Finding the best Halloween movies to stream in October can be hard.
At this point, there are so many streamers out there all jockeying for attention and some of the very best horror offerings when the Halloween season hits can get lost in the shuffle. But fear not, we’re here to help tell you where some of the cream of the crop horror films are currently waiting to be watched.
Whether you want to tear through classic franchises like “Halloween” or “Friday the 13th,” keep things cozy with “Hocus Pocus,” or check out one of the new horror hits like “Obsession” or “Backrooms,” we can help.
These are the 10 best Halloween movies that are streaming right now.
Halloween (Franchise)
Where to Stream: AMC+, Peacock, Paramount+, Tubi
It’s the iconic choice for the season, but it’s that way for a reason. There is just something to watching Michael Myers trudge through Haddonfield leaving one mangled body after another in his wake. The original film is almost required viewing every Halloween but in reality there are reasons to enjoy all the entries in the franchise (yes, even that one) so if you’re looking to get into the halloween spirit there’s no movies better to pull it off.
Even when the films dip to their lowest quality, there is always something thrilling to watching Myers do his thing and Laurie Strode or whoever his unlucky target is try to get away. Simply put – it feels like a perfect franchise.
Obsession
Where to Stream: Peacock
The scares in “Obsession” speak for themselves. The runaway hit of 2026, Curry Barker’s “careful what you wish for” story of a man who wants more than anything for a friend to have feelings for him that quickly goes south when she becomes – you guessed it – obsessed with him entirely. Much of the scares in the film are thanks to Inde Navarrette’s breakout performance as Nikki. There’s a physicality to the way she moves, screams and even just goes still and stares that is bone-chilling from the jump. Beyond just that, she infuses a sadness to the character, who is forced to feel this way against her will, which might be more unsettling than when she’s at her most manic and obsessed.
Also, the film may be required viewing this Halloween just for the sheer number of people likely dressing as Nikki on the big night.
Hereditary
Where to Stream: Hulu, Disney+, Tubi
Is “Hereditary” the best modern horror movie? The questions were asked right after Ari Aster’s film landed in 2018 and, by now, most are in agreement that yeah it probably is. The film just weighs on you from the moment it starts until its brutal end. There are few true jump scares in “Hereditary” – instead it goes for a suffocating bleakness – but when it decides to turn up the volume on those scares it’s extremely effective and unsettling. And Toni Collette? She should have been showered in far more awards and praise than she got for her role in the film.
Alien
Where to Stream: Netflix
“Alien” has been scaring horror fans and horror naysayers alike for decades. It has become a tentpole horror film and as the years add up it continues to hold up. Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley fights for survival against a brutal new organism aboard her spaceship as the rest of her crew is picked off one by one.
Few horror movies nail their sense of place and aesthetic like “Alien” did. Its once futuristic look has become a retro-futuristic vibe that has become the staple for the franchise. The film clearly has a lasting legacy and is always deserving of a watch or rewatch.
Trick ‘R Treat
Where to Stream: HBO Max
There is something about the anthology format that just works so well with the horror genre and “Trick ‘R Treat” has more than earned its place as one of the best to ever do it. The film weaves through 5 stories that are all set on Halloween and just oozes the vibe of the holiday itself rather than just being another story about a killer that happens to fall on the day. Each of the stories captures something different about why people love this horror-tinged holiday and I’d task you to simply try to not fall in love with Sam – the demonic little pumpkin-headed mascot at the heart of the film.
The Shining
Where to Stream: HBO Max
Stanley Kubrick’s horror classic has been analyzed and thought-pieced to death since its release in the 1980s but it remains a truly terrifying take on one of the author’s most famous novels. Shooting the film about a struggling writer and alcoholic who takes his family to a Colorado hotel to be caretaker for the winter was famously grueling – particularly for Shelley Duvall – but the results are the results.
It’s pulse-pounding, it’s tense, it’s thought-provoking and beautifully shot. It’s not only easily the best adaptation of “The Shining” it might eternally remain the best adaptation of any of King’s work.
Friday the 13th (Franchise)
Where to Stream: Netflix, Paramount+, Peacock, Tubi
Like “Halloween,” if you really want to roll up your sleeves with the classics its better to just go the full measure with a franchise binge. “Friday the 13th” is one of the all-time slasher films and the camp settings for many of the entries adds a fun element that spawned its own sub-genre. The hockey masked killer Jason Voorhees is another slow moving, everywhere at once villain that makes the slasher genre such a fun watch or rewatch. And where the stories might stumble in the “Friday the 13th” movies, trust that the kills always deliver.
Backrooms
Where to Stream: HBO Max
“Backrooms” was one of the big horror hits of the summer, and it’s finally streaming. The film was helmed by 20-year-old Kane Parsons and expanded on his popular YouTube series exploring the lore and concepts of the titular backrooms – a place apart from reality where things and people get trapped and slowly distorted. The movie is light on plot and heavy on vibes and those vibes are unsettling. If you want a constant pit in your stomach throughout a runtime, try “Backrooms.”
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Where to Stream: Netflix, Peacock, Tubi
“The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” director Tobe Hooper was directly inspired by Ed Gein and his crimes. With a villain called Leatherface, some of that inspiration is pretty obvious. Gein made skin suits and masks from the bodies he exhumed from graveyards and Leatherface also wears the skin of his victims as masks. The film is brutal even for the time and does not hold the audience’s hand in the slightest.
Go for this one if you want to feel hunted and haunted.
Hocus Pocus
Where to Stream: Disney+
Not all these Halloween movies need to be a scare a minute. The season is just as much about a cozy Fall vibe as it is bloody kills and there is no more iconic choice for that than “Hocus Pocus.” The film’s small-town setting, the goofy Sanderson sisters, the practical effects all blend together for something that hits whether you’re carrying tons of nostalgia for the movie or you are coming to it for the first time. If you want all the energy of a great Halloween movie with none of the blood, “Hocus Pocus” is your pick.
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