Can’t-Miss Halloween: 31 Nightly Scares to Stream — Start Tonight with Doctor X, This House Has People In It, and More

Halloween season is here, and Polygon’s annual Halloween Countdown is back with 31 staff-picked recommendations — one for every night of October. Below you’ll find short, factual rundowns for the first nine entries, including release years, creators, and where relevant, archival or streaming notes. Keep it simple, and enjoy the spooky starter pack.

Oct. 1: Doctor X / Mad Love
Oct. 2: This House Has People In It
Oct. 3: The Collector
Oct. 4: The White Reindeer
Oct. 5: Heck
Oct. 6: Re-Animator
Oct. 7: Lamb
Oct. 8: Frankenweenie
Oct. 9: The First Omen

Oct. 1: Doctor X / Mad Love

Doctor X (1932) and Mad Love (1935) are two early-20th-century horror films that place *mad science* at the center of their stories. Both were released outside Universal’s main monster cycle, and they contrast with the 1931 Frankenstein film by foregrounding the human scientist as the source of danger.

For context about the era and its monsters, see this overview of classic Universal monsters.

Quick facts

Doctor X was released in 1932. Mad Love followed in 1935 and stars several period actors known for early horror roles. Both are useful double features for viewers interested in gothic science and the pre-war horror landscape.

Oct. 2: This House Has People In It

This House Has People In It is a 2015 short presented as a string of interior surveillance footage. It was released as part of Adult Swim’s Infomercials series and is credited with unsettling viewers through a domestic, found-footage style.

For more on the larger series that produced the piece, check Adult Swim’s Infomercials entry on the fandom wiki: Adult Swim Infomercials.

Quick facts

The short is framed as CCTV inside a suburban home and focuses on a family whose interior dynamics and strange behavior create tension without conventional jump-scare techniques.

Oct. 3: The Collector

The Collector (2009) was directed by Marcus Dunstan and stars Josh Stewart as a former convict who encounters a masked captor using deadly traps inside a house. The film was produced as a standalone thriller, and its script was at one point considered for development connected to the Saw franchise.

Sources tracking the script’s early development note that the story was originally titled The Midnight Man and that Saw producers reviewed it as a potential prequel; see the reporting on that history at Bloody Disgusting.

Quick facts

The film mixes home-invasion and trap-based horror. Marcus Dunstan later contributed scripts to multiple Saw sequels.

Oct. 4: The White Reindeer

The White Reindeer is a Finnish folk-horror film from 1952 directed by Erik Blomberg and starring Mirjami Kuosmanen. It combines Arctic landscape imagery with a narrative drawn from Sámi folklore about transformation and curse.

The film received awards recognition in its day, and a 4K restoration in recent years returned it to festival and streaming circuits for new audiences.

Quick facts

Year: 1952. Genre: folk horror/dark fairy tale. Noted elements: snowy setting, shape-shifting, and ties to Sámi myth.

Oct. 5: Heck

Heck is a roughly 30-minute lo-fi horror short by Kyle Edward Ball, presented on his Bitesize Nightmares channel. The piece uses locked-off shots, liminal-location visuals, and unnerving narration to create an experimental, internet-native kind of fear.

Bitesize Nightmares ran actively from 2017 to 2020 and published several shorts that adapted viewers’ dreams into filmed sequences.

https://www.youtube.com/c/BitesizedNightmares

Quick facts

Length: ~30 minutes. Creator: Kyle Edward Ball. Distribution: uploaded to the Bitesize Nightmares YouTube channel.

Oct. 6: Re-Animator

Re-Animator was released in 1985 and marks Stuart Gordon’s directorial debut in feature horror. The film adapts H.P. Lovecraft’s serialized story “Herbert West—Reanimator” and stars Jeffrey Combs as the titular researcher whose serum brings corpses back to violent life.

Quick facts

Year: 1985. Based on: H.P. Lovecraft’s short story. Notable cast: Jeffrey Combs; the film is known for practical effects and black-comedy elements.

Oct. 7: Lamb

Lamb is a 2021 dark fable directed by Valdimar Jóhannsson. It blends family drama and supernatural elements, centering on childlessness, ritual, and an uncanny family bond in a rural setting.

Quick facts

Year: 2021. Tone: folkloric horror/dark fable. The film mixes pastoral imagery with a slow-burn narrative about an unusual adopted child.

Oct. 8: Frankenweenie

Frankenweenie (2012) is Tim Burton’s stop-motion feature that expands his 1984 live-action short of the same name. The film is shot in black-and-white and retells a kid-focused, monster-movie-inspired take on the Frankenstein story.

Burton’s original 1984 short is also often cited when discussing the feature; the 2012 version includes scores by Danny Elfman and uses stop-motion puppetry for its visuals. You can find the film on Disney’s streaming platform: Frankenweenie on Disney+.

Quick facts

Year (feature): 2012. Format: stop-motion animation; black-and-white; family-oriented horror homage.

Oct. 9: The First Omen

The First Omen was released in 2024 as a prequel entry in the Omen franchise. The story follows a young American woman who travels to Rome in the late 1960s to begin service at a Catholic orphanage, where she encounters malevolent events tied to possession and a larger conspiracy.

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