31 Horror Movies For Your Halloween Countdown

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, it’s October, and that means time for Halloween and horror movies.

Every year, I wake up eagerly on October 1st with a twinkle in my eye. I run over to my movie collection and try to decide what dark film will be the first one to lead me into my countdown to all hallows eve. It’s a long-held tradition that many horror buffs abide bide, most even do it unwittingly, not knowing that hundreds and thousands of their equals do the same thing.

So, to help you find some films for your Halloween advent calendar, we have put out heads together and come up with a list of our favourite frightening films.

Take a look and see if you know them all. Let us know which movies you love watching this time of year.

The Strangers (2008) – directed by Bryan Bertino

A young couple staying in an isolated vacation home are terrorized by three unknown assailants. (86 mins.)

IMDB rating 6.2/10

House of 1000 Corpses (2003) – directed by Rob Zombie

Two young couples traveling across the backwoods of Texas searching for urban legends of murder end up as prisoners of a bizarre and sadistic backwater family of serial killers. (89 mins.)

IMDB rating 6/10

The Shining (1980) – directed by Stanley Kubrick

A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where an evil and spiritual presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from the past and of the future. (146 mins.)

IMDB rating 8.4/10

The Babadook (2014) – directed by Jennifer Kent

A widowed mother, plagued by the violent death of her husband, battles with her son’s fear of a monster lurking in the house, but soon discovers a sinister presence all around her. (93 mins.)

IMDB rating 6.8/10

Funny Games (1997) – directed by Michael Haneke

Two violent young men take a mother, father, and son hostage in their vacation cabin and force them to play sadistic “games” with one another for their own amusement. (108 mins.)

IMDB rating 7.6/10

Re-Animator (1985) – directed by Stuart Gordon

A dedicated student at a medical college and his girlfriend become involved in bizarre experiments centering around the re-animation of dead tissue when an odd new student arrives on campus. (105 mins.)

IMDB rating 7.2/10

Paranormal Activity (2007) – directed by Oren Peli

After moving into a suburban home, a couple becomes increasingly disturbed by a nightly demonic presence. (86 mins.)

IMDB rating 6.3/10

Hocus Pocus (1993) – directed by Kenny Ortega

After three centuries, three witch sisters are resurrected in Salem, Massachusetts on Halloween night, and it is up to two teenagers, a young girl, and an immortal cat to put an end to their reign of terror once and for all. (96 mins.)

IMDB rating 6.7/10

Bride of Frankenstein (1935) – directed by James Whale

Mary Shelley reveals the main characters of her novel survived: Dr. Frankenstein, goaded by an even madder scientist, builds his monster a mate. (75 mins.)

IMDB rating 7.9/10

The Monster Squad (1987) – directed by Fred Dekker

A young group of monster fanatics attempt to save their hometown from Count Dracula and his monsters. (82 mins.)

IMDB rating 7.2/10

Let the Right One In (2008) – directed by Tomas Alfredson

Oskar, an overlooked and bullied boy, finds love and revenge through Eli, a beautiful but peculiar girl. (115 mins.)

IMDB rating 7.9/10

Dawn of the Dead (1978) – directed by George A. Romero

Following an ever-growing epidemic of zombies that have risen from the dead, two Philadelphia S.W.A.T. team members, a traffic reporter, and his television executive girlfriend seek refuge in a secluded shopping mall. (127 mins.)

IMDB rating 8/10

The Thing (1982) – directed by John Carpenter

A research facility in Antarctica comes across an alien force that can become anything it touches with 100% accuracy. The members must now find out who’s human and who’s not before it’s too late. (109 mins.)

IMDB rating 8.2/10

Session 9 (2001) – directed by Brad Anderson

Tensions rise within an asbestos cleaning crew as they work in an abandoned mental hospital with a horrific past that seems to be coming back. (100 mins.)

IMDB rating 6.5/10

Night of the Living Dead (1968) – directed by George A. Romero

There is panic throughout the nation as the dead suddenly come back to life. The film follows a group of characters who barricade themselves in an old farmhouse in an attempt to remain safe from these flesh eating monsters. (96 mins.)

IMDB rating 7.9/10

[Rec] (2007) – directed by Jaume Balagueró

A television reporter and cameraman follow emergency workers into a dark apartment building and are quickly locked inside with something terrifying. (78 mins.)

IMDB rating 7.5/10

The Exorcist (1973) – directed by William Friedkin

When a girl is possessed by a mysterious entity, her mother seeks the help of two priests to save her daughter. (122 mins.)

IMDB rating 8/10

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) – directed by Tobe Hooper

Two siblings visit their grandfather’s grave in Texas along with three of their friends and are attacked by a family of cannibalistic psychopaths. (83 mins.)

IMDB rating 7.5/10

Rosemary’s Baby (1968) – directed by Roman Polanski

A young couple moves in to an apartment only to be surrounded by peculiar neighbors and occurrences. When the wife becomes mysteriously pregnant, paranoia over the safety of her unborn child begins to control her life. (137 mins.)

IMDB rating 8/10

Trick ‘r Treat (2007) – directed by Michael Dougherty

Five interwoven stories that occur on Halloween: An everyday high school principal has a secret life as a serial killer; a college virgin might have just met the guy for her; a group of teenagers pull a mean prank; a woman who loathes the night has to contend with her holiday-obsessed husband; and a mean old man meets his match with a demonic, supernatural trick-or-treater. (82 mins.)

IMDB rating 6.8/10

Pet Sematary (1989) – directed by Mary Lambert

Behind a young family’s home in Maine is a terrible secret that holds the power of life after death. When tragedy strikes, the threat of that power soon becomes undeniable. (103 mins.)

IMDB rating 6.6/10

The Witch (2015) – directed by Robert Eggers

A family in 1630s New England is torn apart by the forces of witchcraft, black magic and possession. (92 mins.)

IMDB rating 6.8/10

The Descent (2005) – directed by Neil Marshall

A caving expedition goes horribly wrong, as the explorers become trapped and ultimately pursued by a strange breed of predators. (99 mins.)

IMDB rating 7.2/10

Kill List (2011) – directed by Ben Wheatley

Nearly a year after a botched job, a hitman takes a new assignment with the promise of a big payoff for three killings. What starts off as an easy task soon unravels, sending the killer into the heart of darkness. (95 mins.)

IMDB rating 6.4/10

They Live (1988) – directed by John Carpenter

A drifter discovers a pair of sunglasses that allow him to wake up to the fact that aliens have taken over the Earth. (94 mins.)

IMDB rating 7.3/10

Carrie (1976) – directed by Brian De Palma

Carrie White, a shy, friendless teenage girl who is sheltered by her domineering, religious mother, unleashes her telekinetic powers after being humiliated by her classmates at her senior prom. (98 mins.)

IMDB rating 7.4/10

The Invitation (2015) – directed by Karyn Kusama

While attending a dinner party at his former home, a man thinks his ex-wife and her new husband have sinister intentions for their guests. (100 mins.)

IMDB rating 6.7/10

Black Christmas (1974) – directed by Bob Clark

During their Christmas break, a group of sorority girls are stalked by a stranger. (98 mins.)

IMDB rating 7.2/10

The Omen (1976) – directed by Richard Donner

Mysterious deaths surround an American ambassador. Could the child that he is raising actually be the Antichrist? The Devil’s own son? (111 mins.)

IMDB rating 7.6/10

Housebound (2014) – directed by Gerard Johnstone

A young woman is forced to return to her childhood home after being placed under house arrest, where she suspects that something evil may be lurking. (107 mins.)

IMDB rating 6.8/10

Halloween (1978) – directed by John Carpenter

Fifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween night 1963, Michael Myers escapes from a mental hospital and returns to the small town of Haddonfield to kill again. (91 mins.)

IMDB rating 7.8/10

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *