Once October hits, the fall season fuels the air, and Halloween feels just around the corner. Many people begin settling indoors for the cold weather and need something to get them into a spooky mood. That being said, it can be hard to find a good spooky movie, especially if you’re picky about how scary you want it to be. Luckily, you can find a list of spooky movies, organized here, based on their horror level — including spoiler-free descriptions.
No Horror
These movies contain little to no horror. That means no jumpscares and very minimal horrific aspects, but they still feel like Halloween movies. These mostly consist of Tim Burton Movies.
Nightmare Before Christmas
A classic, this movie is fun for the entire family. It takes place in Halloween Town, as the Pumpkin King, Jack, grapples with a feeling of emptiness that he can’t seem to fill. While on a walk, he stumbles upon a door and falls inside. While this movie does feature Christmas elements, it has an undeniable Halloween vibe that you can enjoy anytime of the year. Nightmare Before Christmas is a musical starring Danny Elfman, Catherine O’Hara, and others. Directed by Tim Burton, this musical is best watched around Thanksgiving, or late October, to help with that transition between Halloween and Christmas.
Corpse Bride
Another classic by Tim Burton, Corpse Bride is yet another musical, this time featuring Helen Bonham Carter and Johnny Depp. The film is based on a Jewish folktale and tells a beautiful story of love and moving on from the past. Young Viktor is to be wed to the town princess Victoria, but they know nothing about each other. After messing up the vows at the rehearsal wedding, Viktor flees to the forest, where he accidentally marries the corpse of Emily, a woman killed on her wedding day.
Beetlejuice and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Both the Beetlejuice movies are a great and funny watch for Halloween, especially since the second movie just came out! After a family moves into a house, the couple that lives there (despite being dead) are harassed, so they order a malicious ghost, Beetlejuice, to drive them out. The sequel follows the daughter, Lydia, and her family when they return. Beetlejuice features stars like Alec Baldwin, Michael Keaton, and Winona Ryder, while the sequel features Jenna Ortega and Catherine O’Hara, along with many of the original cast.
Sleepy Hollow
Yet another Tim Burton film, Sleepy Hollow tells the story of Ichabod and his time in Sleepy Hollow as he investigates the decapitation of three people while trying to disprove the existence of the culprit: the ghostly headless horseman. The film is a beauty to watch, with Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci performing their roles perfectly. Sleepy Hollow is rated R mainly because it features gore, as the horseman removes some heads throughout the film. There is one other explicit scene, but it’s an overall wonderful movie to watch.
Light Horror
These movies aren’t horrific, but they can give you a start and make you nervous for a bit after. No nightmares, and overall some light gore — a nice genre for newer horror fans still trying to build up an immunity to the heavy stuff.
Thir13en Ghosts
When a rich, old man dies, he leaves his collection of unique things, fortune, and mansion to his family, along with the collection of ghosts trapped in the basement. This is a lesser-known film, but a very good one to watch. With Tony Shalhoub, Shannon Elizabeth, and Embeth Davidzt, this film offers a few jumpscares and gore but tells a beautiful story of moving on from the death of a loved one, and the plot twist doesn´t ruin the movie.
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
A young girl and her friends find the journal of Sarah Bellows, a young girl who was mistreated and abused by her family to the point where she began to tell stories to children of the town decades before. However, these stories came true, and many of them were very gruesome. Now, each kid has their own story in Sarah’s journal, despite her being dead for years, and they have to outsmart her or they´ll become another Sarah Bellows journal entry. Based on the Stephen King book Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, this film includes gore and some horror elements. You´re not scared of spiders, are you?
Hereditary
This movie is more psychological horror, with a few gory scenes and jumpscares. A grieving family, struggling with the death of a grandmother, become haunted by her cryptic beliefs and messages she left behind. The family must try to outrun their dark fate in order to survive and solve the mystery. Just avert your eyes for the nude cult of old people at the end.
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
This movie is based on a book and became a movie directed by Tim Burton. Jacob tries to cope with the death of his grandfather, whom he was very close with, and travels to the town he grew up hearing stories about. While there, the residents begin to act strange, and Jake stumbles through time to find Miss Peregrine’s home for peculiar children, the peculiar children being children with strange abilities. The weird thing is… they all match his grandfather’s description from the stories he told him. This movie contains gore aspects and a few jumpscares, ¨gore¨ meaning a couple of eye-less corpses.
The Shining
Though it takes effort to get through, you can never go wrong watching this classic. With a few gory scenes and jumpscares, this is more of a psychological horror film than anything else. A family stays in an isolated hotel (based on the Stanley Hotel in Colorado) for a few weeks in the winter. Slowly, the father goes mad and begins to hunt his wife and son in the hotel. It may be a common movie to watch, but it’s a good one nonetheless.
The Black Phone
Heavier on the psychological horror, but this film still just falls into light horror. A boy is trapped in a killer’s basement, when a disconnected phone begins to ring. Through this line comes the voices of the killer´s previous victims. With no jumpscares, this movie is great if you like true crime and almost paranormal activities.
Heavy Horror
These movies are for veterans, avid horror fans who are looking for something to scare them or make them sick in the stomach. Avoid watching these with children because nightmares are almost guaranteed.
The Scream Series
Not the worst or the scariest, but a classic horror. With a total of six movies and another announced for 2026, you’ll never run out of movies to watch from this franchise. A group of people are hunted by a killer with a mask, but the twist is that one or two of them are this killer. Ellusive phone calls and thrilling chase scenes are this killer’s favorite way to scare. There are several gory scenes in these movies, so don’t watch if you’re sensitive to gory, yet creative, deaths.
The Terrifier Series
With three movies out, the third from this year, these movies will make you sick in the stomach. High levels of gore and a killer clown allows this movie to attack as many common fears as it can. Not recommended for those who faint at gore or blood — you´ll miss more than half the movie. Also not recommended if you have a fear of clowns, specifically of the killer genre.
The Human Centipede Movies
These movies are known for being grotesque, even though there are only two of them. A doctor decides to sew two people together, backside to mouth. The second film continues a similar plotline, but instead it’s a fan trying to recreate the first film. This movie is iconic and known for making people physically sick due not only to its gore aspects, but also its uncomfortable and unnerving experiments on humans. Not recommended for those who hate body horror.
The Saw Series
Again, a classic. Ten Saw movies (including Jigsaw, Spiral, and Saw: 3D) you can never run out of movies to watch from this series. While all are different, the general plot is about a puppet who puts a group of people through various forms of torture as a form a punishment. So while they gain friendships, they are forced to choose: themselves or the people they promised to escape with?
Tusk
This film may remind you of the human centipede, and has made people vomit. Tusk follows the story of a U.S. podcaster who travels to the Canadian wilderness to interview an old man with a walrus secret. This secret, however, is grotesque. Don’t watch if you have a weak stomach. This is one of those movies that you have to watch through the boring beginning to get to the twist that shifts the whole movie.
Honorable Mentions
It’s hard to categorize these movies, so they have their own category!
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
This movie isn’t scary, but it is gory. A man goes rampant after the death of his mother and begins to kill an entire town’s worth of people. So if you can handle gore, this movie is a good watch. But if you can’t, this isn’t the one for you.
IT
This classic is often fifty-fifty with people. They either aren’t scared of it at all, or it appears in their nightmares. Usually it’s based on whether or not you have a fear of clowns. If not, then you´ll enjoy this. If so… I can’t recommend it… unless you like nightmares.
Exorcist/Conjuring Movies
These movies are classic, old horror. If you don’t believe in ghosts, demons, or the paranormal in general, you may find these movies too unrealistic. However, if you’re a believer, they may make you not trust that pile of laundry when the lights go out. They’re inspired by true stories, with the Conjuring inspired by the Perron Family, and the Exorcist inspired by a case in 1949, so watch with caution.
Halloween is that time of year that has a whole genre dedicated to it, so it’s much easier to understand where your lines are with experimenting. Watch a light horror, and if that was too scary, watch a movie with no horror. If it wasn’t scary enough, watch a heavy horror movie. All in all, the best way to watch any of these movies is with a warm cup of tea or cider, a bunch of blankets, a pillow to squeeze, and in the dark.
