Get Into The Halloween Spirit With 10 Cozy Horror Movies You Can Watch Right Now

Michael Dougherty's Halloween anthology Trick ‘r Treat perfectly encapsulates the nostalgic feeling of spooky season slumber parties, sharing ghost stories and trying to scare your friends silly. The series of segments are all interconnected by Sam, the adorable, sack-headed trick-or-treater who deserves more love as a modern horror icon.

While it wouldn't be fair to choose a favorite part, we must admit the Anna Paquin-starring Surprise Party is a true highlight in this perfectly autumnal cult classic.

Trick ‘r Treat is now available to stream or rent on Max and Apple TV.

The rebellious black sheep of the Halloween family, Halloween III: Season of the Witch is famously the only movie of the franchise not to feature slasher icon Michael Myers. Despite that, Tommy Lee Wallace's entry into what was originally intended to be an anthology series has gone on to become a cult classic, beloved among horror fans for its original take on sci-fi witchcraft.

The film follows Dr. Daniel Challis (Tom Atkins) and Ellie Grimbridge (Stacey Nelkin) as they try to solve a series of grisly deaths (including that of the latter's father) connected to Halloween masks. The masks, the autumnal set design and the mysterious, cosmic feel all make Halloween III: Season of the Witch a perfect spooky season watch. Just know that you'll have the Silver Shamrock jingle stuck in your head for all of October.

Halloween III: Season of the Witch is available to rent on AMC+, Prime Video and Peacock.

Choosing one cozy horror movie from a director whose filmography includes Sleepy Hollow, Edward Scissorhands and The Nightmare Before Christmas is certainly a challenge, but we gotta give it to the ghost with the most: Beetlejuice should be required viewing for anyone's 31-day October watchlist.

If Michael Keaton cavorting around in that iconic pinstripe suit doesn't get you in the Halloween mood, we don't know what will. Winona Ryder's spiky bangs, perhaps? Or Catherine O'Hara's possessed rendition of Day-O, maybe?

And hey, once you've finished Beetlejuice, you can follow up with this year's sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, which is just as heavy on the cozy vibes.

Few voices encapsulate the spirit of the season like the great Vincent Price‘s did, and so any of his grand, decade-spanning oeuvre would make for a suitably cozy watch. But it's William Castle's  1959 classic House on Haunted Hill that really ramps up those creepy, fuzzy feelings we all know and love.

If you're not familiar with House on Haunted Hill, you'll certainly be familiar with one of the many, many horror movies it has influenced: five guests are invited to stay the night at a haunted mansion, with those who make it through earning $10,000 from the rich, eccentric owner (Price).

Gothic, gorgeous, creepy and camp, House of Haunted Hill makes for perfect viewing on those stormy nights.

House on Haunted Hill is available to rent or stream on Shudder, Screambox, Prime Video, Apple TV, The Criterion Channel, Hoopla and Tubi.

No cozy horror curation would be complete without a John Carpenter classic, and while we could just as easily have put Halloween or The Thing on this list, The Fog just about edges out the other two when it comes to maximum cozy vibes.

The clue's in the name, for one. Starring Adrienne Barbeau and, again, Tom Atkins, The Fog follows eerie going-ons in a coastal California town that are seemingly related to a heavy, glowing fog that has descended upon the area. Nothing says spooky season like a ghostly revenge tale, and no movie does it better than The Fog.

The Fog is now available to rent or stream on Apple TV, The Criterion Channel and Freevee via Prime.

If there were to be a crown king of cozy horror vibes, it would surely be Matthew Lillard. From Scooby Doo to Scream, Lillard seems to just exude a warm and welcoming vibe – but always with a twist.

In 2001's Thir13en Ghosts (a remake of a William Castle movie of the same name, which could just have easily also have been included on this list!), Lillard plays a psychic desperately trying to reign in the accidental escape of 12 angry ghosts in a gloriously Gothic mansion. The 13th? Well, you'll have to watch and find out.

Thir13en Ghosts is now available to rent or stream on Apple TV, and Prime Video.

Thanks to their gloomy settings and creepy, crawling villains, plenty of movies from Japan's J-horror boom era qualify as cozy horror. Hideo Nakata's Dark Water, with its constant backdrop of heavy rain, is the perfect watch for those fall days where it's raging a storm outside and you're tucked up warm and dry under copious amounts of blankets.

In Dark Water, recently divorced mother Yoshimi (Hitomi Kuroki) moves into a rundown apartment with her young daughter Ikuko (Rio Kanno). They soon learn that the leak from the ceiling and the mysterious red bag that keeps appearing are really the least of their problems.

Dark Water is now available to rent or stream on Arrow Video, Screambox, The Criterion Channel and Kanopy.

George C. Scott stars as a mourning father in this classic Canadian horror that's a must-watch for the Halloween season. Creaking rocking chairs, cobwebbed attics, spooky skeletons… The Changeling has everything you need for a toasty night in front of a roaring fire (or a bunch of candles, more realistically), and this old-school ghost story is sure to put a chill in your heart and the right kind of shivers up your spine.

The Changeling is available to rent or stream on Shudder, Tubi, Peacock and AMC+.

Guillermo del Toro's twisted Gothic romance Crimson Peak is perfect for those who like their Halloween season with a little bit of tainted love in the air. Mia Wasikowska stars as Edith, a young author newly married to affluent Englishman Sir Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston).

The pair relocate to his run-down mansion where they intend to shack up cozily with Sharpe's sister Lucille (Jessica Chastain) but – you've guessed it – the mansion holds sinister secrets. Not only is Crimson Peak truly creepy, it also features some of the most gorgeous costume designs this side of Bram Stoker's Dracula.

Crimson Peak is now available to rent or stream on Prime Video and Apple TV.

While plenty of filmmakers these days try desperately (and not always successfully) to recreate the feel of an era gone by, a pre-X Ti West managed to nail the feel of a grimy early 80s slasher with such accuracy and precision that many viewers genuinely wondered if they were watching some long-lost hidden nasty from the era of Don't Go in the House or Maniac – West even shot the thing on 16mm.

In this classic tale of babysitting gone wrong, college student Sam (Jocelin Donahue) takes on a job at the home of the mysterious Mr. Ulman (an always magnificently creepy Tom Noonan). While the subject matter of The House of the Devil may be terrifying, the vintage feel and retro vibes make for one cozy night – make sure you order a pizza before watching.

The House of the Devil is now available to rent or stream on Shudder, Tubi, AMC+ and Pluto TV