Who doesn’t like getting scared? Apparently, a lot of you. While Halloween is undeniably the season for watching the scariest movies ever made, sometimes, it’s a bit much. Plus, let’s be real. The world is plenty scary already. So, what is there to do when you want to get festive for Halloween but can’t stomach another jump scare? Luckily, we have a list of movies just for the occasion—and the right audience.
The last few years have seen an explosion of genre hybrids that blend horror with action, comedy, even romance. We’re talking movies like Send Help, a Sam Raimi joint starring Rachel McAdams as a woman stuck on a deserted island with her shitty boss, and Companion, a 2025 hit where Sophie Thatcher plays a “companion bot” who wakes up to her own programming. Action junkies can join in too, with movies like Na Hong-jin’s Hope—maybe one of the coolest alien disaster movies we’ve seen in a long time—and Sinners, Ryan Coogler’s red-hot Oscar darling that made vampires even more cool. There are also gems like Beetlejuice and Practical Magic, as well as vintage classics like The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
The temperature has cooled. The sun has set. The popcorn is ready. Binge these not-so-scary horror movies that are perfect for everyone, and we truly mean everyone, this Halloween.
Ghostbusters (1984)
You know exactly who to call. Released in 1984, Ghostbusters was a game-changer, being one of the first truly successful cross-genre movies that also found an unexpected audience in children. Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, and Dan Aykroyd star as disgraced academics who turn their expertise into a business: catching pest-like ghosts in New York City. Later joined by Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson), the Ghostbusters fight to save Manhattan when the ancient Sumerian (not Babylonian) deity Gozer rises up. Admit it: The theme song is still stuck in your head.
Practical Magic
Don’t you hate it when your sister's boyfriend dies and then you use your witchcraft to resurrect him but accidentally possess him with an evil spirit instead? Classic! Practical Magic is a new-school favorite and a solid Halloween choice that gives you both Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman.
Hope
Ten years after his last film The Wailing, Na Hong-jin came roaring back to theaters with his sci-fi monster epic Hope. Set in a rural Korean village, a police chief and his gun-toting rookie deputy must defend the people when a rampaging beast tears shit up. While Hope nosedives into a bizarre science fiction epic in the second half, the first half is some of the most visceral and thrilling action we’ve seen in a long minute.
Dawn of the Dead (2004)
Rarely can a modern remake outshine whatever other movie it’s trying to emulate. But in one rare instance, Zack Snyder did the impossible with his brawny 2004 remake of George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead. Essentially a modern retelling of Romero’s anti-consumerist classic, Sarah Polley stars as a nurse who holes up with other survivors at a Milwaukee shopping mall during a sudden zombie outbreak. While there are a few tension-riddled scares—this is a zombie movie we’re talking about here—Dawn of the Dead is a sun-drenched blockbuster where Zack Snyder’s signature brand of action is the real attraction.
Send Help
Oh no! We’re stuck on an island with Rachel McAdams! Someone save us! (But please, take your time.) In this rip-roaring black comedy from none other than Sam Raimi, a die-hard Survivor fan (McAdams) gets stranded on a remote island with her pampered billionaire boss (Dylan O’Brien). While there are elements of horror sprinkled throughout the film—including a pretty dark turn for one of the leads—Send Help is a pure crowd-pleaser that is more concerned with exploring gender politics and power dynamics than trying to rouse up a few scares.
Companion
Talk about being on the bleeding edge. Companion stars Sophie Thatcher as Iris, who discovers—to her horror—that she isn’t a living person but a “companion robot” for pathetic Josh (Jack Quaid). Suddenly, a carefree weekend getaway with friends turns into a nightmare as Iris fights to break free from her programming. Essentially a slasher flick where we follow (and root for) the “monster,” Companion trades suspenseful terror and jump scares for a few solid laughs.
They Live
Roddy Piper is here to kick ass and chew bubblegum, and he's all out of bubblegum. The pro wrestling legend stars in this iconic 1980s sci-fi satire from John Carpenter, in which a man sees through some special sunglasses how the world is actually ruled by aliens. Imagined by Carpenter as a commentary on Reagan-era America, They Live is only scary in how timeless it remains.
The Substance
Somehow, a grotesque body horror thriller with mesmerizing creature effects and 5,500 gallons of fake blood made it all the way to the Oscars. So, if the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences can stomach it, so can you. In Coralie Fargeat’s festival darling, Demi Moore stars as has-been Hollywood star Elisabeth Sparkle who turns to a secret black market drug that can transform her into a younger, more beautiful version of herself (Margaret Qualley). What begins as Elisabeth’s grasp for relevancy becomes a fight for her survival as her two sides sabotage one another until everything comes to a phenomenally phantasmagoric finale. Beware, and behold, the “Monstro Elisasue.”
Beetlejuice
Michael Keaton stars as an mischievous demon with perverse humor and wild gags in this 1988 horror comedy about a “bio-exorcist” who won’t stop terrorizing a family (Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Winona Ryder, Catherine O'Hara, Jeffrey Jones) until they say his name three times. With Beetlejuice, it’s harder than it sounds.
Sinners
Ryan Coogler worked his magic over Sinners, and it worked. The hit vampire blockbuster sizzled the summer 2025 box office in its story about twin brothers (both played by Michael B. Jordan) who finally come home to Mississippi after serving in World War I and bootlegging for the mob during Prohibition. On the first night of their very own juke joint, vampires come knocking. Sinners ain’t for the children, but even wimps can tolerate a few of its scares when it tells such a profoundly moving story—about brotherhood, about community, about culture, about dreams.
I Saw the TV Glow
In 2024, Jane Schoenbrun unleashed their sophomore feature I Saw the TV Glow to critical acclaim. The praise is well-deserved. In this movie about millennial nostalgia, the terror of something sinister at play is palpable. Justice Smith and Jack Haven co-star as childhood friends who bonded over their favorite ‘90s television show, The Pink Opaque (think Buffy meets Ghostwriter). Years later, Haven’s character Maddy returns out of nowhere and begins swearing The Pink Opaque is real. An elaborate metaphor about queerness and the terror of never living your true self, I Saw the TV Glow is a deeply emotional film under a cloud of hazy dread.
An American Werewolf in London
When An American Werewolf in London was in production, financiers thought writer/director John Landis's script was too scary to be a comedy and too funny to be a horror movie. It's that kind of balance that makes the movie so great decades later. David Naughton stars as an American backpacker who is bitten by a wolf and is taken in by a pretty English nurse (Jenny Gutter). Though its final parting shot is tragic, the road to the end is paved with equal parts horror and humor. The first transformation sequence is quite scary, but the rest of the movie is a riot.
Hocus Pocus
If there's one foolproof Halloween movie, it's Hocus Pocus. Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy all star as a trio of witchy sisters who are resurrected on Halloween night. The campy nineties classic is also directed by Kenny Ortega, who helmed Disney’s High School Music franchise.
Jacob’s Ladder
Could a horror movie also be sad? Of course it can, and you can look no further than Jacob’s Ladder. Directed by Adrian Lyne, this genre classic from 1990 stars Tim Robbins as a Vietnam veteran whose post-traumatic stress disorder have left him with bizarre hallucinations. Stirring and provocative, Jacob’s Ladder sacrifices jump scares in favor of a persistently anxious atmosphere that induces a steady level of dread throughout—and a final reveal that hits like a punch to the gut.
Nope
Jordan Peele did it again. After his first two movies, 2017’s Get Out and 2019’s Us became critical and commercial hits, the director came back to the big screen with his awe-inspiring 2022 sci-fi horror Nope. An alien movie disguised as an awe-inspiring monster flick, Nope stars Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer as Hollywood horse wranglers who begin chasing after an ominous entity in the sky. A tribute to cinema and an exploration of man’s futile attempts to control nature, Nope should be a “Yup” to everyone, even those who don’t “do” horror.
The Crow
“It can't rain all the time.” This grunge classic from 1994, based on the comics by James O'Barr, stars Bruce Lee's son Brandon Lee in his final film role. Lee plays Eric Draven, a rock star who is murdered on Halloween night along with his fiancée. One year later, Eric returns to the world of the living, now imbued with supernatural powers, to carry out his revenge.
Versus
Ever see a zombie movie with yakuza hitmen and samurai warriors? In 2000, underground auteur Ryuhei Kitamura made his feature-directing debut with Versus, which combines zombie horror with badass martial-arts action and John Woo–like gunplay. Set in a haunted forest, the movie sees a runaway prisoner clash with gangsters while they all fight to survive an endless horde of zombies.
Crimson Peak
When Guillermo del Toro's Crimson Peak bombed in theaters in 2015, one of the most cited reasons for its demise was that it just wasn't scary enough. That’s because it was mistakenly advertised as a haunted-house horror movie, when Crimson Peak is in fact a tragic Gothic romance, with Mia Wasikowska playing an aspiring author who moves into a dilapidated English mansion with her husband (Tom Hiddleston) and her sister (Jessica Chastain).
Thirst
In 2009, when the world was smitten with Twilight's sparkling vampires, Korean auteur Park Chan-wook unearthed richer ground in the genre with his erotic horror Thirst. Song Kang-ho stars as a priest who is turned into a vampire and slowly begins to fall in lust for the wife of his childhood best friend. A vampire romance like nothing you've seen before, Thirst bites in places where it counts.
Jennifer's Body
At the height of her Transformers fame, Megan Fox subverted expectations and the male gaze in this millennial classic from director Karyn Kusama and writer Diablo Cody. Fox stars as a demonically possessed high school student, Jennifer, who uses her sex appeal to draw in and kill her male classmates. Jennifer's bookish best friend (Amanda Seyfried) takes it upon herself to stop her reign of terror.
Interview with the Vampire
Before the hit series on AMC, Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire was made into a gorgeous piece of Gothic cinema from Neil Jordan. Based on Rice's 1976 novel, the film version stars Brad Pitt as a plantation-owner-turned-vampire in 1791 by the charismatic Lestat (Tom Cruise). Pitt's Louis recounts his many years to a journalist in contemporary San Francisco. Hence the title. Though the movie deviates from the book quite a bit, it still found acclaim and reignited the appeal of vampires until a certain other author, Stephanie Meyer, came along.
The Addams Family
If the title The Addams Family doesn't immediately make you want to snap your fingers and sing along, then you clearly aren't familiar with either this movie or the old TV classic it reimagines as must-see entertainment for any Halloween enthusiast.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Come up to the lab and see what's on the slab... A staple of the midnight-movie scene, The Rocky Horror Picture Show is the definition of a cult movie that finds new life every Halloween. (Fun fact: Its original New York City premiere on Halloween 1975 was scrapped due to low ticket sales.) A tribute to the sci-fi and horror movies of yesteryear, The Rocky Horror Picture Show famously stars Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick, and, of course, Tim Curry as the alien scientist Dr. Frank-N-Furter. Problematic? Sure. Fun? Oh yes. Shiver with antici ... pation.
Coraline
Based on the Neil Gaiman novel, Coraline—a stop-motion masterpiece from the legendary Laika Studios—follows a lonely 11-year-old girl who wanders into an alternate universe where everything seems close to perfect. Too close. Too perfect. Naturally, there’s something much darker and more horrific going on. For all its cartoon whimsy, Coraline has just enough underneath it to send a solid shiver down your spine.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
If you've seen the TV show (and who hasn't?), you've got to see the movie that started it all. Released in 1992, Buffy the Vampire Slayer stars Kristy Swanson as an all-American Valley Girl cheerleader who reluctantly accepts her destiny to become a vampire hunter. Also starring Donald Sutherland, Paul Reubens, Rutger Hauer, and Luke Perry, along with the film debut of Hillary Swank, Buffy the Vampire Slayer may not be as era defining as the TV show it later inspired, but it's still a killer good time.