This Week in Horror: October 3

Welcome to October! Are you scared yet? Well, you are about to be. The first week of the month is full of new titles of varying levels of frights. The lighter side includes a special from Solar Opposites, the new teen comedy series Reginald the Vampire, and Season 2 of Ghost Brothers: Lights Out. Damien Leone’s Terrifier 2, however, is no laughing matter, and neither is the reboot of Hellraiser. Plus, Mr. Harrigan’s Phone, a special Marvel presentation, and Season 2 of Chucky.

Let’s get spooky! Here’s a look at some horror titles coming your way this week.

A Sinister Halloween Scary Opposites Solar Special

Release Date: October 3 on Hulu

It’s Halloween season, which also means it’s Huluween. The Hulu original series Solar Opposites, which was created by Ricky and Morty’s Mike McMahan and Justin Roiland, follows the totally average adventures of an alien family living their best lives in America—but some of them really hate Earth. In “A Sinister Halloween Scary Opposites Solar Special,” the crew unearths a corpse and brings it back to life, though that may be the least of their problems.

Mr. Harrigan’s Phone

Release Date: October 5 on Netflix

Ryan Murphy, Jason Blum, and Stephen King walk into a bar. Not literally, but creatively, as they bring us Mr. Harrigan’s Phone, a horror film based on one of King’s short stories. Written for the screen and directed by John Lee Hancock, this haunting film follows Craig (Jaeden Martell) a bullied teenager who befriends the intense and mysterious Mr. Harrigan (Donald Sutherland). Right before Mr. Harrigan’s passing, Craig gives him an iPhone so they can keep in touch. But when Craig starts to receive responses on his phone from beyond the grave, he begins to question the intentions of the man he once knew.

Chucky (Season 2 Premiere)

Release Date: October 5 on USA/SYFY

The creepy, giggling, deadly doll is back and…religious? Don Mancini’s characters live on in the series Chucky, a sequel of sorts to the 2017 film Cult of Chucky. When Jake Wheeler (Zackary Arthur) purchases a Chucky doll at a garage sale, his entire town and life becomes the target of the possessed toy. Season 2 sends Jake, Devon (Bjorgvin Arnarson), and Lexy (Alyvia Alyn Lind) away to a facility with other “violent juvenile offenders.” The new place, known as Incarnate Lord, is a school run by corrupt religious leaders. And spoiler alert, Chucky is also there, and he’s ready to raise hell.

Reginald the Vampire

Release Date: October 5 on SYFY

Reginald is a typical teen working a typical teen job. Until he isn’t. Spider-Man: Homecoming breakout star Jacob Batalon plays the titular role in Reginald the Vampire, a comedy horror series about Reginald Baskin, a slushy shop employee who is fed up with his mediocre life. After being turned into a vampire, his life gets more exciting—for better and for worse—as he discovers himself and his fangs.

Deadstream

Release Date: October 6 on Shudder

What’s more frightening than a desperate internet personality? The South by Southwest Official Selection Deadstream puts a scary and satirical spin on the profession. The horror comedy follows Shawn Ruddy (Joseph Winter), a struggling internet personality who is willing to do anything to win back his fans and more importantly, his sponsors. He decides to live stream himself from Death Manor, the most haunted house in the United States. His confidence goes a bit to his head, and a particular spirit takes notice. Winter directed and co-wrote the film with Vanessa Winter.

Terrifier 2

Release Date: October 6 in Theaters

Damien Leone’s disturbing clown is alive and ready to silently laugh his way into your nightmares. Written and directed by Leone, Terrifier 2 continues the story of Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton), a non-speaking, black and white murderous clown who lurks the streets of Miles County. This Halloween, he has his killer eyes set on Sienna (Lauren LaVera) and her little brother Jonathan (Elliott Fullam).

Monster High: The Movie

Release Date: October 6 on Paramount+ and Nickelodeon

You know those Monster High Mattel dolls? They’re getting the movie treatment. The Nickelodeon project Monster High: The Movie follows Clawdeen Wolf (Miia Harris) a half-human, half-wolf who is excited to start fresh and embrace her monster identity at Monster High. Her new friends Frankie Stein (Ceci Balagot) and Draculaura (Nayah Damasen) finally make her feel accepted, but she’s still keeping her human-side a secret. That, plus a threat to the school, creates chaos in the halls.

The Visitor

Release Date: October 7 on VOD | December on EPIX

Ever look at a painting and think the eyes are following you? What if the eyes are you? Written by Simon Boyes and Adam Mason, the Blumhouse Television and EPIX production The Visitor follows Robert (Finn Jones) as he makes an unsettling discovery. While in the attic of he and his wife Maia’s (Jessica McNamee) new home (which is also her childhood home) he discovers an old portrait of a man that looks an awful lot like him. Is this similar appearance a freaky coincidence or is this the beginning of something sinister?

Significant Other

Release Date: October 7 on Paramount+

What can possibly go wrong on a backpacking trip through the woods? Written and directed by Dan Berk and Robert Olsen, the science fiction-horror hybrid Significant Other follows Ruth (Maika Monroe) and Harry (Jake Lacy), a young couple hiking in the eerily-empty Pacific Northwest. Well, it turns out it isn’t as empty as they might think. Who or what is among them?

Hellraiser (2022)

Release Date: October 7 on Hulu

Some people unwind with a puzzle, others die. David Bruckner directs Hellraiser, the Hulu reboot of the 1987 horror film favorite of the same name by Clive Barker. Based on Barker's novella The Hellbound Heart and written for the screen by Luke Piotrowski and Ben Collins, this new Hellraiser sticks to its roots and follows a woman (Odessa A’zion) who is both fixated on and haunted by an ancient puzzle box. Her life becomes deeply endangered when she summons Pinhead (Jamie Clayton).

Marvel Studios’ Special Presentation: Werewolf By Night

Release Date: October 7 on Disney+

Werewolf By Night is about to make the Marvel Cinematic Universe a whole lot scarier. Gael García Bernal leads this black and white experience as Jack Russell, a member of the Legion of Monsters who becomes a lycanthrope (more commonly known as a werewolf) at night and uses his powers for good. The character technically made his first appearance in 1953’s Marvel Tales #116, but it wasn’t until the Comic Code Authority took a chill pill and welcomed back monsters with open arms that the character was able to officially debut in Marvel Spotlight #2 in 1972. Could this be the beginning of more marvelous terror on screen?

The Inhabitant

Release Date: October 7 in Select Theaters

Be honest, would you spend a night at Lizzie Borden’s house? Star of the Hellraiser reboot Odessa A’zion is continuing her horror track record with The Inhabitant where she plays Tara, a high schooler who endures psychological and supernatural torment right when a number of ax murders take place nearby. Could these unsettling thoughts and events have anything to do with the fact that she’s related to Lizzie Borden? Probably.

Piggy

Release Date: October 7 in Select Theaters

Karma kills. Carlota Pereda’s Spanish and French horror film Piggy, which had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, tells the tragic and mysterious story of Sara (Laura Galán), an overweight highschooler in Spain who is relentlessly bullied during the summer. While on a walk, she watches as her bullies are harmed, kidnapped, and driven away. Is it her responsibility to save them?

Ghost Brothers: Lights Out (Season 2 Premiere)

Release Date: October 7 on discovery+

The brothers are back for more ghosts! Juwan Mass, Marcus Harvey, and Dalen Spratt are on the lookout for frights and freaky happenings all across the country in Season 2 of Ghost Brothers: Lights Out. Watch as they get to the bottom of some supernatural legends and scope out some haunted spots, so you don’t have to! Who will be the bravest of them all? Shut off the lights and find out.

Bring It On: Cheer or Die

Release Date: October 8 on SYFY

So yeah, this franchise has gotten a little out of hand. The beloved cheerleading film Bring It On starring Kirsten Dunst from 2000 has had many sequels that are very loosely, if it all, connected to the original. But the made-for-television Bring It On: Cheer or Die is by far the most unexpected and bizarre one to date. During Halloween weekend, the Diabolo cheer squad becomes the target of a mysterious killer. K-I-L-L-E-R, killer!

Let the Right One In (Series Premiere)

Release Date: October 9 on Showtime

Who can they trust? Based on the Swedish novel of the same name by Swedish author John Ajvide Lindqvist and created for television by Andrew Hinderaker, Let the Right One In follows Mark Kane (Demián Bichir), a desperate father who’s been trying to keep his vampire daughter Eleanor (Madison Taylor Baez) alive for the last decade. The two return to New York City in an effort to find a cure, though it appears that their journey is far from over.