These funny Halloween movies will provide the perfect combination of laughter and terror
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Beetlejuice
Three words: Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice. Don’t say them! Michael Keaton plays the otherworldly poltergeist with spunk and humor. Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin costar as the couple pulled into ghostly mayhem by the stripe-suited comedian. Catherine O’Hara shines in her role as a Gothic stepmom with surreal taste in interior design. Winona Ryder plays a dark-eyed, dour teen. This funny scary movie is a whole mood.
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Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
This hilarious sequel to the classic Beetlejuice film brings back Michael Keaton as the mischievous spirit who just can’t stay buried. Lydia is now grown up, but the chaos starts again when her daughter stumbles upon a portal to the afterlife—and a woman with a grudge against Beetlejuice sets out for revenge. With laughs, scares and outrageous afterlife antics, it’s a must-watch funny Halloween movie for Halloween night.
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Hocus Pocus
A trio of wickedly funny witches is accidentally resurrected in Salem, and it’s up to a group of kids—and a magical talking cat—to stop their plan to steal children’s souls and become immortal. Full of spooky fun and iconic Halloween vibes, this funny Halloween movie is perfect for fans of magical mayhem and movies about witches.
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Hocus Pocus 2
The Sanderson sisters are back! In this funny Halloween movie, three teenage girls accidentally summon the infamous witches once again. Set in modern-day Salem, it’s a race against time to stop the sisters from unleashing chaos on the world. Hocus Pocus 2 is a nostalgic, witchy ride for old fans and new viewers alike.
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Hotel Transylvania
Spooky movies for the littles coming right up with a trip to the Hotel Transylvania franchise. Start with the first entry, but watch all four movies in the days leading up to Halloween for the full effect. The kids will fall for this action comedy set in a deluxe resort for monsters where humans aren’t allowed. Kid audiences love the setup that gets goofy laughs once a real person enters the fray.
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Hotel Transylvania 2
Count Dracula runs a hotel for monsters, but things get wild when human guests show up. Full of spooky silliness and sweet family moments, Dracula even puts his grandson through “monster boot camp” to teach him the ways of the undead. This funny Halloween movie is fun, fast-paced, and perfect for a family Halloween movie night.
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Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation
In this sequel, Drac and the gang trade the castle for a cruise ship—but it’s not just about relaxing. Romance, underwater creatures and a villain with a secret plan to destroy Dracula make for a monster mash of adventure and comedy.
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Hotel Transylvania: Transformia
What happens when monsters turn human? Total chaos! When a mishap transforms Dracula and his friends into humans—and Johnny into a monster—they must race to reverse the change before it becomes permanent. A zany twist on identity and friendship with loads of laughs.
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What We Do in the Shadows
This hilarious mockumentary offers a sweet and farcical look at monster life. A group of filmmakers braves danger to record an inside look at the lives of ancient bloodsuckers now adrift in modern times. The camera gets up close and personal as a newbie vamp moves in with the seasoned monsters. The cadre embarks on sidesplitting everyday mishaps and adventures. And they’re traveling around on blood vessels.
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The Monster Squad
In this film, tweens in love with classic monster movies create a club, and when they acquire legendary vampire hunter Van Helsing’s diary, they discover their movie obsessions are actually real-life creatures. Soon, Frankenstein joins the squad in this Halloween trip to ’80s nostalgia. The special effects, pop tunes and classic fashion make this a fun romp on Halloween.
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Corpse Bride
Victor accidentally gives an engagement ring to a corpse bride and gets yanked into a romantic underworld odyssey as two fiancées—one living, one dead—vie for his affections. Tim Burton directs this Gothic comedy with expressionistic stop-motion animation that’s beautifully gloomy and whimsically dark.
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Creepshow
The original horror anthology offers five freaky horror tales. The comic book style gives the proceedings a tongue-in-cheek gore that keeps the creep factor from going over the top. But this 1982 film gets a special place on our funny Halloween movies list because zombie maestro George A. Romero directed it and Stephen King wrote it. King even stars in one of the sequences as a farmer who messes with an alien meteor and comes to regret it.
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Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
It is a truth universally acknowledged that zombies are pretty funny. Lily James stars in this send-up of Jane Austen romance that’s a perfect hybrid of horror and idyll. This irreverent parody follows the source material, but it infuses the roguish characters with monstrous tendencies. Meanwhile, the British heroines are trained in zombie-fighting and weaponry. Courtship requires actual swordplay along with witty repartee in this clever film.
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Plan 9 from Outer Space
Director Ed Wood’s so-bad-it’s-good classic offers watchable hilarity, with quintessential B-movie chaos and style. The illustrious Bela Lugosi reprises his starring persona of yesteryear, a caped vampire and the effect is funny and somewhat heartrending. It’s a strange fusion of science fiction and horror from 1959 that’s truly entertaining.
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Shaun of the Dead
Slapstick zombie-killing invades this horror comedy about love and friendship during the apocalypse. Simon Pegg cowrote the screenplay and stars as sad-sack Shaun, a hapless salesman going through a breakup who is thrust into monster fighting when zombies take over his London stomping ground. Expect wisecracks and havoc. Zombies are also an easy and cheap Halloween costume you can put together in a flash.
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Death Becomes Her
Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn star as midlife rivals (and costume-worthy characters) who discover an elixir that will keep them forever young. Only problem is they can’t die—no matter what bodily injuries they endure as they try to kill each other over a man. Enjoy the campy style and retro effects as the humor turns macabre along with their looks.
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The Wolf of Snow Hollow
Cops try to figure out what or who is tearing folks to shreds every time there’s a full moon in their remote, snowy precinct. The vibe of the film offers satire and sarcasm mixed with campy gore, and the wolf is both scary and funny in jump-scare glimpses. Legendary character actor Robert Forster stars in what was his final film, and his performance as the small-town sheriff with a bad heart elevates the material.
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Monster House
In this funny Halloween movie, a crotchety, get-off-my-lawn type of guy grieves his late wife after neighborhood kids accidentally cause her demise. Her spirit then possesses a house and haunts the local children. Three unlikely heroes join forces to free the neighborhood from terror in this delightful animated comedy.
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Edward Scissorhands
Horror movie icon Vincent Price appears in this darkly whimsical fable as the mad scientist who invents a creature with scissors for hands but dies before he can put the finishing touches on his creation. Johnny Depp plays the woebegone soul who makes his way from his Gothic castle home to the town below, where he’s quickly outcast. If you like Tim Burton’s shadowy style, which is simultaneously funny and dark, you’ll adore this quirky classic.
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Little Shop of Horrors
It starts as a sweet romance between two flower-shop employees. In this funny Halloween film, things take a turn for the gruesome when one of the plants develops a taste for human blood. The musical numbers are cagey and fun, and the violence drips with sinister glee. Steve Martin shows up as a sadistic dentist who comes to a bad end, as is the case for many of the seedling’s victims.
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Warm Bodies
Girl meets zombie boy in this sweet, affecting rom-com that takes place during an apocalypse. Nicholas Hoult plays the zombie who falls harder for a woman after he eats her boyfriend’s brains and gains the guy’s memories. It’s funny and a little eerie when love can literally make a dead heart start to beat again.
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The Evil Dead
Filled with schlock and shock galore, The Evil Dead is a black comedy about college friends who take a vacation to a cabin in the woods. They find an ancient book in the basement and, predictably, unleash all manner of hell and evil. Audiences love the absurdist, over-the-top mayhem in this cult hit that spawned a franchise.
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Night of the Creeps
Get ready for cult-level, ridiculous camp in this ’80s horror flick that mixes space slugs with zombie debauchery when two college boys stumble upon a body in a basement lab. The visuals are hilarious, and the setups are comedy gold. It’s no wonder Night of the Creeps is still a fan favorite beloved for its gory, outrageous charm.
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Ghostbusters
There is no Dana. There is only Zuul. Sigourney Weaver plays Dana, a woman with a haunted apartment who eventually gets possessed by the ultimate demon baddie, Zuul. Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd wisecrack their way through this special-effects ’80s blockbuster that makes the supernatural rowdy and rude. Prepare to get slimed.
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Ghostbusters
Nope, you’re not experiencing déjà vu. You’ll also want to watch the 2016 reboot of this Halloween classic starring Saturday Night Live all-stars Kate McKinnon, Kristen Wiig and Leslie Jones, along with Melissa McCarthy, as updated ghost-grabbing scientists. Chris Hemsworth is along for the ride as the group’s secretary. The original cast makes cameo appearances in this raucous redo.
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The Addams Family
This 1991 hit was based on the popular TV show from the 1960s about a Halloween-ish family of millionaires living in a Gothic mansion. Angelica Huston plays Morticia with sinister bravado, and Raul Julia is her devoted hubby Gomez. Christina Ricci gives an iconic deadpan performance as Wednesday, the original tween with a taste for the dark side. The Addams Family makes for an excellent family Halloween costume, by the way.
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Zombieland
Indulge in zombie violence that’s truly carnivalesque. Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin play sisters who team up with a wry cowboy (Woody Harrelson) and a shy college kid (Jesse Eisenberg) as they try to survive in world overtaken by zombies. Bill Murray shows up as himself and provides some laughs in this zombie send-up.
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You’re Next
Caustic, madcap glee infuses this slasher film with chills. A father and his feuding sons head to a country estate only to find weird masked killers on the loose. Even creepier? The killers leave the phrase “you’re next” written in blood after each murder. Family members toss jibes at one another in the midst of violent chaos, and snobbery gets skewered as victims make ridiculous choices.
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Puppetmaster
If you want to laugh at hysterical, demonic puppets, this is the funny scary movie for you. Sight gags and slapstick fill this evil-toy flick with charming chaos as a band of funny but evil little puppets try to kill people. The original unleashed a slew of sequels because it’s a winning premise that mixes the creepy with the oddly delightful.
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Young Frankenstein
. Classic slapstick ensues in this iconic comedy. Mel Brooks brings his silly antics to the Frankenstein (pronounced Fronkensteen) story in this monster-movie parody. Gene Wilder plays a doctor who unwittingly inherits the family estate and its assorted baggage.
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Army of Darkness
Director Sam Raimi and leading man Bruce Campbell return with the third entry in the Evil Dead franchise. The hero finds himself plopped into the Middle Ages amid knights and peasants, and the usual schlocky pandemonium ensues. If you like your gore a little silly, this cult favorite’s for you.
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Clue
So, was it Colonel Mustard in the library with the candlestick? Find out in this movie based on the classic board game that became a cult hit. Between the murders and the laughs, it’s perfect for your Halloween movie marathon…and you might as well pull out the board game, too! Madeline Kahn, Christopher Lloyd, Tim Curry and others camp it up as the embodiments of the iconic characters in this watchable farce.
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ParaNorman
This animated comedy is one of those funny Halloween movies to put on every season and a delight for tweens looking for a Halloween mood, as are these cool costumes for teens and tweens. Follow Norman, a little kid who talks to the dead, on various adventures involving witch curses and monsters. The art design captures the dark spirit with gusto, and the gags move the action along.
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This Is the End
The end of the world is shockingly hilarious in this send-up of celebrity culture and the underworld. In this funny Halloween movie, famous stars play themselves, and everyone gets skewered in this end-times comedy that unleashes demonic monsters and evil wrath on Hollywood. James Franco and Seth Rogen lead the cast, but there are plenty of cameo celebs who meet their terrible fates when the apocalypse crashes a ritzy party.
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A Babysitter’s Guide to Monster Hunting
In this sweet audience favorite, a teenage girl has to go on a monster-fighting adventure when the kid she’s babysitting gets nabbed on Halloween—by the Boogeyman. Family-friendly antics keep the horror low-key in this perfectly funny and not-too-scary action flick. Looking for more of the best Halloween movies for kids? We’ve got you covered.
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Black Sheep
Halloween movies have it out for farm life! There’s always something weird going on with chainsaws, barns and in this case, crazy experiments with sheep. If you’ve had enough of regular zombies, how about the farm-animal version? This funny, harrowing horror comedy gives the idea of lambs going to the slaughter a whole new vibe that’s probably never occurred to you. Happy Halloween!
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They Live
If you’re here to chew bubble gum and fight evil and you’re out of gum, this campy horror thriller is for you. Roddy Piper and Keith David ham it up in this cult classic about skeletal aliens that lurk everywhere. You just need the right sunglasses to see things as they really are.
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Nina Forever
How about a love triangle with the undead? In this funny Halloween film, a young man grieves when his girlfriend dies in an accident. After he moves on, the woman reappears, battered, broken, ghostly and delivering wisecracks whenever he gets intimate with his new love. It’s a sharp, stabby and darkly funny take on modern relationships.
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Ginger Snaps
Two teen sisters, one named Ginger, get wild in this werewolf comedy that upends the genre with its focus on female experience. Things get extra weird on Halloween as Ginger begins to transform after an attack by a wolf creature. This well-reviewed Canadian film gained cult status due to its acerbic sisterhood wit.
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The Little Vampire
Adapted from the famous vampire book series, this sweet, family-friendly thriller features kid star Jonathan Lipnicki as a shy boy who befriends a vampire child after his family relocates to a Scottish castle. The two pals get caught up in a fight between a vamp hunter and real bloodsuckers in the local village.
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Scooby-Doo: The Movie
Scooby-dooby-do! Where are you!? Bring some Scooby snacks (or popcorn) for this funny family movie you’ll all enjoy. If you’re a fan of the retro-cool, Saturday-morning classic cartoon, then shake it up a little with the live-action movie that features the computer-generated beloved Great Dane, Scooby and the likes of Sarah Michelle Gellar as Daphne and Freddie Prinze Jr. as Fred. It’s a horror comedy that brings together the usual gang, who team up in the Mystery Machine van for some supernatural sleuthing.
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Little Monsters
Funny scary Halloween movies often get a little gross, if not a lot gross, and 2019’s Little Monsters pushes that to extremes. Lupita Nyong’o stars as a kindergarten teacher who takes her class on a field trip to a farm petting zoo. Sounds like a fun trip! Uh-oh…here come the zombies. Josh Gad plays a TV host on a show for kids—but don’t let your little ones watch this one!
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Casper
The beloved classic cartoon gets the big-screen treatment in this live-action, CGI-effects mash-up that’s family-ready entertainment perfect for the little kiddos. You’ll find good-natured fun as everyone’s favorite friendly ghost befriends a teenager played by Christina Ricci.
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Hubie Halloween
Adam Sandler creates yet another comedy caricature with Hubie, a small-town dork who loves to help out with Halloween. As usual, Hubie’s the victim of various community pranks and then finds himself mixed up in a police investigation. Sandler comedy fans, you won’t want to miss this one.
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Goosebumps
The scary Goosebumps page-turners work really well on the big screen. Those dog-eared paperbacks with the spooky covers finally got their own movie adaptation, where Jack Black stars as R. L. Stine, the author of the best-selling horror series for kids. In this scary-for-kids flick, the novel monsters escape from the worlds in the books, which makes for rowdy fun.
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