Spooky season is here and it's time to break out the Halloween tunes and schedule a Halloween movie night or two. Holiday aficionados, including Time Out editors, will point out that not all scary movies are Halloween movies—which is why we've come up with a list of the best Halloween movies of all time, the ones that serve up plenty of scares suitable for the season.
A Halloween movie isn’t just about fear, after all. Ot’s about atmosphere. It’s the kind of film that feels right when the air turns crisp and creepy decorations appear throughout the neighborhood. The scares should hit hard but still leave room for fun. That’s the sweet spot Time Out’s editors aimed for when they rounded up their definitive list of the best Halloween movies of all time.
At the top of the list is The Texas Chain Saw Massacre—and yes, Time Out calls it the scariest movie ever made. Tobe Hooper’s 1974 shocker remains one of the most intense viewing experiences in cinematic history. Shot on a shoestring budget in brutal Texas heat with a cast of mostly unknowns, it’s a film that’s lost none of its raw, unrelenting power. Despite its grim reputation, it’s not especially gory—just relentlessly terrifying. Beneath the chainsaws and screams lies a scathing satire of American class anxiety and rural decay. Half a century later, it’s still the scariest movie you’ll ever survive.
Coming in second is Dario Argento’s Suspiria, a fever dream of a film that turns a simple story about an American dancer at a creepy European ballet school into a neon-lit nightmare. Between its shocking color palette, gobsmacking death scenes and Goblin’s ear-splitting prog-rock score, Suspiria feels like Halloween distilled into 98 minutes of pure delirium.
At number three is The Shining. Stanley Kubrick’s icy adaptation of Stephen King’s haunted hotel novel is an yearly ritual viewing for good reason. Jack Nicholson’s descent into madness never gets old and, even after countless screenings, the Overlook Hotel still holds new horrors behind its blood-drenched doors.
Rounding out the top five are the found-footage game-changer The Blair Witch Project and Spielberg’s suburban ghost story Poltergeist—both proof that Halloween magic happens when terror meets playfulness.
Want more? Check out Time Out’s full list of 48 Halloween essentials, grab your candy bowl and prepare for a long, sleepless night.