Allie Beth Stuckey sparks Christian debate over Halloween, horror movies: 'Facilitating fear'

Conservative commentator and BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey sparked a debate among Christians earlier this week for arguing that believers probably shouldn't fully participate in Halloween or watch horror films.

In an Oct. 19 episode of her "Relatable" podcast, Stuckey began by acknowledging that there is nuance to the Halloween question, which she noted is a "Christian liberty issue" on which she anticipated disagreement from her audience. She laid out four options for how Christians can approach Halloween: total abstinence, full participation, partial participation or "redemptive participation."

In a viral clip of the podcast she posted to X on Oct. 20, Stuckey said she understands the decision to abstain from Halloween celebration because of its dark elements, but advocated redemptive participation instead. She cited her mother's tactic of "using trick-or-treating as an evangelism opportunity."

"So with every bag of candy or every piece of candy that she hands out, she also hands out basically a Gospel tract. She has John 3:16, or whatever the Bible verse is, printed on little pieces of paper," she said.

Stuckey explained that her mother attaches the verses to the pieces of candy and shares the Gospel with the children and families who visit. She noted that her mother also decorates her lawn with evangelistic signs featuring a Halloween-themed twist, including one that describes Jesus as the "ultimate grave robber."

Stuckey's advice was met with a flood of backlash from users on X, many of whom were Christians who suggested that she was overcomplicating an innocuous tradition for children.

"I can't think of worse anti-persuasion for Christianity," Claremont Institute fellow Joshua Lisec said of Stuckey's idea to attach Bible verses to candy or post Scripture on the lawn. "I am begging parents to stop being weird," another X user replied to the advice.

"I could do this with everything. Any kind of event or holiday or gathering I could always say the better alternative is handing out tracts or sharing the gospel. It is possible to enjoy some things without being Ned Flanders," said 5 Solas, a popular Reformed Baptist X account, referring to Homer Simpson's good-natured but annoying Christian neighbor.

In another clip of her podcast that she posted to X on Oct. 20 before deleting it following intense pushback, Stuckey said she believes that in addition to being wary of Halloween celebrations, Christians also "shouldn't be a fan of horror in general."

"Like, I don't think you should be reading books that make you scared. I don't think that you should be listening to true crime podcasts that make you scared. I don't think you should be listening or watching movies that make you scared," she said, adding that her mother didn't want her to watch the 2002 film "Signs" when she was in middle school because it was scary.

Allie deleted this and I need it for a video so I’m posting it for that. Hi people watching on YouTube! Make sure to subscribe and like the video! https://t.co/wuJyBMRDvg

— adrian (@SipsWithSerra) October 23, 2026

"How many times do we read throughout Scripture from Jesus and in the Old Testament: 'Do not fear, do not fear.' And yet we purposely consume content that is meant to make us scared," she continued. "I don't think we often think about, like, the horror content, the scary content, 'Law and Order SVU' that you are imbibing that is actually a direct contradiction of Jesus' command to not fear or be anxious about anything. So we shouldn't be facilitating fear."

Many Christians also pushed back against that opinion, with some accusing Stuckey of legalistic finger-wagging and misapplying the biblical command against fear. Others argued that by offering an explicit presentation of evil, horror movies can actually provide the opportunity to better depict goodness.

"I'd actually argue that horror is the most Christian genre of film. Obviously that's not true of the torture porn stuff — films in the 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' tradition — but supernatural horror is often subtly Christian and sometimes very explicitly Christian," Daily Wire host Matt Walsh said.

Walsh went on to say that there is nothing "inherently sinful" in stories that are tense, suspenseful or scary, and that excessive concern with avoiding negative feelings is "why almost all 'faith-based' entertainment is terrible."

"I would argue that bland, bad, boring 'Christian entertainment' — which is almost all of it, truly — is a far greater cultural problem for Christians than any horror movie ever could be. Christians used to be the great storytellers of Western civilization. That was back when they told difficult, complicated, sometimes bleak and violent stories. Not anymore," he added.

Walsh pinpointed "Signs," which Stuckey said her mother didn't want her to watch, as a particularly good example of a movie that deals well with dark spiritual and supernatural issues. The film by M. Night Shayamalan stars Mel Gibson as a lapsed priest who is pushed to confront his grudge against God as he tries to protect his family from an invasion of evil aliens.

In a response to Walsh, Stuckey explained that she was specifically warning against "movies that are meant to stoke paranoia, anxiety, a nagging sense of dread and fear. I don't believe consuming that kind of content facilitates the peace to which God calls us." She noted that she was not advising Christians to consume only Christian entertainment, or that they can't watch movies that are "complicated and sometimes violent."

Some appeared to agree with Stuckey's advice against media that depicts the demonic.

"I actually like Allie Beth Stuckey and I think she just was too overly general in her most recent denunciation of horror. As other people have said, there's horror and there's horror. She likely had something specific in mind and then applied the term without really thinking about it," said Catholic podcaster Aaron Irber.

"Allie Beth Stuckey is DEAD RIGHT in saying that almost all of today's horror is demonic and should be UTTERLY avoided, for the sake of one's soul. God bless her for speaking out," author Eric Metaxas said.

Peachy Keenan, a conservative Catholic commentator, claimed she is no longer able to watch "The Exorcist" because "the haunted bedroom" in her old house reportedly "became possessed by a dark spirit" after she and her family watched the famous 1973 horror classic.

"Multiple people independently sensed it and felt it, with no knowledge that others had. It was to the point I could not stand to be in it with the lights out. It started immediately after we watched 'The Exorcist' in the living room," she said.