For the reasonable spender, the age of streaming services can be as spooky as a whodunnit or psychological thriller. Every time you turn around, a new platform pops out from behind a corner, like a ghost in a haunted house. Sure enough, they lure you in with a free trial, before bleeding out your bank account in a gory death by a thousand cuts. The good news is, some streaming services aren’t so sinister. And most are full of remarkable movies, inspiring documentaries, and dang good TV. You just need to find the right fit.
If you’re in the market to beat the summer heat with some early Halloween movie marathons, HBO Max is the perfect companion for you to embark on your frightening streaming adventures. With classics like A Nightmare on Elm Street and recent re-imaginations like It, you’re sure to find the perfect balance of gore, ghouls, and whatever else gives you goosebumps.
But we won’t make you wait any longer. These are the 21 best Halloween movies on HBO Max. (Need something less spooky? While we are forced to wonder why the hell you clicked on this list, here, check out the best movies on HBO Max.)
Annabelle is nowhere near the creepiness level of Chucky, but she is pretty eerie nonetheless. The film released as a prequel to James Wan’s The Conjuring. Admittedly, it didn’t quite hit the mark like its sequel, but Annabelle’s outrageous horror scenes (which lean more on the campy side) make it worth the watch.
Applauded for being a rare horror flick that’s terrifying without springing any jump scares, The Witch will leave you unsettled throughout the film—and after.
A young Jeff Goldblum stars as a scientist who thought it would be a good idea to test his newly built teleportation device on himself. Of course, events don’t go as expected and the scientist undergoes some… changes.
One of the most important independent horror films of the 1960s, the haunting Carnival of Souls follows a young woman who crashes her car and gets drawn to an abandoned carnival. The film was made on a budget of just $33,000, but went on to inspire filmmakers such as Night of the Living Dead‘s George Romero.
Halloween Kills, the twelfth installment in the Halloween franchise, sees serial killer Michael Myers return to the big screen in David Gordon Green’s popular new trilogy. Jamie Lee Curtis returns as well—and the next installment in the series is set for an October 2022 release date.
Celebrated for its fantastical, wacky plot, House is a Japanese supernatural horror film about seven schoolgirls who become trapped in a haunted country home determined to devour them one by one.
Three young film students travel to the woods in Maryland to uncover the secrets of the Blair Witch, a local legend that haunts the area. A seminal found footage classic, The Blair Witch Project purports itself as the only video found a year after the students disappeared.
The zombie film that started it all. Night of the Living Dead introduced the world to the monstrous slow-walking, undead flesh-eaters, creating an entirely new genre of horror filmmaking. This independent classic not only led to six sequels but has also been celebrated for its casting of Duane Jones—then an unknown stage actor—when it was notoriously difficult for Black men to secure leading, heroic roles.
Kwaidan features four vignettes of Japanese horror folklore, including a vengeful wife left for dead, a snow demon, a blind musician who can communicate with the deceased, and a strange phenomenon in which people become trapped in cups of tea.
A group of vacationers gets trapped on a mysterious beach that forces them to age rapidly in this M. Night Shyamalan thriller with a controversial twist and polarizing critical response. All par for the course when it comes to this creator.
After a woman’s husband commits suicide at their lakeside home, she starts discovering dark secrets he left behind, including a revered floor plan, occult books, and photos of strange women who look just like her.
Christian Bale excels as Patrick Bateman, a New York investment banker turned serial killer who juggles macho-corporate competition from fellow employees at work with senseless rage and murder.
A man wakes up one morning to find that the world around him has disappeared due to a deadly virus. That might scare you a little bit differently following the events of 2020, but Danny Boyle’s 2002 hit was eerie and unnerving—even back in 2002 when it was first released.
If you suffer from coulrophobia (fear of clowns), you might have Stephen King and his character Pennywise to thank. In this 2017 adaptation of King’s classic novel of the same name, Bill Skarsgärd plays the murderous clown Pennywise as he preys upon the local children of small town Derry, Maine. A rag-tag team of neighborhood kids are determined to stop Pennywise … if he doesn’t kill them first.
Based on a spec script for X-Files, Final Destination follows a group of teens whose avoidance of a near-death experience leaves them with a deadly debt to pay. After cheating death by disembarking a plane before it goes up in flames, the group quickly learns that fate is determined to even the score.
Arguably one of the most acclaimed horror films of recent history, The Conjuring takes a refreshing approach to delivering time-tested scares. Based on the true stories of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film centers around one particular case in which a Rhode Island family begins to encounter sinister paranormal activity in their new home.
A Nightmare on Elm Street
A must-watch for any horror buff, this 1984 slasher introduced viewers to one of the most ubiquitous characters of the genre. When a group of teenagers begin to encounter Freddy Krueger, a disfigured man who has the ability to kill people in their dreams, they must find a way to escape their new nightmare of a reality.
Nothing says horror like Stephen King and Stanley Kubrick teaming up. Based on King’s novel of the same name, The Shining follows a writer and recovering alcoholic who, upon accepting the role of winter groundskeeper at an isolated hotel, quickly dissolves into mania due to the hotel’s sinister paranormal forces. With stellar lead performances from Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall, this iconic psychological thriller is a must watch for every Halloween season.
Freaky Friday, meet Friday the 13th. Kathryn Newton stars in this slasher comedy as a high school senior who ends up unexpectedly swapping bodies with a local serial killer, played by Vince Vaughn. As the new owner of her body goes on a killing spree, she must figure out how to swap back into her own former figure within 24 hours—or else.
Written by Steven Spielberg, this 1982 classic is a haunting tale of suburban bliss gone awry. When ghosts begin innocently communicating with a married couple and their daughter through their television set, things quickly turn sinister.
Josh Rosenberg
Josh Rosenberg is an entertainment writer living in Brooklyn, keeping a steady diet of one movie a day; his work can be found at Spin, Insider, Vibe, and on his personal blog at Roseandblog.com.
Chantal Vaca
Chantal Vaca is a writer living in New York City.
