National Horror Movie Day is haunting your TV. If, of course, you allow it in.
Begun in 2023 with a simple objective: Go enjoy a good horror movie. And Oct. 23 was chosen because it is filmmaker Sam Raimi’s birthday.
It is recommended to celebrate in the following ways:
*Plan a horror movie watch party with friends and family. Pick a new movie every night starting October 23 through Halloween.
*Throw a costume party in celebration of the Halloween season and have guests dress up in their favorite horror movie character. Remember to prepare your food and drinks around horror movie inspiration.
*Attend a horror movie convention or film festival, you’ll experience love and acceptance unlike any other place.
*Visit a haunted house and see how many of your favorite horror movie characters are scaring the jeepers out of you.
*Read a horror book that has been adapted to the big screen. Authors like Stephen King are favorites among readers and horror movie buffs.
*Support independent horror by watching an indie horror film or short horror movie created by independent filmmakers. Independent horror often brings fresh and unique perspectives to the genre.
*Share your love for horror movies by connecting with others who love horror, too. Share your favorite films and horror movie party ideas on social media using #NationalHorrorMovieDay.
Halloween Every Night put together this year’s list of nine great horror films, plus a bonus movie — all celebrating big anniversaries in 2026 — that give viewers a classic to watch each night until Halloween. Dim the lights, and “well … we warned you …”
●Frankenstein (1931) … Director James Whale’s classic adaptation of Mary Shelley’s classic novel is an artful horror tale featuring a towering, star-making performance by Boris Karloff, who as much as anyone brings The Monster to life as a misbegotten child in a world that has rejected and vilified him.
●The Wolf Man (1941) …Though not quite the first, still the definitive werewolf movie. Lon Chaney Jr. plays an American in a never-never land kind of mid-20th Century Europe, in a film that reflects rising American anxiety about very old, primal threats haunting the modern world. The film was released a week after the U.S. entered World War II.
●Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) …One of the quintessential Cold War paranoia movies about an alien invasion that unsettles American suburbia and makes you think twice about your neighbors and friends. A film full of quiet and building tension and it features a classic ending.
●The Innocents (1961) … The slightly Freudian psychological thriller about a governess who fears the mansion she works in is haunted and the children are possessed, is based on Henry James’ classic story The Turn of the Screw and features a screenplay co-written by Truman Capote and innovative CinemaScope cinematography by Freddie Francis. Its themes of sexual repression, isolation and an ambiguous ending help make it one of the most studied and discussed horror films ever made.
●The Omega Man (1971) …Second of the three notable attempts at putting Richard Matheson’s “I Am Legend” on screen injects more action and 1970s Cold War anxieties, but the basics of Matheson’s story and Charlton Heston’s performance carry the film.
●The Omen (1976) …Late ‘70s cynicism about modern society allowed a film about the arrival of the anti-Christ to not only get made, but become a hit. A fantastical and apocalyptic storyline is balanced and carried by the presence of Gregory Peck, a Golden Age movie star, whose urbane respectability makes the growing threat feel more real and scary. A great script by David Seltzer, big popcorn movie direction by Richard Donner and solid supporting performances by Lee Remick, David Warner and Billie Whitelaw all contribute to one of the best horror films of the 1970s. The success of The Omen also changed popular culture and the church.
●Carrie (1976) …The first film adaptation of a Stephen King novel was an Oscar-nominated hit and set both King and director Brian De Palma on a path to even greater success. King’s story is the first to take teenage alienation to such a supernaturally explosive place. The film’s success would not only create a new sub-genre of film horror, but become a foreshadowing of the real-life violence to come on American high school and college campuses at the hands of real-life outsiders.
●An American Werewolf in London (1981) …John Landis’ innovative horror comedy and sly allegory of Jewish “otherness” was written when he was just 19, but filmed a decade later. One of the best werewolf movies ever made is also a milestone for modern horror comedy and features a now-classic transformation scene that won artist Rick Baker the first Academy Award for special makeup effects.
●The Devil’s Backbone (2001) …Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro’s uses a child’s ghost story as a political allegory about war and makes one of Spain’s finest films. Innovative special effects, strong performances, and a both moving and creepy story help a small film last.
●Contagion (2011) … Matter-of-fact storytelling and scientific accuracy drive director Steven Soderbergh’s hyper-realistic virus thriller featuring an all-star cast and a multi-narrative story about how a deadly world-wide pandemic would actually play out. Inspired by the SARS and flu outbreaks of the 2000s, the film would eerily predict some of the turmoil, politics and chicanery of the COVID-19 pandemic nine years later.
