On the spectrum of emotional responses, laughing and screaming are right next to each other. Someone is just as likely to “shriek with laughter” as they are to “laugh nervously.” And the things that trigger us to chuckle can be the same things that get our hearts racing. After all, a clown can be either funny or scary depending on the context. 

When it comes to Halloween movies and shows, both comedy and horror are fitting for the season. So whether you’re a horror aficionado looking for a light palate cleanser or someone who would rather focus on the fun side of the holiday, these Halloween comedies should hit the spot. 

Boo, Bitch

When it comes to ghosts, are there really any set rules? This 2022 series takes what we think we know about ghosts and throws it out the window. Erika Vu (Lana Condor from To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before) and her best friend, Gia (Zoe Colletti), are about to graduate and fear they haven’t gotten the most out of high school. They decide to broaden their horizons by attending a senior party and participating in new experiences. The night is a success, but it ends in an accident, and Erika wakes the next morning unsure how she got home. When she and Gia find her own body in the woods, it seems clear Erika must be dead, but somehow she still has a physical presence — and some newfound abilities. She and Gia do their best to figure out what kind of ghost she is and the unfinished business that keeps her on earth. 

Boo, Bitch

Limited Series   TV-14   2022

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Casper

Casper the Friendly Ghost has been entertaining the masses since 1945, proving that the spirit world isn’t just for malevolent souls. Fifty years after his introduction, Casper returns in this movie starring Bill Pullman as Dr. James Harvey, a therapist for ghosts, and Christina Ricci as his teenage daughter, Kat. The pair lost Kat’s mother two years previously and have since moved around the country looking for her ghost. Dr. Harvey takes a job at Whipstaff Manor, an old mansion where Casper (voiced by Malachi Pearson) “lives” with his three pesky uncles, the Ghostly Trio. Conniving owner Carrigan Crittenden (Cathy Moriarty) wants the treasures hidden within the manor, but Kat and her father may have found a home worth protecting. 

Casper

1h 40m   PG

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Deadstream

If watching amateur ghost hunters explore haunted houses on YouTube is your thing, this livestream-style horror comedy is just the thing. Shawn Ruddy (Joseph Winter) is a recently disgraced YouTuber looking for a comeback. His channel features videos of him challenging himself to face his fears and do crazy, dangerous things, and his latest feat is spending a night in a haunted house. Shawn livestreams from Death Manor, a purportedly haunted house with a deadly history. His viewership is higher than ever, but more and more evidence points to the home being actually haunted, and when a superfan shows up to spend the night with him, Shawn can’t be sure if she’s a friend or if supernatural forces are in play.

Deadstream

1h 27m   TV-MA   2022

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Dead Talents Society

What if death was just the beginning of a new career opportunity? In this Taiwanese comedy, Catherine (Sandrine Pinna) is a washed-up ghost star of the underworld, where she once won awards for her talents as a hotel haunter. She’s been surpassed by her former protégé, Jessica (Yao Yiti), who uses the internet to promote her haunting videos and maintain her reputation among the living. Then there’s The Rookie (Gingle Wang), a dead girl who’s at risk of disappearing from the ghost world and off into the beyond if she doesn’t get a permit to stay and be a ghost haunter. Catherine takes on the talentless Rookie, but she has her work cut out for her.

Dead Talents Society

1h 50m   TV-MA   2024

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Death Becomes Her

Immortality isn’t all it’s chalked up to be in this 1992 comedy starring Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn, and Bruce Willis. Streep and Hawn are Madeline Ashton and Helen Sharp, friends turned enemies when Madeline seduces Helen’s plastic-surgeon fiancé, Ernest (Willis). Helen vows revenge on Madeline and, when the two meet again as they both near 50, she has miraculously transformed into a gorgeous, younger-looking woman. Desperate and open to any extreme beauty treatment, Madeline visits a mysterious, wealthy woman who offers her a potion that promises youthful beauty and a long life. Madeline soon learns Helen has also taken the potion, and both women are in for more than they bargained when they realize the potion might keep them alive after death, but the upkeep is demanding. 

Death Becomes Her

1h 43m   PG-13   1992

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Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

This sequel to Ghostbusters: Afterlife sees the Spengler family moving into the original Ghostbusters’ NYC firehouse. They try to revive the business but meet resistance from the city’s mayor, especially about 15-year-old Phoebe (McKenna Grace) using proton packs alongside her family. Forced to stop ghostbusting, she makes friends with a ghost, Melody (Emily Alyn Lind). Meanwhile, an ancient artifact damages the ecto-containment unit, letting loose an evil ghost, and Phoebe’s new friend reveals that an even larger threat is on its way. Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, and Annie Potts return to the franchise alongside Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, and Finn Wolfhard. 

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

1h 55m   PG-13

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Haunted Hotel

Single motherhood is hard as it is, but for Katherine Freeling (Eliza Coupe) it’s complicated by the many ghosts — and one demon-possessed 18th-century child — who reside in the hotel she’s trying to run. Having inherited the hotel from her recently deceased brother, Nathan (Will Forte), Katherine must appease the spirits of her hotel while trying to attract customers. With the help of her late brother, her awkward teen son Ben (Skyler Gisondo), her black-magic-wielding daughter Esther (Natalie Palamides), and Abaddon, the demon child (Jimmi Simpson), she attempts to tackle all that her little portal-to-hell of a home throws at her. 

Haunted Hotel

10 Episodes   TV-14   2025

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Heart Eyes

Who says slashers can’t be romantic? On Valentine’s Day each year, a masked killer known as the “Heart Eyes Killer” travels around the US killing couples in various towns. Following the murder of two couples in Seattle, Ally McCabe (Olivia Holt), a marketer for a jewelry company, thinks she’s in the clear after breaking up with her boyfriend. But a campaign gone wrong pushes Ally and Jay (Mason Gooding), a consultant, together for dinner, where the two butt heads. Out on the street afterward, Ally spots her ex and kisses Jay to make him jealous. Instead, they gain the attention of the slasher, who decides Ally and Jay are the next couple targeted for death. 

Heart Eyes

1h 37m   R   2025

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HollyBlood

Meeting girls in high school is tough — sometimes a little improvisation is necessary. In this Spanish teen comedy, Javi (Óscar Casas) pines after classmate Sara (Isa Montalbán), connecting with her under a false name, Lidia, in an online forum devoted to a vampire book series. When Sara admits to Lidia that she suspects her classmate Javi of being a vampire, Lidia/Javi encourages her in her belief, knowing it adds to his allure. Little does either of them know that the threat of an actual vampire is close at hand. 

HollyBlood

1h 28m   TV-MA   2022

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Hubie Halloween

Comedy legend Adam Sandler stars in this romp overflowing with Halloween ambiance. In the town of Salem — yes, that Salem — Hubie (Sandler) is a somewhat dimwitted but devoted citizen who makes it his job to ensure that the people of Salem are kept safe on Halloween. The local police, annoyed by his consistent check-ins, give him the fake title of “Halloween Monitor,” and Hubie takes his job seriously. Little does he know that very real threats are looming over Salem, including a suspicious new neighbor and an old friend fresh out of the mental institution. As the only one to take the dangers of Halloween seriously, it’s up to Hubie to keep the townspeople safe.

Hubie Halloween

1h 43m   PG-13   2020

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Little Evil

When Gary Bloom (Adam Scott) marries Samantha (Evangeline Lilly), he has no idea that ‘death do us part’ is a vow that may prove relevant sooner rather than later. Samantha has a son, Lucas (Owen Atlas), who is reserved and a bit odd, but Gary is determined to win him over and to be a good stepfather. Strange and very dark things start happening while Lucas is around, and with a local preacher heralding the end of times, Gary can’t help but be suspicious of his new son. With each new detail of Samantha and Lucas’s past that emerges, Gary tries to determine whether he signed on to be the father of the devil. 

Little Evil

1h 34m   TV-MA   2017

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Prevenge

Some say that baby knows best when it comes to parenting an infant, and pregnant widow Ruth (Alice Lowe, who also wrote and directed this movie) takes that advice to heart. Still grieving the death of her partner, Matt (Marc Bessant), in a climbing incident, Ruth hears the voice of her unborn baby telling her to avenge him. She starts to track down all the people who were there that day and kill them one by one. As she nears her due date and the voice of her baby grows more insistent, she questions who’s truly in charge of her body.

Prevenge

1h 27m   TV-MA   2016

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The Babysitter

This black comedy proves that everyone has their insecurities, but some will go to extremes to get past them. Freshman Cole (Judah Lewis) is bullied at school and has only two friends: his neighbor, Melanie (Emily Alyn Lind), and his former babysitter, Bee (Samara Weaving). Cole’s parents go away for a night, and Bee comes to keep him company. Curious about what his older friend gets up to after hours, he spies on Bee and her high school friends as they play spin the bottle. When Bee kisses and then stabs a boy in the group, Cole discovers his babysitter friend is actually a cult leader. Thus begins a night that will test Cole’s ability to stand up for himself. Plus, there’s even more culty hilarity in the sequel, The Babysitter: Killer Queen. 

The Babysitter

1h 25m   TV-MA   2017

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The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window

This perfect parody pokes fun at a niche subgenre of mysteries featuring women who may be unreliable narrators investigating domestic disturbances in their neighborhoods. Kristen Bell plays Anna, an artist grappling with her recent divorce and the death of her young daughter by drinking and avoiding her friends. Stuck inside, she spends her time watching her neighbors. A new family — father and daughter — moves in across the street, and Anna befriends them, beginning a flirtation with the attractive father, Neil (Tom Riley), until she discovers he has a girlfriend. One drunken night, Anna thinks she witnesses Neil’s girlfriend being murdered across the street, but in the light of day, there’s no sign of the incident, and Anna has to figure out if she’s fallen off the deep end or if she’s living next to a murderer.

The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window

Limited Series   TV-MA   2022

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Vampires vs. the Bronx

Leave it to the younger generation to take a supernatural threat seriously and rise to the occasion. In a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood in the Bronx, three friends, Miguel (Jaden Michael), Bobby (Gerald W. Jones III), and Luis (Gregory Diaz IV), discover that the real estate group buying up all the small businesses is made up of vampires who are killing off the local residents. The boys do their research — by watching Blade, of course — and decide to take on the vampires and defend their turf. But they’ll need to convince the community's adults if they want to eliminate the threat to their homes. 

Vampires vs. the Bronx

1h 26m   PG-13   2020

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