Plan your spooky season with our handy-dandy Halloween viewing guide
By Carla Davis
If you are like me, your Halloween season is jam-packed with fun / scary activities from September through October. My schedule is so full, I usually create a calendar so I can keep track of all the great upcoming movies, series and events.
I can only speak for myself of course, because not all horror fans love the same things, but I thought some of our readers might find a Halloween watch checklist to be helpful. So here is my own personal list of films/series that I am excited to check out in September and October, always keeping in mind that even more surprise projects are likely to pop up during Halloween.
Since 1428 Elm has already covered some of these films, they will be marked with an asterisk. You can read the article here to access information about them.
September 15:
*Elevator Game (Shudder)
A Haunting in Venice (in theatres) – This film is set in Venice post-World War II. Well-known sleuth Hercule Poirot has been retired and living a life of solitude in Venice, but reluctantly agrees to play part in a séance. When a guest is murdered, Poirot finds himself returning to his sleuthing ways.
September 22:
*The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster (Shudder)
No One Will Save You (Hulu) – Brynn is a lonely woman who takes comfort in living in her childhood home. Everything changes for her when she is awakened from sleep by frightening noise that appear to be coming from alien intruders. Brynn must fight for her life while also confronting her past.
September 25:
*The Djinn (Shudder)
September 29:
*Nightmare (Shudder)
There’s lots to stream this Halloween, but we are getting theatrical releases as well
Saw X (in theatres) – More prequel than sequel, the newest film in the Saw franchise takes us back to John Kramer (Tobin Bell), as he tries to fight his terminal diagnosis by submitting to an experimental treatment. When it turns out to be a scam, John finds his new purpose in what remains of his life.
October 6:
*V/H/S/85 (Shudder)
Totally Killer (Amazon Prime) – This slasher, set in the totally rad 80s, introduces us to Jamie on Halloween Night. 35 years earlier, the “Sweet Sixteen Killer” murdered three teens, and Jamie’s Mom thinks the killer has returned to claim more victims. Jamie ends up back in 1987, where she teams up with the teenage version of her mother to find the killer.
The Exorcist: Believer (in theatres) – In this many-years later to The Exorcist, a man raising his daughter Angela after his wife’s death is thrown into a tailspin when Angela and a friend vanish. Several days later, the two girls show back up, but something isn’t right.
October 10:
*The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs: Halloween (1978) (Shudder TV, AMC, AMC+ TV)) 10:00 p.m. ET
October 12:
The Fall of the House of Usher (Netflix) – Mike Flanagan, who brought us the sublime The Haunting of Hill House series in 2018, is responsible for one of the most highly-anticipated projects of the Halloween season. Several Edgar Allan Poe tales are adapted to tell the story of the Usher family, who own a major pharmaceutical company. This will be Flanagan’s last series for Netflix, and I can’t wait!
Monster Inside: America’s Most Extreme Haunted House (Hulu) – This is a documentary I am really excited about, because I have been obsessed with Russ McKamey’s story since I first heard of his extreme haunted house experience, McKamey Manor. From Hulu comes this description:
"“Merging documentary storytelling with the visual and cinematic language of a horror film, Monster Inside follows three participants as they dive deep into Russ’s world and then find the will to fight back.”"
October 13:
*Creepshow season four (Shudder)
*The Puppetman (Shudder)
Shining Vale season two (Starz) – Comedy/horror series Shining Vale is back for a second season, letting us catch up with the Phelps family, still experiencing the fallout (and haunting activity) from season one.
October 17:
The Devil on Trial (Netflix) – If you saw The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, you are already familiar with the basic story behind this documentary. Demonic possession was actually used as a defense in the US murder trial of 19-year-old Arne Cheyenne Johnson.
October 19:
Bodies (Netflix) – “Four detectives. Four timelines. One Body.” In this eight-episode thriller/police procedural series, based on Si Spencer’s graphic novel, a body is found in London’s East End. The catch is, the same body is found in the years 1890, 1941, 2023 and 2053, and we follow along with the individual detectives who are investigating.
October 20:
*Night of the Hunted (Shudder)
*Joe Bob’s Helloween (Shudder)
October 26:
FX’s American Horror Stories (Hulu) – American Horror Stories is back on Hulu, telling a different tale in each of the four episodes.
October 30:
*Hell House LLC Origins: The Carmichael Manor (Shudder)