Spooky season binge list 2026: horror TV, anime and games for Halloween

October is the one month a year when “I stayed in and watched four hours of horror” counts as a seasonal tradition rather than a cry for help. This year’s line-up is properly good, too: a Mike Flanagan Stephen King adaptation, a slasher prequel, a sea creature in a fishing town and a Castlevania game in the same week as Valor Mortis. Here’s how to plan your spooky season, from gentle chills to “sleep with the landing light on”.

Scare-o-meter key

🕯️ Candlelit – spooky vibes, minimal fear.
🔪 Proper horror – you’ll jump.
🧠 Psychological – you’ll think about it in the shower.

The TV binge list

Streaming rights differ from country to country. We’ve given the main platform and, where a show is split between services, the date in each region we could confirm.

Carrie – Prime Video (worldwide), out now 🔪🧠

Mike Flanagan, the man behind The Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass, turns Stephen King’s Carrie into a series – all eight episodes landed on 7 October in more than 240 countries and territories. Expanding the story gives it room to sit in the cruelty and claustrophobia of Carrie’s world before everything goes very, very wrong. If you only watch one thing on this list, make it this.

Below – Netflix (most regions), from 8 October 🔪

Josh Hartnett plays a fisherman in an isolated Newfoundland town that’s being terrorised by an unidentified sea creature, teaming up with a marine researcher played by Mackenzie Davis. Local myth, family drama and something nasty in the water. All six episodes are out now.

The Trap – Netflix, from 13 October 🧠

A German thriller about an author who hasn’t left her home in ten years – until she recognises her sister’s killer on TV and writes a book designed to lure him in. Tense rather than gory. Regional availability varies.

Crystal Lake 🔪

A Friday the 13th prequel with Linda Cardellini as a grieving Pam Voorhees, almost a year after her son Jason drowned. Two strangers arrive with questions and the town’s quiet doesn’t last.

US: Peacock, all eight episodes from 15 October
UK & Ireland: Sky and NOW (reports differ on the start date) date TBC
Elsewhere: TBC

American Horror Story: 13 🔪

The anthology’s 13th run follows a young man with a fear of the number 13 who takes a job in a building where characters from past seasons reside.

US: FX and Hulu, from 24 September; finale 29 October
Most other regions: Disney+, from 25 September; finale 30 October

Nocturne – Apple TV (worldwide), from 30 October 🧠

Liev Schreiber plays a homicide detective drawn into a hunt for a serial killer’s final victim, with Stephen Graham as the killer and Zazie Beetz as an FBI agent. Two episodes on 30 October, then weekly until 25 December. A grim, grown-up Halloween-weekend watch.

YAGA 🔪🧠

Noah Reid plays a private investigator looking into a disappearance where ancient magic beats every logical explanation, alongside Carrie-Anne Moss, Clark Backo and Hudson Williams. It’s a Canadian series that reimagines the Baba Yaga myth.

Canada: Crave, from 23 October
US: AMC+, from 23 October
UK & Ireland: Sky and NOW, from 31 October
Elsewhere: TBC

Anime for spooky season

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 (Netflix, 20 October) – not horror, but Night City is a nightmare of its own and all ten episodes drop at once.
DARK MACHINE THE ANIMATION (Crunchyroll, from 13 October) – new this season and leaning into the darker end of the schedule.

See the full Fall 2026 anime watchlist for more.

Games for the dark nights

Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse – 15 October (worldwide, including Japan)

PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC and Switch. Whip-cracking vampire-hunting through a gothic Paris, with Death and Medusa on the guest list. The most Halloween game of the month by a distance.

Valor Mortis – 13 October

PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC, plus Game Pass at launch. A first-person Soulslike about a soldier of Napoleon’s army brought back from the dead to face a plague-fuelled conspiracy. Hard, grim and very atmospheric.

Tenebris Somnia and Creepy Tale: Snow Child – this week

Two smaller horror releases for the week of 12 October: an Argentinian pixel-art horror and the latest in the Creepy Tale series. Good for anyone who likes their scares bite-sized.

Trivia Murder Party 3 – out now

Jackbox’s slasher-themed quiz arrived on 17 September. If friends are over for Halloween, this is the party game – and The Jackbox Party Pack 12 joins it on 15 October.

The Bulletin’s perfect Halloween weekend

Friday 30th: Nocturne’s first two episodes, lights off.
Saturday 31st: Trivia Murder Party with friends, then Carrie to finish the night.
Sunday 1st: Recover with a cosy game – our cosy autumn list has you covered.

Happy haunting.