Research Guides: Halloween Resources for Fun and Research: Classic Scary Films

Classic Scary Films for a Halloween Fright

The Avery Fisher Center (AFC) and our many streaming platforms have numerous scary films to brighten your Halloween and inspire your Halloween costume choices. By no means an exhaustive list, here are some scary, or campy, Halloween classics available through the library. Take a chance on some that you may not be familiar with.

Streaming Platforms:

Kanopy Streaming
Kanopy Streaming provides access to contemporary and classic feature films and documentaries, from the major Hollywood studios and well as independent and international filmmakers.
Swank Digital Campus
Swank Digital Campus is a streaming video portal to select Hollywood features, independent, and international films.
Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection offers streaming access to more than 400 cinematic classics selected from the Criterion Films catalog.

Films to Stream or watch on DVD:

Sinners by Ryan Coogler
Trying to leave their troubled criminal lives behind, twin brothers return to their hometown to start again, only to discover there are vampires waiting to welcome them back. Set in 1932 in Mississippi.
Nosferatu by Robert Eggers
A gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman and the terrifying vampire infatuated with her, causing untold horror in its wake. Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult), an estate agent, journeys to Transylvania to meet a mysterious client, Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård). Meanwhile, back in Germany, his new wife Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp) is tormented by eerie visions and an overwhelming sense of impending doom, fearing an encounter with a terrifying, uncontrollable force.
Carrie by Brian De Palma
Carrie White is a shy young girl who doesn't make friends easily. After her class mates taunt her about her horrified reaction to her totally unexpected first period one of them takes pity on her and gets Tommy Ross, her boyfriend and class hunk to invite Carrie to the senior prom. Meanwhile another girl who has been banned from the prom for her continued aggressive behaviour is not as forgiving and plans a trick to embarrass Carrie in front of the whole school. What she doesn't realise is that Carrie is-- gifted, and you really don't want to get her angry
Clive Barker's Hellraiser by Clive Barker
An unfaithful wife encounters the zombie of her dead lover; demons are pursuing him after he escaped their sadomasochistic underworld.
The Descent by Neil Marshall
On an annual extreme outdoor adventure, six women friends meet in a remote part of the Appalachians to explore a cave hidden deep in the woods. Far below the surface of the earth, disaster strikes when a rock fall blocks their exit and there is no way out. The women push on, praying for another exit, but there is something else lurking under the earth. The friends are now prey, forced to unleash their most primal instincts in an all-out war against an unspeakable horror that attacks without warning.
The Frighteners by Peter Jackson
A con-man with the ability to see and communicate with ghosts uses his talent to make money. He has the ghosts haunt houses until the residents pay him, a 'ghost-exterminator,' to get rid of them.
From Dusk Till Dawn by Robert Rodriguez
The Gecko brothers, two dangerous outlaws on a wild crime spree, kidnap a father and his two kids then head south to a seedy Mexican bar to hide out in safety. But when they face the bar's truly notorious clientele, they're forced to team up with their hostages in order to make it out alive!
Halloween by John Carpenter
On Halloween night years ago, little Michael Meyers brutally slaughtered his sister in cold blood. But for the last fifteen years, town residents have rested easy, knowing that he was safely locked away in a mental hospital . . . until tonight. Tonight, Michael returns to the same quiet neighborhood to relive his grisly murder again ... and again ... and again. Tonight is Halloween!
House of Wax by André De Toth
A deranged wax sculptor who almost loses his life in a fire set by his partner. Instead of dying in the blaze, he returns for revenge, hiding his horribly disfigured face behind a wax mask.
The Hunger by Tony Scott
Miriam, an ageless vampire, spends her time prowling Manhattan's trendiest nightspots in search of new blood. John, her partner of 200 years, inexplicably begins to age at an accelerated pace. A scientist is called upon to try to save John and gets pulled into their triangle of sex, blood and desire.
The Innocents by Jack Clayton
Deborah Kerr stars as an emotionally fragile governess who comes to suspect that there is something very, very wrong with her precocious new charges. A psychosexually intensified adaptation of Henry James's classic The Turn of the Screw, co-written by Truman Capote (In Cold Blood) and directed by Jack Clayton (Room at the Top).
Interview with the Vampire by Neil Jordan
A vampire with a conscience, Lestat, tells the story of how he lured a young aristocrat, Louis, into the immortality of the damned.
The Lost Boys by Joel Schumacher
A young teen thinks his town of Santa Cruz is infested with vampires, and becomes convinced of it when his own brother starts turning into one.
Near Dark by Kathryn Bigelow
Country boy Caleb Colton (Adrian Pasdar) whittles away the quiet rural nights hunting local girls--but when he falls prey to the mysterious and beautiful Mae (Jenny Wright), Caleb unknowingly becomes the hunted. Mae is no ordinary girl, Caleb soon learns; she is part of an outlaw band of vampires, and their love is about to lure him into a terrifying world of bloodlust, mayhem and absolute horror. Will Caleb pay the ultimate price for love and eternal life--or will he find a way to defeat the evil growing inside him...?
A Nightmare on Elm Street by Wes Craven
When her best friend Tina is brutally murdered, teenager Nancy suspects the killer isn't Tina's boyfriend but rather a much more horrifying figure from her dreams. Convinced that this vicious murderer is stalking her friends and killing them as they sleep, Nancy enters a desperate race against time to bring him out of her dream world and stop the bloodbath...before she falls asleep and becomes his next victim.
Nosferatu: a symphony of horror by F. W Murnau
The greatest horror film of all! A long time ago in middle Europe, a decrepit, forbidding castle stood. Casting an ominous shadow over the townspeople who dare not look upon it, the unholy dwelling is home to one Count Orlok (Max Schreck), an undead night creature with a taste for human blood. Showcasing the extremely eerie Schreck, "Nosferatu" is the first screen adaptation of Bram Stoker's classic novel "Dracula," stylistically directed by the legendary F.W. Murnau.
The Omen by Richard Donner
When Kathy Thorn gives birth to a stillborn child, her husband, sheilding her from the devastating truth, substitutes an orphaned infant for their own, unaware of the child's evil origins.
Pan's Labyrinth by Guillermo del Toro
A dark fantasy thriller about a young girl who enters a mysterious labyrinth and finds herself at the center of the ferocious battle between good and evil.
Poltergeist by Tobe Hooper
The classic tale about a family whose suburban home is haunted by evil forces. When the terrifying apparitions escalate their attacks and hold the youngest daughter captive, the family must come together to rescue her before she disappears forever.
Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock
An unsuspecting victim visits the Bates Motel and falls prey to one of cinema's most notorious psychopaths, Norman Bates.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show by Jim Sharman
The Rocky Horror Picture Show is the ultimate movie experience. A mad mix of classic horror/sci-fi, super-charged sensuality and outrageous fantasy. It's the story of an "ordinary" couple and one unforgettable night at the castle of Dr. Frank-N-Furter.
Shadow of the Vampire by E. Elias Merhige
This riveting suspense thriller is about the filming of Nosferatu and the difficult relationship between F.W. Murnau and Max Schreck. As cast and crew begin to disappear, it seems that Murnau has made a devil's bargain with Schreck, whose performance is too authentic.
Us by Jordan Peele
Haunted by trauma from her past and compounded by a string of eerie coincidences, Adelaide grows increasingly certain that something bad is going to befall her family. After spending a tense beach day with their friends, Adelaide and her family return to their vacation home. When darkness falls, the Wilsons discover the silhouette of four figures holding hands as they stand in the driveway: doppelgangers of themselves.
Willard by Glen Morgan
Willard has been picked on and pushed around his whole life and is a twentysomething man who still lives at home with his nagging mother. He works at a shipping company for a stern, authoritarian supervisor. When Willard becomes fascinated with a hidden nest of rats living in his decrepit home, they become both his friends and his aggressors. He sics them upon anyone who crosses his path. But one rat, Ben, isn't so amenable to Willard's orders, and a horrifying test of wills begins.

Frankenstein two-ways via Drama Online

Check out the 2011 production(s) of Frankenstein from the National Theatre via Drama Online that was recorded through National Theatre Live on 17th March, 2011.

Jonny Lee Miller and Benedict Cumberbatch alternate the roles of Victor Frankenstein and his creation in these performances of Danny Boyle's smash-hit production of Frankenstein.

Childlike in his innocence but grotesque in form, Frankenstein’s bewildered Creature is cast out into a hostile universe by his horror-struck maker. Meeting with cruelty wherever he goes, the friendless Creature, increasingly desperate and vengeful, determines to track down his creator and strike a terrifying deal. Urgent concerns of scientific responsibility, parental neglect, cognitive development and the nature of good and evil are embedded within this thrilling and deeply disturbing classic gothic tale.

The production was a sell-out hit at the National Theatre in 2011, and the broadcast has since become an international sensation, experienced by almost half a million people in cinemas around the world.

Drama Online
Drama Online contains full texts and full-length filmed performances of plays ranging from Aeschylus to the present day, with supplementary material including first night program texts, critical analyses, and images from the Victoria and Albert Museum's archive of production photos. Includes the Core Collection, Critical Studies and Performance Practice, Nick Hern Books Modern Plays, National Theatre Collection, RSC Live Collection, and Aurora Metro Books, among others.