Through the Veil | 7 Halloween Horror Stories: Haunted Houses & Cursed Masks

John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978) turns a quiet neighborhood into a place where Michael Myers could be hiding anywhere. Henrique Couto and Rachael Redolfi revisit Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode, Donald Pleasence’s obsessive Dr. Loomis, Debra Hill’s teenage characters and Dean Cundey’s use of shadows and empty space. Why does the Shape’s slow, silent pursuit still get under our skin? From Carpenter’s unforgettable score to the final-girl debate, this spoiler-filled horror movie review explores the craft and psychology that make Carpenter’s slasher classic a Halloween-season essential.

Clinton Road in West Milford, New Jersey, has a ghost story that begins with pocket change: toss a coin into the water, and a boy beneath the bridge is said to send it back. Join Henrique Couto for a Halloween ride through the ghost-boy legend, a reported reflection in the creek, and tales of a phantom pickup whose headlights vanish. Explore local folklore collected by Weird NJ, the real history of Clinton Furnace, and Henrique’s memories of spooking friends on dark car rides. If you love haunted roads, ghost stories and Halloween urban legends, wait until you hear that little metallic tap.

On Devil’s Night, two masked teenage thieves pick the wrong house in “Trickster in Training” by Charles Campbell. Clement wants easy money; Miller just wants to keep up. At the end of a long dirt road, Felicia Fields answers their knock—and smiles when a gun goes off. Now her bag of Halloween candy comes with a terrible lesson. Narrated by Henrique Couto, this supernatural horror story turns an armed robbery into a witch’s night of reckoning. If you love scary Halloween stories with wicked comeuppance, step inside a secluded house where the person opening the door is the one you should fear.

From October 19–25, horror history turns your Halloween watchlist into a nightmare. Revisit John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978), the sunless vampire siege of 30 Days of Night, and Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities. Venture into Innsmouth with Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, then discover why Dark Night of the Scarecrow still chills 45 years after its CBS debut. Plus, celebrate Bela Lugosi, Jeff Goldblum, Sam Raimi and Mia Goth, and revisit The Simpsons’ first Treehouse of Horror. Join Henrique Couto for slasher classics, cosmic horror and a cornfield that never feels empty.

Ghostwatch put a fictional haunting inside the familiar frame of BBC television. On Halloween night in 1992, Michael Parkinson and Sarah Greene helped a scripted drama look like a live ghost hunt. Some viewers believed it. The backlash was real. Explore the hidden appearances of Pipes, the broadcast's unnerving tricks, and the argument over trust that followed. Original program audio and BBC Bite Back excerpts bring the scare and its contemporary criticism into focus. How did a made-up ghost leave viewers questioning the safety of their own living rooms?