September means pumpkin spice everything, the start of sweater weather, and anticipation for Halloween. Rather than being a one-day affair, all of October at least has become a season unto itself, with folks looking for thrills and scares all month leading up to the main event.
Movie studios got the memo and scheduled some of their scariest offerings for next month. Even better, several are on streaming services, so you can watch in the safety of your own home while shuddering under your favorite blanket. Saw X technically kicks things off a bit early, making its debut on September 29, but the rest of these scares arrive in October.
Here’s some of what Hollywood has to offer this Spooky Season.
Appendage (October 2)
Hulu celebrates “Huluween” with the original offering Appendage, written and directed by Anna Zlokovic. Hadley Robinson stars as Hannah, a young fashion designer for whom career pressures are mounting. Her inner demon physically manifests as an outer demon that emerges from her body and seemingly wants both to protect her and to destroy her life.
The Devil Designs Prada?
Appendage arrives on Hulu October 2.
Totally Killer (October 6)
One of the more fun flicks coming out next month is Amazon Prime Video’s Totally Killer, starring everyone’s favorite Teenage Witch (or daughter of an advertising genius) Kiernan Shipka as a teen who accidentally travels back in time to 1987 and tries to stop the “Sweet Sixteen Killer” before he commits the murder spree that claimed several of her mom’s friends.
This film seems firmly lodged in the horror comedy category and serves meta deconstruction of horror tropes. Directed by Nahnatchka Khan (comedy writer known for Always Be My Maybe and Fresh Off the Boat), Totally Killer drops on Amazon Prime October 6.
V/H/S/85 (October 6)
The sixth installment of the V/H/S franchise is upon us. This time, the found-footage anthology film is rewinding to the totally tubular 1980s. V/H/S/85 stars Freddy RodrÃguez, James Ransone, Jordan Belfi, and Dani Deetté, with David Bruckner, Scott Derrickson, Gigi Saul Guerrero, Natasha Kermani, and Mike P. Nelson taking on directing duties on the different segments of footage found on various VHS tapes.
Deadline reported that the film’s five vignettes will include the following stories: “Scientists observe an unusual boy fixated on his TV, kids embark on a lake skiing adventure, a TV crew fights to survive a natural disaster, the early days of VR awaken something terrifying, and a deadly dream is captured on tape.” Shudder will be popping in this tape for your viewing pleasure on Shudder on AMC+ on October 6.
The Exorcist: Believer (October 6)
The Exorcist: Believer is a direct sequel to 1973’s The Exorcist and is the beginning of a new trilogy from Blumhouse. Directed by David Gordon Green, Believer stars Leslie Odom Jr. as Victor, a dad whose daughter Angela (Lidya Jewett) and her friend Katherine (Olivia Marcum) end up getting possessed after going out into the woods. Victor then seeks out someone who’s been through this before to help: Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn, reprising her role from the original film).
This sequel seems like an interesting offering because the premise promises something unique for the franchise—two girls are possessed at once, and according to the trailer, a choice is offered about which girl to save. If you want to check this one out, you’ll have to leave your house. The Exorcist: Believer arrives only in theaters on October 6 (in an attempt to dodge Taylor Swift’s arrival in theaters).
Pet Sematary: Bloodlines (October 6)
Directed by Lindsey Anderson Beer, Pet Sematary: Bloodlines is a prequel to the 2019 film adaptation of the Stephen King novel Pet Sematary, which received its first film adaptation in 1989.
Set 50 years before the events of 2019’s Pet Sematary, Bloodlines centers on a young Jud Crandall (Jackson White) who wants nothing more than to leave his hometown of Ludlow. That proves difficult when an ancient evil makes itself known and reveals that it’s been keeping him confined to the cursed town.
Mileage varies on Stephen King adaptations, but you can’t beat the source material for scares. Pet Sematary: Bloodlines, starring White alongside Samantha Mathis, David Duchovny, and Henry Thomas, comes to Paramount+ on October 6.
When Evil Lurks (October 6 theatrical, October 13 digital)
What would you do if you found a demon-infected man about to give birth to evil itself? If your answer was “NOPE out of the situation and run home,” then maybe this movie isn’t for you. For those of you who answered, “Clearly, I’d kill the evil with death and also fire,” When Evil Lurks is for you!
When Evil Lurks is a Spanish-language Argentina/U.S. co-production written and directed by Demián Rugna. It stars Ezequiel Rodriguez and Demián Salomon as Pedro and Jimmy, brothers in a remote village who stumble across the aforementioned evil-birthing and rather than succeeding in killing the evil, their intervention inadvertently allows the evil to be born.
Still don’t wanna nope out of there?
When Evil Lurks arrives in theaters on October 6, and will shortly thereafter be available digitally on Shudder October 13.
The Elderly (Viejos) (October 13)
Getting older can be scary, especially if you have dementia. The Elderly turns that idea into a horror metaphor where elderly people in Madrid start exhibiting strange behavior during a heat wave. The Spanish-language film, titled Viejos when it was released in Spain last year, focuses on Manuel, a man in his ’80s whose mind begins deteriorating after his wife wife dies by suicide.
When his family takes him in, he—along with other elderly people in the city—starts exhibiting increasingly strange behavior that puts his family’s lives at risk.
The Elderly arrives in U.S. theaters on October 13, and will be available on VOD on Halloween.
Dear David (October 13)
Following in the footsteps of Zola, the horror Twitter thread that took the world by storm has now been adapted into a feature film. Dear David began when BuzzFeed writer Adam Ellis took to Twitter to describe his interaction with a ghost. Ellis rolled the story out between August and December 2017, and internet denizens were riveted, causing Dear David to go viral and gaining Ellis over 1 million followers.
Now, Dear David is a film coming to us from BuzzFeed Studios and Lionsgate, directed by John McPhail. The film will arrive in theaters and on digital October 13.
Malibu Horror Story (October 20)
Malibu Horror Story is an indie horror offering from writer-director Scott Slone. As is the case in seemingly every horror movie, some teenagers disappeared on graduation night years ago. Now, four amateur paranormal investigators are investigating the decade-old case and getting pulled into supernatural shenanigans.
You’d think people would pick up on the fact that you shouldn’t go investigating mysterious disappearances years later because that’s when scary things happen, but what do I know?
This is another one beckoning you to leave your house. Malibu Horror Story arrives only in theaters on October 20.
Five Nights at Freddy’s (October 27)
If you guessed that, years ago, some kids disappeared and now a random person is going to investigate, you’d be correct! This time, it’s happening at the Chuck E. Cheese-esque Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, where new security guard Mike (Josh Hutcherson) has to survive the night shift—along with his daughter, whom he brings to work late at night for some reason—after learning that a group of kids vanished years ago and may or may not be haunting the restaurant’s animatronic animals.
Based on the popular horror video game series of the same name, Five Nights at Freddy’s is directed by Emma Tammi and will be available both in theaters and on Peacock on October 27.
Suitable Flesh (October 27)
We’re here for the Heather Graham-aissance, especially when she gets to dip into her masculine energy in an adaptation of a Lovecraft body-swap story. Joe Lynch directed Suitable Flesh, a film adaptation of the Lovecraft short story The Thing on the Doorstep. Graham plays a psychiatrist who becomes obsessed with one of her patients, pulling her into an ancient curse.
Graham looks like she’s having so much fun in this role! Suitable Flesh will arrive in theaters and on VOD October 27.
Which horror movies are you most excited about in October? Tell us in the comments!
(featured image: RLJE Films)
Published: Sep 20, 2023 11:19 am