{"id":5579,"date":"2016-03-14T02:23:50","date_gmt":"2016-03-13T20:53:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=5579"},"modified":"2016-03-14T02:23:50","modified_gmt":"2016-03-13T20:53:50","slug":"spooky-october-halloween-binge-watch-horror-movies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=5579","title":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s Call It Spooktober: Why October is the Best Time to Binge on Horror"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I<\/span><\/p><\/div>

t might sound strange, but last week, on a typically still October night in <\/span>Mumbai<\/span><\/a>, I got goosebumps. It had nothing to do with the weather \u2013 in Mumbai, October is when the sun takes its blazing revenge on the city for enjoying the rains \u2013 but with what I was reading on my phone. I was engrossed in a Reddit thread where people who worked the night shift alone were sharing the creepiest experiences they\u2019d had on the job. Somewhere between reading the stories of a security guard following phantom footsteps around an empty factory and an interstate trucker who stopped for a night-time snack, only to find the <\/span>diner<\/span><\/a> had been closed for five years when he revisited it in daylight on his return journey, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck and on my arms rise up. Sure, getting sleep was difficult that night, but I wouldn\u2019t do anything differently. Because of all the months in the year, October is the best one in which to scare yourself silly.<\/span>\n\nAt first, this might seem strange to some. Isn\u2019t October one of the most-crowded months on the Indian festive calendar? Dussehra and <\/span>Diwali<\/span><\/a> usually fall within October, pandals for <\/span>Durga Pujo<\/span><\/a> spring up in narrow streets, and garba music emanates from venues filled with revellers celebrating Navratri. The blooms of firecrackers lighting up the night sky become more frequent, their brightness rivalled only by the flashy festive attire people sport on their way to functions. But as the old proverb goes, \u201cMan proposes, God disposes\u201d, and while we humans are busy trying to make the month of October as colourful as possible, Mother Nature has entirely different designs.<\/span>\n\nOctober is the twilit month of the year, suspended between bright summers and shadowy winters. As far as being colourful goes, October has no interest in it. Instead, it resolutely leaches colour out of the world, introducing greys, blues, and the black that will become more familiar in the months ahead. Days grow shorter. Even on the occasions when there is sunlight, it can be maddeningly <\/span>schizophrenic<\/span><\/a>, with the sun\u2019s face suddenly being obscured from view by a cloudy shroud thrown over it by the retreating monsoon winds. The weather is equally erratic, going from pleasant and breezy to cemetery-still in seconds. And in places more temperate than Mumbai, the first dips in the mercury are felt, heralding the chilly winter to come. The diurnal birds return to their roosts earlier and earlier, leaving the darkening skies to owls, bats, and other things that go bump in the night. For a <\/span>fan of horror<\/span><\/a>, there\u2019s no better time in the year.<\/span>\n\nThe summer months are perfect for beach vacations and superhero blockbusters, the monsoon showers are the ideal time to enjoy steaming cups of chai and acoustic music \u2013 different times of the year call for different distractions, and fear, or at least a fascination with the unknown, is my preferred poison for October. In the last week of September, I was neck-deep in the middle of a <\/span>Peaky Blinders<\/span><\/i> binge. Come October, I dropped it to dive headfirst into <\/span>The Terror<\/span><\/i>, swapping a gangster drama for a survival horror series without a second thought. My justification to my <\/span>girlfriend<\/span><\/a>, who was as caught up in <\/span>Peaky Blinders <\/span><\/i>as I was, was simply \u201cIt\u2019s October.\u201d<\/span>\n\n

Say what you will about their taste in Presidents, but you must credit Americans for fully realising October\u2019s macabre potential.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\nThis year, it was <\/span>The Terror<\/span><\/i> and the new <\/span>Stephen King<\/span><\/a> adaptation, <\/span>In the Tall Grass<\/span><\/i>, with which I greeted the season of spookiness. Last year, I chose to re-watch <\/span>The Shining<\/span><\/i>, because even if Mumbai is going to withhold the eerie delight of powdered snow covering everything in sight from me, Stanley Kubrick will always provide. The year before that, it was <\/span>The Witch<\/span><\/i>, a movie so wondrously unsettling that it managed to make a goat seem like the scariest entity in all of creation. I keep going back to it every October, if I run out of stories that make me jump out of my skin.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\n\nIt\u2019s no coincidence that <\/span>Halloween<\/span><\/a> lands in October. Say what you will about their taste in Presidents, but you must credit Americans for fully realising the month\u2019s macabre potential. And since the US is still the de facto global superpower, their popular culture trickles down across the globe. Suddenly, websites begin ranking the best horror movies and shows, and spooky memes become almost as ubiquitous as cat videos on the internet (at least for a time). In the past few years there\u2019s been a trend to look down our noses at people celebrating Halloween as being too Americanised, but if being called Americanised is the price of enjoying a spooky October, so be it.<\/span>\n\nSo while your <\/span>family<\/span><\/a> might think you\u2019re weird for bringing a collection of Edgar Allan Poe stories on your Diwali trip, don\u2019t deny yourself the frightening pleasure of enjoying horror in the month it was best meant to be enjoyed.<\/span>\n\n\u00a0\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

October is a twilit month, suspended between bright summers and shadowy winters. For a fan of horror, there\u2019s no better time in the year. This year, it\u2019s The Terror, a gripping survival horror series, and the new Stephen King adaptation, In the Tall Grass, with which I\u2019m greeting the season of spookiness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":5580,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[919,9473,9474,80,4902,9475,6740,1316,9476],"class_list":["post-5579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pop-culture","tag-halloween","tag-horror-movies","tag-in-the-tall-grass","tag-mumbai","tag-october","tag-spooky","tag-stephen-king","tag-the-shining","tag-the-terror"],"yoast_head":"\nLet\u2019s Call It Spooktober: Why October is the Best Time to Binge on Horror<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"October is a twilit month, suspended between bright summers and shadowy winters. For a fan of horror, there\u2019s no better time in the year. This year, it\u2019s The Terror, a gripping survival horror series, and the new Stephen King adaptation, In the Tall Grass, with which I\u2019m greeting the season of spookiness.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=5579\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Let\u2019s Call It Spooktober: Why October is the Best Time to Binge on Horror\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"October is a twilit month, suspended between bright summers and shadowy winters. For a fan of horror, there\u2019s no better time in the year. This year, it\u2019s The Terror, a gripping survival horror series, and the new Stephen King adaptation, In the Tall Grass, with which I\u2019m greeting the season of spookiness.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=5579\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arr\u00e9\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-03-13T20:53:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1571384072.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1520\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"850\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dushyant Shekhawat\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Let\u2019s Call It Spooktober: Why October is the Best Time to Binge on Horror\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"October is a twilit month, suspended between bright summers and shadowy winters. For a fan of horror, there\u2019s no better time in the year. This year, it\u2019s The Terror, a gripping survival horror series, and the new Stephen King adaptation, In the Tall Grass, with which I\u2019m greeting the season of spookiness.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dushyant Shekhawat\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=5579#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=5579\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Dushyant Shekhawat\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/933099a2338957592f7fff40263742db\"},\"headline\":\"Let\u2019s Call It Spooktober: Why October is the Best Time to Binge on Horror\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-03-13T20:53:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=5579\"},\"wordCount\":865,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=5579#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1571384072.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Halloween\",\"horror movies\",\"In the Tall Grass\",\"mumbai\",\"October\",\"spooky\",\"Stephen King\",\"The Shining\",\"The Terror\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Pop Culture\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=5579\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=5579\",\"name\":\"Let\u2019s Call It Spooktober: Why October is the Best Time to Binge on Horror\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=5579#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=5579#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1571384072.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-03-13T20:53:50+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/933099a2338957592f7fff40263742db\"},\"description\":\"October is a twilit month, suspended between bright summers and shadowy winters. For a fan of horror, there\u2019s no better time in the year. This year, it\u2019s The Terror, a gripping survival horror series, and the new Stephen King adaptation, In the Tall Grass, with which I\u2019m greeting the season of spookiness.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=5579#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=5579\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=5579#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1571384072.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1571384072.png\",\"width\":1520,\"height\":850},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=5579#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Let\u2019s Call It Spooktober: Why October is the Best Time to Binge on Horror\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/\",\"name\":\"Arr\u00e9\",\"description\":\"In every person lies a creator and in every creator, an enterprise.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/933099a2338957592f7fff40263742db\",\"name\":\"Dushyant Shekhawat\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1f954968c96ac296f8a855e9f7c24b2da221736e30aceb00a9cb1016fec0291f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1f954968c96ac296f8a855e9f7c24b2da221736e30aceb00a9cb1016fec0291f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1f954968c96ac296f8a855e9f7c24b2da221736e30aceb00a9cb1016fec0291f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dushyant Shekhawat\"},\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?author=43\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Let\u2019s Call It Spooktober: Why October is the Best Time to Binge on Horror","description":"October is a twilit month, suspended between bright summers and shadowy winters. For a fan of horror, there\u2019s no better time in the year. This year, it\u2019s The Terror, a gripping survival horror series, and the new Stephen King adaptation, In the Tall Grass, with which I\u2019m greeting the season of spookiness.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=5579","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Let\u2019s Call It Spooktober: Why October is the Best Time to Binge on Horror","og_description":"October is a twilit month, suspended between bright summers and shadowy winters. For a fan of horror, there\u2019s no better time in the year. This year, it\u2019s The Terror, a gripping survival horror series, and the new Stephen King adaptation, In the Tall Grass, with which I\u2019m greeting the season of spookiness.","og_url":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=5579","og_site_name":"Arr\u00e9","article_published_time":"2016-03-13T20:53:50+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1520,"height":850,"url":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1571384072.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Dushyant Shekhawat","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Let\u2019s Call It Spooktober: Why October is the Best Time to Binge on Horror","twitter_description":"October is a twilit month, suspended between bright summers and shadowy winters. For a fan of horror, there\u2019s no better time in the year. This year, it\u2019s The Terror, a gripping survival horror series, and the new Stephen King adaptation, In the Tall Grass, with which I\u2019m greeting the season of spookiness.","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dushyant Shekhawat","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=5579#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=5579"},"author":{"name":"Dushyant Shekhawat","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/933099a2338957592f7fff40263742db"},"headline":"Let\u2019s Call It Spooktober: Why October is the Best Time to Binge on Horror","datePublished":"2016-03-13T20:53:50+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=5579"},"wordCount":865,"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=5579#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1571384072.png","keywords":["Halloween","horror movies","In the Tall Grass","mumbai","October","spooky","Stephen King","The Shining","The Terror"],"articleSection":["Pop Culture"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=5579","url":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=5579","name":"Let\u2019s Call It Spooktober: Why October is the Best Time to Binge on Horror","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=5579#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=5579#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1571384072.png","datePublished":"2016-03-13T20:53:50+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/933099a2338957592f7fff40263742db"},"description":"October is a twilit month, suspended between bright summers and shadowy winters. For a fan of horror, there\u2019s no better time in the year. This year, it\u2019s The Terror, a gripping survival horror series, and the new Stephen King adaptation, In the Tall Grass, with which I\u2019m greeting the season of spookiness.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=5579#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=5579"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=5579#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1571384072.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1571384072.png","width":1520,"height":850},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=5579#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Let\u2019s Call It Spooktober: Why October is the Best Time to Binge on Horror"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#website","url":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/","name":"Arr\u00e9","description":"In every person lies a creator and in every creator, an enterprise.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/933099a2338957592f7fff40263742db","name":"Dushyant Shekhawat","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1f954968c96ac296f8a855e9f7c24b2da221736e30aceb00a9cb1016fec0291f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1f954968c96ac296f8a855e9f7c24b2da221736e30aceb00a9cb1016fec0291f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1f954968c96ac296f8a855e9f7c24b2da221736e30aceb00a9cb1016fec0291f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dushyant Shekhawat"},"url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?author=43"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1571384072.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}