Halloween horrors: The most frightening TV to watch this weekend

Halloween wouldn't be Halloween without some scary viewing lined up to enjoy over your trick or treat haul.

Box set binge fans, hardcore horror film nuts and younger viewers who want something a little more gentle are all well catered for this year.

Read more: What to watch on Netflix this October

Take a look at our pick of the best fright night viewing for Halloween 2021.

Halloween weekend TV highlights

Strictly Halloween week - BBC One - Saturday, 7.10pm

It might not be the most frightening thing on TV, but Strictly Come Dancing's Halloween special is always one of the highlights of the series.

The costume department goes wild, the classic Halloween party songs are wheeled out, and some of the most exciting routines of the series feature in this live episode.

Doctor Who - BBC One - Sunday, 6.25pm

Whovians have been keenly awaiting the start of season 13 - which aptly makes its debut on Halloween.

Dark forces are stirring from the Arctic Circle to the deepest, darkest depths of space in this Halloween-themed episode which sees Jodie Whittaker begin her last run as the Doctor.

Beetle Juice - Channel 5 - Sunday, 5.35pm

Who doesn't love Beetle Juice? The 1988 film toes just the right line between a little bit scary and a lot of fun for perfect family Halloween viewing.

The Small Hand: A Ghost Story - Channel 5 - Sunday, 10pm

If you're looking for something a little more frightening later in the evening, Channel 5 has this adaptation from master of the ghost story Susan Hill.

Douglas Henshall plays an antique book dealer haunted by the ghost of a young boy in this suitably creepy tale.

Halloween streaming service highlights

Netflix

You

Earlier this month, Netflix launched the eagerly-awaited third season of You, seeing serial killer Joe move to suburbia with his equally-unhinged wife Love.

If you're looking for a Halloween box set binge, this is the ideal show to mix dark humour with a creepy thriller.

Halloween

You can't beat a classic horror film at Halloween, and Netflix is offering the best franchise there is for this time of year.

Michael Myers murdered his teenage sister when he was just six years old as she babysat him on Halloween night, and when he escapes from a mental institution, his hometown babysitters get the fright of their lives.

Squid Game

If you're one of the few people in the world not yet to have seen Netflix's biggest ever launch, now is a great time.

The genuinely disturbing series sees a group of hard-up game contestants desperate for money agree to a deadly series of challenges where there can only be one winner.

It's taken the world by storm recently and is sure to spawn many a Halloween costume.

Midnight Mass/The Haunting of Hill House/The Haunting of Bly Manor

All from the mind of horror creator Mike Flanagan, this Netflix collection includes The Haunting anthology and his latest series, Midnight Mass.

Classic ghost story fans will enjoy the scares of The Haunting series, while Midnight Mass provides your zombie fix for Halloween.

There's Someone Inside Your House

As well as offering us the classics, Netflix's comprehensive Halloween category also includes some movies made in-house.

An adaptation of a horror novel, There's Someone Inside Your House features a teen who had recently moved to a new school where students are being murdered by a killer who stalks them while wearing life-like masks of their own faces.

Amazon Prime Video

Welcome to the Blumhouse

A quartet of creepy movies makes up this scary series that arrived back at Amazon this month.

Bingo Hell sees a senior citizen take on a bingo hall owner as members of her community are killed, while Black as Night features a teenage girl facing off against New Orleans vampires.

Read more: All the best things streaming on Amazon Prime Video this October

Madres follows a couple who discover a dark secret in their new small-town home, and The Manor is a dark gothic tale set in an assisted living facility for the elderly.

I Know What You Did Last Summer

Remember the 90s hit horror film? It's now been rebooted as a TV series which launched recently at Amazon.

The premise is familiar, as a deadly mystery stalker seeks revenge for crimes committed a year earlier.

Disney+

Books of Blood

The adaptation of Clive Barker's horror anthology originally aired on Hulu in the US, but its horrifying trio of episodes began streaming on Disney+ this month.

Just Beyond

The most recent RL Stine screen adaptation is this anthology series based on his graphic novel, which has been compared to The Twilight Zone.

Read more: What's streaming on Disney+ in October?

American Horror Story

This might not be a full new series of American Horror Story, but the double-bill - Red Tide takes place "by the sea", and Death Valley takes place "by the sand" - promises to be just as terrifying as you'd expect.

Evan Peters, Sarah Paulson, Lily Rabe and Frances Conroy are back in new roles, with Macaulay Culkin joining the ensemble as one of the most high-profile new additions.

Shudder

Creepshow

Based on the 1982 horror comedy classic, this TV series sees the pages of a graphic novel come to life.

Covering murder, monsters, delusions and the supernatural, you never know what will be on the next page...

Horror Noire

The film anthology showcases the best work in the horror genre by Black actors, directors and writers.

It's a follow-up to the critically acclaimed 2019 documentary Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror.

NOW

Us

Lupita Nyong'o, Winston Duke and Elisabeth Moss star in this fright-filled movie about a family on a hellish beach trip.

Things quickly turn nightmarish when they begin being stalked by their own murderous doppelgangers.

The Shining

Is there anything more creepingly menacing than Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall's characters holed up in a shut-down ski resort with nowhere to turn as Nicholson's character goes slowly mad?

The Stephen King novel 1980 adaptation includes some of the most famous scenes in horror - the twins in the corridor of blood, the lady in the bath, and Nicholson bursting through the splintered door as he raves "Here's Johnny!".

The best kids' Halloween TV and movies

Little ones in need of some mildly scary viewing while they much through their trick or treat spoils have plenty to choose from this year.

TV, film and plenty of animated shows offer just the right amount of fright that won't keep kids up all night - although the sugar rush might instead.

Here's our pick of the best for kids this Halloween.

Scaredy-Cats - Netflix

Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit - Amazon Prime Video

A Tale Dark and Grimm - Netflix

LEGO Star Wars: Terrifying Tales - Disney+

Muppets Haunted Mansion - Disney+

Vampirina - Disney+

Coraline - NOW

Corpse Bride - ITV2 - Sunday, 2.10pm

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows parts 1 and 2 - ITV2 - Sunday, from 3.50pm

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