Top Ten Halloween Movies!

Oh, it’s still the 30th, so still my birthday. I’m so fucking old. But enough of that, it’s HALLOWEEN…

The top tens are back, for Halloween 2026! So I compiled a list. A list I am going to vehemently disagree with at some point—maybe tomorrow, maybe in ten years.

Now, mind you, I said Halloween movies, not horror movies. I’m just thinking of films that fit especially well around the end of October. Although it works as a horror top ten, too.

Counting down, number ten to number one!

 

10. Halloween (1978)

The TV premiere over here was in 1982, and we’d heard little about it. It had a freshness and impact none of the subsequent slashers could equal. I couldn’t not include it on this list. Peak Donald Pleasance!

 

09. Masque of the Red Death (1964)

The least campy of the Corman-Price Poe movies for AIP—and also the most visually stylish. It’s a nightmare on film, and it’s done beautifully. I love all those AIP movies of the period, so this one stands for them all.

 

08. Fright Night (1985)

This movie is 1985 in a bottle, and 1985 might well be the last great year for horror movies. The campy style of this one wins out, plus the great Roddy McDowall, playing a horror hasbeen older than his real age, shines.

 

07. The Howling (1981)

It was a choice between this or the other 1981 werewolf movie (you know which one). This one wins because it’s more cohesive, and also—it has Patrick Macnee, Kevin McCarthy and John Carraddine… and Dick Miller.

 

06. Suspiria (1977)

This film is batshit, but it’s gloriously batshit, and in my opinion Argento’s best. On top of that, we have Alida Valli and Joan Bennett, a million years away from their film noir heydays, chewing the gel-lit scenery.

 

05. The Haunting (1963)

It was either this, or that ghost movie with Deborah Kerr (you should know which one). I was exposed to this one aged three, and it did indeed give me nightmares—so it’s a winner. A great spooky movie.

 

04. Black Sabbath (1963)

One of the best anthology horrors, but, alas, the ideal cut would be one that retains director Mario’s Bava’s structuring but also star Boris Karloff’s voice. No such cut exists. A classic, regardless.

 

03. Salem’s Lot (1979)

For some reason this took until September 1981 to make it to UK TV, but it was worth the wait. James Mason as Straker steals the show, but everything about this is first-rate.

 

02. Night of the Demon (1957)

Star Dana Andrews is noticeably inebriated in many scenes (rumour has it director Tourneur wasn’t much better), but this movie is endlessly effective and compelling. Niall MacGinnis as evil Karswell is brilliant.

 

01. The Evil Dead (1981)

This was the first “video nasty” I ever saw, in 1984. It was an intense viewing and still works. It made an icon of Bruce Campbell—a great star, and sadly not in the best of health lately. Hail to the chin!

Of course—no entries later than 1985. For that matter, none earlier than 1957. A general top ten horror list probably would add a Universal or two.

What are YOUR choices? Let me know below.