Halloween might feel and look a little strange this year because of everything that's going on in the world, but like the best of holidays it's more than just a set of rituals. There's a spirit to Halloween that's easy to catch and can be quite infectious. Perhaps the best way to kickstart your Halloween spirit is by watching a horror movie.

So, to help you fuel your Halloween spirit and keep it going all month long we've prepared a calender featuring a different horror movie (two on Saturdays) for you to watch in October. All of the movies featured are in the library's physical or digital collections.

Plus, we know weekends are special so we've turned them into theme days. When the work week ends many people are in search of a laugh. So, we'll  spotlight horror comedies on Fridays. The only thing better than a horror movie is a horror movie double feature. So, Saturdays will be days with a thematically linked double bill of films. Finally, we've made Sundays a day where the whole family can get in on the Halloween spirit by highlighting some all-ages, gateway horror films.

So, let's kick things off with your movies for the first week of Halloween

Thursday October 1st- Psycho(1960)

Available Via: DVD

We're kicking things off with director Alfred Hitchcock's legendary and most influential horror film. Psycho was such a pivotal movie that some have argued it helped create an entire sub-genre of horror that would come to prominence almost two decades later, the slasher film

Friday October 2nd- What We Do In the Shadows (2014)

Available Via DVD Hoopla Kanopy

In this film, which inspired the FX Network's television series spin-off of the same name, writer/directors Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi take vampire lore and combine it with the Christopher Guest style mocumentary. The result is comedy gold. 

Saturday October 3rd- Frankenstein (1931) & Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)

Available via DVD- Frankenstein  The Creature

For our first double feature I thought it would be good to look at one of the most iconic horror franchises ever, the Universal Monsters. These two films exemplify what's best about the Universal brand; wonderfully designed creatures and a great story that makes you question whether it's the titular characters that are monsters or the humans hunting them.

Sunday October 4th- Coraline (2009)

Available via DVD

This animated adaptation of Neil Gaiman's classic kids book about the titular girl who is transported to a spooky world and introduced to her "other" family is a great way to ease kids into the atmosphere of Halloween. It's also a fun and unsettling movie for adults as well.