If I had to provide a ratio of things I’ve watched in my life from scary to non-scary, it would fall somewhere around 90 to 10. Anyone who knows me knows this is part of my personality at this point. If a new scary movie comes out, I’ve seen it—and I definitely have an opinion on it.
Throughout my past 28 years, I’ve seen just about every horror and thriller movie that a person could. All this to say: If I’m an authority on anything, it’s scary movies. And when’s the best time to watch a scary movie? Right now, baby.
We still have a few glorious weeks left of spooky season, so there’s no time like now to check off the boxes on a scary movie bucket list. From decades-old classics to lesser-known Netflix gems, curl up on your couch and work through them this spooky season. I promise you won’t be disappointed.
I’ve ranked all movies on a scariness level, one being the least scary and five being the scariest I’ve seen—a ranking only four movies in history have earned from me!
1. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
Spook rating: 1/5
Where to watch: Hulu
The book this is adapted from, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, is half of the reason I am who I am. Growing up, I had yearly Halloween parties with all of my friends. We’d carve pumpkins and watch a movie, and before we went to bed, my dad would read one of these stories to us. The lights would be off. He’d have a flashlight and bellow, “Whereeeeeeeee issssssss myyyyyyyy toeeeeeeee” (if you know, you know). Then, my mom would jump out from somewhere else. All of us would scream, and then nobody but me would be able to sleep.
This is very much a movie intended for younger people, but it’s a perfect scare-free movie to get a spooky ambiance without the risk of anyone not being able to sleep at night.
2. Coraline
Spook rating: 1/5
Where to watch: Prime Video
This iconic movie isn’t scary, but perfect to set the mood for spooky season. A Coraline rewatch calls for a girls’ night in filled with red wine and all the pumpkin-flavored foods Trader Joe’s has in stock.
3. Hocus Pocus
Spook rating: 1/5
Where to watch: Disney+
If you go through a spooky season without watching this—the best nostalgic scary movie of all time—you’re no friend of mine. You’ll also want to watch the 2022 sequel on Disney+.
4. Halloweentown
Spook rating: 1/5
Where to watch: Disney+
This is one of the most sentimental Halloween movies there is. It’s impossible to go through October without watching this at least once.
5. Corpse Bride
Spook rating: 1/5
Where to watch: Max
If there are no Tim Burton fans left, then I’d have to be dead. This movie is one of my favorite classic watches during October to get me in the spooky mood, and it’s just so nostalgic. Not to mention, there are some fantastic musical numbers in it, too.
6. MaXXXine
Spook rating: 2/5
Where to watch: Prime Video
Take a step into the dark side of Hollywood with this suspense movie, perfect for your next spooky watch. Aspiring movie star and hustler Maxine Minx (Mia Goth) finally gets her big break. But as a mysterious killer stalks the starlets of 1980s Hollywood, a trail of blood threatens to reveal her sinister past.
7. A Quiet Place: Day One
Spook rating: 3/5
Where to watch: Paramount+
I love the original A Quiet Place movie, but how did things get to that point? Hello, prequel! When New York City comes under attack from an alien invasion, a woman and other survivors try to find a way to safety. They soon learn that they must remain absolutely silent as the mysterious creatures are drawn to the slightest sound.
8. Get Out
Spook rating: 3/5
Where to watch: Peacock
Get Out was one of the most talked-about movies of recent years, and for good reason. Jordan Peele completely changed the horror movie game with this. I would argue that it’s more suspenseful than scary, and the social commentary it provides far overrides any horror elements. If its Oscar win somehow didn’t convince you to watch it, now is the time.
9. The Silence of the Lambs
Spook rating: 3/5
Where to watch: AppleTV+
I will include this in every scary movie roundup I do in my life for a simple reason: It’s the best movie of all time. It is unparalleled in its storyline and acting and even the genre it hits. If you’ve never seen it, it should absolutely be #1 on your to-be-watched list.
I gave this 3/5 ghosts because, while there’s not much gore, the premise is quite scary. But everyone on this planet should definitely watch this because of how good the story is.
10. Split
Spook rating: 3/5
Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video
Psychological thrillers are some of my favorite movies out there. In this one, the main character, Kevin, has 23 personalities living within his mind. The craziest part is that each personality has its own unique qualities, including physical capabilities, moods, and temperaments. There’s one particularly strong personality, though, that wants to dominate the rest and poses a significant threat to other people. After you watch this movie, you’ll want to use “That wasn’t me, that was Patricia” for every excuse from now on.
11. The Blair Witch Project
Spook rating: 3/5
Where to watch: Peacock
This is under the “Scary as Hell” category on Hulu, and I would enthusiastically agree with that. I’ve only seen this once in my life, but it has haunted me since. Three filmmakers go into the woods and are haunted by an entity, and it’ll give you that agoraphobic, lost-in-the-woods kind of terror.
12. Orphan
Spook rating: 3/5
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
When a couple loses their child, they are eager to feel like a family again and decide to adopt a little girl. Little do they know, this girl has a much longer and more sinister history than they could’ve imagined. This movie will leave you with the “ick,” but in the best way.
13. Cuckoo
Spook rating: 3/5
Where to watch: Prime Video
Hunter Schafer and the horror genre are truly a match made in heaven—or I guess… hell? Gretchen (Schafer) reluctantly leaves her American home to live with her father, who has just moved into a resort in the German Alps with his new family. Arriving at their future residence, something doesn’t seem right in this tranquil vacation paradise. Gretchen is plagued by strange noises and bloody visions until she discovers a shocking secret that concerns her own family.
14. Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile
Spook rating: 3/5
Where to watch: Netflix
Long gone are the Troy Bolton days of Zac Efron’s past. In Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, watch as he conquers the role of one of the most horrific serial killers in history: Ted Bundy.
15. Ready or Not
Spook rating: 3/5
Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video
There’s nothing better than a horror movie that can nail mystery, horror, and humor all in one, and Ready or Not does just that. The story follows a young bride as she joins her new husband’s rich, eccentric family in a time-honored tradition that turns into a lethal game with everyone fighting for their survival.
16. Us
Spook rating: 4/5
Where to watch: Hulu
After Jordan Peele’s debut movie, Get Out, I didn’t know how he could possibly come up with another story that twisted—but he did. And he did not disappoint. This is one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. Period. It managed to chill me to my core while also keeping me invested in a unique, out-of-the-box storyline. (Lupita Nyong’o not getting an Oscar for her performance in this was a crime I’ll never get over, but that’s a rant for another day.)
17. The Conjuring
Spook rating: 4/5
Where to watch: Prime Video
The Conjuring universe is a guilty horror pleasure of mine, and I’ll never get over that iconic and terrifying music box jingle. Maybe the most appealing part about these movies is the plot and storyline behind them, which we don’t always get with horror films. Renowned paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren are called to help a family terrorized by a dark presence in their farmhouse. In the most horrible case of their lives, the Warrens are forced to confront a powerful demonic entity.
18. American Psycho
Spook rating: 4/5
Where to watch: Netflix
This movie is truly disturbing and is a classic for a reason. It’s hard to watch, and an extremely hot man is murdering people left and right. It’s an interesting story about what you do—and don’t—know about people.
19. Halloween
Spook rating: 4/5
Where to watch: Apple TV+
You’ve seen it 100 times, and ’tis the season to watch it for 101st. Perhaps the most classic horror movie of all time, Halloween just doesn’t get old.
20. Run
Spook rating: 4/5
Where to watch: Hulu
Sarah Paulson has made herself a bit of an icon in the horror genre, and this movie is one of her best pieces of work yet. It flew under the radar, but it deserves a spot on your watch list as a mother-holds-her-child-hostage story. In this movie, a teenager who is confined to a wheelchair has been isolated and homeschooled by her mother her whole life. When she starts to dig into her mother’s secrets, she realizes her mother has been drugging her.
21. Nope
Spook rating: 4/5
Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video
This list would be incomplete without including all three of Jordan Peele’s masterpieces. His latest (2022), Nope, tells the stories of siblings who run a ranch in California and discover an otherworldly spectacle in the skies.
22. Talk To Me
Spook rating: 4/5
Where to watch: Hulu
If you were scared to death by a friend making the planchette on the Ouija board move back in the day (because are you totally sure they were moving it?), you’ll love this film. When a group of friends discover how to conjure spirits with an embalmed hand, they become hooked on the new thrill and high-stakes party game—until one of them goes too far and unleashes terrifying supernatural forces.
23. The Witch
Spook rating: 4/5
Where to watch: AppleTV+
Listen, one of the few rules I follow is that I usually want nothing to do with a period piece, but The Witch is the exception to that rule. Anything that consists of a town from long ago fearing a girl becoming a witch is superb entertainment, and this is quite scary. The ambiance combined with Anya Taylor-Joy’s acting is *chef’s kiss.*
24. Skinamarink
Spook rating: 4/5
Where to watch: Hulu
This viral 2022 movie was labeled as one of the scariest modern horror films and gives that really eerie feel due to its low quality, grainy, film style. Two children wake up in the middle of the night to find their father is missing, and all the windows and doors in their home have vanished. This one’ll have you sleeping with the lights on for a night… or maybe two.
25. Goodnight Mommy
Spook rating: 4/5
Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video
I distinctly remember this movie trailer coming out and the internet going absolutely wild about it for weeks after, but I didn’t feel like many people actually ended up seeing it. This movie is, in a word, petrifying. It is completely bizarre, and the aesthetics are enough to haunt you for weeks after, but after you see the ending, it turns it into a sleep-with-the-lights-on kind of experience.
26. It
Spook rating: 4/5
Where to watch: Max
This is by far one of the scariest recent movie releases. The child actors in this movie are amazing, and you can follow it up with It Chapter Two, which stars Bill Hader and Jessica Chastain. This is a keep-you-up-at-night, bone-chilling one to check off your list.
27. Longlegs
Spook rating: 4/5
Where to watch: Prime Video
This film went absolutely viral for its marketing campaigns with lead Maika Monroe being introduced to Nicolas Cage as “Longlegs” for the very first time. Her rising heart rate had me on the edge of my seat in anticipation of this film, and it did not disappoint. The story follows a serial killer (Cage) and the FBI agent (Monroe) pursuing him, as she uncovers a series of occult clues that she must solve to end his terrifying killing spree.
28. The Strangers
Spook rating: 5/5
Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video
I’ve mentioned this movie in every horror movie roundup I’ve ever done, and I will continue to until the day I die. This could just be a personal thing. Maybe this movie hit me harder than the rest of the general population, but it is one of the few movies I’ve seen that genuinely terrifies me to my core. I actually can’t sleep every single time I’m at a cottage in Michigan because I think about this movie. If you aren’t scared of potato sack masks, you’re about to be.
29. Midsommar
Spook rating: 5/5
Where to watch: Max
Made by the same studio as Hereditary, this will leave you feeling less petrified and more disturbed. It’s completely unique in its concept and has some of the wildest scenes of any horror movie I’ve ever seen. This movie is a full-blown experience and stands in a league of its own in terms of storyline and acting. Florence Pugh is incredible in it. Another selling point? The entire film takes place in full daylight.
30. Sinister
Spook rating: 5/5
Where to watch: Max
There was a period of time around 2012 when a bunch of new-age horror movies came out, but this one stood out from the crowd. This movie scared the bejeezus out of me. It scared me more than anything I had seen at the time. To this day, I’ve only watched it one more time, but I think about it approximately once a week. A certain element they included—some spooky tapes found in the attic—is one of the most bone-chilling things I’ve seen. This is a good one to watch with a group.
31. Hereditary
Spook rating: 5/5
Where to watch: AppleTV+
This is, hands down, one of the most disturbing movies I have ever seen in my life. It has so many realistic scenes of things you probably never want to see. But if you want to watch something super scary, this is the one for you. This solidified that Toni Collette is one of the best actresses of our time, and you can quote me on that.
MEET THE AUTHOR
Madeline Galassi, Senior Fashion & Beauty Editor
Madeline Galassi is the Fashion & Beauty Editor at The Everygirl, where she oversees the fashion and beauty categories of the site. She’s always keeping a pulse on the latest trends to create timely, exciting content for our readers. She is also a true crime, horror, and thriller aficionado, and has been writing about her favorite thrillers for two years.
