Shudder is not waiting for October. The streamer’s Season of Screams programming event returns September 1 and runs all the way through December 31, which means the horror calendar now starts before Labor Day even arrives and does not stop until the year does.
The four-month event brings new original and exclusive films every Friday, a new season of The Creep Tapes, live watch parties on Shudder TV, the annual Ghoul Log, and a stack of Halloween specials. Shudder is also leaning on its library for franchise runs including Insidious 1 through 3, Twilight Zone: The Movie, and all four Psycho films with Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates.
The big ones up front: V/H/S/Mixtape premieres October 9, The Creep Tapes Season 3 arrives September 15 with two episodes, Joe Bob Briggs hosts a new Halloween special October 23, and the 2026 FANGORIA Chainsaw Awards go live October 25.
September gets things moving
The slate opens September 4 with Parasomnia, a Shudder Original starring Jasmine Mathews as a woman whose night terrors may have walked out of her sleep and into her waking life. Mārama follows September 11, centered on a young Māori woman who uncovers the horrific colonial history tied to her family after traveling to Victorian England in 1859. The film currently holds a 100% Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes.
The Creep Tapes returns September 15 with a two-episode drop. Mark Duplass and Patrick Brice are back as writers and executive producers, and this season’s guest stars include Kate Siegel, Nic Hamilton and Elliott Fullam. Duplass’ daughter Ora Duplass appears in what Shudder is calling a throwback episode, which is the detail most likely to get Creep obsessives paying close attention.
September closes with Goody Goody on the 18th, a home birth in a blizzard that goes very wrong, and Bloody Tennis on the 25th, which drops a young player into an elite European academy where the competition turns out to be the least of her problems.
October is where it gets crowded
Infirmary kicks off the month October 2 with bodycam footage from a guard who vanished on his first night at an old psych hospital.
Then comes V/H/S/Mixtape on October 9, the ninth installment, built around music and sound as sources of horror. The segment lineup is genuinely strange in the best way: Ernest Dickerson, RZA, David Moreau and Renee Zhan, whose entry features original puppets from Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. Flying Lotus directs music video interludes, Tobias Forge contributes a video of his own, and GWAR turns up as well.
Hallowarrior lands October 16, with Milly Shapiro as Pumpkin, a post-apocalyptic survivor who believes she may be the last person alive until a raider gang led by Shannyn Sossamon arrives at her door on Halloween night. The Cycle follows October 23, starring Deborah Ann Woll as a woman pulled into whatever secret her estranged father meant to take to the grave, with Jeffrey Donovan co-starring.
The back half of the month piles up fast. Joe Bob’s Halloween House Party goes live October 23 and hits on demand October 25. The FANGORIA Chainsaw Awards stream live October 25 with Devon Sawa hosting. Big Baby arrives on Devil’s Night, October 30, directed by Spider One and executive produced by Cher. Hunting Matthew Nichols closes Halloween itself, following a documentary filmmaker digging into her brother’s disappearance on Vancouver Island two decades earlier.
The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula returns for season seven sometime this fall.
Ghoul Logs and Friday nights
The Ghoul Log comes back October 1 as Curse of the Ghoul Logs, and for the first time it features multiple jack-o-lanterns instead of the usual single pumpkin. The Hallowarrior filmmakers put it together.
Shudder TV will also host regular live watch parties throughout the season, including Friday-night double features at 9 p.m. ET and special events around Halloween. Highlights include a six-film V/H/S marathon on October 9, Joe Bob’s House Party on October 23, the Chainsaw Awards on October 25, and a Halloween night triple feature of Halloween (1978), Late Night with the Devil and Deadstream.
Between a new V/H/S, a new Creep season, Joe Bob, the Chainsaw Awards and a Halloween-night premiere, Shudder has essentially handed subscribers a fully booked fall. November and December highlights are still to come.