10 Best Halloween TV Episodes, Ranked

Halloween season means it's that time of year when the freaks and ghouls come out to play, and there's a sinister feeling in the air that something not quite right is afoot. In all actuality, it's an excuse to hand out candy, maybe dress up and go to a bar, and engage in the age-old ritual of watching copious amounts of scary stories. Yes, there are plenty of spooky shows to watch for Halloween, from "American Horror Story" to "The Haunting of Hill House," that are terrifying all the way through. But there's something special about the cherished Halloween episode of a non-scary show. 

From sitcoms to dramas, you spend a long time with these characters. You know how they tick and, more importantly, what probably makes them scared. Halloween episodes are a chance to see them out of their usual routine. For cartoons, it's a chance to see characters outside of the one outfit they always wear. Perhaps a feature-length horror movie isn't really you speed this time of year. Fortunately, these Halloween episodes are fun-size; you can watch many of them in under an hour. And since most of them aired on network TV, there's no blood and gore. But don't think you're out of the woods just yet...

The best Halloween TV episodes are suitable for both hardcore fans of the series in question as well as newcomers who just want something fresh to watch. These episodes can make you laugh, but they may also make you check under the bed before going to sleep that night. 

"Brooklyn Nine-Nine" made a tradition out of the precinct (or at least the main cast members of said precinct) engaging in a Halloween heist, with someone needing to acquire an object by midnight to emerge victorious. There's no wrong way to order these Halloween heists, but I personally have a soft spot for season 5's "HalloVeen." 

There are plenty of wacky shenanigans that have become par the course for the heists at this point. Jake (Andy Samberg) manages to distract everyone with a flash mob of handmaids from "The Handmaid's Tale," and there's a very clever swap where Captain Holt's (Andre Braugher) corgi Cheddar has been swapped out with a "common b****." The gags are on point, but what makes this episode stand out is how it winds up with Jake proposing to Amy (Melissa Fumero). 

It's a sweet way to subvert the formula. In most years, the Halloween heist functions as a nice distraction from whatever else is going on. It's a chance to unleash some chaos, and the heists really helped Captain Holt come into his own as a character. This time around, the heist leads to a change within the status quo, making it integral to the overall storyline. Everyone else may have been upset that Jake "ruined" the heist by swapping out the belts, meaning there is no real "winner." But the true winner should be obvious: It's all of us watching. 

Leave it to "Gravity Falls" to have a Halloween episode even though the central conceit of the show is that Dipper (Jason Ritter) and Mabel (Kristen Schaal) are only in Gravity Falls for the summer. Luckily for them, Gravity Falls loves Halloween so much, they celebrate Summerween, too, where everyone dresses up and kids go out for candy. Mabel's excited to go trick-or-treating, but Dipper, always wanting to seem more grown-up to his crush Wendy (Linda Cardellini), isn't. There's a great emotional story in "Summerween" where the two siblings are at odds about what's too childish for them anymore.

One thing that isn't childish is the monster that comes out in this episode, the Summerween Trickster (Jeff Bennett). It's a genuinely frightening character design, as it's an amalgamation of all of the season's "loser candy" that's become sentient and desires to get better candy — and it threatens the kids with death to get it (despite the fact killing a main character was never on the table for "Gravity Falls"). This is a step up from what we had seen before. Sure, Bill Cipher (Alex Hirsch) would threaten all of reality, but things were still kid-friendly in season 1, and while there had been creatures before, they were more silly than scary. 

"Summerween" works so well because there's a great monster at the center, but there's also a relatable story most can connect with. Everyone was at a crossroads as a preteen or teenager when they had to decide to hang up the trick-or-treat basket for good, and it's not an easy step to make. 

"Greg Pikitis" on "Parks and Recreation" offers a great way to bring a Halloween-y story to a character where the right spooky story may not alway be apparent. Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) has been foiled by Greg Pikitis (Cody Klop) every year on Halloween as he vandalizes a statue, but this time, she's dedicated to making sure he doesn't succeed. It's hilarious to see her go to such extreme lengths for something that really shouldn't matter all that much, but it's even better to see Greg match her absurdity, going so far as to hire a fake mother once he's been apprehended so that he can continue his mischief. 

Honestly, "Greg Pikitis" deserves its status as one of the best "Parks and Rec" episodes ever due to it introducing Andy's (Chris Pratt) alter-ego of Burt Macklin. He joins the investigation as the fake FBI agent along with actual cop Dave Sanderson (Louis C.K.), who's romantically linked with Leslie at this point, so she uses her connection to her advantage. Meanwhile, Ann (Rashida Jones) tries to throw a Halloween party that doesn't go well at first, but Tom (Aziz Ansari) is there to help kick things to the next level. 

Halloween proves to be the perfect showcase to flesh out these characters following a pretty lackluster first season. We see how staunchly devoted Leslie can be to a cause and how Ann is self-conscious about how others think of her. The pieces that make up these characters fall into place a little more clearly after "Greg Pikitis."

Season 2's "Halloween" is handily the best Halloween episode of "The Office." The first Halloween special of any series tends to be the best one because they tend to understand how to make the holiday work with their characters in the most interesting way. That's definitely the case when it comes to Michael Scott (Steve Carell) needing to hire someone by the end of October, and that means when Halloween comes, he can't enjoy it because he has to fire someone right then and there. It's a quintessential Michael plot, as he's made things terrible for himself through his own doing. 

The rest of the office is dedicated to the Halloween party where various character attributes get established. Angela (Angela Kinsey) and Phyllis (Phyllis Smith) have an intense rivalry over how to decorate while Jim (John Krasinski) would become known for his low-effort costumes. But his slacker mentality clashes when he learns Pam (Jenna Fischer) says she wouldn't miss him if he left, only for her to come around by the end. 

It's a sweet moment between the pair, and the audience gets some relief when it comes to Michael, too. He's so excited to hand out candy to trick-or-treaters, displaying how much he likes kids, which will become crucial to his character later. With equal parts humor, sweetness, and cringe, "Halloween" is a perfect "The Office" episode and an all-around great Halloween special. 

"Bob's Burgers" may mostly be known for its Thanksgiving episodes, but make sure not to overlook its great Halloween specials. There have been some great ones over the years, but for my money, none quite reach the heights of season 6's "The Hauntening." Trick-or-treating is on the back burner this time around, as the Belchers take Louise (Kristen Schaal) to a spooky house they made themselves. Louise insists she can't be scared, and they're dedicated to finally creeping her out this year. The haunted house is a bust, but then, other things the Belchers didn't plan for begin happening with Louise finally getting scared out of her mind. 

What makes this episode stand out from other Halloween-centric stories is how it's genuinely scary. Deep down, you know nothing bad can actually happen to the Belchers, but the episode does a great job of building suspense and adding in just enough spooky but plausible occurrences to make you forget this is supposed to be a goofy comedy. 

Getting into spoiler territory, the reveal at the end shows the whole thing was orchestrated by the Belchers, along with help from family friends. You can probably see the twist coming, but it doesn't make it any less sweet to see just how far the family is willing to go to scare Louise. She's ecstatic that she finally felt fear, making this an oddly terrifying yet heartfelt Halloween episode. 

"Scaredy Pants" is the first Halloween episode of "SpongeBob SquarePants," and the creative team knocked it out of the park. SpongeBob (Tom Kenny) is tired of always getting scared on Halloween, so he shaves his head round and puts on a white sheet and goes around pretending to be the Flying Dutchman (Brian Doyle-Murray). The only problem is that it doesn't work because he just looks silly, causing the real Flying Dutchman to show up, offended at SpongeBob's horrible costume. But then it's revealed that SpongeBob's literal brain is exposed due to the previous scaring, and everyone at the Krusty Krab promptly gets freaked out and runs away.

That image of SpongeBob with his brain exposed was genuinely disturbing as a kid. I think it has something to do with how his eyes appear bloodshot, as there's no longer any skin (read: sponge) to cover up the sides and back. It's the perfect twist for this kind of story. Up until that point, it's a bunch of great gags "SpongeBob" became known for during its first few seasons, like SpongeBob freaking out upon seeing Patrick (Bill Fagerbakke) wearing goofy glasses and a mustache ... and then it hits you with pure nightmare fuel. 

"Scaredy Pants" has everything you want out of a kids' Halloween special. It's a bunch of silliness, but still leaves you slightly perturbed by the end. 

"Stranger Things" seems tailor-made for the Halloween season. The first season introduced plenty of iconic characters and creepy monster designs, inspiring ample Halloween costumes in the real world. How many people have you seen dress up as Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) with a pink dress holding a box of Eggo waffles over the years? For season 2, it just made sense to let these kids indulge in some Halloween shenanigans, and it's a great episode no matter what you want out of the season.

First, there's the obvious nostalgic component where the four main boys dress up as the Ghostbusters. It makes for a fun visual as they go to school and subsequently trick-or-treating. Then there's the Eleven of it all, where she's cooped up at home despite wanting to go trick-or-treating because Hopper (David Harbour) doesn't want her secret getting out and risk the government taking her. Then, Nancy (Natalia Dyer) begins feeling immense regret and trauma over Barb's (Shannon Purser) death from the last season. All of the storylines use the social aspect of Halloween to bring up important plot points of how the characters are responding to all of the darkness slowly encompassing their town. 

All of our main characters have undergone so much, yet they deeply wish to gain a sense of normalcy. Everyone around them is having fun and enjoying the festivities, but with the Upside Down looming, it's clear these kids can't stay kids for long. 

One might expect a show as monstrous as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" to have a great Halloween episode — and you'd be right. Season 2's "Halloween" offers a fun escapade for our main characters who are used to dealing with monsters and ghouls all the time. They dress up, ready for a night off from vampire slaying, only to realize their costumes have been enchanted, and they turn into the people they're portraying. For Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar), that means actually being a vulnerable Victorian woman. (Too bad she didn't dress up like Goku from "Dragon Ball Z.")

"Halloween" isn't just one of the spookiest episodes of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," it's one of the most creative. The solution to the problem at hand can't simply be "Buffy kills whatever monster has materialized." She's helpless in this state, so it's up to Willow (Alyson Hannigan) to step up. She dresses as a ghost and is the only one who can remember who they really were before the transformation. She's been largely timid up to this point, so this is her chance to shine. 

The episode has the show's signature humor, as Gellar really hams it up and there are some great scares in the mix. It's a great time even if you aren't all the way up-to-date on Buffy's lore. 

When a sitcom does a Halloween episode, it's typically an excuse to dress the cast in costumes and have fun. It takes real talent to balance a show's usual humor with a newfound sense of dread and foreboding, but "Community" achieves precisely that with season 2's "Epidemiology." Greendale Community College is having a Halloween party with expired military rations as the food that slowly turns students into zombies (or at least they exhibit symptoms akin to it), with the infection spreading through biting. 

"Community" typically excels with its genre parodies, and with "Epidemiology," you can really feel the creatives' appreciation for the zombie subgenre. All the classic tropes are there with neat spins, like not one, but two characters hiding the fact they were already bitten from the others. There are a ton of great horror gags in here, too, like Jeff (Joel McHale) getting increasingly frustrated with all of the cat jump scares, riffing off a super dumb moment from "The Amityville Horror." 

It's the kind of slight reality-breaking only "Community" could get away with. Then again, this is a show that regularly has college students destroying their campus as part of a paintball tournament, so nothing is over the line.

Every year brings a new "Treehouse of Horror" special from "The Simpsons," and while there have been plenty of great segments and parodies over the years, "Treehouse of Horror V" from season 6 remains the top of the pack. All three parts made it onto /Film's list of the best "Treehouse of Horror" segments, and it's the perfect watch every Halloween. 

First, there's a parody of "The Shining" where Homer (Dan Castellaneta) goes mad with no TV and no beer. The sounds Homer makes while he's trying to intimidate Marge (Julie Kavner) is some of the most impressive voice acting I've ever heard, and the animation where Marge discovers all of Homer's writing on the walls is genuinely impressive. The middle part sees Homer travel through time and continually mess up the present. It's a fun sci-fi concept that still manages to offer plenty in terms of horror, especially with the part where Homer changes the present to where Ned Flanders (Harry Shearer) is a tyrannical dictator.

And the final segment is the truly horrific "Nightmare Cafeteria" where the adults of Springfield Elementary begin eating children. The image of the teachers approaching Bart and Lisa with drool coming out of their mouths is genuinely unsettling. The musical number at the end capping everything off is the perfect final touch to make this episode stand the test of time. The fact it's an animated, non-canon anthology episode means it can get away with so much more than other shows' Halloween episodes. "Treehouse of Horror V" represents a show operating at the top of its game with some incredible writers who know how to blend comedy and the macabre.