8 Insanely Great Halloween Horror Movie Party Picks

You’re having a Halloween party. You need the perfect horror movie to give the party just the right prickly pitch. Whether you want a film to function as wallpaper in the background—amplifying the party mood and environment—or your chosen motion picture will be the main course—devoured by attentive eyeballs with the lights down low—this post has you covered with an array of out-of-this-world options.

But before we get to our recommendations, let’s take a quick minute to define what makes a bloody great Halloween party movie. After all, not just any horror movie will work for this scenario. Oscar-nominated fright flicks like The Exorcist or Silence of the Lambs can be too heavy, weighing down the party a bit and eating up too much attention. On the other end of the spectrum, slasher flicks like those in the Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, and Halloween series’ can feel too generic—leaving little impression and boring partygoers with a been-there-done-that vibe.

• Fun – You don’t want to terrorize people so much as show them a horrific good time. Really that’s what Halloween is all about. You want laughs, winces, and reactions.
• Freaky – You want something strange, creative and arresting that will grab partygoers and pull them into the horror mood. Even if it’s just on in the background, you want it to inspire eyeballs.
• Fresh – Not in the Rotten Tomatoes sense, but in terms of originality. You want something that stands out as a unique product where people say, “I haven’t seen anything like that before”.

8 Wicked-Awesome Halloween Horror Movie Watches

Here’s an octet of killer movies that will make your Halloween party a scream. Choose one, or if you’re a brave soul play a few (or all) of them back-to-back to create a murderously magnificent marathon…

1. An American Werewolf in London

It’s been nearly four decades since this movie’s 1981 release and there still hasn’t been another werewolf transformation scene as a detailed, uncomfortable, or mesmerizing as this one.

2. Basket Case

A strange man travels around New York City carrying a basket. What’s inside (and why) is pretty freakin’ fantastic.

3. Beetlejuice

If Halloween were a movie, it would not actually be Halloween but Beetlejuice. This movie oozes brilliantly bizarre and creative characters, creatures, and dance sequences at every turn. There’s nothing else like it.

4. Brain Damage

Another low-budget gem from the director of Basket Case. But this one’s even better—with a creature so amazingly strange it will have you in stitches.

5. Dead Alive

Before he went on to helm the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy (and win an Oscar), director Peter Jackson made this delightful gorefest that culminates in a zombie party crashed (or rather “chopped”) by a man with a lawnmower.

6. Drag Me to Hell

Decades after he directed the horror classic listed directly below and just a couple years after he had huge success with the Spider-Man trilogy (the ones with Tobey Maguire), Sam Raimi made this underrated scare flick—which includes the best-ever film séance scene featuring a talking goat.

7. Evil Dead 2

If you haven’t seen Evil Dead 2 yet, think really long and hard about what you’re doing with your life.

8. Piranha 3D

This movie may not be for everyone, but if you’re on board for its brand of sleazy, bloody, go-for-broke horror/humor these fanged fish will take you on a wild ride.

Enjoy the party!