Monthly Media Recap - October 2026

 Gather 'round, ghouls! It's the October Monthly Media Recap coming at ya a little early in case you're in search of something spooky to watch after Trick or Treating. Clicking a link will take you to the trailer on YouTube. 

 

Happy Halloween! 

 

Streaming 

 

Bite Sized Terror (Tubi) 

A collection of 10 horror shorts that are around 10 minutes each. Perfect size to slot one in between movies. Most of them are at least decent and there are a couple that stand out, so I'd say definitely give them a go,

 

Gatchaman Progress

Only 2 this month so I could cram in maximum spooky. Up to 95...getting closer!

 

Movies

 

 

Buzzkill (2026, Tubi)

A sorority girl witnesses a murder but the only way she can recall the details is to get drunk! I thought the premise would wear thin quick but the lead actress is so entertaining to watch being a wreck of a person. It's got a couple of fun kills and humor vibes along the lines of Happy Death Day.

 

Rating: 6/10

 

Halloween Hot Wheels 2026 - Hot Wheels High

 Getting us over the finish line for 2026 is Hot Wheels High.

Hold on!

 

 Hot Wheels High screamed on the scene in 2013 and this is the 17th version. Not surprisingly, a couple of the variations look like school buses. One of the 2019 releases was a rock n' roll tour bus with the same skull wheels.

 

 The original card back describes this as a twin turbine, jet powered bus, which I guess would be an improvement because speed is not usually what you expect when boarding a bus. I can picture this rocketing through a haunted forest while a tour guide rapidly calls out things outside.

 

I'm torn between this one and the Baja Hauler as my favorite for this year. I think the Hauler edges ahead just a bit with its pumpkin artwork but I also really like the idea of a haunted tour bus. Maybe it tours haunted places, maybe the bus is actually haunted? Maybe both?

 

If you enjoy the little factoids in these posts, drive on over to the Hot Wheels Wiki, which is where I get all my info. 

 

Hitch a ride with the ghostly gentleman to see the participating Countdown to Halloween blogs. 

 

Haunted House Ads of the 70s and 80s

In a rare moment of my social media feed serving me an ad for something I didn't know I needed, I found an incredible book!

  

American Haunted House Ads of the 1970s and 1980s is 165 pages of pure Halloween spirit. It's got over 800 newspaper ads from all 50 states covering every sort of haunted attraction you could want.

 

 I'm still making my way through it but I've also spotted ads for national chain restaurants hosting their own Halloween festivities and a few other seasonal business ads.

 

 Sprinkled among the clippings are B&W photos of haunts from the era. I worked at a local haunt for a couple years as Freddy and it was such a blast. Professional haunts have definitely taken over the scene over the past 20 years but there's some kind of magic to the no-budget, local attractions.

 

 Author Jake Kelly says in the forward "this book is the equivalent of eating all your Halloween candy at once, as soon as you get home, in a crazed orgy of sticky fingers and flying wrappers."

 

If this speaks to your soul like it did me, you can head over to PaveTheOcean,com and snag a copy for just $20. The book is limited to only 400 print copies and each one is signed and numbered. I ordered mine on October 9th and got 141 so hopefully there's still some left.

 

What's the cat looking at? The full list of Countdown to Halloween blogs!

Give a click to see for yourself. 

 

Now Hear This - Halloween 2026 The Revenge!

 I unearthed so much stuff this year, I had drag another Now Hear This out of the grave to share. That and some artists like releasing stuff as close to the big day as they can. Click the cover to visit Bandcamp where you can preview the music free and buy it if you like it.

  

Case in point, Mummula's latest drops on Friday but if you catch this post early enough, you can RSVP on Bandcamp for a listening party tonight at 7pm Eastern!

 

 Ectoplague just released Friday Nightmares last week. It's a great dark synth album that would make an aamzing 80s slasher soundtrack.

 

 I can't believe I did four other posts and didn't include any horror punk bands! Siblings of Samhain's self titled album isn't new but it was new to me. Great energy and songs about creepy things, perfect for your graveyard rave!

 

 Bojo is back with another fang-tastic Spooky Mixtape.

 

 And to close out the 2026 season, I'm reposting Sounds from the Haunted Bathroom. I mentioned it last year and I'm bringing it back because I love it so much. It's like a weird alternate universe version of Disney's Haunted Mansion.

 

 Click the witch to see the list of participating Countdown blogs!

 

It's the Great Pumpkin Playing Cards

Today marks the 60th anniversary of It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! If I had to be stranded on an island with only one piece of Halloween media, this is it.

 

I happened on this deck at a local Dollar Tree. It was in a counter display with Beetlejuice and Scooby-Doo. I wasn't expecting much for $1.75 but how can you say no at that price?

 

I like what they did with having Linus' letters on the Jokers. I was surprised at the quality when I took these out, then I looked on the back. These are made by Aquarius who also make a lot of the recent Star Wars decks I have. These are usually $9-$10. Score!

  

 Aquarius makes the kind of decks I love collecting because they put unique images on every card. No matter what you're favorite moment is from the special, you'll find at least one card here for it.

 

 And there's no shortage of my favorite part, which is Snoopy as the Flying Ace!

 

Happy 60th, Great Pumpkin!

 

Swing by and see all the Countdown to Halloween blogs!

 

Now Hear This - Halloween 2026 The Reckoning

Now Hear This is coming to you a day early for reasons that will be apparent tomorrow (stay tuned!).

 

 

You know the drill: click on the album cover to go to its Bandcamp page where you can purchase it or listen for free.

 

The Goldstars contacted me through the blog to let me know about their latest release: The Halloween Album.! 13 tracks of garage rock dedicated to the most awesome holiday. 

 

 The Monster Mashup series comes back strong with the 22nd(!) compilation album of assorted artists giving their spin on maniacal mashups. Be sure to check out Volume 2, they're both FREE!

 

Halloween at High Noon rises from the grave for their annual October offering. This year's The Grim Dark features 22 different artists bringing you an assortment of electronic music. This one would be great for party background listening.

 

Speaking of rising from the grave, It Came From the Desert! is also back. Volume 4 is a compilation of 25 artists that plays like a Halloween night broadcast radio show complete with a host and listener call-ins.

 

Our final (?) audio treat for 2026 is reconthuse's 2023 Dark Voices in Strange Places, a Halloween/autumn themed mashup album bringing 13 tracks of pop, rock, EDM and more. You may recognize some of the songs but you've never heard them like this!

 

Be sure to check out all the Countdown bloggers by clicking the link below. 

 

Spooky Playing Cards by Puckator UK

 Puckator is a UK based retailer and I picked these up early in the season so I don't even remember where/how I found them. They're easy enough to find if you want to pick them up.

 

 I think this is the first deck I've had that has purple cards! The cards themselves are really nice and have a linen finish. They're a bit thicker than your regular playing card.

 

 Most of the number cards are standard but these have some extra art on them. I'm not sure what the decision process was in choosing these specific cards to get a little ghastly glow up. The art style reminds me of sticker sheets from the 80s.

 

 All of the face cards have unique art featuring ghosts, black cats, graves, and cauldrons.

 

 

Even though this one doesn't have art on every card, it's a pretty good Halloween themed deck from the purple cards to the cutesy art style. You could probably even come up with a game where the numbered art cards have special abilities.

 

Hitch a ride with the ghostly gentleman to see the participating Countdown to Halloween blogs. 

 

Here's Lucy - Lucy Cuts Vincent's Price

Today's post came about from a random reel that I saw on Facebook featuring a clip from this show. I don't think I even know the show existed. It ended it's six year run when I was only four years old. If anyone did see it, they would no doubt remember it for it's stop motion opening.

 

 In the show, Ball plays a widow raising her two children (her real-life kids Luci Arnaz and Desi Arnaz, Jr) and working for an entertainment agency owned by her brother-in-law played by her long time comedy partner Gale Gordon. The show featured a number of guest stars over its run and that's what brings us here today!

 

  

Season 3, episode 9 is titled "Lucy Cuts Vincent's Price" and starts out with Lucy and her kids at an art auction because it's educational, they have nice refreshments, and it's free. The kids fight over who gets a cookie and Lucy yells out they can split it 50/50 which the auctioneer takes as bid on a painting.

 

 

Back at the office, Lucy frets that she doesn't have enough money in her checking to cover the cost of the painting. Her co-worker says it may be worth more than it appears and suggests getting it appraised. Lucy remembers her agency provided entertainment for the Prices and sets up a meeting over the phone with Vincent's wife to have him take a look. Her kids are hesitant to let her go alone, thinking Price will be like the villains he's portrayed.

 

  

Meanwhile, Price is meeting with his producer at his home where they've converted his library into a laboratory to shoot torture scenes for his new movie: Who's Afraid of Virginia's Wolfman! Price is expecting his female co-star to show up to rehearse their scenes and well...you can probably guess where it goes from there!

 

 The episode isn't particularly Halloween-y but I wasn't letting October go by without posting something about Vincent Price! I really enjoyed him in this episode because you get to see him do something he doesn't usually do: comedy! There's a fun physical bit where Lucy is trying to escape and has to unlock a bunch of locks on a door and he's behind her re-locking them as she undoes them.

 

This episode (along with the whole series) is streaming for free on Tubi, which is also a great place to find your next horror watch for the month!

 

What's the cat looking at? The full list of Countdown to Halloween blogs!

Give a click to see for yourself. 

 

Halloween Hot Wheels 2026 - Dodge Charger Stock Car

Not the most exciting Hot Wheels car name ever but it does what it says.

Here's the Halloween Dodge Charger Stock Car.

 

As you might guess, this 2005 car is modeled on the Dodge Charger stock cars that were used in NASCAR races. This is the 18th release for the model. It's last appearance was in a 2022 Marvel series where it had a Spider-Man deco.

 

 Being a stock racing car, there's nothing wild about the body itself but I'm imagining an entire NASCAR type race where all the vehicles are Halloween themed and maybe even the drivers are in costume.

 

 Click the witch to see the list of participating Countdown blogs!

 

LEGO Halloween Minifig Puzzle

I'll admit I got a little excited seeing these before I realized it's a puzzle and not actual minifigs but I still couldn't pass one up. Pick one up, I said. It'll be something fun and quick for a post, I said...

  

There are four different puzzles in Collection 1 and they're blind packed. 

Or are they?

 

 

I wondered if, like the minifigs, these had some kind of code on them to clue you in on what's inside and I think they do! I checked a few boxes and noticed this number is not the same on every one. I didn't check online in the store because I wanted to be surprised. I may check back to see if I can find the pumpkin guy. 

 

The last three numbers are the key.

 253 Mummy
 031 Jack O'Lantern

108 Vampire 

127 Skeleton Girl

 

 This 100 piece puzzle probably took me close to an hour all told for a couple reasons. It's not your standard rectangular shape and a lot of the pieces look like bandages so it was hard to tell where they were supposed to go.

 

Last year's Mummy build-a-minifig is next to it for scale. There's an extra bit of fun with the puzzles in this series. They're made so that you can swap heads, torsos, and legs between them to create your own monster minifig! That's a pretty cool idea and a neat way to get more out of them if you have more than one.

  

Be sure to check out all the Countdown bloggers by clicking the link below. 

 

 

Classic Creepy Comics - Midnight Mystery

 Welcome back to Classic Creepy Comics! All the comics I'll be talking about are legally available for free on Comic Book+. You can read them online or, if you create a free account, you can download them. The site navigation may take some getting used to but I'll be providing links to the specific titles featured.

  

Our subject this week is Midnight Mystery from American Comics Group which had a short run of seven issues from January to October in 1961. This is a bit of a departure from previously covered comics as I'm pretty sure this is the first post Comics Code book I've featured. As such, it leans a little more toward the supernatural and fantastical than monsters and violence. Each issue also has one story that's got a sci-fi bent to it.

 

 And it's another title where I wasn't able to find a lot of info so let's bask in some cover art and random stuff I plucked from various issues.

 

 Issue 2 starts off with Spacemen Against the Supernatural! This is weird one, kids. It starts off with a Nazi scientist that escapes the end of WWII in a rocket and crash lands on an alien planet where he convinces them that Earth is coming for them. Then the B-story kicks in about a guy that's really bad at science that inherits a magic amulet who ends up summoning spirits to fight off the alien invasion. I'd say you can't make this stuff up...but somebody did!

 

 Issue 3 has this swell ad for a bicycle windshield. I don't know about you, but I don't think I ever rode a bike at such speed that I needed a windshield. If anything, this has got Bully Magnet written all over it.

 

 Issue 6's cover story, Chain Reaction, is about scientists creating an atom smasher (maybe an early Hadron Collider?) that misfires and sends Earth back to the Ice Age.

  

The final issue has Revolt of the Robot, which is another odd one. An autonomous robot is turned into a carnival attraction for people to throw baseballs at. Naturally, it's not happy about its great scientific mind being wasted on such humiliation and, well, he revolts.

 

 If you'd like to explore some Midnight Mystery, head over to ComicBook+ where you can read every issue (complete with ads!) online for free.

 

Be sure to check out all the Countdown bloggers by clicking the link below.