#HorrorFest2017 : A Beginners Guide to A Halloween Season Binge

Nothing says Halloween season like scary movies. All you need is some popcorn and apple cider and you have yourself quite the night. Here at SweetGirlSmirk, we take Halloween VERY seriously and do not waste a minute of the brief time we have (starting the day after Labor Day, of course)! So clear the DVR, get Netflix fired up, and get on the comfy pants! Here is a guide to binge watching through the season!

It begins and ends with AMC Horrorfest  , except this year it begins a lot later. Wahhhhh! I don't want to offend Walking Dead fans, but I hope you're happy. Those reruns before the season premier better be worth it. That being said, there a lot of other options, so it all works out. A DVR can only hold so much anyway. They have not yet released dates for specific movies, but it starts on 10/23. The ones I am looking forward to are:

This looked like my childhood closet and traumatized me for life

• Halloween 1, 4, 5, 6, H20
• Halloween 2 (2009)
• Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)
• Freddy vs. Jason
• Jason Goes to Hell and Jason X
• New Nightmare
• Annabelle
• House on Haunted Hill
• House of Wax
• Van Helsing
• The Leprechaun franchise

For more awesome cable programming, we will have to wait for SyFy to release their schedule and I will update.

For family fun (and a lot of Hocus Pocus check out Freeform. The first run highlights of their schedule is as follows (stuff reruns a lot):

10/19 Addams Family and Addams Family Values, Hocus Pocus

10/20 Sleepy Hollow, Hocus Pocus

10/21 Edward Scissorhands

10/22 Hocus Pocus

10/23 Frankenweenie, Dark Shadows, Nightmare before Christmas

10/24 Hocus Pocus

10/25 Twilight, Hocus Pocus, Men in Black

10/27 Hocus Pocus

10/29 Toy Story of Terror, Hocus Pocus

10/30 Hocus Pocus

10/31 24 hour Hocus Pocus marathon

For more family programming, we will update  you when Disney's Monstober schedule releases!

Then there are the classics, those black and whites that make you jump when you see the shadow in the corner of your eye and those 1960s fun fests of fear. TCM has you covrered all October long in this department. Highlights include:

10/1 Dracula, Draculas daughter, Son of Dracula

10/2 Nosferatu

10/3 Frankenstein (1931), Bride of Frankenstein, The Mummy

10/4 (1941) Wolf-Man, Island of Lost Souls, The Invisible Man

10/8 My Blood Runs Cold, The Return of Dracula, Billy the Kid vs. Dracula

10/9 The Cabinet of Dr. Caligara

10/10 The Body Snatcher, Martin Scorsese Presents: Val Lewton- The Man in the Shadows

10/11 I Walked with a Zombie, The Ghost Ship, Isle of the Dead

10/13 Village of the Damned, The Nanny, The Bad Seed, The Curse of the Cat People

10/16 The Devil's Bride, The Curse of Frankenstein, The Mummy (1959)

10/18 The Curse of the Werewolf

10/22 Willard, Ben, Dracula Prince of Darknesss, Dracula Has Risen from the Grave

10/24 Diary of a Madman

10/25 Curse of the Demon, Carnival of the Souls, From Beyond the Grave, The Devil's Own

10/27 Psycho

10/28 Mark of the Vampire, Little Shop of Horrors, Children of the Damned, House of Dark Shadows

10/29 "M", Taste the Blood of Dracula

10/30 Haxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages

10/31 House of Wax (1953), 13 Ghosts (1960), Poltergeist, The Haunting (1963), House on Haunted Hill (1958)

I don't know about you, but all these classics have me so excited. In scary movies, that's always what they're watching and it just *feels* like Halloween, to me.

So by now, your DVR will be filling up quick, so lets take a look at what is on OnDemand with the premium channels. Double check your end dates, these go by what Verizon had posted as of September 19th. If no end date is listed, it will run past the 31st. These are the ones that caught my eye:

The Movie Channel:

I am still afraid to look out the window at night..

• The Hills Have Eyes  (10/12)
• The Others (9/28)
• The Thing (10/12)

Showtime:

• Cabin Fever
• The Hills Have Eyes

HBO:

• Crimson Peak (10/1)
• Krampus
• Scream 2 & 3
• Unbreakable
• The Strangers
• Witches of Eastwick (10/1)

Cinemax: 

• Alien, Aliens, Alien 3
• Cape Fear (10/1)
• Final Destination
• Hand that Rocks the Cradle
• Wrong Turn

Epix:

• 10 Cloverfield Lane
• Haunting in Connecticut
• Saw franchise (9/30)
• Boo! A Madea Halloween (9/30)

Outside of apple picking and hayrides, plans are obviously lots of movie marathons. Here's others that I recommend a viewing of.

If you are 35 or under, this franchise is life 

• Halloweentown 1,2,3,4
• Halloween 1,2,3,4, 5, curse, h20, resurrection
• Twitches one and two
• Curse of the WereRabbit
• Rear window 
• Vertigo
• The Birds
• Cabin in the Woods
• Wrong Turn
• Last House on the Left
• Night of the Living Dead
• Psycho
• It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!
• Sleepy Hollow
• Hellraiser
• Candyman
• The Shining
• Friday the 13th Franchise
• Shrek Halloween
• Young Frankenstein
• Swamp Thing
• Dead Silence
• Nightmare Before Christmas
• The Ring
• The Exorcist
• The Omen
• Rocky Horror picture show
• Paranormal Activity
• The Village
• Nosferatu
• The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (animated)
• Final Destination franchise
• House of 1000 Corpses & Devils Rejects

I recommend printing this page for a handy checklist. That's what I did!  And check back, I have posted other food and staycation ideas, and will post many treats to accompany the binge watching.  Hope your costume is stretchy!

What do you think I have left off? Let me know in the comments!

KimmayJ is basically made of pumpkin spice, apple cider, and thinks a rainy day under pumpkin lights is the best days of all. She has been running horrorfest for 6 years and this year you can follow along on twitter at kimmayj and the hashtag #horrorfest2017. You can also follow her on facebook, instagram, tumblr, and pinterest!