10 Best Hidden Gem Halloween Horror Movies

Those fantastic but lesser-known Halloween-set horror movies.

by Andrew Pollard
Tales of Halloween
Epic Pictures Releasing

While the Halloween season is traditionally when even non-horror fans opt to throw on a few sinister delights in order to get in the mood for spooky season, it's one thing to put on any old sort of horror film, but it's something else entirely to dig out some that specifically take place on Halloween night.

Of course, the Halloween franchise immediately springs to mind when thinking of those pictures that take place on October 31st, and the likes of Night of the Demons, the Terrifier movies, Trick r' Treat, or the recent Late Night with the Devil are other well-known films that fit that particular bill. However, there are plenty of Halloween-based offerings that, for one reason or another, continue to fly under the radar.

These lesser-known Halloween-set horrors may not have the name value, recognition, or respect of, say, John Carpenter's iconic Halloween, but that's not to say that they're not worth tracking down when looking at what films to add to your to-watch list this Halloween season.

So, with all of that in mind, then, here are ten Halloween-drive hidden gems horrors guaranteed to tick plentiful boxes this October and beyond.

10. Haunted Trail

Tales of Halloween
DreamEmpire Films

The film's finale may be a little wonky, but Robin Givens' Haunted Trail is well worth hunting down, being an extremely stylish slasher with a nice amount of humour dotted throughout.

As the title would suggest, Haunted Trail focuses on a creepy haunted attraction where a bunch of people in ropey suits do their best to scare the life out of paying punters. While that itself is a pretty chilling proposition, making all of this even more terrifying for our core crew of characters is that there is a real murderer among the actors of this haunt.

Haunted Trail nicely plays with the idea of some brash, arrogant, and outright rude members of the group mocking the monsters they meet on this haunt - only for those brash, arrogant, rude characters to have a major change of heart when things properly start to unravel.

Also, Haunted Trail deserves props for how outright unnerving and at times claustrophobic it feels by spending the vast majority of its run time in the confines of its, well, haunted trail.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.