31 Days of Horror

It’s officially spooky season, and what better way to get into the Halloween spirit than by getting more and more frightened until Oct. 31, the most bone-chilling day of the year. How? Well, we’ve prepared a list of movies that you can watch every day of this month, and they get scarier by the week. But beware: This list isn’t for horror movie novices. (For those folks, might we recommend this slightly less cursed list — fun for the whole family!) The movies below are for those who want to start off a little scared and then, week by week, descend into nightmareland. There’s no It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown here. This is for the horror-fixated, the ones who like a challenge, those who like sleep but like to be scared even more (safely, we might add, by ghosts that only live on your screen). If you take on this mission, you’ll wake up Nov. 1 like you’ve just taken a cold plunge — fully ready to get into cozy season … albeit perhaps slightly more traumatized than you were in September. 

Oh yeah, we forgot to mention: If you don’t pass this list on to at least 10 friends or loved ones, well, we’re sorry to say a cruel, cruel fate will befall you. (OK, just kidding. Seriously, you’ll be fine. But maybe watch these with the curtains closed.) 

Editor’s note: We take full responsibility for the subjectivity of this list’s order, and welcome you to mentally rearrange the below as you see fit. Plus, we won’t tell if you don’t watch a movie every single day. But we’ll know. We’ll know. 

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NOT TOO SCARY

This first batch of movies will ease you into October with a blend of comedy, gore, and killer robots and aliens. We know you’re not a literal baby, and that’s why these start off a teeny bit scary (two involve scary soup scenes) to prep you for what’s to come. Below, hop into some international and old-school horror films without losing sleep … for now. 

The Trip

In the 2021 Norwegian horror-comedy film from Tommy Wirkola (Violent Night), underemployed actor Lisa (Noomi Rapace) and her husband, soap opera director Lars (Aksel Hennie), have been having problems in their marriage, so they plan a weekend away for some quality time together. But, despite what they tell friends and family, both of them have an ulterior motive for the trip: to kill the other. When they arrive, however, Lars notices a few things are amiss in the remote vacation home. Surely that has nothing to do with the fugitives who happen to be on the loose nearby … 

M3GAN

The Terminator meets Barbie in Akela Cooper (Malignant) and James Wan’s (The Conjuring) 2022 sci-fi horror flick. Scientist and inventor Gemma (Allison Williams) never expected to be caring for her sister’s kid, but she ends up taking in Cady (Violet McGraw) after a tragic accident. For company, Gemma lets Cady play with her latest project, M3GAN, an advanced AI-powered android that grows violent when trying to protect Cady from perceived threats. When M3GAN begins to see her creator as one of those threats, she dances her way through a series of gruesome murders, forcing Gemma and Cady to team up to shut M3GAN down before it’s too late.

The Menu

Chef Julian Slowik (Ralph Fiennes) brings new meaning to the phrase “eat the rich” in this satirical 2022 horror movie directed by Mark Mylod (Succession). Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy) is less than impressed when her date, self-proclaimed foodie Tyler (Nicholas Hoult), whisks her away to Chef Slowik’s exclusive restaurant on a remote island. Tyler and his fellow elites ooh and ahh over every meager course — but Margot’s disdain only grows with each new amuse-bouche. While Slowik might be rattled by Margot’s scorn, he’s also determined to impress her. Because little do his upper-crust diners know that his final course will keep their social circles talking for years to come.

Ready or Not

Who’s up for a game of hide-and-seek? Grace (Samara Weaving) may have no other choice. She’s just married into the wealthy, if a bit odd, Le Domas clan, and it seems her new husband, Alex (Mark O’Brien), may have left out some crucial details about Grace’s in-laws. As the wedding-night celebrations progress, the family members all draw cards to decide which group game to play — and Grace picks the hide-and-seek card. Easy, right? Except the family is cursed, and whoever draws that card will be hunted and ritually sacrificed so the Le Domases can keep their high status and riches. The 2019 horror comedy from directors Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin also stars Adam Brody (Nobody Wants This) and Andie MacDowell (The Way Home).

The Conference

A murderer is picking people off one by one in a remote location à la Sleepaway Camp —  but the killer’s targets are wry, bleary-eyed bureaucrats instead of teens? Fill that water bottle to the brim and lace up your hiking boots: It’s time to settle in for an outdoorsy night of frights. In The Conference, a team-building retreat — already the stuff of nightmares — turns into a booby-trapped, backstabbing bloodbath when a mysterious killer shows up. The 2023 horror movie from director Patrik Eklund (We Got This) and writer Thomas Moldestad (Cold Prey) stars Katia Winter (Sleepy Hollow), Adam Lundgren (The Restaurant), and Eva Melander (Border).

Friday the 13th

Not that it matters, because everyone at Camp Crystal Lake is going to have a really great summer, OK? But decades ago, a boy drowned at the camp — and now, an unseen killer is picking off counselors one by one just as they’re reopening the place for a new generation of campers. No one knows who the murderer is … except maybe Mrs. Voorhees, the mother of the boy who died back in ’57. His name? Yeah, it might ring a bell: Jason. Starring Betsy Palmer, Adrienne King, and Kevin Bacon (Leave the World Behind), the 1980 classic slasher film was directed by Sean S. Cunningham.

Aliens

From writer-director James Cameron, this sequel follows Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) decades after the events of Alien. Ripley, the sole survivor of an alien (aka Xenomorph) attack, has just woken up after cruising in an escape shuttle for 57 years. Luckily, she’s been found by a deep-space salvage team — but a new and deadly adventure awaits: She and a crew of Colonial Marines are sent to investigate a ravaged space colony that’s running rampant with Xenomorphs in all stages of life, from Facehuggers (ew!) to newborns (aw!). The 1986 blockbuster also stars Paul Reiser (Mad About You) and Bill Paxton (Twister). 

Wondering where Alien is on the list? Keep scrolling for more Ripley. 

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A BIT SCARY

Let’s face it: Sometimes you need just a bit of a fright. More than a dash and less than a heap — the Goldilocks standard, if you will. These movies toe the line between “a totally chill time” and “OK, now we’re getting spooky.” They’re chock-full of malevolent villains, familiar heroes, endlessly quotable one-liners, and one Oscar-winning score that’s guaranteed to be stuck in your head long after you’ve turned off the lights.

Fear Street Part 1: 1994

The first installment in the 2021 Fear Street trilogy, co-written and directed by Leigh Janiak (Honeymoon), takes place in 1994 in the small town of Shadyside. This supernatural slasher flick, based on R.L. Stine’s beloved book series, follows a teen (Kiana Madeira) and her friends. After a series of gruesome deaths, they’re led to believe that their town is marked by a witch’s centuries-old curse. The next two installments follow the action back in time (Part 2 takes place in 1978 and Part 3 in 1666) as Shadyside’s residents fight for their lives against ghostly serial killers, possessed spirits, and black magic. 

Malevolent

Florence Pugh (East of Eden) and Ben Lloyd-Hughes (Steve) co-star in this 2018 supernatural horror flick as a pair of scam-artist siblings, Angela and Jackson. The two have perfected their craft: They approach clients who believe their homes to be haunted and offer Angela’s (questionable) gifts as a medium to banish any malevolent spirits — for a price. But their newest mark, Mrs. Greene (Celia Imrie), is different. Her home genuinely spooks Angela, who begins to experience hallucinations and hear voices, just like her mother did. Mrs. Greene’s house — with its winding halls and chilling history — might be her undoing.

Psycho

After embezzling a hefty sum from her employer in order to offset her fiancé’s considerable debts so the two can get married, a woman named Marion (Janet Leigh) goes on the run and ends up at a quaint inn, the Bates Motel. There, she meets the proprietor, Norman (Anthony Perkins), a loner who’s weirdly attached to his controlling mother with whom he allegedly lives. Surely he won’t get offended on her behalf and do anything drastic, right? Based on the novel by Robert Bloch, the 1960 film Psycho also stars Vera Miles (The Wrong Man) and was directed by, yes, Alfred Hitchcock. 

The Sixth Sense

This classic psychological thriller from 1999, written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan (The Village), stars Bruce Willis (Die Hard) as child psychologist Malcolm Crowe. A year ago, one of Malcolm’s former patients broke into his home and shot himself, and Malcolm’s wife, Anna (Olivia Williams), hasn’t been the same since. The good doctor’s latest patient, a 9-year-old boy named Cole (Haley Joel Osment), is especially troubled: He’s being bullied at school, there are signs of physical harm, and he claims he can see dead people. Malcolm, who views Cole’s case as a chance at redemption, believes his patient is showing signs of schizophrenia. If only it were that simple.

Unfriended

The found-footage horror genre gets a technological twist in this 2014 cybernetic supernatural flick. One year after their classmate, Laura Barns (Heather Sossaman), died by suicide, a group of six teenagers (played by Shelley Hennig, Moses Storm, Renee Olstead, Will Peltz, Jacob Wysocki, and Courtney Halverson) are chatting over Skype when they’re joined by a stranger with the screen name billie227. At first, they think another of their classmates is pranking them. But after trying and failing to kick the unknown user out, they begin to suspect that Laura isn’t gone after all — and that she might be seeking revenge for some long-buried secrets.

I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House

This Canadian supernatural film, directed by Osgood “Oz” Perkins — director of Longlegs and son of Psycho star Anthony Perkins — follows hospice nurse Lily (Ruth Wilson) after she moves into a secluded Massachusetts house. She’s been hired to work as a full-time caretaker for retired horror writer Iris (Paula Prentiss). But there’s something off about this home — black mold, for one, and a rug with a corner that never manages to stay put. Small things, until they aren’t — and Lily becomes concerned this house won’t let her go. The 2016 film also stars Bob Balaban (Best in Show). 

Thrash

Get your life preservers ready: If the storm doesn’t kill you, the sharks will. In Thrash, another movie from The Trip director Wirkola, a catastrophic hurricane is only the beginning for a South Carolina coastal town. Soon a shiver of bull sharks is swimming down Main Street, and stranded residents must survive an apocalyptic aquatic nightmare by any means necessary. The 2026 film stars Phoebe Dynevor (Bridgerton), Whitney Peak (Gossip Girl), and Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond).

Jaws

There’s blood in the water in this 1975 blockbuster, which follows the residents of a fictional New England resort town as they do battle with a man-eating shark. After a series of attacks by a particularly vicious great white, Mayor Larry Vaughn (Murray Hamilton) convinces police chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) to hunt the monster down rather than close the beaches. After all, it’s summer — and there’s money to be made! Brody reluctantly teams up with an eager marine biologist (Richard Dreyfuss) and a grizzled shark hunter (Robert Shaw) to stop the beast in its watery tracks. This iconic Oscar-winning thriller was directed by Steven Spielberg (Jurassic Park) and based on Peter Benchley’s 1974 novel.

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SCARY

Now we’re upping the ante. You’ve been jump scared, you’ve learned some hou ses hold deadly secrets, and you’ve got the Jaws theme in your head for the foreseeable future. This next batch of flicks are filled with next-level scares. Ever taken on a gig and find out the man only hired you to taunt you? Wandered into nature only to find you may never make your way out? Had Ethan Hawke lock you in a basement? If not, now you can find out exactly how it feels to go through all of that. Hooray! From killer grins to evil tomes — and even a horse-eating cloud — read on if you dare. 

Creep

In this 2014 found-footage horror film from Patrick Brice (Room 104), videographer Aaron (played by Brice) is in need of quick cash, so he takes on an odd job — but like, a really odd job. He’s hired to film a man, Josef (Mark Duplass), who claims he’s dying from brain cancer and wants to make a video diary for his unborn child. From the moment filming starts, Josef exhibits strange and unnerving behavior — like introducing Aaron to a mask he refers to as Peachfuzz and revealing horrifying secrets about his past. Unfortunately for Aaron, Josef thwarts every attempt he makes to get the hell away from this guy.

Creep 2

In Creep’s 2017 sequel, Josef’s (Duplass) character now goes by Aaron — the videographer’s name from the last film — and he’s lured in yet another videographer. This time, he hires a YouTuber named Sara (Desiree Akhavan) to join him at a remote cabin, and he’s a bit more upfront about who he really is: a serial killer. But Aaron says he’ll abstain from killing Sara if she spends the next day making a documentary about his life. At first, Sara isn’t bothered by the man’s strange tactics to frighten her — plus, if this film takes off, it’ll boost her subscribers. But she soon realizes she’s in for a full 24 hours of Aaron proving just how creepy he really is.

In the Tall Grass

While driving through remote Kansas, siblings Becky (Laysla De Oliveira) and Cal (Avery Whitted) hear a boy yelling for help in the grassy field right off the road. They wander into the tall grass — and immediately lose sight of the road and each other. As they encounter others in the supernatural field — including the boy, Tobin (Will Buie Jr.), and his terrified parents, Ross (Patrick Wilson) and Natalie (Rachel Wilson) — they realize that finding their way out could come at a terrible price. This 2017 horror flick is directed by Vincenzo Natali (Cube) and based on Stephen King and Joe Hill’s novella of the same name.

Nope

The Haywood siblings, OJ (Daniel Kaluuya) and Em (Keke Palmer), train horses for appearances in films, like their father did before his sudden death. To make ends meet after a horse gets spooked on set, OJ has been selling their equines to a former child actor, Jupe (Steven Yeun), who now runs a theme park, Jupiter’s Claim. When the pair start noticing their remaining horses exhibiting odd behavior and a seemingly unmoving cloud in the sky, they solicit the help of electronics store salesman Angel (Brandon Perea) to survey a possible UFO — and sell the footage for profit. From Jordan Peele (Get Out), the 2022 neo-Western horror film also features Barbie Ferreira (Euphoria). 

The Black Phone

Based on Joe Hill’s short story, this 2021 supernatural horror takes place in 1978 and follows siblings Finney (Mason Thames) and Gwen (Madeleine McGraw), whose quiet Colorado suburb has been rocked by a series of kidnappings. As the missing posters pile up, Finney is taken by “The Grabber” (Ethan Hawke), a masked serial killer who traps him in a basement with seemingly nothing but a stained mattress and a black rotary phone. The Grabber gleefully insists there’s no way out. But as Finney learns more about his captor’s haunting history, Gwen begins having strange dreams that might be the key to saving her brother’s life.

Smile 2

Pop star Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) is about to embark on her comeback tour, and despite facing crippling anxiety, being in recovery, and alienating those closest to her, she’s totally ready to go. Right? As you can imagine, not so fast. Skye starts experiencing bizarre events that she can’t prove are real, and it seems that some sinister entity is behind it, feeding on her trauma. Not enough mindfulness exercises in the world could get her through what she’s about to endure. The Smile sequel from Parker Finn, which premiered in 2024, also stars Ray Nicholson (Borderline), Lukas Gage (The White Lotus), and Dylan Gelula (Dream Scenario). 

Evil Dead

When Mia (Jane Levy) invites a group of her closest confidantes — including her estranged half-brother, David (Shiloh Fernandez) — to a remote cabin in the woods to help her get clean and sober, her friends are doubtful about her commitment. They soon discover a basement packed with animal carcasses and a book bound in human skin. As Mia’s withdrawal symptoms worsen, the group begins to suspect that something foul is at play — and that a truly demonic force is lurking in the forest, begging to be unleashed. Directed by Fede Álvarez (Don’t Breathe), this 2013 soft reboot of the Sam Raimi–created franchise also stars Lou Taylor Pucci (Thumbsucker) and Jessica Lucas (Pompeii).

Ouija: Origin of Evil

This ’60s-set Ouija prequel, directed by Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House), premiered in 2016. It follows recently widowed mother and fake spiritual medium Alice Zander (Elizabeth Reaser), who lives in Los Angeles with her daughters, Paulina (Annalise Basso) and Doris (Lulu Wilson). In an attempt to bolster her phony seance business, she buys a Ouija board — and unknowingly invites an evil spirit into her home. The demonic presence possesses 9-year-old Doris, who turns moody and violent. The small, troubled family is forced to confront the unthinkable to save Doris and send her possessor back to where it came from, before it’s too late.

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REALLY SCARY 

A comprehensive horror collection requires diversity: bloody serial killers, ravenous monsters, ancient demons hell-bent on squirming their way into your soul. All the classics! If there’s one thing this spine-tingling list proves, it’s that no two horror movies are alike, even if they’re rattling around in the same subgenre. 

From here on out, it’s every viewer for themselves. Do you like scary movies? Prove it by watching these truly Halloween-worthy flicks, ranging from undeniable masterworks to modern genre marvels that — if you’ve seen them before — might have you thinking twice before hitting play (in the best way). You should watch ’em anyway. After all, ’tis the season. Just don’t say we didn’t warn you.

The Ritual

Six months after their friend’s tragic death, four pals (played by Arsher Ali, Robert James-Collier, Rafe Spall, and Sam Troughton) take a hiking trip in Sweden to honor his memory. After one of them is injured deep in the old-growth forest, they leave the marked path behind and happen upon cryptic symbols and an eerie cabin in which they’re forced to spend the night. They wake up to find one of their group with puncture wounds in his chest and another praying to a dark force only he can see. Things only get worse from there in this 2017 creature feature based on Adam Nevill’s novel.

Scream VI

Directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett (Ready or Not), the sixth entry in the Scream franchise takes place over 25 years after the original flick from 1996. Sisters Sam (Melissa Barrera) and Tara Carpenter (Jenna Ortega) — having survived a run-in with Ghostface in Scream (2022) — now live in New York City, with Tara attending college alongside some of their fellow survivors (played by Jasmin Savoy Brown and Mason Gooding). When a masked killer determined to rewrite the rules of the game begins to hunt them down on the streets of NYC, the survivors are forced to turn to a few familiar faces — including Kirby Reed (Hayden Panettiere) and Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) — to try and make it out alive.

Alien

In space, no one can hear you scream. Welcome aboard the Nostromo, a commercial space towing vessel headed back to Earth. Its seven crew members — including Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), Dallas (Tom Skerritt), Lambert (Veronica Cartwright), Kane (John Hurt), and Ash (Ian Holm) — are pulled from cryosleep by the ship’s AI, “Mother,” after it detects a distress signal from an abandoned starship. Upon boarding the derelict vessel, they discover a fossilized alien corpse — and hostile lifeforms that infiltrate their own ship. The vicious, acid-blooded aliens begin to hunt the Nostromo crew down one by one in director Ridley Scott’s (Blade Runner) 1979 sci-fi horror classic.

28 Years Later

The third entry in creator Alex Garland’s 28 Days Later film series — about people living in a postapocalyptic world overrun by a virus that sends those who contract it into a homicidal rage — takes place 28 years after Cillian Murphy (Peaky Blinders) wandered through a deserted London. Danny Boyle (T2 Trainspotting) directs this horror flick about a boy, Spike (Alfie Williams), who undertakes a dangerous journey out of his fortified town. Spike defies his father (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and escapes the island with his sick mother, Isla (Jodie Comer), in search of the eccentric local Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes).

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Inspired in part by serial killer Ed Gein, this 1974 slasher film — the first in the franchise — follows a group of teens on a road trip (while Mercury is in retrograde, mind you) who stop at an abandoned house that used to belong to one of their fathers. When they venture to a nearby home, they’re met with a masked cannibal and his brothers, who have every intention of slaughtering them all. Directed by Tobe Hooper (Poltergeist), the film stars Marilyn Burns (Eaten Alive), Gunnar Hansen, and Edwin Neal.

Green Room

When a broke punk band, the Ain’t Rights, takes a last-minute gig at a neo-Nazi bar in rural Oregon, they witness a murder and are held hostage in the club’s green room by its skinhead owner, Darcy (Patrick Stewart) and his minions, who have no intention of letting any witnesses escape. If the Ain’t Rights want to see the light of day again, they’ll have to fight like hell to escape. The 2015 horror thriller from writer-director Jeremy Saulnier (Rebel Ridge) also stars Anton Yelchin (Thoroughbreds), Imogen Poots (Vivarium), and Alia Shawkat (Arrested Development).

Hush

Co-written by director Mike Flanagan and the film’s star, Kate Seigel, the 2016 film Hush follows horror novelist Maddie, who’s traded in life in New York City for a house in the woods. As she’s holed up working on finishing her next book, she encounters a masked man prowling around outside. After the man ensures his future victim has no way to contact the outside world, Maddie realizes she’ll have to keep her wits about her if she has any chance at surviving this crossbow-wielding killer — especially because she can’t speak or hear.

The Strangers

Kristen (Liv Tyler) and James (Scott Speedman) are spending the weekend at James’ family vacation home following their friends’ wedding — but it’s turned into a bit of a sour affair: James proposed at the reception (weird!) and Kristen rejected him. The atmosphere is tense, and it’s about to get even worse. At around midnight, there’s a knock at the door: It’s a young woman, asking, “Is Tamara home?” They send her away, but she keeps coming back. And soon they’re sure someone’s been in the house, too. From there, the couple is terrorized by a trio of masked intruders. And what happens when they ask the assailants why they’re doing this? “Because you were home.” The 2008 psychological horror movie was written and directed by Bryan Bertino (​​​Vicious). 

Additional reporting by John DiLillo