Watch · Hidden gemsNo. 2707 · The 2026 edition
Underrated Halloween movies, from old monsters to odd gems.
Twenty well-rated Halloween films far fewer people have seen, from the slow-burn horror of Eyes Without a Face and The Haunting to Little Nemo and The Monster Squad.
Every October the same handful of Halloween favorites get watched on repeat. This list of underrated Halloween movies is for the night you’ve run through them: twenty films that score well with the people who’ve seen them, from black-and-white monsters and old ghost stories to animated oddities. We dug these up, ordered them by audience rating, best first, and checked every scare level in September 2026.
Read the notes before you press play, because this order mixes the gentle with the grim. Six of the twenty are mildly spooky and fine for a mixed crowd, from a leprechaun fable to a kids’ monster club. The other fourteen are scary, several are strictly for adults, and each note says which is which.
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01
Eyes Without a Face
Responsible for the car accident that disfigured his daughter, a surgeon goes to extreme lengths to give her a new face. Scary in a hushed, elegant way that lingers, and strictly for adults.
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02
Batman: The Long Halloween
Holiday by holiday, a killer stalks Gotham, and Batman works the case through crime families and a lineup of classic DC villains. Animated, but a long, grown-up crime mystery: scary, and not for kids.
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03
The Haunting
Dr. Markway assembles a team to settle whether Hill House is really haunted, after decades of strange, tragic ends for the people who lived there. Scary the slow way, through suggestion rather than gore; best after dark, for patient viewers.
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04
The Wolf House
Animated, but nightmare rather than cartoon: Maria escapes a German colony and shelters in a house in southern Chile, and the hand-made animation never lets you settle. Scary, not for kids, and best for adults who like their horror odd.
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05
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
Dracula wants a hapless porter’s brain for the Frankenstein monster, and the Wolf Man tries to warn him. The monsters play it straight while the title duo panics around them: mildly spooky, silly, and an easy family pick.
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06
The Wolf Man
Larry Talbot comes home to his father’s estate, meets a woman, visits a mystical carnival and uncovers a horrifying curse. A short, fog-bound werewolf tragedy that works through atmosphere rather than gore; scary, and a solid first step into old monster movies.
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07
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Three kids, an apprentice witch and a cynical conman magician hunt for the missing piece of a spell that could help defend Britain in World War II. Musical, part animated and mildly spooky, it suits a whole-family night.
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08
Darby O'Gill and the Little People
A wily old codger matches wits with the King of the Leprechauns while playing matchmaker for his daughter. Mildly spooky folklore with a few eerie touches, and a gentle choice for families who like Halloween more fairy tale than fright.
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09
Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland
Every night, a boy named Nemo visits Slumberland and befriends its king, until he discovers Nightmare Land and its evil king, putting Slumberland and Nemo himself in danger. Hand-drawn dream logic and songs; mildly spooky and a good fit for younger viewers.
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10
Carnival of Souls
After a traumatic accident, a woman keeps getting pulled toward an abandoned carnival. Shot in black and white, it plays like a waking dream: scary and spare, and ideal for anyone who likes a ghost story that never raises its voice.
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11
Careful
Everyone in a nineteenth-century mountain village must speak softly or risk an avalanche, and all that repression erupts into taboo love triangles with deadly results. A darkly comic oddity that is scary, strictly for adults, and the deepest cut on this list.
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12
The Monster Squad
When Count Dracula and his crew show up for real, a gang of twelve-year-old monster nerds, fan club included, has to save the town. Funny, scrappy and mildly spooky, it’s a natural for older kids and the grown-ups who love the old monsters.
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13
Creature from the Black Lagoon
Scientists in the Amazon try to capture a prehistoric beast and bring it back for study, and the beast has other plans. A creature feature that’s scary in an old-fashioned way, and a good pick if you like your monsters moody.
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14
The Mummy
Slow, hypnotic and more obsessive romance than rampage: a resurrected Egyptian mummy searches Cairo for the woman he believes is his long-lost princess. Scary in an old-school way, and a fine pick for a vintage-horror night.
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15
Under the Shadow
War-torn, post-revolution Tehran is the backdrop as a mother and daughter, already struggling to cope, find a mysterious evil haunting their home. A ghost story where real-world dread and the supernatural feed each other: scary, and for grown-ups.
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16
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
Two animated storybook tales on one bill: The Wind in the Willows first, then The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, which is where the Halloween comes in. Mildly spooky, though the second half may rattle the very youngest.
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17
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Respectable doctor, monstrous alter ego: the old story, in a vintage screen version that is more drama than gore. Scary in a slow, serious way, and worth slotting in beside the monster movies.
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18
Freaks
Escaping her paranoid father’s control, a sheltered girl finds an unfamiliar, threatening world waiting beyond the front door. A mystery that rewards knowing as little as possible going in; scary, and not for younger viewers.
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19
Dark Water
In the middle of a divorce, a mother moves her daughter into a run-down apartment where a persistent leak, visions of a missing girl and other unexplained signs point to a past tragedy. A slow, sad ghost story; scary, and best for adults.
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20
Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight
Expect the gleefully gory, cackling tone the Tales from the Crypt name promises, here applied to a feature-length demon story. Scary, full of monsters and demons, and strictly for adults who like their horror loud and a little silly.
The best Halloween movie is often the one nobody on the couch has seen yet.
Stack them by mood. For a family night, pair Little Nemo with Bedknobs and Broomsticks, then let the older kids stay up for The Monster Squad. For an old-monster marathon, run The Mummy, The Wolf Man and Creature from the Black Lagoon back to back and finish with Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein for the laughs. Once the kids are asleep, The Haunting and Dark Water make a quiet, uneasy double bill. The full watchlist has plenty more, from the gentle to the genuinely scary.