Happy Halloween! If you’re like myself, alone for Halloween and need some cultural stimuli to pass the cold, dark hours of the night then I’ve got your back with this post. Here is a mix of genuinely frightening and gently spooky resources which have proven to be oddly comforting to me in this period. Sift through them and perhaps you will find something that has a chance to become your latest obsession.

MOVIES

Weapons (2025)

The topic of witchcraft is probably the most over-used Halloween theme of all, but in this movie it is handled in such a strange and innovative way, through the medium of a classroom of children who dissappear one night, leaving the members of a small suburban community to rage among themselves as to where they could’ve disappeared. Reminding me a little bit of the weird tension contained in the movies “The Sweet Hereafter” or even “The Leftovers“, this movie doesn’t contain the same emotional depths but it is eerie and highly watchable, entertaining and in equal parts brooding. I loved every minute of it! And Amy Madigan’s interpretation of a part witch/part clown madwoman is masterful.

Longlegs (2024)

After watching ‘It follows’ and really being pulled into that movie more than I would have imagined, I can safely say that Maika Monroe is slowly growing on me as a scream-queen presence. Different from that movie, the evil presented in Longlegs is bone-deep frightening and not necessarily related to sexual diseases. What makes the evil in Longlegs so suffocatingly awful is that it’s not something you can prepare for or defend yourself against, as it is all-pervasive. It’s also an interesting tale about appearances which can be deceiving: Are your parents good, kind people? Are you actually safe in the house in which you grew up for years? What determines a family member to turn against their own? And what would you do if Evil wants to strike a deal to keep your child alive?

Aside from the rather funny and dramatic make-up that Nicholas Cage is clad in, throughout the entire movie, the story is not really about him but it is about what drives him and uses him. It’s his passion for bonding with the darkness that sets the story alight and the lead detective is merely someone waking up to a truth that is so harsh and shocking that it destroys whatever security she ever felt in her life. It’s also a well-filmed and perfectly executed movie, which lingers in the mind. I slept with the light on, the night that I saw it.

Handling the Undead (2024)

I wouldn’t have imagined that a movie about zombies would make me cry, but somehow this understated European movie did exactly that. In its original depiction of dead people literally rising from their graves and coming back to life during a hot summer day in a non-descript Danish city, this movie is strangely grey, heavy and also weirdly funny in parts. The brilliant Renate Reinsve creates with very little, such an emotional atmosphere around her relationship to her undead son, that by the end of the movie my face was soaked in tears. All, I can say is that I agree with her difficult decision which the movie ends on, and I hope I that I’ve made you curious enough to watch it now.

Natatorium (2024)

Since we are still on the topic of small, understated, atmospheric movies that induce subtle chills, I felt like including the debut feature film of Icelandic director Helena Stefansdottir in the list, a little movie called “Natatorium”. The kind of evil present in this movie is subtle and it feels familiar, domestic even. Very much in line with the tales of Shirley Jackson about the family being the epicentre of some truly horrific thoughts and emotions, Natatorium shows the viewers what happens when a family member has a dark ‘hobby’ that she can’t get enough of, a hobby that can be both purifying but also murderous. In certain circumstances, keeping your relatives at arms length can be a life-saving decision and this movie brings this point home like none other.

Something wicked this way comes (1983)

If you are looking for a vintage thrill, then I suggest a dive into the film adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s book ‘Something wicked this way comes’. It’s a sumptuous and well-acted piece that has a big heart at the core of it, that being the relationship between a father and his son, laced as it is with guilt and redemption. The Devil is a showman in this story, and he rules over a spooky circus storming into a little American town during a period reminiscent of the Great Depression. As the Devil does its best to fulfill everyone’s deepest desires at a cost, ghosts from the past also begin to emerge and haunt the lives of the townsfolk. The cinematography is really beautiful and the special effects, although incipient for that time-period, are not that bothersome. On the same note, if you want to explore the “creepy circus” theme a bit more in-depth, then I recommend the heart-breakingly disturbing series “Carnivale” (2003-2005).

Totally Killer (2023)

This one is not so much a frightening watch, as it is a ruthless one. I was completely surprised by this awesome movie, involving colourful and spunky scenery and pretty sarcastic dialogues making fun of the Gen Z, Millenials and Gen X divide. I also love to finally see Kiernan Shipka’s talent utilised well (after the fiasco that the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina sadly was), but she really pulled her strength in this one and gave one of the best performances of her career so far (in my view). Although the movie is pure 80s nostalgia (remember a time when people didn’t have smartphones to interact with each other?!), the killings are pretty brutal and they happen at such a rapid pace that it keeps things interesting and …well, thrilling. You should definitely give it a watch, if you are more of a light-horror/thriller fan. Oh, and there’s also time-travel involved.

GAMES

Nightmare Frames

From the cut scene that ushers you into this game all the way to its sad denouement, Nightmare Frames is such a treat, in terms of story and character portrayals. The dialogues are interesting and often sarcastic, the twist in the plot is kind of unexpected, and the atmosphere is split between the sunny vibes of the 80s Hollywood scene to that of a creepy, rain-afflicted, poor town in the middle of nowhere, in which the haunting elements of the game really come to life. I felt like I was playing two games in one to be honest, much like how our protagonist is split between his real life and that of the stories he builds in his mind through his scripts. I played this during a hot August weekend with the curtains drawn over my bedroom windows and made such a cool memory of the whole experience. Highly recommend.

Welcome to Elderfield Demo ( plus any Halloween mix from Ill-Advised Records)

I have never resonated with a game more than with this creepy little cozy game, that appeared in my life during the summer of one of my deepest depressions. Losing my father this year was a shock to my system that kept me crawling through the last months, devoid of the pleasure of doing anything. As I was healing, I felt increasingly drawn to horror movies, dark tales, murder mysteries and crime thrillers, as if to balance out or maybe to reflect in the exterior my crippled inner world.

When I stumbled upon Welcome to Elderfield, it was like that moment when I discovered Stardew Valley in 2021 and my life changed for the better! I dedicated countless hours of my life playing that chill game as it lowered my cortisol in the morning while I had my coffee. But I could no longer enjoy playing Stardew Valley this year, as all that sweetness and positivity felt like a hoax seeing as I was at the mercy of raging emotions and dark thoughts. So finding the twilight equivalent to a farming RPG was right up my night-striken alley.

The game also began blending with my reality, as I found farmer Hans a comforting presence like my father’s ghost, the tentacled creatures that attack me in the game the same as all the people billing me during a time of economic crisis, the zombies attacking me in the spooky mall, very similar to mindless shoppers bumping into me on the streets of Bucharest. Welcome to Elderfield feels to me like waking up to a world of horrors that I gradually had to adapt to and make some sort of weidly beautiful sense of. This game means so much to me and I highly recommend that you try it out, at least for the awesome soundtrack that it comes with, if not for the story or the excellent atmosphere it brings to the table. I cannot wait for this game’s full release and also for Concerned Ape’s “Haunted Chocolatier” too!

TAROT & ORACLE DECKS

Lastly, I wanted to share with you some of my favourite divinatory resources. As a tarot reader, I like to celebrate Halloween or Samhain by using these decks: 1) Ghoulish Garb’s Terror Tarot, a deck composed of delightfully drawn major arcana cards; 2) the Horror Oracle, a deck I received as a gift from a subscriber, and was pleasantly impressed to find out that it depicts classic horror movies; 3) the very cute and colourful Halloween Tarot (get the tin box edition, for extra ASMR appeal and a sensual experience when you unbox and shuffle); and 4) the one with the most spiritual potential, especially at it can help one confront their Shadow Self, this is the Deep, Dark and Dangerous Oracle, an incursion into creepy mythological Archetypes. I’ve been using it with my clients for a while now and it always gives us something special to think about during each reading. And last but never least, I need to mention the Seasons of the Witch: Samhain Oracle, which is already a cult classic in the spiritual community and it ignited my love for this holiday.

That’s all from me. Remember to eat some pumpkin soup, drink cinnamon-flavoured coffee or have a hot chocolate with some spicy chilli, record the dreams you have during Halloween night and sit and have a meal with your dead ones, honor them by their name and light candles next to their portraits on a home altar.

May you thrive in the darkness!

With spooky love,

Lexi