The most magical month of the year is upon us! October is a month of crisp golden sunshine, apples reddening on the branches, and leaves of umber, russet, and ocher making their way to the chilly earth. It is the season of hot chocolate in festive mugs, blankets pulled tight around our shoulders, and lounging indoors with a book or beloved film.
As this is our favorite time of the year, we have decided to release our Picks of the Month column for October a little early, in hopes that we can add some inspiration to your October festivities. We have compiled a list of some of our favorite spooky season books, films, TV shows, and podcasts. We did our best to include a little of every theme that brings October to life– the autumnal, horror, thriller, campy, dark academia, classics, paranormal, cozy, and so on. We have also separated this list into sections within the mediums, ensuring you do not accidentally stumble into something a little too scary to share with young ones (though of course this is always up to your own discretion, as is the case with everything on this list).
We hope that you all have a magical Halloween season.
BOOKS: ADULTS
Pet Sematary by Stephen King
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling
Interview With The Vampire by Anne Rice
When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole
Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
Petty Magic: Being the Memoirs and Confessions of Miss Evelyn Harbinger, Temptress and Troublemaker by Camille DeAngelis
We Have Always Lived In The Castle by Shirley Jackson
Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
The October Country by Ray Bradbury
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie
Fledgling by Octavia Butler
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu
Poems Bewitched and Haunted edited by John Hollander
Snow, Glass, Apples by Neil Gaiman & Colleen Doran
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
Hangsaman by Shirley Jackson
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
Come Along With Me by Shirley Jackson
World War Z by Max Brooks
The Sandman by Neil Gaiman
BOOKS: YOUNG ADULT
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig
Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
Marina by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
A Lesson In Vengeance by Victoria Lee
The Monstrumologist series by Rick Yancey
Unnatural Creatures by Neil Gaiman
BOOKS: CHILDREN
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury
From the Dust Returned by Ray Bradbury
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
Goosebumps series by R.L Stine
Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark by Alvin Schwartz
HORROR/THRILLER/PARANORMAL FILMS
Get Out
You’re Next
The Witch
Scream
Hush
The Babadook
The Others
The Woman In Black
Identity
As Above So Below
The Conjuring
Insidious
Paranormal Activity
The Blair Witch Project
The Orphanage
The Crow
Split
The Village
SCARY & FUN CREATURE FEATURES
Nosferatu
A Quiet Place
Underworld
Van Helsing
Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Zombieland
Fright Night
Only Lovers Left Alive
Interview With The Vampire
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Pan’s Labyrinth
Crimson Peak
Constantine
Dracula (1931)
The Hunger
Hellboy
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Blade
CULT CLASSICS & CAMPY FILMS
Trick r Treat
Ghostbusters
What We Do In The Shadows
Practical Magic
Elvira: Mistress of the Dark
The Craft
Rocky Horror Picture Show
Dark Shadows
The Cabin In The Woods
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Little Shop Of Horrors
Young Frankenstein
FAMILY-FRIENDLY FILMS
The Addams Family & Addams Family Values
HalloweenTown
Hocus Pocus
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Ketchup Vampires
The Haunted Mansion
Beetlejuice
ScoobyDoo: The Witch’s Ghost
ScoobyDoo: The Ghoul School
ScoobyDoo: Zombie Island
ScoobyDoo: The Reluctant Werewolf
Coco
The Book of Life
Casper Meets Wendy
Paranorman
Hotel Transylvania
The Corpse Bride
TV SHOWS
Over The Garden Wall
Penny Dreadful
The Twilight Zone
The Creep Show
Goosebumps
Scooby Doo, Where Are You?!
Courage the Cowardly Dog
Sabrina the Teenage Witch
The Haunting of Hill House
The Haunting of Bly Manor
The Midnight Club
Midnight Mass
Stranger Things
X-Files
The Munsters
Lovecraft Country
The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror
What We Do In The Shadows
Twin Peaks
PODCASTS
MUSIC
To add to the Halloween spirit, we’ve put together a playlist of our favorite Halloween tunes. We hope you have as much fun listening to it as we did creating it for you!
