The Best Movies to Stream for Halloween 2025

It's that time of the year again when the ghouls and the goblins come out to sit on the couch and binge-watch their favorite scary movies. That’s right — it’s Halloween time.

As we head deeper into this streaming era, we’re aware of how daunting it can be to find a good movie, regardless of the genre or time of year. Then you add in the fact that there are 2,000 streaming services — slight exaggeration — and by the time you actually find a movie, your food is cold and Halloween is over. Probably.

So, in order to save y’all time this spooky season, we’ve compiled the best movies for Halloween 2025.

Get Out (2017) - HBOMax

A man with tears in his eyes, wearing a gray shirt, looks shocked. The background is dimly lit with curtains and a lamp.

Courtesy of HBO Max

Director: Jordan Peele

Cast: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Catherine Keener

Rating: R

Runtime: 1hr 44m

Rotten Tomatoes: 98% Critics, 86% Audience

Jordan Peele’s Get Out isn’t just an amazing horror film, it’s an amazing film period. What starts as a weekend getaway for Black photographer Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) to meet his white girlfriend’s parents quickly turns supernaturally freaky as more and more about the Armitage family and their history comes to life.

Wholly original and totally chilling, Get Out functions as both a psychological thriller and a blistering satirical commentary on race. With sharp writing and great performances, the movie is all the more relevant eight years after it’s initial release.

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It’s What’s Inside (Netflix) — 2024

A group of friends freaking out after swapping bodies and minds.

Courtesy of Netflix

Director: Greg Jardin

Cast: Reina Hardesty, Hailee Keanna Lautenbach, Madison Davenport, Gavin Leatherwood, James Morosini

Genre: Horror, Thriller, Science Fiction, Suspense, Mystery

Rating: R

Runtime: 1hr 43m

Rotten Tomatoes: 79%

It’s What’s Inside arrived on Netflix in 2024 and easily became one of my sleeper favs of that year. This sci-fi psychological thriller follows a group of college friends as they reunite for pre-wedding shenanigans. But what began as a walk down memory lane quickly devolves into a nightmare after the friends begin fiddling with the contents of a mysterious briefcase. If you’re looking for a movie that leaves you with more questions than answers, It’s What’s Inside will get you right this spooky season.

Watch on netflix

It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown (1966) - AppleTV+

Charlie Brown and his friends celebrate another spooky Halloween season with dance and candy.

Courtesy of Apple.

Director: Bill Melendez

Cast: Peter Robbins, Christopher Shea, Sally Dryer

Rating: G

Runtime: 25m

Rotten Tomatoes: 90% Critics, 80% Audience

AppleTV+ has the rights to Snoopy and the rest of the Peanuts gang, which means a few times out of the year, you’re likely to want to stream some Charlie Brown for the holidays. Of course, when it comes to animated family holiday specials, It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown is one of the best, featuring offbeat child voice acting and stylish World War I flying ace segments.

From Charlie Brown’s costume mishaps (and rock-filled Trick-or-Treating trip) to Linus’s optimism and then hopelessness about not having found the most sincere pumpkin patch to see the Great Pumpkin himself, this is one-of-a-kind holiday viewing. And clocking in at just 25 minutes, it’s a great palette cleanser after one of this list’s more frightening movies.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) - Netflix

Director: Tobe Hooper

Cast: Marilyn Burns, Gunner Hansen, Allen Danziger

Rating: R

Runtime: 1hr 23m

Rotten Tomatoes: 84% Critics, 82% Audience

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre may have been made in 1974, but it is still scary enough to go toe-to-toe with pretty much any horror movie out there. The title tells you pretty much everything you need to know about this one, but that doesn’t make the way it unfolds any less shocking. As its teenage characters are hunted by the masked, chainsaw-wielding Leatherface, the tension is at an all-time high. What makes it so frightening is just how senselessly plausible it all feels. It’s sick, it’s twisted, it’s everything the title promises and so much more.

Watch on netflix

Evil Dead 2 (1987) - Amazon Prime

A tense scene with four people, including a man holding an axe. They appear frightened and are covered in blood, suggesting a horror setting.

Courtesy of Prime Video

Director: Sam Raimi

Cast: Bruce Campbell, Sarah Berry, Dan Hicks

Rating: R

Runtime: 1hr 25m

Rotten Tomatoes: 88% Critics, 89% Audience

Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead trilogy is full of fun, practical effects and plenty of gore, but if we had to single out one as the best of the bunch, we’d have to lean towards Evil Dead 2. Building upon so much of what made the first Evil Dead great, this sequel-slash-reimagining features Ash (Bruce Campbell) battling demons and even his girlfriend Linda when an audiotape reading of the Book of the Dead gets played in their remote cabin getaway.What makes Evil Dead 2 so much fun is how iconic so many of its thrills and laughs are. From Linda’s disembodied head terrorizing Ash to his disembodied hand and trusty chainsaw, it’s no wonder the movies became a cult franchise.

The Conjuring (2013) - HBOMax

The family in a scary movie looking shocked at a demon possessing another host.

Courtesy of TMDB

Director: James Wan

Cast: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Lili Taylor

Rating: R

Runtime: 1hr 51m

Rotten Tomatoes: 86% Critics, 83% Audience

From the Saw franchise to Insidious, James Wan is a director who consistently nails horror movies. Perhaps none of his series illustrate this as well as 2013’s The Conjuring, which is purportedly based on the real-life case files of Ed and Lorraine Warren.

Starring Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, this horror movie about a demonic presence at a farmhouse showcases some truly original jump scares. From the spine-chilling ghost clap to its expertly terrifying camerawork, The Conjuring is a perfect scary movie to watch with the lights off.

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Donnie Darko (Hulu) — 2001

A boy, a girl, and a man named Frank dressed up in a rabbit suit watch a movie together.

Courtesy of AMBI Group

Director: Richard Kelly

Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Drew Barrymore, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Seth Rogen

Genre: Horror, Thriller, Science Fiction, Psychological

Rating: R

Runtime: 1h 53m

Rotten Tomatoes: 88%

Donnie Darko is a film where the real horror lies within the mind. This 2001 film follows a troubled teenager named Donnie (played by Jake Gyllenhaal), who narrowly escapes death. However, in the days following the event, he begins to experience premonitions showing him what he believes to be the end of the world. To make matters worse, Darko begins to be terrorized by visions of a man named Frank in a rabbit suit, who mentally manipulates him into committing random crimes across town in an attempt to save the world from ending in 28 days. But trust no one, because things may not be what they seem.

Donnie Darko is a cult classic film at this point, so if you’ve never seen it before, this is the perfect time to have your mind blown.

Watch on hulu

Jaws (1975) - Netflix

A gaggle of men looking out after successfully killing a shark.

Courtesy of TMDB

Director: Steven Spielberg

Cast: Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss

Rating: PG

Runtime: 2hr 4m

Rotten Tomatoes: 97% Critics, 91% Audience

Not many movies were so scary upon first release that they changed the way people vacationed. That is, not until Steven Spielberg’s Jaws. Now celebrating it’s 50th Anniversary (and available to stream on Netflix), this movie about shark infested waters and a terrorized beachfront town is just as thrilling as it was when it was first released.

Sure, the shark effects may have aged less well, but thanks to Spielberg’s expert camera work and the movie’s iconic John Williams score, the movie still maintains its tense atmosphere.

Watch on netflix

Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023) - Hulu

Winnie the killer and a potential victim pose for a picture as she attempts to escape from a pool.

Courtesy of TMDB

Director: Rhys Frake-Waterfield

Cast: Craig David Dowsett, Chris Cordell, Amber Doig-Thorne

Rating: NR

Runtime: 1hr 40m

Rotten Tomatoes: 3% Critics, 49% Audience

One of the strangest movies to come out when A. A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh characters became public domain, Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey delivers exactly what its title promises. In the film, Winnie the Pooh and Piglet have been abandoned by Christopher Robin and gone feral, leading to their titular bloodlust. Trading lessons in friendship for bloody carnage is certainly a departure from the beloved source material, which either will appeal to you or not. If you have a penchant for subversive B-movies, though, Blood and Honey is worth checking out. It might be a bit uneven, but you can’t argue that the premise is wildly original (albeit a tad exploitative).

Watch on hulu

Late Night with the Devil (2024) - Hulu

A man screams in horror as he witnesses his life unravel before his eyes.

Courtesy of Hulu

Director: Colin Cairnes, Cameron Cairnes

Cast: David Dastmalchian, Laura Gordon, Fayssal Bazzi

Rating: R

Runtime: 1hr 33m

Rotten Tomatoes: 97% Critics, 82% Audience

In Late Night with the Devil, David Dastmalchian stars as Jack Delroy, a talk show host who plans a one-of-a-kind Halloween special in an attempt to improve his flailing ratings. Set in the 1970s, it leans heavily on other horror movies from that era, making for a retro experience despite the fact that the film was released in 2024. Films about possessions are few and far between these days, so it’s great to see a more modern effort in Late Night with the Devil. Anchored by a solid performance by Dastmalchian, it’s a fun horror flick that doesn’t rely on gratuitous scares to creep you out.

It Follows (2014) - HBOMax

A woman in a pink outfit is tied to a wheelchair in a dimly lit, abandoned space. A person in the background shines a flashlight.

Courtesy of HBO Max

Director: David Robert Mitchell

Cast: Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Daniel Zovatto

Rating: R

Runtime: 1hr 41m

Rotten Tomatoes: 95% Critics, 66% Audience

Sometimes a movie comes along that completely turns a genre trope on its head, and It Follows is one of those movies. In many horror flicks, especially 80s slashers, characters get offed for “bad” behavior (like having sex before marriage). In It Follows, that’s the whole premise. In this movie, if you have sex with someone, you’ll be pursued by a shapeshifting monster that will stop at nothing to kill you unless you can pass the curse onto someone else through intercourse.

It’s a super simple premise, but director David Robert Mitchell gets tons of mileage from it. It Follows is a movie that changes the way you watch movies, with every background actor suddenly upping the tension with their entrance.

An American Werewolf in London (1981) - Amazon Prime

A man with a heavily scarred and bloody face, wearing a jacket, in a scene from a horror film.

Courtesy of Prime Video

Director: John Landis

Cast: David Naughton, Jenny Agutter, Griffin Dunne

Rating: R

Runtime: 1hr 37m

Rotten Tomatoes: 89% Critics, 85% Audience

In An American Werewolf in London, two college friends backpacking in Great Britain are attacked by a wolf, with one of them surviving the attack only to become a werewolf. While that sounds grisly, the movie is part creature-feature and part comedy, a hard balancing act to nail. It’s wacky and weird, for sure, but surprisingly, it all works. Even if you’re on the fence about this one, it’s worth seeing for the makeup effects alone. They stand the test of time even more than forty years later.

The Craft (1996) - Amazon Prime

Director: Andrew Fleming

Cast: Robin Tunney, Neve Campbell, Rachel True

Rating: R

Runtime: 1hr 40m

Rotten Tomatoes: 57% Critics, 65% Audience

When Sarah transfers to a high school in LA, she learns that her powers of telekinesis make her an ideal fit for a trio of witches looking for a fourth to join them. Featuring Neve Campbell of Scream fame alongside Fairuza Balk, Robin Tunney, and Rachel True, you’ve got yourself a fun ensemble flick for teens and adults alike.While this 1996 horror movie comes with a hefty dose of camp, it’s the kind of campiness that endears it to you even more. Throw in some witchy feminism and memorable characters, and you’ve got yourself a great watch for spooky season.

Watch on prime

Smile (2022) - Netflix

A woman twists her neck and contorts herself as she attempts to break into a car.

Courtesy of TMDB

Director: Parker Finn

Cast: Sosie Bacon, Jessie T. Usher, Kyle Gallner

Rating: R

Runtime: 1hr 56m

Rotten Tomatoes: 80% Critics, 77% AudienceAfter Dr. Rose Cotter witnesses a terrifying incident with one of her psychiatric patients, she slowly becomes terrorized by an invisible presence that manifests in something generally deemed harmless: a broad smile. As both a horror film and a surprisingly nuanced exploration of trauma, Smile is full of shocking, frightening images. It’s an unsettling film that gets under your skin; exactly the kind of thing a good horror movie should aim for.

If you’re a fan of mid-2000s slow-burning horror like The Ring, Smile will likely be right up your alley. With solid jump scares and a strong cast to boot, it’s one unnerving viewing experience.

Watch on netflix

The Cabin in the Woods (2011) - HBOMax

A group of five people in casual clothing stand in a rustic cabin setting, with a fireplace in the background.

Courtesy of HBO Max

Director: Drew Goddard

Cast: Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, Anna Hutchison

Rating: R

Runtime: 1hr 35m

Rotten Tomatoes: 92% Critics, 74% Audience

The Cabin in the Woods is a totally inventive take on the horror genre as a whole. It takes a familiar premise of a college getaway to a remote cabin and turns it completely on its head, interjecting a much grander, meta-social experiment to the proceedings with thrillingly dark wit.Expertly playing with audience expectations, archetypes, and genre tropes, the film uses self-aware humor alongside some legitimate scares to create a movie that’s twisty and fun from start to finish. If you haven’t seen it yet, don’t read anything else about it before you give it a watch. You’ll be rewarded.

Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice (2024) - HBOMax

A person dressed as Beetlejuice with wild hair and striped suit, standing in a dimly lit room next to a figure in a yellow suit.

Courtesy of HBO Max

Director: Tim Burton

Cast: Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 1hr 45m

Rotten Tomatoes: 75% Critics, 78% Audience

In this sequel to the cult-classic, Beetlejuice, Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) and the rest of her family are thrust back into the Netherworld and put face-to-face with the eponymous Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton) as Lydia tries to rescue her daughter, Astrid (Jenna Ortega). Much lighter on traditional scares than other films on this list, it’s still a great Halloween watch thanks to its ghoulish characters and Tim Burton’s idiosyncratic, gothic flair. If we’re being honest, Burton has been pretty hit-or-miss for a while now, but Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice showed that the filmmaker behind classics like Edward Scissorhands still has plenty up his sleeves. The film’s rousing finale (set to the lyrically-weird Richard Harris song, “Macarthur Park”) is a real highlight. With the second season of Wednesday in the books too, maybe we’re entering a new era of Burton.

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Night of the Living Dead (1968) - HBOMax

Director: George Romero

Cast: Duane Jones, Judith O’Dea, Karl Hardman

Rating: NR

Runtime: 1hr 36m

Rotten Tomatoes: 95% Critics, 87% Audience

George A. Romero’s 1968 horror classic, Night of the Living Dead, is spine-tingling even more than sixty years after it first terrified audiences. Following seven disparate strangers who get trapped in an abandoned house during a zombie outbreak. Something about Night of the Living Dead’s black-and-white color makes it even eerier, as characters and the undead disappear into pitch-black darkness in some scenes.

Amidst all the blood and terror, there’s also a critique of capitalism built in, giving the movie the sort of thematic weight that makes it a scary movie with staying power. It spawned a franchise for a reason.

Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016) - Netflix

A girl in a nightgown levitates backward over a Ouija board design, with letters and numbers in the background.

Courtesy of HBO Max

Director: Mike FlanaganCast: Elizabeth Reaser, Lulu Wilson, Annalise Basso

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 1hr 39m

Rotten Tomatoes: 83% Critics, 58% Audience

Director Mike Flanagan is largely known for the stunning and creepy Netflix series The Haunting of Hill House or Midnight Mass. But his horror movies are just as scary, something Ouija: Origin of Evil proves in spades. In this movie, a mother’s seance scam service takes an evil turn when her daughter becomes posessed by a relentless spirit. While 2014’s Ouija left many wanting for more, its sequel shows that there’s plenty of promise in its supernatural premise. In the hands of Flanagan, it’s classic horror goodness.

Hocus Pocus (1993) - Disney+

Three witches in theatrical costumes, including a black dress and hat, a dark green robe, and a corset with long hair, perform dramatically on stage.

Courtesy of Disney

Director: Kenny Ortega

Cast: Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Najimy

Rating: PG

Runtime: 1hr 35m

Rotten Tomatoes: 41% Critics, 71% Audience

Name a more iconic trio than the Sanderson sisters. This Disney cult classic from High School Musical director Kenny Ortega stars Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy as three hilarious witches who are resurrected by a teenage boy and must be defeated before they take over the town.

For pure 90’s made-for-tv nostalgia alone, Hocus Pocus is a helluva lot of fun. Light on scares and big on spooky humor, the movie has so many quotable lines it’s hard to keep track of them all. Pretty much everything delivered by Thora Birch as kid sister Dani is pure gold.

Sinners (2025) — HBO Max

Michael B. Jordan and Miles Caton in a tense scene, both looking intensely ahead, with Jordan's arm around Caton.

Courtesy of HBO Max

Director: Ryan Coogler

Cast: Michael B. Jordan, Wunmi Mosaku, Hailee Steinfeld, Miles Caton

Rating: R

Runtime: 2h 17m

Rotten Tomatoes: 97% Audience Score: 96%

Sinners stands out as one of the strongest horror movies of 2025. Featuring a stellar ensemble and a fresh, incisive take on the vampire genre, Sinners will leave you stunned by every unexpected twist.

From the cultural tributes to the electrifying performances from nearly the entire cast, Sinners marks a daring addition to the horror film canon. You need to see it this Halloween season.