16 underrated horror movies to add to your Halloween watchlist

Halloween is right around the corner, which means it’s time to binge-watch scary movies.

2024 has seen some great new horror films hit theaters, like Longlegs, Cuckoo, and Night Swim, but Halloween is a time when it’s great to watch old classics. Of course, there are only so many movies to watch once you make it through the must-watch classics like Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, and The Conjuring movies.

So, we’ve rounded up some of our less-heralded favorites that you might not have heard of. This eclectic collection of is sure to have at least one film you’ve never seen before while offering a little something for everyone, no matter what types of scares you like.

1 Deep Rising

A cruise ship heist goes horribly wrong

Treat Williams stars as the captain of a ship that’s been hired to meet up with a state-of-the-art luxury crew ship, but when they arrive they find that all the guests on the ship have mysteriously vanished. As they investigate the ship, they learn that something else boarded the ship before them.

2 The Battery

A haunting indie zombie movie

The Battery is more thoughtful than pretty much any zombie film I’ve ever seen, which helps imbue it with a level of terror that few zombie films ever achieve. The film follows two minor league baseball players as they struggle to survive not only the apocalypse, but each other’s company, before they find themselves surrounded by the undead.

The film was written and directed by Jeremy Gardner, who also stars in the film. He’s done the same with a few more films since The Battery came out in 2012, so if you like this movie, be sure to check out his other films.

3 Psycho Goreman

A little girl gets her own demonic alien

Psycho Goreman follows a young brother and sister who discover a mysterious gem while digging in their backyard. The gem unleashes a dangerous alien who was imprisoned after attempting to conquer the galaxy. While the alien has no problem killing anyone he comes across, the gem the two kids found gives them power over the alien. So they name him Psycho Goreman and begin teaching him to be a little less brutal.

This movie is filled with over-the-top gore, but it’s somehow super sweet and endearing. A weird combo that works surprisingly well together. If you like this film, check out director Steven Kostanski’s other film, The Void, as well.

4 Fido

Zombies are pets

Fido tells the story of what happened after the zombie apocalypse. Zombies are mostly domesticated thanks to collars that curb their problematic cravings for humans. Meanwhile, humanity has reverted to a 1950s style society, that’s until a young boy named Timmy gets too close to his family’s pet zombie, and it begins to wreak havoc on his small idyllic town.

5 Disturbing Behavior

Perfect high schoolers aren’t what they seem

James Marsden stars as Steve Clark, a high school senior who’s new to the community of Cradle Bay. Shortly after arriving, Clark begins noticing strange behavior from a group of students in a club known as the Blue Ribbons and the sketchy therapist who oversees them.

6 Wishmaster

Never let an evil genie grant your wish

An appraiser in New York City is given an ancient gemstone which awakens an evil djinn that needs someone to cast three wishes so that he can release hell on Earth. The Djinn takes on human form, and begins to terrorize anyone who he can get a wish from.

7 Near Dark

A young guy falls for a mysterious vampire girl

Near Dark is a cult classic vampire film that also happens to be directed by Academy Award winner Kathryn Bigelow. It follows a young man who meets a mysterious girl one evening who turns him into a vampire and introduces him to the pack of bloodsuckers she travels with, led by Lance Henriksen’s Jesse Hooker.

8 The Descent

Cave-diving with monsters

If you’re looking for a movie that will have you sleeping with the lights on for all of October, then The Descent might be just what you’re looking for. It follows a group of female cave divers who are trapped underground and discover strange creatures that begin to pick them off one by one.

9 Halloween: H20

Michael Myers finds Laurie Strode 20 years later

Halloween: H20 might just be the best Halloween movie after the 1978 original. The movie sees the return of Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode, who faked her death and went into hiding to avoid Michael Myers. She’s now the dean of a private school in northern California that her son attends. But, unfortunately, Michael learns that Laurie is still alive, and makes the trek across the country to check in on his long-lost sister.

10 Pumpkinhead

What better way to get ready for Halloween than watching a pumpkin-headed monster terrorize teens.

This cult classic was the directorial debut of special effects wizard Stan Winston, who’s best known for working on films like Jurassic Park, Terminator 2, and Aliens. It centers around a group of teens who accidentally murder a young boy. The boy’s father goes to a witch who helps him wake up Pumpkinhead in order to carry out his vengeance on the teenagers.

11 Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

Teenagers take the fight to Freddy

If you’re looking to watch a Freddy Krueger movie, it’s hard to beat the original, but my next favorite Nightmare on Elm Street film is the third entry in the series released way back in 1987. The movie sees Heather Langenkamp return as Nancy after surviving Freddy as a teen in the first movie. Now she’s a new therapist in a psych ward filled with teens having similar nightmares to her own.

12 Audition

A Japanese body horror classic

This Japanese horror classic sees a man who, with the help of a film producer, auditions women for a role as his new wife, but the woman he chooses is one of the most sadistic characters in film history.

13 The Autopsy of Jane Doe

The aftermath of a possession comes to a coroner’s office

If you’re a fan of haunting or possession movies like The Conjuring or The Exorcist, then The Autopsy of Jane Doe is a great choice if you’re looking for a new scare fest. The movie follows the arrival of a body in a small-town morgue after its discovery at the scene of a mysterious homicide. The movie stars former Succession star Bryan Cox.

14 Splinter

Two couples encounter a mysterious monster at an abandoned gas station

Splinter is a great monster movie. A young couple traveling through rural Oklahoma is abducted by an escaped convict and his girlfriend. After a flat tire, the foursome looks for help in an old gas station, but find an parasistic creature that feeds on blood.

15 Slither

An alien hive mind invades a small town

Slither is one of the more well known movies on the list, in part due to being one of the early films by James Gunn who’s now in charge of making DC Comics films for Warner Bros. The film sees an alien parasite fall to Earth where it infects a resident in a small town played by Michael Rooker. From there, the alien sets about making more larvae and taking the rest of the residents under its control.

16 The Faculty

Invasion of the body snatchers meets Scream

What if the faculty of your high school was infected by mind-controlling aliens? That’s the premise of the 1998 film, The Faculty, which sees an alien invasion begin at a small high school in Ohio. A few of the students notice the tell-tale alien invasion signs before it’s too late and set out to find the alien leader. The Faculty was written by Kevin Williamson, who wrote Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer.