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- The spooky season is all about the blood, guts, the scares of horror, and the insatiable sense of cynical fun that the carnage and chaos often provide. However, it is also a celebration of love - the less conventional, the better. These terrifyingly adorable couples prove love can blossom even in the grimmest circumstances, and people can find solace in each other even if they're running from a murderous clown or fighting a voracious carnivorous plant.
Horror movies are typically filled with murderous monsters, terrifying weapons, and screaming victims, which doesn't leave much room for heartfelt romances to win audiences over. However, amid the blood and the carnage of horror cinema, there have been plenty of surprisingly touching love stories, with everything from unlikely monster marriages to survivors falling in the midst of deadly onslaughts making up some of the best horror movie couples ever put to screen.
Whether it's the protagonists in scary rom-coms like Little Shop of Horrors or slasher icons such as Chucky, horror is a genre that has now proven itself multiple times as being adept at quirky love stories. These 10 couples might just steal your heart right out of your chest.
Updated on October 28, 2023, by Ryan Heffernan:
The spooky season is all about the blood, guts, the scares of horror, and the insatiable sense of cynical fun that the carnage and chaos often provide. However, it is also a celebration of love - the less conventional, the better. These terrifyingly adorable couples prove love can blossom even in the grimmest circumstances, and people can find solace in each other even if they're running from a murderous clown or fighting a voracious carnivorous plant.
Beverly Marsh & Ben Hanscom
'It' (2017)
A coming-of-age film and a grueling supernatural horror story, 2017's It focuses on some of the coolest kids in horror, including the gentle magic of childhood love. While Bill's (Jaeden Martell) teased romance with Beverley Marsh (Sophia Lillis) occupies this space for much of the movie, the film has just as keen an interest in Ben's (Jeremy Ray Taylor) feelings towards her, especially as she becomes a part of their group, the Loser's Club.
Bonding over poetry while trying to escape the abuses they face in their daily lives, Ben and Bev form a touching relationship. Their bond proves to be life-saving when Ben kisses Beverley to restore her consciousness after she is left catatonic in the wake of an attack from Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård). While their romance doesn't quite come to fruition initially, they eventually get together 27 years later in It: Chapter Two.
Gale Weathers & Dewey Riley
The 'Scream' Franchise (1996-2022)
Many of the best and most adorable couples in any genre usually have at least a bit of a contradictory, odd-couple quality to them that makes them so much fun to watch. That was certainly the case with this iconic couple from the acclaimed Scream movies. Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox), a ruthless investigative journalist with a mean streak and a questionable moral compass, was very different from Dewey Riley (David Arquette), a goofy police officer whose heart is always in the right place.
What started as innocent flirting between the two characters quickly blossomed into something much more serious, with the couple's romance evolving amid the chaos of the Ghostface killings. While this couple may face a tragic ending, Gale and Dewey remain each other's endgame in the franchise.
Chucky & Tiffany
'Bride Of Chucky' (1998)
Slasher villains don't typically have anything remotely resembling a soft, romantic side. However, the Chucky movies went down an interesting route with 1998's Bride of Chucky giving the terrifying killing doll a wife, the equally disturbed Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly). The couple's romance is delightfully twisted from the very beginning, with Tiffany bribing a murdering cop to get Chucky's (Brad Douriff) shredded remains and revive him with a voodoo ritual.
The duo's relationship isn't exactly smooth sailing, with their squabbles usually resulting in ultra-violence - Tiffany has even sawn Chucky's head off with a knife before. However, through the lens of the warped comedic taste the series emanates, Chucky and Tiffany's romance works in a cynically enjoyable sense.
Seymour Krelborn & Audrey
'Little Shop of Horrors' (1986)
As far as great horror rom-com musicals go, 1986's Little Shop of Horrors is a genre-defining, albeit sadly overlooked by modern audiences masterpiece. Based on the 1982 off-Broadway musical, it follows a nerdy florist in a struggling store who finds a chance for success in the form of a carnivorous, man-eating plant demanding to be fed.
When Seymour (Rick Moranis) isn't busy trying to contain the ever-growing plant, he is usually fretting about how to pursue a relationship with his kind, shy coworker Audrey (Ellen Greene). The ending sees Seymour and Audrey come out on top and get married after defeating Audrey II. This cute and quirky couple proves that romance and horror are not enemies - in fact, a good romantic plot can enrich a story's themes while still keeping the creepy aspects.
Louis de Pointe du Lac & Lestat de Lioncourt
'Interview With the Vampire' (1994)
While the 1994 movie may not lean into the homosexual romance between Brad Pitt's Louis and Tom Cruise's Lestat, it is easy to see why the film's A-list pairing is seen as a pivotal moment for queer cinema in Hollywood. Based on Anne Rice's 1976 novel, Interview with the Vampire follows Louis as he recounts his life story to a reporter in modern-day San Francisco, sharing his turning in 1791 and the tumultuous existence he has known as a vampire ever since.
Interview with the Vampire is a landmark moment in queer cinema, focusing on the seductive relationship between the vampires and featuring the young girl-turned-vampire they claim as their daughter. AMC's recent television adaptation of the novel goes more in-depth into Lestat and Louis' romantic and sexual relationship, but it is undoubtedly the film's iteration of the story which presented two of the greatest queer characters in horror.
Edward Scissorhands & Kim Boggs
'Edward Scissorhands' (1990)
Edward Scissorhands could probably be considered more of a fantasy tale than a horror movie. Still, Tim Burton's trademark spooky, gothic style and focus on tormented, disturbed characters give the famous film a horror punch. It also results in one of the genre's most off-kilter yet gorgeous romances as Edward (Johnny Depp) is taken in by a kind saleswoman and falls in love with her teenage daughter, Kim (Winona Ryder).
Despite being initially a little scared of Edward at first, Kim soon comes to appreciate him despite his somewhat shocking appearance. While the couple doesn't get to live happily ever after, their bond is unique and real, giving this delightful and dark fairy tale a gentle layer of romance that separates it from other entries in the Gothic genre.
Brad Majors & Janet Weiss
'Rocky Horror Picture Show' (1975)
A rollicking Rock n' Roll horror musical with a flair for B-movie horror and 1950s sci-fi films, The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a refreshing and groundbreaking effort. The charisma of Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry) might be the film's main hook, but the naive charm of couple Brad (Barry Bostwick) and Janet (Susan Sarandon) is equally compelling.
Inexperienced and foolish but undeniably lovable, Brad and Janet are a newly engaged couple who get a flat tire on a stormy night and wind up at Frankenstein's Place. Despite a world of mishaps, including Brad's inadvertent affair with Frank-N-Furter and everyone getting turned to stone, the couple makes it out relatively unscathed.
The Bride & Frankenstein's Monster
'The Bride' (1985)
From his earliest appearance on the screen, Frankenstein's Monster has been one of cinema's most tormented characters. Based on Mary Shelley's famous gothic horror novel, The Monster comes into the world by a scientist obsessed with creating life. His misfortune even continues in The Bride of Frankenstein, one of the best movies from the 1930s, when his betrothed comes to life only to be revolted by him.
Thankfully, things work better for him in 1985's The Bride, which follows Frankenstein's monster (Clancy Brown) escaping into the countryside while his creator gives life to Eva (Jennifer Beals), a woman designed to be Frankenstein's mate. Although they don't connect at first, The Monster and Eva end up running away together, which feels like a small mercy for the tortured creature after decades of pain.
Jack Skellington & Sally
'The Nightmare Before Christmas' (1993)
The Nightmare Before Christmas is an animated dark fantasy horror stop-motion film that follows Jack Skellington (Chris Sarandon), the king of Halloween Town. Growing tired and bored of his spooky existence, Jack unintentionally causes havoc when he discovers Christmas Town and grows obsessed with the holiday.
Amid the shenanigans of Jack's well-intentioned yearning to make Christmas his own, Sally (Catherine O'Hara), a ragdoll whose longing for Jack is a major part of her journey, also plays a major role. The incredible image of Jack and Sally standing atop the hill before the moon as they sing a romantic song to close out the movie is truly iconic. Jack and Sally prove that romance can be significant without necessarily taking center stage, cementing their legacy as one of the ultimate Halloween movie couples.
Morticia & Gomez Addams
'The Addams Family' (1991)
As far as scarily cute couples go, Morticia and Gomez Addams take the crown. Despite their peculiar and oft-times creepy behavior and gothic aesthetic, their love and support for each other is as genuine and undying as any romance ever put to screen.
Morticia and Gomez have been iconic for decades, embracing each other's singular personalities and passionately loving their peculiar and macabre interests. This fiery commitment to each other has made Morticia and Gomez timeless icons of the big and small screens, whether it was for audiences in the original 1960s series The Addams Family or viewers in more recent times with shows like Wednesday.