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Here are 10 tame, mildly scary horror movies you can enjoy, without nightmares this Halloween weekend. This does not mean these movies are family-friendly. The movies have very mild horror, but they also have adult content not suitable for children. There is strong language, violence, gore, and sexual content. Not all the movies are horror, but whatever spooky stuff is shown it’s mildly scary. There is a mix of older movies and newer ones, just to mix it up. Now you have a variety of tame movies that you can even watch alone for the Halloween weekend. Also, it can make you seem cultured to your friends and family if they ask you what (mild) scary movies you’ve watched lately.
Make this Halloween weekend more interesting. There will be an array of costumes and these movies may have some costumes that will be worn this year. So sit back, relax, and try out at least one of these tame movies for Halloween weekend. They are a good kind of mildly scary and some may even make you chuckle. Just because they are tame movies doesn’t mean they are any less valid.
1) Happy Death Day (2017)
The first of the tame movies for Halloween weekend: Happy Death Day. Tree Gelbman (played by Jessica Roth) keeps getting murdered by someone dressed in black with a creepy baby mask. After each slaying, she wakes up in Carter Davis’ (played by Israel Broussard) dorm bed. As a whole, it’s Groundhog Day (1993) meets Sorority Row (2009). It’s goofy rather than scary and mild in creepiness. Luckily, there is plenty of blood and sorority shenanigans. Hopefully, that isn’t a dealbreaker.
Happy Death Day has a 72% Rotten Tomatoes score and can be streamed on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, or Vudu for $3.99.
2) Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988)
This cult classic horror movie will have you scratching your head and looking at popcorn in a whole new way. It’s not a misspelling, it is intentionally ‘klowns’ instead of ‘clowns’ because it wanted to be a hokey horror. A group of evil aliens from somewhere in space wreak havoc on a small town. They aim to capture and harvest humans for their appetites. Some people in the town take it upon themselves to stop the murderous alien clowns. This movie is tame in horror but it makes up for it with the outlandish special effects and cast of characters. It’s directed by the Chiodo Brothers, who are the masterminds behind the glorious special effects. The cotton candy-like cocoons and death by shadow puppets are just part of its glory! This will not only be a great watch for the weekend but there are several Halloween costume ideas for the weekend.
The SyFy channel has been in talks of buying the rights to the movie to make a franchise. The smiles on these clowns make it seem like it’s scary by that is just the mild appeal of alien clowns. It’s a film untainted by a million sequels, for the time being. Just look at that clown’s face (above) it’s too comical to cause nightmares. This Halloween favorite is available on Cinemax or Amazon Prime Video.
3) Night Teeth (2021)
Netflix’s newest vampire movie is the sexy kind of tame that could work for this Halloween weekend. Benny Perez (played by Jorge David Lendeborg Jr.) is a financially struggling college student that takes over driving his cousin’s car for a night. Little does Benny know that it is smack dab in a middle of a war between vampires and humans. He unknowingly drives around two women (played by Debbie Ryan and Lucy Fry) that started the war. Theon Greyjoy-I mean Alfie Allen plays a vampire killing the competition for clout. There’s a little action, a little romance, and blood-sucking. It’s not complicated and it won’t make you want to hide behind a pillow. This movie is tame in violence, but it’s worth watching the lovingly hapless Benny.
It was just released on Netflix on October 20, 2021. It’s brand spanking new!
4) Fright Night (1985)
What happens when a killer vampire moves in next door? Charley Brewster (played by William Ragsdale) consults television vampire expert Peter Vincent (played by Roddy McDowall), and hilarity ensues. It’s tame in horror but has plenty of comedy. There is a 2011 remake, but the original is much more enjoyable. Chris Sarandon acts as a much smoother lethal vampire than Colin Farrell. The bumbling horror host Peter Vincent is an iconic character alone. There is even a werewolf in this movie, what’s better than a werewolf and vampires? Very few things. Charley Brewster thinks on his feet, and his attempts at stopping his neighbor are laughable. There’s a little blood but it’s vampire blood, so does that really count? It’s not even fighting in this movie, rather buffoonery. There’s a sequel that isn’t bad, but the first is the best.
This absolute classic is available for streaming on fuboTV and Amazon Prime Video. It’s the perfect tame comedy-horror movie the Halloween weekend.
5) Scary Movie (2000)
One of the few parody movies out there, this one is made well. It combines horror tropes and movie cliches in a smart way. It parodies Scream (1996), Scream 2 (1997), The Blair Witch Project (1999), and many more. The Scary Movie franchise comes from the minds of the Wayans brothers. Keenen Ivory Wayans (In Living Color) directed the movie. Marlon Wayans and Shawn Wayans helped to created the screenplay for it. The Wayans family are comedy legends, and know how to make very entertaining comedies. This spawned its own film franchise. The others aren’t nearly as good as the original though. The intertwining of pop-culture references on top of the movie references is done brilliantly. The sequels have their horror movie references as well if you want to marathon all the films in the franchise.
Netflix is streaming Scary Movie 4. You can rent Scary Movie on YouTube or Amazon Prime Video.
6) The Babysitter (2017)
When you mix vanity and the worst people to have around children, you get The Babysitter. Samara Weaving plays the devil-worshipping babysitter Bee. She and her friends choose the naive Cole (played by Judah Lewis) as their next sacrifice. Cole goes from a bullied kid to one heck of a one-boy defense team. Bee is charming and one of the most important people in Cole’s life until she tries to take his. Normally Weaving plays a rock-solid protagonist but this shows she can easily go bad, alongside the shirtless jock that Robbie Amell adds to the quirkiness of the film. It’s tame in being horrifying but it has a whole lot of hormones. The sequel The Babysitter: Killer Queen has its appeal but doesn’t outshine the first.
It’s available for streaming on Netflix.
7) Dolls (1987)
A little girl (played by Carrie Lorraine), her father ( played by Ian Patrick Williams), and her stepmother (played by Carolyn Purdy-Gordon) seek refuge at a creepy house in the middle of nowhere during a thunderstorm. Others also come to the house to get out of the storm, and they are all welcomed by the homeowners, a seemingly hospitable old couple. As expected though, the many dolls in the household are not as inanimate as they should be. It will have you wondering, are you more of a kid or an adult? These dolls aren’t any colorful as Chucky from the movie franchise of the same name, but their jerky movements do the job just fine. There are some fun characters with many quotable lines that are far more memorable than the spooky dolls. Despite this, it won’t necessarily cause nightmares.
It can be streamed on Amazon Prime Video.
8) Love and Monsters (2020)
2020 had few positives, but this movie was one of them. Dylan O’Brien plays Joel Dawson, a hopeless romantic that travels treacherous terrain to find his high school sweetheart Aimee (played by Jessica Henwick). Most of the world’s population was lost to the mutated cold-blooded wildlife, caused by chemicals from an asteroid. The mutated creatures rule the lands, so Joel traveling by himself is a huge risk. Joel is an easy protagonist to root for along with Boy, the brave pup that accompanies him. The special effects are fantastic and the story is compelling. This has violence but no bloodshed. It has action, adventure, giant monsters, and love. It has a great balance of building the post-apocalyptic world and following Joel.
The mild violence and action in the movie, make this movie anything but scary. Love and Monsters has a 94% Rotten Tomatoes score. This film is the right kind of tame and is a great watch for Halloween Weekend. It can be streamed on Hulu+ or Amazon Prime Video.
9) Black Sheep (2006)
The tagline for this New Zealand movie reads ‘There are 40 million sheep in New Zealand…and they’re pissed off’. That sums up how incredibly out of control this movie is. The main character Henry Oldfield (played by Nick Fenton) has ovinophobia, the fear of sheep. He returns to his family farm to sell his share of the property, where there are several sheep. His brother Angus (played by Peter Feeney) had been busying himself doing crazy genetic experimentation on sheep. The experimentation gets out of control and is released into the public, creating a nightmare scenario for Henry. The were-sheep wreak havoc as Henry then has to face his fears and become a hero. Angus’ unhealthy love of sheep mixed with the elaborate attack scenes makes this movie a whirlwind of entertainment.
The mild horror in this will not be scary to those with a low terror tolerance. It’s available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video and Tubi.
10) Tremors (1990)
Last but certainly not least, is Tremors. It has many sequels that don’t hold a candle to the original. You have Kevin Bacon and Reba McEntire in the same movie! Repairmen Val McKee (Kevin Bacon) and Earl Bassett (Fred Ward) want to leave Perfection, Nevada but find themselves in a monster attack. The gun-toting Burt Gummer (played by Michael Gross) and his partner Heather (played by Reba McEntire) help them to fight off the creatures. Michael Gross has appeared in many of the sequels, just as chaotic as he is in the first. This movie is wild from start to finish and the burrowing creatures make a formidable adversary. It’s very hokey, but it is so worth it.
It’s available to stream on Sling TV, fuboTV, and Amazon Prime Video. Don’t miss an opportunity to see a small town use lots of artillery and construction equipment to wage war against burrowing monsters.