Horror enthusiasts leaned heavily into nostalgia throughout October to get their scares in, with high-profile franchises the most rewatched during Halloween month.
Instead of giving indie horror flicks another geeze, fans went for the likes of Scream, Halloween, and the Hellraiser moves to get them into the spooky mood. Topping the list of most rewatched horror films in October was John Carpenter’s original Halloween, with sequels Halloween (2018), Halloween Ends, and Halloween Kills all in the top ten.
Halloween’s influence on the overall top fifty cannot be understated — every entry in the franchise was featured in the list, proving fans are still interested and invested in a series which has hit numerous highs and lows.
The original Scream from Wes Craven snagged the second spot, with its reputation of one of the best horror films of the 1990s being upheld by kino enthusiasts. Released in 1996, it’s remained heavily in the cultural zeitgeist. Craven’s Scream 2 also got some love again, sitting just outside the top twenty.
Third spot went to the actress-traumatizing The Shining, while the remainder of the top twenty included horror classics A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Thing, The Exorcist, and the Rocky Horror Picture Show. There were a few standalone and modern horror flicks getting a second opinion, with X, Hereditary, The Witch, and Midsommar all seeing very respectable finishes in this list.
Independent horror film Terrifier snuck into 32nd spot ahead of movies like Poltergeist, It Follows, and even Sam Raimi’s original The Evil Dead. Recently seeing its sequel release in cinemas to vomit-inducing reactions, it feels like it could be the 2020s’ answer to Freddy Krueger or Michael Myers.