October carries with it the excitement of Halloween. In honor of the spooky season, streaming platforms are bringing some of the best haunting movies and horror classics to their viewers, from family-friendly titles such as “Hocus Pocus” and “The Nightmare Before Christmas” to contemporary horror classics like “The Conjuring” and “Hereditary.”
Netflix, Apple TV+, Paramount+, Peacock and Prime Video are filled with Halloween movies, while Hulu is hosting its sixth annual “Huluween,” streaming “The Bogeyman,” “The Mill” and many other titles. Disney+ is also celebrating the season with its fourth annual “Hallowstream,” which marks the 25th anniversary of “Halloweentown.”
Here, WWD has a roundup of some of the best Halloween movies to stream this October.
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“Hocus Pocus” (1993)
Image Credit: ©Disney+/Courtesy Everett Collection - Director: Kenny Ortega
- Premiere Date: July 16, 1993
- Streaming on Hulu and Disney+
Three witch sisters resurrected in Salem, Mass., wreak havoc, and it’s up to a group of kids to stop their mischief. The film stars Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy as the Sanderson sisters. “Hocus Pocus 2,” released in 2022, is also available on Disney+.
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“M3gan” (2023)
Image Credit: ©Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection -
“Prey” (2022)
Image Credit: HULU - Director: Dan Trachtenberg
- Premiere Date: July 21, 2022
- Streaming on Hulu
“Prey,” an exclusive Hulu Original production, transports viewers 300 years back in time to the heart of the Comanche Nation telling the story of Join Naru, an adept warrior, in her relentless quest to safeguard her tribe from an enigmatic high-tech adversary relentlessly pursuing her people.
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“Beetlejuice” (1988)
Image Credit: ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection -
“Appendage” (2023)
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“The Addams Family” (1991)
Image Credit: ©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection -
“The Mill” (2023)
Image Credit: HULU - Director: Sean King O’Grady
- Premiere Date: Oct. 9, 2023
- Streaming on Hulu
A mysterious event unfolds as a businessman awakens in an outdoor penitentiary. Pressed into service as a laboring creature, he faces the urgent challenge of breaking free, all while racing against time before the imminent birth of his child.
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“The Amityville Horror”(1979)
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“American Psycho” (2000)
Image Credit: ©Lions Gate/Courtesy Everett Collection - Director: Mary Harron
- Premiere Date: April 14, 2000
- Streaming on Peacock, Prime Video
A psychological thriller where a wealthy New York investment banker hides his psychopathic ego from his friends while indulging in his murderous fantasies. The movie features Christian Bale as the leading character Patrick Bateman.
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“Carrie” (1976)
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection - Director: Brian De Palma
- Premiere Date: Nov. 3, 1976
- Streaming on Max
A horror classic where a bullied high school girl with telekinetic powers seeks revenge on her tormentors.
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“Child’s Play” (1988)
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“The Dead Zone” (1983)
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“The Fly” (1986)
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“The Host” (2006)
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“The House That Jack Built” (2018)
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“I Know What You Did Last Summer” (1997)
Image Credit: ©Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection - Director: Jim Gillespie
- Premiere Date: Oct. 17, 1997
- Streaming on Peacock
A teen slasher film where a group of friends is haunted by a secret from the past. The cast features Jennifer Love Hewitt, Julie James, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Helen Shivers, Anne Heche, Melissa Egan, Ryan Phillippe, Barry Cox and Freddie Prinze Jr.
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“Insidious” (2010)
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“The Omen” (1976)
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“Pet Sematary” (1989)
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“Scream” (1996)
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“Sleepy Hollow” (1999)
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“Friday the 13th” (1980)
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“It” (2017)
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“Us” (2019)
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“Ma” (2019)
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“Get Out”(2017)
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“Poltergeist” (1982)
Image Credit: ©MGM/Courtesy Everett Collectio -
“Halloweentown” (1998)
Image Credit: ©Disney Channel/Courtesy Everett Collection - Director: Duwayne Dunham
- Premiere Date: Oct. 17, 1998
- Streaming on Disney+ and Prime Video
In this Disney Channel original movie, a young girl discovers her family’s secret that they are witches, and she must save the magical town of Halloweentown from a dark force.
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“Haunted Mansion” (2023)
Image Credit: ©Walt Disney Co./Courtesy Everett Collection - Director: Justin Simien
- Premiere Date: July 28, 2023
- Streaming on Disney+ and Hulu
Gabbie, a single mother played by Rosario Dawson, enlists the services of a tour guide, a psychic, a priest and a historian to conduct an exorcism in her recently purchased mansion, which she has learned is inhabited by restless spirits.
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“The Nightmare Before Christmas”(1993)
Image Credit: ©Buena Vista Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection -
“Twitches” (2005)
Image Credit: ©Disney Channel/Courtesy Everett Collection -
“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” (1949)
Image Credit: ©Walt Disney Co./Courtesy Everett Collection - Director: Clyde Geronimi and Jack Kinney
- Premiere Date: Oct. 5, 1949
- Streaming on Disney+
A segment of Disney’s “The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad,” it adapts Washington Irving’s classic tale of Ichabod Crane’s encounter with the Headless Horseman in the spooky town of Sleepy Hollow.
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“Hereditary” (2018)
Image Credit: Everett Collection / Everett Collection -
“Midsommar” (2019)
Image Credit: Everett Collection / Everett Collection - Director: Ari Aster
- Premiere Date: July 3, 2019
- Streaming on Paramount+, Prime Video, and Showtime
A folk horror film that takes a group of friends to a remote Swedish village to partake in a unique midsummer festival, which quickly turns into a disturbing and surreal nightmare. Florence Pugh plays the main character, Dani.
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“The Cabin in the Woods” (2012)
Image Credit: ©Lions Gate/Courtesy Everett Collection -
“The Witch” (2015)
Image Credit: Everett Collection / Everett Collection - Director: Robert Eggers
- Premiere Date: Jan. 27, 2015
- Streaming on Hulu
A period horror film set in 1630s New England, following a Puritan family as they grapple with fear, superstition, and dark forces in the wilderness.
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“Suspiria”(2018)
Image Credit: ©Amazon/Courtesy Everett Collection / Everett Collection -
“The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (1974)
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“Train to Busan” (2016)
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“The Neon Demon” (2016)
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“The Autopsy of Jane Doe” (2016)
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“The Lodge” (2019)
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“A Quiet Place” (2018)
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“The Ring” (2002)
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“The Conjuring” (2013)
Image Credit: ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection -
“In the Tall Grass” (2019)
- Director: Vincenzo Natali
- Premiere Date: Sept. 7, 2019
- Streaming on Netflix
A horror film adapted from a Stephen King and Joe Hill novella, where siblings get lost in a field of tall grass and discover that something malevolent lurks within.
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“It Comes at Night” (2017)
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“The Silence of the Lambs” (1991)
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“Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” (2023)
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“Jennifer’s Body” (2009)
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“Orphan” (2009)
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“It Follows” (2014)
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“Boo! A Madea Halloween” (2016)
Image Credit: ©Lions Gate/Courtesy Everett Collection - Director: Tyler Perry
- Premiere Date: Oct. 21, 2016
- Streaming on AppleTV+ and Prime Video
This Tyler Perry special sees teen Tiffany sneaking out to attend a Halloween party until the famed Madea crashes the party. To seek revenge, the other teenagers attempt to prank the hard-exterior woman.
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“Boo 2! A Madea Halloween” (2017)
Image Credit: ©Lions Gate/courtesy Everett Co - Director: Tyler Perry
- Premiere Date: Oct. 20, 2017
- Streaming on Peacock
The popular sequel sees Tiffany journey to a frat house Halloween party in the middle of the woods, once again followed by Madea and her close friends Aunt Bam and Hattie. The elderly trio has a goal of rescuing the teen from the house’s alleged curse.
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“Hubie Halloween” (2020)
Image Credit: Scoott Yamano/NETFLIX - Director: Steven Brill
- Premiere Date: Oct. 7, 2020
- Streaming on Netflix
Produced by Adam Sandler, this comedy film centers around Hubie Dubois, a Salem native who is mocked and pranked by his town. Among the mockery Dubois suddenly finds himself in the midst of a real-life mystery and murder investigation.
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“Candyman” (2021)
Image Credit: ©Universal/Courtesy Everett Col - Director: Nia DaCosta
- Premiere Date: Aug. 27, 2021
- Streaming on Prime Video and MGM+
A horror film where Chicago’s Cabrini-Green housing projects were historically scared by a tale about a terrifying hook-handed killer. Looking for inspiration for new work, a Black artist takes a closer look at the old story and involves himself in a violent predicament of his own. Written by Jordan Peele, Win Rosenfeld and Nia DaCosta, the film takes the classic terrifying story and adds a Black intergenerational perspective.
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“Monster House” (2006)
Image Credit: ©Sony Pictures/Courtesy Everett - Director: Gil Kenan
- Premiere Date: Jul. 21, 2006
- Streaming on Hulu, Prime Video and AppleTV+
With Halloween just days away, a trio pack of best friends set out to prove a neighboring house in town is a literal living creature that seeks to destroy them. The animation film includes voices by Mitchel Musso, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Kevin James.
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“Coraline” (2009)
Image Credit: ©Focus Features/Courtesy Everet - Director: Henry Selick
- Premiere Date: Feb. 6, 2009
- Streaming on Hulu and Prime Video
A stop-motion fantasy horror film where a little girl named Coraline discovers an alternative world (with a parallel family) just behind her own that is deeply troubling in subtle ways. The classic character is voiced by Dakota Fanning.
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“Interview With the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles” (1994)
Image Credit: ©Warner Bros/courtesy Everett C - Director: Neil Jordan
- Premiere Date: Nov. 11, 1994
- Streaming on Hulu and Prime Video
A film where Brad Pitt plays an 18th-century lord turned into a vampire. Manipulated by fellow vampire Lestat, Louis turns a young girl into a vampire and looks after her. Other cast members of the film include Kirsten Dunst, Tom Cruise and Antonio Banderas.
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“The Witches” (1990)
Image Credit: ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett C - Director: Nicolas Roeg
- Premiere Date: Feb. 16, 1990
- Streaming on Prime Video
A young boy and his grandmother journey to a seaside resort to steer away from dangerous witches. To their surprise, at the same time, the world’s Grand High Witch is hosting a meeting at the resort to reveal her mischievous plans.
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“Death Becomes Her” (1992)
Image Credit: ©Universal/Courtesy Everett Col - Director: Robert Zemeckis
- Premiere Date: Jul. 31, 1992
- Streaming on Peacock and Prime Video
Starring Goldie Hawn and Meryl Streep, this film centers around a novelist who enlists in the help of the movie star woman who stole her husband. After discovering the star’s secret is a drug that gives immortality, the novelist signs up for the challenge without reading the fine print.
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“Trick ‘r Treat” (2007)
Image Credit: ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett C - Director: Michael Dougherty
- Premiere Date: Dec. 9, 2007
- Streaming on Max and Prime Video
An anthology horror comedy film where multiple horror stories from people in a small town converge, centering around the tagline “If you don’t follow the rules tonight, you won’t live to see tomorrow.”