Ten Terrifying Treats for Halloween – Your Ultimate Fright Night Watchlist

There’s nothing quite like a chilly October night—curtains drawn, lights low, and a good old-fashioned scary movie flickering on the screen. It’s the perfect season to tingle the senses and raise a few goosebumps.

But what to watch, I hear you ask? Fear not. I’ve put together a specially curated list of ten Halloween-themed films guaranteed to quicken your pulse and make your night go off with a scream. You won’t find Halloween itself here—its place on any October watchlist goes without saying.

Expect a mix of the bizarre, absurd, comedic, thought-provoking, and downright terrifying. No rankings, no rules—just pure Halloween viewing pleasure.

1. Trick 'r Treat

A fantastic anthology built around the warning: never disrespect the rules of Halloween. Pumpkin boy Sam is both sinister and strangely endearing, presiding over a series of interlinked stories where characters cross paths in clever ways. Well written, sharply shot, and perfectly cast, the film balances dark humour with genuine chills. Though violent acts occur, it’s no blood-soaked frenzy—just enough to satisfy while keeping things truly creepy. Stylish, self-aware, and steeped in Halloween atmosphere, it's clever, slick, and essential seasonal viewing.

2. Dark Harvest

For those seeking a more thoughtful Halloween watch—one that reflects on coming of age, masculinity, and sacrifice—this could be for you. Set in the early 1960s, the film centres on a town where teenage boys must take part in “The Run,” a brutal Halloween tradition to stop a supernatural creature named Sawtooth Jack from reaching the church before midnight. Victory promises freedom and riches; failure ensures the town’s prosperity at a gruesome cost. What begins as ritual soon unravels into buried secrets and true horror. Blending folklore, social commentary, and visceral dread, it offers both slasher action and food for thought.

3. Trick

A police procedural–style thriller about a recurring serial killer who resurfaces every Halloween to terrorise an unsuspecting community. Possessing seemingly supernatural abilities, he stays one step ahead while unleashing merciless slasher violence. After four years, he returns to the scene of his original crimes, prompting police to pull out all the stops to end his spree. Some shaky camerawork, uneven acting, and a drawn-out ending aside, it remains an effective low-budget mix of mystery and murder. A little too long, but for Halloween slasher fun with a twist, it’s worth a watch.

4. V/H/S Halloween

There are claims that the franchise is on its way out but it keeps resurfacing intermittently and here's the latest offering to spook you. V/H/S/Halloween (2025) is the eighth entry in the V/H/S found-footage horror anthology series, this time fully themed around Halloween. The film’s framing story, “Diet Phantasma,” follows a corporation testing a cursed diet soda that causes demonic transformations in its subjects. Interwoven with this are five twisted segments featuring haunted houses, urban legends, candy bowls, and other seasonal horrors. The tone leans into dark humour linked to the grotesque, the absurd and, in one case, the shocking, that stays close to its roots while injecting a fresh look.

5. Terrifier

Terrifier (2016) is a brutal slasher film centred around sadistic killer, the aforementioned, Art the Clown. On Halloween night, two friends, Tara and Dawn, encounter Art in a deserted building after a night out. What begins as unsettling stalking quickly escalates into a night of relentless terror as Art unleashes a spree of grotesque violence on anyone who crosses his path. With no motive and no mercy, Art embodies pure evil, turning the holiday into a blood-soaked nightmare. A goldmine of grindhouse aesthetics and villain-as-spectacle slasher mayhem. 

6. The Funhouse Massacre

Great fun—tightly written gore and mayhem set in a Halloween haunt where illusion and reality blur. Five co-workers head out for a night of scary entertainment, unaware that a group of escaped psychopaths have infiltrated the attraction, posing as staff and turning the event into a blood-soaked nightmare. When the truth dawns, the survivors join forces with local police to end the carnage. Fast-paced, with a few neat twists, it’s far better than expected—slick, chaotic, and packed with energy. A solid choice to kick off a Halloween viewing night. And with that ending, a sequel wouldn’t surprise me.

7. The Houses That October Built

The Houses October Built (2014) is a found-footage horror film that follows five friends on a road trip across America in search of the most extreme haunted house experiences. Documenting their journey in an RV, they explore increasingly disturbing attractions and chase rumours of an underground haunt known as "Blue Skeleton." But as they get closer to uncovering the truth, they realise they’re being stalked by masked figures who blur the line between performance and real danger. What began as a thrill-seeking adventure spirals into a terrifying descent into the unknown. It’s a spine-tingling blend of documentary realism and escalating dread. 

8. Hell House LLC

Hell House LLC (2015) is a chilling found-footage horror film that unfolds as a mockumentary. A documentary crew investigates a deadly incident that occurred in 2009 at a haunted house attraction in Abaddon, New York. On its opening night, fifteen people died under mysterious circumstances. As the crew digs deeper, they uncover disturbing footage and eerie clues suggesting that the tragedy was not a mere malfunction, but the result of something truly supernatural lurking within the hotel-turned-haunt. It’s a masterclass in slow-burn dread and taut atmosphere. 

9. All Hallows Eve

All Hallows’ Eve (2013) is the horror anthology that first unleashed the psychopathically malevolent Art the Clown. On Halloween night, babysitter Sarah discovers an unmarked VHS tape in the children’s trick-or-treat bag. The tape contains three disturbing shorts featuring Art in increasingly twisted scenarios—abduction and cult rituals, alien encounters, home invasion, and a heart-stopping chase through blood-soaked chaos. As the stories unfold, the barrier between worlds begins to blur, and Sarah realises the evil on the tape may be closer than she thinks. Filmed in VHS-style retro grit, it’s gory fun and a must-see for fans tracing Art’s origins.

10. All Hallows Eve 2

All Hallows’ Eve 2 (2015) is a horror anthology spinning a series of gruesome tales within a murderous wrap-around. Alone on Halloween night, a woman finds a mysterious VHS tape on her doorstep. As she watches, the tape reveals increasingly disturbing stories—while a pumpkin-masked killer uses it as a gateway into the real world, hunting for his next victim. This sequel offers a tighter production with punchier tales than the first film. Though Art the Clown is absent, it leans into betrayal, guilt, trauma, revenge, grief, and madness, favouring psychological and supernatural scares over outright gore.