What’s the scariest word of 2026, you ask? Easy. It’s ‘inflation’. There’s no close second. The current administration’s policies have turned people’s wallets into miniature haunted houses, inhabited by the ghosts of cash spent.
This puts horror fans who prefer to stay home and watch movies for Halloween in a bind. With the cost of everything going up, stocking up on new physical releases or subscribing to genre-centric streaming services has simply become unfeasible for a lot of people.
Not to worry, though! Tubi, the free ad-supported streaming service, has you covered.
The streamer has been quite welcoming to horror, especially this year. They released a limited edition Tubi Body Bag collectible (a cozy, hooded sleeping bag) and have turned their seasonal “Terror on Tubi” collection into a year-long hub to build on their horror-hungry fan community.
Mexican horror classics have also found a home in Tubi. The films of legendary director Carlos Enrique Taboada, for instance, can be found here—with Veneno para las hadas, Rapiña, and Más negro que la noche among them.
To top it all off, the streamer is turning a hearse into an immersive experience that features eerie imagery, sinister lighting, and other creepy surprises for guests of The Los Angeles Haunted Hayride experience. Ticket holders will get an otherworldly lift from the event’s parking lot to Griffith Park, where the really scary stuff is at.
Here’s a short Tubi playlist to get the ball rolling on your Halloween horror movie marathon. Remember, this streaming service is ad-supported. Movies will be interrupted at certain points. It’s the price we pay for getting them free of charge. But if we survived decades of watching movies with commercials on cable TV, I think we’ll be okay.
- Lifeforce, dir. Tobe Hooper (1985)
Space vampires, zombies, naked aliens, and the end of world all rolled into one courtesy of Tobe Hooper, director of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. This is one wild, genre-hopping ride that centers on a crew of astronauts that find human-like aliens on a strange spacecraft and decide to bring them back to Earth. As it tends to go in these cases, the decision turns out to be a bad idea.
The late Patrick Stewart makes an appearance in what’s easily the movie’s best sequence. He plays a doctor that becomes possessed by a space vampire. It’s a great reminder of the iconic actor’s commitment to every role he played, no matter the source material. Excellent practical effects are a highlight and do more than enough to carry the highly questionable script. Don’t overthink it and you’ll be fine.
- El Libro de Piedra, dir. Carlos Enrique Taboada (1969)
One of the most influential movies in Mexican horror cinema, El Libro de Piedra follows a governess called Julia as she tries to teach the troubled daughter of a rich man called Eugenio Ruvalcaba. The girl, called Silvia, has an imaginary friend that guides her towards the stone statue of a boy holding a book. Strange happenings force Julia to think Silvia’s friend isn’t so imaginary after all.
Taboada gifts viewers with a uniquely gothic tale that tackles superstition, privilege, and domestic anxieties as things that can tear a family apart. It’s a slow burn that puts character first. But those who are patient enough get rewarded with a chilling finale that lingers.
- Stephen King’s The Shining, dir. Mick Garris (1997)
While it’s well known that Stephen King wasn’t a fan of Kubrick’s adaptation of his book The Shining, it’s less known that he much prefers the three-episode TV miniseries that Mick Garris brought to life in the late 90s. This version stays much closer to the book. It embraces the more fantastical horror elements of King’s original vision and explores parts of the Outlook Hotel that Kubric left untouched.
Actor Steven Weber does Jack Torrence justice, striking the balance between homicidal maniac and recovering alcoholic just right. He moves around the hotel like a living ghost, haunting each room he walks into. Garris does a great job of making The Shining his own, too. Don’t expect a retread of Kubrick. Translating King’s terror language to film as faithfully as possible is the goal, and it succeeds at it.
- Where the Devil Roams, dir. Zelda Adams, John Adams, and Toby Poser (2023)
The Adams Family (John Adams, Zelda Adams, and Toby Poser) have earned the title of indie horror’s most original filmmakers. From Hellbender to Mother of Flies, their DIY approach to storytelling has resulted in some truly inventive work that bends genre conventions in unexpected ways.
A Tubi Original, Where the Devil Roams is the Adams Family’s most challenging yet rewarding film. It follows a family of circus performers who leave a trail of bodies behind them as they navigate Depression-era America. Dark magic, deals with the Devil, and gruesome murder scenes combine for a story that contemplates moral collapse and the limits of survival under harsh living conditions. Some of the images captured here act as potent reminders of how easily it can be for our inner darkness to emerge and take centerstage.
- Blacula, dir. William Crain (1972)
A pillar of Black horror, Blacula is more than just a race-switched vampire movie. It’s an angry scream that got the attention of the film industry when it came out in the ‘72. The message? Classic monsters are not bound by skin color. Horror does not discriminate.
Prince Mamuwalde (played by William Marshall) goes to Transylvania in the late 1700s to convince Count Dracula to help him end the slave trade that’s ravaging his African homeland. Dracula opts to turn Mamuwalde into a vampire, locking him away in a coffin for centuries. He emerges in modern times to find a world that still harbors the kind of hatred that he sought to strangle all those years ago. And then, the blood starts to flow.
Blacula galvanized a generation of filmmakers and opened doors that the old guard was unwilling to even unlock. It’s also a damn good movie that finds creative ways to further Bram Stoker’s original in clever ways. Simply put, it’s an important piece of history that deserves to be seen.
