The Toronto Worldwide Movie Pageant is a spot to go to see the way forward for movie, however this 12 months it additionally supplied a glimpse at what’s coming very quickly within the realm of streaming. 4 completely different streamers — Peacock, Netflix, Amazon, and AMC — all premiered early appears at upcoming horror-adjacent collection which are dropping very quickly. And by doing it at TIFF, they confirmed simply how necessary the month of October has change into within the realm of streaming.
Maybe probably the most high-profile is Carrie, which is coming to Prime Video. An adaptation of the traditional Stephen King novel, which has already been was no fewer than three characteristic movies, this model of Carrie is notable particularly due to who’s helming it. Mike Flanagan has accomplished a handful of King diversifications prior to now — together with Physician Sleep and The Lifetime of Chuck — however the director is probably best-known for his work on restricted collection for Netflix. That features the likes of The Haunting of Hill Home, Midnight Mass, and The Fall of the Home of Usher. These collection got here out on a near-annual foundation between 2018 and 2023, making Flanagan’s explicit mix of dramatic horror a staple of Netflix in October.
Then, in 2022, Amazon poached Flanagan to work on tasks for Prime Video. The primary of those is Carrie, which begins streaming on October seventh. It nonetheless tells largely the identical story as its predecessors — a younger lady’s harmful psychic powers awaken after getting bullied in highschool — nevertheless it updates it in just a few methods. For starters, the story has been totally modernized, with a lot of the bullying occurring in our on-line world. However because it’s a collection as an alternative of a film, Carrie additionally stretches out the story, which supplies it the area to discover the teenager drama slightly, and in addition provides loads of alternatives for Flanagan’s trademark prolonged monologues. I’ve solely seen the premiere episode to date, however early on it’s a mix of flavors that work rather well collectively.
Netflix, in the meantime, has crammed within the hole with a brand new collection referred to as Under, which premieres on October eighth, only a day after Carrie begins streaming. I noticed the primary two episodes earlier this week — there shall be six in whole — and whereas it’s a unique sort of story in comparison with the likes of Hill Home, it has a equally darkish and mysterious power. Under is about what appears to be an historic sea creature that begins terrorizing a small fishing village in Newfoundland, on the east coast of Canada. From what I’ve seen, the present does an excellent job of steadily constructing the phobia of the creature’s reveal, whereas additionally mixing the scares with a wholesome dose of household drama, led by Josh Hartnett as a struggling fisher who’s struggling to maintain his household collectively.
Then there’s Peacock, which is becoming a member of the fray with a prequel collection. Followers of Friday the thirteenth will know that Jason’s mother performs a pivotal function within the very first movie, and the brand new present Crystal Lake explores how she acquired to that time. It stars Linda Cardellini as Pamela Voorhees, a single mom who’s thrown right into a pit of despair and disbelief when her younger son drowns to dying.
I went into the present considering that I didn’t really want to know way more in regards to the backstory of Jason’s mom, however the first two episodes that premiered at TIFF — and Cardellini’s efficiency particularly — have me second-guessing that. Crystal Lake is surprisingly tense and dramatic, however, given its connection to Friday the thirteenth, it additionally has slasher-movie ranges of gore and gross-out deaths, ones which are so brutal they strategy comedy. If nothing else, it will get off to a really sturdy begin. All episodes of Crystal Lake hit Peacock on October fifteenth.
Rounding out the checklist is Yaga, a supernatural detective collection that’s coming to AMC Plus on October twenty third. Sadly I wasn’t capable of catch the premiere screening for the present, nevertheless it does appear promising, with a forged that features Carrie-Anne Moss and Heated Rivalry’s Hudson Williams, and a really intriguing trailer:
What has change into abundantly clear in 2026 is that horror is large enterprise. The likes of Backrooms and Obsession have exploded on the field workplace, whereas Widow’s Bay had a dominating night time on the Emmys. So it solely is sensible that streamers are persevering with to capitalize on the pattern, and utilizing TIFF as a showcase occasion. October goes to be a really busy month for horror followers.