31 Days of Halloween Movies

Maggie Lewis, Writer

Rating: PG-13

Summary: When teenagers see a comet crash outside their small town, they investigate and discover a pack of murderous aliens who look like circus clowns. They try to warn the local authorities, but everyone assumes their story is a prank. Meanwhile, the clowns set about harvesting and eating as many people as they can.

Review: 6.1/10 (from IMDb.com)

Rating: R

Summary: In 1970, paranormal investigators and demonologists Lorraine and Ed Warren are summoned to the home of the Perrons. The Perrons and their five daughters have recently moved into a secluded farmhouse, where a supernatural presence has made itself known. Though the spirits are relatively benign at first, events soon escalate in a horrifying fashion, especially after the Warrens discover the house's shocking history.

Review: 7.5/10 (from IMDb.com)

Rating: R

Summary: When a couple’s home is invaded by satanic cultists that try to summon a demon, a bloody rune is smeared on the nursery wall and drips blood onto a vintage doll, turning it into a conduit for evil. The couple begins to experience terrifying supernatural occurrences shortly after.

Review: 5.4/10 (from IMDb.com)

Rating: R

Summary: Jack Torrance and his family head to the isolated Overlook Hotel for the winter with the hopes of curing his writer’s block. As Jack’s writing goes nowhere, he discovers the dark secrets of the hotel. An evil and spiritual presence influences Jack into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from the past and of the future.

Review: 8.4/10 (from IMDb.com)

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Strange and creepy happenings beset an average California family, the Freelings, when ghosts commune with them through the television set. Although initially friendly and playful, the spirits turn unexpectedly menacing. When Carol Ann goes missing, the family and a parapsychologist must come together to rescue their youngest daughter after the apparitions take her captive.

Review: 5.0/10 (from IMDb.com)

Rating: R

Summary: When washed-up true-crime writer, Ellison Oswalt, discovers the existence of a snuff film showing the deaths of a family, he vows to solve the mystery. He moves his own family into the victims’ home and gets to work. When he finds a box of super 8 home movies that suggest the murder he is currently researching is the work of a serial killer whose work dates back to the 1960s, Oswalt learns that living in the house may be fatal.

Review: 6.8/10 (from IMDb.com)

Rating: R

Summary: When a teenage girl starts acting odd -- levitating, speaking in tongues -- her worried mother seeks medical help, only to hit a dead end. A local priest, however, thinks the girl may be seized by the devil. The priest makes a request to perform an exorcism, and the church sends in an expert to help with the difficult job.

Review: 8.0/10 (from IMDb.com)

Rating: R

Summary: Three film students travel to a small town to collect documentary footage about a local Blair Witch legend. Over the course of several days, the students interview townspeople and gather clues to support the tale's veracity. But the project takes a frightening turn when the students lose their way in the woods and begin hearing horrific noises, leaving only their footage behind.

Review: 6.4/10 (from IMDb.com)

Rating: PG-13

Summary: 8-year-old Cole Sear is haunted by a dark secret: he is visited by ghosts. Cole is frightened by visitations from those with unresolved problems who appear from the shadows. He is too afraid to tell anyone about this, except disheartened child psychologist Dr. Malcolm Crowe. As Dr. Crowe tries to uncover the truth about Cole’s supernatural abilities, it leads them both to something unexplainable.

Review: 8.2/10 (from IMDb.com)

Rating: R

Summary: A group of five friends come across an isolated rural home while driving through Texas. Unfortunately for them, the decrepit house is the residence of a family of deranged backwoods killers, who stalk and hunt down the kids, led by a masked brute known as Leatherface. Will any of the friends survive the nightmarish ordeal?

Review: 6.2/10 (from IMDb.com)

Rating: PG-13

Summary: After a family is forced to relocate for their son Matt’s cancer diagnosis, they begin experiencing supernatural behavior in their new home. The family turns to a priest for help and the ghosts are seemingly banished, but Matt's condition takes a sudden and unexplained turn for the worse, and the life of Matt’s family is endangered.

Review: 5.9/10 (from IMDb.com)

Rating: R

Summary: In Wes Craven's classic slasher film, several Midwestern teenagers fall prey to Freddy Krueger, a disfigured midnight mangler who preys on the teenagers in their dreams -- which, in turn, kills them in reality. After investigating the phenomenon, Nancy begins to suspect that a dark secret kept by her and her friends' parents may be the key to unraveling the mystery, but can Nancy and her boyfriend, Glen, solve the puzzle before it's too late?

Review: 7.5/10 (from IMDb.com)

Rating: R

Summary: Soon after moving into a suburban tract home, Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat become increasingly disturbed by what appears to be a supernatural presence. Hoping to capture evidence of it on film, they set up video cameras in the house but are not prepared for the terrifying events that follow.

Review: 5.9/10 (from IMDb.com)

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Matthew Williams, his wife, Jennifer, and mother, Emma, are Americans making a new life in Tokyo. Together they move into a house that has been the site of supernatural occurrences in the past, and it isn't long before their new home begins terrorizing the Williams family as well. The house, as it turns out, is the site of a curse: one that locks a person in a powerful rage before claiming their life and spreading to another victim.

Review: 5.9/10 (from IMDb.com)

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Parents take drastic measures when it seems their new home is haunted, but find out that their comatose son is possessed by a malevolent entity.

Review: 6.8/10 (from IMDb.com)

Rating: R

Summary: As physician Burt Stanton and his girlfriend, Vicky, drive across the Midwest to his new job, their trip comes to a sudden halt when they encounter the body of a murdered boy in the road. In trying to contact the authorities, Burt and Vicky wander into a small town populated only by children that are followers of sinister young preacher Isaac Chroner. Soon the couple is trapped with the dangerous religious cult of children that believe everyone over the age of 18 must be killed.

Review: 5.6/10 (from IMDb.com)

Rating: R

Summary: Ichabod Crane is sent to Sleepy Hollow to investigate the decapitations of 3 people with the culprit being a legendary apparition known as the Headless Horseman.

Review: 7.4/10 (from IMDb.com)

Rating: PG-13

Summary: As a young boy, Tim witnesses the horrifying event of his father being dragged away by the boogeyman. Despite the reassurances of his mother that the boogeyman is not real, he is never the same afterward. Years later, Tim manages to create a normal life for himself, even though he lives without closets and keeps his mattress on the floor. But when he learns of his mother's death, Tim must return home to face his childhood fear.

Review: 4.1/10 (from IMDb.com)

Rating: R

Summary: Crystal Lake's history of murder doesn't deter counselors from setting up a summer camp in the woodsy area. Disregarding the warnings from older people in the town, they find themselves stalked by a brutal killer. As they're slashed, shot and stabbed, the counselors struggle to stay alive against a merciless opponent.

Review: 6.5/10 (from IMDb.com)

Rating: PG

Summary: While exploring her new home, a girl named Coraline discovers a secret door, behind which lies an alternate world that closely mirrors her own but, in many ways, is better. But what she doesn’t know is that it has sinister secrets.

Review: 7.7/10 (from IMDb.com)

Rating: PG

Summary: When Jack Skellington, king of Halloween Town, accidentally stumbles on Christmastown and all the bright colors and warm spirits, he gets a new lease on life. He plots to bring Christmas under his control by kidnapping Santa Claus and taking over the role, but Jack soon discovers even the best plans can go seriously wrong.

Review: 8.0/10 (from IMDb.com)

Rating: PG

Summary: No adults believe three teens that believe a neighboring residence is a living creature that means them harm. With Halloween approaching, the trio must find a way to destroy the house before trick-or-treaters meet ghastly ends.

Review: 6.6/10 (from IMDb.com)

Rating: PG

Summary: After learning she is a witch, a girl helps save a town full of other supernatural creatures.

Review: 6.8/10 (from IMDb.com)

Rating: PG

Summary: After the members of a team of scientists lose their positions at a university in New York City, they decide to become "ghostbusters" to wage a high-tech battle with the supernatural for money. They stumble upon a gateway to another dimension, a doorway that will release evil upon the city and have to save New York from complete destruction.

Review: 7.8/10 (from IMDb.com)

Rating: PG

Summary: Young and misunderstood Norman Babcock has the ability to speak with the dead -- and he often prefers their company to that of the living. Norman receives word from his strange Uncle Prenderghast that he must take on ghosts, zombies, and grown-ups from a centuries-old witch curse to save his fellow townspeople.

Review: 7.0/10 (from IMDb.com)

Rating: PG-13

Con artists plan to fleece the eccentric Addams family using an accomplice who claims to be their long lost Uncle Fester.

Review: 6.8/10 (from IMDb.com)

Rating: PG

Summary: Workaholic real estate agent, Jim Evers, is accused by his wife of neglecting his son and daughter. Along the way to a vacation, the family stops off at a sinister mansion that Jim has been asked to sell, only to discover it's haunted by Master Gracey, his stern butler, Ramsley, and two other servants who need some help breaking a curse. While they attempt to escape, he learns an important lesson about the family he has neglected.

Review: 4.9/10 (from IMDb.com)

Rating: PG

Summary: After moving to Salem, Massachusetts, teenager Max Denniston explores an abandoned house with his sister Dani and their new friend, Allison. After dismissing a story Allison tells as superstitious, Max accidentally resurrects a coven of evil witches that lived in the house three centuries ago. Now, with the help of a magical cat, the kids must steal the witches' book of spells to stop them from becoming immortal.

Review: 6.6/10 (from IMDb.com)

Rating: PG

Summary:Two teen witches who were separated at birth and were adopted by two different families meet for the first time on their 21st birthday. They find out that they must use their powers to save their kingdom from the forces of darkness.

Review: 5.5/10 (from IMDb.com)

Rating: PG

Summary: Casper is a young ghost who peacefully haunts a mansion in Maine. When specialist James Harvey arrives to communicate with Casper and his fellow spirits, he brings along his teenage daughter, Kat. Casper quickly falls in love with Kat, but their relationship is complicated not only by his transparent state, but also by his uncles and their mischievous antics.

Review: 6.0/10 (from IMDb.com)

Rating: TV-G

Summary: The Peanuts gang celebrates Halloween while Linus van Pelt writes his annual letter to the Great Pumpkin and awaits its arrival. It's a classic.

Review: 8.2/10 (from IMDb.com)