The 10 Best Halloween Films of All Time

On Halloween night in 1978, a masked killer who has escaped from an institution returns to the quiet town of Haddonfield, Illinois, and a babysitter named Laurie becomes his target. John Carpenter made it on a tiny budget, wrote the famous piano theme himself, and set the pattern for every slasher that followed.

Watch it if: you want the one film that belongs to this date more than any other.

A killer in a ghost mask terrorizes a group of teenagers who know every rule of horror movies and still can’t stay alive. Wes Craven’s film is scary, funny and clever at once, and its opening scene is one of the best in the genre.

Watch it if: your group likes to shout advice at the screen.

Constable Ichabod Crane is sent from New York City to a foggy village in 1799 to investigate a series of beheadings blamed on a headless horseman. Tim Burton’s gothic mystery is all mist, pumpkins and candlelight.

Watch it if: you want atmosphere more than terror.

Four interlocking stories unfold in one Ohio town on a single Halloween night, tied together by a small trick-or-treater in a burlap mask named Sam. Few films capture the look and the rules of the holiday so well.

Watch it if: you want something that is about Halloween itself.

A suburban California family notices strange things happening in their new house, and then their youngest daughter vanishes into the television. A haunted-house film with a big heart and some truly unsettling moments.

Watch it if: you like your scares with a family at the center.

A shy, bullied teenager with a frightening gift is invited to the prom, where a cruel prank goes much further than anyone planned. The first Stephen King adaptation remains one of the best.

Watch it if: you want a slow build to an unforgettable finale.

The teenagers of Elm Street are being hunted in their dreams by Freddy Krueger, a burned man with a bladed glove, and if they die asleep they die for real. The idea is simple and terrifying: sooner or later, everyone has to sleep.

Watch it if: you want a villain with real imagination.

A research team in Antarctica discovers a creature that can perfectly imitate any living thing, including them. Paranoia does most of the work, and the practical effects are still astonishing.

Watch it if: you like horror where nobody can be trusted.

A mother in Washington, D.C., watches her twelve-year-old daughter change in ways no doctor can explain, and turns to two priests for help. More than fifty years on, it is still the benchmark for serious, grown-up horror.

Watch it if: you want the classic that still shocks.

After her secretive mother dies, an artist and her family begin to come apart in ways that feel less and less like ordinary grief. Toni Collette is extraordinary. This is the most disturbing film on the list, so save it for a brave crowd.

Watch it if: you want to be properly rattled.