5 Reviews of 5 Classic Halloween Movies
With Halloween just around the corner, I’ve picked out a mix of iconic Halloween films that are perfect for a movie night. These movies stand the test of time and are a treat to watch!
1. Halloween
Directed by John Carpenter, Halloween is the classic Halloween movie. The movie was made on a shoestring budget of about $325,000, an amount that makes the film’s eventual impact even more of an accomplishment. Carpenter himself composed the chilling score and kept it minimal with a mix of repetitive piano notes.
The film stars Jamie Lee Curtis in her breakout role (and arguably, most famous), playing Laurie Strode, the innocent "final girl" who is resourceful, resilient, and fiercely determined—a character type that has since become a classic horror trope.
At the core of Halloween is Michael Myers, a blank-faced embodiment of pure evil, dressed in a repurposed William Shatner mask painted ghostly white. Carpenter’s decision to keep Myers' background vague was a bold idea. He didn’t give Myers a gun or a chainsaw, he gave him a household item, we all use a chef’s knife.
Made with a modest budget, Halloween grossed around $70 million worldwide, proving that terror doesn’t need flashy effects to make an impact. Halloween has become a cultural staple, inspiring countless sequels, remakes, video games, and books.
2. Scream
In the mid-90s, the horror genre was in trouble. The slasher film, once a cash cow, had devolved into a predictable story.
Until Scream was released.
Directed by Wes Craven in 1996 with a modest budget of $14 million, Scream is as much a commentary on horror films as it is a horror film. I would go a step further and say it’s a horror fan’s love letter to horror films, with tributes to films like Halloween and Friday the 13th.
Scream captured the zeitgeist of a jaded '90s generation that had grown tired of watching the same thing over and over. The film’s success was in the way it played with viewers' expectations. Drew Barrymore, for example, was prominently featured in the promotional material, leading audiences to believe she was the protagonist, but she was shockingly killed off within the first few minutes of the film—a direct challenge to typical genre casting expectations.
Another example is the take on the antagonist. Ghostface has an overwhelmingly large costume and a quirky Van Gogh “scream face”. Pair that with the last minute character setbacks and the clumsy running—it makes the killer both comical and alarmingly real, unlike the superhuman antagonists of other slasher films.
When Scream hit theaters, it grossed over $170 million worldwide—a staggering return for its relatively low budget. The movie became a cultural hit. It spawned a wave of parodies, homages, and, yes, countless imitators that wanted to copy its meta-slasher style.
3. Coraline
When Coraline came out in 2009, audiences were treated to a stunning blend of nightmare and fairy tale. Directed by Henry Selick, the man behind The Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline wasn’t just another children’s fantasy film. It had a budget of $60 million, used over 150 miniature sets, and implemented 3D printing to create all the objects in the film.
Coraline is an adaptation from Neil Gaiman’s dark and whimsical novel of the same name. Henry Selick, intrigued by Gaiman's balance of wonder and dread, saw in the novel the chance to take viewers on a new journey, one where an innocent, delicate Alice tumbles down a much more sinister rabbit hole.
What sets Coraline apart from the ordinary fantasy film is the depth of the imagery and the nightmare-fueled story. We see the allure of the Other World—a world full of Coraline's desires—but that shimmering fantasy slowly darkens. And still, the animation doesn’t let you look away. You’re drawn to the craftsmanship that fills each scene with a sense of uneasiness.
With a box office gross of over $124 million, Coraline was a critical and financial success. It spoke to children who loved a bit of darkness with their fantasy and to adults who hadn’t forgotten the creeping feeling of the flipside of childhood dreams.
4. Hocus Pocus
In 1993, Disney decided to test the live-action Halloween waters by creating a special treat: Hocus Pocus. With a budget of $28 million, director Kenny Ortega fused comedy-horror with ‘90s family flair. The result was a timeless work of art.
Released in July, yes, July, Hocus Pocus was originally intended as a light, spooky comedy to capitalize on the family-film niche during a season dominated by blockbuster summer flicks. Its box office performance was underwhelming to say the least. It grossed only about $45 million.
Disney didn’t stop there. They released it on cable television.
And that’s where Hocus Pocus found its true footing. The movie’s October ratings on Disney Channel and ABC Family were unprecedented. Suddenly, Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy’s delightful portrayals of the Sanderson sisters was a must-watch every October.
The plot, on its surface, seems almost comically straightforward: three 17th-century witches are accidentally resurrected in Salem by a skeptical teenager, and hijinks ensue as the witches try to capture the children of the town to stay young forever.
But what elevates Hocus Pocus is its full embrace of witchcraft and whimsiness. Salem is portrayed in a way that feels both cozy and spooky. The talking black cat, Thackery Binx, is the quintessential Halloween ally, providing just enough sass to keep things fun. The Sanderson sisters, though undoubtedly villainous, are so delightfully incompetent in their quest to adapt to the 20th century that they’re more humorous than threatening.
The film encapsulates what so many people love about today’s Halloween: it’s fun, a little creepy, and you don’t have to take it too seriously.
5. A Nightmare on Elm Street
What do all humans have in common? Having appalling nightmares. And in 1984, Wes Craven gave the world a horror movie that didn’t just keep audiences up at night, it made them terrified to fall asleep in the first place. Remarkably, the movie had a budget of only $1.8 million.
The genesis of A Nightmare on Elm Street was rooted in true fear. Craven drew inspiration from a series of mysterious news stories from the late 1970s and early 1980s involving young Southeast Asian refugees who had died suddenly in their sleep, seemingly while experiencing nightmares. That’s when Freddy Krueger was created, a personification of a worst nightmare. And no, not just grandma’s worst nightmare, or your best friend’s worst nightmare… it’s your ultimate worst nightmare.
A Nightmare on Elm Street takes the universal childhood fear of the boogeyman… but the twist is you can’t just shut your eyes or reassure yourself a million times the boogeyman isn’t real. In this movie, sleep and death are tragically intertwined. Haunting surreal-like sequences means you have walls that turn into faces, eerie nursery rhymes, and a razor-gloved hand coming at you when you least expect it.
When it hit theaters, A Nightmare on Elm Street grossed over $57 million worldwide—an incredible success for a film with such a low budget. The movie blended meta-psychological horror with true horror gore. Anyone who has watched it knows you can always stay awake to avoid nightmares...
but not forever!