A series of halogenated chalcones (3–8) was synthesized and confirmed by several spectral tools. The cytotoxic effect of this series was tested against a panel of different cancer cell lines (MCF7, A549, HCT116, and PC3). Our MTT assay results revealed that chalcone 8 had the potent cytotoxic activity against all tested cancer cell lines except A549 cells, which were more sensitive to chalcone 7 relative to the positive control treated with doxorubicin. Chalcone 8 showed the least cytotoxic activity against the normal epithelial cell line RPE-1 and the lowest IC50 at 10.96 µM relative to the IC50 of the chemotherapeutic drug doxorubicin at 12.8 µM against the human breast cancer cell line MCF7. Molecular docking studies showed a good interaction of chalcone 8 with the active site of histone demethylase (PLU-1/ JARID1B) and Carboxy-terminal binding protein1 (CtBP1) proteins. Mechanistically, chalcone 8 induced cell cycle arrest at G2/M phase and apoptosis as assessed by flow cytometry, as well as DNA fragmentation in MCF7 cells. Chalcone 8 upregulated mRNA expression levels of the apoptotic genes BAX, p53, and Caspase-7, Caspase-8, and Caspase-9, whereas mRNA expression levels of the antiapoptotic gene Bcl2, metastasis-related gene matrix metalloproteinase 1, and the autophagic markers ATG5 and LC3B were downregulated as quantified by qPCR.