It is Saturday 31 October, one of you has been looking forward to tonight since about March, and the other one has already claimed the big blanket. These are six Halloween picks for when one of you hates horror, all streaming in New Zealand, in an order that gives you each a turn. No rentals, no homework, and an honest word on how scary each one really is.
Halloween is a smaller thing here, and we may as well own it. It is spring, daylight saving means it is still light at eight, and the trick-or-treaters run to two kids from down the road and a dad who has clearly lost an argument. You bought a bag of lollies from the dairy just in case. You will eat most of them yourselves during the second movie.
Splitting the night without a scrap
The trick is not finding one movie you both love. It is taking turns, and agreeing the rules before anyone presses play.
- Alternate. The fan picks one, the other one picks the next, and nobody sits through two scary ones back to back. The list below is already in that order.
- One veto each, spent before you start. If something is a hard no, say so now, not twenty minutes in with your hand over your eyes.
- Agree where to stop. Two movies, or one movie and a couple of episodes, then bed. Nobody wants to be doing the dishes at midnight with every light in the house on.
It is the same thinking as shows for couples who disagree, just with more fake blood. The one who hates horror gets real power here, which is only fair. They are the one who has to get to sleep afterwards. And if it all falls apart, there is always Shortland Street, and nobody has to admit that was the plan all along.
What do you watch when one of you hates horror?
Three proper horror, three Halloween, taking turns, with the scariest at number five so you can see it coming. Every one is on a New Zealand app you might already pay for.
Carrie
The one you can both start. Mike Flanagan's new Stephen King series, eight episodes, all out since 7 October. The fan gets slow-building dread that pays off. The other one gets an unsettling drama more than a scare-fest, and can stop after any episode without missing the point.
Hocus Pocus
Your turn, horror-hater. Camp witches, a lot of shouting and zero real scares, so this is the safe pick with no catch. The fan gets a breather and a bit of nostalgia, and is allowed to claim they are only watching it ironically. Nobody believes them.
Weapons
Back to the fan, and this one is properly scary: tense, nasty in places, and darkly funny when you least expect it. The horror-hater should know what they are in for. Lights on, feet up off the floor, and sit nearest the remote so the pause button is yours.
What We Do in the Shadows
The FX series spun off the Kiwi film: vampires sharing a house and being bad at it. The fan gets fangs and a fair bit of blood, all played for laughs. The horror-hater gets a flatting comedy where nothing jumps out at you. Easily the best compromise here.
Crystal Lake
The hardest one on the list. Linda Cardellini plays Pamela Voorhees in A24's slasher prequel to Friday the 13th, listed on Neon from Thursday 15 October. The fan gets a proper slasher. The horror-hater gets fair warning, and is fully entitled to watch it from the kitchen.
Practical Magic
Honourable mention
End on something you both say yes to. A witchy 1998 romance with far more heart than fright, free on TVNZ+. The fan will call it soft and still watch to the end. The horror-hater gets to finish the night on a win, which seems fair after Crystal Lake.
The six, in depth
Carrie is Mike Flanagan's eight-episode Stephen King adaptation, made by Amazon MGM Studios, and all eight episodes went up on Prime Video on 7 October. How scary? It is horror, but the sadness comes first and the scares come late, which is exactly why it leads. Start it on a weeknight this week and you will have it done by the 31st, with the big night free for the rest of the list.
Hocus Pocus is the 1993 Disney witch comedy, and it is on Disney+. Scare rating: none at all. It is the one the horror-hater can choose without anyone putting up a fight, and the fan can sit through it for old times' sake. It is a decent palate cleanser before the next one.
Weapons is the acclaimed 2025 horror movie, and it is on HBO Max here. It is properly frightening: slow, tense, and with a couple of moments you will not unsee. It is also darkly funny in places, which helps more than you would think. This is the fan's big pick of the night, so the other one gets to choose the snacks and the seat.
What We Do in the Shadows, the series, is the FX show that grew out of the Kiwi film, and it is on Disney+ here, with season six on Neon as well. How scary? Barely. There is blood, but every drop of it is a joke. It is the pick where both of you stop keeping score and just enjoy yourselves, and the closest the horror-hater gets to calling it a horror night and meaning it.
Crystal Lake is the Friday the 13th backstory, eight episodes of about an hour each, from A24. Flicks lists it on Neon from Thursday 15 October. It is a slasher, so it is the scariest thing here and makes no effort to be subtle about it. If the fan wants the backstory first, the 1980 original went up on Neon on 8 October. Watch an episode, not the lot, and keep the agreed stopping point.
Practical Magic is the 1998 witchy romance, free on TVNZ+, and Prime Video has it too. Scare rating: low. The sequel, Practical Magic 2, has only been a digital rental since 13 October, so the original is the cheap way in. It gets the honourable mention because it is the one you both say yes to without any discussion, which is a nice way to end a night that had a slasher in it.
Also worth knowing
Yaga starts streaming on Neon on Friday 23 October. It is a supernatural mystery drawn from the Baba Yaga folk tale, created by Kat Sandler from her own play, with Carrie-Anne Moss and Noah Reid in the cast, and it runs to eight half-hour episodes. Short episodes suit the one who would rather not commit to a whole movie of it.
The bad news is the home-grown stuff. The What We Do in the Shadows film, Housebound and Deathgasm are some of the best horror-comedies this country has made, and right now they are all rent-only here. Very us, really: make the thing, then charge your own people to watch it.
So that is Halloween sorted for when one of you hates horror: take turns, spend your vetoes early, and agree on a finish line before the first movie starts. Our piece on ending the what-to-watch standoff has the longer version of that method, and the app for couples page shows how MatchWatch does the rest. You both swipe, only on the apps you actually pay for, and when you both say yes, that is what you watch. Nobody has to admit they were scared. Available in New Zealand, Australia, the UK, and the United States.