Fall Movie Recommendations

It’s starting to get chilly, the leaves are changing, and we’re spending less time outdoors and more time inside. This fall, instead of spending all of your time on your phone, try watching some seasonal movies! A good movie can set your mood for the season and raise your spirits. Get it? Spirits? Anyway, I’ve compiled a list with a wide range of some of my favorite fall movies that I think everyone should watch to prepare for autumn, guaranteed to make you want a pumpkin spice latte and a good sweater, or send some shivers down your spine. 

1. Scream

A timeless classic, everyone should watch this one at least once every fall! Scream is an incredibly influential horror movie; it inspired a train of films similar to it, but nothing is better than the original. After the murder of her mother, a girl is terrorized by a masked killer, who targets her and her friends, using movies, riddles, and phone calls. It’s a nail-biting thriller, and a scarily perfect slasher. This creative film is full of twists and turns, and is a great way to kick off your fall movie marathon. 

2. Dead Poets Society

Not a fan of slashers? Let's go in a completely different direction and watch a “thinker” film. At an elite, all-boys boarding school in New England, a new English teacher with a unique teaching style inspires a group of his students to go beyond their normal studies and revamp a secret society of the night, the Dead Poets Society. The boys step out of their norm, defy the expectations set on them, and go through a rollercoaster of self-discovery, building life-changing bonds with each other.

3. Hocus Pocus

I promise these aren't all going to be Halloween movies, but this is a classic, and it needs to be on this list sooner rather than later. What if you stopped reading before getting to this? That would be bad. One Halloween night, after 300 years of slumber, three sister witches are resurrected. Their plans for the night? Steal the souls of all the children in Salem. Three kids embark on a journey through the night of Halloween to stop these witches and save Salem. This film is a wild ride through the spookiest night of the year, filled with light-hearted fun and spectacular songs. 

4. Beetlejuice

Beetlejuice is death, resurrection, and death again. Scares, frights, fights. Ghosts, ghouls, sandworms. I simply cannot be expected to bear the impossible task of putting this movie into simple terms for you. Though not explicitly a Halloween movie, this is the perfect watch for October 31st. Adam and Barbra want to haunt their house in peace. Lydia Deetz wants to be with her dead mom again, no matter the means. Beetlejuice wants to be alive again. These parties meet, interact, argue, work together, and defeat Beetleju…. well I can’t say it again, you know what happens. And if you don't? You’ll have to watch the film to find out! 

5. Mean Girls

This is such a perfect back-to-school movie. What to do and not to do during your time as a high schooler is important. After being homeschooled her whole life, Cady enrolls in a public high school for her senior year. She has to navigate this new and strange way of life while trying to fit in and find genuine friendships. She makes two real friends, but they're social rejects, and Cady wants more. She sneaks her way into the popular group of girls, at first with cruel intentions, but ends up becoming more and more like the mean girls at school. This story is a dramatic but still somewhat realistic representation of how easily people can change to try and fit in and be seen as “perfect,” and though it takes place throughout the whole school year, Mean Girls is a great and fun way to kick off your fall.

6. Monster House

Back to Halloween movies! What can I say? You're reading this in October!! Usually when a house is haunted, it's expected that a ghost lives in the house, not that the ghost is the house. One Halloween, three teens venture into the creepy old house in their neighborhood, hoping to find answers for all of the unusual things surrounding it. They find out the shocking truths of the house, the reason why the mean old owner is the way he is, and maybe even help said owner to lead a happier and freer rest of his life. This is said to be family-friendly, but I know a girl who watched this in 2015 when she was eight, and it scared her so badly she couldn't finish it. I won’t name names, but be careful whose children you let watch this.

7. Psycho

If you're looking to broaden your horizons, try watching this classic. Is it black and white? Yes. You can handle a little monochromatic magic. Marion Crane wants to get away. She wants to run off with her lover. One day, she stumbles upon a large sum of money and decides to run away with it. She plans to lead the life of her dreams, but the police grow suspicious of her. In an effort to lay low, she decides to stop at an old, incredibly vacant motel. She meets the owner, a socially awkward man who loves his mother a little too much, or maybe it’s just that his mother has a firm grasp on his life. Either way, their interaction changes her life forever. I won’t give too much away, but you’ll learn where that one iconic screeching sound effect comes from if you watch the movie. I can’t quite explain it because I am no onomatopoeia master, but you’ll know it when you hear it!

8. The Nightmare Before Christmas

Any existing Tim Burton film will get you into a fall mood, but this is such a perfect one. I might also think that because I haven't seen many others, oops!! Sick, tired, and bored with the same old Halloween traditions, Jack Skellington, king of Halloween Town, plans to kidnap Santa Claus and halloweenize Christmas. The whole town goes along with his masterfully evil plan, working to deliver shrunken heads to children on Christmas morning, but as the holiday approaches, Jack’s girlfriend, Sally, begins to have doubts about the morality of Jack’s plans. This film displays some interesting and important themes, including that each holiday has a reason for having only one season, men shouldn't have hobbies, and Halloween makes everything better. 

9. The Batman

I cannot make a list of movies for fall without recommending this one. During his second year fighting crime in Gotham, Batman finds a trail of corruption through the city. In the midst of the corruption, there is a man trying to end it. He’s a serial killer, the Riddler. He likes riddles, ha get it?! He doesn't like corruption. The Riddler goes on a spree of exposing the corrupt government officials of Gotham in a way that is displeasing to the masses. Batman also wants to solve this corruption, but he knows killing people is no way to solve problems. The film follows Batman as he tries to figure out who can be trusted, and learns that maybe even his dead parents, who he once thought were wonderful and perfect people, might not be so perfect after all. This film is not only a captivating story but also an incredibly visually pleasing movie. It combines classic superhero movie elements with absolute cinema to make one of the best Batman films ever.

10. It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

This is technically not a film, as it's only 25 minutes long, but who am I to exclude the most timeless classic from this list? Charlie Brown wants to enjoy his Halloween, but when does he ever just get to enjoy something? He faces many bumps in his Halloween road, having a bit of a disappointing evening. Snoopy, his dog, is always getting into some kind of trouble, and this time, he faces the Red Baron. In a heated aviation battle, Snoopy wards off this attacker and saves the masses. Who are the masses? The peanuts gang? America? The whole world? Who knows. Meanwhile, Linus, poor guy, is waiting for a miracle, convinced that he's going to see a giant, great pumpkin on Halloween night. Follow the Peanuts gang through an eventful evening, and through their ups and downs and everything in between.

Honorable mentions:

As much as I know you enjoyed reading this, I cannot supply you with an infinite list of fall recommendations, especially because I haven't watched every single fall film. Sue me!! My short and sweet honorable mentions list consists of films I haven't seen, films that didn’t quite make the cut, and films that I only vaguely remember watching. Watch these as well during the chilly season, and report back next month. My honorable mentions include, but are not limited to:

• American Psycho

• Beautiful Boy

• Coraline 

• The Craft

• Ghostbusters

• Girl, Interrupted

• The Goonies

• Juno

• Halloweentown

• Heathers

• The Perks of Being a Wallflower

• The Shining

• Twitches

• When Harry Met Sally

I hope that if you get one takeaway from this, even if you don't take my recommendations into careful consideration, it’s that you get off of your phone and watch something worthwhile. Movies are such a good way to entertain yourself without doing much thinking. A long story, told visually and artistically, is a great way to help heal your brain from all of the chaos it has had to go through in these past few years. Watch a movie or two, heck, watch a show! Just turn on your TV, watch something with an entertaining plot, and maybe you’ll find a new interest, or even a new favorite film!