Our Most Anticipated October Horror Releases
From Crystal Lake to Ken Russell’s The Devils
by Alex Kaan 1 October 2026
Warner Bros. Clockwork
Happy Halloween month! With the spookiest time of the year in full swing, October is bringing an exciting line-up of genre films (Clayface, Other Mommy, V/H/S/Mixtape) and an abundance of horror TV shows (Mike Flanagan’s Carrie reimagining, the Josh Hartnett-led sea monster series Below, and the long-awaited Friday the 13th prequel Crystal Lake).
Plus, Austin Abrams is caught in another disastrous predicament after Resident Evil with survival horror Whalefall, classics Pan’s Labyrinth, The Devils, and Dracula (1958) return to cinemas with new restorations, and Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson, and Josh Hartnett get caught up in a twisted love triangle in psychological thriller Verity.
Beware Boiúna (October 2nd)
Lionsgate
In this gory monster movie from Mike P. Nelson (who has already been tapped to helm the next Saw film), a medical mission deep in the Amazon turns into a fight for survival when an ancient, giant snake awakens. Kiana Madeira (the Fear Street trilogy) and Jessica Rothe (Happy Death Day) star.
Verity (October 2nd)
Amazon MGM Studios
In this sexy, atmospheric psychological thriller adapted from the best-selling Colleen Hoover book, struggling writer Lowen (Dakota Johnson) is hired to finish a book series after its famous author, Verity Crawford (Anne Hathaway), is left incapacitated. But when Lowen moves into Verity’s home, she falls for her husband (Josh Hartnett) and uncovers a secret, dangerous manuscript.
Infirmary (October 2nd)
Shudder
With shades of Grave Encounters, this found footage horror thriller unfolds through the recovered bodycam recordings of a security guard (Paul Syre Lee) who vanished on his first night watching over an abandoned psychiatric hospital.
Ghost in the Cell (October 2nd)
Well Go USA
An outrageous horror comedy that bills itself as decidedly not “elevated horror”, Indonesian genre film specialist Joko Anwar finds grim, gruesome fun in a high-security prison.
Carrie (October 7th)
Amazon MGM Studios
Arriving 50 years after Brian De Palma’s classic film adaptation, Stephen King’s debut novel about a bullied girl (Summer H. Howell) with telekinetic powers is getting a modern reimagining from The Haunting of Hill House showrunner Mike Flanagan. Matthew Lillard co-stars.
Below (October 8th)
Netflix
In this Netflix limited series, Josh Hartnett (Trap, The Faculty) returns to the horror genre as a fisherman who must defend his small coastal Canadian town from a terrifying sea monster. Charlie Heaton (Stranger Things) and Mackenzie Davis (Speak No Evil) also star.
Other Mommy (October 9th)
Universal
Returning to the genre after Mama and It: Chapter Two, Jessica Chastain leads this Blumhouse psychological horror film in a dual role. Adapting Josh Malerman’s 2024 novel Incidents Around the House, the film follows a young girl who develops a close relationship with a devilish entity that looks exactly like her mother (Chastain).
V/H/S/Mixtape (October 9th)
Shudder
The found footage horror anthology series returns with a new collection of segments, this time united by the theme of music and sound as a source of terror. Guest directors include Ernest Dickerson (The Walking Dead) and rapper RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan, with the stories involving cursed music videos and creepy puppet shows.
Pan’s Labyrinth (October 9th)
StudioCanal
The recipient of the longest-standing ovation in the Cannes Film Festival’s history (22 minutes), Guillermo del Toro’s masterpiece, a horror fairytale about a little girl who discovers a fantasy land at a military outpost in 1944 Francoist Spain, returns to cinemas with a 4K restoration and 3D conversion achieved without AI per the director’s request.
Fresh Meat (October 12th)
Dead Meat
In the back of a butcher shop, a little girl watches terrifying tales on a screen that must be fed. From celebrated YouTube channel Dead Meat, this horror anthology feature compiles the 13 winners from their short film competition, with a wraparound segment by Dead Meat’s co-owners James A. Janisse and Chelsea Rebecca.
Crystal Lake (October 15th)
Peacock
From It: Welcome to Derry writer Brad Caleb Kane, this 1950s-set psychological horror prequel series follows the original Friday the 13th film’s villain, Pamela Voorhees (Linda Cardellini), as she gets revenge on Camp Crystal Lake after negligent counsellors cause the tragic death of her son, the infamous Jason (Callum Vinson).
Whalefall (October 16th)
20th Century Studios
Fresh off Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil, Austin Abrams leads another survival horror film. This time, he plays a scuba diver who goes looking for the remains of his father (his Weapons co-star Josh Brolin), only to be swallowed by a 60-ton sperm whale. With only one hour of oxygen in his tank, he is trapped in a race against time to escape the belly of the beast.
Dracula (October 16th)
Hammer
The first Dracula film in colour, Hammer’s 1958 classic Dracula, starring Christopher Lee as the Count and Peter Cushing as Van Helsing, is returning to UK cinemas after three minutes of censored footage — deemed too “gruesome” or “sexually suggestive” and never-before-seen outside of Japan’s original theatrical release — were recovered from a Warner Bros. warehouse.
Hallowarrior (October 16th)
Shudder
Pumpkin (Hereditary star Milly Shapiro), a lonely post-apocalypse survivor obsessed with Halloween ephemera, thinks she may have finally found a new family when she encounters a group of scavengers. But when their true intentions are revealed, she’s thrust into a home invasion nightmare and forced to rely on her deadliest survival instincts.
Crawlers (October 16th)
Roadside Attractions
In this creature feature, Revenge star Matilda Lutz plays a building manager navigating a deadly infestation of venomous spiders. Trapped inside by a police-mandated quarantine, she must use her knowledge of the apartment complex to help her and her fellow residents survive.
Ken Russell’s The Devils (October 16th)
Warner Bros. Clockwork / BFI
One of the most controversial and censored films of all time, this 1971 horror drama follows a sexually repressed nun (Vanessa Redgrave) who incites a witchcraft trial in a 17th-century Catholic Church. Warner Bros. Clockwork is finally releasing a 114-minute 4K version billed as “The Director’s Cut”.
Clayface (October 23rd)
Warner Bros.
Directed by James Watkins (Eden Lake) from a story by Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House), this DC Comics film with a body horror spin centres on the titular Batman villain (Tom Rhys Harries) as he goes from rising Hollywood star to revenge-filled monster after an experimental procedure has terrifying side effects.
The Cycle (October 23rd)
Shudder
In this horror mystery acquired by Shudder and praised by Stephen King as “special”, the body of a man missing for 36 years is discovered at the scene of a horrific crime, leaving his daughter (Deborah Ann Woll of True Blood) to unravel his dark past.
A Talent For Murder (October 23rd)
Bleecker Street
This chamber thriller from Anton Corbijn (Control) imagines a confrontation between a determined literary agent (Alden Ehrenreich) and The Talented Mr. Ripley author Patricia Highsmith (Helen Mirren). Set in 1995, an emissary for a New York publisher travels to a now-retired Highsmith’s home in the Swiss Alps to convince her to write another Ripley novel, but his motives may be more sinister than they initially seem.
Breeder (October 28th)
Shudder
In this dark horror comedy, a young college student (Daniel Doheny) desperate for research funding believes he’s found his lifeline in an eccentric poodle breeder (Dot-Marie Jones). When he travels to her remote ranch for a meeting, she says she’ll give him the money on one condition: he must impregnate her daughter.
American Horror Story: 13 (September 24th)
FX / Disney+
In this all-star season of the cult FX anthology, fan-favourite characters from the previous 12 instalments assemble to defeat the show’s biggest threat yet. Series veterans Jessica Lange, Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Angela Bassett, Kathy Bates, Emma Roberts, and more return.
Christmas at the Kringles (October 30th)
Briarcliff Entertainment
When a family moves to a quiet suburban neighbourhood for a fresh start, they find their next-door neighbours, the Kringles, celebrate Christmas year-round. While initially charmed, they soon realise the odd bunch’s true intentions: to hypnotise and indoctrinate them. The horror comedy stars Ron Livingston, Rachel Bilson, Rob Riggle, and Donald Faison.