Here is official 2020 Haunting of Lit House Halloween Movie Marathon! These films are a mix of silly, scary, funny, and heartwarming. Unfortunately, some of them were removed from streaming services in the last few months, but I’ve listed if they can be streamed on one of the big streaming platforms. Make a big batch of popcorn, get comfy, and enjoy…if you dare…

• The Autopsy of Jane Doe (Netflix): This film is the story of a father-son autopsy team and the autopsy they do on an unidentified woman. As the autopsy gets underway, strange things start happening. Warning: This is a gory movie. But if you can get past how gross autopsies are, The Autopsy of Jane Doe will keep you in suspense and wondering what happened to Jane Doe and who she really is.
• Practical Magic (Hulu): Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock star in this truly adorable movie. They play witch sisters who have been cursed to never find true love, and their status as witches has made them the topic of gossip in their small town. After things turn dark for Kidman’s character, magic may be the only thing to save the sisters. Practical Magic is not particularly scary and jumps from being cute and lighthearted to dark and weird.
• Candyman: Candyman starts out as your typical slasher film but becomes something much more complex. What if the demons from urban legends are real? What if victims become the enemy in public perception? Candyman is a moving, unexpected film exploring the monsters who haunt our nightmares. And it takes place in Chicago!
• Basket Case: This is easily the silliest horror film I’ve ever seen. A man and his basket/brother (yes, you read that correctly) want revenge for an old sin. That’s all I’ll say. Just go watch this, and bring your sense of humor.
• The Killing of a Sacred Deer (Netflix): Here’s the second Nicole Kidman movie in this movie marathon. Kidman’s on-screen husband becomes friends with a teenage boy, who he introduces to his family. The family becomes very ill, seemingly inexplicably. What sinister connection does this seemingly random boy have to the family? While this film isn’t the most earth-shattering horror film, the acting and dialogue are incredibly unsettling.
• Hush (Netflix): Hush is a slasher film that tells the story of a deaf woman who lives by herself in the woods. What could go wrong? The beginning of this film (about the first 30 minutes) is disturbing because there’s no music. It’s just the protagonist moving around her house and mundane sounds of her doing chores. But of course, we see the killer lurking outside her house, creating incredibly stressful dramatic irony. The rest of the film is your average slasher movie, but the first 30 minutes make the movie worthwhile.
• Alien (Hulu): A ruthless and vicious alien appears on a spaceship and attempts to kill the astronauts onboard. Alien is the best outer space horror movie against which all other space horror should be judged. Sigourney Weaver steals the show, and there’s a cat!
• Elvira Mistress of the Dark (Hulu): Elvira Mistress of the Dark is not scary, but it stars my horror role model: Elvira! This uproarious comedy tells the story of a horror host who moves to a small conservative town and does not fit in. Cassandra Peterson (Elvira) is comedy gold, and her witty one-liners from this film have stood the test of time.
• The Witch: Robert Eggers’ impressive directorial debut, The Witch tells the story of a New England puritanical family in the 1630s. The baby of the family is kidnapped, and it’s suspected that a witch stole the baby. More and more tragedies befall the family, and the ending of this film is beautiful and shocking and cements The Witch as one of the best horror films of this decade.
• Night of the Living Dead (Amazon Prime): Night of the Living Dead is the quintessential zombie film and set the precedent for the zombie shows and movies that followed it.
• Halloween: If Night of the Living Dead is the quintessential zombie film, Halloween is the quintessential slasher film. Its perfection comes from its simplicity. The killer is just a guy with a knife, and they don’t try too hard to explain him. John Carpenter’s simple but brilliant score sets the stage for the massacre that befalls Haddonfield, Illinois. And the 2018 sequel is surprisingly good. (Not as good as the original, but still quite enjoyable.)

What are your favorite Halloween movies?