Halloween (1978 film)

Quick overview: On the Halloween night of 1963, in the town of Haddonfield, Illinois, six year old Michael Myers stabs his teen sister Judith to death with a kitchen knife. After being locked up 15 years he’s back for his revenge on the town of Haddonfield.

Recommendations: 7.7/10 Rating 

Age: 17+ R

Spookiness: 6.5/10

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Hocus Pocus (1993 film)

Quick overview: A teenager named Max Dennison explores an abandoned house with his sister Dani and their new friend, Allison. After dismissing a story Allison tells as superstitious, Max accidentally frees a coven of evil witches who used to live in the house. Now, with the help of a magical cat, the kids must steal the witches’ book of spells to stop them from becoming immortal.

Recommendations:  6.9/10

Age: 10+ PG

Spookiness: 4.5/10

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The Addams Family(1991 film)

Quick overview: When a man claiming to be Fester, the missing brother of Gomez Addams, arrives at the Addams’ home, the family is thrilled. However, Morticia begins to suspect the man is a fraud, since he cannot recall details of Fester’s life. With the help of lawyer Tully Alford, Fester manages to get the Addams clan evicted from their home. Gomez realizes the two men are conspiring to swindle the Addams fortune and that he must challenge Fester.

Recommendations: 6.9/10

Age: PG 13+

Spookiness: 4/10

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Ghostbusters(1984 film)

Quick overview: After the members of a team of scientists lose their positions at a university in New York City, they decide to become a group called “Ghostbusters” to wage a high-tech battle with the supernatural for money. They stumble upon a gateway to another dimension, a doorway that will release evil upon the city. The Ghostbusters must now save New York from complete destruction.

Recommendations: 7.8/10
Age: 10+ PG

Spookiness: 5/10

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Friday the 13th (1980 film)

Quick overview: Crystal Lake’s history of murder doesn’t deter counselors from setting up a summer camp in the woodsy area. Superstitious locals warn against it, but the fresh-faced young people — Jack, Alice, Bill, Marcie and Ned — pay little heed to the old-timers. Then they find themselves stalked by a brutal killer. As they’re slashed, shot and stabbed, the counselors struggle to stay alive against a merciless opponent.

Recommendations: 6.4/10

Age: 17+ R

Spookiness: 7/10

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Scream (1996 film)

Quick overview: Wes Craven re-invented and revitalised the slasher-horror genre with this modern horror classic, which manages to be funny, clever and scary, as a fright-masked knife maniac stalks high-school students in middle-class suburbia. Craven is happy to provide both tension and self-parody as the body count mounts – but the victims aren’t always the ones you’d expect.

Recommendations: 7.3/10

Age: 17+/10

Spookiness: 5.5/10

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Nightmare Before Christmas(1993 film)

Quick overview: The film follows the misadventures of Jack Skellington, Halloweentown’s beloved pumpkin king, who has become bored with the same annual routine of frightening people in the “real world.” When Jack accidentally stumbles on Christmastown, all bright colors and warm spirits, he gets a new lease on life — he plots to bring Christmas under his control by kidnapping Santa Claus and taking over the role. But Jack soon discovers even the best-laid plans of mice and skeleton men can go seriously awry.

Recommendations: 8/10

Age: 10+ PG

Spookiness: 3/10

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Nightmare on Elm Street (1984 film)

Quick overview: In Wes Craven’s classic slasher thriller, a group of teenagers from the Midwest are attacked by Freddy Krueger, a monstrous night killer who preys on teenagers in their dreams and kills them in real life. Nancy suspects that a terrofying secret hidden by her and her friends’ parents may be the key to solving the riddle but will Nancy and her lover Glen solve the problem before? Is it too late?

Recommendations: 7/10

Age: 15+

Spookiness: 7/10

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Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003 film)

Quick overview: A group of five young travelers were traveling through Texas and came across an isolated rural home. Unfortunately for them the house belongs to a family of deranged backwoods killers. The most notable being a kuling masked brute known as Leatherface. Will the young travel survive through the nightmare and make it out of Texas alive.

Recommendations: 7/10

Age: 18+

Spookiness: 8.5/10