What to Watch: Halloween Edition

What to Watch: Halloween Edition

If we’re being honest, we all appreciate the wholesome nature of most Christmas and winter holiday-themed content, but deep down something about the chaotic nature of Halloween has an almost universal appeal. From the hilarious shenanigans of Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Halloween Heist episodes to the ever popular search for full size candy, Halloween just does it better. Not to discount the terrifying fun of watching a horror film packed with jump scares from the inside of a hoodie, drawstrings pulled tight.

Since we have now established that Halloween movies are just *chef’s kiss* we have curated a list of kid-appropriate scares and adult terrors that are coming to tv this spooky season.

First, let’s get the bad news out of the way at the top: we regret to inform you that Apple TV still holds the exclusive license for It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, so you have to watch it there, or rent/purchase it from your favorite service. Last year it did run once on PBS but we haven’t seen any announcements that it will this year.

On the other hand, there’s still plenty of fantastic lineups planned all over tv land, whether through a cable channel or over-the-top streaming services.  Here they are:

Kid-Friendly Scares:

31 Nights of Halloween
Every year Freeform runs the 31 Nights of Halloween for the entire duration of October. It’s packed with fantastic Halloween movies including: Hocus Pocus, The Addams Family (1991), Halloweentown, Ghostbusters, and marathon showings of The Simpson’s Tree House of Horror episodes. The full lineup can be found here.

Scoobtober

Cartoon Network is bringing us something new this year for Halloween. Two Scooby-Doo! movies every Sunday starting at 9/8c, including the tv premiere of last year’s theatrical release Scoob! So, get some (scooby) snacks, and get ready for a silly slightly creepy set of whodunits, that will keep the kids guessing! 

Monstober

Not to be left out of the spooky season action is Disney, long famous for their fantastic Halloween original tv movies. While you can watch all your favorite Halloweentown movies, as well as Twitches & ZOMBIES on Disney+, the Disney Channel is bringing a new mummy-themed kids movie titled Under Wraps, that’s sure to be both monstrous and heart-warming.

Dark Arts Sundays - All October on Syfy

Syfy Network is airing all 10 Harry Potter films every Sunday in October starting at 4:30 pm EST. They’re running chronologically. If, somehow, you’ve missed out on the Potter-Mania, now is the time to get into it. Make yourself a Halloween feast complete with pumpkin pasties and chocolate frogs, and get ready to binge!

New to Netflix:

Never one to be left out of the programming rat race, A Tale Dark & Grimm explores what happens when Hansel & Gretel run away from home to find new parents (that won’t try and chop off their heads) and wander in and out of other classic Grimm’s fairy tales. It’s a little scary but also not too scary (and very funny), but maybe watch a quick episode first before you show your kids because mileage for spooks and thrills may vary.

Locke & Key is an episodic suspense thriller about three siblings who find a series of keys throughout a home they’ve inherited, and end up unlocking all sorts of secrets, abilities, and monsters from within. It’s creepy, twisty, and perfect for Halloween binging. Season 2 arrives on Netflix on October 22. 

Horror Film Fests, Curated Collections & More

October is a glorious time for fans of horror movies, as many channels and streaming services offer up collections of titles so you can spend your entire month anticipating the jump scares, twists and turns, and monsters both fantastical and mundane.

AMC’s Fear Fest kicks off on AMC and AMC+ on October 1^st, featuring curated horror films and original series. For more information click.

Welcome to the Blumhouse: Amazon Prime has also offered a collection of four new films all produced by Blumhouse, in conjunction with Amazon. Blumhouse, which brought us titles like the Paranormal Activity series, Get Out, and The Invisible Man is offering up four all-new horror titles: Bingo Hell, Black as Night, Madres, and The Manor.

Huluween – This Huluween, the platform itself is haunted by an evil spirit called Uluh, cropping up in spooky content across the platform. The origin story for this monster will debut in a short film dropping October 25. Also premiering this year are 18 all-new bite-size Halloween-themed shorts. Their hub has split the content into easily searchable categories like Humorous Horror and Terrifying TV to help you find exactly the scare you’re looking for.