29 Black movies to watch this spooky season

By Kay Wicker

·October 21, 2024

For many of us, cold fronts are starting to return, and the nights are beginning to stretch longer. Pumpkins with toothy grins are appearing on stoops as the smell of crisp fall leaves wafts through the air. Spooky season is here.

Nothing says “spooky season” like a great scary movie marathon — hence the handful that have already kicked off, including AMC’s annual “FearFest” hosted by their “HallowQueen,” Janelle Monae. While many of this year’s Halloween movie marathons to be enjoyed include some of the best the genre of horror has to offer, they may be missing some of the best Black films the genre has to offer.

We’re not just talking about the iconic classic “Night of the Living Dead” — or even the more recent masterpiece “Get Out,” although both of those titles make it onto our list. A lot has come out in the years between the two, and so many more have joined the fold since Jordan Peele’s groundbreaking film.

Below, in no particular order, we have rounded up 29 spooky, scary, or simply family-fun films to enjoy this Halloween season! Read on if you dare!

1. Night of the Living Dead (1968)

It still shocks many to learn that one of the most iconic classic zombie films from the ’60s doesn’t just star a Black man (Duane Jones) but also provides searing hot commentary that is still relevant today.

2. The Blackening (2022)

Who dies first if everyone in the movie is Black? See for yourself in the film about a Juneteenth college friend reunion gone awry in a remote cabin that is as funny as it is scary!

3. Get Out (2017)

Jordan Peele’s first blockbuster horror film won him an Academy Award for writing and earned respect for the genre, which has historically (and woefully) been snubbed by film elites. It is well worth throwing on any spooky season watch list.

4. Bad Hair (2020)

Many people can relate to going to extreme lengths, including revising our image, in order to succeed. However, in “Bad Hair,” after the film’s heroine installs a haunted weave to appear more palpable in a 1980s music television world, she learns the secret to success comes at a steep cost.

5. Barbarian (2022)

When a woman travels to a vacation rental in an unfamiliar town, she discovers her home has been rented to another guest. While that alone is terrifying enough, that’s only the setup of this truly wild ride.

6. Master

For every Black person who has survived a predominately white institution (or PWI), this one is for you. Regina Hall stars in a collegiate psychological horror film where one question is posed: What’s more scary, a potentially malevolent spirit or institutional racism?

7. Sugar Hill (1974)

If you like a little 1970s Blaxploitation camp with your movie marathons, then you’ll want to give “Sugar Hill” a watch. It’s the rare zombie film in which rival nightclub owners and seedy characters fight back with supernatural forces.

8. Ganja & Hess (1973)

After Dr. Hess, a Black anthropologist, is stabbed by his own cursed dagger and becomes a vampire, killing his assistant in the process, he has an entirely new normal to adjust to. Things really take a turn when the wife of said assistant, Ganja, shows up looking for her husband.

9. Vampire in Brooklyn (1995)

Long before Edward and Bella, we had Maximillian and Detective Rita Vadar in “Vampire in Brooklyn.” Find out if their love is equally fated in this campy and clever vampire horror-comedy classic starring Eddie Murphy and Angela Bassett.

10. Tales from the Hood (1995)

Adopting the concept of the classic “Tales from the Crypt” series, “Tales from the Hood” is an anthology of terrifying tales based on the urban Black experience.

11. Candyman (1992 or 2021)

The idea of Candyman, a malevolent spirit haunting a housing project in Chicago who arrives if you say his name three times in a mirror, was terrifying in 1992. He only got more terrifying in the 2021 update.

12. Mr. Crocket (2024)

This one might have parents sleeping with the lights on. In “Mr. Crocket,” the ghost of a beloved kid’s TV show host returns on command to attack parents for being mean. At one point, he leads the children in a chant of “no bedtime,” which is truly terrifying. This one is suitable for families with older children.

13. Us (2019)

In Jordan Peele’s second formal entry into horror, he takes the concept of being your own worst enemy and flips it on its head.

14. The Skeleton Key (2005)

A single white female with very few personal connections is hired to assist an elderly, sick man in a former plantation house in the middle of nowhere, Louisiana. What could go wrong?

15. Spell (2020)

“Spell,” tells the tale of what happens when a man (Omari Hardwick) begrudgingly returns home to Appalachia and finds himself in the attic of a bizarre and disturbing medicine woman (Loretta Devine). The same culture he attempted to leave behind just may become the only thing that can save him.

16. Sweetheart (2019)

Find out what happens when a Black college student who feels like an outcast among her wealthy white friends is stranded on an island where she truly feels alone — save for an alien that attacks at night.

17. Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)

With “Bodies Bodies Bodies,” starring Amandla Stenberg, a group of 20-somethings are trapped in a mansion during a storm and decide to pass the time by playing an ill-fated game.

18. Uncanny Annie (2019)

Sticking with youth culture, “Uncanny Annie” is what happens when a group of college students sit down to play a cursed and creepy board game on Halloween. This film gets bonus points for actually being set on Halloween!

19. X (2022)

A group of adult filmmakers heads out to a ranch in rural Texas to make their next racy film without the permission of the ranch’s conservative and reclusive owners. When the owners catch wind of the violation, grave consequences ensue. Kid Cudi is among the cast and also produces.

20. The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster (2023)

Grief makes people do all sorts of things, including becoming their own homegrown Frankenstein. Or at least that’s the case of Vicaria, who goes to terrifying lengths in “The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster” to bring her brother back to life after he’s murdered.

21. The Craft (1996)

When the new girl arrives at school with telekinetic powers in this ‘90s teen classic, a trio of amateur witches (including Rachel True) in need of a fourth member attempt to recruit her.

Also Read: Cheap and Easy Decorations for Halloween This Year

22. Scary Movie (2000)

What scary movie list would be complete without “Scary Movie?” This parody of ‘90s teen horror movies starring the Wayans brothers, Regina Hall, and Anna Farris is still guaranteed to garner laughs.

23. Vampires vs. The Bronx (2020)

What would be worse? White folks moving in and gentrifying your neighborhood, or a bunch of white vampires moving in and gentrifying your neighborhood? Well, in “Vampires vs. The Bronx,” the kids in this Bronx neighborhood band together to combat both.

24. Eve’s Bayou (1997)

During one tumultuous and transformative summer in a young girl’s life, she discovers there is magic in her roots.

25. We Have a Ghost (2023)

For anyone who has ever joked about how a Black family would handle a haunting, “We Have a Ghost” is exactly that. With some laughs and even some sentimentality, this one is fun for the whole family.

26. Haunted Mansion (2003 & 2023)

In Disney’s 2003 “Haunted Mansion,” Eddie Murphy battles the ghosts of this haunted estate. Twenty years later, in the 2023 reboot, we get LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish, and Rosario Dawson. No matter which version you throw on, Disney’s “Haunted Mansion” is spooky season required viewing.

27. A Haunted House (2013)

The Wayans return for another horror parody; this time, instead of the ‘90s and early 2000s of the “Scary Movie” franchise, they take on the handheld horrors of the 2010s and blockbusters like “Paranormal Activity.”

28. The Curse of Bridge Hallow (2022)

After moving to a new town with his wife Emily (Kelly Rowland) and daughter Sydney (Priah Ferguson), Howard (Marlon Wayans), must fight back against an ancient curse that is unleashed on Halloween.

29. Don’t Look Under the Bed (1999)

A fun family movie from the heyday of Disney Channel movies that dares to ask, what if you got to know the boogeyman under the bed?