Here for the Fear: Your Guide to TCM’s Creepy Cinema Spotlight

TCM

Leading up to Halloween, Turner Classic Movies features a number of terrific scary movie classics either airing on their own — like one of our top picks, the 1965 Japanese ghost story anthology Kwaidan, which will keep you up and with the lights on during its late-night Oct. 2/early-morning Oct. 3 showing — or as part of themed marathons (including a morning and afternoon lineup of titles starring Christopher Lee as Dracula and other sinister characters on Oct. 25; a triple-header of ghostly tales on Oct. 28: 1982’s Poltergeist, 1961’s The Innocents and 1973’s Don’t Look Now, making its TCM premiere; and a Halloween marathon running from early morning Oct. 30 into the evening of Oct. 31.

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A key highlight of TCM’s themed October marathons comes when the network shines its TCM Spotlight on “Creepy Cinema” on each of the month’s five Monday nights, encompassing the following subjects:

Creepy Cinema Night 1 (Oct. 3): “Bette & Joan” & “More Women in Horror” — An evening of female-led horror and suspense classics, including Bette Davis in Dead Ringer (1964), Joan Crawford in Possessed (1947), Julie Harris and Claire Bloom in The Haunting (1963), Elizabeth Taylor in Night Watch (1973) and Jacqueline Bisset in The Spiral Staircase (1975).

Creepy Cinema Night 2 (Oct. 10): “De Palma & Hitchcock” & “More Horror Directors” — Six chilling works from master horror/thriller filmmakers: Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope (1948), Brian De Palma’s Obsession (1976), John Carpenter’s The Fog (1980), Joe Dante’s The Howling (1981), David Cronenberg’s The Brood (1979) and George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968).

Creepy Cinema Night 3 (Oct. 17): “Screamin’ Shelley Winters” & “More People on the Verge” — Shelley Winters gets the evening started with two of her later roles as a frighteningly unhinged character, in the films What’s the Matter With Helen? (1971) and Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? (1972), which lead into other titles themed around madness, like The Masque of the Red Death (1964), House of Wax (1953) and others.

Creepy Cinema Night 4 (Oct. 24): “Creepy Loners” & “More Creepy Horror” — Various creeps will give you the creeps tonight in films like The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1977), Let’s Scare Jessica to Death (1971), Carnival of Souls (1962), Freaks (1932) and more.

Creepy Cinema Night 5 (Oct. 31): “Universal Horror” — TCM’s Halloween marathon leads into tonight’s final “Creepy Cinema” spotlight, which features a lineup of seven legendary horror productions from Universal Pictures: The Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Son of Frankenstein (1939), Frankenstein (1931), The Invisible Man (1933), The Wolf Man (1941), Dracula’s Daughter (1936) and The Black Cat (1934).