Netflix October 2026 Horror: ‘Evil Dead’ and Three ‘Psychos’
Netflix has set its October slate, and the shape of it is worth noticing before the titles are. This is a licensing month. Roughly two dozen horror films land in a single wave on October 1, a handful more trickle in over the following two weeks, and only a small fraction of the month is anything Netflix made itself.
The October 1 batch is 25 films deep. The headliners are Evil Dead (2013), The Strangers, Friday the 13th, Hush, Split, The Menu, The Sixth Sense and Red Dragon. Around them: Lake Placid, Dracula, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, both Ouija films, Happy Death Day 2U, both A Haunted House comedies, and all five Twilight movies, which Netflix has apparently decided count.
The Boogeyman and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies follow in the first week of the month. Cocaine Bear arrives October 14.
Three ‘Psycho’ Movies Is the Interesting Part
Buried in that October 1 list is the whole theatrical Psycho run: Hitchcock’s 1960 original, Psycho II and Psycho III. The sequels surface on streaming far less often than the original does, and the third one is the reason to care. Anthony Perkins directed Psycho III himself in 1986, which makes it the rare franchise entry where the man playing the monster was also the one deciding where to put the camera. It is stranger, sadder and more openly romantic about Norman Bates than anyone asked for.
Psycho II has its own quiet defenders. Richard Franklin came out of the Australian thriller scene and treated the 1983 sequel as a genuine continuation rather than a slasher retrofit, with Perkins playing Norman as a man trying very hard to stay well. Having both on one service at once is the kind of accident that makes a good weekend.
The Ones Netflix Actually Made
The month’s marquee original is Below, a six-episode limited series premiering October 8. Created by Jesse McKeown, it puts Josh Hartnett, Mackenzie Davis and Charlie Heaton in a remote Newfoundland town with something large in the water. We covered the first trailer earlier this month, and the footage is more interested in the town than the creature, which is usually a good sign.
It is not quite alone. Haunted Hotel returns for a second season on October 9, which keeps the animated end of the schedule covered and gives the month a second thing with Netflix’s name on it.
What Is Still Unsettled
Netflix monthly lists move. Outlets tracking the schedule do not fully agree on whether Pride and Prejudice and Zombies lands October 5 or October 6, and titles get added through the month. Treat the October 1 wave as firm and the edges as provisional.
What is not provisional is the strategy. Netflix is covering Halloween with other people’s catalog and one creature feature of its own, which is a reasonable bet in a month when nobody is short of things to watch.
Our running list of the best horror movies on Netflix right now is updated monthly, and the 2026 and 2027 horror release calendar has everything headed to theaters in the meantime.
