Essy's Essentials

The Great October Watchlist

Thirty-one nights. Far too many streaming services. One very important question: how brave are we feeling?

Not everything here is Halloween. Everything here feels right in October.

There are evenings for proper horror.

There are evenings for witches, old houses and things moving where they really shouldn’t.

And then there are evenings when the most frightening thing I’m prepared to deal with is somebody’s pastry collapsing in the Bake Off tent.

This list is for all of them.

I’ve gathered the films and series I want around in October - from childhood comfort and cosy mysteries to gothic houses, questionable supernatural decisions and a very small collection of things I frankly regret watching.

Choose your level of bravery.

How Brave Are We Feeling?

The spiders do not tell you whether something is good.

They tell you whether I expect you to still feel perfectly relaxed when you switch the lights off.

Filter & Sort
Format
Fright Level
Mood
Time
A comforting, candlelit autumn film-night still life - nothing frightening in sight.

When Even One Spider Is Too Many

For evenings when October is welcome but trauma is not.

Matilda (1996)

Film
Essy Watched & Loved
  • Pure Comfort
  • Autumn Nostalgia
  • Magic

Books, chocolate cake, a little magic and peak nineties comfort. I will never be too old for this.

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Good Witch

Series
Essy Watched & Loved
  • Pure Comfort
  • Witchy

Is it groundbreaking television? No. Did I absolutely love every cosy, mildly magical minute of it? Yes.

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Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001)

Film
  • Magic
  • Autumn Nostalgia
  • Pure Comfort

Candles, feasts, Hogwarts and the annual reminder that October should really come with a rewatch requirement.

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Gilmore Girls

Series
  • Pure Comfort
  • Autumn Nostalgia

Coffee, books, Stars Hollow and an almost unreasonable amount of autumn comfort.

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Only Murders in the Building

Series
  • Cosy Mystery
  • Pure Comfort

Beautiful apartments, excellent coats and just enough murder to keep things interesting.

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The Great British Bake Off

Reality
  • Pure Comfort
  • British Comfort

Nobody is haunted. Someone’s pastry has collapsed. Perfect.

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Essy Watched & Loved

The ones I am personally prepared to defend.

Matilda (1996)

Film
Essy Watched & Loved
  • Pure Comfort
  • Autumn Nostalgia
  • Magic

Books, chocolate cake, a little magic and peak nineties comfort. I will never be too old for this.

Check Where to Watch

The Witches (2020)

Film
Essy Watched & Loved
  • Witchy
  • Gothic

Stylish, witchy and just spooky enough to stay firmly on the comfort side of October.

Check Where to Watch

Good Witch

Series
Essy Watched & Loved
  • Pure Comfort
  • Witchy

Is it groundbreaking television? No. Did I absolutely love every cosy, mildly magical minute of it? Yes.

Check Where to Watch

The Five Star Weekend

Series
Essy Watched & Loved
  • Pure Comfort
  • Autumn Nostalgia

Nantucket, beautiful houses and grown-up friendship drama. I found this absolutely fantastic.

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A witchy autumn still life - candles, herbs and old books.

Witchy October

Magic, candles and questionable decisions made by people with excellent houses.

Practical Magic (1998)

Film
  • Witchy
  • Pure Comfort
  • Magic

Witches, candles and that house. This is basically self-care.

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Hocus Pocus (1993)

Film
  • Witchy
  • Magic

Halloween with absolutely no requirement to be brave.

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The Witches (2020)

Film
Essy Watched & Loved
  • Witchy
  • Gothic

Stylish, witchy and just spooky enough to stay firmly on the comfort side of October.

Check Where to Watch

The Craft (1996)

Film
  • Witchy
  • Gothic

Teen witches, questionable choices and peak nineties energy.

Check Where to Watch

Wednesday

Series
  • Gothic
  • Cosy Mystery

Nevermore Academy has done more for October uniforms than any school reasonably should.

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A Discovery of Witches

Series
  • Witchy
  • Gothic

Books, witches, vampires and Oxford. A very efficient use of an October evening.

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A gothic film-night still life - an old house, candlelight and shadow.

Gothic, Please

Old houses, candlelight, unfortunate family histories and almost no overhead lighting.

Sleepy Hollow (1999)

Film
  • Gothic
  • Supernatural

Fog, woods and a headless horseman. Immaculate October behaviour.

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Crimson Peak (2015)

Film
  • Gothic
  • Supernatural

The house is magnificent. Unfortunately, it is also a terrible place to live.

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Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)

Film
  • Gothic
  • Supernatural

Candlelight, velvet and Gary Oldman being extremely committed to the assignment.

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The Others (2001)

Film
  • Gothic
  • Supernatural

Elegant, quiet and exactly the kind of scary that makes an old house seem like a poor investment.

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Penny Dreadful

Series
  • Gothic
  • Proper Horror

Victorian London, monsters and absolutely immaculate gothic commitment.

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The Haunting of Bly Manor

Miniseries
  • Gothic
  • Supernatural

Beautiful house. Tragic love. Entirely too many reasons to avoid looking out of windows.

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A darker, more unsettling film-night still life for the braver shelf.

I Have Made a Terrible Decision

For people who looked at three spiders and thought: no, I can do worse.

The Conjuring (2013)

Film
  • Supernatural
  • Proper Horror

At some point this stops being a cosy haunted-house situation entirely.

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The Haunting of Hill House

Miniseries
  • Gothic
  • Proper Horror

Beautifully made. Emotionally devastating. Also, what exactly was standing in the background?

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Insidious (2010)

Film
  • Supernatural
  • Proper Horror

No. That thing behind him. NO.

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Sinister (2012)

Film
  • Supernatural
  • Proper Horror

NEVER AGAIN. Why did we press play?

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Hereditary (2018)

Film
  • Psychological
  • Proper Horror

This isn’t a movie night. This is an ordeal.

Check Where to Watch

IT: Welcome to Derry

Series
  • Supernatural
  • Proper Horror

Pennywise was already quite enough the first time, thank you.

Check Where to Watch

Essy’s Seasonal Ambience

Press Play & Stay a While

  • Keep It CosyCozy Cabin Ambience
  • Make It SpookyScary Forest Halloween Ambience

Found Tonight’s Terrible Decision?

Good. Put the lamps on, get the snacks and don’t blame me if you choose five spiders.

Make It a Movie Night