With Halloween less than a week away, it’s time to pack in the final Spooky Season watches before welcoming Holiday Movie Season. Aside from rewatching old favorites and classics, streaming services have released a wealth of original horror content, from movies to series. Here’s a selection of some of the best new horror offerings to binge through the end of October (and beyond, because remember, it’s always Spooky Season if you really want it to be).
First up, the surprise horror sensation of the fall, “Barbarian,” arrived on HBO Max Tuesday. If you have managed to avoid spoilers for this truly bonkers Airbnb horror flick written and directed by Zach Cregger and starring Justin Long, Bill Skarsgard and Georgina Campbell, make sure to watch it ASAP.
If throwback horror is more in line with your interests, the Criterion Channel has a selection of 1980s horror, including “The Keep” by Michael Mann, the feminist slasher send up “Slumber Party Massacre,” John Carpenter’s “Prince of Darkness,” Kathryn Bigelow’s Western vampire cult hit “Near Dark,” and the chilling Dutch abduction film “The Vanishing.”
On Hulu, “Hellraiser” is the newest (and 11th) installment in the famed horror film franchise created by Clive Barker and based on his novella “The Hellbound Heart.” This film is directed by David Bruckner (“The Ritual” and “The Night House”) and stars Jamie Clayton as the iconic Pinhead.
If vampires are more your thing, check out the new adaptation of Anne Rice’s epic novel “Interview with the Vampire” on AMC/AMC+, with Jacob Anderson as Louis de Pointe du Lac and Sam Reid as Lestat de Lioncourt. Eric Bogosian co-stars as the journalist performing the titular interview with said vampire.
On the other side of the beastly coin, composer Michael Giacchino makes his directorial debut with the Marvel Comics adaptation “Werewolf by Night” on Disney+. Gael García Bernal stars in the special as Jack Russell/Werewolf by Night, one of a group of monster hunters who come together to determine their new leader who will wield the Bloodstone.
It wouldn’t be an October on Netflix without a Mike Flanagan joint. The “Doctor Sleep” director, who is known for his “The Haunting of Hill House,” “The Haunting of Bly Manor” and “Midnight Mass” series on Netflix has a new one, “The Midnight Club,” adapted from a Christopher Pike novel. In this series a group of terminally ill teens in hospice get together in the basement to tell each other spooky stories.
On Showtime, yet another adaptation of the 2004 John Ajvide Lindqvist vampire novel “Let the Right One In” (following the Swedish and American film adaptations). In this version, Demián Birchir stars as the father of the young teen vampire.
And of course, for Halloween, yet another “Halloween” movie, and the finale in the trilogy of films directed by David Gordon Green, starring original final girl Jamie Lee Curtis. This time Laurie Strode faces off with Michael Myers for the last time, so catch the thrilling conclusion, "Halloween Ends," streaming on Peacock.
Italian horror auteur Dario Argento has been making giallo films for over 50 years, and the master filmmaker has a new one, “Dark Glasses,” now streaming on Shudder. The film is about an escort who is blinded by a serial killer in an attempted murder, and the young boy who helps her out.
For something a little more kid-oriented, check out “Wendell & Wild” on Netflix, from stop-motion animation master Henry Selick, who directed “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” “Coraline,” and “James and Giant Peach.” For “Wendell & Wild,” Selick collaborated with Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key, who provide voices for two demons asking a 13-year-old to help them get to the Land of the Living. “Wendell & Wild” is rated PG-13 for some thematic material, violence, substance use and brief strong language.
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