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Watching weird indie horror movies at home on Tubi can be a bunch of fun. So can going to the local multiplex to see the latest scary Hollywood blockbuster with other shrieking fans.
Horror film festivals offer the best of both worlds, with twists. The programming is heavy on premieres and small-budget indies, and the more ambitious festivals host events like costume contests and offer themed food and drinks to keep the party going. Some of the festivals are very kid-friendly, and others are better suited for blood-and-guts lovers.
With Halloween around the corner and fall getaways calling, here’s a look at some of the noteworthy scary (and not-that-scary) film festivals happening this October.
Eerie Horror Fest
Erie, Pa., Oct. 4 and 5
Presented by the Film Society of Northwestern Pennsylvania, this festival is known for showing classic and new films along with a hearty roster of panel discussions and events. A highlight takes place on Oct. 5, when the festival presents a screening of the 1995 horror film “Tales From the Hood,” an influential horror anthology and a seminal work in both horror and Black cinema, followed by a Q. and A. with the director, Rusty Cundieff.
The frosting on the cake at this festival is its home: The Warner Theater, an ornate Art Deco and French Renaissance space first opened in 1931, with 2,250 seats, a grand proscenium stage and crushed velour and gold leaf accents — the kind of elegance more associated with the likes of Cannes than “Carrie.” This year, the festival has teamed up with two local coffee purveyors — Purrista Cat Café and North Edge Craft Coffee, a roaster — for a special drink menu featuring themed concoctions like the Frankenstein’s Matcha and Killer Klownz, a blueberry cheesecake latte. There will also be displays of adoptable cats — black ones, perhaps — at the theater.
Screamfest
Los Angeles, Oct. 8 through 17
Aspiring filmmakers and screenwriters will feel at home at this festival, which draws big names and small movies — and small names with big dreams — direct from its hometown industry. For movie fans, highlights include the new Hulu film “Mr. Crocket,” a supernatural horror story about a deranged children’s show host, and “Drained,” a vampire drama set in London. For moviemaking fans, there’s a panel with prominent horror cinematographers, including Michael Goi (“American Horror Story”) and Mark Irwin (“Scream”), and a writers’ panel with Carey W. Hayes and Chad Hayes, of “The Conjuring.” The festival takes place at the TCL Chinese Theater, the movie palace on Hollywood Boulevard that was known as Grauman’s Chinese Theater for much of its 97-year history.
Harvest Moon Twin Drive-In
Gibson City, Ill., various dates in October
Horror lovers have a month’s worth of treats in store at this outdoor venue about a two-hour drive southwest of Chicago. For families who want a less scary night out, visit on Oct. 12 for Trunk or Treat, in which kids can go from trunk to trunk at decorated vehicles stuffing their trick-or-treat bags before a double feature of “Beetlejuice” and its new sequel (carloads are $20).
For a more gory kind of night, on Oct. 18 and 19, there will be a killer double feature of the not-for-beginners movies “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and “An American Werewolf in London.” Go hungry: The kitchen will pump out a special menu of delightfully disgusting-sounding treats, including Splatter Nachos and Body Part Pizzas.
Telluride Horror Show
Telluride, Colo., Oct. 11 through 13
The Telluride Film Festival is one of the more pre-eminent stops on the American festival circuit. Not to be outdone is this smaller but also prestigious festival, now in its 15th year, that’s heavy on international fare for horror cineastes. In addition to films, the festival is known for its literary offerings. The signature event is Creepy Campfire Tales, featuring readings by authors known for ghost stories, psychological thrillers and other scary novels. This year’s roster includes Paul Tremblay (“Horror Movie”), Stephen Graham Jones (“I Was a Teenage Slasher”) and Grady Hendrix (“How to Sell a Haunted House”). Readings are held outdoors next to an honest-to-God campfire.
Nightmare in the Ozarks Film Festival
Eureka Springs, Ark., Oct. 24 through 26
This horror- and thriller-focused festival takes place in a L.G.B.T.Q.-friendly town famous for its Victorian architecture and that even the local tourism office promotes as being haunted. “He Sees You When You’re Sleeping,” a new killer-Santa slasher film, and “The Invisible Raptor,” a dinosaur-gone-wild action thriller, are among the new films to be shown on a 26-foot screen at downtown’s grand City Auditorium, known as the Aud. The festival ends with the Eureka Springs Zombie Crawl, one of the largest zombie parades in the world. That day you can also learn the zombie dance from Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video and stuff your face in a gross-out brain-eating contest. (Sorry, actual zombies: It’s gelatin.)
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