Well, we have finally arrived at the last full month of freebies from Xbox Live before the Series X consoles come into the picture, and it’s unclear exactly what the year ahead has in store.  On the surface, the assumption that players will be focusing on the newest, flashiest games above older titles will naturally still be the reality.  However, it’s clear by the tech being implemented in both the big new consoles that companies have taken the desirability of backwards compatibility seriously, boasting that their library of older games will run and look even better than before. The future of Xbox Live sub service also remains in limbo due to how Microsoft has been halting year subscription buys and their pivot to Game Pass, but that’s just another element. 

What we have here is the final month of free Gold games without the Series X in the stratosphere, and while the offerings aren’t high tier – no Resident Evil, Outlast, Layers of Fear, or Evil Within? — they are at least appropriately Halloween-themed enough.  Let’s take a closer look, but before you do, hop over and Grab a Year Xbox Live Card at Amazon while you still can.

Xbox One

Slayaway Camp: Butcher’s Cut (October 1-31)

Have you ever been bothered by the ridiculous movements of a horror-movie killer, where it seems like they make weird decisions or go in awkward directions for the sake of the story continuing? Slayaway Camp playfully uses this idea in a mashup of gaming genres: it’s an isometric block slide puzzle game, but it’s set in the universe of an ‘80s-style horror movie. 

Moving the focal block puts players in control of the killer, an overt duplication of Jason Voorhees named Skullface, and when they’ve solved the puzzle correctly … ? Skullface gets to relish the death of another victim, rendered in blocky, yet still oddly gruesome kills.  Those who’ve been hooked by slide puzzle mobile games know how the addiction starts, feeling like the early ones are easy and then getting lost in endless shifts with later, more difficult layouts, and that’s an experience confirmed to stick around with Slayaway Camp by critics and players.

Maid of Sker (October 16 – November 15)

If you’re looking for a more traditional survival horror style of game, however, Microsoft’s got you covered there too with Maid of Sker. Granted, those looking for the action-packed segments of those genre staples might be disappointed, as this title from Wales Interactive steeps itself in the atmospheric mystery of R.D. Blackmore’s late-1800s novel about the Sker House, a historical building on the southern side of Wales.

Weapon usage is minimal since the game hinges more on stealth and evasion from the “Quiet Ones”, as the protagonist reaches environmental puzzles and further unearths the haunted mystery of the locale.  “Restrained” games like this can work with the right kind of atmosphere and tension behind them, but they can also stumble without more fleshed-out game mechanics to make the player feel like they’re involved in the experience.  Maid of Sker falls somewhere in the middle: the eerie British ghost/Lovecraftian atmosphere deserve praise, but critics feel it’d be better with stronger mechanics getting the player between key spots.

Xbox / Xbox 360

Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy (October 1-15)

Man, it’s weird to think about some of these vintage games in terms of them being decades ago, and perhaps Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy is one of the more unique representations of that. Upon release, the third-person action and platforming game was heralded for the vivacity of its graphics and the expansiveness of its explorable world, combined with tricky environment puzzles.

That was in 2003, though, and between the advances in graphics and the continued development of the scale of worlds being built for players to explore, it doesn’t hold up to the same accolades.  The absence of voice acting in its trove of cinematic cutscenes doesn’t help, either. Some will enjoy the nostalgia of revisiting Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy and how it looks being processed by modern game consoles like the Xbox One X, but it doesn’t have the same fidelity and longevity as others cut from the same cloth as it, such as Prince of Persia: Sands of Time or Beyond Good and Evil (both also released in 2003).

Costume Quest (October 16-31)

Believe it or not, no, the folks at Xbox haven’t made the original Costume Quest available as a free download at any point during the program, only the sequel in 2016. Somehow, over the course of nearly a decade of Halloweens come and gone, they never thought to make this charming, family-friendly RPG from the creators of Psychonauts and Brutal Legend available to enjoy over the season.

That’s a shame, because it proves to be a great introduction to the moving parts of the role-playing genre, set against the backdrop of Halloween night as one costumed twin – chosen at the beginning between the boy or the girl of the pair – sets out to rescue the other from being kidnapped by a monster. The game possesses light party recruitment mechanics and upgrade systems that prove to be appealing to players both younger and older, heightened by the vibrant art style and the dramatics of the transformative turn-based combat style (even if it does feel dated by today’s standards).

Xbox Gold Freebies for October Scare Up Interest Without Slaying

Thoughts of October generally gravitate toward horror movies, Halloween-themed parties or other outdoor activities that come with the change of the season: camping, corn mazes, baseball games, heated debates about pumpkin spice flavoring. This October also comes saddled with other time-sinking temptations for gamers, though, from the release of a Call of Duty multiplayer game to a new sandbox RPG from Obsidian, leaving numerous bases covered. It’s understandable, to a degree, that Microsoft’s lineup of Xbox Games With Gold are somewhat underwhelming due to these considerations, but this month seems like little more than fulfilling obligations. From the included horror title to the collection of mediocre kid-friendly titles, there isn’t much worth screaming over with this roster.  Let’s get to it.

Click Here to Grab a 12-Month Xbox Live Gold Subscription at Amazon

Illfonic

Xbox One

Tembo: The Badass Elephant (October 1-31)

There it is, folks: proof that using a word like “badass” is acceptable for “E for Everybody” … well, ten-plus years or older. Beyond the quirky name and accompanying art style, Tembo: The Badass Elephant aims to attract those with an inherent desire for the platforming experience of yesteryear, as the rolls, jumps, and level navigation and destruction are heavily influenced by the likes of Sonic the Hedgehog. What’s different lies in the general aura around the elephant himself: a grumpy-ish, Rambo-lookin’ hero who gets his name from the Swahili word for the animal. Once you’ve gotten past the cute design and the rush of nostalgic adrenaline from the 2D side-scrolling gameplay, however, both critics and players have noted that Tembo: The Badass Elephant runs out of steam and into the pitfalls of other platformers, slowing down with repetition and uninventive level design.

Friday the 13^th: The Game (October 16-November 15

Horror movies are notorious for receiving iffy to outright bad reviews from critics, even though it turns out that audiences still have great time with them, or at least a tolerable one, regardless of the press. The same occasionally applies to survival horror video games as well, though certain objective aspects of the gaming medium make it tough to overlook and continue playing through an experience.  Friday the 13^th: The Video Game spends a lot of its energy capturing the experience of being inside of its source material movies, whether you’re playing from the perspective of one of the counselors – read: victims – or from that of Jason Voorhees himself. Whether it’s effective as a video game seems about as divisive as opinions about many horror movies, though: while the chase aspects can be fun and thrilling, the moving parts outside of that tension feeling too clunky and repetitive to justify its minimal scares.

Team Ninja

Xbox 360

Bolt (October 1-15)

While I remember feeling generally positive about the movie Bolt, the thing that sticks out the most to me would be Rhino, the hamster with attitude who eventually joins up with the titular heroic dog.  Naturally, the video game tie-in focuses most of its attention on the dog, sending him through loosely adapted levels that are only tangentially tied to the film itself. Bolt received about what you’d expect from critics with it being a standard 3D action-platform game, providing just enough control engagement for youngsters to stick with it. What we all actually need, of course, is a game like Super Monkey Ball or Katamari starring our true hamster hero; and they kinda delivered on that idea with the DS version of the game, which features a maze-like rolling level for Rhino.

Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge (October 16-31)

The name Ninja Gaiden will conjure many different memories for gamers of all stripes out there, but for me, it instantly drudges up the satisfying yet almost maddening challenges of Ninja Gaiden Black. Everybody has their gold standard – most look to Sigma 2 for that – yet compared against just about any of ‘em, Ninja Gaiden 3 fails to stack up. Team Ninja deserves some credit for trying to stay with the times, incorporating an entirely new combat system and tailoring the narrative into something more … cinematic.  Execution ends up being the killing blow here, though, as critics and players have both nailed Ninja Gaiden 3 for a laundry list of issues.  From a subpar story to unsatisfying enemies and stripped-down combat, Ninja Gaiden 3 dragged the franchise into the shadows of an identity crisis from which it never really escaped, not even with this Razor’s Edge stab at improving it.

Subpar Xbox Gold Titles For October: Ninjas, Elephants, Jason Voorhees

In just a few short months, a new restoration of Dario Argento’s surreal, witchy masterwork Suspiria will be hitting Blu-ray from boutique label Synapse Films, and both devotees to the film and general horror-movie lovers alike have generated a lot of anticipation around it. There are a few different components involved in building up this enthusiasm: on top of the film’s stature in the genre, this Blu-ray marks the fruition of hints, rights’ ownership discussions, frustration over iffy foreign-region releases, and several years of restoration efforts. There’s another overarching reason for this that might not be openly discussed, though, and it comes down to the fact that after over a decade of high-definition physical media and the careful, refined attention poured into most of those presentations, there simply aren’t nearly as many gasp-worthy new releases (or re-releases) to get worked up over.

Perhaps that comes across on a grim note, but with all that time spent with the Blu-ray format, the movie-lovin’ community also has easy access to a trove of films both old and new that not only look and sound vastly superior, but also have plentiful special features to dissect. Below, you’ll find a collection of some of the very best overall horror-film packages — film quality, audiovisual refinement, extra content — that the format has produced over its revolutionary life cycle, ranging from beloved slasher flicks to contemporary arthouse successes and noteworthy classics everyone should probably own. And if you play your cards right, just about all of ’em can be had for less than $20 a pop.

Alien: 35th Anniversary Edition

Click to Buy on Amazon

Seven crew members aboard the commercial spaceship Nostromo are awakened from their stasis-sleep return voyage to Earth, so that they can respond — as stipulated in their employment contracts — to a warning beacon on a nearby planet. Reluctantly, they arrive on the planet and trace the signal, only to discover the corpse of an alien being. Further exploration and less-than-intelligent investigation creates chaos that leads the crew back to their ship, bringing back some of the alien remnants with them aboard the ship.  With renowned sci-fi heroine Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) frantically calling the shots, Alien morphs into a relentless and faultlessly-paced exercise in dread, meticulously crafted by director Ridley Scott to immerse the audience in stylized claustrophobia and the nastiness of H.R. Giger’s creature design. Debates may emerge over preferred cuts and the accuracy of the color timing, but the Blu-ray that Fox produced — pictured: the standalone re-release for the 35^th anniversary; the same disc can be found in the many iterations of the Alien Anthology — includes both cuts, a fierce 4K remaster, impeccable hi-def sound, and heaps of substantive extras.

Black Christmas: Collector’s Edition

Click to Buy on Amazon

Directed by the same guy responsible for A Christmas Story and arriving several years before Michael Myers took a stab at ruining Halloween, this one takes place mostly in the space of a sorority house, where a warped individual routinely pesters the sisters with obscene phone calls. Amid getting ready for Christmas and a relationship rift between sorority member Jess (Olivia Hussey) and her boyfriend Peter (Kier Dullea), a creepy individual — who isn’t shown to the audience, depicted through eerie first-person photography — makes their way into the sorority house and begins knocking off the sisters one by one from the shadows.  Bob Clark’s shrewd execution of oscillating sights and abrasive sounds clashes with the vibrant atmosphere of Christmas in the best of ways, building to a phenomenally chaotic scramble to discover the deviant’s identity before he gets to Jess and the other sisters.  Shout Factory took a second stab at a Blu-ray for Black Christmas (and then a third to fix an audio issue), and the result is a delightful treatment that captures the film’s intended look, while occupying space with plenty of old and new extras to unwrap.

Black Sunday: Remastered Edition

Click to Buy on Amazon

Two centuries after a beautiful, yet ominous witch (Barbara Steele) gets burned at the stake and violently buried in a graveyard, an accident involving a doctor and his assistant leads her body to be again exposed to the world, and even further happenstance causes her to be revived.  Those responsible for her awakening soon encounter Katia, the spitting image of the centuries-old witch, whose radiance leads the medical professionals to follow her back to her family household.  What transpires in Black Sunday gravitates around mysteries unknown to those visiting the house and only half-known by the audience, full of red herrings, ominous tension, and the uniqueness of the centuries-old undead woman as a hybrid of a demonic witch and a type of vampire. An ode to Russian folklore and gloomy monster movies of the ‘30s, Mario Bava’s first accredited effort as a director adeptly blends shadowy expressionist cinematography with enigmatic, macabre suspense. Black Sunday looks striking on Blu-ray from Kino, and arrives with a commentary track that’s held its prestige over the years.

Black Swan: Blu-ray + Digital HD

Click to Buy on Amazon

The versatility of Darren Aronofsky’s directorial style left people somewhat uncertain of where he’d go with Black Swan, his glimpse into the world of ballet framed as a form of psychological thriller.  As the tale of Nina’s (Natalie Portman) preparation to play the lead role(s) in “Swan Lake” being to take shape, evoking Dario Argento’s stylized ornateness within the natural flow of verite-like cinematography, it transforms into a glimpse at the strained mentality of artists as they push themselves for their craft.  Metaphor swirls together with paranoia and supernatural ambiguity during the film’s gradual descent into a determination of what’s real and not around Nina, and the suspense generated around her approach to the performance becomes a breathtaking piece of filmmaking. Fox’s Blu-ray stays en pointe in capturing the subtleties of the cinematography and sound design, and presents an in-depth, 45-minute extra that explores the conceptualization and creation of Aronofsky’s award-winning project.

Halloween: 35th Anniversary Edition

Click to Buy on Amazon

Legendary serial killer Michael Myers escapes from his mental institution fifteen years after being committed as a child, returning to his hometown of Haddonfield to unleash a decade-and-a-half of bottled-up violence upon the young townspeople.  Naturally, after some daytime stalking and a mounting bodycount, the events of John Carpenter’s seminal slasher film culminate in the late darkness of Halloween, placing Jamie Lee Curtis front-and-center as the now-archetypal horror heroine evading the masked murderer on a psychosis-driven mission.  Halloween was one of the central horror films that Anchor Bay took stab after stab at over the years in pursuit of a correct home-video presentation, and they finally landed that blow with their 35^th Anniversary release, with a transfer supervised by the cinematographer and extras that include a fine director-actress commentary and a nearly hour-long portrait of Jamie Lee Curtis’ reattachment to the franchise.

Pan’s Labyrinth: The Criterion Collection

Click to Buy on Amazon

Set in the mid-‘40s after the Spanish Civil War, this dark fantasy from Guillermo del Toro becomes a character portrait of young Ofelia (Ivana Baquero), who travels with her pregnant mother to the residence of the military captain, Vidal (Sergi Lopez), who will become her step-father.   As Vidal unleashes brutality upon rebels to the state and her mother’s condition worsens, Ofelia discovers a labyrinth on her new home’s grounds, where she discovers and abides by the demands of a mythical faun to prove that she’s the reincarnation of a fabled princess.  As the story’s twists and turns parallel with the events and characterizations of an ancient fairytale, Pan’s Labyrinth toes the line between horror and fantasy storytelling, where subtle morbidities and the evils of humanity delve into unsettlingly meaningful, gorgeously realized sequences. After a lackluster initial release plagued with noise reduction, The Criterion Collection eventually scooped up del Toro’s monumental accomplishment and dropped it in their collection, sporting exceptionally natural audiovisual merits and the label’s signature array of interview-heavy extras.

Psycho: UK’s 50th Anniversary Blu-ray

Click to Buy on Amazon

A woman (Janet Leigh) on the run with a trunk full of cash rolls up to a shadowy motel in the middle of the night, after which she meets Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), the operator of the establishment.  An eerie sort of insistent kindness comes from the manager’s mannerisms around his beautiful guest, to which the mood slowly drains toward one of cinema’s most strategically-executed murder sequences, iconic in both visual and sonic presentation.  Gloomy character studies move from one subject to another in Alfred Hitchcock’s meticulous hands, playing with madness in different degrees alongside the mounting suspense both before and after this scene that’s become a pop-culture staple.  Even with all those monsters tucked underneath Universal’s belt, Psycho remains arguably the most iconic horror film to come out of the studio, and it received the treatment it deserved upon its 50^th anniversary with an astounding black-and-white Blu-ray restoration and a tremendous collection of legacy extras, including a feature-length making-of doc.  Purists will want to obtain Universal’s region-free UK Blu-ray, which, unlike the US release, contains the original 2-channel soundtrack in full HD glory.

Rosemary’s Baby: The Criterion Collection

Click to Buy on Amazon

Having a child can be a terrifying experience for a potential mother, both on physical and mental levels, but that’s taken to an entirely different level with the turmoil endured by Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow). Loneliness, paranoia, and physical degradation seem intentionally thrust upon the young mother as she adjusts to a new apartment, to which the truth of her new home gradually emerges from the woodwork as Roman Polanski’s tense, atmospheric psychological thriller takes shape.  A brilliant horror film both due to its unyielding mood and its shrewd allegory tied to the complications of pregnancy, it’s no wonder that Rosemary’s Baby was adopted by the fine folks at The Criterion Collection, nor is it a surprise that the Blu-ray comes equipped with a bewitching remaster and a phenomenal 45-minute documentary on the film’s conception.

Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining

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To get a little peace, quiet, and solitude so he can concentrate on writing, Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) takes a job as an off-season caretaker at the Overlook Hotel, bringing his wife (Shelley Duvall) and son (Danny Lloyd) to live there in the absence of guests.  Warnings that he might develop cabin fever, similarly to another employee who went crazy and killed his family there, don’t faze Jack as they get settled into their echoic lodgings. Before long, the impacts of living in such seclusion — along with Jack’s latent alcoholism and Danny’s issues with an imaginary friend — slowly encroach on their psychological integrity, descending into haunting occurrences in the building’s spaces that blur the line between hallucination and the paranormal. Polarizing at release, disliked by the original story’s author (Stephen King) and even receiving a Razzie nomination as the worst film of its year, a reevaluation of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining has, of course, led to its foreboding atmosphere and Nicholson’s embodiment of mania to be regarded as a genre masterwork.   WB’s Blu-ray finally presents the film in its theatrically-screened aspect ratio (essentially, at 1.78:1) and in fine form, too, along with divine extras that pedal the viewer into Kubrick’s mind.

The Thing: Collector’s Edition

Click to Buy on Amazon

Really didn’t want to include two films from the same director on this list, just for variety’s sake, but the compulsion to include Shout Factory’s package of John Carpenter’s The Thing overwhelmed that desire.  Isolation at a Norwegian arctic research station leads to the discovery of an alien being that can perfectly copy other humans, sending it on a rampage while continuously replicating person after person, inciting paranoia about whether one of the remaining occupants might actually be the monster. The claustrophobic setting ripe for chaos, the splendid practical effects involving the twisted monster, and the rough-hewn nature of Kurt Russell’s MacReady crystallize into relentless, convincing sci-fi suspense with personality and gusto.  The Thing has endured countless home-video releases over the years with consistent objections to quality, which made the 2K scan presented on Blu-ray from Shout Factory such an eye-opening delight, breathing new and accurate life into the film alongside a frightening amount of supplemental material.

Honorable Mention: Universal’s Monsters

Click to Buy on Amazon

Lugosi as The Dark Prince.  Karloff as The Gentle Monster and Imhotep. Chaney Jr. as The Wolf Man.  From the early ‘30s to the early ‘40s, Universal embraced the transition from silent films to talkies with a slew of horror adaptations of classic novels and familiar folklore, embracing slow-building eeriness amid the heavy shadows, wispy fog, and windswept landscapes created on the studio’s stages. Each of these productions spawned franchises full of sequels and spinoffs, yet it’s the original collection of films that established the consistent tonality and distinctive personalities that would influence countless horror films for decades … and still impacts them to this day.  Most of the original crop still holds up to this day as genuine exercises of horror, yet they all sink their teeth into a daring sort of thrilling entertainment value that lends itself brilliantly to audiences of all ages, especially over Halloween.  There are several options available to those who want to get their mitts on Universal’s dazzling restorations of the films on Blu-ray, but perhaps the most cost-efficient comes in obtaining the studio’s UK release,  if accordion-style packaging and age rating labels aren’t a bother.

Psychos, Witches, Lotsa Creepy Things: A Decade of Horror on Blu-ray

October is here, which means the countdown to Halloween is officially on. A great way to celebrate all month long is by taking part in an October horror movie challenge–a different scary movie every night this month. To make it extra easy, here are 31 of the best horror movies currently streaming on Netflix. From the classic, to the actually scary, to the funny, the ridiculous, and everything in between, you should be able to get a nice well-rounded scary movie fix. Have fun!

10/1: The Cabin in the Woods (2011)

Joss Whedon-written/produced horror satire starts out like your standard scary movie and quickly reaches awesome levels of over-the-top ridiculousness. Lots of blood, lots of fun.

10/2: The Evil Dead (1981)

Arguably the best of the “cabin in the woods” horror movies, no scary movie challenge would be complete without this classic Bruce Campbell flick.

10/3: Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988)

The title pretty much sums it up: campy (or kampy?) horror at its best. Holds a surprising 75% “fresh” rating at Rotten Tomatoes.

10/4: Slither (2006)

Nathan Fillion and Elizabeth Banks star in this highly reviewed horror movie about super gross slug-like parasites. 

10/5: Carrie (1976)

A Halloween classic.

10/6: The Human Centipede (2009)

This “100% medically accurate” movie about a mad scientist who sews his victims together into a human centipede is one of the grosser things I have ever witnessed. The sequel is also streaming on Netflix, but it’s really, really awful.

10/7: Scream (1997)

The new classic that gave us lines like “do you like scary movies?” and that iconic scream mask. All 3 sequels are also streaming (Scream 2 is pretty good but the rest are pretty lame).

10/8: Re-Animater (1985)

A college student gets placed with the worst random roommate ever: a guy who’s obsessed with bringing the dead back to life. Holds an impressive 95% “fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes.

10/9: The Host (2006)

This excellent Kaiju/monster movie is currently the highest grosses South Korean film of all time.

10/10: Funny Games (1997)

The original Austrian version of this movie about a family being held hostage and tortured by two young men is pretty scary stuff (and much better than the 2007 US remake, in my opinion).

10/11: Hellraiser (1987) (and a million sequels)

Lots of grossness and violence in this classic British horror film. There’s literally like 9 sequels streaming as well if you just can’t get enough.

10/12: Land of the Dead (2005)

Not quite as good as Day of the Dead or Dawn of the Dead, but a pretty fun zombie movie nonetheless.

10/13: Children of the Corn (1984)

Kind of slow and serious, but pretty creepy.

10/14: The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

Let the kids stay up late and get in on this one. Or not — it’s a great enough Halloween movie for just adults as well!

10/15: Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

Often ranked as one of the top 10 horror movies of all time, Rosemary’s Baby tells the happy tale of a woman pregnant with the literal spawn of Satan.

10/16: Dead Snow (2009)

A movie about zombie nazis, need I say more?

10/17: Bride of Chucky (1998)

Not as good as the original Chucky movie made 10 years earlier (Child’s Play) but still a pretty silly and fun horror flick.

10/18: The Toxic Avenger (1985)

This cult favorite tells the story of a bullied geek who falls into a barrel of toxic waste and is transformed into a deformed superhero who brutally kills the criminals of Tromaville. Gory, B-movie awesomeness.

10/19: Tucker & Dale Vs Evil (2010)

I had zero expectations when I started watching this horror/comedy, and was pleasantly surprised by how much I loved it (critics agree).

10/20: House on Haunted Hill (1959)

One of those traditional Halloween movies with lots of ghosts, skeletons and old school special effects.

10/21: Trollhunter (Trolljegeren) (2010)

More of a comedy than a horror film, but definitely worth a watch.

10/22: Creepshow 2 (1987)

George Romero-written horror anthology based on Stephen King stories features three “Jolting Tales of Horror”: Old Chief Wooden Head, The Raft, and The Hitchhiker.

10/23: C.H.U.D (1984)

It was critically panned, but this monster flick about Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers is still unintentional funny enough to be included on the list.

10/24: House at the End of the Street (2012)

I have never seen this one, but it stars the great Jennifer Lawrence so it might be worth checking out.

10/25: Tremors 2: Aftershocks (1995)

Nah, it doesn’t achieve the same level of greatness as the original Tremors, but it’s still lots of campy fun.

10/26: The Faculty (1998)

A teen horror film about high school teachers being controlled by evil aliens. Written by the guy who wrote Scream and directed by Robert Rodriguez.

10/27: Tales from the Hood (1995)

Spike Lee-produced horror anthology has one of the funnier tag lines ever: Chill or be Chilled.

10/28: Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead (2006)

chicken-possessed zombie demons are on the loose in one of the most ridiculous movies I’ve ever seen.

10/29: The Walking Dead (2010, 2011, 2012); also American Horror Story (2011)

Technically, they aren’t horror films, but both the Walking Dead and American Horror Story are two excellent Halloween-ish shows streaming on Netflix.

10/30: Piranha (1978)

Before Piranha 3D and Piranha 3DD, there was the original.

10/31: Something Totally Over the Top

To close out the month, choose one of the following ridiculous titles: Attack of the 50 Foot Cheerleader, Picocchio’s Revenge, Gingerbread Man 3, Snoop Dog’s Hood of Horror, Vampire Bats, or Axe Giant: the Wrath of Paul Bunyon.

31 Days of Horror Movies, All Streaming on Netflix