21 Essential Ghost Movies To Stream For Halloween

Just make sure the ghost doesn't stick a hand out through your screen.

OooooooooOOOOoooooooOOOO AAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAA

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Those are supposed to be ghost noises. I was trying to scare you. Did it work? 

As you know, it is spooooooOOOOOooooooky season, and thus ghosts are all around us (real or cinematic).

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So in honor of ghosts trying to give us messages, ghosts trying to drag us to hell, and of course ghosts trying to make out with us, here are some top-notch, ectoplasm-filled ghost movies for you to enjoy.

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Don't you want to just kiss a ghostly lover after seeing that GIF? 

So without further ado, Beetlejuice, take it away!

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1. Beetlejuice (1988)

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Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice. Ope, would you look at that? I've summoned this film to your television. Michael Keaton stars in this comedy about a poltergeist and two ghosts (I'm unclear on exactly what the difference is even after reading the Wikipedia pages. It appears that poltergeists are just rowdier?) haunting the new inhabitants of their old house. Said new inhabitants include a goth teenager played by Winona Ryder, who can see ghosts. The movie (which actually won an Oscar for Best Hair and Makeup) is a cult classic that recently spawned a hit Tony-nominated musical. While I wouldn't ever recommend summoning a crafty poltergeist to your apartment, I would recommend this film. 

2. Candyman (1992)

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Saying "Beetlejuice" three times is a semi-dubious choice. Saying "Candyman" five times in a mirror is a big fat HELL NO. You do not want a murderous ghost appearing to kill you. With the recent sequel now available to rent, there is no time like the present to go back and watch the 1992 franchise starter. In the film, Helen Lyle (Virginia Madsen) is a graduate student investigating an urban legend about the Candyman, the ghost of a slave-turned-artist who was lynched after impregnating a white woman. As the story goes, anyone who says his name five times into a mirror will summon the hook-handed spectre to murder them. Helen completes the ritual, and you can only imagine how things unravel from there. 

3. Casper (1995)

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If you want a Halloween ghost story but are not into the whole scary movie thing, then how about this '90s classic about a cute, lil' friendly ghost? No grisly corpses or demonic presences trying to drown you in the bathtub, just a round-headed little guy who wants to be your friend and help you host a Halloween party? Casper (the first film with a CG lead) has all the trappings of a Halloween staple (party, costumes, ghosts) without the "this jump scare might make me wet myself" energy. If I had to be haunted by a ghost on this list, I'm going to opt for Casper every day of the week. 

4. Crimson Peak (2015)

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Before Guillermo del Toro was winning Oscars for sea monster sex, he was sending Mia Wasikowska to incredibly creepy gothic mansions infested with red ghosts. Her character, Edith, is a wealthy American writer warned by the ghost of her mother to "Beware of Crimson Peak." So what does she do? Well naturally she goes and marries a spooky English baron (Tom Hiddleston) who owns a dilapidated, cobwebby estate sinking into a red clay mine. The nickname of the house/hill? Why Crimson Peak, of course, and it's up to Edith to figure out what secret horrors have gone on there based on her interactions with its ghosts. A delightfully, haunting mood piece, the film is everything you could ask for from ghost movie down to the creepy family portraits and sinister grand staircase. 

5. Ghost (1990)

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We learn a lot of things about the afterlife in this romantic thriller. For example, we learn that ghosts like pottery. We learn that ghosts can speak to mediums. And most of all we learn that when people die, they only become ghosts if they have "unfinished business" here on earth. (This means that if I die between now and November 24, I will be sticking around as a ghost because I need to see House of Gucci before I pass.) Patrick Swayze plays Sam, the ghost of a murdered man, who sticks around to try to protect his girlfriend (Demi Moore) from a similar fate. Whoopi Goldberg competes with a mound of clay to be the film's #1 scene stealer as the psychic helping Sam. She won an Oscar for the role and of course left us with the infamous "You in danger, girl." 

6. A Ghost Story (2017)

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As the title implies, this is quite literally a ghost story. It's the story of an unnamed man (played by Casey Affleck) who after dying in a car crash haunts the house he and his wife (Rooney Mara) lived in together while he was alive. Roaming the area with the sheet over his head, the ghost sits his vigil over the house for years until it is eventually torn down, only to proceed to the past and follow its lifespan all over again. A haunting (quite literally) musing on life and death, the quiet film is from the mind of David Lowery, who directed the recent Green Knight as well as Old Man & the Gun, a film too quiet to make waves, but definitely worthy of more attention. Oh, and perhaps I should have led with this: A Ghost Story is one of only a few films to star Kesha (who famously has had "sexual experiences" with the supernatural). 

7. Ghostbusters (1984)

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No time like the present to revisit this classic haunted comedy. It's October. Halloween is coming. The original, starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Sigourney Weaver, follows a group of ghost catchers who crisscross New York City, catching the city's most frightful ectoplasmic beings. The film spawned a successful franchise, birthed famous ghosts like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, and of course gave us the iconic theme song. While we're on the theme song, I'd also like to shoutout the sultry remix by Zayn that accompanied the 2016 reboot and which I am listening to at this very moment. 

8. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)

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The Harry Potter franchise is a ghost-heavy one. From the Bloody Baron and Peeves to the Fat Friar and Nearly-Headless Nick, ghosts are popping up through the floors, walls, and ceilings for the entire franchise. No film is more ghost-centric, however, than the sophomore outing that sees Hogwarts's inhabitants being petrified by an unknown beast. Not only is dear old Nick stopped dead (LOL, I'm too funny) in his tracks, but Moaning Myrtle makes her debut as the lovesick haunt of the girls bathroom, and Tom Riddle is attempting to get his ghostly presence out of a diary and into a body. If you took my advice and watched Sorcerer's Stone because of my Halloween list, why don't you watch the sequel now. And stay tuned for my next list, which will either be "Best Movies Starring a Hippogryph" or "Fave Films Featuring Ex-Cons."

9. The Haunted Mansion (2003)

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As the Disney ride says (and the film repeats), the Haunted Mansion is home to 999 ghosts. If you're looking for bang for your buck, it's hard to find a better deal than that. How many ghosts are in the entire Harry Potter series? Like 50 tops? This Eddie Murphy family comedy based on the Disney World ride follows a pair of realtors (played by Murphy and Marsha Thomason) who stop by to look at a house on their way to vacation only to be trapped inside by its creepy butler and host of ghosts. A little bit spooky, but not so much to scare off the kids, the movie is a silly little romp. And sure the critics may not have liked it much, but as a tween who saw this in theaters, it really hit the spot. Sometimes adults with film degrees are not good judges of what the 10–12 age demographic is hungry for. (And I really needed Jennifer Tilly in a crystal ball.) 

10. The Haunting (1963)

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Based on one of the OG haunted house narratives, Shirley Jackson's novel The Haunting of Hill House, this black-and-white ghost story often finds itself on lists of the best horror films ever made. The 90-year-old Hill House has been the site of multiple mysterious deaths and disappearances, and so it isn't surprising that the oddly constructed mansion is the source of much ghostly gossip. A group of people beset Hill House then to uncover the source of the paranormal mystery only to find that perhaps wandering into a mansion beset by death wasn't the smartest move after all. If you loved the recent miniseries based on the same book, now might be time to check out the film. 

11. The Little Stranger (2018)

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In between being nominated for Best Director for Room and adapting/directing the horny quarantine hit Normal People, Lenny Abrahamson directed this haunting gothic tale set in the 1940s. For whatever reason, this taut, anxiety-inducing, puzzle box of a film got very little attention, but I am here to tell you to WATCH IT! Domhnall Gleeson plays a local doctor who is asked to visit the reclusive Ayres family at their mansion Hundreds Hall to care for an ailing maid. Gleeson quickly gets entangled with the family, however, who all seem unwell and believe that the house is beset with ghosts. Are their spectres inhabiting the walls of the aging mansion, or is it just a case of hermits going nutty by themselves in the country? That, my dears, is the question. 

12. Personal Shopper (2016)

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What a glamorous life Kristen Stewart leads in this haunting Parisian jaunt. As the titular personal shopper, she wanders from boutique to boutique down quaint French streets picking up designer dresses for her celebrity client (although I must say, the dresses aren't quite up to Spencer levels of glory). The only catch is that she is being haunted by the ghost of her dead twin brother. She's receiving text messages from an unknown number, and a specter appears in her boss's apartment. The film from Olivier Assayas (director of the magnificent K. Stew feature Clouds of Sils Maria) trades in a simmering, chic creepiness that culminates in a pair of final scenes that left me with goosebumps. A ghost story for the next generation.

13. Pirates of the Caribbean (2003)

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"You best start believin' in ghost stories, Miss Turner. You're in one." This is another one of those "Are they ghosts? Are they zombies? Are they walking skeletons?" moments, but since Captain Barbossa tells us they're ghosts in this much-obsessed-over line, I'm going to take his word for it. This Oscar-nominated box office juggernaut is another Disney World ride-to-film conversion featuring ghosts, only this time the ghosts are on a boat rather than in a mansion. Johnny Depp, Keira Knightley, and Orlando Bloom must try to escape the ghost pirates even as the skeletal crew tries to find a way to become human again. The film went on to spawn a string of sequels, a ride rebrand, and a million Jack Sparrow Halloween costumes. I also hold this film directly responsible for Jungle Cruise.

14. Poltergeist (1982)

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OK, so I'm back to that ghost vs. poltergeist question again here, and unfortunately this film is not really helping me with differentiating between the two. In this horror film, poor little Carol Anne Freeling (Heather O'Rourke) just wants to binge some TV (so relatable). But instead she somehow witnesses poltergeists (poltergi?) popping out through the telly and dragging her through a portal into a different dimension. It's then up to her parents to drag her back from the netherworld because surprise surprise, the realtors lied to them and the whole place was built ON A GRAVEYARD. Moral of the story is never trust a realtor. That's what I took from this film at least. 

15. The Night House (2021)

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If you need a ghost story to scare the living candy corn out of you, then this is your ghostly Halloween horror selection. Rebecca Hall plays Beth, a woman who is attempting to move on with her life while intensely grieving the death of her husband. This swarm of feeling is complicated when she finds a mysterious house in the woods, identical to her own, that her husband seems to have built and been using to conduct affairs with women who look oddly like Beth. As if that's not quite weird enough, there is also a ghostly supernatural element to the story that rears its ugly (invisible) head. This was my favorite horror film of 2021 (sorry, Halloween Kills) and will not disappoint as a centerpiece of your October 2022 film viewing. 

16. The Others (2001)

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Another day. Another creepy mansion possibly inhabited by ghosts. This time the mansion is located in post-World War II England, and its inhabitant is one Grace Stewart (played by the AMC-obsessed Nicole Kidman). She lives there with her two children, who can't go outside due to a rare skin disease, and three new servants. As she goes about her daily life, however, she starts seeing the titular others, a group of people who sometimes appear but can't be found when they search the house. Perhaps they are ghosts? Perhaps they are not. But you will want to watch for the buzzy twist ending either way. 

17. The Shining (1980)

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In the adaptation of Stephen King's bestselling novel, Danny Torrance has the "shining," which is the ability to telepathically communicate with the past. AKA Danny can see ghosts. So of course when he, his writer father (Jack Nicholson), and his nervous mother (Shelley Duvall) check into an abandoned hotel to be its caretaker during the winter off-season, he starts seeing previous visitors. Perhaps most famous among them are the pair of twin girls who follow him around the halls on his tricycle. While the twins are creepy AF, I might point out that there are things much more terrifying than ghosts, such as your father trying to kill you with an axe. 

18. The Sixth Sense (1999)

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If you are one of the 12 people left on earth who doesn't know the twist ending of The Sixth Sense, then please, for the love of god, go watch this movie. I'm not going to spoil it, but not everyone is as considerate as moi regarding 20-year-old spoilers. But I will say that Haley Joel Osment's "I see dead people" means that he can see ghosts. They're chatting him up and passing along messages they'd like relayed to their living loved ones. Of course he sees the terrifying Mischa Barton ghost, but he also imparts a message from his grandmother to his mom (Toni Collette) in this Oscar nomination-earning scene. I don't know if we have a definitive ranking, but I'm willing to go out on a limb and say that HJO in this film might be the cutest medium ever?

19. Spencer (2021)

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While the ghost of Princess Diana (and now Queen Elizabeth) may be haunting the palaces of England now, this film does not address such spirits. Rather, Princess Di and Queen Lizzy are alive and well, passive-aggressively feuding over the Christmas holidays when Di is visited by the ghost of beheaded former queen Anne Boleyn. The drama, which earned Kristen Stewart her first, incredibly deserved Oscar nomination, watches Diana come to terms with her relationship to the royal family, while following Boleyn around abandoned mansions in the middle of the night (as one does). If you have to be haunted, might as well be haunted by a queen. 

20. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010)

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This movie is ghost central. Uncle Boonmee is dying of kidney failure, and as he enters his final days he's joined by his ghost wife to look back on his previous lives before being reincarnated into this one (sort of a ghostly activity, since those people are dead). Then his long-lost son reappears, claiming he mated with a ghost monkey and that changed his appearance. All of these ghostly figures, however, lead to a heartfelt and poignant film about the meaning of life from queer, Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul. It's a good time to catch up on his work as his latest film, Memoria (starring Tilda Swinton), is the Colombian Oscar entry this year and will be making its rounds on the awards circuit. 

21. What Lies Beneath (2000)

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I don’t know about you, but my mind is filled with images from the trailers I saw as a child for scary movies I couldn’t watch because I was too young. Now I have dozens of bone-chilling snippets floating around in my mind. One such snippet is from the sinister tub in this Harrison Ford–Michelle Pfeiffer two-hander about a house haunted by a dead woman (aka a ghost). Is the tub scene actually all that scary as an adult? No. Was I traumatized for years about accidentally drowning? Yes, 100%. I am now a staunchly anti-bath person, but is that for cleanliness reasons or because I am worried about being drowned by a ghost? I'll never tell. 

Watch it on Hulu. 

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