Spooky season has once again descended on horror fans to wrap us in the dark embrace of arguably the best time of year. Fans of the genre never need an excuse to dive back into their favorite films, but now is as good a time as any to visit their most beloved. With the positively-reviewed Saw X hitting theaters in the first official installment of the franchise since 2010 (the eponymous Jigsaw film being rightfully ignored), horror movie viewers’ appetites have been whetted like never before.
The artist formerly known as HBO Max – now just Max – has always had an impressive library of content all year round. Though Tobin Bell’s iconic John Kramer isn’t among them, there are other franchises to dig into, such as Saw director James Wan’s The Conjuring series that always seems to have a home on the platform. However, the premium streaming that brought us gems such as The Last of Us also has a few new surprises in October.
Max has added a few new horror titles
As with anything subject to a passionate fanbase, questions are likely to arise. Is The Nightmare Before Christmas a Halloween or Christmas movie? How many reboots of classic horror films are too many? And does Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice count as a horror film? The beauty of this holiday season is that is up to your discretion, and with these 3 additional spooky films added to the Max library, the world is your oyster.
- Beetlejuice (streaming October 1)
- Poltergeist (streaming October 1)
- Friday the 13th — 2009 (streaming October 1)
All new additions are classics in their own way, no matter what dark deity you pray to this harvest season. After Burton’s fun-filled romp, Max’s other October additions have more of a straight line to the horror genre. Steven Spielberg’s 1982 classic, Poltergeist, is a must-view for every Halloween season. Inspired by the real-life story of the Herrmann family, Poltergeist follows the Freelings, whose house becomes infested with a demonic presence. A classic setup for any horror film, the movie became iconic for images of a static television set as young Carol Anne (Heather O’Rourke) concludes: “They’re here.”
The Halloween season would not be complete without a slasher to round out the selection — Friday the 13th. It’s not the original where Kevin Bacon gets an arrow to the throat, but the 2009 reboot starring Supernatural’s own Jared Padalecki. Due to the lawsuit over the rights of the machete-wielding Jason Voorhees, the franchise has hit some rough patches with any subsequent films. But switch on Max, and you can watch the most recent addition to the series of films.