10 Spooky-not-Scary Things to Watch This Fall
I don’t like to be scared, but I love to watch seasonally. For me, spook is atmospheric more than topical. As fall looms and then settles in, I want to watch things that are weird or creepy or unsettling, and I’ve got all of that on this list! It’s all things I’m willing and excited to watch as an adult, but about half this list is kid-friendly.
Here are 10 things we’re streaming during the lead up to Halloween:
Midnight Mass (Netflix)
This is truly a horror, but if I could get through it with just a few peering-through-my-fingers moments, you can too! There are a few jump-scares in the first few episodes, but they’re all very predictable.
This mini-series (7 episodes) is about a small island town, the Catholic church, addiction, the force of community for good or evil, and the nature of death.
It’s heavy stuff, but the show really feels like it’s wrestling with these things rather than making pronouncements. There’s lots to discuss once the final credits quietly close, and to me that made it worth the few shrieks (again, I am a baby about this stuff).
Over the Garden Wall (Hulu)
This was Cartoon Network’s first animated mini series, and it’s both charming and creepy. It’s a show that really feels like fall: the animation is quirky, and the music is vaguely folksy. There is a strong fairytale atmosphere in a very good way - don’t ask why the kid has a tea kettle on his head or how the pumpkin people exist. Just take it in.
The episodes are only 12 minutes long, so the show in its entirety is about 2 hours long. Those bite-sized episodes would be good for kids who can’t sit still, but nothing here feels too cutesy for adults either.
The Nightmare Before Christmas (Disney+)
I can’t really get a handle on if this delightfully creepy movie is as widely loved by others as it is by me, but I adore it. It’s weird and ridiculous - the king of Halloween is bored of scary and wanders over to Christmas land and thinks “that looks fun!” and, well, you’ll see.
The vague creepiness of stop motion animation is so well suited to Tim Burton’s aesthetic, and the music is also very fun. There’s just so much to love, and I try to watch this one every year.
A Series of Unfortunate Events (Netflix)
This was one of my favorite book series as a kid, and I was thrilled to see Netflix pick it up for adaption.
A trio of orphans continually dodge and thwart a cartoonish villain who dons a multitude of transparent disguises as he tries to get his hands on their fortune. The adults surrounding them are no help whatsoever. The Netflix version is pretty true to the books’ plot from what I remember, but what it really nails is the tone, which is vaguely absurd and mildly menacing all the way through.
There are 3 seasons on Netflix which manages to (quickly) make it through all 13 books in the series.
Pan’s Labyrinth (Netflix)
This movie almost crosses the line into “too weird” for me, but my husband loves it, and it certainly qualifies as spooky.
This Guillermo del Toro film is in Spanish and is a fairy tale in many senses: weird creatures, mystical realms, sadistic villains, virtuous heroine.
In a media realm where so many things are spin-offs and sequels, this movie still feels very singular and imaginative.
Coraline (Prime Video, Apple TV - paid)
This is a genuinely unsettling and bizarre movie, but that’s what makes it great!
A girl is exploring her spooky new house and finds a doorway into an alternate world where this an “other” version of the people in her life. It’s all creepy fun and games until they try to keep her forever.
This is the best kind of spooky-not-scary; it won’t give you nightmares, but you’ll definitely be holding onto memories of those button-eyed weirdos long after you’ve finished watching.
Only Murders in the Building (Hulu)
In this Hulu original, three residents of a building in New York City investigate a murder of one of their neighbors with the aim of producing the next big true crime podcast. This show is honestly a pretty smart skewering of the genre.
It’s wry and smart and really well done. I also love their approach to the age difference in the cast, which is to poke fun but not weaponize generational differences. In one episode, Martin’s character wonders if he should text or call Mabel, played by Selena Gomez. Short’s character says “… they don’t like phone calls” in a gentle, baffled tone. My husband and I (both about Gomez’s age) lost it.
Funny but mildly ominous. We loved it.
Edward Scissorhands (Hulu)
Another Tim Burton, because no one does spook-not-scary like he does. This one is a little bit sweet and stars the creepy king and queen of the 90’s: Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder.
In this movie, a partially-constructed Edward (with, yes, scissors for hands) is discovered by a suburban woman and taken in. What follows is housewife gossip, satanist hysteria, suburban montages, and moody teens pining for each other. It’s such a Tim Burton thing to have this creepy character be so sad and gentle, and this is a weird little fairy tale that I did not realize got Depp a Golden Globe nomination!
Hocus Pocus (Disney+)
I think of the 90s movies I watch from pure nostalgia, this one is the most decent. Witches vs adults, parent-free shenanigans, our perpetual fascination with Salem, Massachusetts. It’s all there.
Is it good? Not really, but it’s not bad either. It played every year on Disney Channel through my entire childhood (entire! it’s a year older than I am), so here I stand. Joey and I watched it last year while we handed out candy, and it made for a nice family-friendly backdrop to the evening.
Mindhunter (Netflix)
This Netflix psychological thriller about the creation of the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit in the 70’s is dark. But that’s what makes it good for spooky season! It’s very disturbing, but not scary.
There are two seasons, and unfortunately it seems Netflix is leaving us hanging, but it’s still worth the watch. It’s not about solving the murders, but understanding the murderers. And since it’s technically based on true events, the show features “real” serial killers, and they really nailed the casting and acting for those.
The acting, sets, details, and pacing are all phenomenal. It was getting a lot of buzz as one of Netflix’s best dramas, and that was all deserved.
Honorable mentions and/or things I’ve added to my list to consider for next year:
Harry Potter (Disney+)
What We Do in the Shadows (movie: Showtime | series: Hulu)
Hubie Halloween (Netflix)
Practical Magic (paid)
Addams Family (1991) (paid)
The Birds (paid)
Haunted Mansion (Disney+)
Little Monsters (Hulu)
Is there anything I missed? Leave suggestions in the comments!
Title photo by Jasper Graetsch on Unsplash
