Halloween (article)

Published by Mason Oldridge, 31 October 2025

Trick or treat! Whether you’re opening your door to every child in the street or sitting in the dark with your lights off and curtains drawn, here’s 10 of the best horror films from the past 30 years to get you in the mood for the spooky season!

Scream (1996)

What’s your favourite scary movie? We start off with the OG of 90s horror. In Woodsboro, a group of high school students, including protagonist Sidney Prescott, are targeted by a masked killer called Ghostface. Known for its opening scene starring Drew Barrymore, it’s a straightforward slasher movie but proves to be a winning formula. Skeet Ulrich and Matthew Lillard are perfect as the chillingly psychotic Billy Loomis and Stu Macher, as is Timothy Olyphant in the sequel, and recurring characters police officer Dewey and reporter Gale Weathers are now iconic. All six instalments provide an enjoyable watch, with the seventh film coming next year.

I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)

Late one night, a group of friends accidentally cause the death of a pedestrian and cover it up. One year later, one of them receives a letter containing the titular statement and the group are then targeted by an unidentified killer dressed as a fisherman with a hook. Another standard but now legendary slasher film, the movie features the big names of Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr. and went on to receive two sequels as well as a legacy sequel earlier this year.

Saw (2004)

Wanna play a game? Two men wake up in a room with a dead body in the middle of them. They learn they are victims of the Jigsaw Killer, a sadistic murderer who tests his victims’ will to survive, and are expected to saw through their feet to live. The traps may be disturbing but the idea of teaching people to value life is innovative and Billy the Puppet is an epic inclusion. Director James Wan would go on to create the Insidious and The Conjuring film series’ but the Saw franchise, now up to 10 instalments, is the most creative.

Disturbia (2007)

Placed on house arrest, teenager Kale begins spying on his neighbours out of boredom and becomes convinced his new neighbour is a killer. There is a romance element as Kale begins dating his neighbour Ashley, who helps with the investigation, along with his friend Ronnie. Doubling up as a thriller, there are tense scenes such as Turner finding Ashley following him at the supermarket, Ronnie getting trapped in the garage and particularly Kale falling into the cellar and being submerged among the victims’ corpses.

The Babysitter (2017)

A horror film like no other! Shy tween Cole has a crush on his babysitter, a young woman who has befriended him and makes him feel cool. One night, she invites her friends round. All seems normal until she randomly murders one of them, revealing the group to be a blood-ritual cult. The members then attempt to silence him, but hilariously the unlikely hero is triumphant over them all. The tongue-in-cheek approach presents the shock horror in a comedic way and delights in its thrilling simplicity.

Haunt (2019)

On Halloween night, a group of friends visit a haunted house said to prey on their personal fears and the line between real and fake soon becomes unsettlingly blurred. The low-budget slasher is pleasingly entertaining as the group slowly and staggeringly begin to realise they are in true danger from the performers. The film delivers a chilling ending too as the escapees realise the members have their home addresses, leading to a final confrontation.

The Fear Street Trilogy (2021)

Adapted from Goosebumps author R.L. Stine’s Fear Street novels, the trilogy follows the unfortunate town of Shadyside, said to be cursed by a witch executed for witchcraft in the 1600s. The first part sees a killing spree in a shopping mall in 1994, the second part follows the Camp Nightwing summer camp massacre in 1978 before the third and final part heads back to 1666 to focus on the origins of the curse by Sarah Fier. While each event is individually thrilling to watch, the way in which it is all tied together makes for a truly complex yet clever plot.

Smile (2022)

When therapist Rose witnesses a patient’s suicide, she unwittingly inherits a curse that causes its subject to go insane, giving a sinister smile before brutally killing themselves in front of the next victim, therefore continuously passing it on. The film follows an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to break the spell, though the highlight is not the plot but rather the truly terrifying grin the sufferers deliver. Its sequel sees a pop star with the same condition on the same mission and ends with her killing herself on stage in front of a packed arena audience, suggesting the curse is now spread to a vast array of people and possibly too widespread to end.

M3GAN (2022)

Orphaned Cady goes to live with her roboticist aunt Gemma, who develops a robotic doll called M3GAN to help her through her grief. However, M3GAN takes her command to protect Cady to the extreme, with deadly consequences. M3GAN’s growing violence is intriguing to watch, with the highlight being when she hunts and attacks the bully Brandon, ripping off his ear. The film also feeds into the AI fears of the era.

Heretic (2024)

A couple of teenage missionaries visit the terrifyingly eccentric Mr. Reed to teach him of the Mormon religion, though soon find themselves entangled in a psychological game that challenges their beliefs. The situation is eerie from the moment with the blueberry pie as it transpires that his wife may not exist, while his board game analogy is clever and the choice between the two doors is innovative. Things take a sinister turn in the basement as the appearance of the prophet is truly horrifying, whereas the ending in which Sister Paxton arrives at the conclusion that it was pre-determined she ends up in the chamber serves Reed’s point that the “one true religion” is control. Hugh Grant sheds his bumbling heartthrob typecast as he is stellar as the chilling heretic.

Happy Halloween!