2019 Chicago Vampire Ball. Photo: Marielle Bokor. It’s near 2 am on some random side street or alleyway in and around the theater district or Lakeview in Chicago, and a few random vehicles are pulled up to the outside of a restaurant with a cabaret room run by somebody unfortunate, a big corporate brewery with several floors and an elevator up to the actual dressing room, a full on vintage ballroom, an incredibly unique bar or two, or a huge events space with “so much room for activities.” A few surviving tech crew have convinced tired performers from the show, maybe even the queen themselves, to help pack up the black light cube in a Rubbermaid alongside the hundreds of LED candles we use because there is a building code in the modern haunt of the vampire. We feebly toss those Rubbermaids in someone’s car or cars, unglue the fangs, and get in the car for a red-eye drive back home. 2022 Chicago Vampire Ball. Photo: Marielle Bokor This is the life of someone who’s been a part of the latest revival of the Vampire Ball, a tradition that as far as I can tell, goes back to the 1890s, heavily enmeshed in the tradition of the masquerade. Not all masquerades are equal though, and they’re certainly not all the same. So over time, magic crept in. Or a community of outliers, who to some seem a sinister, dark, villainous bunch. Maybe of the occult or maybe just from hell or co-signed by demons or something. There had to be something. As communities distilled, vampires and masquerades of a Victorian nature were encountering emo, alt and goth culture, were also a part of LGBTQIA+ culture and had an alarming majority population of people in the arts or hospitality. Theater nerds, tech guys and band geeks. This didn’t always mesh well, and sometimes it still doesn’t. I don’t think it’s easy to say what the “tradition” of a vampire ball is, because they are so inextricably linked to the places that continue to host them. Louisiana’s event is called Endless Nights - appropriately ethereal for that romantic green glass ghoul vibe. If you sign up for their official newsletter, you can enter your Vampire/Nightside Name along with your email address. You laugh, and a lot of people do, but it can also be good to put your normal life aside for a night and get lost in pomp, circumstance and a live DJ from midnight to 2 am. New Orleans’ ball’s theme this year is Vampire Carnevale, and it’ll be held on Halloween itself. They describe it as “Venetian Masquerade meets a Vampire Court, with the energy of a rock concert and the elegance of Burlesque cabaret” 2025 Chicago Vampire Ball. Photo: Marielle Bokor We here in Chicago have been in Facebook chats about this since August and somehow it still doesn’t seem like enough time. This time, we had a mid-planning venue shift, to a much bigger place with multiple levels. As the person who’s been photographing all of the latest series of Vampire Balls - 7th annual for this run - I love multiple levels. I love to haunt sidestages, balconies, and dark corners because it’s where I get the coolest shots. What are we having? We’re having bats, and burlesque, tarot readings. A ghost poet and a Night market with vampire jewelry and that’s before the actual show begins. Roxy the Bat. 2025 Chicago Vampire Ball. Photo: Marielle Bokor At doors, a stream of people comes in. Some people came to see the bat. Her name is Roxy, and she's soft as cashmere and lovely to get the chance to interact with. Some are part of the larger vampire community in Chicago, and some just thought that a Vampire Ball seemed like the coolest way to kick off the Halloween season and are here to have a great time until we have to kick them off the dancefloor at 2 am. Baton drops at 8 and the lights go up, I find the current least crowded place I can photograph for a while, and a series of contenders from various of the communities I mentioned the vampire masquerade community encountered are set to take the stage in a “demonstration of power.” 2019 Chicago Vampire Ball. Photo: Marielle Bokor This is essentially the first part of a talent show, but it’s going to be so much more glamorous and spooky than all that. Contenders include dancers, metal singers, drag performers, bellydancers, opera singers, and general theatric horror performers ready with so much fake blood. There are burlesque performers backstage getting ready to be the backup dancers to the spectacle, so to speak, but are actually the key ingredient to hype up the crowd for the second half of the proceedings: The Transformation. If you’ve ever known a burlesque dancer that’s good at being in the background for long, well…I’d be surprised. These “middle acts” are absolutely insane. There are elaborate costumes and props and in some cases, so much fake blood. They’re electric, they’re powerful, and they charge up an audience that’s already having the time of their lives. 2024 Chicago Vampire Ball. Photo: Marielle Bokor Transformation involves some of the most elaborate and beautiful costumes I’ve ever seen, from full size broken-doll marionettes and beautiful Victorian gowns to head to toe glitter and glam in rich purples, burgundies and blacks, and another display of talent. In true Chicago style though, it’s not as simple as getting on stage and doing a good job. If you’re wanting to curry favor with this crowd as a contestant for king or queen, you should be making friends. Entry to the ball grants an attendee one blood red bead/gem. You use it to cast a vote for your favorite after Transformation. Buying a drink earns you another bead. Someone in a trench coat and Groucho glasses might also be selling velvet pouches of them, or giving them away if the conversation makes him smile. You as a king or queen contestant could buy a pouch of those, but you would never do that, would you? After Transformation, the votes are taken back to the backstage area and counted, and a new vampire king or queen waits in the wings to be announced. The chairs are taken down, and everyone presses onto the dance floor to find out who will take the throne. A little fanfare, a little drumroll, and, from behind the curtain (or from outside in the hallway) the newly appointed vampire king or queen takes the throne, and a handcrafted crown is placed on their heads. This year’s was commissioned from an artist in Kentucky and we’re pretty sure it’s actually haunted. The 2022 Chicago Vampire Ball. Queen: David Tenninch. Photo: Marielle Bokor In the beginning, there were two very separate, very distinct crowds at the Vampire Balls we hosted. Those who considered it a lifestyle and had found community there, and those who were looking to dress up, dance and just be someone else for the night. As I said before, those two groups didn’t always mesh well, but to date by the time the show’s over and the crown is on someone’s head, it seems like it’s all pretty well worked out. The lights go down, the DJ turns up the music, the drinks get poured and everyone parties until just about 1:30 am, when the pizza gets delivered to the crew, the lights go up, and we pack it in til next year. When I started writing this, I wanted to find out which of these traditions were universal, which were historic, and what their origins were. It’s the fault of being a journalist. I wanted to fact check it all, have a source for everything. Explain why the beads, why the illegal voting activity that seems so fitting here? Demonstration of power? Transformation? Where did the rituals come from? It could be magic. It could be the reconvening of a community that’s often othered. It could be improv. And I could tell you which I think it really is, but I would never do that, would I? Green Envy @ 2022 Chicago Vampire Ball. Photo: Marielle Bokor The 2026 Chicago Vampire Ball will convene on October 9, 2026 at Artifact Events in Chicago’s Ravenswood neighborhood this year, and tickets will still be available at the door at the time of publishing. Louisiana’s Endless Nights: Vampire Carnevale is on October 31st at the New Orleans House of Blues, with tickets also selling fast and available at this link.

Screenshot: Beat, Heart, Beat I’m a sucker for rhythm games, a love affair that started with PaRappa the Rapper and GuitarFreaks in the late 90s. This was long before Guitar Hero and Rock Band dominated the scene and dictated exactly what the genre should look and play like. We’re finally far from that era. While games like Stage Tour attest to the lingering nostalgia for peripheral-based games, players have become highly receptive to experimental rhythm hybrids. FPS rhythm shooters and roguelikes like Crypt of the Necrodancer shattered the old mold, clearing the stage for weirder, wilder concepts. In Beat, Heart, Beat, you play as Peccori on a journey to reach their withering heart. What does that mean? I’ve played the game, and I'm still not entirely sure—and that’s not a complaint. The game features a bizarre, absurdist world brought to life through a chaotic mixed-media aesthetic that blends 2D animation, FMV, and digital collage art. It’s strange, slightly unsettling, and pairs perfectly with the game's original alt-rock and grunge soundtrack. Screenshot: Beat, Heart, Beat At first glance, gameplay looks like a standard 2D action-sidescroller where you attack on the beat. In reality, it’s much closer to a Guitar Hero track, as there is really only one correct way to approach the "combat" in each level. The enemies are the notes. You can jump, and attack forward, up, and down. That might sound simple, but actions dynamically change based on context. A jump becomes a jump attack if there’s a target above you, forcing you to attack downwards to hit the next beat. Attacking forward while in the air keeps you airborne to clear gaps. It creates a system where encounters can dynamically alter the chart or throw new visual curveballs at you as you go. Screenshot: Beat, Heart, Beat Beat, Heart, Beat is entering Early Access, meaning it has some way to go before hitting 1.0. According to the developer, it will stay in the oven for about a year. Right now, it features roughly 30 percent of the planned Story Mode content. However, the inclusion of a custom Level Editor and full Steam Workshop support gives the game endless replayability for those who blast through the story. I’ll be keeping a close eye on Beat, Heart, Beat as it heads toward the finish line. It’s an incredibly fascinating intersection of midwest emo grunge, rhythm mechanics, and avant-garde art. The highly specific—and punishingly addictive—gameplay loop makes it a unique standout in the indie rhythm space.

Horror isn’t just a genre; it’s an amalgamation of pop culture, cozy traditions, and things that go bump in the night. This year, we're taking our 31 Days of Horror across the entire cultural spectrum. We’ll be taking a look at movies that scare us, games that kept us paranoid, scary books we cozy up with under blankets, music that sets that spooky tone and seasonal food we’re craving–or strange food you’d have to tie us up and force feed us. Whether you’re looking for something truly terrifying or a cozy autumn haunt, come back every day this month for a new bite-sized review or spooky adjacent list. Ready or Not 2: Here I Come is…well…not bad. Let's start there. While it's nowhere near the quality of the first, it's still worth a watch. Honestly, I think it has to do with all the typical pitfalls that come with sequels. Everything seems to always need to be one-upped from its predecessor - from the kills to Samara Weaving's incredible banshee scream- instead of letting things flow forward. The tone balance is there but the plotline veers off the edge of silliness, the kills are zanier (or at least trying to be) and the plot line really mirrors its corporate bureaucracy. The film expands the world of Ready or Not in ways that seemingly insult the confined nature of the first. You add in a new central character in Faith (the fantastic Kathyrn Newton) to join her sister Grace (once again the phenomenal Samara Weaving), which is fine and dandy but the expansion of the lore feels way too out of nowhere. Not only is it one family entangled in this supernatural superstition, but multiple groups vying for control of the world. Um, that's a lot for what started out as a little crazy family that may or may not owe their fortune to a long dead satanic cult leader. I think my biggest issue comes with the self-awareness and blind eye to its faults. Every moment that could bring a side eye is acknowledged and quickly moved past it rather than opting for better writing of a different scenario. All that being said, it's never not fun. The visual style of filmmaking collective Radio Silence is still there and the story never has a moment to lag. It's just kill a minute fun and much like the first offers a satisfying end. Although it's not as scrumptious as the first, I can't help but smile thinking of the films final scene. Go watch it this wild and off kilter sequel now! You can see where Ready or Not 2: Here I Come is streaming over at JustWatch or pick up a physical copy at your preferred retailer since it's much easier to find than the first movie!

So, it’s yacht rock night. And boy are they leaning into it. But you know what? I’m changing my mind some right at the introduction to the theme in the first few minutes of the broadcast. Why? Because sometimes leaning into something that’s polarizing is the exact right thing to do. And when some of us out there have criticized all the cheese that comes with Dancing With the Stars, they’re out here pouring it on thick. And I respect that. We excel at cheese, let’s just bring all the cheese. I’m not even mad. I love a good theme anyway. Why not have some fun? Let's get into it: Amber Glenn - Hold the Line - Foxtrot Based on our first dance, Hold the Line with Amber Glenn, who’s almost accidentally broken a pro (the DRAMA!) they certainly created a really mesmerizing and fun to watch opener. Bruno mentioned the lilt and sway and I noticed that too. Really added the technique there. Carrie agrees. You can see them blending ice skating and dancing and I think it’s to good effect. The judges agreed and we get our first 8s of the season, putting them at 24. Damn. Way to start it out. Julia Stiles - I Can't Go For That - Salsa Julia Stiles is taking this SO SERIOUSLY. I get it because Julliard was all like “you don’t even go here” and all the dancing from Save the Last Dance has been making the rounds, and for the most part being criticized. In her interview, she even pointed out the ways directors protect actors from such things. Unfortunately, she’s also injured. To me, at least at first, she looked too intensely focused, but she actually ended up looking like she was having some fun. And the judges mainly agree, with Bruno saying that she has some actual vibes, Carrie Ann agreeing she finally let go, and Derek simply saying “Julia’s back!” I don’t know why she got 6s and 7s. I’d have at least figured she’d be all 7s. Guillermo Rodriguez - Foxtrot - Escape - If you Like Pina Coladas Do we think Guillermo’s a charity vote? I think a lot of people do. I think he’s actually really trying but I don’t think he’s got long if he’s not able to really pull it out. They’re kinda hiding him behind his pro and a lot of umbrellas, and I don’t think the music here works. Carrie Ann sort of points this out saying “You’re not really dancing for the judges,” which though sharp, seems accurate. Derek only mentions the umbrella flip. Bruno has dad jokes and mentions he’s at least attempting. He gets all 5s, which, I dunno. I’m on the fence with this. I might be hating. I just don’t know that whether he’s actually attempting or not, in a fair competition, he’d still be in. I don’t dislike him, but I don’t love what’s going on here. Tatyana Ali - Quickstep - Maneater So I hated last week’s Billie Eilish monstrosity, music wise. I’m hoping this is better for her. And luckily, it really is, and she brings the attitude for it. She really got the character nailed. She also has some crazy footwork- I honestly think she kills this one! In a nice moment afterwards, Alfonso Ribiero seems genuinely excited for her and congratulates her earnestly. Derek says her footwork was good and coming from him that’s a real high praise. Bruno of course loves the character, and says she was smooth and precise. Carrie Ann seems like she’s looking for reasons to be negative. And I mean, ok, that’s judging, but sometimes she comes off like a mean girl. We get a filler dance, which is honestly another commercial break for me - I don’t really get into them much. You’d think I’d love them since it’s pros with pros but it’s so obviously filler I just switch off. Tatyana gets straight 7s, and I think she was robbed a little bit. She should’ve had at least one 8.. Now we have some sort of announcement about the sexiest dancer. I could not care less. There’s so much filler in these, and I’m not sure why, because I’m not against…sexiness in general, but I just feel like this is tacky. “They’ll put some motion in your ocean, ladies” Bleh. This I hate. Harry Shum - You Make My Dreams (Come True) - Jive Next up we get Harry Shum with a jive, and I’m again not loving the adaptation of the music. Making things jive that don’t jive is not jive. You dig? I didn’t think this dance was spectacular but they loved it. Lots of people imply he gets downvoted because he’s a ringer, since he has professional dance experience, and that sucks. I did think he’d do better last week so I get why they say that. He was definitely theatrical but I just wasn’t into it. Taylor Hanson - What a Fool Believes - Foxtrot This turned into the controversy of the week and I’m gonna share my unbiased notes here. I’d made a note he wasn’t good last week, and that this was gonna be a hard one, because foxtrot is demanding. Then I put down “Just okay. Using props to cover things up.” We already saw a foxtrot that was better this evening. Now, Derek says this was his best dance, but at least according to my notes in the moment this was still mid for me. Bruno says he needed more drive and I agree. In between things, I’m noticing that I might have been hating incorrectly before, because Alfonso Ribiero seems really really good at this job. He seems a lot less cheesy and far more capable this episode. This is still not true of Julianne, but Alfonso seems less canned and much more personable. Maybe that’s because he went through the experience from beginning to end, winning, and maybe it’s that he stayed tight with everyone after - or maybe he’s really talented and I wasn’t liking the lines he was given. But it seems a lot better now, and I’m thankful for it, because I always thought he was pretty talented. As another aside, the costumes this week have been absolutely beautiful. Maura - Turn Your Love Around - Quickstep Another top couple is up. Maura’s looking good, and very elegant. She’s handling the frame and quick stepping really well, and once again, Alfonso seems genuinely proud of her. The judges agree, for the most part, with Derek calling it a masterclass and praising her top line, and Bruno comparing her to golden age hollywood greats, also. I thought Carrie Ann was about to get on her for her top line but she didn’t. Still, she got robbed on the score. I think full 8s were due here too. Ciara Miller - Chacha - Never Too Much - Luther Vandross Here’s me thinking to myself, when watching the behind the scenes package: She has an alter ego for this? It’s gonna be terrible or awesome. Turns out I liked the character, though I did see a false start. After which she did a lot better. Was it fantastic though? No. Derek gave some good advice, and we landed on straight 6s.Given the others being so outstanding I don’t disagree.. Pasa Doble - Jackson Olson - Easy Lover So, pasa doble and a Savanna Banana could be a problem. I mean, we can’t be funny, and Jackson seems to embrace the cheese more than almost anyone. Pasa doble is all aggressive and stuff. Can he do this? I did see a little of it in there, and I will admit that sparkly baseball props speak to me. But he went overboard, and he never really kept a straight face. This distracted from the fact that he had a pretty nice frame, but he just couldn’t stop pulling faces. Carrie criticized his musicality, and I agree. Derek said there were good moments but he needed to be more ferocious, which I worry isn’t in him, and Bruno said to work on artistry. He gets all 6s, and I’m not mad about it, though I hope he does do better because I feel like he’s serious about getting better. Suddenly, we’re talking about the sexiest TikToker, and Ugh, for real? But also, I wonder here why we’re putting so many of the same dances together in one night. If it’s intentional, sure, if not, I”m not sure. I guess maybe I’m just picking at this point. Connor Wood - Everywhere - Foxtrot So, Connor’s up, and this wasn’t one of my favorite foxtrots, but the audience had a big reaction. Derek had some complements, and Bruno seems to like the pairing, while Carrie had nothing much to say. They out sixed with two 7s and I’m not sure they should be where they are right now. Jenna DeWan - Africa - Samba To start with this is a cheesy costume choice, but I also dig it. They look fun and they’re having fun. But also, she’s killing it. As goofy as a samba to Africa by TOTO is, she pulls off being sexy– they do. I really enjoyed this. As the kids say, “I fear they ate.” The judges are mostly in agreement on that, too. Bruno mentions great attacks, shoulders down and gets on some details but says she was fantastic. Derek likes it and mentions just how high the difficulty is. He wants to see smoother though. Carrie seems pissed she did this well, and mentions heel into foot, and that she stumbled, which, I honestly did not see. I’m starting to feel like Carrie’s the mean judge. I also think for as good as all that was they’re being really hard on her. She does manage all 7s, but I dunno. I feel like it could’ve gone higher. It’s here we find out that next week is Mariah Carey. Oh man. These themes are weird. Let’s see what happens then, right? Tyler Cameron - Still the One - Jive Maybe everyone should do the same dances the same week. I feel like jive and foxtrot are advanced and the people that get them earlier risk more. I’m still not feeling this jive either, and I’m not sure he did great. Carrie Ann agrees because of course. She said they need to watch timing and connect more but that there’s still some good points. Derek adds to the attack notes. Bruno said he’s doing better, and while some people I guess consider him the soft judge, I think he’s fair. That 5 was cold though, Carrie Ann. I expected straight 6s. But at least we’re not at the bottom? Ezra- Just the Two of Us - Foxtrot Ok, I think Ezra is fantastic, but this is gonna be really hard with his prosthetic. He always goes 200 percent and wants to nail it just like anyone else would though, and he looks excited. He looks excited and ready to bring it, and he’s honestly so good. Not good “considering” just good all around. And I love the changes they made to make the dance accessible. Derek said he needs to move more across the floor but says he did a beautiful job, and Bruno praises his great poise, frame, and that arabesque. Carrie Ann just says that he makes them better judges and better people, which comes off pandering, and I feel like I just might not like her. He’s all 7s, and I think someone could’ve thrown him an 8 here because this was gorgeous, but I’m not complaining so hard just yet. Results: When it all panned out with just the judges scores, I felt like the result was pretty expected, and even when I didn’t agree with them, the actual rankings seemed fine. Thing is, once we add in the audience, it got a little wonky. Jenna, Tyler, Maura, Sierra and Julia were top 5, Tatyana, Ezra, Amber, Harry and Conner were safe, and we had Guillermo, Jackson and Taylor in the bottom three. Honestly if I had to pick someone tonight, I’d still pick Guillermo, but assuming he’s the popularity vote, which I still think he is, I’d pick Jackson. Except it was Taylor, and honestly? That surprises me. And, yeah, he seems pissed, and so does his pro, Britt. This one felt like a shocker. He had potential to keep going, I think and it feels like he was robbed. And what I’ve gleaned from some digging tells me that Britt is a fan fave that people feel constantly gets paired with people that’ll keep her from the top (which, does that matter, because are they actually in competition in this show? I’m not sure). I also saw a lot of people asking for the judge’s save to return for this. So let’s hit those Hates and Greats: Hates: I still hate a lot of the music. Adapting pop music to become waltzes and foxtrots and things is already fraught, and I think a lot of times it distracts me from the actual dancing. I also just don’t feel like it’s particularly well done in most cases. It’s not the musician’s fault either, I just think that the arrangements are weird at best, awful at worst. Julianne Hough annoys me. There, I said it. She’s just…some combination of clunky and overly zesty as a host. I heard she’s an amazing dancer, though, and I’m sure she’s a nice person. Carrie Ann Inaba is starting to rub me the wrong way, and a lot of times it feels like she’s contentious instead of critical. Fairness - I feel like there’s a lot of ways this competition isn’t particularly fair. At first it was just the audience participation and popularity contest of it all that got me, but the ringer and popularity vote thing mar it for me, too. Greats: I love seeing people improve. There was some sweeping improvement here on the parts of Julia Stiles, Tatyana Ali, and Amber Glenn, who killed it in that first dance. Costuming: First off I love ballroom costumes in general because they’re so over the top and glamorous, but especially this week, they killed it in the costuming Alfonso: While at first I was sad because it seemed like they placed him on cheesy host duty and gave him nothing but stupid dad jokes, at least this week he seemed like an enthusiastic participant and real person. And that’s nice. But I still am left wondering…was it fair? Can it be fair? And what’s Mariah Carey week going to be like? I guess we’ll find out. My hate still leans towards hope. Let’s trudge on.

Horror isn’t just a genre; it’s an amalgamation of pop culture, cozy traditions, and things that go bump in the night. This year, we're taking our 31 Days of Horror across the entire cultural spectrum. We’ll be taking a look at movies that scare us, games that kept us paranoid, scary books we cozy up with under blankets, music that sets that spooky tone and seasonal food we’re craving–or strange food you’d have to tie us up and force feed us. Whether you’re looking for something truly terrifying or a cozy autumn haunt, come back every day this month for a new bite-sized review or spooky adjacent list. Listen, there’s thousands upon thousands of Halloween how-tos out there for ghostly cupcakes, meat heads, bloody this or that, and skeleton charcuterie. And that’s not a bad thing. We love spooky season, and personally, I love to cook, and to be artistic with what I serve. BUT...this is the start of busy season for us in the pop culture journalism world and let’s be honest, for most people. There’s a lot of Halloween events to be had, from haunted houses to pumpkin carving, apple picking and corn mazes. You might also get invited to a last minute Halloween shindig. When we set out to make this list we wanted to showcase classics, truly creepy things, and things that include techniques you can apply creatively to other things, and okay, a few things that are just cool. Or gross. Or cool AND gross. But overall, we also wanted the list to be inclusive for people who don’t have a ton of time and who may not want to meticulously paint on details or arrange fruits and veg into elaborate calaveras and set it on top of dry ice to create a cool fog (though, totally do that if you're so inclined.) Classics: These Halloween party favorites have stood the test of time, and it’s absolutely for a reason. https://www.dinneratthezoo.com/pumpkin-cheese-ball/ Pumpkin Cheese Ball: This looks good and involves a lot of cheese. And it’s really, really not difficult. Promise. There’s a million recipes, you can mix in stuff like peppers, but essentially it’s a big ball of cheese you can put on a platter with some crackers and people can go nuts with. It shouldn’t be a hard sell, and it’s certainly not hard to do. Here’s a recipe as an example. You can go hard on the pumpkiny realism or just make a ball and roll it in Cheezit crumbles. Put on a stem (green pepper stems work great!) and you’re off to the races. https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/food-recipes/party-ideas/a41535114/mummy-jalapeno-poppers-recipe/ Mummy Jalapeno Poppers: If you’ve never made jalapeno poppers before, never fear - they’re not terribly difficult, though I will start off with a warning. Beware touching your eyes or face when making them. Please. I’ve had encounters. It’s not great. Anyway, you basically just grab some jalapenos, scrape out the guts with a spoon, replace the guts with cream cheese and move on with your life. UNLESS it’s Halloween, and THEN you also wrap those little suckers in crescent roll dough (or little strips of bacon if you want to go more crepey - and you put little eyeballs on them, which you can do with pieces of black olive, colored cream cheese, or…whatever else might serve as a little peeper. Put ‘em in the oven, and they’ll be mummy jalapeno poppers. It’s fantastic. You can even go a little gorier and add some raspberry jam to serve them with to bloody ‘em up. Here’s a recipe: https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/food-recipes/party-ideas/a41535114/mummy-jalapeno-poppers-recipe/ https://xoxobella.com/bat-oreos/?signInSource=one-tap Oreo Bats: Ok, this is a no-brainer, and you can accomplish these in VERY little time. Like, you can just grab a pack of Oreos on the way to the party, with a few candy eyeballs and mini chocolate chips, and bam. You’ve got Oreo bats. They’re adorable, and since this is literally the most popular cookie in the damn world, they won’t be hanging around long. They’ll fly off the plate! If you have a little MORE time, you can put on some little fangs with blood, or whatever. But seriously. It looks way cooler it has any right to, and if you break a few, oh nooooo, you’re gonna have to eat those. Here’s a…recipe? These bats have horns for some reason, but they’re adorable, and I like more chocolate. Creepy: Shrimp Brain: So like, this one’s gross. But awesome. And it involves gelatin. Hold on to your butts. I know a jello mold full of shrimp invokes a different kind of fear. But this is a Martha Stewart recipe, and it looks really cool. Yes, it involves buying a brain mold, but I mean, the possibilities with one of those suckers is endless. Now, Martha serves these on elaborate head stands with a bit of muslin mummy wrap on the top, but…you can just get it out of the mold, onto a plate, and throw a little cocktail sauce on top to make it kinda bloody. Super gross, super delicious, perfect for a party. https://www.mynameissnickerdoodle.com/halloween-cheese-ball-hand/ Halloween Cheese Ball Hand Appetizer This is the intersection of really bougie snack food and really gross presentation and I adore it. That said, because everything is so expensive, you can achieve somewhat the same effect with any sort of, um, flesh colored lunch meat. Be creative. It’s kinda fun, too, hearkening back to those arts and crafts you used to do in elementary school where you’d trace your hand or arm and then go from there. Only this time, it’s decidedly more macabre. The basics? You trace your hand, then you wrap prosciutto, pepperoni, ham, turkey, etc, around some harder cheese for fingers (string cheese, anyone? Or go fancier with provolone,etc) and then you flesh out (I’m so sorry) the rest of it with a cream cheese blend that’s fantastic to dip your crackers and veggies in. Here’s some instruction: https://www.mynameissnickerdoodle.com/halloween-cheese-ball-hand/ https://www.mynameissnickerdoodle.com/halloween-feet-loaf-recipe/ Feet Loaf: This was one of the first ridiculous themed holiday things I ever made my husband, when we were still dating, and hey, it worked! It's simple: Make a meat loaf, but y’know, make it feet. You use cuts of onion for the toenails, you can throw a leek bottom in there for a leg bone sticking out (my personal touch) and there’s that bbq sauce/ketchup glaze that’s there to make things bloody disgusting. Bonus if you make mashed potatoes and pipe them to look like little ghosts. And maybe take the potato leavings and form them into little gravestones for your ghosts. It’s comfort food gone horribly wrong, and I WILL try this one again. Here’s a great recipe for it: https://www.mynameissnickerdoodle.com/halloween-feet-loaf-recipe/ Cross-functional: This section is something I decided to add last minute, because it’s representative of things you can take the technique from and run with. To be fair, there’s been a few of these already - Oreos are a great example, as you can coat them in chocolate, put eyes, Halloween sprinkles, spider legs, or make them into pumpkins, but that’s just the start. Let’s discuss three fun techniques that make regular stuff spooky. https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/mac-o-lantern-and-cheese-bowls-3813492 Jack-o-lantern All The Things: I love a stuffed pepper. It’s one of my favorite meals. As you know, there’s orange bell peppers at your local grocery store. And what could be more fun than carving little faces in them before you stuff ‘em. That’s right, nearly nothing. But it doesn’t stop at stuffed peppers. You can jack-o’-lantern quesadillas, like these skull pizzadillas, too! https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/spider-web-guacamole-3885542 Spiderwebs: Spiderwebs can go on anything. You can stir sour cream in your guac and spiderweb it, or make a beautiful cake and spiderweb it. It's not super hard, as hard as it may look. The basic technique is this: Make concentric circles, then drag a toothpick/butterknife/skewer through the circles. Easy to accomplish, easy to practice. Super effective. And not only is it creepy, it’s gorgeous. Here’s just two examples, but let your imagination run wild with ways you can pull this one off. https://www.megseverydayindulgence.com/2019/10/11/halloween-sliders/ Eyeball It: Here’s another tip: put eyeballs on things, in things. Make things look like giant eyeballs. It’s not super hard, but it is effective. It’s really easy to make eyeballs, too, whether you’ve got a savory dish (black olives and green olives are KEY to this) or sweet (icing and chocolate, chocolate chips, marshmallows/fluff). I’ve even seen some really clever caprese skewers featuring mozzarella pearls with black olive pupils, salami, tomatoes and basil drizzled in balsamic that were eerie and fancy at once. One of my favorites though is sliders. You can make sloppy joes, burgers, chicken- almost anything, and then stick some black olives on some toothpicks and boom, here’s some delicious and absurdly anthropomorphized sandwiches for your party. Make your deviled eggs into eyeballs, make a giant eyeball cake. The eyes have it. (I can’t stop myself.) Here’s a few parting tips: Peeled clementines look like pumpkins. Peeled grapes are great eyeballs. You can mummy almost anything with a tube of crescent roll dough. Ghosts can be made of marshmallow, mozzarella or white chocolate and you just need to put on some eyes to make it work. Colored candy discs can coat fruit, pretzels and more, or make a simple bark you can throw eyeballs, sprinkles and candy in. Go nuts! Oh, and speaking of…almonds make great fangs for cookie sandwiches. Anyway, here’s just 9 different ideas that hopefully don’t take a ton of time or a lot of money. Run with this. And share your favorites in the comments so we have even more to bring to the party in the future!

Screenshot: Dancing with Ghosts HumaNature Studios, best known for the funky alien antics of 2019’s ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove, is taking a dramatically different turn with Dancing with Ghosts. Spearheaded by veteran game designer Greg Johnson, this cozy narrative adventure trades retro throwbacks for a profoundly personal journey. Born from a series of devastating real-world tragedies—including the loss of his daughter, the loss of his father, and the destruction of his home in a fire—Johnson channels his grief into a beautiful, life-affirming experience set in a vibrant river village in Thailand. Despite its heavy origins, Dancing with Ghosts remains an uplifting and deeply cozy experience. You follow Mai, a 15-year-old girl struggling with severe depression after the death of her parents. Her journey toward healing begins when she befriends Pim, an 11-year-old ghost visible only to her. The narrative boldly tackles complex concepts like loss, depression, and suicide, but it juxtaposes these difficult themes with gentle gameplay designed around a singular, hopeful message: the best way to heal yourself is by helping others. Screenshot: Dancing With Ghosts This philosophy is baked directly into the mechanics through the Thai concept of utit suan boon kusohn, or sharing good karma. Operating in a format reminiscent of classic point-and-click adventure games, you essentially control both characters to solve community problems. Pim can slip into the minds of villagers to uncover their hidden worries or wishes, relaying that information back to Mai. Mai then performs acts of kindness to help her neighbors, which are represented through a series of slice-of-life minigames. Screenshot: Dancing With Ghosts You'll find yourself doing everything from delivering packages to chopping papaya salad and kneading dough for roti. The karma earned from these tasks is then shared with Pim to help the little ghost recover her lost memories. Tying it all together is a central rhythm game focused on traditional Thai dance, which plays a pivotal role in the story’s emotional core. While Dancing with Ghosts is releasing into Early Access this week, it won’t linger there for long, with Version 1.0 planned for a January release. Unusually for an Early Access title, the game launches with its complete story fully playable from start to finish, complete with full voice acting in both English and Thai. The Early Access period will be used strictly to polish the game’s animations, layer in additional minigames, and tighten up the pacing based on community feedback. I look forward to returning to Dancing with Ghosts once it hits 1.0. Greg Johnson and HumaNature Studios are onto something special, and I’d rather wait and savor the experience once it hits 1.0.

Screenshot: Alien Breed: 35th Anniversary Collection I’ve spent my entire life playing video games in one form or another. I’ve been around long enough to say that I’ve seen most major video game and computer game technology as they debuted. While I do collect retro games, the popularity in doing so has made owning some of these bygone games and systems a little bit harder. Especially for those who don’t have the knowledge to use them. That’s why it’s a delight that so many games are acting as interactive documentaries–both showcasing the games in a playable format but also with extensive developer interviews, video game art and box art, etc. Alien Breed 35th Anniversary does exactly that, and for a game series that may be obscure for those in the United States. Screenshot: Alien Breed: 35th Anniversary Collection For those unaware, Alien Breed is essentially what put Team 17 on the map, which they followed up with their fantastic Worms series. Team 17 really pushed the Commodore Amiga hardware to its limit and proved that it could deliver smooth, fast gaming experience to compete with video game consoles of the early 1990s. Alien Breed 35th Anniversary Collection gives gamers in the west a possible never-before-seen glimpse of European video game history. As a computer gamer in the 90s, I was aware of Alien Breed, but not their overseas significance. Instead, being a huge Alien and Aliens fan, I sought out any excuse to live out my xenomorph blasting fantasies through copyright adjacent franchises like Alien Breed. Not having an Amiga (or probably having any awareness of their existence at the time) I played the Alien Breed DOS ports. While those aren’t available in this package, there are a ton of things for Alien Breed fans and newcomers alike. Screenshot: Alien Breed: 35th Anniversary Collection The Alien Breed 35th Anniversary Collection packages all of the Amiga versions of Alien Breed, which includes 6 games: Alien Breed (1991) Alien Breed: Special Edition (1992) Alien Breed II: The Horror Continues (1993) (Includes both ECS and AGA hardware versions) Alien Breed: Tower Assault (1994) (Includes Amiga and CD32 versions) Alien Breed 3D (1995) (CD32 version) Alien Breed 3D II: The Killing Grounds (1996) In addition to that, there have been some control modernizations and quality of life updates. Twin-stick support has been added, as well as multiple save states and performance boosts. The classic 3D first person shooter entries run better than their classic counterparts. You can also switch aspect ratios between 4:3 and 16:9, as well as add CRT style scan lines to make it more visually like you might have played them back in the day. There is also online multiplayer added, as well as a few extra game modes like a Rush mode and Horde mode. Screenshot: Alien Breed: 35th Anniversary Collection The best part of all of is the interactive archives. There is an archive that is set up as an explorable, in-universe map that resembles an actual Alien Breed level. There is box art, game art, documentaries and interviews with the development team. I think I spent more time watching interviews than playing the actual games. Sadly, while you can pause the movies it doesn’t seem like there’s an ability to scrub through them. So if you lose your place you’re forced to watch the whole thing again. Which is a bummer. Screenshot: Alien Breed: 35th Anniversary Collection If you’re a fan of retro game content, video game history, or just curious about Alien Breed, you should definitely check out this title. I don’t want to get on anyone’s bad side, but I never thought the Alien Breed games were great even for their time, so you sort of have to go into the whole thing with academic curiosity or some thick nostalgia goggles. That’s not to discount this amazing pack of games, or the impact Alien Breed has had on gaming as a whole.

Screenshot: Shadow of Mordor/Shadow of War Nintendo Switch 2 I finally got to spend some quality time with the Nintendo Switch 2 ports of some of the best open-world RPGs of all time: Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War. Both titles are famous for their use of the patented Nemesis system. That is: when an enemy kills you, it comes back stronger—and if it wasn’t a named enemy, you better believe they have a name, and a new rank to show for it. It’s great to have both of these games, chock full of their DLC, all ready to go on the portable Nintendo Switch 2. But man, I wish these ports were better. Those hoping that publisher Warner Bros. and port studio Aspyr would use the Nintendo Switch 2’s hardware to its fullest extent while adding next-generation bells and whistles will be sorely disappointed. Each one of these games has a hard framerate cap of 30 FPS—even while docked. That’s pretty rough, especially for someone like me who played these on PC at over 60 FPS on release. Not only that, but few features are added except for gyro aiming. Shadow of War even had its asynchronous multiplayer features—like Online Vendettas and Fortress Conquests—completely removed for this release. Each of these games is also pretty massive, with Shadow of Mordor taking up 55 GB and Shadow of War requiring a massive 75 GB. Okay, now that the bad is out of the way, let’s talk about the good. Screenshot: Shadow of Mordor/Shadow of War Nintendo Switch 2 You get two huge, fantastic games with all of the trimmings. If you played the Batman: Arkham games and liked the combat, Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War have a similar style—just with more options, and more lethality. I mean, Batman’s cool, but playing as a possessed Ranger with a ghost inside you that can turn enemies into allies is fantastic. The combat alone makes these some of the most fun games I’ve played from the previous generation. For Shadow of Mordor you get the “Game of the Year Edition” and with Shadow of War you get the “Definitive Edition.” That includes two story DLCs for each game. That’s already in addition to the whopping 20 (or so) hours it takes to complete each base game. That’s a lot of video game value. And if you missed these games in the previous generation, this is the best time to get in and play them. Especially since Shadow of War was originally riddled with a pointless grind that encouraged you to buy loot boxes to help ease the burden. That was entirely removed back in 2018. Screenshot: Shadow of Mordor/Shadow of War Nintendo Switch 2 Also returning for these ports is the Nemesis Forge. This allows you to take your most loyal follower—and your most hated, ultimate Nemesis—from Shadow of Mordor with you into Shadow of War. It's a brilliant feature that Aspyr actively revived for this release after Warner Bros. discontinued it on other platforms years ago. However, despite these great games being available on the Switch 2, these ports just aren’t great. If you really want to play the games on a portable system, Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War are both Steam Deck certified, and often on deep discount. If you act quickly, you can still grab these on the Nintendo eShop with their 50% launch discount, but make sure your SD card is ready for it.

Screenshot: Mr. Sleepy Man What looked like, on the outside, an homage to strange Japanese retro video games turned into a semi-nightmare journey in a nostalgic dreamscape. Mr. Sleepyman is a retro throwback with modern gameplay sensibilities and classic mechanics. It’s like playing the not-quite-memory of something you experienced as a child. Mr. Sleepy Man is a retro-styled 3D adventure game, specifically a mix of platformer and collectathon. In it, you play as the titular Sleepy Man. All you want to do is go back to sleep, but bizarre characters keep standing between you and your bed, pulling you into a surreal series of errands that feel ripped straight out of a childhood fever dream. Armed with nothing but a pillow to whack enemies and trigger switches, your quest for a little peace and quiet becomes an absurdist sandbox of low-poly chaos. Screenshot: Mr. Sleepy Man While Mr. Sleepy Man is a modern release, it plays heavily to its roots. There is a very Super Mario 64 feeling to the goings-on. There are collectibles you can find that boost how many hits you can take, and others that allow you to open up new “memories” by fixing broken televisions. While the game doesn’t have the tightest controls, it seems to intentionally mimic the somewhat imprecise platforming of the era it's aping. There is combat—mostly consisting of hitting things with your trusty pillow. In fact, a lot of the environmental actions, whether battling enemies or flipping switches, are solved by using your pillow. Despite this simplicity, solo developer FrankieSmileShow keeps finding unique and interesting ways to incorporate it. Screenshot: Mr. Sleepy Man There’s something unsettling about Mr. Sleepy Man’s particular use of the “weirdcore” or “dreamcore” aesthetic. While the theme of the game is cozy with nostalgia and pajamas, that contrast actually amplifies the unsafe atmosphere. While never outright terrifying, there’s a creeping unease about Mr. Sleepy Man that settled into my mind as I lay down at night. It doesn’t help that every NPC you meet is straight out of a half-remembered dream—or nightmare. The game mixes FMV and gameplay in ways that are just as clever as anything Remedy has done with the Control series. And I’d argue it’s even more effective paired with the low-res, low-poly art style here. Screenshot: Mr. Sleepy Man Originally releasing earlier this year on PC, I finally got a chance to play it when it came around to the Nintendo Switch 2. It turns out the spooky season is the perfect time to experience this kind of surreal trip. Mr. Sleepy Man is a niche type of platformer, and it’s a game I would normally run into at an art show or niche curated game convention. It’s absolutely worth playing, especially if you’re into bizarre aesthetics. It’s a clever indie title that strongly feels like you’re playing someone else’s half-remembered childhood, and that’s a vibe some developers can chase their whole careers without succeeding nearly as well as FrankieSmileShow does.

Screenshot: Marvel Wolverine The pre-release discourse surrounding Marvel’s Wolverine was a battleground. Early reviews were notoriously unkind, but upon release, a vocal contingent of players emerged claiming it was actually a misunderstood great. Social media became a whiplash of creators dunking on broken QTEs and "fart trails," immediately followed by earnest defenses of its fun factor. As someone who grew up with Wolverine as a foundational favorite—right alongside the rest of my demographic—I had to see for myself. Unfortunately, the reality leans heavily toward the critics. Wolverine isn't just a flawed action game; it is a fundamental miscalculation of character and storytelling that, frankly, harms Insomniac’s once stellar reputation. Screenshot: Marvel Wolverine Marvel’s Wolverine bills itself as a third-person action-adventure featuring the titular stab-and-slash guru. “Logan is the best at what he does, and what he does isn't very nice.” That tagline alone highlights the tightrope Insomniac had to walk: balancing a protagonist whose actual deeds are monstrous with the heroic framing required for a blockbuster video game. This isn't Spider-Man, who pulls his punches, and miraculously webs foes before they plummet to their deaths. Wolverine, by his own account, doesn’t do very nice things. But Insomniac never fully commits to the necessary grit. Instead, they struggle to figure out what makes Wolverine compelling to a modern audience. The character's explosive popularity was cemented in an era where gross-out cartoons and pure edge were not only novel, but heavily marketable to kids. Stripped of that 90s novelty, and forced to step out of Hugh Jackman’s overpowering cinematic shadow, this iteration of Logan feels surprisingly hollow at best, schmaltzy at worst. Screenshot: Marvel Wolverine Framed properly, and Logan can be as heroic as the best of them. But the storytelling in Wolverine is clumsy. The narrative heavily relies on telling the audience how they should feel rather than earning those emotions through meaningful storytelling weight. Emotional beats routinely fail to land, resulting in a script that feels immature and uneven. Cutscenes drag on to near-Kojima lengths; I found myself genuinely tempted to fire up another game on a second screen to get work done while waiting for the exposition to end. The voice acting, for me, is a mixed bag. There are some powerful performances, but while the story sometimes does them a disservice, some of the characters didn’t quite hit the mark, either. I was excited to see legendary Troy Baker’s take on Essex (no spoilers here). But it’s maybe one of the most Troy Baker performances of his career. The man is undeniably talented and often considered the best in the industry, but he has a tendency to be a bit of a Brent Spiner in regards to character acting. Sometimes the theatricality works brilliantly, but sometimes it veers into self-indulgence. Screenshot: Marvel Wolverine The presentation is further hampered by baffling design and gameplay choices. Viral clips of players bypassing danger and ignoring broken prompts are entirely accurate. Hitting “R1” when a flashing “R2” is on the screen isn’t penalized. I personally hate quick time events, and while I’m glad there aren’t any instant fail sequences, having no penalty feels strange. I would argue it’s a type of ludonarrative dissonance. If a game establishes a strict ludic rule where the Left Trigger (L1) = Left Hand and Right Trigger (R1) = Right Hand, that mapping becomes the narrative language of the character's body. If a prompt tells you to use the left hand, you press L1, but the character on screen moves their right hand, the game has violated its own structural contract. It’s more than immersion breaking, it brings you out of the game completely to try to figure out what’s happening. Screenshot: Marvel Wolverine This goes for purely storytelling decisions, too. In one particularly egregious set piece, Logan struggles against a massive jet engine, yet the surrounding metal and environment remain entirely unaffected by the physics of the moment. Even the game's structural lore delivery feels disjointed. Players revisit Logan's past through various "doors" that serve as challenge rooms. While they provide necessary lore tidbits, they feel artificially bolted onto the experience rather than woven into the world. While I’m not wishing for more open-world games, having Wolverine be purely linear was a mistake. I’m not fond of giant, empty worlds filled with arbitrary activities, but I feel like semi-open world maps would have been the best approach. It would have helped highlight Logan’s tracking abilities, and traversal skills. Screenshot: Marvel Wolverine Paradoxically, Wolverine's combat is both its greatest strength and my biggest point of frustration. While I actually really enjoy the combat in Wolverine, I can’t help but feel like Logan just isn’t as powerful and his claws just aren’t as sharp as they should be. Wolverine’s adamantum claws are supposed to slice through practically anything like butter. Here, he’s swinging blunt edged butter knives against spongey enemies. I understand, on one hand, how Wolverine can’t just slice through everything and make short work of it. That is, unless he’s fully enraged and can properly one-shot most foes. And while I appreciate the combo minigame of getting him to that enraged state, I can’t help but feel like he should start there as a baseline and work into something more frenzied.Insomniac should have sharpened his claws, allowed players to tear through hordes of basic soldiers effortlessly, and saved the high-health endurance fights for special encounters. Screenshot: Marvel Wolverine Yet, despite these glaring misgivings, the combat ultimately emerges as the game's strongest pillar—once you understand the underlying rhythm. It borrows the flow of the Arkham and Spider-Man games, but in way that feels appropriate to a character that can take lethal blows and keep moving. I feel like most of the game’s budget was spent on fine tuning the combat. But the real saving grace is the rage meter. When Logan gets mad enough, the combat shifts into an insta-kill mode that finally delivers the frenzied feeling of playing as The Wolverine.. The entire combat loop becomes a frantic, highly enjoyable dance of filling your rage meter and fighting to keep it active. It is impossible to look at Wolverine without comparing it to Insomniac’s other Marvel properties. If you told me ten years ago that Spider-Man was inherently cooler than Wolverine, I’d not only agree, as a lifeline Spider-Man fan (even when it wasn’t cool) I’d feel vindicated. Insomniac’s Spider-Man isn't just the best game Sony has put out; its version of Peter Parker is arguably better than any live-action cinematic counterpart. While Spider-Man 2 had its pacing issues, it never fumbled the core identity of its hero. Screenshot: Marvel Wolverine Wolverine does. It lifts story elements that were handled infinitely better in recent Spider-Man films, inviting comparisons that do Logan no favors. Insomniac aimed for a prestige, character-driven blockbuster, but missed the mark, leaving players with a flawed brawler that never quite figures out who its hero is supposed to be.

Horror isn’t just a genre; it’s an amalgamation of pop culture, cozy traditions, and things that go bump in the night. This year, we're taking our 31 Days of Horror across the entire cultural spectrum. We’ll be taking a look at movies that scare us, games that kept us paranoid, scary books we cozy up with under blankets, music that sets that spooky tone and seasonal food we’re craving–or strange food you’d have to tie us up and force feed us. Whether you’re looking for something truly terrifying or a cozy autumn haunt, come back every day this month for a new bite-sized review or spooky adjacent list. Star Trek isn’t necessarily known for being scary, but there are a few episodes that are genuinely creepy. I mean, the first aired episode of Star Trek was “The Man Trap” which was a creature feature about a salt vampire that can appear as different people while stalking and killing Enterprise crew members. The Original Series even had an overt horror episode in “Catspaw” which featured a gothic mansion, a giant cat, and ghosts–with Kirk using his masculine wiles to get the upper hand, of course. But I wanted to figure out what the scariest Star Trek episodes were. And I’m not talking about “Sub Rosa” and its sexually charged ghost–a ghost that went on to play Shakaar in Deep Space Nine, by the way. These are the 5 scariest Star Trek episodes. Screenshot: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. 5: “All Those who Wander” Strange New Worlds. While Voyager attempted an Aliens-like story with “Macrocosm,” it was miles behind “All Those Who Wander.” Trapped on a frozen disabled ship the crew of the Enterprise have to survive mutating Gorn hatchlings in a visceral survival thriller. Its high production values help drive home the scares–and how terrifying the Gorn can be. It’s also an episode that taught us that not all of the Enterprise crew and/or cast regulars are safe. Screenshot: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 4. “Empok Nor” Deep Space Nine I don’t always like the trope where a character is forced to do bad things because of mind control or some other mind altering reason, but despite that being a main plot point for “Empok Nor” there are a few reasons it works here. For one: the person affected is (alleged) Cardassian Spy Garak, who uses all of his knowledge he acquired in the Obsidian Order to play a deadly cat and mouse game with Miles O’Brien and the other Starfleet offiders. It shows Andrew Robinson’s range, and how scary he can be as the “simple tailor” Garak. Screenshot: Star Trek: The Next Generation 3. “Schisms” The Next Generation This is an episode that lives in my head, rent free. This episode leans heavily into the alien abduction vibes. Several crew members have a shared, traumatic memory that they have to piece together to discover the disturbing truth. There are a few freaky moments in episodes of The Next Generation, but none are quite as unsettling as “Schisms.” Its most famous scene has affected crew members trying to recreate their memory using the holodeck, blindly recreating a cold, clicking alien surgical theater based on their shared subconscious trauma. Screenshot: Star Trek: Enterprise 2. “Impulse” Enterprise “Impulse” is probably remembered for being Star Trek’s take on the zombie genre, and that’s why it’s on this list. The Enterprise crew board a drifting Vulcan ship only to discover the entire crew has been driven into a state of rabid, violent psychosis. Seeing hordes of normally stoic, logical Vulcans reduced to screaming monsters is genuinely scary. Screenshot: Star Trek: Voyager 1. “The Thaw” Voyager. When lists of scariest Star Trek episodes come up, “The Thaw” is usually on it. And for good reason. THe crew of the USS Voyager come across a planet where there are a few colonists in hibernation, but their minds are kept active by a program. It turns out the program has warped into a living nightmare, with “The Clown”--an embodiment of fear played brilliantly by Michael McKean has to match wits against a mostly helpless Voyager crew trying to free their crewmates now trapped in the nightmare. It’s a terrifying premise with an incredibly satisfying (but terrifying in its own way) ending. Star Trek may be built on a foundation of optimism and scientific exploration, but as these episodes prove, the franchise isn't afraid to turn off the lights and lean into pure terror when the story demands it. Whether it's psychological thrillers, haunted space stations, or visceral survival horror, Trek handles the genre surprisingly well. But with over 900 episodes across the franchise, there are bound to be some creepy moments left off this list. Did I miss a genuinely terrifying episode? Does the clicking from "Schisms" still keep you up at night? Let me know your pick for the scariest Star Trek episode in the comments below.

Horror isn’t just a genre; it’s an amalgamation of pop culture, cozy traditions, and things that go bump in the night. This year, we're taking our 31 Days of Horror across the entire cultural spectrum. We’ll be taking a look at movies that scare us, games that kept us paranoid, scary books we cozy up with under blankets, music that sets that spooky tone and seasonal food we’re craving–or strange food you’d have to tie us up and force feed us. Whether you’re looking for something truly terrifying or a cozy autumn haunt, come back every day this month for a new bite-sized review or spooky adjacent list. Slow burn horror movies aren't for everyone. Sometimes that sneaking suspicion that something is gonna happen and it never actually does plays as annoying rather that harrowing. It's hard to find that balance between being withholding and actually making your skin crawl. Watcher is a movie that I had little to no expectations for outside of its star Maika Monroe, whose acting in the incredible It Follows still resonates with me. She portrays Julia, a young American woman who has reallocated to Bucharest, where a serial killer of young woman called "The Spider" roams the streets. What an unfortunate coincidence. With in minutes of starting the film, I was immediately vibing with the look of the film and everyone's fantastic acting. If there is any trope that really bothers me in film, it's people not believing a character. Whether it's their fears, their knowledge, what have you, it's just so annoying to me. Especially when it goes beyond accidental gaslighting. And that is ALL that this movie is about. The anxiety a woman feels walking the street at night alone or being in a subway station with seemingly no one around; further amplified by the isolation of being in a new country where you barely know the language, only to have no one believe you when you feel like you're being stalked. The film plays with all those emotions perfectly, never really getting grating and instead making you feel the isolation of Julia throughout the perfect 96 minute runtime as personally as possible. Another big issue with slow burn horror is that there is a chance that the ultimate moment doesn't live up to all the waiting. And while I can't guarantee everyone will love the film's resolutions, I can say with certainty that it fit the films themes. It's an ending that could have gone overboard or been completely unrealistic, but instead opts for the most satisfying end. If you need something more creepy for your viewing pleasure, Watcher is free at a bunch of places on line.