Watching horror movies is a fun Autumn activity, and an absolute must for Halloween enthusiasts. We rounded up 31 of the most exciting and outrageous horror movies (with plenty of classics and a few newer picks) to give you something thrilling to watch every day in October.
Many of these movies are available to watch through common video streaming services like Netflix or HBO Max. However, some of these movies can only be watched as a rental on sites like YouTube, Vudu, Redbox, or Apple TV. Becauyse they aren’t all available on a single place (and as everyone has a different combination of video streaming services available to them), we have provided a link to JustWatch for each, which lists every platform the movie can be streamed or rented on, so you can find what works for you.
It’s worth briefly mentioning that most of these movies are genuinely scary and may contain content that some may find offensive or triggering.
1. A Nightmare on Elm Street
Revenge always makes for an interesting story. A Nightmare on Elm Street, we watch Freddy Kreuger get his revenge by killing teenagers in their dreams. Nancy Thompson, a cop’s daughter, works with her boyfriend Glen to lure Freddy out of the dream world and into the real world to capture him.
Watch A Nightmare on Elm Street
2. Halloween
Halloween is a classic horror movie following serial killer Michael Myers, who escapes from the sanitarium he was sent to 15 years after murdering his little sister. Michael then stalks and kills the unsuspecting people of Haddonfield on the movie’s namesake day: Halloween. And luckily, if you like this flick, there are eight more sequels for you to enjoy!
Watch Halloween
3. Friday the 13th
A classic slasher! Friday the 13th centers around summer camp counselors who are murdered by an unknown person. They are trying to reopen a summer camp that was previously the site where a child died from drowning.
Watch Friday the 13th
4. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
Directed by the wonderful Tobe Hooper, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a terrifying horror classic. The movie features a group of friends who unwittingly end up in the hands of a family of cannibals, including the infamous Leatherface. Apparently, the movie was marketed as being based on true events (though it’s almost entirely fictional), and certain details were lightly inspired by serial killer Ed Gein. There are also several sequels and a remake from 2003 (and a prequel based off of that) if you’re into the TCM scene after catching the ’74 flick.
Watch The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
5. Scream
Do you like scary movies? Scream is one of the most iconic horror films, and it has even inspired countless parodies. It’s a classic slasher and plays off all the cliches encountered in a horror movie (like answering the phone). Plus, the movie’s star-studded cast—which includes Neve Campbell and Drew Barrymore—makes it even more exciting.
Watch Scream
6. The Exorcist
The Exorcist is a breathtaking masterpiece every horror movie enthusiast should see. There are no serial killers or frightening monsters, merely a little girl possessed by supernatural forces. It’s the original possession/exorcism flick, and its atmosphere and cinematography are powerfully spine chilling!
Watch The Exorcist
7. Re-Animator
Loosely based on the story of the same name by Chthonic author H.P. Lovecraft, Re-Animator follows medical student Herbert West, who creates a reagent capable of reanimating dead bodies. West and a classmate start testing serums on corpses and have to work against someone trying to steal the concoction and pass it off as their own. For some reason, the movie originally received an X rating but was edited down to an R rating.
Watch Re-Animator
8. Death Becomes Her
With an all-star cast (of the Meryl Streep, Bruce Willis, and Goldie Hawn variety), Death Becomes Her blends horror with comedy for a good time. Actress Madeline and friend-turned-rival Helen consume a magic potion promising eternal youth only to have to deal with unpleasant side effects as they try to convince Madeline’s husband (and Helen’s former fiancé), Ernest, to drink the potion, too.
Watch Death Becomes Her
9. Ghost Ship
In Ghost Ship, a team of salvagers find an ocean liner adrift in the Bering sea that’s been missing since 1962. They claim the ship and start towing it towards their home harbor, but along the way get trapped inside and experience bizarre events caused by the demonic creature that’s inhabiting the vessel.
Watch Ghost Ship
10. The Cabin in the Woods
A lone cabin in the woods is yet another horror movie cliché, but yet The Cabin in the Woods offers much more than campy summer fun. Five college friends plan a simple weekend retreat at a remote cabin but must figure out what’s really happening there if they have any hope of leaving.
Watch The Cabin in the Woods
11. The Green Inferno
Considering that The Green Inferno is from director Eli Roth and Blumhouse, you can bet the movie is only for those with a super strong constitution. Student activists fly from New York City to the Amazon to help protect and save the rainforest. But once their plane crashes, it becomes a different kind of fight for survival.
Watch The Green Inferno
12. House of 1000 Corpses
Another flick for the strong-stomached, Rob Zombie’s House of 1000 Corpses begins as a tale of two teenage couples. They are on a journey through the Texan backwoods in search of some serial killers from urban legends, but they end up getting kidnapped and tortured by an insane family.
Watch House of 1000 Corpses
13. The Devil’s Rejects
The Devil’s Rejects is a sequel to House of 1000 Corpses (and is still directed by Rob Zombie). It centers on three members of the above-mentioned psychopathic family and their attempts to meet up with their father and escape capture from the local sheriff.
Watch The Devil’s Rejects
14. 3 from Hell
If you loved House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil’s Rejects and are looking for more, we’ve got good news: 3 from Hell is the unholy third movie in this Rob Zombie series. It takes place a decade after the events of The Devil’s Rejects, and follows villainous protagonists Otis Driftwood and Baby Firefly getting freed from jail by their also-psychotic half-brother.
Watch 3 from Hell
15. Saw
Wanna play a game? The Saw series centers around a sadistic serial killer who is obsessed with teaching his victims the value of life through torture. Once they are captured, they have to play along in a game for their very survival.
Watch Saw
16. The Fly
The Fly is a classic creature feature. Jeff Goldblum’s character, Seth Brundle, makes a big scientific breakthrough in teleportation. He decides to test out the device on himself but a housefly slips into the device at the same time, merging them together into one horrible monster. Chaos ensues.
Watch The Fly
17. The Evil Dead
Perhaps the most iconic horror flick around, Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead is a must-watch cult classic. In it, five college students go to a cabin they’ve rented for the weekend (yes, that trope again). They happen upon a mysterious book, which happens to be The Book of the Dead, and unintentionally summon a demonic force that kills them all one-by-one with only one survivor—Ash.
Watch The Evil Dead
18. Evil Dead 2
Ash is back! In Evil Dead 2, Ash and his girlfriend Linda find (yet another) cabin in the woods with a recording of an archaeologist reading from The Book of the Dead.” The recording itself unleashes an evil power that possesses Linda’s body as it plays.
Watch Evil Dead 2
19. Army of Darkness
The third movie in The Evil Dead series is Army of Darkness, in which Ash is transported to 1300 A.D., and enslaved by Lord Arthur. Ash is pointed out as The Chosen One who will retrieve the Necronomicon. Though he only cares about returning home, Ash learns that the only way he can get home is to use the book.
Watch Army of Darkness
20. Veronica
Set in Madrid, Spain in 1991, Veronica is the story of a girl who plays a session of Ouija with friends during a total solar eclipse. She tries to contact recently deceased family members, but the session goes wrong. Veronica starts to feel strange presences around her house and decides they are a threat to her siblings and works to find a solution.
Watch Veronica
21. Killer Klowns from Outer Space
Killer Klowns from Outer Space is a wild carnival-themed movie about aliens. After their crash landing on Earth, the aliens disguise themselves as clowns and capture victims, storing them in cotton-candy cocoons to eat later. Terrifying if you hate clowns, campy fun if you don’t.
Watch Killer Klowns from Outer Space
22. High Tension
In High Tension, a quiet weekend with the girls goes wrong. Friends Alexia and Marie plan a fun weekend at Alexia’s family farmhouse, but the sadistic killer that breaks in and wreaks havoc on the girls’ lives was, in fact, not part of the plan.
Watch High Tension
23. The Strangers
The Strangers features a couple spending some time at an isolated vacation house after a wedding reception. The couple is surprised by violent invaders and has to fight for their lives. (I’m telling you, remote lodgings of any variety are simply a bad idea….)
Watch The Strangers
24. Audition
In retrospect, Audition was kind of a harbinger for dating apps. In the movie, widower Aoyama spends years grieving his dead wife. His filmmaker friend suggests an actress casting session for a fake movie, which Aoyama watches while hidden. Aoyama falls for (and becomes obsessed with) a particularly mysterious actress. Surely nothing could go wrong there.
Watch Audition
25. Trick ‘r Treat
Starring the lovely Anna Paquin, Trick ‘r Treat consists of multiple interwoven stories that all fall on Halloween. There are storylines about a college virgin, prankster teenagers, a woman and her holiday-obsessed spouse, a high school principal with a secret life, and a mean man that meets a mean trick-or-treater.
Watch Trick ‘r Treat
26. The Babadook
A bedtime story can’t hurt anything, right? Not unless it’s a children’s book entitled “Mister Babadook” and you, a single mother, read it to your child only to learn it’s about a monster that hides in the dark of your specific house. Then it might hurt something.
Watch The Babadook
27. Thir13een Ghosts (13 Ghosts)
No, 13 Ghosts isn’t a story about friends in an isolated cabin. It’s about a guy and his family who inherit and enter a glass house that’s a prison to 12 ghosts and might contain a machine that’s designed by the devil (and powered by the dead) to open the Eye of Hell. It should be totally safe. Nothing to worry about here.
Watch Thir13een Ghosts
28. The Conjuring
If the paranormal is more your speed, you’ll probably like The Conjuring. The 2013 movie is about two paranormal investigators working to help a family that’s being threatened by a dark presence in their house.
Watch The Conjuring
29. Creepshow 1 & 2
The Creepshow movie series is inspired by the pulpy EC Comics of the 1950s. In them, fantastic tales of terror from horror masterminds Stephen King and George A. Romero are brought to life.
Watch Creepshow
30. Brain Damage
Eww! In Brain Damage, our protagonist awakens only to find that a gross creature has attached itself to the base of his brain stem. While the creature provides him euphoric happiness, it demands human sacrifices in exchange.
Watch Brain Damage
31. Jaws
Everyone knows this classic. Jaws is about the vicious great white shark that terrifies (and eats) the people on Amity Island. A shark hunter, police chief, and oceanographer work to capture and kill the shark. And with John Williams’ famous score behind it, the movie is an intense wonder.
Watch Jaws