A weekend of Halloween festivities awaits as everyone gets ready to celebrate All Hallows Eve in a few days. Nothing says fright night quite like a great scary movie, so we've taken it upon ourselves to list 7 all-time favourite Halloween movies to warm us up for the celebrations. 

You might want to avoid watching some of these on your own, while others are more comedic horror entertainment, but all of them have online slot games, transporting the terrifying stories onto the reels. 

✓ The Shining

One of the 20th century's most successful horror novelists produced several chilling chart toppers. Stephen King's writings also led to a few Hollywood blockbuster interpretations of his stories, and the 1980 reimagining of The Shining hit home for many horror fans. This psychological horror sees the Torrance family uproot their lives and move into the Overlook Hotel, only to discover their lives will never be the same.

Jack Nicholson is the main character, Jack Torrance, who unwittingly leads his family to the haunted destination because he has accepted a position as the hotel's winter caretaker. Upon arrival at Overlook Hotel, Jack learns about the terrible fate of the previous winter caretaker and his family. 

Danny, Jack's young son, has psychic abilities allowing him to have visions and see spirits, making him the target of violent events and the famous twins luring him to forbidden room 237. Jack is also a recovering alcoholic prone to violent outbursts, and once the spirits get a hold of his mind, he deteriorates quickly. He spirals into madness as the evil spirits in the hotel convince him to kill his wife and son. 

Mancala Games drew inspiration from this thrilling story. They released a slot game, The Twin Wins Mystery, where eerie imagery includes the evil twins and other familiar sites from the story.

✓ Beetlejuice

This movie may not be as terrifying as others in today’s list, but Beetlejuice is a cult classic in the fantasy horror genre. Like only Tim Burton can, this horror comes with hilarious twists and vivid scenes from the frightening imaginations of the story writers, Michael McDowell and Larry Wilson. 

Newlyweds Adam (Alec Baldwin) and Barbara (Geena Davis) were busy with home décor projects. On their way home from town, they suffer a tragic accident as Barbara swerves to avoid hitting a dog in the road. On their return home, they learn about their passing to the netherworld when they find the Handbook for the Recently Deceased. 

Soon a new family moves into their home, and after failing to scare the living inhabitants off, they summon Betelgeuse (pronounced and spelt Beetlejuice in the film). Portrayed by Michael Keaton, Beetlejuice is an obnoxious spirit and bio-exorcist and is not what the couple had in mind. However, they are stuck in the house and want the new residents gone. The couple soon realises that Beetlejuice is cunning and has other plans that endanger everyone.

Beetlejuice was a tremendous hit and inspired a cartoon series and a Broadway musical. In recent years it inspired Barcrest to release a branded slot filled with all our favourite images from the horrifying fantasy. Take Beetlejuice for a spin and decide if this rambunctious spirit is worthy of haunting the reels. 

✓ Stonehearst Asylum 

A popular storyline in horror is that of madness, and so much about early psychiatric treatments was sinister that it inspired countless tales about asylum hauntings. What's different about Stonehearst Asylum is that the horrifying events have nothing to do with hauntings and everything to do with the current patients and doctors. 

This 2014 film remained somewhat under the radar but has a talented list of actors, including Kate Beckinsale, Jim Sturgess, Ben Kingsley, and Michael Caine. Fresh out of grad school, at the turn of the century, Dr Edward Newgate (Sturgess) arrives at the Stonehearst Asylum for his apprenticeship only to realise something sinister is brewing. 

While the plot thickens, Dr Newgate finds himself bewitched by a female patient, Eliza Graves (Beckinsale), and in wonderment of the resident psychiatrist, Dr Lamb, with his modern approaches to healing the mentally ill. It all unravels in a horrifying plot where Dr Newgate realises he is on the wrong side and discovers Dr Lamb's secret. In an elaborate escape plan, Newgate must follow his gut and decide whom he can trust. 

The creative team at Nolimit City released their reimagining of an asylum horror in the online slot, Mental, where punters can spin away the worries of the world and dive into madness with the sinister characters.

✓ Halloween 

Talking about mental, this is one of the most famous slasher films of all time that spawned a cult following, a movie franchise, and the list goes on. Halloween is a chilling tale about the 6-year-old Michael Myers, who kills his 15-year-old sister on Halloween night. The first movie plays out on 31 October 1978, 15 years after Michael's incarceration for this unthinkable act.

What unfolds after Michael escapes from his psychiatric prison will take the film to become the most successful independent movie of all time. In the original 1978 film, the masked psychopath goes on a killing spree in his hometown, where he stalks and kills teenage babysitters, with a specific interest in Laurie Strode (played by Jamie Lee Curtis). 

After killing nearly all of Laurie's babysitter friends, he finally attacks Laurie, but she manages to break free just in time for Michael's psychiatrist, Dr Loomis, to shoot him. Later versions of the original movie delve deeper into the Myers family setup and what happened the night Michael killed his older sister.

Since the original film smashed the box office, Hollywood released 12 more films. The franchise expanded with novels, comic books, a video game, and a branded Halloween online slot game by Microgaming. 

✓ 28 Days Later

Danny Boyle introduced his version of the walking dead to movie fans in his 2002 release, 28 Days Later. Although zombies had an established position among the most feared monsters in horror, this movie showed us a different type of monster, deepening the fear of the undead. Filmed in London, the crew managed to close certain sections of the bustling city to recreate the desolate scenes in the movie.

The plot revolves around the spread of a highly contagious virus, which induces intense aggression in the victims, following a liberation act by anti-cruelty animal activists. The release of the infected chimpanzee triggers an apocalyptic epidemic that creates super-fast and insanely aggressive zombies. 

Jim, played by Cillian Murphy, wakes from a coma 28 days after the initial exposure event and finds himself isolated in a deserted London hospital without a sign or warning of what happened. As he makes his way through the empty streets of London, zombies attack him, but thanks to other survivors, he escapes uninfected, only to endure more horror. Although the idea of the undead, flesh-eating humans was well-used before this film, it revived the genre and changed its direction.

Leading software provider, Pragmatic Play released an undead hit of their own with the slot game Wild Walker where players dodge zombie attacks while spinning for big wins. 

✓ IT

Another one from the master of horror. Stephen King solidified the fear of clowns, or coulrophobia for some who are petrified of them, with his terrifying novel, It. This 1986 novel became a series in the 90s, and the movies that followed will forever haunt the imaginations of those who watched it. Perhaps it is because the monstrous character kills children or because he taps into our worst fears.

Terrorised by ongoing violent events, the small town deals with the disappearance and murder of children from the community. The events in the small town of Derry, Maine, happened before and will happen again unless a close-knit band of school children, dubbed 'The Losers' Club' put an end to it. 

Stephen King's shapeshifting villain presents himself as a clown living in the town sewers, but the children quickly learn that this evil entity is a lot more than a man with a painted face. Known as 'IT', the clown causes devastation and terrorises the townspeople through psychological tactics. 

Inspired by this haunting story and other tales of horrifying clown characters, Cristaltec captured their version of a psychotic jester on the reels in the online slot The Clown. 

✓ Sleepy Hollow 

Tim Burton's movies may not be at the top of the most horrifying stories ever, but he has a way of capturing a section of our imaginations that no one else can. His rendition of the age-old tale of the headless horseman captivated audiences around the globe. It brought areas of Washington Irving's story to life in the dark comedic way the writer would've appreciated.

In Sleepy Hollow, the main character from Irving's story, Ichabod Crane, travels to the village of Sleepy Hollow to investigate a series of murders. In this version of the story, Ichabod is a police constable from New York, and the plot follows him as he uncovers the truth behind three decapitations. A sceptical Ichabod learns about the town legend of the undead headless Hessian mercenary and that most think the headless horseman is behind the murders.

Once he comes face to face with the headless horseman, Ichabod understands what needs to be done. After a series of investigations and a few murders, the constable reveals the truth behind the horseman's torment through plot twists and dramatic adventures with the object of his affection, Katrina. The New York constable saves the town and, in essence, the headless horseman just in time to celebrate the new century with Katrina.

The epic haunting of the headless horseman has inspired countless other interpretations of Irving's story. The story remains a favourite for All Hallows Ave, viewed as an American treasure. NetEnt introduced its video slot creation, Halloween Jack, to pay homage to the celebrations on 31 October.