5 female-directed films to stream in October

Happy October! The scariest month of the year has arrived, which means it’s time to fully spook-ify your pop culture picks.

Excited though we are for some of this month’s theatrical releases, the dearth of female-directed offerings hitting the big screen this October is frankly dispiriting (and not in a fun, Halloween-y way). But that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of seasonally satisfying movies from female artists available right in your own home, on your own devices (the call always does come from inside the house, after all).

Keep yourself creeped out all October long with these five frightening flicks from female directors, all streaming right now — and come back next month for five more!

If you don’t already have a Shudder account, this might be the month to take that free trial. And your first order of business should be Ana Lily Amirpour’s debut feature A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night. A Sundance breakout in 2014, the ultra-cool black-and-white horror film is intriguingly billed as “the first Iranian vampire Western.” So what are you waiting for?

STREAM IT: Shudder, Criterion Channel, Amazon, iTunes

It’s been almost two decades since American Psycho came out, but Mary Harron’s 2000 adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ capitalist satire is all the more disturbing when you think about how much Patrick Bateman, a delusional narcissist in the ’80s finance world, would probably be thriving in the present moment. Anyway, it’s a cult classic! And it’s on Netflix!

STREAM IT: Netflix, Amazon, iTunes

Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Smoczyńska made her feature debut in 2015 with The Lure, a dazzling fairy tale with teeth. The singular horror-musical twist on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid follows two carnivorous mermaid sisters who become above-ground nightclub singers. One of them, of course, falls in love with a human — but can she ever really be part of that world?

STREAM IT: Criterion Channel, Amazon, iTunes

Throw it way back with early trailblazer Ida Lupino, whose The Hitch-Hiker bears the incredible distinction of being the only classic film noir from a female director. The chilling drama, made in 1953, follows two friends who pick up a hitchhiker — only to discover that their sadistic new passenger has other plans for their road trip. Making it even scarier? It’s based on a true story.

STREAM IT: Amazon Prime, Criterion Channel, YouTube

It would be a grave mistake to go through the entire month of October without revisiting Jennifer Kent’s 2014 debut. That’s right: ‘tis the season for the modern horror classic, the monstrous indie breakout, the gay icon — The Babadook.

STREAM IT: Showtime, Amazon, iTunes

• Here’s everything coming to Netflix in October 2019
• 5 female-directed films to stream in September
• 5 female-directed films to stream in August