october movie and tv show picks

 hello, lovelies!

i've seen some people do a little halloween movie calendar, and i wanted to give it a shot! although, i'm no good with editing images (the best i can do are the images of tracksuit rob in the criterion closet or barnes and noble, and that's because i made those in the pinterest collage editor). whenever i try, i feel like that "graphic design is my passion" image. 

anyways, i figured i'd do a list, sort of like those compilation articles that websites do that have titles like "TOP 30 BEST HORROR MOVIES TO WATCH FOR EVERY DAY IN OCTOBER!!!" except i'm not good at snappy one-liners or quick synopses... i just came across one on substack, actually! it's inspired me to do a little list of my own; y'all should go over to ballad of a whimsical girl and give her some love! anyways, on to the list, i suppose! 

there's a good mix of family friendly and not-so family friendly films, as well as some lizzy picks! also note that some of these may contain minor spoilers! readers beware, you're in for a scare (or whatever r.l. stine said in goosebumps)

🎃🎃🎃

goosebumps

speaking of, it feels right to start off with my introduction of horror. i had been given some vhs tapes of some of the two part episodes, like the haunted mask II, a night in terror tower, and (my personal favourite) welcome to dead house. i accidentally taped over dead house with some random movie, and i was heartbroken. 

when i was really little, i would sleep in the living room instead of my room because my bedroom scared me for some reason. i would often catch shows meant for teenagers and adults, like are you afraid of the dark and, you guessed it: goosebumps.

i never read the books, but i love r.l. stine's other works that have been adapted: i watched the haunting hour show religiously, and i quite enjoyed the fear street films from a couple years ago, though i never watched prom night or whatever the most recent one was.

🎃🎃🎃

the nightmare before christmas

fuck tim burton! hate that guy (i'm finding out that i hate a lot of people...) i'm glad he didn't really actually have anything to do with this movie, other than coming up with the idea in the 80s... okay so maybe that's a lot to do with it. but at least he wasn't the director. ANYWAYS!

this movie is a staple in my house. we even caught a screening of it a few years ago. we take halloween very seriously in my family, so much so that we have some decorations that stay up year-round in my father's half of the front room. it's like a haunted house in there, complete with twists and turns because of the couch. we watch this movie throughout the year, but during halloween and christmas, it's on a whole other level.

🎃🎃🎃

it's the great pumpkin, charlie brown

this one is a lizzy pick, and i'm so glad i texted her to ask if she had any yearly rewatches, because this one? this one's a banger. i've only ever seen this once, when i was maybe ten or so, but i remember loving it. i used to beg my mom to put it on every halloween, but she could never find it.

charlie brown is just the perfect vibes for the season. i think my second-grade teacher read us a book version of it right before halloween, actually. so i've been familiar with the story for almost my entire life. never forget the iconic line of "i got a rock.."

🎃🎃🎃

twitches & twitches too

i have fond memories of watching these movies as a child. my sister and i watched these the most out of all the other DCOM halloween movies in october. i actually think i watched the second one more than the first, shockingly.

i remember thinking that tia and tamera were the most beautiful women i had ever seen. maybe that should've been a clue as to which team i played for haha. i also thought that their characters were teenagers, not twenty-one. rewatching for the first time since childhood at the age of twenty-two is wild. also, rush by aly and aj needledrop? girl, now i know where i got my music taste from!

🎃🎃🎃

halloweentown

i used to watch this every year for halloween from the ages nine to thirteen. by the time i was fourteen, my sister decided that she had had enough of watching this every year, so she decided that the movie was banned in our house. thankfully, she's over that now, but that ban went on for a long time. so long, in fact, that my mother got me the entire film series on dvd.

i used to wish that secretly my grandma was a witch and that someday she would take me to halloweentown. there was a point in my life as a teenager where i did think she was a witch, but in a different way; you know how teenagers are. i'm glad i grew out of that.

🎃🎃🎃

corpse bride

i specifically remember seeing the trailer for this on one of my dvds as a child, but in spanish. the memory i have of hearing the voice over man calling the film "el cadáver de la novia", and so that's what i thought the movie was just called! i was so confused when i saw the dvd in stores and seeing it in english, though at the time i didn't realize they were different languages. i just thought that the title was in spanish... 

this film didn't really scare me as a child, and i always thought it was just so... beautiful. tragic. when i first actually watched it, i think i cried? it's been so long that i can't actually remember; this movie has been a staple in my halloween season film repertoire for as long as i can remember.

🎃🎃🎃

friday the 13th

okay, so i've never actually seen the original film from 1980... BUT i have seen the 2009 remake (though, is it really a remake if nothing about the story is the same? i mean, not even the killer is the same!)

something about this iteration of jason is just so much more terrifying than any of the previous versions of him i've seen (yes, i've seen friday part II but not part I. SUE ME!). like, if a mountain man wearing a hockey mask came SPRINTING at me, in the woods in the middle of the night, with a weapon, there would absolutely be piss in my trousers. absolutely not.

🎃🎃🎃

gilmore girls (duh)

this one is another lizzy pick! i don't have much to say about this show that i haven't said in my two reviews, so i think i'll just let this show's reputation speak for itself.

🎃🎃🎃

juno

THE fall movie for me. yes, i know that it takes place over a whole year, but guys... come on. this is an autumnal classic.

the first time i saw a part of this movie, i had to have been no older than five. we were about to leave my grandma's beach house to drive home, and i was sitting on a chair and waiting for my parents to finish packing the car when i caught the scene where juno goes into labour on the tv. that was all i saw. i didn't even know that it was juno i was watching until i properly watched the movie when i was nineteen; when it got to that scene i audibly went "what the fuck??" because i was just so shocked that this was the movie i had thought about almost my entire life.

🎃🎃🎃

monster house

who told my parents that this was a movie they should let their three year old have unfettered access to? i don't actually remember obtaining this dvd, it just appeared in my big dvd case one day and i, age three, decided to put it on for my movie of the night while i slept. i got my little step stool, got on top of it, and popped the dvd into the tray. the next ninety-one minutes were the scariest minutes of my life at that point.

now, as an adult, i can appreciate this movie more. it's actually one of my favourite rewatches for the spooky season. it's genuinely a great movie, and the storyline of how the house became the way it is is so sad and beautiful. and the reveal that constance was still under the house??? oh i would simply pass away. justice for my homegirl, i'd try to fight children if they threw eggs at me and mine because i was fat, too. 

🎃🎃🎃

the walking dead seasons one & two

i have a long history with this show. the first time i watched it, i was supposed to be in bed. my parents had some friends over, and one of their friends had the second season on dvd and had brought it over for all of them to watch. so i sat in the hallway and watched probably the most iconic scene from the second season: the barn scene. you know the one. all the walkers had been released from the barn and put down, the dust was settling, and then one last walker shambles out of the darkness. i was TERRIFIED. i had nightmares for months afterward.

sometime later, amc was doing a marathon all weekend of the first two seasons in preparation for the season three premier. it was my dad's weekend with my brothers, so they were over, and all four of us watched the marathon for HOURS. that year, my older brother (david) dressed up as daryl, and my younger brother (paul) dressed as rick for halloween. we still have the picture of all of us on the fridge from that year.

i've tried to watch through the entire show several times, and i've never gotten further than the first episode of season six. at that point, i felt that the show was getting stale; but the first few seasons? oh, i rewatch them almost religiously. especially the first two seasons. i usually watch it late at night when i'm finally cooking myself dinner. i just love this show.

🎃🎃🎃

final destination three

yes, the third one. i don't care much for the other films in the franchise, except for maybe the first one because it's the original. but this one, there's just something about it that is so terrifying to me. maybe it's the whole roller coaster premonition thing, maybe it's the terrible cgi. i don't know; what i DO know, however, is that this one is my favourite. it's just get that thing about it that draws me to it.

whenever i get the sense of deja-vu, i always get skeeved out because it reminds me of these movies. gives me the chills.

🎃🎃🎃

over the garden wall

i remember watching this as it aired. one of my favourite shows of all time, and i've rewatched it nearly every year since. one year, i hadn't watched it until the night before halloween, and ended up marathoning it in the living room. i fell asleep at episode eight, and woke up in the dark.

i think everyone should watch this show at least once, specifically around halloween. it's just that amazing. also there are some huge names in the cast list; elijah wood, melanie lynskey, BEBE NEUWIRTH?? TIM CURRY??? just so good. i often find myself wishing i wrote an essay about this show when i was in high school. i don't know if i've still got the essay writing bug in me.

🎃🎃🎃

the strangers

now, home invasion films are, in my opinion, the scariest, because they're based in reality. something like this could really happen. i remember the trailers for this movie when it first released in theaters, and every time they would come on i would run out of the room and hide until they were over.

i love to watch this movie in the middle of the night in the dark and quiet. it does wonders for my paranoia!

🎃🎃🎃

the silence of the lambs

i adore this movie so much. the vibes are perfect, the acting is outstanding, and if i had seen this when i was younger, jodie foster would've absolutely been my gay awakening. are you kidding me?

this film is one i like to put on with a mug of coffee in the middle of the night. yes, i drink coffee in the middle of the night some times. caffeine doesn't affect me like that. i love being scared and jumpy, i guess.

🎃🎃🎃

the breakfast club

one of my mother's favourite movies. when i first watched it, i had a crush on all the main characters. like are you kidding me, they're all hot. i wish i watched it when i was a teenager/in high school. i would've made it my entire personality. instead, i watched it at twenty. 

🎃🎃🎃

honourable mentions

films i've only seen once, but deserve to be on the list in some way

jennifer's body (2009)

megan fox and kyle gallner?

my bisexual wet dream

the craft (1996) 
just normal teenage girl
sleepover activities, right?

                                                                                     

the texas chainsaw massacre (2003)

yes, i like the remake. SUE ME

sinners (2025)

just a beautiful movie

halloween (1978)
the shape is shaping

                              

the blair witch project (1999)
i make "blair witching"
jokes far too often

obsession (2026)
only a man would do
this shit

hocus pocus (1993)
i had a huge crush on
billy when i was a kid

🎃🎃🎃

well, that's all i have for you guys today! obviously, there are so many more movies and television shows that i could've put on here, but i felt that what i have chosen really capture my vibe of what i like and the mood i like to be in during this time of year. i've put all these movies and more into a list on my letterboxd (unfortunately most of the shows aren't on there). feel free to check it out! i'm always adding new movies to it. and thank you to lizzy for giving me some inspiration for some of these movies/shows! until next time!

xoxo