10 Great Standalone TV Episodes Perfect for Spooky Season, Ranked

It's that time of year again when the smell of candy is in the air and Spirit Halloweens pop up at abandoned shopping malls nationwide. With "spooky season" upon us, it just feels right to start revisiting some of the best Halloween episodes of your favorite television shows. This can also include episodes best watched around Halloween that may not be holiday-centric, but either way, it's fun to dive back into the fall festivities.

From classic sci-fi/fantasy programs to sitcoms and procedurals, we've put together some of the best Halloween-ish episodes of TV to revisit this fall. While not every favorite will make it on this list, there are plenty of solid entries here to get you started if you need help getting into the seasonal spirit. So get your costume ready and put candy at the door, because these are some of the best Halloween episodes worth rewatching before the holiday comes around!

10 “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester” (‘Supernatural’)

Season 4, Episode 7

Somehow, there are only two episodes of Supernatural that actually take place on Halloween, which feels like a massive oversight frankly. However, the first of them, Season 4's "It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester," has become something of a favorite for fans, especially those who prefer the show's earlier years. Here, Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) find themselves fighting the spirit of Halloween himself: Samhain (Don McManus).

"It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester" occurs during one of the most tumultuous times in the Winchesters' early years. They've just found out about the war between angels and demons, and, being stuck in the middle, fight to prevent the destruction of an entire town. While there are plenty of great Supernatural episodes to revist during Halloween, this is one that diehards won't be able to pass up on — the fact that they wear blood "masks" to keep Samhain from seeing them is just hilarious.

9 “Chuck versus the Aisle of Terror” (‘Chuck’)

Season 4, Episode 6

Speaking of something with a bit more humor (but still plenty of Halloween antics), Chuck may not be the first show that comes to mind when thinking about October 31st, but "Chuck vs the Aisle of Terror" is a real spooky gem. When Chuck (Zachary Levi) and Team Bartowski are tasked with stopping the release of a toxin that causes nightmares, things go from bad to worse when our hero is exposed to the toxin himself. The creator of said drug? None other than Dr. Stanley Wheelwright, played by Nightmare on Elm Street star Robert Englund himself.

"Chuck vs The Aisle of Terror" is great because it forces Chuck to confront some deep-seated fears of his own, but what really makes it work was the casting of Englund. He's not only perfect for the role — invoking some Freddy Kruger antics here — but the outlandish nature of his drug pairs well with the even more outlandish horror show put on at the Buy More. Chuck was always a fun show perfect for fans of the spy genre, but Halloween made it even funnier.

8 “Fear, Itself” (‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’)

Season 4, Episode 4

Buffy the Vampire Slayer was another supernatural fantasy series that typically stayed away from Halloween, but when it embraced the holiday, it always made for a good time. "Fear, Itself" was the second Halloween-themed episode, as Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and the gang head to a college Halloween party that quickly transitions from bad to gruesome. Like the previous episode on this list, Buffy forced its cast to deal with their own fears, a common theme in most Halloween episodes.

"Fear, Itself" is as funny as it is introspective. And, although Halloween is meant to be the one night of the year that vampires and demons don't go lurking about, this adventure proves that magic is still difficult to contain. As Buffy only had three Halloween episodes over its seven seasons, this one is pretty integral to how the rest of the season would go.

7 “Mummy in the Maze” (‘Bones’)

Season 3, Episode 5

Bones isn't a television procedural you would think would have a Halloween episode... Well, actually, the more you think about it, the more it really makes sense. While the show would later tackle a more supernatural Halloween-like case in the show's Season 11 crossover with Sleepy Hollow (an odd crossover if there ever was one), Season 3's "Mummy in the Maze" is certainly the better representation of Bones as a show and how the cast would interact with the costume-themed holiday.

When the Jeffersonian crew attends a Halloween party (in costume, we might add), mummified corpses are found and the team is fast on the case. As Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz) and Temperance "Bones" Brennan (Emily Deschanel) tackle this mystery, they are forced to deal with their own fears. Unlike some of the other tales on this list, Bones is a distinct procedural without any supernatural flare, so don't expect the mummies to get up and walk.

6 “The Post-Modern Prometheus” (‘The X-Files’)

Season 5, Episode 5

Now, The X-Files never actually did a Halloween episode, so you may be wondering why the show even made it onto this list. Well, despite airing a month after Halloween, "The Post-Modern Prometheus" echoes many of the old black-and-white monster movies of yesteryear, often played most on television during the "spooky season." It may not be Halloween by technicality, but this X-File has always felt spooky enough for the holiday.

When Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) investigate a "creature" known only as the "Great Mutato" (Chris Owens), they find themselves in a '90s take on Frankenstein that truly delivers. Often counted among the very best X-Files episodes, "The Post-Modern Prometheus" is a perfect callback to a classic horror style that is rarely replicated anymore. It just works best on Halloween.

5 “Halloween” (‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’)

Season 1, Episode 6

Okay, the truth is that you should probably just watch every "Halloween Heist" episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, because this is a multipart saga that plays out over the course of several seasons. However, if you're going to start somewhere, you have to start at the beginning. "Halloween" kickstarts the annual festivities when Jake Peralta (Adam Samberg) vows to steal Captain Raymond Holt's (Andre Braugher) Medal of Valor from his office.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine began an iconic sitcom tradition with these Halloween Heists, and even some of the duller years are loads of fun. Again, there are no supernatural happenings here, but part of the fun is expecting the unexpected. Since all of these entries are under 30 minutes in length, it makes binging through them an effortless excercise in fun.

Season 2, Episode 6

For those looking for those fun sitcom antics but with the referential humor of pop culture aficionados everywhere, Community has the best Halloween episode for you. "Epidemiology" is an inspired Halloween episode that goes above and beyond most holiday-themed sitcom episodes set in our world. When the study group finds themselves stuck in an apparent "zombie apocalypse," all hell breaks loose at Greendale.

"Epidemiology" is a wild ride. First-timers won't expect any of the strange happenings that occur here, nor do you have to watch it around Halloween to enjoy it in full. Truly, this Community episode is one of the best Halloween episodes to watch at any time of year. Part of that is because Community is fun any time of year, and part of that is because it's such an outlandish premise that one shouldn't have to limit it to a single day or season of the year.

3 “Halloween” (‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’)

Season 2, Episode 6

Back to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the very first time Buffy and the Scooby Gang came upon some Halloween antics was in the episode aptly titled "Halloween." Now, again, in the world of Buffy, Halloween is typically a time when most monsters and otherworldly creatures don't go out. But in this episode, Buffy and her costumed friends become the very outfits they're wearing, rendering the Slayer nearly powerless against evil.

Not only is Buffy the Vampire Slayer an essential fall show, but "Halloween" is undoubtedly an essential Halloween episode. Seeing Xander (Nicholas Brendon) play the competent soldier and Willow (Alyson Hannigan) float around Sunnydale as a revealing ghost was probably not on your Buffy bingo card before seeing this episode, and yet it's just perfect. The holiday would never be the same for these teenage vampire hunters, so why not experience it with them?

2 “The Curse of Frank Black” (‘Millennium’)

Season 2, Episode 6

Easily one of the most underrated network dramas of the 1990s, Millennium didn't do too many holiday-themed episodes, but those it did remain at the top of the program's game. When former FBI profiler Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) struggles to celebrate Halloween without his somewhat estranged family, "The Curse of Frank Black" paints him as becoming the same sort of recluse that he once encountered as a youth on Halloween many years ago. Of course, it also provides our hero with a way out.

"The Curse of Frank Black" is a profound spiritual journey that pushes Frank past his fears, failures, and future anxieties. If there's one Millennium episode that many would consider among the best and most introspective, it would certainly be this one. Halloween is the perfect time to watch Frank be haunted by literal (and figurative) ghosts and demons, and to overcome your own in the process.

1 “Monster Movie” (‘Supernatural’)

Season 4, Episode 5

Okay, while not Supernatural's other Halloween-set hour (that's Season 14's "Mint Condition"), "Monster Movie" is the perfect Halloween episode. Like The X-Files episode noted above, "Monster Movie" honors the Universal Monsters that came before by putting the Winchesters into an Ocktoberfest-themed case full of old-school vampires, wolfmen, and other riffs on popular trademarked horror icons. It's everything you could ask for in a monster mash-up between Supernatural and old Hollywood horror.

"Monster Movie" is exactly what it sounds like, and the twists are both unique and suited for the world that Supernatural has crafted. Since it's still set in October and feels very Halloween-ish, it's arguably an even better Halloween episode than the two the show actually did. It's easily one of the show's most perfect episodes for those first five seasons, and a great standalone hour for long-time fans and newcomers alike.