Scares in the Air: Halloween Movies

Scares in the Air

A GHASTLY SELECTION OF SOME OF THE BEST HORROR MOVIES ON PLANES

By Kelly J Clark

When it comes to aviation, it wouldn't be bold to say that the unique thrills and excitement of flight is a big part of what hooks prospective pilots. The way we see it, horror films are pretty much the same!

This Halloween season, why not have the best of both worlds? Let's talk about some of the best horror movies on or involving airplanes! Below you'll find just a small sampling of the mile high nightmares you waiting for you, presented in no particular order.

Final Destination (2000)

A group of high schoolers on their senior trip to Paris are kicked off their plane after one of them has an all-too real premonition of a mechanical failure causing a mid-air explosion.

When that vision turns out to be true, the teens find themselves being stalked by death itself, who seeks to reclaim the lives of those who escaped certain doom through gruesome causality.

As brutal as it was creative, Final Destination spawned half a dozen sequels with mixed reception, but the first flick is a horror season must. Plus, it's full of "Oh hey, isn't that..." moments from the turn of the century.

Nightmare at 20,000 Feet The Twilight Zone (1963) / Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) / The Twilight Zone (2019)

Arguably the most famous episode of The Twilight Zone, this story has been remade three separate times (and that's even not including dozens of parodies and homages, like the phenomenal Terror at 5 1/2 Feet from the Simpsons Treehouse of Horror IV).

You likely already know the setup: a man on a plane sees something happening, either on the wing or in the plane, but no one believes him. Can he save everyone in time? Or is he actually just crazy?

You probably prefer whichever version you saw first, but if you haven't seen it yet we suggest you pick the horror era or actor you prefer: William Shatner (1963), John Lithgow (1983), or Adam Scott (2019).

For our money, we stand by Bart Simpson (1993).

Blood Red Sky (2021)

A mother and her son travel to America from Germany seeking treatment for her rare and mysterious illness. With so much on the line their transatlantic flight is, of course, hijacked by terrorists.

Unfortunately for the terrorists, this mom is more than capable of taking a bite out of crime. The movie quickly turns into Die Hard on a plane. With vampires. Which we assume is the exact pitch the creators gave to Netflix.

The Langoliers (1995)

Based on the Stephen King story of the same name, The Langoliers is a mini-series that aired on ABC in 1995. It follows the passengers of a plane who find themselves trapped outside of time and facing a cosmic force that literally consumes everything they've ever known. Their only hope? Keep flying, obviously!

Sounds like a metaphor for flight school.

The Langoliers was written during one of the weirder phases of King's career, but we can't help but be suckers for the awful mid-90s adaptations of his work. Can you believe they developed his work for prime time on network TV? Yikes.

Red Eye (2005)

Wes Craven made his name in supernatural horror, but this more grounded thriller is one of his best films and one of the best movies on the list.

A hotel manager takes a red-eye flight from Dallas to Miami and finds herself sitting next to a handsome and charming man who soon turns out to be much more than he appears. Tense and dramatic and with a great cast, it's just the ticket for a nail-biting thrill ride.

Shadow in the Cloud (2021)

Set in World War II, Shadow in the Cloud follows an RAF officer who is tasked with delivering a top secret package. She catches a lift aboard an American B-17 bomber, only to end up transported and later trapped inside of the plane's ball turret.

That's a recipe for disaster even before the plane is attacked by a supernatural creature. Which, in case you were worried: of course it is.

Snakes on a Plane (2006)

You knew it was coming.

Internet joke turned major motion picture, Snakes on a Plane delivers what it promises: there's a plane and it has snakes. It also has Samuel L. Jackson in what would be one of his most memorable roles. Which is weird, because the film itself is mostly forgettable.

That said, while most of these movies make viewers nervous about flying, it takes a special kind of film to give an entire generation of men a snake-related phobia of airline toilets.