Whether we are screaming from laughter, screaming from horror or both, these are the 31 best movies to watch all October as we count down to Halloween.
READ: Black Horror Movies: 74 Horror and Thriller Movies With Black Lead or Cast
Black Box
After losing his wife and memory in a car accident, a single father undergoes an agonizing experimental treatment that causes him to question who he really is.
Where to Watch: Amazon
Beloved
The work examines the destructive legacy of slavery as it chronicles the life of a black woman named Sethe, from her pre-Civil War days as a slave in Kentucky to her time in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1873. Although Sethe lives there as a free woman, she is held prisoner by memories of the trauma of her life as a slave.
Where to Watch: Amazon, Paramount+, Showtime Anytime, The Roku Channel, Hulu, Sling TV, fuboTV
Kindred
Plagued by mysterious hallucinations, a pregnant woman suspects that the family of her deceased boyfriend has intentions for her unborn child.
Where to Watch: Hulu
Spell
While flying to his father’s funeral in rural Appalachia, an intense storm causes Marquis to lose control of the plane carrying himself and his family. He soon awakens wounded, alone and trapped in Ms. Eloise’s attic. Eloise claims she can nurse him back to health with a hoodoo figure she’s made from his blood and skin. Unable to call for help, Marquis desperately tries to break free from her dark magic and save his family from a sinister ritual before the rise of the blood moon.
Where to Watch: Roku, Sling TV, Philo
In Fabric
A lonely divorcee visits a bewitching London department store to find a dress to transform her life. She soon finds a perfect, artery-red gown that unleashes a malevolent, unstoppable curse.
Where to Watch: Paramount+, Showtime Anytime, The Roku Channel, Hulu, Sling TV, fuboTV, Amazon Prime Video, Showtime
A Haunted House 1 or 2
Young couple Malcolm (Marlon Wayans) and Kisha (Essence Atkins) have just moved into their dream home. As they settle in, they learn that they’re not alone — not because the house is haunted, but because Kisha is possessed by a demon. Desperate to salvage his relationship — and more importantly — his sex life — Malcolm hires a coterie of paranormal specialists, which includes a priest and ghost busters, to banish the unwelcome intruder from Kisha’s body.
Where to Watch: Amazon, Paramount+, Showtime Anytime, The Roku Channel, Hulu, Sling TV, fuboTV
His House
A refugee couple makes a harrowing escape from war-torn South Sudan, but then they struggle to adjust to their new life in an English town that has an evil lurking beneath the surface.
Where to Watch: Netflix
Candyman (1992 or 2022)
Skeptical graduate student Helen Lyle (Virginia Madsen) befriends Anne-Marie McCoy (Vanessa Williams) while researching superstitions in a housing project on Chicago’s Near North Side. From Anne-Marie, Helen learns about the Candyman (Tony Todd), a knife-wielding figure of urban legend that some of her neighbors believe to be responsible for a recent murder. After a mysterious man matching the Candyman’s description begins stalking her, Helen comes to fear that the legend may be all too real.
Where to Watch: Peacock, FuboTV, Philo, Sling TV
The Boy Behind The Door
In The Boy Behind the Door, a night of unimaginable terror awaits twelve-year-old Bobby (Lonnie Chavis) and his best friend, Kevin (Ezra Dewey), when they are abducted on their way home from school. Managing to escape his confines, Bobby navigates the dark halls, praying his presence goes unnoticed as he avoids his captor at every turn. Even worse is the arrival of another stranger, whose mysterious arrangement with the kidnapper may spell certain doom for Kevin. With no means of calling for help and miles of dark country in every direction, Bobby embarks on a rescue mission, determined to get himself and Kevin out alive… or die trying.
Where to Watch: Roku Channel, Amazon Prime
Get Out
Now that Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) and his girlfriend, Rose (Allison Williams), have reached the meet-the-parents milestone of dating, she invites him for a weekend getaway upstate with Missy and Dean. At first, Chris reads the family’s overly accommodating behavior as nervous attempts to deal with their daughter’s interracial relationship, but as the weekend progresses, a series of increasingly disturbing discoveries lead him to a truth that he never could have imagined.
Where to Watch: Hulu
Gothika
The life of psychiatrist Miranda Grey (Halle Berry) is derailed after she nearly hits a girl with her car one night. Later, Miranda wakes up in her own mental hospital under the care of her peer, Pete Graham (Robert Downey Jr.). Completely disoriented, Miranda is accused of killing her own husband, but she has no memory of anything after she encountered the girl. Slowly Miranda begins to uncover what happened, but she has to escape the asylum to solve the mystery.
Where to Watch: Rent or Own VOD
Attack The Block
A Fast, funny, frightening action adventure movie that pits a teen street gang against an invasion of savage alien monsters. It turns a London housing project into a sci-fi battleground, the low-income apartment complex into a fortress under siege. And it turns a crazy mix of tough street kids into a team of kick ass heroes. It’s inner city versus outer space and it’s going to explode.
Where to Watch: Hulu, The Roku Channel, Sling TV, Amazon Prime Video, Philo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2yfp6oj2hw
Vampires vs. The Bronx
A trio of friends discover a sinister plot to destroy their neighbourhood. They decide to band together to save their town from vampires.
Where to Watch: Netflix
Eve’s Bayou
Over the course of a long, hot Louisiana summer, a 10-year-old black girl, Eve Batiste (Jurnee Smollett), discovers that her family’s affluent existence is merely a facade. The philandering of her suave doctor father, Louis (Samuel L. Jackson), creates a rift, throwing Eve’s mother, Roz (Lynn Whitfield), and teenage sister, Cisely (Meagan Good), into emotional turmoil. Eve, though, manages to find some solace with her quirky psychic aunt, Mozelle (Debbi Morgan).
Where to Watch: Pluto TV
The Obituary of Tunde Johnson
A wealthy Nigerian American teenager is pulled over by police, shot to death, and immediately awakens, trapped in a terrifying time loop that forces him to confront difficult truths about his life and himself.
Where to Watch: Hulu
Blacula
During a visit to Transylvania, an African prince (William Marshall) gets turned into a vampire by Count Dracula (Charles McCauley). Sealed in a coffin for several lifetimes, “Blacula” reawakens in 1970s Los Angeles. Leaving a trail of bloodless victims in his wake, he pursues Lina (Vonetta McGee), a woman who bears a striking resemblance to his dead wife. Meanwhile, Dr. Gordon Thomas (Thalmus Rasulala) and top cop Lt. Peters (Gordon Pinsent) are hot on the bloodsucker’s trail.
Where to Watch: Amazon Prime, Philo
Vampire in Brooklyn
In the wake of her mother’s death in a mental institution, detective Rita Veder (Angela Bassett) is assigned to a baffling serial murder case. After examining the crime scene — a corpse-filled ship found adrift at sea — Rita meets Maximilian (Eddie Murphy), a smooth-talking Caribbean playboy determined to romance her. When Rita begins suffering from crippling hallucinations, she calls upon Dr. Zeko (Zakes Mokae), an occultist who suspects a vampire is on the loose.
Where to Watch: Hbo Max, Roku Channel, Hulu
Sweetheart
A shipwreck survivor on an uninhabited tropical island must fend off a malevolent force that surfaces each night.
Where to Watch: Netflix
Us
Accompanied by her husband, son and daughter, Adelaide Wilson returns to the beachfront home where she grew up as a child. Haunted by a traumatic experience from the past, Adelaide grows increasingly concerned that something bad is going to happen. Her worst fears soon become a reality when four masked strangers descend upon the house, forcing the Wilsons into a fight for survival. When the masks come off, the family is horrified to learn that each attacker takes the appearance of one of them.
Where to Watch: Rent or Own VOD
Tales from the Hood
A creepy mortician, Mr. Simms (Clarence Williams III), attempts to scare teenage drug dealer Stack (Joe Torry) and his friends straight by telling them four horrifying stories. One is about a guilt-riddled cop (Anthony Griffith) who goes crazy after ignoring his corrupt partner (Michael Massee). He also tells of a meek schoolboy (Brandon Hammond) with terrifying supernatural powers. Although the young thugs want to take their drugs and escape Mr. Simms, he still has two more tales to tell.
Where to Watch: Pluto
The Intruder
Scott and Annie Russell couldn’t be happier after buying their dream home from a mysterious and lonely widower named Charlie in Napa Valley, California. Their newfound paradise soon turns into a living nightmare when Charlie – still strangely attached to the house – begins to show up and interfere in their daily lives. When his erratic behaviour turns to obsession, the young couple soon find themselves caught up in a violent confrontation that threatens to destroy everything they hold dear.
Where to Watch: Starz, Hulu, The Roku Channel, Sling TV, Amazon Prime Video, Philo
Spawn
Covert government assassin Al Simmons (Michael Jai White) is killed after being double-crossed by his boss, Jason Wynn (Martin Sheen). Upon arriving in Hell, Simmons is offered an opportunity to return to Earth if he’s willing to lead an evil army. He accepts, and is reincarnated as a “Hellspawn” — a twisted, horribly disfigured version of his former self. However, Spawn serves as a force of good, much to the dismay of the Devil’s henchman, a wicked clown (John Leguizamo).
Where to Watch: Rent or Own VOD
Sugar Hill
When nightclub owner Langston (Larry D. Johnson) refuses to sell out to local mob boss Morgan (Robert Quarry), he is beaten to death by a gang of hired thugs. His grief-stricken fiancee, Diana “Sugar” Hill (Marki Bey), vows revenge for his murder and turns to aged voodoo authority Mama Maitresse (Zara Cully). Together they conjure up the demonic spirit of Baron Samedi (Don Pedro Colley), who agrees to help Sugar. He raises an army of zombies and sets them upon Langston’s killers.
Where to Watch: Amazon
Ma
A lonely middle-aged woman befriends some teenagers and decides to let them party in the basement of her home. But there are some house rules: One of the kids has to stay sober, don’t curse, and never go upstairs. They must also refer to her as Ma. But as Ma’s hospitality starts to curdle into obsession, what began as a teenage dream turns into a terrorizing nightmare, and Ma’s place goes from the best place in town to the worst place on Earth.
Where to Watch: Hulu, Sling TV
Master
Three women strive to find their place at a prestigious New England university that may disguise something sinister.
Where to Watch: Amazon
The People Under The Stairs
When young Fool (Brandon Adams) breaks into the home of his family’s greedy and uncaring landlords, he discovers a disturbing scenario where incestuous adult siblings have mutilated a number of boys and kept them imprisoned under stairs in their large, creepy house. As Fool attempts to flee before the psychopaths can catch him, he meets their daughter, Alice (A.J. Langer), who has been spared any extreme discipline by her deranged parents. Can Fool and Alice escape before it’s too late?
Where to Watch: Pluto
The First Purge
To push the crime rate below one percent for the rest of the year, the New Founding Fathers of America test a sociological theory that vents aggression for one night in one isolated community. But when the violence of oppressors meets the rage of the others, the contagion will explode from the trial-city borders and spread across the nation.
Where to Watch: Rent or Own VOD
Def by Temptation
Joel (James Bond III), a quiet divinity student from North Carolina, starts to question his faith. So he heads to New York to visit his friend K (Kadeem Hardison), a struggling actor, who takes him out bar-hopping. They meet a gorgeous seductress (Cynthia Bond) who turns out to be a succubus, a demon spirit luring black lotharios to their deaths. When she sets her eyes on Joel, K turns to the help of Dougie (Bill Nunn), a drunken cop who specializes in supernatural investigations.
Where to Watch: Pluto TV, Tubi, PLEX, The Roku Channel, Sling TV, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube TV, Peacock
Ganja & Hess
Germs from the stab of an ancient dagger turn two lovers (Duane Jones, Marlene Clark) into immortal vampires.
Where to Watch: Paramount+, Showtime Anytime, The Roku Channel, Hulu, Sling TV, fuboTV, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube TV, Showtime
Scary Movie 1 & 2
Defying the very notion of good taste, Scary Movie out-parodies the pop culture parodies with a no-holds barred assault on the most popular images and talked-about moments from recent films, television and commercials. The film boldly fires barbs at the classic scenes from “Scream,” “The Sixth Sense,” “The Matrix,” “I Know What You Did Last Summer” and “The Blair Witch Project,” then goes on to mock a whole myriad of teen movie clichés, no matter the genre. (synopsis of 1)
Where to Watch: Rent or own VOD
Blade
A half-mortal, half-immortal is out to avenge his mother’s death and rid the world of vampires. The modern-day technologically advanced vampires he is going after are in search of his special blood type needed to summon an evil god who plays a key role in their plan to execute the human race.
Where to Watch: Hulu