What to Watch This Halloween Season

On October 31st, children alike dress up and go door to door for candy. Adults may partake as well, but not as much. This day is known as Halloween, a holiday focused on the spooks and scares of the world. And to celebrate this, there are many beloved films centered around this holiday.

For these Halloween-centric films, there truly is something for everyone. If horror movies aren’t your thing, there are many movies that aren’t as spooky as say the 2017 film, It, which centers around a demonic clown’s killing spree. The 1993 classic, Hocus Pocus, is a lighthearted film that centers around a teen in Salem, Massachusetts that accidentally frees a coven of three witches. It stars Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy as the three Sanderson sisters, and mischief occurs because of them.

Another branch of “non-scary” Halloween films are those by Tim Burton, who has created a slew of dark films. My personal favorites include the claymation, Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), which some say isn’t a true Halloween movie, but I disagree. There is also the live-action Beetlejuice (1988), a dark comedy about a demon who paralyzes a family living in his home through fear and song.

If you are a true horror fan, you may want to watch these types of movies all the time. Some recent films include Us (2019) , directed by Jordan Peele who also created Get Out, another thriller. Us is about a suburban family who is met with a distorted copy of their family while on vacation, only to find out their monstrous plans and that they aren’t the only ones being affected. Peele also hints to underlying themes of racism in both of his most famous films, with notions as to how the ‘other’ half and the ‘evil’ versions live.

One classic scary movie that is a personal favorite of mine is The Shining (1980) a film that made me want to sleep with the lights on for a week. This movie, based on a novel written by Stephen King also explores hidden meanings, with some linked back to the book and some tied with Native American history and culture. Even with that, it depicts how insane one person can truly become while isolated.

If Halloween isn’t your thing, that’s perfectly okay. But if it is, you definitely have many options to explore in terms of film this holiday season.