As Halloween creeps closer, horror fans are turning to their screens for scares. And just as with other holiday traditions, networks and streaming platforms feature a lineup of horror films—like AMC’s FearFest and Hulu’s Huluween—to entice viewership throughout October. Now with deep libraries of scary movies available to stream and shorter windows from the box office to the small screen, U.S. viewers can often sample the newest horror fare at home the same year it is released in theaters.
Horror makes (small) gains in October viewership
With the help of Gracenote’s genre data, we took a look at linear and streaming movie viewing over the past four Octobers to see what percentage of total watch time horror films contributed. We found a small but notable increase over time, with a bump of nearly one full percentage point between October 2023 and 2024. This reflects an ever-widening array of options for viewers.
Horror fan favorites
Getting into the individual horror titles, we’d be remiss not to mention the persistent presence of the franchise named after the very holiday being celebrated: Halloween. Whether it is the 1978 original or the more recent reboot films, the Halloween series and its villain Michael Myers are certainly viewer favorites. One of the films in this franchise has nearly always been the most-viewed horror movie on linear TV in October, even if it doesn’t make the combined linear and streaming top 10.
October 2022 marked a notable shift toward streaming exclusive titles, with Halloween Ends (Peacock), The Curse of Bridge Hollow (Netflix), Mr. Harrigan’s Phone (Netflix), and Hellraiser (Hulu) taking the top four slots. The following year, Disney’s Haunted Mansion, which had just come off of a summer box office run, dominated the rankings. The feature’s strong performance demonstrated that more comedic, family-friendly titles had equal appeal as true horror films.
In October 2024, no individual title reached the same heights as the prior year, which is a testament to how viewing was more evenly distributed across films. Still, streaming exclusives occupied the top two slots again—Don’t Move (Netflix) and Salem’s Lot (HBO Max).
Top horror movies by demographic
So how did different demographics influence the most-viewed movies rankings in comparison? While there are some differences among the various groups, more often than not, the same title will resonate across viewership. While horror may seem like a niche genre on the surface, the demographic data overall suggests it to be an audience unifier this time of year.
Horror trending in 2025
Let’s close with a look at which scary features are resonating with horror fans so far this year. Across the first week of October, viewers are connecting with a healthy mix of new and nostalgic horror titles, and they’re utilizing both linear and streaming channels to do so. Fresh off a summer box office run, M3gan 2.0 (Peacock) takes the top slot, but is followed closely by 1996’s Scream, which is available on both linear and streaming channels. Digital broadcast networks have gotten in on the action this year as well; Comet is on the board with 1962 classic Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, while Bounce helped push The Intruder into the top 10.
All in all, horror films continue to be a growing part of television and streaming libraries, especially this time of year. This is great news for fans of the genre, giving them more options, both new and old, to enjoy even more spooky thrills and jumpscares from the comfort of home.
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