Image via ABC
Almost every TV series finds the time to showcase all of the major holidays at least once during their run, but over the decades, TV generally shows out for Halloween like no other. The best drama series' use the horror and fear-themed day to bring characters' innate doubts and fears to the surface, while the best sitcoms go balls out with costumed mischief and assorted hijinks in their Halloween episodes.
With the season of tricks and treats upon us, Complex collected the best of both to create a definitive list of the best of the best, specifically those episodes that directly deal with the actual holiday. So if you don't see insert-popular-spooky-drama, it's because, while scary on a weekly basis, it never actually celebrated All Hallow's Eve proper. Grab a bag of candy and settle in for the night to watch The Best Halloween Themed TV Episodes.
25. "Chuck vs. the Aisle of Terror," Chuck
Season: 4
Air Date: 10/25/10
As an action/comedy, Chuck balanced its melodramatic side with shameless forays into decidedly goofy territory, for better or worse. So though much of "Aisle of Terror" is taken up by Chuck's angst over where his absentee mother's true agency loyalties lie, its completely in character for the series to wrap up the standard case-of-the-week in the absurd fashion that it does.
"Terror" features special guest star Robert Englund as a mad scientist looking to sell a fear toxin to the highest bidder. As usual, the climax goes down at the Buy More (read: Best Buy), where dim-witted employees Lester and Jeff have just finished decking out the store in Halloween decorations including their own twisted, special touch: the Aisle of Terror, an insulated fun house with TV screens that display images that are far from any normal person's definition of fearsome.
Englund is immune to his own fear gas but he's no match for depictions of the dark recesses of Jeff and Lester's minds, "horrifying" images that include: man feet, a baby in a snail costume (is it a baby, or a snail?), black licorice, and...inter-species relations? Like we said, it's absurd, but the sight of Freddy Kreuger losing his shit over a monkey and a tiger cub mating is weirdly, undeniably funny.
24. "Slutty Pumpkin," How I Met Your Mother
Season: 1
Air Date: 10/24/05
Ted would be the type of simp who attends the same lame Halloween party years after meeting a great girl there but losing her number, clinging to the hope that she just might attend again too. Even though cell phones have largely rendered that particular struggle moot, we can all relate to missing out on the most intriguing girl in the spot, even if we wouldn't quite resort to Ted's extreme measures to find her again.
In addition to various recurring gags involving Marshall and Lily's pirate-and-parrot couple's costume, we're also treated to Barney's genius method for receiving second (and third) chances to bag the hottest chick at the party after striking out the first time: multiple costume changes.
23. "Let's Give the Boy a Hand," Dexter
Season: 1
Air Date: 10/22/06
"Let's Give the Boy a Hand" is the fourth episode of the series, yet it already finds Dexter in something of an identity crisis, proof that Dexter was once an intelligent and provoking series before it devolved into a cable crime procedural during its middling middle seasons.
"Hand" finds the Ice Truck Killer continuing his courtship of Dexter on Halloween, attempting to provoke him into abandoning Harry's Code and embracing the inner monster. The episode also includes some nonsense involving Doakes (remember him?!) and the mob, proving that even in its best years Dexter always suffered from subplot affliction, but the episode is significant for the choice Dexter makes regarding a sacrificial lamb ITK has served up for him, and what it means for the series and the show going forward. Oh, and Rita (remember her?!) dresses up as Lara Croft for Dexter's—and our—viewing pleasure.
22. "Halloween; Ellie," Louie
Season: 2
Air Date: 8/18/11
After a certain hour, Halloween in the city can get real, a fact that's on full display when Louie goes against his better judgment and lets his daughters continue trick-or-treating well past sunset. The trio run afoul of two ghoulishly-dressed goons, and Louie very nearly succumbs to the attack until his self-assured youngest daughter gives his G a much-needed boost by standing up to the thugs herself.
In a short matter of time, the vignette manages to contrast the innocence and parental delight in celebrating watching kids dress up as ghosts and goblins, with the nightmarish invitation the holiday hands out to the mischievous nut jobs of the world.
21. "Spooky Endings," Happy Endings
Season: 2
Air Date: 10/26/11
Happy Endings hit its creative stride during its sophomore season, a run that was kickstarted by the early-season Halloween entry "Spooky Endings." The strengths of each member of the ensemble cast are flexed when the group rolls to a warehouse costume party, where Alex's Marilyn Monroe costume is mistakenly perceived with a trans twist thanks to an ill-timed sore throat, the perennially hapless Dave strikes out with a tired Austin Powers get-up, and Penny and Max's mother-and-baby two-in-one costume proves trying when they both go after the same guy, whose sexual orientation is undefined and who's creatively dressed as "ZZ Top Gun."
Add in Brad and Jane' battle against a group of unruly suburban kids while house-sitting, and "Spooky Endings" ends up as an early indicator that ABC had a new gem on its hands.
20. "Haunted," The Vampire Diaries
Season: 1
Air Date: 10/29/09
Viewers who saw potential in The Vampire Diaries' problematic pilot and stuck with it were rewarded by "Haunted," the seventh episode of the series that officially elevated it from Twilight-for-TV to the worthy supernatural successor to Buffy that it became.
The series follows Elena Gilbert, a stunner caught up in a love triangle with two vampire brothers and other supernatural drama in her small Virgina town. Halloween is plagued by Elena's friend Vicki's recent transition from human to vampire. Good guy vamp Stefan tries to teach her the ropes of peacefully co-existing with humans, but Vicki's drug problems and overall fiendish nature as a human are amplified in vampirism, and he's forced to put her down when she can't control her urges and tries to kill Elena and her brother.
In killing off a main cast member Diaries kicked off a never-ending run of high-stakes story lines balanced by character development and genuine emotional fallout.
19. "The Purge," black-ish
Season: 3
Air Date: 10/26/16
The Johnson family takes on Mischief Night with a Purge-twist, subverting white neighbor Janine's latently racist idea to keep the riff-raff from getting too rowdy in their Sherman Oaks neighborhood, when unfettered anarchy leads to Bow going all Final Girl on the intruders. Meanwhile back inside the family house, Dre works through alpha-male tensions with his oldest son via a pretty fucked up prank: making Junior think he accidentally killed Charlie.
18. "Halloween," The Office
Season: 2
Air Date: 10/18/05
The Office's first Halloween episode features scary prospects for the employees of Dunder Mifflin when Jan passes down orders to let one person go due to budget cuts. While the likes of Creed, Angela, Oscar, and Kevin anxiously wait for Michael's decision, Jim and Pam go through more will-they-or-won't-they motions when she suggests that he take a better job in Maryland that they initially tried to pass on Dwight.
Of course it's not all serious, as the episode features several great costume sight gags like Michael's paper-mache second head and Dwight's uncanny resemblance to the Emperor from Star Wars. And in true lazy fashion, every single woman in the office comes dressed in the all-too-original cat getup.
17. "Halloween," Modern Family
Season: 2
Air Date: 10/27/10
Modern Family drove its minivan off the cliff of relevance (and quality) seasons ago, but thankfully we'll always have re-runs of the good ol days like “Halloween,” a hilarious yet heartfelt episode that finds everyone except Claire’s Halloween spirit exhausted when it’s time to get together for the annual Pritchett-Dunphy Haunted House.
Phil fears he and Claire may be doomed to suffer a fate similar to the abrupt end of a neighbor’s marriage, Mitchell struggles to fit in at his new law firm, and Gloria becomes self-conscious about her constant, inadvertent English mispronunciations. (Jay wanted a box of "baby cheeses," not "Baby Jesus.") The result is a gag that keeps on giving as Mitchell attempts to navigate his office unseen in a ridiculous Spider-Man costume, and Gloria’s sneering attempt to force an American accent is instantly classic.
Plus, props must be paid to Claire’s obsessively decorated, dope haunted house, a multi-scare walk-through that includes dark lighting, thunder and lightning effects, a fog machine, and a great severed-head get-up for Cam.
16. "Halloween III," Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Season: 4
Air Date: 10/18/16
It'd be easy to go with the most recent of Nine-Nine's annual Halloween heist extravaganzas, with the way it sweetly pivots into Jake proposing to Amy. But, last year's still reigns supreme, for now at least. Any episode where the incomparable Gina Linetti gets her day is a banner half-hour.
15. "Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery," South Park
Season: 3
Air Date: 10/27/99
Pirate ghosts, (alleged) necrophilia, Korn behaving like the Scooby-Doo Mystery Machine gang, and a life-sized Antonio Banderas sex doll. On paper this sounds like the most scattered episode of television ever. Most series wouldn't be able to pull it all together, but then most series are not South Park, which at its best combines random, disparate cultural gags and weaves them together seamlessly.
Never mind why the band Korn would decide to investigate pirate ghosts, or why Kyle would be OK with Cartman digging up his dead grandmother to get revenge on some fifth graders—it works and it's damn funny. (And proves that we might actually watch a series that followed Korn around the country, touring by day, solving supernatural mysteries by night.)
14. "Keaton," New Girl
Season: 3
Air Date: 10/22/13
Over its six season run, New Girl has delighted in constructing elaborate, absurdist, and ostensibly illuminating backstories for each of its characters. For one Halloween episode, they brought out one of its greatest: The idea that Schmidt had, since he was a child, been carrying on a correspondence with Michael Keaton, who would provide him with a pick-me-up whenever he's at his lowest. Schmidt's mom had started the fake letters, and Nick picked it up in college, sending him emails from KeatonPotatoes@aol.com. The ruse predictably unravels during a Halloween party, while Schmidt is in his "Public Serpent" costume. It's New Girl (and Halloween-themed sitcom episodes) at its weirdest, and best. —Brendan Klinkenberg
13. "Trick or Treat," Curb Your Enthusiasm
Season: 2
Air Date: 10/7/01
Larry David is a man with a specific set of social principles, a code not so impenetrable as the world around him would have him think. Is he an asshole, or is he right to refuse candy to two older teenage girls who have the audacity to go trick-or-treating sans costumes? Upholding the Halloween code-of-ethics has its consequences, when he and Cheryl wake up to see that the girls have retaliated by toilet papering their home, egging windows, and—the pièce de résistance—spray painting BALD ASSHOLE across his front door.
"Trick or Treat" also has Larry fending off advances from a friend's wife who mistook a harmless joke for a proposition, an obnoxious Jewish man who disapproves of his taste for German classical music, and a douchey director who claims his family invented the Cobb salad. In true Curb fashion, each subplot converges hilariously in the final minutes, with a rare case of Larry getting his revenge instead of getting played out.
12. "Tricks and Treats," Freaks and Geeks
Season: 1
Air Date: 10/30/99
"Tricks and Treats" occurs very early on in the series, when Lindsay is still straddling the line between her academic, buttoned-up lifestyle and becoming one of the Freaks. Her decision to ditch her usual Halloween mainstay of handing out candy at home and join the Freak gang for a fun night of vandalism and debauchery is pivotal in her transformation. Her brother and his friends learn that they're too old for actual trick-or-treating through a rough night of increasingly embarrassing events. It all ends with a rough realization by Mrs. Weir: her children aren't quite children anymore.
11. "Halloween," Frasier
Season: 5
Air Date: 10/28/97
Some of the funniest episodes of Frasier involve cases of classic sitcom miscommunication. Characters think they have all of the information, but have actually misunderstood a key detail, and bumble about for half an hour because no three people talk to each other at the same time.
The formula fires on all cylinders in "Halloween," in which Roz tells Frasier that she may be pregnant, while Niles' imagination and paranoia get the better of him when he hears Frasier and Daphne shared a room together after a long night out. It all comes to a head at his Halloween party when he confuses Roz's situation for Daphne's, and assumes Frasier is the father.
This being Frasier, the hijinks play out against a high-society setting and high-brow quips, in this case propelled by a Halloween party that follows a classic literature character costume theme. Niles's drunken antics are made 10 times funnier by his ridiculous Cyrano de Bergerac costume, and Roz is a sight for sore eyes as O from The Story of O.
10. "The Haunted Mask," Goosebumps
Season: 1
Air Date: 10/27/95
The first Goosebumps episode is fittingly a Halloween-set two-parter, and is coincidentally one of the scariest hours the show produced during its four season run.
The idea of a gruesome monster mask which becomes more attached with each passing wear until it becomes a real, living face positively freaked us the fuck out back in the day, and unlike certain Goosebumps episodes, it actually still holds up. The sight of conflicted Carly Beth burying a mold of her real face in the cemetery while the Haunted Mask becomes snarlingly real was, and still is, shockingly unsettling for a kids horror series.
9. "It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester," Supernatural
Season: 4
Air Date: 10/30/08
Every episode of Supernatural might as well take place on Halloween, but when the horror series finally decided to honor the holiday properly it did so in style, pitting the Winchester brothers against the demon of the day, literally.
"Great Pumpkin" finds Sam and Dean racing against the clock to stop centuries old witches from resurrecting Samhain, a fearsome demon infamous for unleashing terror and raising the dead on, you guessed it, All Hallow's Eve. If they fail, angels will smite the entire town, with Samhain and thousands of innocents along with it.
Of course, it's the rare Supernatural episode that allows itself to be 100% serious, so we're treated to Dean pigging out on candy and stunting on trick-or-treaters, as well as the amazing phrase "zombie-ghost orgy." And in the series' penchant for Final Destination style death scenes, there's scalding hot apple-bobbing water, and a razor blade-candy bar teaser that will make you look twice at every Snickers for the next week. It also continues the developing season four introduction to the angels, who are interestingly not presented as atypically righteous and good, but instead uncompromising assholes.
8. "Halloween Part 2," American Horror Story
Season: 1 (Murder House)
Air Date: 11/2/11
Most of American Horror Story: Murder House ended up being more interested in fetishistic shock value and gross-out gags than traditional scares, but "Halloween Part 2," far and away the strongest hour of the season, fittingly plays up the haunted house aesthetic when Hayden's ghost returns to punish Ben and torment Vivien with classic scares like creepy mirror messages and microwave-nuked dogs.
The strongest subplot belongs to Tate and Violet, whose romantic date is interrupted by a group of gorily-dressed teens who claim they know Tate from high school. When Violet (finally) realizes that their bullet holes and mangled bodies aren't actually costumes, she confirms one of the season's most successful plot twists: Tate is a ghost himself, and his dreams of shooting up his school actually happened. His victims are using the Halloween-mandated dead-shall-walk rule to exact revenge on him in the after-life.
The episode ends on a great, melancholy note as Ben and Vivien survive Hayden's attack but their marriage does not, followed by a fantastic shot of the various Murder House ghosts returning to the crib walk-of-shame style, once again confined to haunting within the premises.
7. "Epidemiology," Community
Season: 2
Air Date: 10/28/10
It's not an episode of Community if there isn't an intelligently-executed riff on classic pop culture tropes, and for its second Halloween special, the Greendale gang is dropped right into a traditional zombie-B movie quarantine nightmare when Dean Pelton mistakenly orders a brain-numbing, zombifying virus along with the cheap military food reserves he purchased for his costume party.
All the plot mechanics of a genuine zombie movie are included, from the sacrificial decoy that allows his friend to escape straight down to the inevitable creepy cat that exists in every horror movie basement to startle the survivors walking through. Oh and the best of ABBA is playing on a loop of Pelton's iPod, the perfect score to frantic running scenes and chaotic melees.
Troy and Abed's amazing, Aliens-inspired Ripley and Alien dual costume is challenged only by Chang's Olympic ice skater getup, which he wears to deliberately bait the assumption that he's Michelle Kwan or Kristi Yamaguchi—he's Peggy Fleming, racists.
6. "Haunted," Dead Like Me
Season: 2
Air Date: 10/31/04
Before Mandy Patinkin held it down on Homeland, he played father figure to another troubled girl on a Showtime series, in Dead Like Me, a dark comedy from the network's earlier years that is easily one of the best cable series that you lamed on.
The off-beat/supernatural show followed the misadventures of a group of Seattle-based Grim Reapers, including Patinkin's fatherly Rube, Jasmine Guy's tough-as-nails Roxie, and Laura Harris's would-be starlet Daisy, and freshly deceased, new to the ranks, 18-year-old burnout Georgia. The series was refreshingly original yet failed to get hot, but thankfully the second season finale "Haunted" works just fine as a series finale, as well as a great Halloween special.
Georgia lives as an undead Reaper in her hometown (and works as a temp; Reapers don't get paid) but she's protected by a mystical plot convenience that masks her face should she come across any old family and friends, namely her mother and younger sister Reggie, who haven't been coping well with her death. Legend has it, however, that on Halloween the cloaking is turned off, and the undead appear as they are.
Georgia and fellow Reaper/professional screw-up Mason are out to score as much candy as possible, meanwhile the Reapers have a full plate thanks to a serial killer out to claim four random victims in as many hours. The series goes out on a high note, masterfully blending every tone it gracefully pulled off for 29 episodes as a simultaneously darkly funny, genuinely macabre, unsettling, and yet ultimately heartfelt hour of television.
5. "One Night in October," Fringe
Season: 4
Air Date: 9/30/11
Fox's slept-on sci-fi thriller Fringeworked best when it uses its super science-y plot lines and evil genius villains as a device to get down to the simple, basic human themes of choices, consequences, and connections. Early on, when the series introduced a parallel universe where alternate versions of everyone exists (including the main cast members), it added a tantalizing dimension to those weighty, thoughtful themes: What experiences shaped us into the people we are today?
The alternate universe provides the same characters, altered in small or potentially very drastic ways by tiny differing changes in their lives. This is highlighted spectacularly in "One Night in October" in which Earth-2 Fringe Division enlists Earth-1 agents to help them catch a serial killer on their side. In their world, he's a dark, demented murderer who's slain dozens of people; in Earth-1 he has a psychology degree and specializes in serial-killer profiling. Earth-2 Fringe assumes that he'll naturally be able to profile himself, but the question at the heart of episode is: What did Earth-1 John McClennan have in his life that kept that same darkness at bay?
"October" features the necessary cool, yet unsettling case-of-the-week hook—Earth-2 John freezes his victims' brains from the inside—but the episode really soars when both Johns meet, and recount a pivotal night in their lives following an October fair that changed everything for them, but in drastically different ways with drastically different outcomes. In the end it drives home Fringe's overall series mantra: love and emotional connections are stronger than any type of weird science.
4. "BOO!" Roseanne
Season: 2
Air Date: 10/31/89
You'll be hard-pressed to find a show as dedicated to Halloween as Roseanne was during its nine-season run. They made sure to bring the fright and the funny from season-two on, but you could tell that instead of just doing it because it was October, Roseanne actually rocked with the holiday, properly incorporating the family's struggles and sarcasm into tales of trailer park terror. The series had a number of bangers during it's run, but the first Halloween episode is the most lit, featuring Dan and Roseanne vying for the title of Best Halloween Pranker ever. Kudos to D.J.'s terrible lip-synching while answering the door, and the middle-class mayhem of their haunted house, and Roseanne finally getting an ingenious W on Dan in their prank battle.
Roseanne found a way to stay true to the show's voice while injecting a heavy dose of Halloween delight. —khal
3. "Fear, Itself," Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Season: 4
Air Date: 10/26/99
The Joss Whedon cult classic series did a Halloween story every two seasons, and while the first two are both considered essential Halloween TV-episode viewing (the third suffers from Annoying Kid Sister Syndrome), when it comes down to it the best of the bunch is undoubtedly the fourth season offering, "Fear, Itself."
The episode comes along at the beginning of the gang's first year in college, conveniently at a time where self-doubt is eating away at everyone. Perfect timing then, for a bunch of idiot frat guys to copy a pentagram from an actual spellbook while setting up their haunted house party. The house comes alive, and all of the spooky decorations with it, trapping everyone inside and splitting up Buffy and pals to battle the manifestations of their innate fears while a demon feeds off of it, gradually gaining the strength to enter their world.
Despite its age, "Fear, Itself" doesn't feel dated at all, and manages to throw in zombies, homicidal skeletons, talking severed heads, and a bowl full of eyeballs while connecting on a character level as well. Plus, Giles cuts through the entire house with a chainsaw, and the episode ends with a hilarious visual gag that's never not funny.
2. The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror V, The Simpsons
Season: 6
Air Date: 10/30/94
We dedicated an entire list to the best Treehouse of Horror segments, but even in the general conversation surrounding Halloween specials, The Simpsons' annual horror series reigns over the best.
Our claim remains: Treehouse V is the best. Its highlights are "The Shinning," which might be the most successful parody of The Shining yet, and "Nightmare Cafeteria," excessively macabre entries that reflect then showrunner David Mirkin's dedication to making the special as gory and disturbing as possible, as a middle finger to recent complaints about the level of violence depicted in Simpsons. A segment about a school cafeteria serving the delinquent kids up for chow? We say, mission accomplished.
1. It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
Air Date: 10/27/66
Is there any other choice for the number one best Halloween-themed special? Forty-six years later and "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" is still relevant, and Linus' unwavering faith in the Great Pumpkin is still as affecting as it was when we first saw it as kids. The Peanuts gang held it down on just about every major holiday, but their especially rough Halloween night—Snoopy gets defeated by the Red Baron, Charlie gets rocks for treats, Linus' Great Pumpkin fail—is, in our opinion, the best of them all.