I’ll admit it: I am a BIG Halloween fan. Honestly, “big” might be an understatement. It’s not even the costumes I love — it’s everything else. The decorations. The candy. The creepy music. The atmosphere.

And every October 1st, without fail, I kick off the season the same way: by putting on my favorite Halloween movies and watching them with my two Halloween-loving kids.

For me, it all started in the 90s — a golden era for anyone obsessed with spooky things. Are You Afraid of the Dark? gave us goosebumps on Saturday nights, R.L. Stine ruled the bookshelves with Goosebumps and Fear Street, and Christopher Pike was our darker, edgier secret thrill. Every mall had a Spencer’s or Hot Topic filled with chokers, glow-in-the-dark skeletons, and plastic vampire fangs. Goth culture was everywhere, trick-or-treating was still an all-night neighborhood event, and the movies… well, the movies were unforgettable.

They weren’t just scary — they were stylish, campy, and completely 90s. And now, I get to relive them with my teens. Here’s my list of the best 90s horror movies that still set the perfect Halloween mood.

The Watchlist: Best 90s Teen Halloween Movies

Here are the 90s movies I always come back to — perfect for revisiting with your own teens (or for a solo nostalgia binge).

Scream (1996)

If one movie defines the 90s for me, it’s Scream. My mom refused to let us own it because it was rated R, so my sister and I rented it every day for three weeks straight. (Blockbuster definitely judged us.) I can still quote most of it — not perfectly, but close.

What made Scream unforgettable wasn’t just the jump scares (which still get me), but the way it winked at us while scaring us. It was part horror, part satire — clever enough to call out every cliché while reinventing the slasher movie for a new generation. Add Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Skeet Ulrich at peak 90s hotness, and a killer soundtrack, and you’ve got the ultimate Halloween classic.

I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)

This is peak 90s horror: Jennifer Love Hewitt screaming “What are you waiting for?!” in the middle of the street is burned into all our brains. With Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, and Freddie Prinze Jr., the cast was basically a Tiger Beat cover come to life.

It’s not just the hook-wielding killer in the rain slicker that made it stick — it’s the way the movie turned guilt into horror. The suspense, the glossy teen-drama feel, the perfect jump scares… it’s classic 90s. And now, with a new I Know What You Did Last Summer on the way, we get to see this story come back for another generation.

The Craft (1996)

If any movie bottled 90s teen culture, it’s The Craft. The music, the chokers, the Catholic schoolgirl skirts — every frame feels like it could’ve been pulled from a Delia’s catalog. And yes, it gave us Neve Campbell and Skeet Ulrich again (clearly there was a casting theme in the 90s).

But what really made it unforgettable was the power. It wasn’t just a horror movie — it was about girls who were angry, outcast, and ready to claim control. Fairuza Balk’s unhinged Nancy is still one of the best performances in teen horror, period. Campy, creepy, and endlessly quotable, The Craft is pure 90s witchy magic. While there is a reboot, I would skip it. The Craft is a 90s masterpiece and nothing will be better.

Urban Legend (1998)

Starring another peak 90s cast, Urban Legend took the scary stories we whispered around the campfire and made them real. It’s an amazing mix of abject terror and perfectly timed 90s one-liners — like when Joshua Jackson and Alicia Witt are parked and the Dawson’s Creek theme song starts playing on the radio.

The movie balanced camp with real scares, plus the mandatory steamy moments (because what was a 90s horror movie without a love story subplot?). With Jared Leto, Neutrogena Girl Rebecca Gayheart, Tara Reid, and Joshua Jackson leading the charge, Urban Legend leaned into every rumor and chain-letter myth we already believed — and made us a little more afraid to get into a car at night.

The Faculty (1998)

This one was basically The Breakfast Club meets Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and it worked. A small-town high school where the teachers (and eventually the students) get taken over by alien parasites? Peak 90s horror-sci-fi mashup.

The cast was stacked: Josh Hartnett at his messy-haired heartthrob peak, Elijah Wood before Lord of the Rings, Clea DuVall as the moody outsider, Jordana Brewster as the queen bee, and even Usher — because every late-90s movie needed a pop star cameo. The soundtrack was just as iconic, with alt-rock staples like The Offspring cranking up the tension.

Creepy, campy, and self-aware, The Faculty gave us everything we wanted: gooey alien effects, snarky one-liners, and enough high school drama to make you glad your teachers were only human.

Disturbing Behavior (1998)

If The Faculty was aliens, Disturbing Behavior was mind control. Set in a small, picture-perfect town, it follows a group of teens who discover their classmates are being “fixed” into obedient, robotic versions of themselves. The idea that your parents might actually want you brainwashed into the perfect kid? Terrifying for every 90s teen.

The cast was another WB-era dream team: Katie Holmes as the rebellious outsider, James Marsden as the new kid in town, and Nick Stahl as the conspiracy theorist who knows something’s not right. It’s moody, creepy, and packed with that late-90s paranoia that made you wonder what was really going on in suburbia. Not as slick as Scream, but it nailed the “what if fitting in was the scariest thing of all?” vibe.

Idle Hands (1999)

This one is pure late-90s horror-comedy chaos. Devon Sawa plays a lazy stoner whose right hand becomes possessed and starts killing people — which is exactly as ridiculous (and hilarious) as it sounds. Seth Green and Elden Henson show up as his undead best friends, and a pre–Dark Angel Jessica Alba plays the love interest.

It’s gory, campy, and packed with that era’s brand of over-the-top humor — plus a killer soundtrack featuring The Offspring (who also cameo). Not the scariest movie of the decade, but definitely one of the most fun. Idle Hands nailed the mix of horror, comedy, and teen culture that made late-90s Halloween movie nights unforgettable.

Looking back, the 90s really gave us the perfect mix of scares, camp, and teen drama. These movies weren’t just about horror — they were about culture. They gave us the fashion, the music, the soundtracks we wore out, and the one-liners we still quote. Watching them now feels like stepping back into a time of chokers, mixtapes, glow-in-the-dark stars on the bedroom ceiling, and VHS rentals stacked on the coffee table.

Whether you’re rewatching Scream for the jump scares, The Craft for the witchy vibes, or Idle Hands for the sheer absurdity, these films still hold up — maybe not for their realism, but for the way they capture exactly what it felt like to be a teen in the 90s. And honestly, that’s the real magic: they let us relive those nights when the scariest thing wasn’t the killer on screen, but the fact that we were almost out past curfew.