The best scary film screenings in London for Halloween 2026

As usual, beloved central London repertory cinema The Prince Charles will be showing more frightening films than Dracula has had bloody dinners during its month-long season of spooky cinema this October, with a wildly eclectic programme featuring more than 80 titles. 

Highlights include live-scored screenings of the original 1922 Nosferatu (Oct 2) and The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (Oct 4), an all-night marathon of the first six Halloween films (Oct 31) and of course, its famous Sing-A-Long-A Rocky Horror Picture Show (Oct 30 and 31). There’ll also be the usual 35mm screenings of classics like The Exorcist (Oct 6-Nov 1), The Shining (Oct 2-Nov 1) and Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Oct 2-30), re-runs of recent horror hits Weapons (Oct 15), Backrooms (Oct 22) and Sinners (Oct 29), and a slew of niche B-movies you’re unlikely to catch anywhere else.

There’s something everyone across the month. Excluding wusses. Check out the full programme here.

London’s newest – and cultiest – picturehouse, Clerkenwell’s Nickel Cinema is celebrating its first ever Halloween in style this October. A thoroughly DIY affair, the grindhouse cinema specialises is the perfect place to catch some niche horror picks. You won’t find Hocus Pocus and Ghostbusters on the programme here; instead, expect slashers, sexploitation films, Italian murder mystery, German industrial cinema and B movies galore, all leading up to an all-day marathon on October 31. Beginning at 2pm on Halloween, the two-day Nickel Cinema Psychotronic Halloween Movie Mash will feature eight horror movies from around the world (which will all remain a secret until showtime) and an exclusive poster sale. Costumes are very much encouraged!

Come, little children and watch your three fave witches at this concert screening of Hocus Pocus. This evening with the Sanderson sisters will see an orchestra take over the Hammersmith Apollo to play John Debney’s score live along with the film. No tricks here, all treat. 

The beautiful, red-velvet draped Rivoli Ballroom – one of the last remaining ballrooms in town – is an appropriately creepy setting for a Halloween movie night. This year it'll be screening Psycho (Oct 27), Carrie (Oct 28), The Crow (Oct 29), The Lost Boys (Oct 30) and Hocus Pocus (Oct 31). The programme will culminate with a screening of the The Rocky Horror Picture Show on the evening of October 31 followed by a 70s and 80s themed disco on Halloween night itself. As always, fancy dress is very much encouraged, and the bar will be serving up themed cinema snacks and bevs. Full details of the spooktacular programme can be found here.

Following its annual summertime horror bonanza in August, London’s primo horror film festival – dubbed ‘the Woodstock of Gore’ by no less an authority than Guillermo del Toro – is once again resurfacing, Kraken-like, for a spooktacular weekend of Halloween screenings at the Odeon Luxe West End. Horror afficionados can expect a line-up of terrifying indie movies, typically including one or two UK premieres, each of which is screened twice. Bedwetters need not apply, and, needless to say, the festival has an 18 rating. 

RECOMMENDED: The best scary film screenings in London for Halloween

Standing proudly on St John’s Hill since 1900, the Clapham Grand is certainly old enough to be home to a ghost or two, so it’s a fitting place to enjoy some spooky antics in the form of a scary movie or two. As part of the venue’s epic Halloween programme, it’s hosting two OTT film screenings for spooky season, featuring costume competitions, dance offs, themed cocktails, creepy decor and one or two surprises. On Thursday October 29 you can catch camp classic Hocus Pocus on the venue’s huge 25ft screen, while Halloween night itself sees the return of the Grand’s longstanding Rocky Horror Picture Show night, hosted by local drag star Miss Leigh Ding (doing her best Frank-N-Furter impression), with tickets including entry to the Grand’s massive post-show Halloween Party, where you can do the time warp ’til 3am. 

RECOMMENDED: The best scary film screenings in London for Halloween

Spectacular scares are the name of the game at Rooftop Film Club’s Halloween offering, which will be turning Peckham’s majestically appointed Bussey Building into a house of horrors (okay, roof of horrors). So far, this year’s series of scary movies includes The Blair Witch Project (Oct 13) and Sinners (Oct 22). Watch this space as more titles and special events are announced.

For a rather luxe version of a scary movie night, head to Art’otel Battersea’s rooftop restaurant Joia, which is screening some spook-tastic classics alongside dinner and skyline views either side of All Hallow’s Eve. Guests will enjoy a selection of the restaurant’s dishes for dinner from 5.30pm, before cosying up on sofas to enjoy one of three seasonal classics from 7.30pm – Edward Scissorhands (Oct 29) Ghostbusters (Oct 30) or The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Oct 31) – with popcorn and a hot toddy. Blankets and hot water bottles will be on every seat to stave off the cold, and you’ll be able to purchase extra drinks and more popcorn if you still have room after dinner. Cosy and spooky in equal measure!

RECOMMENDED: The best scary film screenings in London for Halloween

Before Batman, there was The Bat. The 1926 silent movie by Roland West is credited for having influenced the look of DC’s Caped Crusader. It’s also the film that originated the ‘old dark house’ trope that we see in more or less every scary movie today. This Halloween, it’s being shown at the Musical Museum in Brentford, with a live accompaniment from Donald MacKenzie playing the mighty Wurlitzer Organ. Watch as a masked criminal known as The Bat terrorises the residents of a country mansion searching for a hidden fortune. The wordless dread and suspense will be made even more excruciating by the booming tones of the organ pipes. Halloween costumes are strongly encouraged – the best dressed bat will get a prize. 

Party like its 1929 this Halloween, as musician Hugo Max provides viola accompaniment to a series of spooky silent classics at Prince Charles Cinema, Chiswick Cinema and Finsbury Park Picturehouse. On the slate across Octoober and November are psychodrama The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, German expressionist masterpiece Nosferatu, found-footage horror film Häxan, avant-garde A Page of Madness, Hitchcock’s The Lodger and The Adventures of Prince Achmed, the oldest survining animated feature film. Expect the unexpected in a unique and transportingly old-world cinemagoing experience.

RECOMMENDED: The best scary film screenings in London for Halloween