31 Creepy Movies to Watch in October
It’s almost October when the leaves begin to turn yellow, the air becomes cool and the nights get longer. What better way to sit back and re-watch old creepy favorites—and maybe even find a few new ones?
What is this scratching you ask? I’m sure it’s nothing. And don’t worry about the howling – the wolves won’t be able to drag us here. An unearthly moan? Just the wind. Likely.
With Halloween just a month away, here’s a roundup of spooky movies, one for each night in October. Enjoy if you dare.
The Fall of the House of Usher (1928)
One of two Ussher adaptations released in 1928, cinema’s love affair with Edgar Allan Poe began here in this expressionist fever dream. Jean Debucourt and Marguerite Gans play the Usher siblings in their crumbling home. This version, like every later version, conveys the feeling that we have entered an alternative world of haunting melancholy. It’s dizzying and unsettling, but hypnotically beautiful in a way that only late-era silent films could be.
Where to watch: Tubi
Dracula (1931)
Todd Browning’s film, which almost single-handedly turned horror into a powerful film genre, was intended to be a prestige adaptation of the classic novel, even as sequels and imitators increasingly fell into B-movie territory. Although the film gets a little theatrical in the second half, it gives us some of horror’s most indelible images – scenes and images we still reference almost a century later. Bela Lugosi’s Dracula has been endlessly parodied and imitated, but all of this is only possible because he made an impression .
Where to watch: Prime Video
Black Cat (1934)
Horror icons Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff team up in an early classic that’s as stylish as it is terrifying. Lugosi meets the newlyweds and heads to the stunning ultra-expressionist castle of his old pal Karloff – by “buddy” I mean the man who sent him to the Gulag to marry his wife. The wife, whose body is now carefully kept in the basement. Among the film’s other visual effects, you’ll likely never forget the mildly homoerotic flaying scene.
Where to watch: digital rental
Mad Love (1935)
American Grand Guignol style Mad Love is a delightful body horror film starring the great Peter Lorre, who is clearly having fun here. This is the brilliant surgeon Dr. Gogol, who becomes obsessed with the actress Yvonne, who is already married to Stephen, a famous pianist. When her husband’s hands are mangled in a train crash, Yvonne convinces Dr. Gogol to help, which he does by transplanting the hands of an executed murderer. Steven can no longer play the piano, but he can kill people with well-aimed knives. But wait, has the killer come back from the dead to claim his hands? Did the Galatea-style statue of Yvonne come to life to kill her lover? It all sounds very silly, but it’s done in such an operatic high style that it’s hard not to get drawn into the film’s strange world.
Where to watch: digital rental
Cat People (1942)
Irena (Simone Simone) doesn’t seem suited for marriage—she wants everything to be fine with her new husband, but she lives in fear that giving in to anything remotely resembling sexual intimacy could turn her into a bloodthirsty feline beast. Maybe she’s the victim of a curse involving generational trauma, maybe she’s struggling with internalized queerphobia, or maybe she’s having a good old fashioned breakdown. This low-budget but essential team-up between producer Val Lewton and director Jacques Tourneur doesn’t require a single read, building chillingly tense sequences around Irena’s increasingly fragile relationships.
Where to watch: digital rental
The Thing from Another World (1950)
A sort of ghost-director from golden-age Hollywood legend Howard Hawks, The Thing surpasses much of the era’s monstrous horror: set almost entirely in a claustrophobic Arctic research base, the tension is palpable (as in John Carpenter’s remake). ). Making the most of Cold War paranoia, the film works almost as well in our own troubling and uncertain times.
Where to watch: Tubi, digital rental.
Night of the Demon (1957)
Like the film’s protagonist, Dr. John Holden (Dana Andrews), Night of the Demon director Jacques Tourneur ( Cat People ) traveled to England for filming. Dr. Holden is a renowned psychiatrist and skeptic called upon to debunk a supposed demonic cult. It’s a little disappointing to see the monster that the producer insisted on appearing in the finale, but otherwise it’s a masterclass in low-key suspense. One of Martin Scorsese’s favorite horror films .
Where to watch: Tubi, digital rental.
Carnival of Souls (1962)
Predating George Romero ‘s Night of the Living Dead by several years, this equally masterful creation from director Herk Harvey uses guerrilla filmmaking techniques to tell the story of a woman who wanders through a carnival cursed after a car accident on a small budget. Where The Living Dead plays social commentary, Carnival’s atmosphere is one of existential angst, and the finished product is both hypnotic and deeply unsettling.
Where to watch: Max, Tubi, The Criterion Channel, MGM+, Shudder, Crackle, Prime Video.
Ghosts (1963)
Director Robert Wise adapts Shirley Jackson’s novel about a very lonely woman who encounters a very lonely home. Stunningly shot, truly creepy and ultimately heartbreaking, it ranks among the best haunted house films of all time.
Where to watch: MGM+, Tubi, digital rental.
Kwaidan (1964)
Often rightly described as one of the most beautifully shot films ever made, Kwaidan is full of unforgettable images: blood in the snow, the earthy tones of a haunted teahouse, or the jet-black hair that never bodes well in Japanese fairy tales. . A sensual, atmospheric anthology film with stories based on four different folk tales. It begins with an impoverished soldier leaving his devoted wife (with amazingly long black hair) for a rich woman. Bad idea, but revenge is great here.
Where to watch: Max , The Criterion Channel, digital rental.
Ganja and Hess (1973)
In the meditative and thoroughly experimental horror film Ganja, Duane Jones ( Night of the Living Dead ) plays Dr. Hess Greene, who is attacked by his assistant with a knife belonging to a fictional ancient African tribe. He was subsequently forced to drink the blood of his attacker, completing his vampiric transformation. Soon after, the assistant’s wife appears looking for her husband and, even as she realizes what happened, begins an affair with the doctor. The stylish and thoughtful film has some poignant moments regarding assimilation and religious hypocrisy.
Where to watch: Tubi, digital rental.
Black Christmas (1974)
Sure, you could save this for Christmas, but it’s also a key moment in the development of the slasher genre, which sits squarely between Psycho and Halloween . Olivia Hussey, Andrea Martin, Margot Kidder and Keir Dullea star in the story of a group of sorority sisters who are tormented by a serial killer who likes to preface events with disgusting and extremely misogynistic phone calls. The film has a convincingly claustrophobic atmosphere, making excellent use of the setting and time of a lonely winter holiday. Later slasher films emulated the basic premise, but the women here are full-fledged individuals with free will, not just fodder.
Where to watch: Peacock, Tubi, Shudder, Crackle, Prime Video
Carrie (1976)
This first Stephen King adaptation of his very first novel gets off to an auspicious start: Brian De Palma’s film feels like a real movie, full of people who don’t even know they’re in a horror movie. Sissy Spacek stars as a teenager, and Piper Laurie plays her hypocritical, Bible-thumping mother. By the film’s climax, when we see Carrie endure all sorts of indignities that come with growing up, we’re more than willing to watch her burn it all down.
Where to watch: MGM+, Tubi, digital rental.
Suspiria (1977)
Dario Argento’s giallo masterpiece is almost entirely atmospheric, combining glossy filmmaking with buckets of gore, blurring any distinction between the beautiful and the horrifying. Suspiria , the director’s masterpiece, follows talented dancer Susie Bannion (Jessica Harper) as she enrolls as a student at a prestigious dance academy in Berlin run by film noir veteran Joan Bennett. The gorgeous Goblin soundtrack gets even more fun when Susie finds herself surrounded by witches.
Where to watch: Kanopy
Halloween (1978)
Doing for horror what Star Wars did for science fiction, John Carpenter and Debra Hill’s Halloween was an indie triumph that spawned an entire genre, for better or worse. Director Carpenter builds tension and scares with lively efficiency here; co-writer and producer Hill gives us believable characters we actually care about; and Jamie Lee Curtis is probably the most compelling final girl in a slasher film.
Where to watch: Shudder, AMC+, digital rental.
The Shining (1980)
Stephen King has gone from outright hatred to ambivalence towards Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of the master of horror’s novel – and, with all due respect to one of our best writers, he is wrong. The Shining is a thrilling and disorienting masterpiece, its big set pieces (elevators full of blood, an ax in a door) less convincing than its sustained tone of deep unease. The book is about a drug addict whose worst abusive impulses are fueled by the Overlook; The film is about a violent man who breaks free without the thin veneer of civilization to contain him.
Where to stream: Max, digital rental
An American Werewolf in London (1981)
American tourists David and Jack (David Naughton and Griffin Dunne) are attacked by a werewolf while traveling in England. Through incredible, mind-bending practical effects, David becomes an increasingly dangerous wolf-man, and Jack becomes his increasingly intelligent ghost-corpse companion. A masterful combination of comedy and horror.
Where to Shout: Tubi, The Criterion Channel, Prime Video
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
When the slasher genre was at the height of its popularity, Wes Craven decided to go in a completely different direction (not the first time he’d thrown out the rulebook, and it wouldn’t be the last). Robert England plays Freddy, the scariest and least campy of the original, hunting a group of high school kids led by the endlessly resourceful Nancy (Heather Langenkamp). The plot, which involves the vengeful Freddy killing children in their sleep, makes for some brilliantly playful (and gory) scenes.
Where to watch: digital rental
Evil Dead 2 (1987)
Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi are back for this sequel, which is technically a remake of the first. Raimi takes the basic premise involving Bruce Campbell, a cabin in the woods, and a book that spawns demons and stirs up blood, gore, and dirt until it’s impossible to know whether we should shut our mouths or laugh.
Where to shout: digital rental
Defense from Temptation (1990)
K (Kadeem Harrison) and Joel (James Bond III, who also wrote and directed) have been best friends since childhood – while Joel became a minister, K abandoned his religious upbringing to move to New York and become actor. Of course, it is Joel who falls in love with a very mysterious woman they meet while partying in New York. She seems gorgeous, but turns out to be a succubus. So, not so great. There are solid performances and great chemistry between the two leads, as well as brilliant practical effects and impeccable looks thanks to cinematographer Ernest Dickerson, who has had and continues to have an impressive career as a director and screenwriter. There’s also a fair amount of sex and nudity, the most important ingredients of horror in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Where to watch: Tubi, Peacock, Shudder, AMC+, Prime Video.
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992)
This prequel/sequel to the series was not what anyone was looking for as a conclusion; as a result, he was relegated to the side of David Lynch’s work. Time has allowed us to see the film for what it is: as harrowing a fictional portrait of sexual violence as it can be. It doesn’t sound like much fun, but despite all the weirdness, Sheryl Lee gives a brilliant, emotionally raw performance as the doomed Laura Palmer, making it clear that one of television’s most famous victims was the hero of this story all along. .
Where to watch: Max, The Criterion Channel, digital rental.
Scream (1996)
Full of great, crazy kills (including one of the most memorable openings in a slasher film) and plenty of genuine scares, Wes Craven’s late-career masterpiece also delivers a poignant horror message that’s as funny as it is irritating. There were many lesser imitators, but Scream pushed the genre forward by making it clear that much of what we had seen before was a joke.
Where to shout: Max, digital rental
Audition (1999)
Audition is a perfect example of director Takashi Miike’s twisty, deeply unsettling style. Here, it follows widower Shigeharu (Ryo Ishibashi) as he re-enters the dating world by concocting a fake movie and holding auditions to play his new love. Having gotten along with the quiet Asami, he maintains a relationship. He doesn’t do it very well. Not even a little.
Where to watch: Tubi, digital rental via Apple TV.
Others (2001)
Nicole Kidman, living on a very desolate island in the English Channel in the first months after the end of the Second World War, has completely raw nerves and raises two children alone, hoping, perhaps even beyond all hope, that her husband will one day return. Director Alejandro Amenabar unfolds everything that happens here with great patience, making the old haunted house thrills feel new and powerful. If there’s anything new here, it’s that the biggest threat to the family isn’t darkness but sunlight, but compelling, compelling performances that sell the horrors within.
Where to watch: digital rental
Record (2007)
An extremely effective found footage film (one of the best, in fact) that succeeds less by reinventing the wheel than by making the most of standard ingredients. Rec follows a reporter as he goes door-to-door with the Barcelona fire brigade, answering a call that leads them to an apartment building where strange things are happening. It’s a zombie-themed movie involving demonic possession, but the real attraction here is the deft cinematography and the sense of geography and place that draws us into this building and makes us feel as trapped and terrified as its inhabitants . What follows is a series of very worthy sequels.
Where to watch: Tubi
Triangle (2009)
It’s hard to discuss Triangle without giving too much away, but this twisty time travel thriller (think Happy Death Day , but without the comedy) slasher crosses timelines and time loops as it follows single mom Jess (Melissa George) and friends in an abandoned ocean. liner. Each cycle reset seems to only give it a chance to get worse. Trippy, dark and potentially twisted, it still works on almost every level, as long as you don’t mind a little sci-fi in your horror.
Where to watch: Peacock, Tubi, AMC+, Crackle, Prime Video.
Cabin in the Woods (2011)
By now we know cabin-in-the-woods horror films and how they’re supposed to work. While The Cabin in the Woods initially looks like a Scream -style deconstruction of the genre, it quickly reveals itself to be something much more ambitious, oscillating from near-parody to apocalyptic stakes—a film that swings from near-comedy to existential horror with shocking deftness.
Where to stream: Peacock, digital rental.
What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
Shadows , starring, written and directed by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi, precedes the equally excellent show of the same name. As the franchise has proven, there are plenty of laughs to be had with the concept of traditional old-school vampires that seem neither sexy nor cool when faced with the modern world.
Where to shout: digital rental
Train to Busan (2016)
Reminding us once again that the zombie genre is infinitely malleable, South Korean director Yeon Sang-ho’s story Zombie on a Runaway Train never loses sight of any emotional core despite its bloody action movie atmosphere. Despite all the violence, its emotional core lies in the story of a workaholic father and his daughter trying to rebuild their relationship after divorce – you know, while staying alive in the midst of a flesh-eating apocalypse. The film would have been great if its human story had taken a backseat, but instead it is a horror/action masterpiece that still has a human heart beating at its core.
Where to watch: Peacock , Tubi, digital rental.
We (2019)
Get Out marked the beginning of Jordan Peele’s ongoing journey as a master of smart, unexpected horror. While the film feels like a mission statement in some ways, Us is the product of creative talent unrelated to the need to drive home something. It’s darker, more uncomfortable and in some ways more disturbing, a film that deals with the tangled issues of class, income inequality, race and mental health in a world where it’s all about identity. Villains are not necessarily villains, and heroes are not nearly as heroic as they seem at first glance. This is a film that isn’t afraid to start a conversation with a difficult ending.
Where to stream: Peacock, digital rental.
When Evil Lies (2023)
If you’re in the mood for something truly nasty (for free) in the run-up to Halloween, I highly recommend this wonderfully gritty Argentinean production from writer-director Demian Rugna. Set in a world of epidemic demonic possession, it’s brutal, stunningly effective in its practical gory effects, but also works by humanizing its protagonists so that when the hammer falls, it completely rips your guts out.
Where to watch: Hulu , Shudder, AMC+, digital rental.