Haunty Meowctober: 31 mostly horror movies to watch for free

10/1/2025

Haunty Meowctober: 31 mostly horror movies to watch for free

by Kim Göransson

It's October again and a time for spooky things. In looking for new horror to watch I also browsed my letterboxd diary and wrote down some films I've enjoyed and decided to check which of those are streaming for free because art should be available to everyone. Ideally, of course, you should watch these without annoying ad breaks, but times are dire. Ideally we should have a free library streaming site available to everyone!

(Kanopy is a great resource if its available to you. If not directly available there are some libraries that will let you get online cards that allow you to watch a couple of titles a month.)

Until such a time, here are 31 mostly horror movies you can watch for free (as of the writing of this post) and maybe you'll spy something you haven't seen before. Happy haunty meowctober, friends!

1. The Vourdalak 2023

This hazy 70s vibe vampire tale was one of my faves in 2023 and is available to stream free. It's matinee gold. Charming, creepy, fun, gothic, French. Cake make-up and an actual puppet! Would make a good companion movie to the final entry of this list.

Tubi, pluto

2. The Cabin in the woods 2011

A love letter to horror. That unicorn. Thor before Thor. Richard Jenkins and his grumpy actor face forever! If you want a horror movie for the party or your weirdo family night, you can never go wrong with this 2011 gem.

Tubi

3. Whatever happened to baby jane? 1962

Godzilla vs Kong, Freddy vs Jason, sure, but this is the ultimate horror queen showdown. Bette Davis vs Joan Crawford. Pick your fighter. Essential camp education. Put down your phone!

Tubi

4. Byzantium 2012

Sometimes you want a cozy vampire flick. With the always dialed-in Saoirse Ronan. Light all the candles and stay in bed. Or in the bath. This is that movie. From Neil Jordan of The Crying Game and Interview with a Vampire.

Tubi, plex, pluto

5. the Night of the hunter 1955

The Night of the Hunter turned 70 this year and if you haven't seen it yet you're in for a treat. Robert Mitchum is a sinister serial killer preacher with knuckle tattoos stalking kids. Lillian Gish with a shotgun is the most badass. It is as good as they say it is. It could be the best movie ever. A fever dream that feels so real.

Pluto

6. Scare Me 2020

Low budget comedy horror from 2020. It has like 3 people in it and one is the director and one is Aya Cash aka the evil one from The Boys. It's both creepy and a wildly entertaining, claustrophobic time. There's a musical number that is amazing unless I hallucinated all that. I gave this 5 stars and I'm not really a horror comedy person!

Tubi, plex

7. Assault on precinct 13 1976

Perhaps not many people's go to Carpenter but there is a quiet menace and brutality in this that is so unsettling. Creeping paranoia in broad daylight. Once it jolts you awake, and it will, you have to stay for the ride. A perfect movie to watch in the middle of a lazy day while rain taps on the windows.

Tubi, plex, pluto, roku, fawesome

8. the wailing 2016

Clear an evening for this movie. Order pizza from your favorite place. Accept that its going to be a long ride. Start early, even take a break halfway through. Let it creep in. I love how this movie evolves. Terrifying, devastating. I love this movie.

Tubi, plex, pluto

10. repo! the genetic opera 2008

"Not your parents opera". Y'all. There are two repo movies, one is Repo Man and the other is this. They're both the ones. But this one has goth Paris Hilton! Sarah Brightman is in this! I don't know what else to say.

Tubi, plex, pluto

10. tigers are not afraid 2017

A dark fairy tale about real horrors. Fantasy as the worlds we create to survive. This is a sad and moving film with amazing performances from all the young actors. Izza Lopez, of True Detective Night Country, directed this.

Plex

12. spiderbaby 1967

"Or, The Maddest Story Ever Told" is a film Rob Zombie wish he'd made. It was actually shot back in 1964 but struggled to get out. I don't know why! Other considered titles at the time was "Cannibal Orgy" and "The Liver Eaters". An origin to outcast family genre horror like Texas Chainsaw Massacre via Whatever Happened to Baby Jane theatrics. It fun and twisted, packed into a perfect 80 minutes.

Tubi, plex, fawesome etc.

13. Trollhunter 2010

A Norwegian found footage horror fantasy. It's a movie about hunting trolls! Different kinds of trolls! And it's good. I think we watched this after midnight one night and yeah, it belongs in the found footage HOF. Trolls!

Tubi, plex, pluto

14. near dark 1987

Why Near Dark is so hard to find streaming I don't know. Kathryn Bigelow’s gritty and engrossing and hot outlaw vampire tale from the lord’s year 1987, which is also the year of The Lost Boys.

Well thanks be, someone put it on YouTube and you can watch it here.

15. demons 1985

While were slaying in the 80s, pop on Lamberto Bava's Demons from 1985. You might wonder whether to watch it in Italian or English. It doesn't matter! It's all dubbed anyway. It's a movie that takes place at the movies. It's a spectacle of limitless gore imagination with a badass soundtrack featuring Mötley Crüe and Billy Idol.

Tubi, plex, pluto

16. Hellbender 2021

I love the Adams/Poser family. They're putting out some the more interesting and exciting indie horror. They're also making you feel like you could make a movie, too. Anyone could. Both Hellbender and The Deeper you Dig are available streaming free. Hellbender is a story about a mother and a daughter. They sometimes play music together. It lives in my heart.

Plex

17. The Haunting 1963

Fans of Flanegan’s series and anyone should visit Hill House in 1963, 4 years after Shirley Jackson's gothic novel came out. It's a proper haunted house film. Theo is still gay. The atmosphere, the shadows, the interior vs the exterior, the everything!

It isn't streaming however you can find a good cut on Internet Archive to watch or download.

18. They Look like people 2015

One of the most unsettling little indie films you might not have seen. A film about mental illness that (to me) doesn't feel exploitative, maybe because it feels so heartfelt. A slow burn that will stay with you.

Pluto

19. the exorcist Iii 1990

A rare feat of a sequel horror film being this good. Maybe it works because it's not trying to be the original, starting as something else and arriving at the source material. Really it's more of a crime thriller, an investigation, like The Wailing, taking time to build its characters with some great scenes.

And then that one scene.

Tubi, plex, pluto

20. Lake mungo 2008

Some people seem to really dislike Lake Mungo. It's not scary, it's boring, whatever. It's not for everyone but I adore it. Maybe it's not a group watching movie but an alone watching movie. The genre of fake documentary horror is a difficult one to pull off and maybe it isn’t all the way convincing, but there is a feeling at the end that of thins I can't think of any other movie arriving at, and if you get there it will punch you right in the gut.

Tubi, plex, fawesome

21. The Hour of the wolf 1968

Bergman at his most horror, experimental but also personal. Liv Ullman and Max Von Sydow are cooking. It's my favorite Swedish horror along with Let the Right One In (also streaming free).

It's not on streaming but it is on the Internet archive with english subs here.

22. Gonjiam: haunted asylum 2018

A family favorite! If you're a found footage fan then you already know but if you don't, this is scary as hell.. A group of paranormal investigators visits an abandoned asylum. Watch late at night. Turn off all the lights. Stick with it.

Tubi, plex

23. altered states 1980

Ken Russel made some wild movies. Altered States appears to finally be available for free streaming. It's a mind trip. Human hubris horror drama. If you can also watch The Devils, or Gothic, or Lair of the White Worm, make a weekend of it.

Tubi, plex

24. american movie 1999

Not horror but a documentary about an aspiring filmmaker, Mark Borchardt, trying to finish his low to no budget horror film. Like with Grey Gardens, we're faced with asking when does documentary become exploitation, but I think in both instances the subject counters whatever the intent might be with their sheer presence and humanity. A moving portrait of creative passion and a tribute to DIY horror.

Tubi

25. the Texas chain saw massacre 1974

Confession, I watched this as a kid but it never left much of an impression then other than it was scary and gory, which was never my favorite horror genre, and I didn't rewatch it until only a couple of years ago and was then completely smitten with and knocked out by it. There is such an energy and beauty and aliveness in this movie that I can't explain.

Tubi, pluto

26. jennifers body 2009

Jennifer's Body wasn't available but now it is, praise be! Karyn Kusama snapped with this. All my friends love Jennifer's Body. A film about friendship.

Tubi

29. The Hunger 1983

Does a movie need much more than Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie and Susan Sarandon vamping it up in detached gorgeous 80s music video aesthetic? Possibly the hardest opening to a movie ever. Another perfect matinee watch, lazying the day away, forever and undead.

Tubi

29, ghostwatch 1992

If you enjoyed Late Night with The Devil then you have to get in on Ghostwatch. One of the best and scariest horror movies full stop. If you don't believe me, read our very own Michael Seymour Blake's review here.

It hasn't been available to stream for free but now is on something called Dark Matter TV.

30. cat people 1942

“There's nothing you can say. There's only silence.” It wouldn't be meowctober without Cat People from 1942. So much packed into this fast paced noir transformation thriller: immigrant trauma, alienation and assimilation, repressed female desire and psychiatry as patriarchal control, but it's also just a damn good movie that's empathetic of its cat woman protagonist.

Available on something called Classic Movies and TV

31. the wicker man 1973

1973 was a good year for horror. The Exorcist, Don't Look Now and The Wicker Man. For a while we were determined to make watching The Wicker Man an Easter family tradition. It was a great idea and we need to keep that up. It’s such a great fun movie to watch and rewatch and the only right way to end this horror playlist.

Tubi, pluto

Haunty Meowctober!

Bonus watch: dragula!

You can watch season 3 of The Boiler Brothers' Dragula for free on something called Xumo Play.

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