September has packed its bags once again, which means one of my favorite months is finally here. Welcome back to Shocktober!
If you’ve been hanging around here for a while, you already know the drill. Every October, I put together 31 Nights of Frights—one horror movie for every night of the month. I’ve been posting these lists since 2019, and I try my best not to repeat movies from previous years.
And after seven lists and more than 200 selections, that’s getting harder than you might think.
To see some other lists that might contain what you’re looking for, click any of these links to read them: 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025.
Fortunately, horror filmmakers apparently have no intention of stopping, so I’ve got plenty of newer releases this year, along with a few older movies that somehow escaped my previous lists. Some I’ve seen, some I haven’t, and some may have me wondering who owes me two hours of my life back.
As always, there’s one exception to my no-repeat rule. October 31 belongs to Michael Myers. John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978) closes the show. Some traditions simply aren’t meant to be messed with.
So turn down the lights, grab something to eat, and if you hear your grandmother upstairs calling your name when you KNOW you’re home alone…
Don’t answer. And definitely don’t look!
Apparently, nobody in horror movies has figured that out yet.
That being said, let’s get this mad monster party started!
Shocktober 2026: 31 Nights of Frights
- Obsession (2025) After making a wish that his longtime crush will fall in love with him, a hopeless romantic gets exactly what he wanted—only to discover that his desire comes at a sinister price.
- Never Let Go (2024) A family haunted by an evil spirit for years begins to question both its safety and surroundings when one of the children starts wondering whether the evil is real.
- No One Will Save You (2023) An isolated, anxiety-ridden young woman must fight for her life when an alien finds its way into her home.
- River of Blood (2024) Four kayakers take the wrong river into a jungle inhabited by a tribe of merciless cannibals.
- Let Me In (2010) A bullied young boy befriends a mysterious young girl who is secretly a vampire living with her guardian.
- 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026) Dr. Kelson finds himself in a shocking new relationship with consequences that could change the world, while Spike’s encounter with Jimmy Crystal becomes a nightmare he cannot escape.
- John Carpenter’s The Ward (2010) A troubled young woman confined to a remote psychiatric hospital is terrorized by a ghost as her fellow patients begin disappearing.
- Amelia’s Children (2023) Edward’s search for his biological family leads him and his girlfriend to a remote villa in Portugal, where meeting his long-lost mother and twin brother uncovers a monstrous family secret.
- Backrooms (2026) A strange doorway appears beneath a furniture showroom, leading into an eerie, seemingly endless world beyond reality.
- The Brood (1979) A man investigates the unconventional therapy being used on his institutionalized wife while a series of brutal murders suggests something far more sinister is taking place.
- Clown in a Cornfield (2025) In a fading Midwestern town, Frendo the clown—a once-beloved symbol of the town’s prosperous past—reemerges as a terrifying killer.
- Deliver Us (2023) When a nun claims to have immaculately conceived twins, the Vatican investigates an ancient prophecy predicting the birth of both the Messiah and the Antichrist.
- Equinox (1970) Four friends on a trip into the woods acquire a mysterious ancient book and find themselves pursued by demonic forces and terrifying creatures.
- The Invitation (2022) After discovering long-lost relatives through a DNA test, a young woman attends a lavish family wedding in England and uncovers horrifying secrets about her newfound family.
- Late Night with the Devil (2023) A struggling late-night television host stages an occult-themed Halloween special in 1977, only for the live broadcast to unleash evil into America’s living rooms.
- Matriarch (2022) After surviving an overdose and developing a mysterious illness, a woman returns to her childhood home to confront her personal demons—only to discover something horrifyingly real.
- Pilgrim (2019) A woman hires Pilgrim reenactors to give her family an authentic Thanksgiving experience, but the celebration turns terrifying when the actors refuse to break character.
- Thanksgiving (2023) After a Black Friday riot ends in tragedy, a mysterious Thanksgiving-themed killer begins terrorizing the residents of Plymouth, Massachusetts.
- Ready or Not 2: Here I Come (2026) Grace and her estranged sister are hunted by rival occult dynasties in a deadly contest involving power, survival and betrayal before dawn.
- The Uninvited (1944) A brother and sister purchase an old seaside mansion at a suspiciously low price and discover that its disturbing past may have left something supernatural behind.
- Imaginary (2024) A woman returns to her childhood home and discovers that the imaginary friend she left behind is very real—and unhappy that she abandoned him.
- The Bad Seed (1956) After a child dies under mysterious circumstances, a mother begins to suspect that her seemingly perfect eight-year-old daughter may be responsible.
- Night of the Living Dead (1968) A group of strangers barricade themselves inside an isolated Pennsylvania farmhouse as hordes of flesh-eating undead surround them.
- The Rite (2011) An American seminary student struggling with his faith travels to Italy to attend an exorcism course and encounters forces that challenge his skepticism.
- Hush (2016) A deaf writer living alone in the woods must fight for her life when a masked killer appears outside her secluded home.
- Evil Dead Burn (2026) After losing her husband, a woman seeks solace with her in-laws, only to watch them transform one by one into Deadites as a family gathering becomes a nightmare.
- Resident Evil (2002) A special military unit battles an out-of-control supercomputer and scientists transformed into flesh-eating creatures after a laboratory accident.
- Scream 7 (2026) When a new Ghostface killer emerges in the town where Sidney Prescott has built a new life, her darkest fears are realized when her daughter becomes the next target.
- Forget Me Not (2009) After a cemetery game, a group of high-school friends begin disappearing one by one—and everyone but one girl begins forgetting they ever existed.
- Books of Blood (2020) A journey into uncharted and forbidden territory through three tales tangled in space and time.
- Halloween (1978) Fifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween night 1963, Michael Myers escapes from a mental hospital and returns to the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois, to kill again.
All movie synopses provided courtesy of the Internet Movie Database (IMDb).
…and that’s gonna do it for this year’s lineup! Any movies of interest to you? Got titles you’d like to share? Leave a comment in the section below and if you have something I haven’t conjured, we’ll see about cooking it up in next year’s cauldron of creepy creature features. And be sure to sign up at the bottom to receive email notifications of future posts from Kenny’s Camera, Cooking & Crazy Confessions at ZootsBlogSpot.
And oh yes… (Conal Cochran voice from Halloween III: Season of the Witch) “Happy Halloween.”
