Spooky Asian American movies to watch this Halloween

I’m not a big scary movie person. There’s something about intentionally instilling fear in myself for Halloween that doesn’t compute with me, but I still sincerely tried to get behind them this Halloween season. 

With the recent rise in the Asian diaspora on screen, seeing Asian American creatives break into a space not dominated by identity-driven stories was gratifying. It’s good to see Asian Americans play characters that don’t centre on some (often overdone) aspect of their identity. Plus, I found some horror movies play with important themes and tropes of the Asian experience in fun and interesting ways.

In no particular order, here are some spooky Asian American Halloween films that are worth a watch this spooky season.

Totally Killer (2023)

Coming off AAPI hits like Always Be My Maybe, Fresh Off the Boat, and Young Rock, director Nahnatchka Khan melds horror, sci-fi, and comedy in a delightful Asian American Halloween film this year. Solid performances all around fuel a fun new take on the classic slasher, situating itself between classics in the sub genre (Back to the Future meets Scream?) in a whimsical manner that feels more in line with what we expect from Asian American centred stories.

Daughter (2022)

This movie refits the popular suspense narrative around kidnapping through Southeast Asian American specificity. Through excellent performances by Vivien Ngô and Elyse Dinh, Daughter explores the experiences of human trafficking victims and transracial adoptees, both saliently tied to the Southeast Asian American community.

Ring (1998)

The classic American horror film from 2002 about the ghost that haunts us through the television screen remains uber popular. However, what many don’t know is that the movie originates from Japanese source material. While the American movie doesn’t feature many Asian American creatives, I’m putting the original Japanese version on this list as a reminder that many American film franchises draw upon often-unsung Asian source material. It’s a particularly common theme in the American horror film industry with examples ranging from The Grudge to One Missed Call.

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014)

Shown at the Sundance Film Festival, this film captured the hearts of moviegoers with its nuanced portrayal of Iranian womanhood through the metaphor of a multifaceted vampire—while cleverly playing with the typical dangers we expect single women of color on screen to face. Filmed in Southern California, this Persian-language film covers Asian American themes in unexpected ways through grafting the experiences of Iranian women to the streets of the American West.

See also: Eight Asian celebrities you can dress up as for Halloween

The Green Knight (2021)

A break from typical horror or suspense genres, The Green Knight embodies the moody and brooding atmosphere one expects from a great Halloween movie. The story centered around action and adventure feels fitting for the spooky season with its foggy backdrops and ominous score composed by Daniel Hart. Moreover, Dev Patel’s casting as Gawain in this retelling of the Irish classic tale brings new meaning to the source material as we understand Gawain’s struggles to be connected to the postcolonial identity of Indian Britishers living in the UK.

Umma (2022)

This movie casts audience-favorite Sandra Oh into an excellent dramatic role in a relatively new genre for her: horror. Umma tackles Asian American experience and identity through a somewhat new lens by showing how immigrant identities can haunt us just as well as they can uplift us. The story tries to situate audiences with the fear that Asian Americans often face from intergenerational trauma, vulnerability, and existential assimilationist questions—all somehow in under an hour and a half.

It’s a Wonderful Afterlife (2010)

And to wrap up the spooktacular Asian American Halloween movie list, a Gurinder Chadha (the mind behind Bend It Like Beckham and Blinded by the Light) comedy to leave you light-hearted and able to sleep at night. With serial killers and ghosts, this film gives off the right amount of spookiness to complement its well timed ironic humor and jokes. It’s a Wonderful Afterlife centers around the humor in how familial expectations can feel like having ghosts follow you around—and how marriage in many Indian families can indeed be a matter of life or death.

See also: Blumhouse’s Evil Eye is putting South Asian stories to the forefront