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It’s October, and that means that people all across America — in addition to drinking pumpkin spice lattes and enjoying the foliage – will be marathoning horror movies. With the ever-popular holiday of Halloween rounding out the month, people seem to be drawn to movies that give them the chills and thrills associated with the special day.

Yet, no two film viewers are exactly alike, and this rings true for their film choices for Halloween marathons. Some people want to have fun with a couple of scares on the side, others want to watch those classic horrors that have stood the test of time and some want to go all-in to watch movies that might give them nightmares.

The great thing about the horror genre is that there is something out there for everyone, no matter their desired speed. Whether you’re looking for silly scares, classic chills or true terror, there is sure to be something on this list to satisfy your scare scale.

Silly scares
Are you the kind of person who just wants a heaping plate of fun with a side serving of hearty scares? Then, these movies have been specially selected to fit your appetite!

Beetlejuice (1988)
Say his name three times and total chaos breaks loose! With Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis and Winona Ryder in the lead roles and Michael Keaton as the eccentric bio-exorcist himself, and with energized direction from Tim Burton, “Beetlejuice” is a thrilling ride from start to finish.

After a married couple (Baldwin and Davis) is killed in a car accident, a very peculiar family moves into their home. The couple, having become ghosts, does everything in their power to get the family to leave, including talking to the daughter of the family (Ryder) and the bio-exorcist Beetlejuice.

“Beetlejuice” pulls all the classic Burton stops – strange visuals, inventive ideas and a tough tone without diluting the film’s identity. “Beetlejuice” will have you glued to the screen for its excellent sense of creativity within the goofy, yet spooky world it builds, but it will also have you busting your gut with laughter.

“The Mummy” movies (1999, 2001)
Riveting adventure and off-the-walls comedy mixed in with a few nice scares — what more could a person want? “The Mummy” and “The Mummy Returns” provide this in the form of two action-packed, laughter-inducing films that can still give you a couple of good jolts.

Both written and directed by Stephen Sommers, starring Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz as the leading duo and Arnold Vosloo as the mummy Imhotep, these two films — while not the kind you watch to be spooked — certainly succeed in bringing the viewer a boatload of mindless, yet contagiously entertaining fun that is hard to match.

These two films follow the adventures of the daring, yet sometimes reckless Rick O’Connell (Fraser) and his level-headed Egyptologist partner (and, later, wife) Evelyn Carnahan (Weisz) as they seek to prevent supernatural beings – including the mummy Imhotep – from creating an apocalypse of epic proportions.

Visually interesting despite dated effects, incredibly personable in their approach to their material and with a great sense of scale, these two films are worthy inclusions in any October film lineup.

“Little Shop of Horrors” (1986)
“Feed me!” — says Audrey II — and the viewer watching the film. The 1986 film “Little Shop of Horrors,” adapted from the stage musical of the same name, is an unreservedly silly, yet incredibly human horror-comedy that will emotionally inspire you just as much as it makes you laugh. Levi Stubbs as the infamous talking plant that feeds on blood, Rick Moranis and Ellen Greene bring up this Frank Oz-directed project as a triumph.

Seymour (Moranis) is a young man working at a flower shop on Skid Row looking to win the heart of the beautiful, yet lacking in self-esteem Audrey (Greene). His quest for love accidentally brings him to create a new kind of plant that feeds on blood — a plant that he calls Audrey II. Seymour continues feeding this plant until it becomes too big to handle…and satiate.

This film also features music by composer Alan Menken with lyricist and screenwriter Howard Ashman, crafting an all-encompassing cult classic that one is sure to enjoy.

Megan Thompson | Digital Design Director

Classic chills
Do you want movies that are straight horrors, but don’t want to be completely terrified? These films are sure to give you a good ride without keeping you up at night…for very long, at least.

“Nosferatu” (1922)
Vampires just suck, don’t they? The 1922 silent masterpiece “Nosferatu” directed by silent filmmaker F. W. Murnau does anything but that, however. The camera work and use of shadows are particular highlights of the film, and Max Schreck’s performance as Count Orlok remains iconic in the horror genre a full century after the film’s release.

When Thomas Hutter (Gustav von Wangenheim) is sent by his employer to secure a deal with Count Orlok (Schreck) who wishes to buy some property in Hutter’s town, Hutter finds out that Orlok has certain peculiarities about him. During this time, Hutter’s wife Ellen (Greta Schröder) gets the sense that he could be in great danger.

First-time viewers might find the film quite scary, but it shouldn’t keep them up at night. Even if it scares them, viewers are sure to appreciate the techniques this film uses to make its story as compelling and spooky as possible.

“Frankenstein” (1931)
“It’s alive! It’s alive! It’s alive!” So go the famous words of Dr. Henry Frankenstein in the 1931 James Whale-directed classic “Frankenstein.” Boris Karloff’s performance of the Monster is one of the most iconic performances in any horror film — one that has refused to lose its luster or its power over the course of nearly a century.

Dr. Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) is a mad doctor who hopes to find a way to bring life to the dead. The Doctor succeeds, but after his assistant brings the wrong brain for use in the experiment, the revived Monster is violent and terrorizes nearby villagers, creating widespread panic.

Impressive effects, visually interesting camera work and a great performance from Clive provide just the right film for a horror fan — for a fan of film in general, really — to enjoy.

“Alien” (1979)
This film sometimes goes far enough to make your heart burst out of your chest. Or could it be an alien?

Ridley Scott’s “Alien”, with leading lady Sigourney Weaver as the face of the film, perfectly blends immersive science-fiction with nerve-racking suspense and heart-pumping horror.

Captain Ripley (Weaver) is among a team of scientists aboard a spaceship that has found a signal from an undiscovered place. When they investigate, they find evidence of life, but upon return to the spaceship, they realize that they might have brought something very dangerous back onboard with them.

The design of the xenomorph and the effects overall remain impressive today, and the cinematography and set design aid immensely in creating a world that a viewer is inevitably going to get sucked into.

True terror
You want no-holds-barred, 100% grade-A pasteurized terror, right? These films might just be what you’re looking for.

“Tetsuo: The Iron Man” (1989)
Profoundly strange, surreal at times, and downright terrifying, Shinya Tsukamoto’s 1989 black-and-white body horror “Tetsuo: The Iron Man” is an extremely compelling and undeniably great look at the possibilities of low-budget horror.

A salaryman (Tomorô Taguchi) and a metal fetishist (Tsukamoto) take center stage in this incredibly strange film. The fetishist seeks to bring people under his control by turning their flesh into metal, and when the salaryman is attacked by a woman under the control of the fetishist, the salaryman begins to undergo a gruesome transformation into a monster that is half-man and half-metal.

Filled with intense sequences that will make your head spin, shocking visuals that will shake you to your core and interesting performances from actors Taguchi and Tsukamoto, those brave enough to watch it are in for a ride they won’t soon forget.

“The Shining” (1980)
One of the seminal works of the psychological horror subgenre of film, 1980’s “The Shining” is psychologically potent and visually disturbing and builds up suspense leading into a famously riveting climax.

Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) takes a job as a winter caretaker at a hotel in the Rocky Mountains, bringing his wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and son Danny (Danny Lloyd) to live with him in the deserted hotel. Slowly, but surely, Jack begins to lose his mind doing his job, while Danny finds out about an interesting power he has.

Iconic lead performances from Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, and Danny Lloyd buoyed by incredible direction by famed filmmaker Stanley Kubrick and his classic cinematography create a film that is engaging, immersive and, of course, absolutely terrifying.

“Eraserhead” (1977)
“Eraserhead” is the debut feature film of surrealist filmmaker David Lynch, and this film is proof that he had his craft down to a science right from the get-go.

This pervasively surreal, incredibly dreamlike and undoubtedly terrifying film follows a fatalistic everyman named Henry (Jack Nance), who finds out he is the father of a child. He and his girlfriend-turned-wife Mary X (Charlotte Stewart) take care of their terribly deformed baby, but his fear of parenthood and sexual desires for the beautiful girl across the hall (Judith Roberts) begin to get to him, as the viewer sees through abstract sequences involving a lady in his radiator (Laurel Near).

“Eraserhead,” though incredibly offputting and difficult to follow on first watch, is essential Lynch viewing, and is essential horror viewing.

Published on October 10, 2022 at 12:11 am