The 18 best Halloween movies on Netflix
‘Friday the 13th’; ‘Scream VI’; ‘The Ring’Credit: Paramount; Philippe Bossé/Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Media Group; DreamworksReady for some scares this October? Netflix has tricks and treats for everyone.
We’re not saying there oughta be a law, but there is an unofficial requirement that you scare yourself silly at least a few times during the month of October. From classics like Psycho and The Sixth Sense to newer fright-fests like Ready or Not and The Black Phone, you’ll find something to love on Netflix during the spookiest season. And if you’re on the hunt for some kid-friendly fare, that’s here too, including a seasonally appropriate Adam Sandler flick.
You know what? With that much pulse-pounding, fight-or-flight-revving goodness, maybe there should be a law. These are the best Halloween movies streaming on Netflix.
01 of 18
A Babysitter’s Guide to Monster Hunting (2020)
‘A Babysitter’s Guide to Monster Hunting’Credit: Justina Mintz/Netflix
When her young charge is abducted on Halloween, a science-minded babysitter (Tamara Smart) and her reluctant guide (Oona Laurence) face down the Boogeyman (Tom Felton) and his hench-creatures to save him. “The title describes it all,” director Rachel Talalay told EW. “We’re living in the zone of trying to be both scary and funny.”
Director: Rachel Talalay
Cast: Tamara Smart, Oona Laurence, Tom Felton, Ian Ho, Troy Leigh-Anne Johnson
02 of 18
The Babysitter (2017)
Samara Weaving in ‘The Babysitter’Credit: Netflix
We’re not saying Samara Weaving’s the MVP of Halloween horror at Netflix… but this horror-comedy is the first of her three appearances on this list. Weaving stars as the titular babysitter, whose beauty leaves Cole (Judah Lewis), the preteen in her care, tongue-tied. Alas, Bee’s plans for Cole include a human sacrifice and a Satanic cult. Director McG enjoyed playing in this world so much that he followed it up with a sequel, 2020’s The Babysitter: Killer Queen. “I have always been such a fan of magical realism. With all of my films, you can see that I like to play with heightened reality,” McG told EW. “It’s my way to make it safe for viewers to buckle up and enjoy the ride that I am taking them on.”
Director: McG
Cast: Judah Lewis, Samara Weaving, Bella Thorne, Robbie Amell, Hana Mae Lee
03 of 18
The Black Phone (2022)
Ethan Hawke in ‘The Black Phone’Credit: Universal Studios
Scott Derrickson’s brutal kidnapped-kid yarn could’ve earned its spot on the strength of Ethan Hawke’s creepy masks alone, but the scuzzy 1978 setting and unsettling supernatural elements elevate the film to Halloween horror greatness. When 13-year-old Finney Blake (Mason Thames) is tossed into a cellar by “the Grabber” (Hawke), his only connection to the outside world is a broken pay phone that accepts calls exclusively from the serial abductor’s murdered victims. With a setup like that, you’ll understand why EW called its high-voltage scares “genuine nightmare fodder.”
Director: Scott Derrickson
Cast: Ethan Hawke, Madeleine McGraw, Jeremy Davies, James Ransone
04 of 18
Crawl (2019)
Kaya Scodelario in ‘Crawl’Credit: Sergej Radovic/Paramount
What if Jaws but alligator? That’s the question EW posed about Crawl, a claustrophobic horror film that finds a father and daughter (Barry Pepper and Kaya Scodelario) trying to escape the flooded crawl space of their home when a hurricane hits and the gators come out to play. Not only does this environmental disaster/big-reptile mashup ratchet up the tension over its 87-minute runtime, but it’s winkingly aware of its B-movie status.
Director: Alexandre Aja
Cast: Kaya Scodelario, Barry Pepper
05 of 18
Crimson Peak (2015)
Tom Hiddleston and Mia Wasikowska in ‘Crimson Peak’Credit: Universal
Nobody does sumptuous chills like Guillermo del Toro, and this gothic love story is no exception. When wealthy writer Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska) marries Sir Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston) and moves with him to his stately mansion, she gets more than she bargained for — namely his sister (Jessica Chastain), a pack of ghosts, and too many long-buried secrets. Del Toro told EW that he wanted the house to feel like a twisted fairy tale castle. “The house is really a rotting representation of the family that has inhabited it,” he said. “The house basically is a sinister, sinister trap.”
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Cast: Mia Wasikowska, Tom Hiddleston, Jessica Chastain, Charlie Hunnam, Jim Beaver, Doug Jones
06 of 18
The Fear Street franchise (2021–2025)
Ted Sutherland and Sadie Sink in ‘Fear Street Part 2: 1978’Credit: Netflix
The street at the heart of this splatter-happy adaptation of R.L. Stine’s best-selling series is located in Shadyside, Ohio. And if you’re a fan of the slasher genre, you can probably guess that a town with such a bucolic name has seen countless atrocities over the years.
The films leap from 1994 to 1978 to 1666 as high schooler Deena (Kiana Madeira) and her friends battle a malevolent witch from the town’s past to save her girlfriend, Sam (Olivia Scott Welch). “Especially in genre films, there are so many tropes that have existed in the past where queer characters wouldn’t even live past the first 10 pages of a script,” Madeira told EW. “So to have this trilogy that’s anchored in a queer love story… it’s just so groundbreaking.” The trilogy expanded with a fourth film in 2025, Fear Street: Prom Queen.
Director: Leigh Janiak, Matt Palmer
Cast: Kiana Madeira, Olivia Scott Welch, Gillian Jacobs, Sadie Sink, Maya Hawke
07 of 18
Friday the 13th (1980)
Betsy Palmer in ‘Friday the 13th’Credit: Paramount/courtesy Everett
Despite its summertime sleepaway camp vibes, Friday the 13th deserves a spot on your autumnal streaming roster. When a group of camp counselors (or “nubile child-care workers,” as a 1997 EW retrospective dubbed them) attempt to reopen Camp Crystal Lake, they live to regret that decision, if only briefly.
Such is the franchise’s staying power that Peacock and A24 have rolled out the prequel series Crystal Lake, starring Linda Cardellini as Jason’s mother, Pam Voorhees. “As a fan,” showrunner Brad Caleb Kane told EW, “I’m trying to give fans — and particularly grown-up fans — the show that they would wanna see now.”
Director: Sean S. Cunningham
Cast: Betsy Palmer, Adrienne King, Harry Crosby, Laurie Bartram, Mark Nelson, Jeannine Taylor, Robbi Morgan, Kevin Bacon
08 of 18
Halloween Ends (2022)
Jamie Lee Curtis in ‘Halloween Ends’Credit: Universal Studios
You can’t have a list of Halloween movies without a Halloween movie. This next-gen entry may not be the strongest of the franchise’s offerings — it’s a little too light on OG scream queen Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) and OG man-in-the-Captain-Kirk-mask Michael Myers — but you’ve gotta hand it to ol’ Mike. Even in a film that leans more psychodrama than slasher, he’s still a bloody good time.
Director: David Gordon Green
Cast: Jamie Lee Curtis, Andi Matichak, Rohan Campbell
09 of 18
Hubie Halloween (2020)
Adam Sandler in ‘Hubie Halloween’Credit: Scott Yamano/NETFLIX
This Adam Sandler film has more cast than plot, but given the ensemble — which includes Kevin James, Julie Bowen, Maya Rudolph, Shaquille O’Neal, Rob Schneider, Ray Liotta, June Squibb, Steve Buscemi, Michael Chiklis, and Kenan Thompson — that may be more than enough for parents in search of some family-friendly seasonal scares. Sandler stars as a downtrodden deli worker who steps up to protect his fellow Salem residents from a Halloween-night kidnapping spree.
Director: Steven Brill
Cast: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Julie Bowen, Maya Rudolph, Shaquille O’Neal, Rob Schneider, Ray Liotta, June Squibb
10 of 18
Incantation (2022)
‘Incantation’Credit: Netflix
Fans of found-footage horror will want to queue up this unsettling Taiwanese film, which finds Li Ronan (Hsuan-yen Tsai) reuniting with her young daughter (Sin-Ting Huang) after spending time in psychiatric care, only for the girl to be afflicted by a curse from a malevolent demon. As Ronan and the girl’s former foster home manager (Ying-Hsuan Kao) scramble to save the child, twisty secrets emerge and the viewer is pulled into the fourth-wall-breaking action. No wonder Incantation became Taiwan’s highest-grossing horror film.
Director: Kevin Ko
Cast: Hsuan-yen Tsai, Sin-Ting Huang, Ying-Hsuan Kao, Sean Lin
11 of 18
Knock at the Cabin (2023)
Dave Bautista, Abby Quinn, and Nikki Amuka-Bird in ‘Knock at the Cabin’Credit: Universal Studios
M. Night Shyamalan directed this apocalyptic thriller based on Paul G. Tremblay’s horror novel The Cabin at the End of the World. Jonathan Groff and Ben Aldridge star as husbands vacationing with their daughter (Kristen Cui), and the promised knock arrives courtesy of Leonard (Dave Bautista) and his band of followers, who are there to demand an unthinkable sacrifice. EW called the film intriguing, if underbaked, but praised the earnest, affecting performances. This is why you always vacation at the beach, people.
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Cast: Jonathan Groff, Ben Aldridge, Dave Bautista, Rupert Grint, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Abby Quinn, Kristen Cui
12 of 18
Psycho (1960)
Janet Leigh in ‘Psycho’Credit: Paramount Pictures/Archive Photos/Getty
“Iconic” gets thrown around a lot these days, but Alfred Hitchcock’s classic thriller more than earns the distinction. “It has become,” EW’s critic wrote in 2012, “the rare movie in which every image and detail and motif is now, more or less, iconic. Every moment in the movie is a piece of mythological Americana.” Marion (Janet Leigh) checked into the Bates Motel, stepped into the shower, and made movie history.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, John Gavin, Martin Balsam
13 of 18
Ready or Not (2019)
Samara Weaving in ‘Ready or Not’Credit: Eric Zachanowich/Fox Searchlight
Don’t fill up on Halloween candy. You’ll want to save a little room in your stomach for the rich in this satirical horror-comedy that EW praised for its trope-friendly, low-budget high-camp. Samara Weaving charms and fights her way through the film as a newlywed who learns that her new husband’s wealthy family is far worse than the “moderately f---ed up” elites she initially believed them to be. And when those family members are played by Andie MacDowell, Adam Brody, Henry Czerny, Melanie Scrofano, and Kristian Bruun, you know you’re in for a wild honeymoon.
Directors: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett
Cast: Samara Weaving, Mark O’Brien, Andie MacDowell, Adam Brody, Henry Czerny, Melanie Scrofano, Kristian Bruun
14 of 18
The Ring (2002)
Daveigh Chase in ‘The Ring’Credit: DreamWorks
Sure, a killer videotape isn’t as much of a threat today as it was a quarter of a century ago, but little girls with their faces obscured by long, snarled black hair are no less terrifying with the passage of time. This remake of the Japanese horror hit Ringu stars Naomi Watts as a Seattle reporter whose 8-year-old son (David Dorfman) watches a cursed videotape that marks him for death in seven days. You’ll never look at your TV screen the same way again, and hey, if you stumble across a mysterious old videotape while you’re out thrifting this month, maybe leave it where it is.
Director: Gore Verbinski
Cast: Naomi Watts, Martin Henderson, David Dorfman, Brian Cox
15 of 18
Scream VI (2023)
Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega in ‘Scream VI’Credit: Paramount Pictures
EW gave the sixth installment of the Scream series a C+, but that won’t (and, frankly, shouldn’t) deter fans of the franchise who show up for all the bloody, self-aware fun. After surviving the latest Woodsboro massacre (seriously, why do people still live there?), sisters Tara (Jenna Ortega) and Sam (Melissa Barrera) move to New York for a fresh start. Unfortunately for them, more than just their mail ends up getting forwarded. “What kind of bad thing could happen in the city? Surely Ghostface won’t show up,” codirector Tyler Gillett teased to EW. “And then Ghostface shows up!”
Directors: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett
Cast: Jenna Ortega, Melissa Barrera, Hayden Panettiere, Mason Gooding, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Courteney Cox, Samara Weaving
16 of 18
The Sixth Sense (1999)
Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osment in ‘The Sixth Sense’Credit: Everett
It had the twist no one saw coming, and it catapulted M. Night Shyamalan to auteur fame. The story of a child psychologist (Bruce Willis) and his haunted (literally) young patient who sees dead people (Haley Joel Osment) had moviegoers running back to the theater to watch for clues they missed the first time around. A quarter century after the film’s release, Osment told EW that despite the film’s heavy themes, coming to set was a positive experience. “It’s kind of like how people really enjoy Halloween,” he said. “It’s got that freaky, spooky vibe, but it can be a fun thing.”
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Cast: Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment, Toni Collette, Olivia Williams
17 of 18
Slice (2018)
Chance the Rapper in ‘Slice’Credit: Danielle Alston/A24
Forty thousand ghosts, a werewolf, and a pizza place? Trust A24 to order a goofy, gory, outsized premise and serve it piping hot. Zazie Beetz, who stars alongside Chance the Rapper in his feature film debut, told EW the comedy/horror hybrid is a “surreal kind of fairy tale” that finds the residents of a deeply haunted town banding together when several Perfect Pizza delivery drivers are murdered on the job.
Director: Austin Vesely
Cast: Zazie Beetz, Chance the Rapper, Joe Keery, Chris Parnell, Hannibal Buress, Paul Scheer
18 of 18
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Gunnar Hansen in ‘The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’Credit: Courtesy Everett
A silent man wearing a mask of human skin and a slaughterhouse apron is terrifying enough, but add the relentless buzz of the chainsaw in his hands and you’ve just made splatter-horror history. While an EW retrospective describes Tobe Hooper’s meat-hook-heavy film as relatively restrained, it also lauds The Texas Chain Saw Massacre for sustaining the pervasive sense of dread lurking behind all the gore.
Director: Tobe Hooper
Cast: Marilyn Burns, Paul A. Partain, Edwin Neal, Jim Siedow, Gunnar Hansen
Source: Entertainment
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