Of all the years for horror movies, TV, games, and other properties, 2021 might be up there as some of the best. Because of the 2020 shutdown and pandemic, a lot of properties were pushed into 2021. Movies like Halloween Kills were supposed to come out last year. But this week, the second week of October, the 11th through the 17th, is truly special.

We’re getting: Halloween Kills, Chucky, Day of the Dead, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Slumber Party Massacre, horror themed episodes of The Movies That Made Us, Just Beyond from R. L. Stine premieres on Disney Plus, in addition to plenty of other movies releasing this week. Horror fans are going to have a hard time sleeping this week, and it won’t be from fright. There just isn’t enough time in the day to watch all of this content.

Running through all of them though, let’s start with Chucky.

Horror TV Rests On Chucky

Chucky on SYFY and USA Network is a big test for how horror can go in the future. If the series is wildly successful, we might see horror take a new step into the bold territory of television. The possibilities are endless for series like Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street to make the jump over to an episodic format. From the early reviews, Chucky is a solid show that’ll satiate horror fans and fans of the Child’s Play series.

It’s that possibility of future series that is so tantalizing. The show stars Brad Dourif, Jennifer Tilly, Fiona Dourif, Devon Sawa, Alex Vincent, and Zackary Arthur. Don Mancini writes, directs, and produces the show. So if you’re worried that Chucky is in the wrong hands, he’s in the hands of his creator.

Here’s the official synopsis for the show:

After a vintage Chucky doll turns up at a suburban yard sale, an idyllic American town is thrown into chaos as a series of horrifying murders begin to expose the town’s hypocrisies and secrets. Meanwhile, the arrival of enemies — and allies — from Chucky’s past threatens to expose the truth behind the killings, as well as the demon doll’s untold origins as a seemingly ordinary child who somehow became this notorious monster.

Halloween Kills Brings Slashers Back

Halloween Kills

The true main event of this Halloween season is Halloween Kills. It was supposed to release last October, but was delayed until 2021. Now, critics are praising the film for it’s kills and the performances by Jamie Lee Curtis and others. It’s the second part of a trilogy of Halloween films celebrating the legacy of the series but also bringing it into the new era of horror. You can catch Halloween Kills on Peacock or in theaters this Friday, October 15th.

Horror fans have been waiting for this for more than a year now. The hype is there, Michael Myers is back on our theater screens. Evil comes home to Haddonfield after the events of Halloween (2018). From what we’ve heard, the body count is off the charts on this one.

Ranking The Halloween Movies: Sequels To Rob Zombie [Fright-A-Thon]

More Horror TV Sets The Bar For What Is Possible In The Genre

Shows like Slasher: Flesh and Blood have already shown that you can make a slasher movie stretch out over the course of a television season. But this week we have two shows making their debuts in I Know What You Did Last Summer and Day of the Dead. Both are remakes/reimaginings of classic films. With I know What You Did Last Summer showing up on Amazon Prime and Day of the Dead on SYFY.

Day of the Dead starts in the first 24 hours of a zombie outbreak and is a love letter to the classic George A. Romero films. Four episodes of the series come from the man behind Psycho Goreman, Stephen Kostanski. I Know What You Did Last Summer gives us a modern look at the novel and 90s slasher movie. A psycho killer comes back to hunt down a group of teenagers that covered up a fatal accident on their grad night.

Slumber Party Massacre Comes Back With A Vengeance

Finally, we have SYFY’s remake of Slumber Party Massacre. Danishka Esterhazy directs a script by Suzanne Keilly and remakes the classic 1982 film from Roger Corman. It’s contemporary, and breaks away from the established movie that we all know and love in ways that you won’t imagine.

The Slumber Party Massacre debuts on SYFY on Saturday, October 16th.

It’s a truly joyous week and one that’s well deserved after the real-life horrors of 2020. For horror fans there’s more than you could ever watch coming out this week. It’s no doubt that this week is a Halloween treat, and we still have three weeks of October to go.

For more on horror, check out Fright-A-Thon, the month-plus long Halloween marathon, or stay tuned to That Hashtag Show.

The 2021 Halloween Movie Marathon Schedule [Fright-A-Thon]