so is The Burbs. If you haven’t seen The Burbs, this is such a fun movie. The people of the suburbs end up freaking out over these new neighbors that are acting a little scary and the antics that ensue are hilarious. Super young kids probably won’t get it. The movie, Casper is fun and so are the Addams Family movies with Raul Julia.
The hope is that some of the films or cartoons in this list helped to jog your memory so you can plan which movie you are going to watch on Halloween night. It’s so much fun to snuggle in for a Halloween movie after the Trick-or-Treating is finished. This is a great tradition to begin with kids and grandkids. Pop some popcorn, grab a blanket, and have fun being scared, but not too scared!
