‘Tis the season for all streaming platforms to embrace horror on a massive scale, making the options endless for your Halloween watchlists. So much so that we’re breaking down this month’s streaming highlights by platform, beginning with Hulu’s Huluween slate of programming.
Hulu brings the Halloween season programming in spades this October, their “Huluween” lineup this year featuring a ton of recent releases and cult favorites. Beyond film, look for seasonal treats like the upcoming “Goosebumps” television series, arriving on October 13, and the animated gateway horror series “Fright Krewe,” which is now streaming.
Whether you’re in the mood for scares suitable for the whole family or seasonal treats that deliver on scares, here are 10 horror movies you won’t want to miss on Hulu in October 2023.
The Empty Man
Written and directed by David Prior, adapted for the screen from a graphic novel of the same name, The Empty Man doesn’t have an opening sequence; it has an opening movie. The ambitious horror feature plays like multiple movies in one, centered around the concept of foreboding Tulpa, the Empty Man. James Lasombra (James Badge Dale) is tasked with tracking down a missing teen who summoned the Empty Man, acting as the throughline of one ambitious, polarizing horror journey. That it’s not available on physical media makes it more of an obscure title not to miss.
Appendage
Appendage is Anna Zlokovic’s feature directorial debut, based on her 2021 short of the same name. Hannah (Hadley Robinson) finds her anxieties and self-doubt manifest in the form of a weird growth on her body, which only fuels her emotions and threatens to damage her relationships. But then Hannah finds she’s not alone in the quirky creature feature Appendage. Huluween continues its annual tradition of original features based on Huluween shorts with this one.
The Boogeyman
The Boogeyman, directed by Rob Savage (Host) with a screenplay by Scott Beck & Bryan Woods (A Quiet Place, 65) and Mark Heyman (Black Swan), draws from Stephen King‘s 1973 short story of the same title. Rather than presenting a straightforward adaptation of King’s text, however, The Boogeyman uses its narrative as the film’s inciting event, acting as a spiritual sequel. While the mythology might be vague to relay its trauma metaphor, those in need of a good scare this Halloween will find more than a few here.
Stephen King’s Rose Red
The rare 2002 miniseries arrives on streaming this Halloween, giving Constant Readers a chance to catch up with Stephen King’s haunted version of the Winchester Mystery House meets The Haunting. A professor assembles a group of psychics to explore and study the mysterious Rose Red mansion, awakening the evil possessing the estate. ABC’s three-part series became a television event, with ratings inspiring a prequel novel.
Stoker
This psychological thriller, written by Wentworth Miller, marks the English-language debut of director Park Chan-wook (Oldboy, Snowpiercer). It follows India Stoker (Mia Wasikowska), a teen whose life is upended by the abrupt death of her father. At his funeral, she meets an uncle she never knew she had and comes to suspect ulterior motives for his arrival while struggling with her attraction to him. More importantly, India discovers her killer instinct, something that her uncle seems to encourage. Park Chan-wook infuses Hitchcockian suspense into a Southern Gothic fairytale, and the result is a beguiling and twisted feature.
Underwater
Underwater doesn’t bother with pretension and dives straight into the horror. There’s not even a first act. The inciting event that knocks out an entire underwater drilling station and leaves its handful of survivors scrambling across the ocean floor happens within the first few minutes. While director William Eubank (2014’s The Signal) does borrow from some obvious influences, it doesn’t make the film any less fun or nerve-fraying. And it indeed doesn’t prepare you for an epic third-act reveal. It’s the perfect popcorn movie, full of splendor and chills.
Zombie Town
R.L. Stine’s Zombie Town promises Halloween horror fun for the whole family. In the film, “Amy (Madi Monroe) and Mike (Marlon Kazadi) uncover a centuries-old secret when they decide to watch an exclusive film reel. Before they know it, their town has been turned to the undead before their eyes. The duo must track down an infamous filmmaker (Dan Akroyd) and navigate a town of hungry zombies to break the curse before it’s too late.”
The Mill – October 9
Capitalism is the horror in this upcoming Huluween original. In the sci-fi horror film, “A successful businessman (Lil Rel Howery) wakes up beside an ancient grist mill situated in the center of an open-air prison cell with no idea how he got there. Forced to work as a beast of burden to stay alive, he must find a way to escape before the birth of his child.”
Slotherhouse – October 15
Out in the jungle, she’s a beta. But in Slotherhouse? She’s an Alpha. Directed by Matthew Goodhue, Slotherhouse is a horror-comedy that tells the story of college senior Emily Young, who aims to be voted president of her sorority. When she comes across an adorable sloth, Emily decides the animal is her ticket to the presidency. She discovers too late that this charming sloth has a killer agenda, however…
Cobweb – October 20
It doesn’t get more seasonal than the feature directorial debut of Samuel Bodin, creator of Netflix’s “Marianne.” Lizzy Caplan (“Castle Rock”) and Antony Starr (“The Boys”) star as parents who seemingly can’t be trusted when their young son Peter (Woody Norman) gets tormented by mysterious knocking on his bedroom walls. Bodin and screenwriter Chris Thomas Devlin’s R-rated horror fairy tale massively embraces its Halloween theming, and Hulu brings the 2023 Halloween feature home just in time for the big day.
The post From ‘Cobweb’ to ‘Slotherhouse’: 10 Horror Movies to Stream on Hulu in October appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.