Scare Stories of the Season

“Halloween Ends” is obviously the biggest scare story of the season, continuing John Carpenter’s franchise. It’s the final long-awaited grudge match between Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Michael Myers. This final chapter of director David Gordon Green’s “Halloween” reboot trilogy begins four years after the brutal ending of last year-old “Halloween Kills” in which Myers killed Strode’s daughter (Judy Greer).

Although the title “Halloween Ends” implies that this will be the conclusion, John Carpenter has teased that — if it makes enough money — there may be more from Michael Myers. Speaking at Pennsylvania’s Steel City Convention last August, Carpenter admitted he never envisioned his original movie getting a sequel and that “the movie business is ruled by money.”

In a surprise move, Universal sent this day-and-date to theaters and its streaming service Peacock. What most people also don’t realize is that longtime “Halloween” producer Moustapha Akkad had a clause in his contract that specifically prohibited anyone from actually killing off the Michael Myers character. So Blumhouse’s Jason Blum clarifies: “I never said it’s the last ‘Halloween’ movie. It’s OUR last ‘Halloween’ movie. Legal rights have now gone back to Moustapha Akkad.”

Also from Blumhouse, there’s “The Visitor,” introducing a married couple — Robert (Finn Jones) and Maia (Jessica McNamee) who move back to Maia’s childhood home. In the attic, Robert finds a portrait that looks exactly like him; curiously, it’s only identified as ‘the visitor.’ Yet nothing is as it seems as he goes on a hunt to discover why it seems that everyone in town already know who he is and who the twin could be … on EPIX.

Moving on, there are also other trick-or-treats for horror fans. Some of these will head straight to streaming while others will appear exclusively in theaters.

“Hocus Pocus 2” resurrects those three 17th century sisters, played as they were in the 1993 cult classic by Kathy Najimy, Bette Midler and Sarah Jessica Parker. Directed by Anne Fletcher, this origin story about the Sanderson sisters finds them once again wreaking havoc on Salem, Massachusetts — streaming on Disney+.

“Smile”

Sosie Bacon, daughter of Kevin Bacon & Kyra Sedgwick, stars in “Smile,” a spooky tale spurred by a curse that finds victims looking at a creepy smiling face before they succumb. She plays a mental hospital therapist who starts experiencing frightening occurrences that she cannot explain. Paramount originally planned to premiere this on Paramount+ but — because test screenings were so successful — executives decided on a theatrical release before streaming.

Do you remember Anne Rice’s “Interview with Vampire,” starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt? That was released in 1994. Set in New Orleans, a new version casts Jacob Anderson (“Game of Thrones”) as Louis de Point du Lac. He summons journalist Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian) to record his exploits since being turned in by his cruel companion Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid) … on AMC & AMC+.

Ty West’s “Pearl” chronicles an origin story, the prequel to the slasher film “X.” Once again, Mia Goth plays the title role as a feverish farmer’s daughter with a penchant for murder and mayhem. There’s the same Texas farm with its creaky yellow house, cavernous barn and hungry alligator in the pond. Set against a backdrop of the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, Pearl is a sweet Southern girl who takes up with the local movie-house projectionist who introduces her to French pornography and tempts her to lead a more Bohemian life.

Adapted from Grady Hendrix’s novel, “My Best Friend’s Exorcism” finds a teenage girl (Elsie Fisher) trying to decide whether her best friend is going through normal hormonal nightmares or full-blown demonic possession.

Mia Goth in “Pearl”

Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, “Nanny” pivots on immigrant exploitation as an undocumented childcare provider is plagued by an unseen supernatural presence. Coming from Senegal to work for a wealthy Manhattan couple, Aisha is preparing for the arrival of the son she left in West Africa.

Naomi Watts stars in “Goodnight Mommy,” a remake of an Austrian horror film in which twins begin to suspect that the woman who has returned from the hospital with her face swathed in bandages is not really their mother because her behavior has been bizarrely altered. Is she an imposter? It shows how psychological horror can be magnified when one cannot see a person’s face. Streaming on Amazon.

Based on the works of bestselling author Christopher Pike, “The Midnight Club” is Netflix’s new 10-episode series set at a hospice with a mysterious history. Eight residents meet each night at midnight to tell sinister stories — and to look for signs of the supernatural.

Jordan Peele and Keegan Michael Key team up once again in “Wendell & Wild” to provide voices for two demons who try to persuade a punk rock-loving teen to help them break out of the Underworld and live out their dreams in the Land of the Living. Streaming on Netflix.

“Don’t Look at the Demon”

In “Don’t Look at the Demon,” an American television crew of paranormal investigators goes to the home of a couple who claim to have experienced inexplicable, threatening disturbances. Fiona Dourif plays a troubled medium who refuses to face what really happened when her first supernatural encounter left her sister dead.

From fantasy to reality — Netflix’s “Conversations with a Killer: The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes” is a gruesome three-part series about Dahmer’s 17 innocent victims and how the investigation was impacted by the systematic racism and institutional failures of the police that allowed one of America’s most notorious serial killers to continue his murderous spree in plain sight for over a decade.

And HBO airs “The Vow: Part Two.” Set against the backdrop of the federal trial against Keith Raniere, his Inner Circle discusses the secret sex society, including NXIVM’s co-founder Nancy Salzman.