When it comes to Halloween, everyone is getting together to go trick-or-treating, visit a pumpkin patch, and of course, watch scary movies. If it’s hard for you to join the scary movie watch party, we’ve got some titles that won’t keep you up night.
Don’t worry, none of these films are too gory, too graphic or too disturbing. They have just the right amount of terror that will allow you to get into the Halloween spirit and enjoy films’ story. And our hope is that the movies will pique your interest in scary movies just a little bit more so that you eventually become a fan of the genre.
In the meantime, here’s your starting line.
“Poltergeist” (1982)
In Tobe Hooper’s Steven Spielberg-produced horror-fantasy, an insidious spirit creeps its way into the home of the Freelings. The paranormal activity slowly but steadily becomes stronger until it captures their youngest daughter, Carol Anne. The family then enlists a spiritual medium to help rescue their daughter from the ghost’s lair.
While “Poltergeist” is a supernatural horror classic that has a creepy clown and some hair-raising scenes, its family-centered themes make it a perfect starter horror flick.
— Raquel Harris
Where to watch: Apple TV+, HBO Max, WatchTCM
“Jaws” (1975)
Steven Spielberg has made many masterpieces. “Jaws” was probably his first.
A list like this cannot accommodate all the compliments that can and should be paid to “Jaws,” a movie that plays as well as a shark can swim. Here, Spielberg demonstrates his unique ability to create pure cinematic wonder and unrelenting tension without one overshadowing the other. The ocean-set sequences in “Jaws” (essentially, the latter half of the film) create a perfectly calibrated thrill ride for the viewer, with the film coming to a crescendo that lasts for nearly an hour.
There’s a lot to like in “Jaws” for even the most horror-averse audiences. The central trio of Brody (Roy Scheider), Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) and Quint (Robert Shaw) are all fully realized human beings with struggles, journeys and flaws, and the film never loses sight of their stories at its center. At the same time, this commitment to characterization makes the terror gripping Amity Island feel all the more real. Every shark sequence is gripping and visceral, regardless of whatever creature malfunctions were infamously faced on set. “Jaws” will not be too much for a new horror viewer to handle, but it may make them want to avoid getting in the water for a spell.
— Casey Loving
Where to watch: Netflix
“Gremlins” (1984)
Another ’80s goodie that Steven Spielberg produced was the horror-comedy. The film follows a gadget salesman who gifts his son with a unique monster-like mogwai critter. The catch is, it can’t be exposed to bright light, water or be fed after midnight. None of the rules are followed, which leads to a swarm of gremlins terrorizing the town.
It makes the list because even while it’s spooky, it will also give you some laughs while watching.
Where to watch: HBO Max, Apple TV+
— Raquel Harris
“Scream” (1996)
Nearly 20 years after “Halloween” perfected the slasher genre, another horror movie came along to revive it — this time, with a comic bent. Wes Craven’s “Scream,” written by Kevin Williamson, features a winning combination of humor and horror. It’s a movie that riffs on the slasher genre’s most iconic tropes (turn around!) without fully sacrificing the ability to execute them believably and frighteningly. In fact, “Scream” makes a strong case for being the finest horror film of all time, even if it’s certainly not the scariest.
Ghostface is a much more human threat than someone like Michael Myers or Freddie Krueger (another Craven creation). He’s clumsy, a poor planner, more of a murderous dolt than a killing machine. At the same time, Craven and Williamson know how to pivot the character’s antics from humorous to shiver-inducing without missing a beat. The opening sequence with Drew Barrymore, while iconic, manages to be genuinely upsetting and horrific while still introducing audiences to the meta, humorous tone that defined this franchise.
If you can make it through this scene unscarred (or at least minimally scarred), you will have no trouble surviving the rest of “Scream,” and the franchise at large. This is one of the best starting points you will find in horror, and it revolutionized an entire subgenre of horror-comedies that would prove more friendly to the scare averse in the decades to come. Modern movies like Christopher Landon’s “Happy Death Day” and “Ready or Not” by the Radio Silence duo (who would later direct the fifth and sixth “Scream” movies) owe a lot to this Wes Craven masterpiece — and they’re all a good place to start if you’re just dipping your toe into the genre.
— Casey Loving
Where to watch: Kanopy, Hoopla, Hulu, Fubo TV
“The Sixth Sense” (1999)
Arguably M. Night Shyamalan’s most famous film, and a classic of all classics, as it contains one of the most quoted lines in all movie history: “I see dead people.” “The Sixth Sense,” which follows a child psychologist who examines a child who claims to be able to see and talk to the dead, became one of the most successful supernatural thrillers of all time and set Shyamalan up to be one of the most sought-after filmmakers in Hollywood.
— Raquel Harris
Where to watch: Hulu, Fubo TV, Disney+, HBO Max, YouTube TV
“The Invisible Man” (1933)
Those just starting out as horror movie watchers should consider going back to the Universal Monsters canon of the early-to-mid 1900s. These films — “Dracula,” “Frankenstein,” “The Wolf Man,” “The Mummy,” “Creature from the Black Lagoon,” all their spin-offs and more — have a lot to love in them, with high production value and a wide variety of iconic moments and performances. They are also, by today’s standards, not the scariest movies you are going to find out there.
James Whale’s “The Invisible Man” is a perfect example of this. The movie swings between being creepy and (intentionally) silly, with the highly antic invisible man devolving from aggressive prankster to murderous fiend. Written by R. C. Sherriff, the film adapts H. G. Wells’ story of the same name, bringing the book to life in quite the spectacular fashion. To this day, the unveiling of the invisible man remains an astonishing bit of movie magic, as the heavily-covered, bandage-clad main character disrobes himself to reveal nothing but empty space.
If you’re considering more movies from before horror as we know it really took off, you should consider watching George A. Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead.” It’s a film decidedly scarier than something like “The Invisible Man” without becoming too much for a novice horror audience to handle. It’s also one of the most effective pieces of horror storytelling you will find in film.
— Casey Loving
Where to watch: Prime Video, IndieFlix,
“Ghostbusters” (1984)
Another ultimate classic is Ivan Reitman’s “Ghostbusters.” This flick has some scary moments, but overall it’s just a fun watch with family and friends. It’s centered on three parapsychology professors who start up a ghost removal service in New York City after their lose their comfortable university jobs.
Where to watch: Fubo TV, YouTube TV, NBC
“Halloween” (1978)
Horror is a genre of movements, with each decade bringing new flashpoint films that will forever alter the scary movies in their week. 1978’s “Halloween” represents this idea better than most, a totemic film that would forever alter the slasher genre.
“Halloween” wasn’t the first slasher, and it certainly pays homage to the movies that came before: “Black Christmas,” “Psycho,” “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” and a slew of giallo films, to name a few. Yet John Carpenter’s “Halloween” (written by Carpenter and Debra Hill) is a perfect engine of the slasher genre. The text is rich, the atmosphere is undeniable and the kills are, indeed, scary. The film almost marked the passing of the Scream Queen mantle from mother to daughter, as Jamie Lee Curtis (the child of “Psycho’s” Janet Leigh) delivered her first iconic performance as Laurie Strode.
“Halloween” certainly remains a chilling movie to this day, and it would be a lie to make some claim of it being “too old to be scary.” I must admit to checking the back seat of my car for a Michael Myers wannabe every autumn after giving this one another watch. Still, Carpenter’s iconic ‘70s slasher is a great entry point for anyone looking to get into the horror genre and willing to get just a little bit scared. It’s a brilliant movie, but a much easier sit for horror novices than something like the original “Texas Chain Saw” (another masterpiece, by the way).
— Casey Loving
Where to watch: Fubo TV, Philo, Apple TV+, AMC+, Shudder, Cultpix,
