Movies
Friday, October 20 – These 8 New Horror Movies Released Today Including ‘Saw X’ at Home!
In the wake of five new horror movies releasing at home this past Tuesday, the October horror season rolls on today with another eight new horror movies being added to the mix.
Here’s the full list of horror movies released today, October 20, 2023!
For daily reminders about new horror releases, be sure to follow @HorrorCalendar.
The tenth installment in the franchise, Saw X has thus far scared up over $73 million at the box office, and it was just unleashed for Premium VOD rental and purchase today.
The DVD, Blu-ray and 4K will follow on November 21.
Lionsgate teases, “The return of Tobin Bell to the franchise furthers Lionsgate and Twisted Pictures’ goal of a film that captures everything Saw fans love about the franchise, while also keeping them guessing with all-new traps and a new mystery to solve.”
“John Kramer (Tobin Bell) is back for the untold chapter of Jigsaw’s final games.”
“Set between the events of Saw I and II, a sick and desperate John travels to Mexico for a risky and experimental medical procedure in hopes of a miracle cure for his cancer – only to discover the entire operation is a scam to defraud the most vulnerable.
“The infamous killer returns to his work, turning the tables on the con artists in his signature visceral way through devious, deranged, and ingenious traps.”
Kevin Greutert (Saw VI, Saw 3D) directed Saw X for Lionsgate.
Meagan writes in her 4-star review for Bloody Disgusting, “Jigsaw and Amanda are back in Saw X, a milestone sequel that goes back to the franchise’s roots to a deeply satisfying degree.”
Robyn August’s (Party With Me) indie slasher KillHer is now available in limited theaters from Dark Sky Films, and you can also rent the film on VOD outlets right now.
“Mattie and her three besties–Eddie, Jess, and Rae–head into the woods for a weekend to plan Mattie’s upcoming wedding and bachelorette party. Eddie, Mattie’s roommate and an unrelenting practical joker, leads them to believe they will be setting up camp near Mattie’s hunky fiancé, Jagger, and his friends. They soon realize the tent they’ve snuggled up next to belongs to a mysterious recluse named Mr. Rogers, rather than Jagger, and this is definitely his neighborhood!
“With zero cell reception and only a literal pot to piss in, their weekend camping trip is beginning to look like a bad idea for these unhappy campers. But it only gets worse when people start to die and a terrible secret is revealed. All these girls wanted was a killer pre-bachelorette party… and that’s exactly what they got.”
M.C. Huff (Breakfast with Jenny), Emily Hall, Jenna Z. Alvarez (Shook), Nicole Lovince (Dear White People), Tom Kiesche (Breaking Bad), Harrison White (Venice the Series), Jack Schumacher (Top Gun: Maverick), and Ron Rogge (Stranger Things) star.
Following an expansive film festival run around the globe, the found footage film Malibu Horror Story is now playing in select theaters from Iconic Events Releasing.
Malibu Horror Story follows a team of amateur paranormal investigators as they delve into a 10 year old unresolved case, the disappearance of four popular high school boys on graduation night. While exploring a sacred cave in the hills of Malibu California, the team encounters chilling paranormal occurrences. As they analyze footage from the missing teens’ camera, they make a terrifying discovery involving an ancient curse which forces them to confront their own worst fears and unravel the sinister truth behind the boys’ vanishing.
Director/Writer/Producer Scott Slone shot Malibu Horror Story over the course of ten-plus years with 30 different cameras and various codecs, and drew inspiration from films like Paranormal Activity and Cloverfield.
Dylan Sprayberry (“Teen Wolf,” Sick), Robert Bailey Jr. (Nightshift, Emergence), Valentina de Angelis (“Gossip Girl”), and Rebecca Forsythe (Replace, “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”) star. The film features contortionist and creature actor “Twisty” Troy James (Nightmare Alley, Hellboy, Scary Stories To Tell In the Dark) and Actor/Stunt Performer Douglas Tait (Annabelle Comes Home, Hellboy and Halloween Kills). The film’s cast also includes Tommy Cramer, Veno Miller, Jacob Hughes, and Hector Gomez Jr.
A brand new take on Mary Shelley’s classic horror novel Frankenstein arrives on Netflix in the form of “Creature,” a Swedish limited horror series that is now streaming.
In the series, “When tragedy befalls a reckless scientist in Ottoman-era Istanbul, his student uses untested methods to finish his work — with devastating consequences.”
The series stars Erkan Kolçak Köstendil as İhsan & Taner Ölmez as Ziya, with Engin Benli, Şifanur Gül, Bülent Şakrak, Sema Çeyrekbaşı, and Devrim Yakut.
“Creature” is created and written and directed by Çagan Irmak (Remember Us).
Now in limited release on the road to Halloween is a brand new psychological horror movie titled Soul Mates, directed by Mark Gantt and playing in select theaters this weekend.
Neal McDonough, Annie Illonzeh, and Charlie Weber star in Soul Mates.
“This psychological thriller with elements of terror follows two unsuspecting strangers, Jason (Charlie Weber) and Allison (Annie Ilonzeh) who find themselves participants in a twisted new dating service, led by the Matchmaker (Neal McDonough), that forces the two singles inside a nightmarish maze designed to help them find their Soul Mate – or die trying.”
Chris LaMont and Joe Russo (Nightmare Cinema) wrote Soul Mates.
The Saw-meets-The Dating Game movie is produced by Manny Halley, Rodney Turner II, Yolanda Halley, and William K. Baker. Manny Halley serves as the film’s executive producer.
Franck Khalfoun, the French filmmaker behind P2 and Maniac (2012), returns this Halloween season with Night of the Hunted, which is now streaming only on Shudder.
Set in the American west, Night of the Hunted follows Alice, played by Camille Rowe, as a road trip turns into a fight for her life when a vengeful sniper targets her and traps her in a remote, isolated gas station. “An indictment of modern polarized politics, the film is a tight but brutal single-location thriller,” Shudder previews in the official press release.
Night of the Hunted is produced by Alexandre Aja (High Tension, The Hills Have Eyes, Crawl), serving as the 3rd collaboration between Aja and director Franck Khalfoun.
Franck Khalfoun and Glen Freyer wrote the screenplay.
One of the highlights of this year’s Halloween celebration from Disney+ is the return of Marvel Studios’ special Werewolf by Night, which is now available in FULL COLOR!
The Disney+ Halloween special was unleashed last year in black & white, giving it a classic horror throwback feel. This will be the first time you’ll be able to watch the special in color.
Now presented in vibrant color, Marvel Studios’ Werewolf by Night in Color takes place on a dark and somber night as a secret cabal of monster hunters emerge from the shadows and gather at the foreboding Bloodstone Temple following the death of their leader.
Marvel previews, “In a strange and macabre memorial to the leader’s life, the attendees are thrust into a mysterious and deadly competition for a powerful relic—a hunt that will ultimately bring them face to face with a dangerous monster. Inspired by horror films of the ’30s and ’40s, the chilling special aims to evoke a sense of dread and the macabre, with plenty of suspense and scares along the way as we explore a new corner of the Marvel Universe.”
Meagan Navarro wrote here on BD last year, “The MCU kicked the horror into overdrive with Werewolf by Night. The nearly hour-long feature presents as a classic horror movie, dropping viewers into the middle of a secret world of monster hunters. Film composer Michael Giacchino directs the special, penned by Heather Quinn and Peter Cameron. Giacchino focuses on evoking the classic horror vibe to assist in the initial worldbuilding. The events play out in monochrome, save for the vibrant red glow of the Bloodstone. Cigarette burns and film grain get added for that retro look. The rules of the hunt get relayed to the cutthroat candidates by way of reanimated dead, albeit in a much campier and family-friendly way via animatronics.”
“Aside from the aesthetics, Werewolf leans heavily into the mysterious,” Meagan continued. “The black and white cinematography more than sets the retro vibe; it allows the feature to remain accessible to a wider audience even as it lets its monsters and monster hunters spill plenty of blood. Toss in a Jack Pierce-inspired beast with practical application, and you’ve got a modern superhero story with a classic Universal Monsters makeover.”
Jed Shepherd, the writer of Shudder hit Host as well as Rob Savage’s follow-up Dashcam, sat in the director’s chair for Flashback, a new horror short now playing on Netflix.
Jemma Moore (Host) stars as a yoga teacher.
Set in South London, the short features “time travel and monsters.”
Of particular note, Fangoria brings us the word that mega popular artist Trevor Henderson (Mayfair Watcher’s Society) worked with Shepherd on the short’s monster design!
In Flashback, “a yoga teacher’s life flashes before her eyes during a home invasion. Before time runs out she must use the flashback to race back in time and save the man she loves.”
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
You must be logged in to post a comment.