Every year I put together a horror movie binge list for Halloween but I never end up watching more than a couple of movies on the list. I live with someone who doesn’t like horror movies so it’s always a negotiation choosing what to watch.

It’s like putting together a playlist. You need the right mix of scary horror and fun horror. You don’t want two bleak and despairing horror movies back to back. But if someone in your watch party rejects one or more movies, that can throw off the balance of your carefully crafted list.

This year I’m thinking I should do it more like a menu: choose one item from column A (scary), one from column B (funny), one from column C (horror classic). Or A: action-horror, B: comedy-horror, C: scary-horror. I’m not sure how to parse it.

Horror comedies are the easiest to get past the non-horror fan. But they cover a wide spectrum from PG level violence to over-the-top gore. Think Re-Animator. You can’t deny it’s funny but it’s also graphically violent.

Halloween Classics

• Bride of Frankenstein (1935) — The best of the Universal monster movies. Directed by James Whale. Not scary. Streaming on Peacock and Criterion.
• Cat People (1942) — The best of the Val Lewton horror movies. Not really scary but spooky and atmospheric. Directed by Jacques Tourneur. On TCM on 10/27 at 6:00am PT. Also available to rent or buy.
• The Haunting (1963) — This one is actually scary. Directed by Robert Wise. Streaming on MGM+ and Tubi.
• I Married a Witch (1942) — Rom-com not horror, even though it does involve a multi-generational curse. Directed by René Clair. Streaming on Max and Criterion.
• The Innocents (1961) — Scary. Seriously, this one still creeps me out. Directed by Jack Clayton. Not currently streaming.
• Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) — The first of four versions of this tale, based on a story by Jack Finney. With Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter, Carolyn Jones. Streaming on MGM+ and Roku.
• Night of the Demon (1957) — Based on “Casting the Runes” by M.R. James, this is a horror classic (Kate Bush sampled some dialog from this film in the song “Hounds of Love”). Directed by Jacques Tourneur, starring Dana Andrews and Niall MacGuinness. Streaming on Prime, Peacock, AMC+, Roku, Tubi, Shudder, Pluto, Freevee, Plex.

Horror Comedies

• Bubba Ho-Tep (2002) — I only saw this movie once, a pre-release screening at Comic-Con that I spent hours waiting to get into. I was underwhelmed. Based on my unreasonable expectations and general crankiness at the time, I probably should give it another chance. I generally love both the stars (Bruce Campbell & Ossie Davis) and the concept (Elvis Presley and JFK are old men in a nursing home under attack by a mummy). Currently streaming on Prime, Tubi, Pluto, Freevee.
• Cemetery Man (1994) — Stylish giallo from director Michele Soavi starring Rupert Everett as a cemetery caretaker who returns the restless dead to the grave when they keep rising. Weird and existential and entertaining as hell. Streaming on AMC+, Shudder, Tubi.
• Evil Dead II (1987) — You can skip the original Evil Dead and go straight to Evil Dead II. It’s basically a remake with a bigger budget. It’s funny and kinetic, the 3 Stooges meets 80s gore. Streaming on AMC+, Hoopla, Shudder, Pluto, Plex.
• The Frighteners (1996) — Peter Jackson’s first Hollywood movie. Frank Bannister (Michael J. Fox) can see ghosts. He uses this gift to run a scam ghostbuster business (his ghost friends haunt people so they will pay Frank for an exorcism). But there’s a supernatural entity going around killing people and Frank is Suspect #1. With Trini Alvarado, Jeffrey Combs, Dee Wallace, Jake Busey, John Astin, Chi McBride. Streaming on Peacock & Tubi.
• John Dies At the End (2012) — Don Coscarelli directed the Phantasm movies and Bubba Ho-Tep. John Dies At the End is closer to the Bubba Ho-Tep end of the scale. A bizarre little movie about a drug called ‘soy sauce’ that opens the doors of perception. Or something. With Chase Williamson, Rob Mayes, Paul Giamatti, Clancy Brown. Currently streaming on Hoopla, Tubi, Crackle, Vudu, Plex.
• Q: The Winged Serpent (1982) — A giant winged lizard is nesting at the top of the Chrysler building and feeding on rooftop sunbathers. Small-time crook Jimmy Quinn (Michael Moriarty) discovers the monster’s lair and extorts the city with that knowledge. Larry Cohen classic also stars David Carradine, Candy Clark, Richard Roundtree, Malachy McCourt. Streaming on Prime, Peacock, AMC+, Tubi, Crackle, Shudder, Pluto.
• The Return of the Living Dead (1985) — Punk rock zombie flick features fast moving zombies who can talk. Written and directed by Dan O’Bannon, the man who wrote Alien. Funny, with an awesome soundtrack. Streaming on Prime, Roku, MGM+, Hoopla, Tubi, Pluto, Freevee.
• Shaun of the Dead (2004) — The first zom-com? Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg previously collaborated on the great British sitcom, Spaced. SotD is the first of the “Cornetto” trilogy, an unconnected series of horror comedies that all star Pegg, Nick Frost, and several other actors (Bill Nighy, Martin Freeman, Paddy Considine). Followed by Hot Fuzz (my favorite of the three) and The World’s End. Streaming on Peacock.
• Tremors (1990) — Classic monster comedy with two handymen in a small desert town (Fred Ward and Kevin Bacon) fighting giant underground worms that are attracted to vibrations. With Finn Carter, Michael Gross, Reba McEntire. Streaming on Peacock.
• Tucker & Dale vs. Evil (2010) — Redneck maniacs menacing college kids in the woods is one of most enduring horror tropes. T&DvE flips the script. It’s the poor rednecks who are the victims here. With Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine. Currently streaming on Prime, Peacock, Tubi, Roku, Vudu, Hoopla, Kanopy, Pluto, Plex.
• Warm Bodies (2013) — Zom-rom-com Romeo & Juliet story with a zombie (Nicholas Hoult) falling in love with a living woman (Teresa Palmer). Also with Rob Corddry, John Malkovich, Dave Franco. Streaming on Peacock.
• Zombieland (2009) — Another zom-com, with Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin. Hilarious cameo by Bill Murray. Streaming on Netflix.

Action Horror

• Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012) — This is directed by Timur Bekmambetov, the director of the Russian paranormal duology, Night Watch and Day Watch and the Hollywood movie Wanted. He usually includes a big car stunt in his movies. Since there were no cars in the 1850s, AL:VH has a big train set piece instead. With Benjamin Walker, Anthony Mackie, Dominic Cooper, Rufus Sewell, Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Streaming on Hulu.
• The Crow (1994) — Based on the James O’Barr comic book about a murdered musician returning from the dead to avenge himself and his girlfriend. This is the movie on which Brandon Lee died after being shot with a prop gun. There were several mediocre sequels and a 2024 reboot (with Bill Skarsgård) that I have not seen. The 1994 original is streaming on Paramount+ and Pluto.
• Mimic (1997) — The first half of this monster movie is really good. You can tell the exact moment the Weinsteins started mucking with what Guillermo del Toro was trying to do. That’s when it becomes Jaws in the subway. A pity. It could have been a modern classic. Streaming on Paramount+ and Pluto.
• Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016) — The perfect pairing: Jane Austen and zombies. This is a really fun movie with a great cast: Lily James, Sam Riley, Jack Huston, Matt Smith, Charles Dance, Lena Headey. Streaming on Peacock.
• The Prophecy (1995) — Angels fight a war on Earth over a dark soul that can be used as a weapon. Christopher Walken is the Angel Gabriel, intent on recovering the soul that another Angel Simon (Eric Stolz) deposited in a little girl. Virginia Madsen plays the little girl’s teacher, Elias Koteas is an ex-priest turned cop. Viggo Mortensen as Lucifer. Streaming on Tubi and Pluto.

Scary Horror

• Barbarian (2022) — A woman (Georgina Campbell) rents an Airbnb in a bad neighborhood in Detroit only to find it’s been double-booked. She and the other tenant (Bill Skarsgård) decide to share for the night. But there’s something creepy going on in the house. Scary and unpredictable, this is the feature debut for writer/director Zach Cregger. I look forward to what he does next. Streaming on Hulu and Prime.
• Candyman (1992) — Based on a Clive Barker story, this is a much better movie about urban legends than Urban Legend was. Helen (Virginia Madsen), a grad student in Chicago, decides to write her thesis about the Candyman, a local urban legend who allegedly comes through the bathroom mirror and murders you if you say his name three times. With Tony Todd, Xander Berkeley, Kasi Lemmons. Directed by Bernard Rose. There were a couple of mediocre sequels in late 90s, then a good reboot in 2021 produced by Jordan Peele and directed by Nia DaCosta. The 1992 version is streaming on AMC+, Peacock & Shudder. The 2021 version is streaming on Freevee.
• Dark Water (2002) — One of the better Japanese ghost stories to come out around the turn of the millennium, directed by Hideo Nakata who directed the original Japanese Ring (1998), Ring 2 (1999) and the Hollywood sequel, The Ring Two (2005). Very creepy. Streaming on Criterion, Kanopy, Night Flight, Fandor, Arrow.
• The Devil’s Backbone (2001) — Guillermo del Toro directed this Spanish Civil War era ghost story set in an orphanage. Spooky. Streaming on Peacock.
• Near Dark (1987) — Kathryn Bigelow’s vampire flick is so much better than Joel Schumacher’s The Lost Boys, which came out the same year. It stars Adrian Pasdar, Jenny Wright, Lance Henriksen, Bill Paxton, Jeanette Goldstein, Tim Thomerson. Not currently streaming.
• A Tale of Two Sisters (2003) — Creepy Korean horror movie about two sisters, one of whom has just returned home from a stint in a mental hospital. They have a new stepmother and a new house that might be haunted. Streaming on AMC+.