Suspenseful not-exactly-horror movies to watch, this Halloween

I don’t know if I like horror or not, honestly. I definitely like it more than I used to? Still, I don’t really ever want to turn on a movie that’s going to scare me. I like thrills, maybe a few chills… that’s it. So, here are some good Halloween movies that are very suspenseful and even a bit spooky and maybe even a little scary… but that won’t traumatize you. I think?

I grouped them into three categories: old-timey suspense movies, movies that definitely have blood but aren’t GORY scary messes (the blood volume is offset by inventiveness or funniness or satire), and then movies that I could sit through but that are definitely too scary for some people.

NOT VERY SCARY, AS IN “SCARY IN AN OLD-FASHIONED WAY”:

Rebecca (1940)

I’m not talking about the insipid remake with Armie Hammer, but the original, Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece. The good people who read CrimeReads do not need me to tell them to watch Rebecca, but I’m underscoring it because watching a scene in which a house burns down might be the very thing you need, lately, idk.

The Night of the Hunter (1955)

I will never, never stop praising Charles Laughton’s only film, a masterpiece about a psychopathic serial-killer and self-appointed preacher (Robert Mitchum, always great, never better), who, when he gets out of jail, becomes obsessed with finding the money hidden by his lately-executed bank robber former-cellmate—a secret which is kept by the robber’s two young children. TELL ME this is not the most eye-widening plot you’ve ever heard. And now believe me when I say that it is shot gorgeously, too. The cinematography will make you scream. SWOOPING shadows. Ghostly UNDERWATER shots. Insane stuff.

Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

My high school AP US History teacher Mr. O’Neill heartily recommended that I watch this earlyish-career Hitchcock movie, about a teenage girl (Teresa Wright) who becomes suspicious that her beloved Uncle Charley (Joseph Cotten) is a murderer, after he visits her family in their idyllic California town. It’s really excellent—Mr. O’Neill was correct.

Diabolique (1955)

Based on the novel by Boileau-Narcejac (a pair of writers, actually), this midcentury horror-noir from one of my favorite directors, Henri-Georges Clouzot, is the perfect Halloween movie. Simone Signoret and Véra Clouzot play the mistress and wife (respectively) of a sadistic schoolmaster (Paul Meurisse) who plan the perfect murder to rid their lives of him. But when the murder is done and his body vanishes, the tables begin to turn. It’s excellent, absolutely chilling feature—the best film Hitchcock never made (and, IMO, better than most films Hitchcock did make). (This is just an enthusiastic endorsement… I’m not knocking Hitchcock.)

Leave Her to Heaven (1945)

Richard (Cornel Wilde) is a writer who believes he’s struck gold when he encounters Ellen Berent (Gene Tierney), a gorgeous young woman who is totally infatuated with him. Turns out, though, that she’s an obsessive psychopath. Whoops!

BLOODY AND SUSPENSEFUL BUT NOT GORY:

No Other Choice (2025)

Park Chan-wook’s black comedy-thriller is one of the best movies about “hitting a breaking point” ever made. I love a satire about capitalism, and this movie, about a middle-class, white-collar worker who gets laid off and subsequently goes on a murder spree to get rid of anyone who might be competition for his old job, is pretty perfect.

Resurrection (2022)

I feel like no one saw Resurrection, an engrossing, chilling thriller starring Rebecca Hall and Tim Roth, and this is a crime. It might seem somewhat standard in plot—it is about a woman whose life is upended when a figure from her past returns—but it is punched up by fantastic performances: Roth’s sinister calmness and Hall’s detonating desperation. She also gives maybe the single best scene performance of the year: a seven-minute, one-take monologue that she delivers with her entire face. Incredible.

Trap (2024)

I’ll say upfront that M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap isn’t perfect. There are the kind of pitfalls that always seem to pop up in Shyamalan’s movies (a tendency to over-explain some things, some strange or stilted dialogue), but I find these things less “pitfalls” than funny markers of style. Shyamalan is an auteur in the truest sense of the word, and, in an era of endless sequels and unwanted franchises, I find it a breath of fresh air that he always seems able to turn out a new, original idea. And Trap, which is a movie about a serial killer who realizes that the FBI are closing in on him while he takes his tween daughter to a Taylor Swift-style pop concert, is not only a delightful and original premise, but it is also executed with such love and care that it feels almost impossible not to enjoy.

First and foremost, it is a father-daughter movie. Our protagonist, the slick murderer Cooper (Josh Hartnett), adores his young daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue), and is so excited to be able to be with her to enjoy her favorite artist, the pop singer Lady Raven (Saleka Shyamalan). His clear love for her and his family plays out nicely against his increasing need for self-preservation; as the walls begin to close in, he clings tight to his daughter, and it’s clear that for maybe the first time, he’s beginning to worry if this will be a day his daughter won’t forget not for its specialness, but its potential to upend her life. And second, Shyamalan’s own daughter Saleka, herself a singer-songwriter and musician, plays such a large part in this film, that it is clear that Trap is a family-affair, behind the scenes just as much as in front of the camera. I find it incredibly charming that, at the start of Shyamalan’s career, he was marketed as an extremely mysterious figure with a dark imagination, and now, maybe years later, he is perhaps most famous for seeming to be a very loving father. 

Oh, one more thing… in Trap, there is an FBI agent/criminal profiler who is leading the manhunt, and she’s played by the great Hayley Mills. Hayley Mills is the former child star who played the original twins in the original version of The Parent Trap (1961). So, like, I can’t stop thinking about how M. Night Shyamalan cast the original parent-trapper in the original Parent Trap to lay a parent trap to trap a parent in Trap.

Blow Out (1981)

Drian De Palma’s Blow Out is a clever re-imagining of Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow Up (the film listed right above), only featuring an a movie sound engineer (John Travolta) accidentally recording a murder, rather than catching it on film. This film has a lot to say about what surveillance, scandal, and murder have to do with America—and thus it’s set in Philadelphia during the Fourth of July.

Companion (2025)

I loved this wonderful, twisty satirical film about our… cough… reliance on technology. I can’t say much more than that; but it’s an excellent film for today’s modern age.

Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)

Maybe you’re not interested in extremely well-made parodies of Gen-Z online culture, and maybe you are. But it would still be worth your time to watch Halina Reijn’s Bodies Bodies Bodies, about a group of narcissistic zoomers stuck in a mansion together during a hurricane, playing a murder-themed party game that somehow becomes real. The kids start to suspect each other, in ways that provide ample opportunities to satirize the “toxic” fake-woke culture permeating the zeitgeist and wielded by the most privileged among us.

Strange Darling (2024)

I absolutely loved Strange Darling, JT Mollner’s wild and weird serial killer movie, which was shot all on 35 mm film by the actor-turned-cinematographer Giovanni Ribisi. And man, he’s a good DP. Strange Darling is as much as a visual treat as it is a narrative extravaganza, a fully controlled and impressive story told in an innovative way. It stars a superb Willa Fitzgerald as a young woman (simply called “the lady”) and an impressive Kyle Gallner (simply called “the demon”) and it drops us in the middle of their night, a night that has started as a one night stand and has twisted into a terrifying cat-and-mouse chase puppeted by a serial killer. The shot that plays during the opening credits, of Fitzgerald’s character running desperately across a green field in bright red scrubs, her ear having been blasted off by a shotgun, is one of the most arresting things I’ve seen at the movies in a while. And the movie only gets more, well, arresting from there.

Blue Velvet (1986)

Would a list about small-town crime movies be complete without an entry from David Lynch? No! Kyle MacLachlan is a young college student returning to his hometown for the season when he discovers a severed human ear in a cornfield (I KNOW!), and thus embarks on a strange mystery.

Blow the Man Down (2020)

I loved this frosty, bloody, bone-chilling indie film, written and directed by Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy. It’s about two sisters (Sophie Lowe and Morgan Saylor) from a small, coastal New England fishing town. Shortly after the death of their beloved mother, they wind up having to cover up the terrible murder of a would-be assaulter. But as they attempt to conceal the crime, hoping friendly police officers and nosy neighbors do not suspect anything too fishy, they become drawn into their town’s dark underbelly, which turns out to be surprisingly matriarchal.

Ready or Not, (2019)

I loved this comic slasher film, starring Samara Weaving as a young woman marrying into a billionaire family dynasty without realizing they’re going to wind up attempting to sacrifice her at midnight on her wedding night. It’s a wonderful satire on elitism and class in America, and a fun (sometimes heavy-handed) take-down of patriarchal institutions in general. If you’re looking something to watch with a friend, I highly suggest this. I saw this with my friend Eleni in theaters, last summer, and we sat in the last row and ate doughnuts the whole time. The movie will make your blood run cold at times, but this memory warms my heart.

Ready or Not: Here I Come, (2026)

A sequel that is just as good as/if not better than its original, Ready or Not II pops into the days after the events of Ready or Not I. It’s very Halloween 2. In this sequel, after she’s made it through, she’s challenged by a powerful group connected to her in-laws’ family (also with a Satanic pact) to a DOUBLE OR NOTHING game of hide-and-seek, and they have to play, or they’ll kill her sister, Kathryn Newton! The actors in this group of deadly players include such luminaries as Sarah Michelle Gellar, Elijah Wood, Néstor Carbonell, Kevin Durand… and David Cronenberg. Yes, David Cronenberg. DO! A! DOUBLE! FEATURE!

Barton Fink (1994)

I debated with a friend whether or not this Barton Fink is a proper crime movie (I think it qualifies for this list because it’s ALL about L.A. in the summer and it’s probably the sweatiest film ever made, plus there is also a vicious murder in the middle of it) but he thinks not a crime movie as much as a terrifying, vaguely supernatural movie about a mental breakdown. Still… decide for yourself.

Watcher (2022)

No, this is not The Watcher, the incompetent Netflix series adapting that one article in The Cut. This is Chloe Okuno’s gutting, sensitive, all-too-real movie about a young woman who discovers that she has a stalker. When Julia (an amazing Maika Monroe) movies with her husband to Bucharest, she thinks that the man who often stares out at her from the apartment across the street could be the serial killer who has been decapitating women around the city.

Eileen (2023)

Eileen! This thriller, which is basically perfect almost all of the way through, is based on the novel by Ottessa Moshfegh. Anne Hathaway rocks her portrayal of a sultry, secretive psychologist at a young men’s prison in Massachusetts. She, Rebecca, is the first bright spot in a while that Eileen (Thomasin McKenzie), who works in the prison, has experienced, and it’s not long before Eileen begins to grow veeeeeery interested in her. The movie builds well and is really interesting, but a late-in-the-film monologue from Marin Ireland brings the house down.

OKAY THIS ARE ACTUALLY DEFINITELY A BIT SCARY BUT YOU WILL PROBABLY BE OKAY (PROBABLY):

Late Night with the Devil (2024)

Late Night with the Devil is a fresh, bracing horror film from writer-directors Cameron and Colin Cairnes and producer-star David Dastmalchian. It has a crystalline premise. Get a load of this: a late night TV show host, desperate for better ratings, plans a broadcast that will catch audiences’ attentions. His program, which airs on Halloween night in 1977, includes appearances from psychics, paranormal debunkers, and a psychologist who claims to have been able to communicate with a demon inhabiting a possessed child. Oh, and… the possessed child, herself. She’s there too. So, of course, when the show commences, things go horribly wrong. The film unfolds crisply, playing with a cinéma vérité style, as if we’re watching a behind-the-scenes broadcast about the apparently-famed broadcast, which includes material never before seen. I love films that handle exposition creatively, and this one certainly does, though its sense of overarching structure does fade a bit as the film progresses (sometimes, later on, I wasn’t positive if we were watching the broadcast, the broadcast of the broadcast, or something else). Perhaps this is related, but at times (in the film’s revelatory third act, for example) it’s almost too economical; I would not have called the film heavyhanded if it provided a few more conclusive answers. Just a couple! I mean, the devil’s in the details! But these are quibbles. Overall, it’s a smartly-paced, original, and riveting horror movie. If you like scary movies of any kind, or if you like the very specific category of “movies about broadcast television,” this one’s for you.

The Invitation (2015)

I am a moderate horror movie fan married to an extreme horror movie fan, so my consumption of all things spooky is pretty constant throughout the year. Still, I can’t deny that it’s just more fun to watch something bone-chilling in the chilly days of October. This month, I recommend you find yourself a cozy blanket and a moderately brave loved one and watch The Invitation, a horror-thriller movie that takes place at a dinner party in the Hollywood Hills (I know—and it gets even scarier)! A man and his new girlfriend attend a dinner hosted by the man’s ex-husband and her new husband, along with a few other friends. Things get even more intense than you’d expect, and the final of the movie is one of the most haunting horror ending I’ve ever seen.—Jessie Gaynor

Suspiria (2018)

As someone who prefers to peek into the cinematic world of horror every now and then (and especially in October), I couldn’t help but recommend Luca Guadagnino’s 2018 remake of the classic Suspiria, which cranks up palimpsestic, arthouse film aesthetics so high that you can occasionally forget you’re watching a scary movie. The film clocks in at almost three hours and features heavy-hitters like Tilda Swinton, Dakota Johnson, Alek Wek, Chole Grace Mortez, and Mia Goth. The muted wintery aesthetic is rightfully accompanied with slithering worms, broken bones, ghoulish breathing, the occasional jump-scare, and plenty of blood and guts to make your toes curl. And I mustn’t forget: the ending is so unexpected that you’ll feel you’ve just emerged from a fever dream (and that’s probably because—spoiler—it is and is not). Suspiria has all you need for, what will likely be, an intense night you won’t forget—or one you’ll hope not to remember. –Rasheeda Saka

The Invisible Man (2020)

The Invisible Man updates the classic story of Griffin, a man who has turned himself invisible and winds up using this quality to deftly harm people. Yet unlike the 1933 film version (in turn based on H.H. Wells’s novel of the same name), Griffin is not a rampaging, murderous lunatic who endangers society, but a possessive and vengeful threat to one woman in particular. This theme rings a little familiar: don’t we hear often that women are more likely to be murdered by someone they know than by a random maniac? The new Invisible Man makes Griffin the abusive ex-boyfriend of our protagonist Cecilia (Elizabeth Moss). He seems to have died, but has really turned transparent, which makes his vicious stalking even easier to accomplish. Because of this, for a while, the new Invisible Man, written and directed by Leigh Whannell, seems like a straight-up, supernatural horror movie—in which a woman is haunted by a ghost rather than hunted by a person. The way the film allegorically uses genre in this way to starkly un-desensitize us (apologies for that turn of phrase) to abuse is generally pretty successful, but the film possibly makes its more intense criticism of patriarchal oppression through Cecilia’s attempt to prove that someone is literally stalking her. This is the least science-fictional and most gut-wrenchingly real part of the movie: that in attempting to prove that she is in danger, Cecilia would be fighting an uphill battle even if her assaulter were visible. And he’s not. (Available to stream on HBO Max.)