Take a break from the world’s chaos Friday night and head out to see the almost-full moon. The nighttime spectacle is visible in all parts of the US, weather permitting, astronomy educator and former planetarium director Jeffrey Hunt says. This full moon is romantically called the “harvest moon,” as its the full moon closest to the start of fall.
© Provided by CNET
A brilliant full moon rises at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in 2017. NASA/Kim Shiflett
“The moon is only full for one night (Oct. 1), although it looks full on the nights before and after the official full phase,” Hunt said. “Before and after, it is 98 percent full.”

Load Error
The harvest moon won’t look as full after Friday night, but it’s just a preview for the second full moon of the month, which happens on Halloween. That full moon is called the blue moon, because it’s the second full moon of the same month. And in a rare treat, the 2020 Halloween full moon will be visible to the entire world, rather than just parts of it, for the first time since World War II.
“When I was teaching, my high school students thought a full moon occurred every Halloween,” Hunt told me. Not quite, though pop culture decorations sure make it seem that way. The last Halloween full moon visible around the globe came in 1944, he said. He’s written about the event on his web site, When the Curves Line Up. There was a Halloween full moon for some locations in 1955, but that didn’t include western North America and the western Pacific, Hunt says.
© NASA/Kim Shiflett
A brilliant full moon rises at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in 2017.
While this year’s Halloween full moon will be visible in all parts of the globe, that doesn’t mean every single citizen will have a view. Residents across both North America and South America will see it, as will India, all of Europe and much of Asia. But while Western Australians will see it, those in the central and eastern parts of the country will not.
Know time zones well? “Every time zone has it except those east of (GMT) +8 time zones if they have daylight time, or (GMT) +9 with no daylight time,” Hunt says.
Want to see the Halloween full moon? It’s so bright at the full phase it doesn’t matter if you’re in a crowded city or out on the farm. And you don’t need pricey equipment.
“Walk outside, and take a look,” Hunt says.
Don’t be surprised, though, if you snap a Halloween moon shot with your phone and the photo doesn’t match what you saw.
“When the moon is photographed with a smartphone the results can be disappointing,” Hunt admits. “A telephoto attachment will help make the moon larger.”
If you’re too busy watching horror movies (or doing whatever the coronavirus equivalent of trick-or-treating is), you’ll have to wait until 2039 for another global full moon.
“Of course, full moons occur in October during the intervening years, just not on Halloween,” Hunt says. And a Halloween full moon may appear in your region before then. It just won’t be seen around the world.
Consider celebrating Halloween this year by watching overlooked horror movies featuring deadly cults, unhappy ghosts, killer clowns, evil dolls, tentacled sea creatures and vengeful witches. We sure hope you like nightmares.Lured back to her hometown, a famous horror author Emma Larsimon (Victoire Du Bois) discovers that the evil spirit Marianne, who has plagued her dreams since childhood is real and threatening the lives of her friends and family. She must venture back to her hometown to put an end to the evil before it kills everyone she loves.Available on Netflix. Watch the trailer.Originally published Oct. 30, 2015 and updated annually with new movies and TV shows.
Little Monsters tells the hilarious and horrific story of a washed-up musician (Alexander England) who teams up with kindergarten teacher (Lupita Nyong’o) and children’s TV show personality (Josh Gad) to protect young children from a sudden outbreak of zombies.Available on Hulu. Watch the trailer.
The horror-thriller The Perfection shows what happens when a once-promising music prodigy reconnects with her former mentors, only to find them taken with a talented new pupil. Jealousy and revenge dominate this creepy tale of what happens when you let the quest for perfection cloud your reality. Available on Netflix. Watch the trailer.
Wounds stars Armie Hammer as a bartender who finds a phone left in his bar by some college kids. He discovers some rather disturbing (and bloody) images on the phone and soon ends up in a nightmare he can’t escape. The movie also stars Dakota Johnson as his girlfriend who falls victim to the mysterious evil lurking in the phone’s mysterious photos. Available on Hulu.Watch the trailer.
Eli (Charlie Shotwell) is a young boy suffering from a rare disease that causes severe allergic reactions to the outdoors. But when he arrives with his parents at a mysterious clinic to undergo an experimental procedure to rid him of his painful condition, he suspects the place is haunted by the children who died at the clinic. Lili Taylor plays the clinic’s mysterious Dr. Isabella Horn and Stranger Things’ Sadie Sink plays Eli’s only friend, Haley. Available on Netflix. Watch the trailer.
The Influence (La Influencia) is a Spanish horror film about what happens when a vindictive witch gets revenge from her deathbed. Sisters Alicia (Manuela Velles) and Sara (Maggie Civantos) return home to tend to their ailing mother who abused them as children. Now Alicia’s daughter Nora (Claudia Placer) could be in grave danger.Available on Netflix. Watch the trailer.
Family vacations aren’t always fun getaways. Into the Dark: They Come Knocking tells the story of a grieving family who have ventured to a remote desert campsite to spread a mother’s ashes, only to cross paths with a group of creepy children who want a lot more than a playdate. The movie stars Clayne Crawford, Josephine Langford and Lia McHugh.Available on Hulu. Watch the trailer.
After Native American teen Sasha (Sivan Alyra Rose) receives a heart transplant from recently deceased wealthy girl Becky (Lilliya Scarlett Reid), she begins to have unexplained visions about the her heart’s previous owner, as well as a creepy cult. As the horror series Chambers unfolds, we see the dead girl’s parents played by Uma Thurman and Tony Goldwyn take an unhealthy interest in and invite her to live with them. Soon more details of Becky’s troubled family life come to the surface. Available on Netflix. Watch the trailer.
Tigers Are Not Afraid is both a haunting and heartbreaking horror fairytale that takes place during Mexico’s deadly drug wars. The movie follows a group of orphaned, homeless children who are granted three magical wishes. As they run from the ghosts that haunt them as well as the drug cartel who murdered their parents, the kids are faced with even more horrors. Available on Amazon Prime Video (via Shudder add-on).Watch the trailer.
The Two Sentence Horror Stories anthology series includes scary stories about series killers who targets moms; an abusive husband’s ghost who haunts his family; a babysitter who finds herself in danger from intruders; sinister doctors who prey on a teenage cancer patient; and a vlogger battling a social media stalker, just to name a few. This is the perfect horror series for those viewer who want super-short stories to give them the chills. The first season consists of ten 30-minute episodes.Available on Netflix. Watch the trailer.
In Requiem, talented cellist Matilda Gray (Lydia Wilson) has her life suddenly turned upside down when her mother commits suicide. While going through her deceased mom’s possessions, Matilda finds an old box filled with newspaper cuttings about the disappearance of a young girl from a small Welsh village more than 20 years ago. She begins to suspect she may be the missing girl and goes in search for the truth, which could include a sinister cult and the truth about her destiny. Available on Netflix. Watch the trailer.
The Light as a Feather TV series on Hulu tells the story of four best friends who invite the shy new girl out on Halloween but regret their decision when she suggests they play a twisted version of Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board. When the friends start dying, the remaining survivors must solve the mystery before all of them are killed off. This series has plenty of twists and turns to keep horror fans entertained, but it’s also an interesting commentary on friendship, betrayal and bullying. Available on Hulu.Watch the trailer.
Horror docuseries Haunted interviews real people who’ve had very scary real-life paranormal encounters. The TV series re-creates their stories with entertainingly creepy dramatizations. But it also gives many of those people who lived among ghosts some closure. Available on Netflix.Watch the trailer.
Witches, murderers, ghosts, plagues and other scary things descend in the second season of Amazon’s horror anthology series Lore.From an executive producer of The Walking Dead and an executive producer of The Exorcist, this new season of the critically acclaimed anthology series explores real-life disturbing tales behind well-known myths and legends.Available on Amazon.Watch the trailer.
Being a teenager is hard enough, but add witchcraft to the mix and things get even more complicated. In the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, half-human half-witch Sabrina (Kiernan Shipka) must balance her life as a teenager with her legacy in the Church of Night. This series explores everything from feminism to friendship. Available on Netflix.Watch the trailer.
Apostle stars Dan Stevens as a troubled man in the early 1900s who travels to a remote island incognito to rescue his sister, who was kidnapped by a sadistic religious cult. The first part of the movie is a slow-burn mystery, but by the second half the story turns into a crazy bloodbath full of mythology and murder. Available on Netflix.Watch the trailer.
In the movie Malevolent, brother and sister team Angela (Florence Pugh) and Jackson (Ben Lloyd-Hughes) seem like con artists who prey on grief-stricken people wanting to contact dead loved ones. Things are going well until Mrs. Green (Celia Imrie) hires the siblings and their team. They soon learn her home was once an orphanage where gruesome murders of young girls took place. But Angela starts to really see ghosts when she’s confronted by the terrifying truth behind the orphanage murders. Available on Netflix.Watch the trailer.
In The Open House, a mother and her teenage son move to a relative’s vacant vacation home after a tragedy occurs. But as soon as they get settled in, unexplained forces seem to conspire against them. Is this the work of the supernatural or merely evil neighbors? Available on Netflix.Watch the trailer.
The Haunting of Hill House TV series on Netflix is a reimagining of the beloved Shirley Jackson novel of the same name about five siblings who grew up in the famous haunted house with their parents. Director Mike Flanagan’s beautifully shot series takes place over two timelines, when the siblings are children and then adults. Though the series centers on a haunted house, the story delves more into how a family deals with suicide, drug abuse, betrayal, grief and trauma. Available on Netflix.Watch the trailer.
Delirium is a chilling psychological horror film starring Topher Grace as Tom, who’s recently been released from a mental institution and is living under house arrest. As he spends his days catching up on his lost teenage years, he starts to suspect his family home is haunted by his father, who committed suicide.Available on Netflix.Watch the trailer.
Twins Rachel (Charlotte Vega) and Edward (Bill Milner) have an unusual attachment to their creepy family home. Each night, the property becomes the domain of a sinister presence called The Lodgers that enforces three rules upon the siblings. They must be in bed by midnight; they can’t allow outsiders to come inside; and if one of them attempts escape, the life of the other is in danger.When a troubled war veteran who lives in the nearby village is attracted to Rachel, she returns his affections by breaking rules, and that puts her brother’s life in jeopardy. Available on Netflix.Watch the trailer.
A retired wolf expert (Jeffrey Wright) is summoned to the dangerous Alaskan wilderness to investigate a child’s disappearance in Hold the Dark. As the mystery unfolds, wolves may not be the real predators. Available on Netflix.Watch the trailer.
In Blumhouse’s anthology series Into the Dark on Hulu, a new installment centers on a different holiday, with the first being for Halloween. In Into the Dark: The Body, a hit man ends up at a costume party, with his latest dead victim wrapped up in cellophane like a costume prop. Available on Hulu.Watch the trailer.
Angela Rance (Genna Davis) is convinced her daughter could be possessed by an evil demon so she enlists the help of Father Tomas Ortega (Alfonso Herrera) for help. The Exorcist TV series takes turn after unexpected turn, and offers plenty of shout-outs to the original 1973 Exorcist movie. Available on Hulu. Watch the trailer.
During a solar eclipse, a teen girl named Veronica (Sandra Escacena) uses a Ouija board with her friends to try to summon the spirit of her dead father. But something goes wrong during their session and she soon finds herself stalked by a sinister supernatural force. Veronica seeks help from a blind nun at her school who has the comforting nickname Sister Death, and it just gets weirder from there.Available on Netflix.Watch the trailer.
What happens when you find out your favorite babysitter (Samara Weaving) is actually stealing your blood to extend for black magic spells with her friends? That’s exactly what happens to young Cole (Judah Lewis) in the comedy-horror film The Babysitter. Cole must find a way to stop his babysitter and her teen coven from killing him now that he knows their deadly secret.Available on Netflix. Watch the trailer.
Even if Halloween is your favorite spooky holiday, that doesn’t mean it’s the scariest. In this anthology of short horror films, Holidays gives other holidays their own terrifying tales. The Easter bunny is anything but cuddly. Unrequited crushes get a bloody tribute on Valentine’s Day. And shopping for the ultimate Christmas gift takes on a truly dark turn. Even Mother’s Day gets a witchy makeover.Available on Netflix.Watch the trailer.
A crazed serial killer stalking a woman staying in a remote cabin in the woods is nothing new in the horror film genre. But in Hush the woman is anything but defenseless even though she happens to be completely deaf. I watched the film on mute and then re-watched it again with sound to see if it was just as terrifying to experience if I couldn’t hear like the lead character. The verdict is that the movie is scary either way, but it offers an unusual twist that makes it extra fun to watch twice. Available on Netflix.Watch the trailer.
Shortly after delivering a patient to an understaffed hospital, a police officer experiences strange and violent events inside the building that appear to be linked to a group of mysterious hooded figures standing outside. Is it a cult, an alien invasion or something even worse?Available on Amazon Prime Video.Watch the trailer.
In The Witch, an English farmer relocates his wife and five children to a remote plot of New England land after being banished by his church. Their new home sits next to a mysterious forest where an unknown evil lurks. Soon, strange things begin to happen — animals turn vicious, crops fail, a child goes missing, and another child is possessed by an evil spirit. Family members accuse teenage daughter Thomasin of witchcraft, but is she really to blame?Available on Netflix.Watch the trailer.
When a man (played by Logan Marshall-Green) accepts an invitation to a dinner party hosted by his ex-wife (Tammy Blanchard) and her new husband (Michiel Huisman), the event evolves from awkward to dangerous. He soon suspects sinister plans are in store for all the dinner guests, including him. Available on Netflix.Watch the trailer.
Anna (Beth Riesgraf) suffers from severe agoraphobia and hasn’t left her childhood home in the 10 years since her father died. She takes care of her dying brother Conrad (Timothy T. McKinney) and also receives daily food deliveries from Dan (Rory Culkin), whom she befriends. But when her brother dies and she’s left all alone in the house, three men decide to break in to steal money. While this may feel like a typical home invasion horror film, things aren’t what they seem. Available on Amazon Prime. Watch the trailer.
The British-American horror drama television series Penny Dreadful features the intertwined tales of Mina Harker, Count Dracula, Victor Frankenstein and his monster, Dorian Gray, Dr. Henry Jekyll, Van Helsing, Dr. Seward, Renfield, as well as various witches, vampires and werewolves. The series has an all-star cast including Timothy Dalton, Eva Green, Billie Piper, Patti LuPone and Josh Hartnett, to name a few. While the series only lasted three seasons, Penny Dreadful takes a fresh look at these famous horror story characters that will leave you even more frightened of the things that go bump in the night. Available on Netflix.Watch the trailer.
What happens to an immortal from the Bible who’s stuck living with the worst of humanity in modern times? In He Never Died, Jack (played by punk icon/actor Henry Rollins) is an immortal who must stick to a boring, predictable daily routine (sleep, eat at the same diner, go to bingo, buy blood from a hospital worker and go back to sleep) to avoid his cannibalistic ways. But when his ex tells him their daughter Andrea (Jordan Todosey) is on the way to his apartment for a visit, his life is turned upside down. Rollins expertly plays an exasperated immortal who just wants to be left alone but can’t help killing everyone who annoys him. Even when he’s covered in blood and eating human flesh, it’s hard not to root for him.Available on Netflix.Watch the trailer.
The only good Nazi is a dead Nazi. But what happens when Adolf Hitler and his ruthless SS troops come back from the dead? In Dead Snow, a ski vacation turns deadly when a group of medical students run into the stuff of nightmares — Nazi zombies. In its sequel Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead Russian zombie World War II soldiers fight Nazi zombies in the ultimate battle. While these plots sound like South Park episodes, the movies are a mix of comedy and complete terror. After all, who wants to be stuck in a snowstorm with a bunch of evil Nazis that eat human flesh?Both Dead Snow (2009) and Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead (2014) are available on Amazon Prime Video.Watch the Dead Snow trailer here and the Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead trailer here.
A clairvoyant diner cook (played by late Star Trek actor Anton Yelchin) joins forces with his girlfriend (Addison Timlin) and the town sheriff (Willem Dafoe) to prevent an unknown catastrophe from happening. Odd Thomas is both funny and horrifying, but considering how Yelchin died from a freak accident in real life, the movie seems extra eerie. That said, this movie really shows how talented Yelchin was and how dearly he will be missed. Available on Amazon Prime. Watch the trailer.
Florence Cathcart (played by Rebecca Hall), a skeptic of all paranormal activity, has made it her personal mission to unmask charlatans who pretend to speak to the dead to make money off the bereaved. But what happens when she actually comes face-to-face with a ghost? Florence is hired by a boys school headmaster (Dominic West) who thinks his students are being harassed by a spirit of a little boy. The Awakening, set in 1921, is dark, sad and hauntingly beautiful. Available on Amazon Prime Video.Watch the trailer.
In Grabbers, giant tentacled creatures attack a small Irish island. But when the residents discover the monsters hate a high blood alcohol level in their victims, there’s only one thing the residents can do: fight the creatures while staying very, very drunk. This movie is more quirky than truly frightening. Plus, it’s a great movie to watch while drinking a few whisky cocktails, or on the rocks just like the brave but sloshed humans in the movie. Available on Hulu.Watch trailer.
What happens when a couple of well-meaning hicks get mistaken for deranged maniacs? In Tucker and Dale vs. Evil, we see two hillbillies played by Tyler Labine and Alan Tudyk, get accused of murder by unlucky and paranoid college kids who keep dropping like flies. The movie turns every horror film cliche — promiscuous teens, idiot jocks, wood chipper deaths and evil in the woods — into a twisted joke. You’ll laugh, scream, wince and hope Tucker and Dale get out alive.Available on Netflix.Watch trailer.
Not all cannibals are sadistic freaks who need to eat human flesh to survive. Or at least that’s what We Are What We Are tries to convince us. For the cannibals in this horror film, it’s not only a way of life, it’s a religion. And it doesn’t help matters when you’re a young girl in love, and your dad insists on eating your crushes. Available on Amazon Prime.Watch trailer.
Sometimes you just need to relax while mocking a retro horror film. Tourist Trap is the kind of gruesome and weird horror film that will make you laugh and scream at the same time. The movie shows unsuspecting victims tormented by a serial killer who likes to make giant puppets from mannequins, and possibly corpses. This movie can also be seen via Shudder’s The Last Drive-In hosted by film critic and comedian Joe Bob Briggs who offers his hysterical take on the horror film starring The Rifleman star Chuck Connors.Available on Amazon Prime Video. Watch the original movie trailer.
Aliens who want to wipe out the human race are nothing new. But what if the aliens looked like circus clowns? Not that we need a reason to be scared of clowns, but Killer Klowns from Outer Space doesn’t make our phobias any less real. These alien clowns are here for one thing only, to use humans as a food source. Plus, the clowns put on one horrific puppet show. Available on Amazon Prime Video.Watch trailer.
A black and white German silent film may not seem like the ultimate scare-fest, but The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari was the kind of movie that gave everyone who saw it in 1920 plenty of nightmares. In the film, insane hypnotist Dr. Caligari uses a somnambulist (someone under hypnosis) to commit horrific murders, and even a kidnapping that leads to an insane asylum. The plot could easily apply today considering how many people use hypnosis to lose weight or stop smoking. But what really makes this film unique is its artistic visual style featuring unusual landscapes that twist in unusual angles. The film is an essential work of German Expressionist cinema that some historians say was a premonition of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Available on Amazon Prime Video.Watch the trailer.
43/43 SLIDES