Spooky season is upon us, and that means the movie theater schedules are stacked with horror movies. This year, more than ever, bigger names are being drawn to the genre as it proves one of the most resilient ways of getting butts in seats. With Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein leading the pack, we’ve also got Ethan Hawke returning for Black Phone 2, Keira Knightley in The Woman in Cabin 10, and both Justin Long and Kate Bosworth appearing in Coyotes. And so many more besides. So, to be helpful, we’ve rounded up the trailers for all of October’s scariest upcoming horror movies.
Horror is big business right now, with studios having finally noticed that if you put more than no money into a scary film, you can still make them super-cheap and see some stellar returns. As such, we’re seeing some bigger names wanting to get involved, alongside the gloriously kitsch and classically gory. Below, in order of U.S. release date across October, are our picks for flicks to scare you out of you knicks.
Good Boy
Out today (October 3) and getting rave reviews (including this praise from Kotaku‘s own Kenneth Shepard), Good Boy is a horror movie from the perspective of a dog. Indy the doggo is determined to protect his human buddy Todd from evil forces in a surprisingly short film—just 72 minutes. It’s written and directed by Ben Leonberg, his first feature-length movie, and stars his own pet dog Indy—a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever—in the lead role. The human cast are relative unknowns (although perhaps not for long) Arielle Friedman and Shane Jensen, alongside Hollywood stalwart portrayer of homeless gentlemen, Stuart Rudin.
Bone Lake
Has there been a more on-the-nose name for a horror movie since 1999’s ridiculous Cherry Falls? Bone Lake is a sexy horror flick from director Mercedes Bryce Morgan, previously best known for, er, Stargate Origins: Catherine. The Bleecker Street release is clearly attempting to evoke a little bit of Saltburn, but in a story about two couples accidentally booking the same AirBnB for the same weekend. Except, for some reason, everyone keeps taking their clothes off and/or being chopped up by axes and chainsaws. I mean, it sounds like all the elements for a stone-cold B-movie classic. The first handful of reviews have been middling, but then this was never a movie to win over the New York Times. It too is out today, October 3.
Coyotes
Yet another October 3 release is comedy horror film Coyotes. Real-life couple Kate Bosworth (Superman Returns, Before I Wake) and Justin Long (Weapons, Galaxy Quest) reunite after appearing together in 2022’s Barbarian, as parents trapped in their home by a savage pack of…you guessed right, coyotes. It looks tremendously silly, incredibly violent, and contains the line, “GET THE FUCK OFF MY HUSBAND.” That’s all I need. It’s directed by Colin Minihan (What Keeps You Alive, Grave Encounters) and looks like some very schlocky fun.
V/H/S Halloween
The infinite arms of the V/H/S franchise reach out yet again, this time with a collection of seven Halloween-themed shorts, one of which comes from director Casper Kelly, the man behind Adult Swim’s Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell, Stroker & Hoop, and the infamous Infomercials episode, Too Many Cooks. It’s on Shudder from today, October 3.
Scared Shitless
The final October 3 release (you could watch new horror movies all night tonight!) is Scared Shitless, which looks like it should be hilarious, but the trailer doesn’t have me convinced. It looks like it’s trying a bit too hard with its glove puppet toilet monster and overly wacky goofs. If you recognize the older lead guy, that’s because he’s Steven Ogg, Trevor Phillips from GTA V! His son is played by Daniel Doheny (Brand New Cherry Flavor) wearing what looks like his first beard, starring alongside the mighty Julian Richings and Mark McKinney. It’s the first theatrically released movie from Canadian comedy director Vivieno Caldinelli, who is more usually shooting skits for sketch shows.
Vicious
Paramount Plus gets in on the spooky action October 10 with Dakota Fanning in Vicious. It seems to set itself up as a film about a woman who is cursed to find three objects, one she loves, one she hates, and one she can’t live without, and put them all in a box before midnight. Should she fail, she’ll die. That’s a great premise, given how hard it would be to look inside yourself and answer those three questions truthfully, but the trailer suggests things are going in about seventy-three other directions too. Clearly Dakota Fanning is a big win for Paramount’s streamer, in a movie written and directed by Bryan “The Strangers” Bertino.
The Woman in Cabin 10
On the same day, October 10, rival streamer Netflix has its own big-name horror release with The Woman in Cabin 10. Kiera Knightley leads, with Guy Pearce (Memento, L.A. Confidential) pulling off a very convincing British accent. It’s all about a reporter on a luxury yacht who thinks she sees a death, and is then hounded and gaslit by the super-posh people on board. Part scary thriller, part whodunnit mystery, it’s directed by Simon Stone, the Swiss director behind 2021’s well-respected The Dig.
Black Phone 2
2021’s The Black Phone was an interesting choice for star Ethan Hawke. More usually mumbling through indie roles directed by Richard Linklater, here he jumped into the post-Saw trend for terrifying iconic horror villains: a serial child-killer known as the Grabber. Four years later, Hawke returns to the Blumhouse production for a classic-style sequel, with a should-be-dead enemy returning for revenge against the older cast of the original. Director Scott Derrickson is hit or miss, with a dreadful remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still and some middling horrors like Sinister and The Gorge, but he also gave us the solid Doctor Strange. The trailer looks fantastic, seeming to repeat the Wes Craven meets Stephen King ’70s vibes of the original. It’s out October 17.
Frankenstein
Netflix has funded Guillermo del Toro’s version of Frankenstein, with a short theatrical release on October 17 before it arrives on Netflix November 7. (Clearly the streamer thinks there could be trophies in this one.) It’s sticking to the gothic horror of Shelley’s novel, looking like a relatively faithful interpretation, albeit through del Toro’s extraordinary imagination, with Oscar Isaac (Ex Machina, Moon Knight) as Dr. Frankenstein and Jacob Elordi (Euphoria) as his creation, alongside Mia Goth (Pearl, Infinity Pool) as Elizabeth. Del Toro doesn’t miss, so there’s every reason to be very excited for this one.
R.L. Stine’s Pumpkinhead
I could pretend it wasn’t this trailer that made me want to write this entire article, but I’m not ashamed. 81-year-old Robert Lawrence Stine, the author of the Goosebumps novels, has his name glued to the title of this Pumpkinhead remake (the original starring Lance Henriksen came out in 1988), but he is neither writer nor director. Both those roles fall to Jem Garrard, the director behind last year’s Tubi queer vampire flick Slay. They are back with Tubi for this movie too, a kid-friendly (although not that friendly) film that reimagines the very adult original as something a touch more tame. It’s on Tubi October 17.
The Hand That Rocks the Cradle
Yup, it’s back. Curtis Hanson’s 1992 classic, starring Annabella Sciorra, Rebecca De Mornay and Matt McCoy, as well as Ernie Hudson, Julianne Moore and Madeline Zima, had one of the darkest plots of all time. A sexual predator is caught and kills himself, which causes his widowed wife to miscarry, and in turn drives her to seek revenge on one of his accusers by becoming her nanny and destroying her life. This time, however, the film is less thriller, more horror, given it’s directed by Mexican horror pro Michelle Garza Cervera. And it doesn’t seem to be following the original film’s motives for its characters, either, with nanny Polly Murphy (Maika Monroe of Longlegs and It Follows) hired by upper-class mom Caitlin Morales (Mary Elizabeth Winstead of 10 Cloverfield Lane), who then begins infiltrating her life and marriage. But also, there’s some other weird darkness going on here, something more overtly creepy. It comes to Hulu and Disney+ October 22.
Shelby Oaks
Arriving on big screens October 24, Shelby Oaks looks fucking terrifying. It has the big boost of Mike Flanagan as an executive producer, and is directed by former YouTube movie critic Chris Stuckmann (Chris Stuckmann Movie Reviews). There are some real mixed media vibes to the trailer, in a film about a woman trying to find her missing sister, and beginning to suspect that a demon they imagined in their childhoods might be a bit too real. Camille Sullivan (She Talks to Strangers) is the lead, Mayor of Kingstown‘s Michael Beach is here as a detective, and I’m delighted to say it also stars the always-wonderful Keith David.
In Our Blood
“Indie horror” too often means rubbery monsters shot on iPhone, but that’s not the case here. In Our Blood has the vibes of an indie that scoops all the awards at a film festival, but harnessed here to deliver a super-weird and disturbing lo-fi movie about filmmakers making a documentary about reuniting with an estranged mother. However, she’s disappeared, and the reasons why are dark and terrible. It’s directed by Pedro Kos, who has been Oscar nominated for his documentaries, but now turns his hand to narrative. The lead is Brittany O’Grady, one of the stars of the first series of The White Lotus, without any other major names to take away the faux-realism of the flick. It’s in theaters October 24.
Queens of the Dead
Tina Romero’s Queens of the Dead is an attempt to make her own mark following the legacy of her father’s movies. George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead and its sequels are certainly memorable, but none of them followed the adventures of a group of drag queens and club kids attempting to survive the zombie apocalypse. Sillier than her dad’s films, she says, Queens of the Dead is a celebration of queer culture and aims to be uplifting in its politics during a very dark time in real life. Starring Jaquel Spivey (Mean Girls 2024), Katy O’Brian (The Mandolorian, Love Lies Bleeding) and Margaret Cho, it’s getting fantastic early buzz, and will be on big screens October 24.
