Are you scared of all the horror movies your friends are watching but don’t want to see Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and Beetlejuice for the 100th time? Are you looking for something to get you into the holiday spirit without making you too scared to leave the house until Thanksgiving? Then try a couple of these classic, spooky-but-not-too-spooky, Halloween favorites!
Scary Movie (Paramount+)
If you’ve ever had a dream that you were being chased by a murderer, this movie is what happens when you realize it’s all just a dream and decide to fly away. Based on Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer and filled with nods to The Matrix, The Sixth Sense, and The Shining, Scary Movie is nothing like any of them.
Exactly one year after teenagers Cindy (Anna Faris), her boyfriend Bobby (Jon Abrahams), her friend Buffy (Shannon Elizabeth), her boyfriend Greg (Lochlyn Munro), her other friend Brenda (Regina Hall), and Brenda’s boyfriend Ray (Shawn Wayans) accidentally kill a man, a murder spree starts at their high school and they begin receiving threatening messages claiming “I KNOW,” presumably about the murder. They must find out who the killer is before it’s too late — and before they’re next.
For anyone whose favorite way of coping with fear is to just laugh through it, Scary Movie is for you. It won’t promise many frights, but there will definitely be lots of laughs, and remembering it just might help you get through your next viewing of a real slasher movie. It is wonderfully silly and unserious, and perfect for both horror lovers and haters alike. If you’ve seen all of the movies it is referencing, there are dozens of easter eggs scattered throughout, and if you haven’t, it makes you feel as if you had.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Hulu)
Have you been looking for a movie about aliens, murder, and cannibalism that will have you giggling and singing along to catchy songs? If so, you’ve come to the right place. This movie is a cult classic for a reason: it may not have an entirely coherent plot, but what it lacks in story it makes up for in dedicated performances, incredible costuming choices, and unforgettable lines.
The movie begins with the engagement of Brad Majors (Barry Bostwick) and Janet Weiss (Susan Sarandon), who decide to make the journey to their old science teacher’s house to tell him the good news. On the way, they get a flat tire and walk to the closest building, an ominous-looking mansion, to ask to use a phone — but they quickly learn they got more than they bargained for when they meet mad scientist Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry), handyman Riff Raff (Richard O’Brien) and his sister Magenta (Patricia Quinn), and groupie Columbia (Little Nell).
From the moment they walk into the house and the inhabitants break out into the Time Warp (“It’s just a jump to the left / And then a step to the right”) to meeting Dr. Frank-N-Furter’s creation, Brad and Janet are swept into an adventure they won’t soon forget. So grab your popcorn and get ready to do the Time Warp again with this movie that will make you laugh, sing, and come to the conclusion that once again, the villain is the best part of the movie.
It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (Apple TV+)
https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/its-the-great-pumpkin-charlie-brown/umc.cmc.1c5nvp802hos5t3u0umlukkwh
If you’re anything like me, your childhood was spent watching Peanuts holiday specials on repeat. My parents often recollect an hours-long road trip when I refused to watch anything but A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, and A Charlie Brown Christmas would always play in the background while making eggnog and decorating our tree. It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown is a fall staple, and its runtime of 25 minutes makes it perfect for a rewatch (or a first time viewing, if you’re curious what all the fuss is about!).
Our story begins when Linus (Christopher Shea) writes a letter to the Great Pumpkin, who he believes will visit the pumpkin patch on Halloween. Much to his chagrin, his peers — excluding Sally (Cathy Steinberg), who has a crush on Linus — mock him for deciding to sit in a pumpkin patch instead of going trick or treating. Later, Charlie Brown (Peter Robbins) and his friends go trick or treating and then head to a Halloween party, while Snoopy (Bill Melendez) dresses as a World War I fighter pilot and takes to the skies on his doghouse. In classic Peanuts fashion, chaos, heartfelt lessons, and Lucy’s (Sally Dryer) inevitable disgust with Snoopy ensues.
Little Shop of Horrors (YouTube)
We’ve seen aliens try to take over the world in Independence Day and fungus try to take over the world in The Last of Us, but what about plants? In Little Shop of Horrors, that is the question.
When florist Seymour Krelborn (Rick Moranis) buys a strange flytrap-like plant (Levi Stubbs) during a solar eclipse, he doesn’t expect much to come of it. But when the plant — dubbed Audrey II after his coworker and love interest Audrey (Ellen Greene) — starts to attract customers to the failing flower shop he works at, he realizes just how important it is to keep it alive… no matter the cost. After Audrey II begins to die, Seymour discovers that it can only survive on human blood, and must decide how he will source it.
While the Audrey II puppet would have been the stuff of nightmares when I was a kid, it is now probably the least scary part of a movie musical that is not very scary to begin with. Even if you are not a musical theater fan, this movie will have you crying during “Somewhere That’s Green” and dancing in your seat during “Skid Row (Downtown).”
Various TV Halloween Episodes
You might not have the time to watch a whole movie this Halloween season, and that’s okay! With college apps and the start of a new quarter, school can seem a little overwhelming, so here are a few short episodes to watch when you have a moment to relax and enjoy Halloween.
The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror: An annual anthology series that requires no previous knowledge of The Simpsons to enjoy, while delivering everything we have come to love about the show. Entertainment Weekly ranked the five best episodes as “Treehouse of Horror IV” (Season 5), “Treehouse of Horror I” (Season 2), “Treehouse of Horror V” (Season 6), “Treehouse of Horror VII” (Season 8), and “Treehouse of Horror II” (Season 3).
Modern Family: These Halloween episodes are admittedly much better if you’ve seen the show, so if you have, these are great episodes to revisit — and if you haven’t, this is a great time to start watching from the beginning. Screen Rant rated the five best episodes as “Halloween” (Season 2), “Open House of Horrors” (Season 4), “Halloween 3: AwesomeLand” (Season 6), “Halloween 4: The Revenge of Rod Skyhook” (Season 8), and “The Last Halloween” (Season 11).
Community: I would be remiss not to mention one of my favorite shows of all time. The Halloween episodes are unlike anything else: for a show based in reality (a community college, no less), there seem to be a lot of zombies, ghosts, and overall shenanigans. There are only four episodes, but they are all worth a watch; “Introduction to Statistics” (Season 1), “Epidemiology” (Season 2), “Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps” (Season 3), and “Paranormal Parentage” (Season 4).
Gilmore Girls: Because of course. Chances are you have the list of fall episodes memorized already!
