Brew City scares: What horror movies are showing where around Milwaukee
Spooky season is back – and so are the horror movies on the big screen.
It’s October and you know what that means: The Hallmark holiday movies have begun! Nah, I’m just kidding: That was back in July.
But in more exciting news, it’s also spooky season, meaning horror movies old and new are bloodily flooding audiences like it’s the final act of “The Substance.” And as much as I’d love to post all the horror movies playing on the big screen EVERYWHERE in America, I am but one man – so this one’s just for you, Milwaukee folks. (Don’t worry, those not blessed to live around Brew City: I’ll have weekly additional streaming picks throughout the month too to help with your Halloween horror hoarding.)
But enough stalling: Here are the horror movies you can see around town this month, regularly updated throughout October.
Marcus Theatres
When it comes to spooky season this year, Marcus Theatres locations around town will be offering Halloween tricks, treats AND literal trick-or-treating.
On Saturday, Oct. 19, several locations will host family-friendly trick-or-treat festivities – complete with photo ops, games, candy (obviously) and the choice of either “E.T.” or “Despicable Me 4” for just $9 admission. Costumes are of course encouraged. Speaking of special events (albeit for a MUCH more adult audience), several Marcus locales will also host an opening night double feature of “Terrifier 2” and the new holiday-themed slasher three-quel – which adds up to almost five hours of watching the most horrific stuff you’ve ever probably seen. Take the whole family! (Editorial note: Do NOT do this.)
Beyond those particularly special spooky events, Marcus Theatres is currently summoning the grimly giggly horror comedy “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” "the Halle Berry protective mom thriller “Never Let Go” (from the director of “Piranha 3-D!”) and the James McAvoy-led vacay thriller remake “Speak No Evil” – with “Terrifier 3” and “Smile 2” still to come. And if none of that new stuff spooks your fancy, Marcus cinemas will also re-spool some scary classics – including “Halloween” (of course), “Hocus Pocus” (naturally), “A Nightmare on Elm Street” (obviously), Tim Burton’s “Sleepy Hollow” (ooh, que intrigue) and more.
Here’s the full lineup of fear coming to (Halloween)town:
Now playing
“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” – BistroPlex, Hillside, Majestic, Menomonee Falls, Movie Tavern, North Shore, Ridge and South Shore
“Never Let Go” – Menomonee Falls and South Shore
“Speak No Evil” – BistroPlex, Majestic, Menomonee Falls, Movie Tavern, North Shore, Ridge and South Shore
Coming soon
“Terrifier 3” – Opening Oct. 11
“Terrifier” double feature replaying 2 followed by 3 (again: FOUR AND A HALF HOURS OF HORROR!?!?) playing Thursday, Oct. 10
“Smile 2” – Opening Oct. 18
Special retro screenings
“The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” – Playing Oct. 4-5
“A Nightmare on Elm Street” – Playing Oct. 11-12
“The Nightmare Before Christmas” – Playing Oct. 11-17
“Sleepy Hollow” – Playing Oct. 13, 16-17
“Friday the 13th” – Playing Oct. 18-19
“Hocus Pocus” – Playing Oct. 18-24
“Scream” – Playing Oct. 25-26
“Halloween” – Playing Oct. 31 and Nov. 1-2
For specific showtimes and information, visit their website.
Oriental and Downer Theatres
This October, Milwaukee Film’s pair of East Side historic movie theaters will have Halloween selections that suck … in the best way possible! (Classic reversal joke, great work Matt.)
The Oriental will invite you to Bite Club this month. (And feel absolutely fine talking about Bite Club; that’s very much allowed.) The spooky season series will show an impressive number of neck-feasting vampire favorites – both obvious and obscure. So of course you’ve got “Dracula” and "Nosferatu” … but you’ve also got Park Chan-wook’s “Thirst,” Jim Jarmusch’s “Only Lovers Left Alive,” the original “Blade” back on the big screen, Tony Scott’s “The Hunger” (co-starring the late great David Bowie!), “Monster Squad” and “Nosferatu” (but complete with bonus Radiohead).
Here’s the full lineup of fanged wonders:
Bite Club screenings
Saturday, Oct. 5 – “Vampire’s Kiss”
Thursday, Oct. 10 – “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night”
Friday, Oct. 11 – “The Hunger”
Saturday, Oct. 12 – “Monster Squad” and “Blade”
Sunday, Oct. 13 – “Ganja and Hess”
Thursday, Oct. 17 – “Daughters of Darkness”
Thursday, Oct. 24 – “Only Lovers Left Alive” and “Messiah of Evil”
Friday, Oct. 25 – “Thirst”
Saturday, Oct. 26 – “Irma Vep,” “Nosferatu” with Radiohead and “Aswang”
Sunday, Oct. 27 – “Dracula”
The Oriental and Downer will also show a collection of non-bloodsucking throwback thrillers and special live musical menaces, including:
Friday, Oct. 4 – “Mandy”
Friday, Oct. 11 – “Phantom of the Opera” (complete with live organ accompaniment)
Saturday, Oct. 12 – “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”
Friday, Oct. 18 – “Return of the Living Dead”
Saturday, Oct. 26 – “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” (again)
Thursday, Oct. 31 – “Demons” (with live score from Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin)
For specific showtimes and information, visit Milwaukee’s Film website – where you’ll ALSO perhaps notice an intriguing collection of retro screenings in November that’ll make you say, “Whoa.”
Avalon and Times
It’s alive! IT’S ALIVE! No, not a shuffling re-animated corpse of guts electrocuted into action – the Times Cinema! After spending the past year mostly in the dark, the outstanding one-screen neighborhood theater has risen from the dead for their 2024 Shocktoberfest horror series alongside the Avalon. (The Rosebud is not participating, showing “Joker: Folie a Deux” instead … which, from what I hear, is a horror movie of a different variety.)
As usual, the lineup features a fun collection of creepy classics (“The Shining,” “A Nightmare on Elm Street” “Halloween”), modern freaky favorites (“The Conjuring", “Shaun of the Dead”), indie horror hits (“Longlegs,” “Mandy,” “Talk to Me”) and deeper-cut killers (“Evil Dead 2,” “The Fog”).
Here’s the full lineup – and support a small local theater this Halloween season! Because my true worst nightmare isn’t one of these movie monsters; it’s one of these indie local spots shutting down.
Avalon
Friday, Oct. 4 – “Zombieland”
Saturday, Oct. 5 – “Hotel Transylvania” and “The Shining”
Sunday, Oct. 6 – “The House with a Clock in its Walls” and “Shaun of the Dead”
Wednesday, Oct. 9 – “Longlegs”
Thursday, Oct. 10 – “Longlegs” (again)
Friday, Oct. 11 – “Mandy”
Saturday, Oct. 12 – “The Lost Boys” and “Ghostbusters”
Sunday, Oct. 13 – “The Addams Family” and “Evil Dead 2”
Wednesday, Oct. 16 – “Talk to Me”
Thursday, Oct. 17 – “Talk to Me” (again)
Friday, Oct. 18 – “The Conjuring”
Saturday, Oct. 19 – “Casper” and “Poltergeist”
Sunday, Oct. 20 – “Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events” and “Creepshow”
Thursday, Oct. 24 – “Late Night with the Devil”
Friday, Oct. 25 – “Hereditary”
Saturday, Oct. 26 – “Scream”
Sunday, Oct. 27 – “E.T.” and “Donnie Darko”
Wednesday, Oct. 30 – “A Nightmare on Elm Street”
Thursday, Oct. 31 – “Halloween” (duh)
Times Cinema
Friday, Oct. 4 – “Young Frankenstein” and “Psycho”
Saturday, Oct. 5 – “Fright Night” and “The Lost Boys”
Friday, Oct. 11 – “X” and “Pearl”
Saturday, Oct. 12 – “MaXXXine” and “Late Night with the Devil”
Friday, Oct. 18 – “A Nightmare on Elm Street” and “Scream”
Saturday, Oct. 19 – “The Fog” and “The Thing”
Friday, Oct. 25 – “Little Shop of Horrors” and “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”
Saturday, Oct. 26 – “Halloween” and “Halloween II”
For more information on specific showtimes, visit their website.
AMC Mayfair
Make like “Dawn of the Dead” and head to the mall for all sorts of shocks, screams and splatters this Halloween season.
As for new releases, the lone AMC in town currently has “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” “Speak No Evil,” the mind-bending Halle Berry/Alexandre Aja thriller “Never Let Go,” the sci-fi freakout “Alien: Romulus” and the speechless indie horror “Azrael” (which is the rare high-concept indie horror film that actually works and sticks to its shtick). Those will be followed up with a fresh visit from the world’s worst clown (tough competition!) in “Terrifier 3” as well as the dentist-approved scary sequel “Smile 2.” BUT THAT’S NOT ALL! The Mayfair will also show some throwback thrills … well, mildly throwback thrills, showing some fairly recent horror flicks like the time-hopping fun time “Happy Death Day” and the moody gothic horror “The Witch” in IMAX mode.
Here’s the full list of movie malevolence coming to Mayfair this month:
Wednesday, Oct. 9 – “Insidious: Chapter 2”
Friday, Oct. 11-17 – “The Nightmare Before Christmas”
Wednesday, Oct. 16 – “Happy Death Day”
Friday, Oct. 18-24 – “Hocus Pocus”
Wednesday, Oct. 23 – “The Witch” and “The Black Phone”
Wednesday, Oct. 30 – “Five Nights at Freddy’s”
For more specific showtimes and info, click here.
Silverspot Cinema
The Silverspot Cinema, found in The Corners of Brookfield, is sticking with new shocks this Halloween season. They may add some throwback terrors as spooky season rolls along – but right now, they currently have the creepy horror comedy “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” the bombastic body horror extravaganza “The Substance” and the remake “Speak No Evil,” all to be followed later this month with the festive-themed gore fest “Terrifier 3” and the grimly grinning horror sequel “Smile 2.”
Click here for specific showtimes – and for hopefully some more unique horror offerings during October.
ACX Cinemas at Bayshore
The only thing more frightening than a theater showing a bunch of special spooky movies this Halloween season? A theater having NO special spooky movies for us. And indeed, while the ACX Cinemas location at Bayshore will have some of the new horror releases – like “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” now and almost certainly “Smile 2” in the future – there’s nothing else currently on its dread docket. Maybe things will change as Halloween creeps closer – stay tuned here and to their website for any updates – but for now, they’re the trick-or-treat house with the lights off and nothing to offer, not even bible cards or toothbrushes.
The Milky Way Drive-In
Most of the drive-ins around town are in cinematic hibernation for the season – but thanks to the Milky Way Drive-In, you can still catch some stabs under the stars. The Franklin-based outdoor theater, found in the outfield of the Milwaukee Milkmen’s stadium, will show a variety of violence for spooky season – including recent boo-filled blockbusters, beloved Halloween-time classics and some surprising scary gems like the “Ouija” sequel that somehow doesn’t suck. (Thanks, Mike Flanagan!)
Here’s the full lineup of outdoor offerings – and get ready to scream. (But maybe not too loud, though, considering the neighbors over there.)
Friday, Oct. 4 – “Hocus Pocus” and “Sinister”
Saturday, Oct. 5 – “Monsters Inc.” and “It” and “Longlegs”
Sunday, Oct. 6 – “Halloweentown” and “A Nightmare on Elm Street”
Thursday, Oct. 10 – “Ouija: Origin of Evil” and “Tarot”
Friday, Oct. 11 – “Beetlejuice” and “Annabelle”
Saturday, Oct. 12 – “Ghostbusters” and “Talk to Me” and “A Quiet Place: Day One”
Sunday, Oct. 13 – “Casper” and “Paranormal Activity”
Thursday, Oct. 17 – “Bodies Bodies Bodies” and “Night Swim”
Friday, Oct. 18 – “The Silence of the Lambs” and “Insidious: The Red Door”
Saturday, Oct. 19 – “Monster House” and “The Conjuring” and “Five Nights at Freddy’s”
Sunday, Oct. 20 – “Hotel Transylvania” and “Hannibal”
Thursday, Oct. 24 – “Hereditary” and “Midsommar”
Friday, Oct. 25 – “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” and “Halloween Ends”
Saturday, Oct. 26 – “Gremlins” and “Scream VI” and “Late Night with the Devil”
Sunday, Oct. 27 – “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and “Trick r Treat”
For specific showtimes, visit their website.