Whether it’s a well-known classic, a scary-cat-friendly horror comedy or a tough newbie splatter – with these films every Halloween party will be a success.
Soon they’ll be roaming around again on the hunt for sweets, the ghosts, witches, horror clowns, vampires, zombies… and, given the huge success in the cinema, probably a few pink Barbies too. Instead of the sugar shock for the kids, Halloween is an opportunity for adult friends of horror to turn on the home cinema: If you want to get in the mood in advance, you can fall back on a gigantic pool of horror films of all stripes. In fact, the selection is so large that it’s easy to lose track. This overview, from old splatter classics to new horror contenders in the cinema, can help.
The perfect films for the festival of horror
There are horror films. There are films that take place on Halloween – and there is “Halloween – The Night of Horror” by John Carpenter (75). Of course, the cult shocker from 1978 should not be missing. The film is basically the “Dinner For One” for all Halloween fans. If you’re particularly brave, you can also take a look at one of the countless sequels or reboots of the original. Less because they are so scary, but more because they have become a little more catastrophic with each successive part. The only exception was the sequel from 2018.
But there are also other films worth seeing that have chosen Halloween as their setting. The humorous horror film “Trick ‘r Treat” (2007), for example, which knows how to shock in several episodic stories about the pumpkin festival. The fantasy film “Hocus Pocus” (1993) also takes place on Halloween night and features, among others, Bette Midler (77) and Sarah Jessica Parker (58) whizzing around on their broomsticks as evil witches. The best thing: “Hocus Pocus” also has a successor since 2022 and both can easily be watched with brave young monsters, FSK 12 makes it possible.
An outsider suggestion: “Donnie Darko” (2001) with Jake Gyllenhaal (42) is set for Halloween and has produced perhaps the scariest bunny costume of all time.
The classics outside of Halloween
There are a handful of horror films that are so notorious that even genre despisers know them at least by name. So if you want to prove your courage in front of the screen on Halloween, you could close a few gaps in your education by doing the dishes. How about, for example, “The Exorcist”, a film that caused a lot of excitement at the time it was made (1973) – and won two Oscars for it. Even today, William Friedkin’s film has lost none of its disgusting fascination. His 50-year-old masterpiece must be included as a tribute to the director, who died on August 7th this year.
Speaking of disgust: If you don’t mind not having an appetite for the rest of the day – also a way to resist the sweets – you should get David Cronenberg’s (80) body horror festival “The Fly”. The 1986 film with Jeff Goldblum (71) and Geena Davis (67) combines sheer horror with a repulsive mutation and – believe it or not – a tragic love story in which you feel sorry for the “monster”. And it also won an Oscar (“Best Make-up”).
Anyone who still can’t get enough of zombies in the age of “The Walking Dead” is spoiled for choice. It’s better to watch the original films by George A. Romero (1940-2017), like “Zombie” (“Dawn of the Dead”) from 1978, or instead the also very successful remake from 2004 with the same name, but much more agile monster cannibals.
A treat for all body horror fans is John Carpenter’s “The Thing” with Kurt Russell (72). The two killers Freddy Krueger from the “Nightmare on Elm Street” or Jason Voorhees from the “Friday the 13th” series should not be missing from any Halloween list. Here too, however, the numerous sequels require courage to be trashy.
If you’d rather watch a modern classic, you should treat yourself to the “Scream” series again. In the best slasher style, one teenager after another is murdered – as creatively as possible and, of course, as bloodily as possible. Six parts are possible in a “Scream” marathon; the last entry was only released in cinemas in March of this year.
Brand new horror
Speaking of cinema: Traditionally, film distributors with horror films in the pipeline like to wait until October to pick up the Halloween audience. This year too: “Five Nights At Freddy’s” has been in cinemas since October 26th, starring, among others, “Scream” veteran Matthew Lillard (53) and “Hunger Games” star Josh Hutcherson (31). If the name sounds familiar, it is an adaptation of the video game series of the same name. The plot is reminiscent of a bloody variant of “Night at the Museum”: The night watchman of a shop is horrified to discover that the stage characters develop a murderous life of their own at the witching hour.
The Swedish film “Halloween Park” has also been in cinemas since October 26th. The title pretty much gives away what viewers can expect from the teen slasher: A group of young people find themselves in an otherwise empty amusement park – but wait, a masked killer is also there and assassinates in the classic rhyme style.
Although no longer fresh, but definitely worth mentioning: the low-budget hit “Terrifier 2”. This is definitely a film that is only suitable for fans of the toughest genre – and even among them there are said to have been people for whom the second appearance of “Art the Clown” was too violent. More FSK18 is not possible!
A little bit of fun is always good
Things don’t always have to be dead serious on Halloween. If you don’t want to miss out on horror but still want to stretch your laughing muscles, there are horror comedies in all levels of slapstick. The more serious undertone of our suggestions would be “The Cabin in the Woods” (2011), in which the most common horror film clichés are charmingly distorted and turned on their head.
The same applies to the film “Shaun of the Dead”, with which Simon Pegg (53) celebrated his breakthrough on the big screen and has now even made it into the “Star Wars” and “Star Trek” universe. The “Scary Movie” series offers a significantly different level (namely virtually none), which mixes the best-known horror films into a silly jokefest. Maybe just the right thing, especially in a sociable and sometimes beer-filled atmosphere.
Horror prodigy Ari Aster
In recent years, the American director Ari Aster (37) has emerged as a true prodigy of the genre. Anyone who doesn’t get their blood running in their veins watching his film “Hereditary – The Legacy” (2018) probably has nothing in the world to be afraid of. Tongue-clicking horror – literally!
And his unusual, dazzlingly bright horror film “Midsommar” also caused eerie enthusiasm in 2019. This was mainly due to the great acting of Florence Pugh (27), whose character suffered a terrible blow of fate as a child. However, even worse awaits them at a supposedly happy summer solstice festival in Sweden…