In partnership with
Good morning,
We made it. It’s Halloween week. Whether you’re hitting a party, handing out mini Kit Kats to Trick-or-treaters or, Netflixing with your favorite ghoul, this is our week. Enjoy it while it lasts.
Welcome to Spooky Week. 🎃
🩸TODAY’S TERROR — THE TRICK-OR-TREATER WHO WON’T LEAVE
The doorbell rings. A tiny trick-or-treater in a creepy clown mask stands on your porch.
You drop candy into his overstuffed bag.
He doesn't move.
You toss in another piece.
Still nothing.
You finally give him a handful. He slowly turns and walks away.
Five minutes later, the doorbell rings.
It's the same clown.
Today’s Terror: Persistence is terrifying. Especially when it's seven years old and dressed like a clown… Pennywise is taking notes.
🩸RECENT HORROR NEWS
The Exorcist Is Getting Another Resurrection
Mike Flanagan's upcoming entry in the legendary franchise now has a title: Exorcist: Martyrs. Scarlett Johansson stars in a story involving murders modeled on the suffering of saints, with the possibility that something distinctly inhuman is responsible.
Flanagan has demonstrated a remarkable ability to make supernatural horror deeply personal.
Let's hope he remembers that the Devil doesn't need another origin story. He needs better publicity.
Blumhouse Is Betting on the Next Generation of Horror Creators
Blumhouse-Atomic Monster has struck a development deal with horror content creator Heidi Wong to produce original horror shorts. The studio also picked up Play House, a micro-budget horror film from filmmaker Nicolas Curcio, for Focus Features.
The message to aspiring horror filmmakers? You don't necessarily need a $20 million budget to get Hollywood's attention. You just need a story that scares the hell out of somebody.
And preferably somebody with a checkbook.
The Man Behind ThanksKilling Gets Serious
Filmmaking brothers Jordan and Michael Downey have unleashed The Cycle, a new murder mystery starring Deborah Ann Woll and Jeffrey Donovan. The story begins when a corpse belonging to a man who disappeared 30 years earlier turns up at a crime scene.
The film arrives on Shudder following a well-received festival run and even earned praise from Stephen King.
From a murderous turkey to a Stephen King endorsement. Now THAT'S career development.
Horror Is Having One Hell of a Year
Variety has released its ranking of the best horror movies of 2026 so far, with titles including Obsession, Resident Evil, and Backrooms among its selections.
It's another reminder that horror isn't just surviving in Hollywood. It's providing filmmakers with opportunities to experiment, take risks, and tell stories that might never survive a conventional studio development meeting.
It seems the most dependable thing in show business is our collective fear of dying… Yeah, I’m talking to you!
🩸TAKE THE GRUDGE POLL
Which horror movie location would you absolutely NOT spend one night in?
🩸 T- BONE’S TOP HALLOWEEN MOVIE PICKS
T-Bone’s chosen three horror films that take place on Halloween to get you in in that holiday spirit—one I’ve never heard of, and two that are terrifying.
🩸NEWSWORTHY NUMBER
13
According to an old superstition, if 13 people sit down to dinner together, one of them will die within a year. The belief was so widespread that in 1882, a group of New Yorkers founded the Thirteen Club, deliberately hosting dinners with 13 guests to prove the superstition was nonsense.
Personally, I'd be less worried about the number of dinner guests and more concerned about why the host keeps sharpening that knife.
And with Thanksgiving approaching, maybe count the chairs before you sit down.
Fall’s best destinations are waiting
Mountain air, city lights or somewhere new? There's still time to make your fall plans take flight with Alaska Airlines. With hundreds of destinations, you can celebrate autumn to the fullest. See the fall foliage in Boston, sip cider in Seattle, or swap your flannel for a swimsuit and head to Hawai‘i.
With nonstop routes to over 100 cities across North America and beyond, getting to your fall destination is easier than ever. Whether you're chasing changing leaves or year-round sunshine, Alaska’s growing network means more ways to reach where autumn is calling.
Fares at great prices, so it's easier than ever to say ‘yes’ to a getaway before the season's gone.
Subject to availability. Terms and conditions apply.
🩸HORROR IN THEATERS.
You Can’t Leave — (Oct. 22nd) From the team that brouight us Iron Lung: a young man searches for answers behind his sister's mysterious disappearance. Trailer
418 — (Oct. 23rd) An Indian horror-thriller about a campus building and its infamous Room # 418 that has remained sealed off from the public for 15 years... We had a room like that in high school. It was called Detention, and you wanna know who it wasn’t sealed off from? ME!
Clayface — (Oct. 23rd) Follow the terrifying descent into hell of a promising Hollywood actor who has become a monster driven by revenge… Hollywood is full of people willing to kill for a better role. This guy's willing to kill for a better face. Trailer
Human — (Oct. 23rd) A dark, violent splatter-horror/thriller film about a woman's night of digital distraction turning into a surreal nightmare… You had us at “splatter-horror.”
Crawlers — (Oct. 16th) Quarantined residents of an infested apartment complex find themselves in a fight for their lives against deadly, venomous spiders rapidly spreading throughout the building… There’s a joke in here about how many spiders you eat in your sleep, isn’t there? Just watch the trailer.Trailer
Resident Evil — (Sept. 18) Zach Cregger (Barbarian, Weapons)Tasked with delivering a package to a remote hospital, a courier gets trapped in a sudden outbreak and must fight mutated creatures to survive… This one is still hanging around. If you havn’t seen it, it’s worth the watch. Trailer
Coming Soon
Breeder — (Oct. 28th) An eccentric poodle breeder lures a broke college student to her remote ranch with a promise of research funding… Poodle breeding horror. Allrighty then.
Stiletto — (Oct. 30th) An exotic dancer named Lyric who seeks revenge and protects her community from a masked serial killer on the one-year anniversary of her sister's murder.
The Demoness — (Oct. 31st) This is not the Angelina Pakhomova starer of the same name released last year. Andrew de Burgh’s film boasts good reviews. A succubus protagonist makes this one sound really different… FYI, an earlier version of the film has already been released on Prime.
Keep an eye out for
Christmas at The Kringles — (Oct. 30th) Holiday horror/comedy about the Severson family who move to a suburban neighborhood where their next-door neighbors, the Kringles, celebrate Christmas year-round… The perfect movie to end Spooky Season and welcome in the holidays.
It Awakens — (Nov 5th) A group of ruthless gangsters collided with ancient predatory monsters, unleashing supernatural terror as their violent worlds collide.
🩸THE CHURCH OF MERCH
Have Mercy!
Patrons, we are gathered here this morning to give praise in the Church of Merch. Whether your goal is sipping something suspicious, or blazing your self esteem issues right across your chest, The Grudge Shop has you covered. T-shirts, mugs, and other little necessities for worshippers who prefer their humor dark and their coffee anointed with drops of dread. Please visit the shop on your way out, and do a little tithing.
The Grudge Shop. Because good tatse is overated💀
🩸HORROR TO WATCH ON STREAMERS
What’s Worth The Watch — a mix of hidden gems, buzzy titles, comfort horror, underseen picks, and classics worth revisiting
“He skipped reading the fine print.”
A Possession In Lincoln County — Streaming On: Found TV (a streaming platform dedicated to found-footage horror)
Desperate to save his dying wife, a cameraman makes a bargain with supernatural forces. Unfortunately, the price of saving her may be considerably worse than losing her. Director Louie La Vella delivers a found-footage possession nightmare that proves love can make you do crazy things. Especially when Satan is handling the paperwork.
“Check in. Freak out. Forget about checking out”
Hokum — Streaming On: Hulu
From Damian McCarthy, the filmmaker behind Oddity, comes another helping of atmospheric dread. A horror writer staying at a remote Irish inn becomes entangled in a local legend that may be much more than a bedtime story.
“The world's gone to hell. And Halloween is still on”
Hallowarrior — Streaming On: Shudder
Milly Shapiro stars as Pumpkin, the last surviving girl in a world devastated by a deadly plague. Survival is hard enough without the additional burden of living in a horror movie.
“Only One of them thought to bring common sense”
The Ritual — Streaming on: Netflix
What begins as a memorial hike for a murdered friend turns into a nightmare when four men take a shortcut through an ancient forest. Strange symbols, mutilated animals, and something enormous lurking among the trees make this atmospheric folk-horror thriller a reminder that sometimes the road less traveled is less traveled for a damn good reason.
Comfort Horror Pick of The Week
“Before the Avengers, there were kids who knew how to handle Dracula”
Monster Squad (1987) — Streaming On: Pluto TV
A gang of monster-obsessed kids discovers that Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, the Wolf Man, and other legendary creatures are very real—and very bad news. Written by Shane Black and Fred Dekker, this gloriously goofy adventure is pure Halloween nostalgia.
Because sometimes you don't want horror that makes you sleep with the lights on. You want horror that reminds you why you fell in love with monsters in the first place.
🩸FINAL SIP
Halloween arrives this week.
The decorations are everywhere. The horror movies are playing nightly. And the guy in your neighborhood who spent three paychecks turning his front lawn into Universal Horror Nights is now realizing Sunday he needs to take it all down.
Or keep it up til just after Christmas 🎃🎄
Share this newsletter with a friend so they can join in the Grudgery. Subscribe.
Shop The Grudge Shop here.
We read your emails. Questions, comments, things we can improve, or a nice pat on the back: email us at: [email protected].
🩸