# Why Aren't Horror Movies released in October? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 8, 2001, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-horror-movies-released-in-october/68000 "2001-06-08T02:16:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2001, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-horror-movies-released-in-october/68000/1 "2001-06-08T02:16:51Z")
Does anyone know why there are very few horror movies released in October? Personally, I would think it would be the perfect time for a horror movie: right before Halloween. I’ve noticed this trend over the past few years, but to make sure that I wasn’t just imagining things, I looked up the release dates (at [http://www.imdb.com](http://www.imdb.com)) on as many horror movies I can remember seeing. Boy, I guess I’ve seen a lot of them! \*\*Disturbing Behavior July 24th, 98 The Haunting July 23rd, 99 Blair Witch Project July 30, 99 Sixth Sense August 6th, 99 Halloween: H20 August 25th, 98 What Lies Beneath July 21st, 00 Phantoms January 28th, 98 The Frighteners July 19th, 96 Lake Placid July 16th, 99 \*\* Many of them have come out during the summer, which I understand, since it’s the time of year the movies that are hoped to make the most money come out. **I Still Know… November 13th, 98 Sleepy Hollow November 17th, 99 Scream December 20th, 96 The Faculty December 25th, 99 Scream 2 December 12th, 97 Scream 3 February 4th, 00 Interview with The Vampire November 11th, 94 From Dusk til Dawn Jan 19th, 96 The Mouth of Madness February 25th, 95 The Rage:Carrie 2 March 12, 99** These are the ones I can’t figure out. Why do they so often come out soon after Halloween? I found these that came out shortly before Halloween, but they are in the minority. \*\*I Know What You Did Last Summer October 17th, 97 House on Haunted Hill October 29th, 99 Lost Souls October 13th, 2000 I Know What You Did Last Summer October 17th, 97 \*\* And in the “close enough” catogory, there are a few, too. \*\*Urban Legends September 25th, 99 Urban Legend:Final Cut September 22nd, 00 Stir of Echoes September 10th, 99 \*\* Is there some sort of Taboo against October releases? And has it always been this way? I looked up the release dates for the orginal Haunting and House on Haunted Hill, but neither have US release dates listed… ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2001, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-horror-movies-released-in-october/68000/2 "2001-06-08T03:50:18Z")
Well, guess who was bored tonight… **October: 58** August: 50 June: 46 May: 46 September: 46 March: 45 January: 43 November: 41 July: 39 December: 35 April: 34 February: 33 That’s the number of horror movies released per month. It only includes movies in the Horror genre that had a US release date in the IMDB. And I’m sure it’s off by a bit, because the IMDB data format sucks balls and is hard to parse. Notice October is in fact the most popular month. 🙂 Add’l well known movies released in October: [li]Bride of Chucky, October 15, 1998[/li][li]Evil Dead, October 15, 1981[/li][li]Halloween II, III, 4 & 5[/li][li]Strangeland, October 2, 1998[/li][\*]Texas Chainsaw Massacre, October 1, 1974 ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2001, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-horror-movies-released-in-october/68000/3 "2001-06-09T02:27:15Z")
I see. I’m just not paying attention to movies with higher body counts, I guess, since I don’t watch them. However, I think I should have clarified my question to include only “high grossing horror movies” as I’m sure a fair number of the horror movies released each month are B movies that go directly to video without ever having seen the light of day. ---
**Author:** ![Gazoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ce73a5/32.png) [@Gazoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gazoo)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2001, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-horror-movies-released-in-october/68000/4 "2001-06-09T03:24:29Z")
Maybe you should compare the number of movies _overall_ released in October to _horror_ movies released. October is not a big realease time for _any_ type of movie. Run the same comparison for every month. Once we have those figures we can probably figure it out. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2001, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-horror-movies-released-in-october/68000/5 "2001-06-09T06:52:45Z")
I would think the reason is that the people who make a horror movie don’t want their movie to have to compete with a dozen other horror movies that are released at the same time. My guess is that they would try to release their movie at a time when there are no other horror movies out, so that they could have the horror-movie-going demographic all to themselves. The result is that horror movies are spread around the calendar.