My Ultimate Autumn Watchlist

100+ creepy, spooky, cozy, or crime-y things to watch this season.

I like to imagine they’re all hanging out together.

There are very few things I love more than autumn in general and Halloween specifically. You’ve probably figured this out by now. Every autumn I try to watch as many of my spooky/creepy/horror favorites as I can (let’s be real, most of these are year-round viewing for me, but there’s something extra satisfying about watching them during the fall).

So partly as a service to myself and partly for fun, I decided to make a definitive running list of all my favorite spooky-season shows and movies.

This list is based on things I’ve personally watched and loved, so it’s by no means a be-all, end-all list for everyone. For one thing, I absolutely don’t do slasher films at all, so you won’t find those here. But if you like anything spooky, cozy, creepy, or crime-y, I bet you’ll find a new (or old) gem or two below.

Rating Key

👶🏻 = Kid Friendly

👻 = Jump Scares

🩸 = A Bit Bloody

🩸🩸 = Fairly Bloody

🩸🩸🩸 = Don’t Watch if You’re Squeamish

Take these with a grain of salt… I did my best to be objective, but I’ve learned over the years that I do have a pretty high tolerance for blood/violence in films. I absolutely detest anything truly gory though, so when I say blood, I really do mean primarily blood. And if it has a 🩸🩸🩸 rating that probably means there’s a moment or two with more viscera than I typically like, but overall it’s chill.

Okay, gonna stop talking about blood now…

Ghosts, Witches, & Vampires

Television

• Stranger Things (2016)

• The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2018) 🩸🩸

• Supernatural (2005) 👻 (I just want to say… I adore the first two seasons of this show when it’s all monster-of-the-week format and simple, “let’s go to a small town and investigate a haunting.” I stopped watching after maybe season 8? No shade if you like the rest of it, but I was mostly on board for those first two seasons.)

• Ghost Whisperer (2005)

• The Haunting of Hill House (2018) 👻

• The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020) 👻

• Midnight Mass (2021)

• The Midnight Club (2022)

• American Horror Story: Coven (2013)

• Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997)

• The X-Files (1993)

• The Vampire Diaries (2009) 🩸🩸

Film

• The Conjuring (2013) 👻

• Paranormal Activity (2007) 👻

• Sleepy Hollow (1999) 🩸🩸

• The Sixth Sense (1999) 🩸🩸

• Carrie (1976) 🩸🩸

• Poltergeist (1982)

• Silent Hill (2006) 🩸🩸🩸

• Interview with the Vampire (1994) 🩸

• It (2017) 🩸

• The Blair Witch Project (1999)

• Insidious (2010) 👻

• The Amityville Horror (1979)

• Sinners (2025) 🩸🩸

• Weapons (2025) 🩸🩸🩸

• The Witch (2015)

• Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) 🩸

• A Ghost Story (2017)

• Crimson Peak (2015) 🩸🩸

• The Prestige (2006)

• Ready or Not (2019) 🩸🩸🩸

• Annihilation (2018)

• A Quiet Place (2018) 🩸

• Get Out (2017)

• The Babadook (2014) 👻

• From Dusk Til Dawn (1996) 🩸

• The Lost Boys (1987) 🩸

• It Follows (2014)

Atmospheric

This, to me, means like… there are elements of crime or the supernatural, or both, but mostly the vibes are just autumnal, unsettling, and/or spooky.

Television

• In the Flesh (2013)

• Twin Peaks (1990)

• Over the Garden Wall (2014) 👶🏻

• The Twilight Zone (1959)

Film

• The Virgin Suicides (1999)

• The Banshees of Inisherin (2022) 🩸

• The Lighthouse (2019)

• Midsommar (2019) 🩸🩸

• The Village (2004) 🩸

• First Reformed (2017) 🩸

• Never Let Me Go (2010)

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Fun-Spooky

Television

• What We Do in the Shadows (2019)

• A Series of Unfortunate Events (2017) 👶🏻

Film

• The Addams Family (1991) 👶🏻

• The Addams Family Values (1993) 👶🏻

• Hocus Pocus (1993) 👶🏻

• The Corpse Bride (2005) 👶🏻

• What We Do in the Shadows (2014)

• Heathers (1988)

• Edward Scissorhands (1990)

• The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) 👶🏻

• The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

• Twilight (2008) 🩸

• Coraline (2009) 👶🏻

Cozy + Feel Good

Television

• Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996) 👶🏻

• Gilmore Girls (2000)

• Bewitched (1964) 👶🏻

Film

• Practical Magic (1998)

• You’ve Got Mail (1998)

• When Harry Met Sally (1989)

• Dead Poets Society (1989)

• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001) 👶🏻

• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) 👶🏻

• Little Women (2019) 👶🏻

• Bewitched (2005)

Mystery, Crime, & Thrillers

Television

• Fargo (2014) 🩸

• The End of the F***ing World (2017) 🩸

• Mindhunter (2017) 🩸🩸

• Broadchurch (2013)

• The Landscapers (2021)

• Sharp Objects (2018) 🩸🩸

• Sherlock (2010)

• Only Murders in the Building (2021)

Film

• The Silence of the Lambs (1991) 🩸

• Fargo (1996)

• Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)

• Sweeney Todd (2007) 🩸🩸🩸

• Memories of Murder (2003) 🩸🩸

• The Menu (2022) 🩸🩸

• Knives Out (2019)

• Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022)

• Psycho (1960)

• Rear Window (1954)

• The Shining (1980)

• Parasite (2019)

• Nightcrawler (2014) 🩸🩸

• Murder on the Orient Express (1974)

• Room (2015)

• The Beguiled (2017) 🩸

• Children of the Corn (1984)

• In Bruges (2008) 🩸🩸

• And Then There Were None (2015)

• American Psycho (2000) 🩸🩸🩸

• Blue Velvet (1986)

• The Wicker Man (1973)

• North by Northwest (1959)

• Rope (1948)

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