It’s Halloween party season again! Tired of the 24-hour “Halloween” (1979) marathon airing on TV? Looking for something different to play this year? Look no further! Here’s our list of the best movies to show at your Halloween party. These fun horror flicks are full of gore and scares, and they are just fast-paced enough to keep everyone, including drunk Uncle Tony, engaged. (It’s OK Uncle Tony, we still love you.) Also, most of these are not kid-friendly, but they are full of quotable moments!
10 Happy Death Day (2017)
Tree is having a bad day. Over. And over. And over again as she tries to figure out who the baby-faced killer is that keeps murdering her ass.
Not overly gory but equally parts funny and spooky, “Happy Death Day” is a great ice breaker to start your party with.
9 Night of the Demons (1988)
This guilty pleasure takes place on Halloween night. Crazy 80s teens go to party at an abandoned funeral parlor. Unfortunately, it’s not as vacant as they think, and soon they are all possessed by demons. From the atypical final girl to an infamous lipstick going into a boob scene, “Night of the Demons” has it all!
8 The Cabin in the Woods (2012)
A group of college co-eds go to a cabin in the woods and accidentally summon a bunch of killers, while hilarious tech guys on the other end try to get them to die, all so that they can stop the end of the world.
The meta horror movie to beat all meta movies! Step aside “Scream” there’s a new boss in town. “The Cabin in the Woods” is a love letter to horror films that gleefully tears apart the horror genre and stands it on its head.
The end monster sequence is a riot!
7 Cult of Chucky (2017)
Chucky and Tiffany find new victims in a psych hospital while a grown-up Andy races to stop them. This movie is full of the trademarked dark humor of the Child’s Play series and lots of great horrifying kills as Chucky tries to transfer his soul to a human body (again). Fun killer doll film!
6 Insidious (2010)
Haunted house movie meets demonic possession exorcism movie meets ghost hunters movie in “Insidious”. This movie is a little slower paced than the others, but it has a TON of scares and iconic moments. My favorite is the ghost hunting trio that comes in near the end to help the father go save his boy from the demon in THE FURTHER. Spooky stuff!
5 Zombieland (2009)
Originally slated to be a TV show (before the success of The Walking Dead) “Zombieland” is full of tongue in cheek zombie apocalypse survival rules that were meant to be the rule of the day per episode of the show. Even so, it’s a lot of fun, with a good balance of jokes, nasty zombie makeup, and killer death scenes. Also…Twinkies are crucial to the plot. How can you not love it?
4 Thirteen Ghosts (2001)
Guilty pleasure number 2 on this list. A family and a group of ghost hunters go into a (literal) glass house where the former owner has created a labyrinth to catch supernatural entities. Crazy hijinks ensue.
“Thirteen Ghosts” is, on its surface, more of a kid’s movie…until you get to the actual ghosts and there’s crazy wound makeup and boobs hanging out and then you realize, yeah, it’s a ghost movie for kids, college kids. And it’s AWESOME!
3 House on Haunted Hill (1999)
“House on Haunted Hill” was the coolest, slickest horror flick to come out in theaters 1999. (Trust me, I was there. I’m sooooo ooooold.) Great cast, fun whacky characters and a load of really gory nasty death scenes, this movie is a must-have at any Halloween party. Full of murderous ghosts, sexy actors (and actresses) this movie has it all! Yes, it is a remake of a cheesy black and white film, but it’s much, much better than the original. Deal with it.
2 Dawn of the Dead (2004)
A group of survivors run to the mall and try to get help, only to find that by attempting to block the zombies out, they’ve accidentally trapped themselves in with them. Which would be really bad if they were zombie Rorschachs from “Watchmen”. Can you imagine? OMG.
What is there not to love about this high octane remake of Romero’s “Dawn of the Dead”? Zombies, zombies, and more zombies. It has fast zombies, slow zombies, baby zombies, you name it, it’s in it! Plus a super wicked scene of a chainsaw cutting someone in half! Ah! Get it! Get it now!
1 Trick ‘R Treat (2007)
This list wouldn’t be complete without a Halloween film on it, and”Trick ‘R Treat” is no exception. It’s an anthology, with enough variety to please everyone; hot werewolf chicks, killer kids, jack o’ lanterns, that one cute guy from “Battlestar Gallactica”, and the little killer tyke Sam is as cute as he is vicious! My all-time favorite Halloween movie.
