As the leaves begin to turn and Halloween grows closer, some of us like to scare ourselves. Luckily, we’ve curated a list full of the perfect horror and thrillers releasing this fall. From haunted asylums to deadly seances, this list is sure to make the hair on the back of your neck rise.

She Haunts Me Still by De Elizabeth

Mallory Webb has a haunted past full of ghost stories and loss. She is excited to leave it behind and attend college where her mom did, at an old sanatorium turned liberal arts college. Studying theater, Mallory lands the lead role in Romeo in Juliet but her luck runs out when she begins to see a bloody ghost that might have had something to do with her mother’s death. With a notebook full of cryptic symbols, Mallory is determined to solve her mother’s haunting before she suffers the same fate. She makes an unexpected friend and ally in Ezra Pierce, a senior directing the play, who she has great chemistry with. Ezra is extremely secretive, hiding what he knows about Saskia Garin, Mallory’s understudy who has a creepily similar past. When an ancient spirit comes to cash in an old bargain dating back to the New England vampire panic, Mallory, Ezra, and Saskia will uncover how their tragic histories are linked and face the consequences of their growing attraction.

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Monster in the Mirror by Janasha Prabhu

After being found cradling her dead girlfriend, Georgia’s, body at the bottom of a cliff, everyone suspects Jiah Rai. Though there was not enough evidence to charge her, the town believes that murder runs in the family. Jiah’s uncle was a serial killer that died behind bars, but people believe that his legacy continues with the family. Living in Dumont their whole lives isn’t enough, the Rai family doesn’t fit in with the narrow-minded community. A few years later, Georgia’s brother makes a threat that might destroy the little peace that Jiah has rebuilt. Jiah seeks the support of her best friend, Estrella, but after she fails to show up to a party, text messages lead Jiah to the beach. There she finds a body laying how her uncle positioned his victims long ago. The killer is mocking Jiah but is she the monster that Dumont believes her to be? As Jiah tries to hunt the killer down and tries to save the next victim, she begins to realize that she might not want to.

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Want Me Take Me Haunt Me Make Me Isabel Crowley

Hazel Lewis has found herself tangled up in a web of problems. She was hired to conduct a seance by a guy that turned out to be a serial killer with a demonic contract who dies before she can even finish. The seance was a trap but Hazel luckily made it out alive. She didn’t make it out unscathed though. She suffered a demon bite that is now taking over her body. The dead serial killer is waiting to see if she dies so he can take over her body. Hazel moves to a small, remote house hoping that she can protect herself and learn about her new reality. She isn’t alone though. There is a reporter trying to get her to answer questions, a friendly and handsome neighbor, and a mysterious face with glowing red eyes that watches her every night. As Hazel begins to hunger, everything she knows is challenged and who she can trust is constantly changing. 

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The Night Pool by Lauren Lee Smith

The gold rush town, Coloma, California is not safe for women. Clara Tice, the black smith’s odd daughter, Mei, the healer in a Chinese immigrant camp, and Haloke, the granddaughter of a Nisenan are all in danger. Clara and Haloke witness something terrible happen to another woman in the town, Clementine Cobbs, who has been lured to the Night Pool. As men in Coloma begin to drop dead from an unseen attacker, the possibility of violence increases. Clara, Mei, and Haloke form an unlikely bond in order to protect themselves from both monsters and men. 

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The White Chapel Moon Society by Elizabeth DeLozier

Caroline Foster has ended up at the White Chapel Moon Society in search of her missing brother. Though the outside is dilapidated and old, the inside is a lavish gentlemen’s club. In exchange for room and board, Caroline begins to work as the Full Moon’s maid where three instructions rule her work–don’t ask personal questions, never enter the iron-barred room on the second floor, and stay in her bedroom on nights of a full moon. Caroline finds out that the previous maid was murdered by Jack the Ripper and her brother hasn’t left behind any sort of answers. As more bodies are found dead with connection to the society, Caroline realizes that she has stumbled into a scary story more dangerous that she can imagine. 

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Children of the Wolf by Abby Geni

Running a small beekeeping business gives Liv the quiet life that she wants. That quiet is uprooted after a dead body is discovered in the town, forcing her to grapple with violence from her youth. Liv was raised in rural Iowa with her brother Finn by their Swedish father who raised them like vikings. They lived a life of swordplay and archery, homeschooling, and Norse holidays. Her odd childhood was disrupted when an FBI raid tore their family apart when Liv was fourteen, leaving Liv and Finn to learn how to live normally. Now twenty years later, with a new last name in a different state, Liv’s quiet life is threatened when the men disappearing have similarities to her own father’s crimes. 

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The Haunting of Lavender House by Natalie Kicic

In 2026, Petra is shocked to learn, after her mother’s passing, that her grandmother is still alive and living on a small island, Tolba, in Croatia. Petra travels to her ancestral home with its sprawling lavender fields desperate to find her grandmother, the last surviving family member she has. She is happy to reunite with her grandmother, but each night is full of dark, vivid nightmares and the feeling that something is watching her in Lavender house. In 1895, Magdalena spends her time healing people but is called a whore, a sinner, a witch continually. The opportunity arises to fix her reputation when she is asked to help the matriarch of Lavender House. Magdalena works to heal the woman, and falls for the son of the man responsible for her ostracization. Can love and acceptance happen for a women on the outside of society? Back in 2026, Petra is uncovering rumors surrounding her family that a spirit from Croatian folklore, a mora, haunt their house for revenge. As the only heir to Lavender House, Petra must work to find the truth of her inheritance or face the curse that has claimed her family.

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Observer by Nicholas Russell

Renata Scarborough has come home to find all of her mom’s belongings on the porch and her aunt and cousin swearing that her mother, Corinne, is dead. She isn’t convinced so she begins searching for answers in her mother’s journals. In Corinne’s writing about working at the McNairy Observatory, Renata discovers that her mother had an obsession with encounters with a strange entity. Now she must journey to the abandoned outpost where her mother worked in Nevada’s wilderness. The town won’t talk about the observatory’s closure leaving Renata confused. As she climbs the mountain up to the observatory, she has the sinking feeling that something is waiting for her at the top and it’s not her mother. 

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Sometimes I Scare Myself by Jeneva Rose

This chilling read tells three separate stories of horror and danger. In the first story, at what was meant to be a fun thirtieth birthday, a seance goes wrong killing the medium. The guests work to cover up the untimely death, without a clue that the unfinished seance has allowed something dangerous to cross over into this realm. In the second story, the Dalton family has moved into what was meant to be their dream home. That is until the house begins to whisper, the neighbors watch, and no one believes postpartum Kristin Dalton when she discovers that everyone who has ever lived in the house has died or disappeared. In the third and final story, on their way to a remote cabin for a relaxing vacation in the snow, a group of friends stops to see a store where a sign says “All items cursed. Curse lifted at time of sale.” They laugh it off until one of the friends finds an item in her bag that wasn’t paid for. Then a storm traps them inside and the bodies begin to drop. 

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The Need by Megan Mostyn-Brown

Some people live with a rare genetic disorder called The Need. For some it is power, for others it is a curse. For all that have it, they must consume human flesh or die. Talia has been running with her teenage kids since they were babies, preventing anyone from getting close enough to discover the family’s dark secret. Her son, Sam, is consumed by The Need and continues to give in to his dark desires. Rosie, his twin, is lucky enough to not have The Need but her life can’t be normal when her brother keeps eating people. Another family, the elite New York City Armstrongs pride themselves on having The Need. Vera, a member of the family, lives a life of luxury in every way, but is being haunted by a mistake from her past. It has ruined her family standing, her relationship with her kids, and is ruining her sanity so Vera is willing to do anything to fix it. It might seem like these families are very different, but a secret that Talia is hiding will bring them crashing into the Armstrongs. When the truth finally does come out, no one can ever be the same. 

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Something Followed Us Home: Tales of Latiné Horror by Cynthia Pelayo

In this collection of Latiné horror stories from 17 different authors, tales of haunted households, now dangerous sacred spaces, brutal landscapes, and bodies taken by ancient and intimate forces are told. Each story tells the tale of the evil that follows us home, watches from our mirrors, and rarely leaves without taking something in return.

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Dance in The Madhouse by Jess Wrighthouse

In 1905, in Philadelphia, Owen Townsend was a medical intern set up for success, but just a month later, he is locked up in an asylum called Fairmount Lodge, where the patients are an exhibit for the public to gawk at. Typhoid fever, delirium, and an act of violence have caused Owen’s fall, but is he sane again? As fires at Fairmount spread, attacks that don’t make sense, and terror rather than treatment, Owen realizes that he has been trapped there by someone that wants him dead. He must find a way to survive and even harder find someone on the outside that is sympathetic to his cause. Then he finds a sharp policeman, Brumbaugh, that can help him. First he must solve the mystery using clues from a young opera singer, Celeste, who Owen has saved from suicide. 

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Goodnight Monsters by Suzanne Junered

Lia, the epitome of a southern suburban housewife, and her husband Evan have been dreaming of becoming parents but when Lia finds out she actually is pregnant, she questions if she actually wants a baby. While hiding her pregnancy, she blackmails her way into working at The Body Farm, a forensic anthropology center. While working at The Farm, Lia begins to feel the desire to kill and fantasizes about murder. When a donated body ends up being someone she’s fantasized about killing, her reality begins to blur. As people around her are dropping dead, Lia doesn’t know who to trust including herself, but must figure out how to put a stop to the deaths. 

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Night of Madness by Ryan Douglass

Mara is a horror buff but she’s especially a fan of horror producer Jack Stanley. She’s bonded with her dad over his movies for years but Stanley has slipped out of the public eye. That is until he decides to host a competition where five teen influencers get to spend the night on one of his famous film sets. Whoever can last until morning wins a hundred thousand dollars. Mara jumps on the opportunity and finds herself as one of the five influencers picked. When they arrive on set, the eerie asylum is a horror fan’s dream. As they begin the challenge though, they realize that they are not here for just a sleepover but they must fight for their lives. Does Mara have what it takes to survive the night?

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My Violent Muse by Rosie Sycamore 

Morello is an orphaned, homeless, and starving artist struggling to get by until the dangerous and dazzling Florence appears offering a solution. Morella can have a life of privilege if she will hunt and kill a predatory man from the art world each year. Together they plan and plot dramatic murders, but Morello sees what life could be like without the vigilante acts when she falls for a wealthy art student Jude. One slipup away from losing the life she has killed for, Morello must decide if she is done with the life of vengeance and violence. 

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Portrait of a Haunting by Madison Tyler Nelson

Tatum Alexander has had the tendency to ignore her mediation abilities. She inherited the ability to see ghosts from her mother, a well known artist, who killed her partner and used his blood in her final painting. Needless to say, Tatum has avoided her supernatural talent and also avoided getting close to the man she loves. Alongside her best friend Mischa, she has found a refuge, though, with her Sight in the largest coven in Manhattan. Then suddenly, Mischa is murdered and Tatum can’t ignore the spirits trying to get her attention. They tell her that the murderer is not finished and she is the next victim. She’ll have to rely on those she wants to protect in order to keep them safe, but a secret from her mother will change everything. 

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This B Just Won’t Die by Tanya Pell 

Former scream queen Barbra Jacobs is desperate to break out of the box Hollywood has assigned her. Though she is grateful for her work starring in the Mirror horror franchise films twenty years ago, she can’t seem to move on as an actress. She makes ends meet by doing meet and greets and signing photos at horror conventions. It’s not exactly the life she imagined for herself, so when she is called to host The Monsters We Made, a hot new horror docuseries, she jumps on the chance. Her life takes a turn when fans around her begin to die in ways that copy the films Barbra once starred in. Instead of being able to move on, she’s become the final girl she was once cast as. If she’s not careful, Barba might not make it out of this story alive.

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When The Night Comes Knocking by Katherine Daniel

Jane and Thomas are on an uncomfortable road trip from college through the Northern Georgia mountains because they haven’t spoken since an accident nearly killed them. A stop at a convenience store takes a turn when a mutilated man stumbles in claiming to have been attacked by a monster. No one believes him at first, but when the next person to leave is killed, they begin to think a local legend is true. A beast, hiding in the mountains, feasts on guilty hearts and has been drawn out of hiding. Jane and Thomas each have secrets but so does everyone else hiding in the gas station. As the patrons fear for their lives, they turn on each other trying to find who is the guiltiest of them all. 

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