With Halloween around the corner, we are eager to indulge ourselves in anything and everything scary. The months leading up to Halloween and especially October is when production companies are keen on releasing as many horror movies and television shows as possible, all for the enjoyment of avid horror fans.
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Though the list includes movies and television shows that are available to watch, others, such as Halloween Ends, American Horror Story: NYC, and Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities are still waiting for their release.
‘Orphan: First Kill’
In the first movie, Orphan, Kate (Vera Farmiga), and John Coleman (Peter Sarsgaard) decide to adopt a Russian girl, Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman), from a local orphanage after the death of their unborn child. As Esther moves into the Coleman house, however, she slowly unravels her mysterious past: she's actually Leena, a murderous 33-year-old who suffers from hypopituitarism (a hormonal disorder that halts normal growth).
Orphan: First Kill serves as the prequel to the 2009 film Orphan. Esther has escaped from a psychiatric facility in Estonia and manages to travel to America by impersonating the missing daughter of a wealthy family. When Allen Albright (Rossif Sutherland) and his wife Tricia (Julia Stiles) are informed that their daughter has been found, they embrace her back to their house with open arms. That is, until Esther gives them reasons to be suspicious of her true identity.
‘Hellraiser’
Hellraiser is a 2022 supernatural horror film that is a reboot of the 1987 film Hellraiser. A young woman, Riley (Odessa A’zion), is a recovering addict who lives with her brother and dating a man named Trevor (Drew Starkey), who seems sketchy. Her boyfriend convinces Riley to steal the LeMarchand box, better known as the Lament Configuration.
The box, which acts as a pathway to another dimension of existence, goes through cycles of transformation and claims a new victim in each change. Whoever holds the final form of the box gets a wish granted by the Cenobites, otherworldly beings who exist only in an extra-dimensional realm.
‘Hocus Pocus 2’
Hocus Pocus 2 is the sequel to the 1993 Hocus Pocus, which sees the actors Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy reprising their roles as the magical Sanderson sisters. In Salem, Massachusetts, teenagers Becca (Whitney Peak) and Izzy (Belissa Escobedo) visit a magic shop that was formerly the Sanderson cottage and is now run by a man named Gilbert (Sam Richardson). After Gilbert gifts Becca a candle for her birthday, Becca and Izzy light it but soon discover that it is a Black Flame Candle (the candle which accidentally brought the Sanderson sisters to life in the 1993 film). It's lit again, and the Sanderson sisters are back to cause havoc to the world.
For those who love the Sanderson sisters, Hocus Pocus 2 brings back the warm nostalgia feeling we got from the original Hocus Pocus. Although Hocus Pocus is not necessarily horror, it is a movie that is most-watched during Halloween. It also became the top domestic film debut on Disney+ based on the hours streamed in the first three days of its release.
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‘The Midnight Club’
Released on Netflix on October 7th, 2022, The Midnight Club is a horror mystery-thriller television series that follows a group of seven terminally ill young adults who reside at the Brightcliffe Hospice. They meet up every midnight to share scary stories.
But on one fateful evening, the seven members of the Midnight Club decide to make a pact that the first one to die due to their illness must communicate with the others from their grave. After one of them dies, strange events ensure.
‘Piggy’
Set in the Spanish countryside, Piggy follows the story of Sara (Laura Galán), an overweight girl who the other local girls bully in the village where she spends her summer breaks. Sara soon notices that her bullies are missing, and she even witnesses one of her bullies being forced into a white van in the woods, and even worse, she makes eye contact with the kidnapper.
However, Sara decides not to go public about what she knows and is conflicted about whether to help the police or take the opportunity to seek vengeance on her bullies. Piggy will be officially released on October 14th, 2022.
Piggy sits at an unexpected intersection of artistic sensibilities, first recalling Catherine Breillat, then Brian DePalma, before taking a deep, bloody plunge into grindhouse (or perhaps that should be meatgrinder-house) territory toward its unsettling, ambiguous finale. - Guy Lodge, Variety
‘Halloween Ends’
Halloween would not be complete without watching one of the Halloween franchise films at least once. Halloween Ends, the sequel to the 2021 film Halloween Kills and the thirteenth and final installment of the franchise, stars Jamie Lee Curtis, James Jude Courtney, Andi Matichak, Will Patton, and Kyle Richards: they are reprising their roles from the previous films.
Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) is now living with her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) and focusing on finishing her memoir about the terrors she experienced throughout her life. As Michael Myers has not been since his last rampage, Laurie is determined not to let fear take over and rule her life. However, suspicions arise when a teenage boy, Corey Cunningham (Rohan Campbell), is accused of murdering a child that he babysat. For the last time, Laurie must face the evil that has always terrorized her. Halloween Ends will be released on October 14th, 2022.
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‘American Horror Story: NYC’
Any horror fan has probably heard or seen Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk’s American Horror Story television series. Renewed for its eleventh series, the title of the series is New York City. Though not much is known about the latest series, it is rumored that the premise is centered around the blackout that affected New York City in 1977 during the AIDS crisis.
Cast members from the previous seasons will return to American Horror Story: NYC; some members include Billie Lourd, Isaac Cole Powell, Zachary Quinto, Denis O’Hare, Charlie Carver, and many more. The first two episodes of the series will be released on October 19th, 2022.
‘Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities'
Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro is best known for producing works that perfectly blend fairy tales and horror. In anticipation of Halloween, del Toro will release an anthology series titled Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities. The first two episodes of the series will be released on October 25th, 2022, on Netflix.
The series will comprise eight unique, sinister stories that challenge the typical horror genre. While not much is known about the series, one thing we can expect is that del Toro has never failed to scare the audience in the best way possible.
‘Chucky’ (Season 2)
Chucky is a horror television series based on the Child’s Play film franchise. While the first season of Chucky was released a year ago, on October 12th, 2021, the second season premiered just last week, on October 5th, 2022. In Hackensack, New Jersey, a young Jake Wheeler (Zackary Arthur) buys a vintage Good Guy doll named Chucky at a yard sale, which he intends to use as part of his contemporary art project. However, Jake soon realizes that the doll is possessed by the soul of a serial killer named Charles Lee Ray. Soon after, Chucky begins to commit a series of horrific murders around town.
Horror aside, the series, which stars mostly teenagers, explores a “coming of rage” story where the series explores issues of sexuality, bullying, and murder. Jake is the main character and is also gay: he has to come to terms with his sexuality, and coming out is difficult in high school.
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‘Interview with the Vampire’ (or ‘Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire’)
The Interview with the Vampire television series has been adapted from the 1976 Anne Rice gothic novel and the 1994 movie, which starred Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, of the same name. The television series is a contemporary take on the story, where we follow Louis de Point du Lac (Jacob Anderson), Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid), and Claudia’s (Bailey Bass) story of love, blood, and immortality, as told to journalist Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian).
The series premiered on the AMC network just over a week ago, on October 2nd, 2022, with only two episodes released. The rest of the episodes will be released every week. With only two episodes in, the series has garnered positive reviews and received an approval rating of 98% on Rotten Tomatoes.
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