It’s October which means it’s that time of the year when horror freaks watch an insanely amount of horror movies. If you are wondering which horror movies to view to put you in the Halloween spirit; we have you covered. Horror Freak News has complied our own 31 Days of Halloween Horror Movies list.
When putting together this list, we wanted to make sure that we had the perfect blend of horror movies for the season. The theme for the 2019 list is movies that were released in the 1970s and 1980s. That’s right — the classics.
The 70s and 80s gave horror fans some of the most legendary horror icons from Michael Myers to Chucky. These two decades produced so many successful horror movies that many of the films have been remade or rebooted many times over.
If you are ready to get in the Halloween spirit than we have the list for you, most of these films can be watched either on Amazon or Shudder. We hope you enjoy our list of 31 Days of Halloween Horror Movies 2019. If we missed a movie that you think should be on the list, be sure to leave us a comment.
October 1:
Halloween (1978)
There is no need to wait until October 31st to watch this one. We might as well start with this John Carpenter classic. Halloween was filmed in 1978. The movie was directed and scored by John Carpenter. The original Halloween was shot on a $300k budget and grossed $70 million worldwide at the Box Office. The film was the first movie that Jamie Lee Curtis played in. Halloween brings us Michael Myers and of the course of countless reboots and remakes. One thing is clear. You can’t kill the boogeyman. One thing that I find funny about this movie is that the Michael Myers mask that was used in this film is a modified Captain Kirk Star Trek mask.
October 2:
Amityville II: The Possession (1982)
The first film in the Amityville Horror franchise was made in 1979 and based on the story of George and Kathy Lutz. I like the second movie in the franchise, The Amityville II: The Possession. This movie is based on the original DeFeo murders which took place at the Amityville home. This is a prequel to the Amityville Horror movie. The film was made less than ten years from the Defeo murders. Ronald DeFeo killed his whole family inside the Amityville house. Ronald murdered his father, mother, two brothers, and two sisters. He pleaded insanity at his trial. Many people believe that DeFeo was possessed by whatever entity lives in the Amityville home. This film is loosely based on the murders, but the names of the characters were changed.
October 3:
The Serpent and The Rainbow (1988)
Directed by Wes Craven, The Serpent, and The Rainbow is based on a true story. The film stars Bill Pullman who plays Wade Davis. Davis visits goes to Haiti to investigate a real-life zombie. Haitian Voodoo was being used to create Zombies. Not the Night of the Living Dead type of zombies but a different kind. This movie has one of my favorite lines ever in any horror movie the whole “Don’t let them bury me. I’m not dead.”
The whole concept of being buried alive is something I think most people find frightening. If you haven’t seen this one, I think you will enjoy it.
October 4:
Phantasm (1979)
Angus Scrimm is one of my favorites in this film where he plays the Tall Man. The Tall Man is an undertaker that is stilling bodies and turning them into dwarf zombies on another planet. The Tall Man has these metal spheres that fly around. Right before the sphere hit you blades come out.
I believe the Phantasm series is like the original Supernatural or at least had to inspire the creators of Supernatural.
October 5:
Children of the Corn (1984)
This classic based on the work of Stephen King. It is creepy. Imagine breaking down in a town where all the kids have killed the adults. And now they are worshipping some creature in the cornfields and have to sacrifice people to it. Issac and Malachai are super freaking creepy kids in this movie. Such a very well done horror film.
October 6:
The Last House on the Left (1972)
A disturbing masterpiece from Wes Craven. Wes Craven wrote, directed, and edited the film which was produced by the director of Friday the 13th, Sean Cunningham. The film was made on for $87,000. It grossed over $3 million at the box office, which was huge. The marketing campaign on this was funny. They used the line “To Avoid Fainting Keep Saying It’s Only A Movie.” Wes Craven wrote the film to be a little more hardcore, but a decision was made to make the movie a little softer. I can only imagine how brutal the original script was as this version is very unsettling. Wes Craven’s original script has never been released.
October 7:
The Lost Boys (1987)
It’s not Halloween without some vampires. The Lost Boys stars Corey Haim, Corey Feldman, and Kiefer Sutherland. This was the first movie that the two Coreys starred in together. Most of the film was shot in Santa Cruz, California. Every year they show a screening of The Lost Boys down on the Santa Cruz boardwalk.
October 8:
Motel Hell (1980)
Motel Hell is a dark horror comedy featuring a chainsaw welding pigman. The hotel is called Motel Hello but the “o” in the sign blinks making it read “Motel Hell.” The film was initially supposed to be directed by Tobe Hooper. The script for Motel Hell was not a comedy but rather a disturbing violent film. When Universal Studios passed on the film, Tobe Hooper dropped out as director and Kevin Connor was brought in. Connor turned the movie into a dark comedy.
The movie stars Rory Calhoun, Nancy Parsons, and Nina Axelrod. Motel Hell is about a farmer and his sister who are trying to manage a motel and become a meat entrepreneur. The film was marketed with the tagline “You might just die…laughing.”
October 9:
The Omen (1976)
What if your child was evil? I mean, really evil. Like what if your child was the antichrist? That’s the question that Damien’s parents have to deal with. His nanny hangs herself in front of him at his birthday party but not before she yells out to him “It’s all for you, Damien! It’s all for you!” People all around him start to die. Is Damien an innocent child or is he the antichrist?
Richard Donner directed the Omen. David Seltzer wrote the screenplay. The film stars Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, and Harvey Stephens.
October 10:
The Shining (1980)
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. The Shining is an adaptation of a Stephen King novel by the same name. The film was directed by Stanley Kubrick and starred Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Scatman Crothers, and Danny Lloyd. The Shining tells the story of a family isolated at a haunted hotel for the winter. A sequel, Doctor Sleep, is set to be released on November 8, 2019.
October 11:
Fright Night (1985)
Fright Night marked the directorial debut of Tom Holland. Holland also wrote the script. The movie is about a boy who believes his next-door neighbor is a vampire. Of course, nobody believes him, so he tries to recruit television personality, Peter Vincent, to help him.
October 12:
The Company of Wolves (1984)
The Company of Wolves is kind of a goth horror reimaging of Little Red Riding Hood with Angela Lansbury as the grandmother and a werewolf twist. The film was directed by Neil Jordan who also wrote The Crying Game. Angela Carter and Neil Jordan wrote the script.
October 13:
Hellraiser (1987)
Hellraiser was written and directed by Clive Barker. The movie is based on Barker’s novel The Hellbound Heart. The film is about a man, Frank, who inadvertently opens a portal to hell when he solves a puzzle box. The puzzle box unleashes Cenobites, who tear Frank’s body apart. When Frank’s brother and his wife, Julia, move into Frank’s old house, they accidentally bring what is left of Frank back to life. Frank convinces Julia, his one-time lover, to lure men back to the house so he can use their blood to reconstruct himself, but the Cenobites are in pursuit. Doug Bradley plays Pinhead.
October 14:
Cannibal Holocaust (1980)
This found footage style movie looks so realistic that the Ruggero Deodato was charged with multiple counts of murder. The courts believed that the actors who portrayed the missing film crew and the native actress featured in the impalement scene were killed for the camera. The film was banned in several countries. Eventually, the murder charges were dropped but not before the actors were confirmed to be alive. Cannibal Holocaust is often too gory to be on some 31 Days of Halloween Horror Movies Lists.
October 15:
Sleepaway Camp (1983)
Sleepaway Camp was written and directed by Robert Hiltzik. It is a horror version of The Crying Game but way before The Crying Game. It’s the first film in the four-film Sleepaway Camp franchise. The film is about Angela Baker, a traumatized and timid young girl, who is sent to summer camp with her cousin. Shortly after her arrival, anyone with sinister or less than honorable intentions gets killed.
October 16:
Cujo (1983)
Cujo is based on Stephen King’s novel of the same name. The movie was directed by Lewis Teague and written by Don Carlos Dunaway and Barbara Turner. Cujo stars Dee Wallace, Daniel Hugh Kelly, and Danny Pintauro. The film is about a mother and child trapped inside their car without food or water during a heatwave. They have to survive but a rabid St. Bernard has other ideas.
October 17:
Alice Sweet Alice (1976)
A young Brooke Shields makes your film debut in this Alfred Sole directed slasher movie. Alice Sweet Alice is about a troubled young girl who becomes a suspect in the brutal murder of her younger sister at her first communion, as well as in a series of other stabbings that follow. The film was initially titled Communion but was re-titled Alice, Sweet, Alice when Allied Artists acquired it.
October 18:
The Hills Have Eyes (1977)
The Hills Have Eyes is another horror classic directed, written, and edited by Wes Craven. The film stars Michael Berryman, Susan Lanier, and Dee Wallace. The Hills Have Eyes is based on the 16th-century legend of Alexander “Sawney” Bean. Sawney was the head of a 45 member cannibal clan in Scotland who ate over 1,000 people. Craven’s movie is set in the Nevada desert and follows a family stalked by hill dwelling cannibal savages.
October 19:
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)
Loosely based on real-life serial killers, Henry Lee Lucas, and Ottis Toole, this film is so raw that the MPAA first gave it a rating of X. It later received a rating of NC-17. Henry stars Michael Rooker, Tom Towles, and Tracy Arnold. The film was directed and co-written by John McNaughton. Henry is a must include for any 31 Days of Halloween Horror Movies List.
October 20:
The Thing (1982)
The Thing was directed by John Carpenter and written by Bill Lancaster. The movie is about a group of researchers in Antarctica who come across an extraterrestrial life form that can imitate other human beings or animals. This leaves the group wondering who is a real human and who is The Thing. The movie starred Kurt Russell and was based on a 1938 novella by John W. Campbell, Jr. entitled Who Goes There?
October 21:
Re-Animator (1985)
This film is a fun horror based on H.P. Lovecraft’s 1922 serial novelette entitled Herbert West – Reanimator. The movie starred Brian Yuzna and was directed by Stuart Gordon. The first cut of the film was rated X, but an edited version was able to obtain an R rating.
October 22:
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
Dawn of the Dead is a George A. Romero zombie classic. The film follows an ever-growing epidemic of zombies that have risen from the dead, two Philadelphia S.W.A.T. team members, a traffic reporter, and his television executive girlfriend that seek refuge in a shopping mall.
More 31 Days of Halloween Horror Movies 2019
October 23:
Maniac (1980)
Maniac is a slasher film directed by William Lustig and written by C. A. Rosenburg. It is about a serial killer in New York City who murders and scalps young women. Joe Spinell played the lead role of the Maniac, Frank Zito. Spinell was also a co-writer of the film.
October 24:
Poltergeist (1982)
They’re here! Tobe Hooper directed this supernatural horror classic. He got plenty of help from writer and producer Steven Spielberg. The reason Spielberg couldn’t direct it was because his contract wouldn’t allow him to direct another film while he made E.T. The film stars JoBeth Williams, Heather O’Rourke, Craig T. Nelson, and Beatrice Straight.
October 25:
The Evil Dead (1981)
What happens when five college students go to an isolated cabin and play an audiotape they find? Demons are unleashed onto the earth, and these college students become their prey in this film written and directed by Sam Raimi.
October 26:
Creepshow (1982)
Creepshow was directed by George A. Romero and written by Stephen King. The movie is a horror-comedy anthology made up of five short stories. Stephen King’s son plays the part of Billy in the film.
October 27:
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
One, two, Freddy’s coming for you
Three, four, better lock your door
Five, six, grab your crucifix
Seven, eight, gonna stay up late
Nine, ten, never sleep again
That’s about all that needs to be said about this Wes Craven horror classic. Robert Englund does a wonderful job bringing Freddy Krueger to life. It has been reported that the rights to A Nightmare on Elm Street has reverted back to Wes Craven’s estate. This could open the door for another film in the franchise with Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger.
October 28:
Child’s Play (1988)
Every year there is that one toy that is super rare and hard to find, but every kid wants it. In 1988, director and co-writer Tom Holland made that toy a Good Guy doll named Chucky. Karen Barclay gets her son, Andy, a Good Guy doll. All is fine until it is discovered that a serial killer possesses the doll.
October 29:
Friday the 13th (1980)
Produced and directed by Sean Cunningham, Friday the 13th tells the story of camp counselors trying to re-open an abandoned summer camp called Camp Crystal Lake. One by one, the counselors are slaughtered, and they don’t know who or why is causing the mayhem. The film stars a very young Kevin Bacon. Tom Savini did the groundbreaking special effects in this legendary slasher movie.
October 30:
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Nothing says Halloween like the legendary horror icons of the 1970s and 1980s. In this Tobe Hooper film, Leatherface and his family are minding their own business at their home when these pesky teenagers keep coming by the house and breaking in. While the film isn’t bloody, it is really terrifying for many viewers. The idea of a chainsaw welding cannibal killer that treats humans like cattle can be very unsettling for some, but Leatherface is one of my all-time favorite killers.
October 31:
The Exorcist (1973)
Happy Halloween! I consider The Exorcist to be one of the scariest films of all time. The film shows the transformation of 12 year old Regan as she turns from innocent adolescent to someone possessed by a dangerous demon. Based on William Peter Blatty’s novel; The Exorcist is the perfect fit for those looking to have a spooky Halloween night.
We hope you enjoyed our 31 Days of Halloween Horror movies. Let us know what movies are on your 31 Days of Halloween Horror Movies list in the comments below.