Ready for spooky season? Watch these 5 Netflix shows this October

Spooky season is here, which means I’m making room on my October watch list for witches, ghosts, and characters that make for interesting stories. Netflix has plenty to choose from, whether you want a supernatural mystery with a shade of comedy or a proper horror series that haunts you for days.

These five Netflix shows cover the whole spectrum of spooky, mixing lighter adventures with some unsettling stories. If you’re planning a Halloween binge or just want something eerie for the evenings this month, here’s where you can start.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

Greendale holds some dark secrets

A quintessential October watch, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina brings the occult themes to your watch list this spooky season. The supernatural drama follows Archie Comics character Sabrina Spellman, who, on her 16th birthday, discovers she must choose between her ordinary life in Greendale and her family’s link to witchcraft. She ends up embracing both sides as a half-witch, half-mortal, but that comes with plenty of trouble, especially when dark forces begin taking an interest in her.

As she learns more about her family’s history, she gets caught up with witches, warlocks, demons, ancient rituals, and other dark supernatural/horror forces. It’s a nice blend of teenage drama and supernatural horror, anchored by the fascinating character of Sabrina. The show itself has a strong Halloween vibe, with the variety of characters bringing the spookiness you might be looking for.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is also a quick watch at two seasons, since it was canceled during the pandemic. However, fans did get some closure, because two crossovers with Riverdale occurred during the sixth season of the latter series, acting as a backdoor series finale.

The Midnight Club

Everyone has a story to tell

Telling scary stories after dark is practically a Halloween tradition, and The Midnight Club builds an entire show around it. At Brightcliffe Hospice, a group of teenagers meets every night at midnight to share stories. Their tales range from unsettling mysteries to supernatural nightmares, but the club also has a pact: whoever dies first will try to contact the others from beyond the grave.

That pact becomes harder to ignore as strange things begin happening around Brightcliffe. New arrival Ilonka starts investigating the hospice’s past, and the mysteries surrounding the building become tangled with the group’s questions about what comes next.

Co-created by Mike Flanagan and Leah Fong, the series gives you spooky scares alongside an emotional story about young people finding friendship despite the circumstances. The storytelling sessions also bring variety, with each member putting their own spin on what frightens them. Just keep in mind that Netflix canceled it after one season, leaving some of the mysteries unresolved.

Stranger Things

Halloween hits differently in Hawkins

Netflix’s uber-popular sci-fi thriller, Stranger Things, may be done and dusted with a divisive Season 5, but spooky season is always a good excuse to return to Hawkins. Set in the 1980s, the show begins with the mysterious disappearance of Will Byers, a young boy whose friends refuse to stop looking for him. Their search leads them to Eleven, a mysterious girl with psychic abilities, and a secret that shakes the reality of this seemingly normal town.

As Will’s mother, Joyce (Winona Ryder), and police chief Jim Hopper (David Harbour) conduct their own investigation, the story opens up a world of government experiments, dangerous creatures, and the Upside Down, a terrifying alternate version of Hawkins. Suddenly, the party has more monsters to worry about than their usual game of Dungeons & Dragons.

Stranger Things is one of my favorite nostalgic shows to revisit, especially around October, as I return to the characters and world that I grew up with. But don’t let the ’80s vibe, arcade games, and nostalgic soundtrack fool you: Hawkins has more than enough lurking in its shadows to earn its place on an October watch list.

Dead Boy Detectives

Solving mysteries from the afterlife

Want a lighter but spooky watch this month? Then the DC Comics-based supernatural comedy show, Dead Boy Detectives, is a great pick. Edwin and Charles have unfinished business, though most of it belongs to other people. The two teenage ghosts choose to stay on Earth rather than move on to the afterlife, setting up a detective agency to help spirits with problems the living can’t solve. Their investigations bring them up against witches, demons, and other supernatural threats, making being dead a deadly occupation.

Joining their team is Crystal Palace, a psychic teenager whose own troubles become tangled with their cases. Soon, the trio often gets more than they bargained for when they agree to help people, confronting supernatural entities along the way.

Beyond the cases, Edwin and Charles’s friendship gives Dead Boy Detectives its heart. Their contrasting personalities bring humor to the investigations, while their loyalty to each other gives you a reason to stay invested. It’s a fun addition to your October watch list if you enjoy eccentric characters and spooky adventures, with enough dark moments to keep you hooked.

The Haunting of Hill House

The past and present collide

If you want your Halloween viewing to leave you feeling like you actually went through a horror show, The Haunting of Hill House is a great place to start. Mike Flanagan’s reimagining of Shirley Jackson’s novel follows the Crain family, whose time in an old mansion leaves them with experiences they struggle to explain, and memories they can’t escape. Years later, a tragedy brings the grown-up siblings back together, forcing them to confront what happened in the house.

The story shifts between their childhood and adult lives, gradually revealing how each member remembers the same events. There are ghosts and unsettling encounters, sure, but the family’s grief and past make the real horror even more than the jump scares.

And if you want more afterward, The Haunting of Bly Manor offers another story with several familiar cast members, though it follows a different family and haunting.

Find your Halloween vibe

If you want to narrow your search for this upcoming Halloween on Netflix, you can use the platform’s secret codes (for instance, 8711 for horror movies, 42023 for supernatural horror, and 83059 for TV horror) and filter titles by genre and subgenre.