Scary, Funny, and Gripping Films to Watch This October

In addition to Halloween horror, there are plenty of other cinematic treats—from an emotional musical portrait to a stylish murder mystery—this October on Peacock.

In the mood for a cop buddy comedy? | Hot Fuzz

In Hot Fuzz, Edgar Wright packs both great fight scenes and hilarious set ups in his tribute to action films. Simon Pegg stars as alpha cop Nicholas Angel, who has been relocated to the backwater municipality of Sandford and paired with the local bobby, Danny Butterman (Nick Frost). Against all odds, the two bond when they uncover the dark figures bumping off citizens in this quiet village. Named the best cop film ever made by Screenrant and one of the 25 best British comedies of all time by Complex, Hot Fuzz is, writes AV Club, “everything an action-comedy should be.”

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In the mood for a riveting musical portrait? | Back to Black

Sam Taylor-Johnson’s Back to Black explores the life and work of the phenomenal singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse (Marisa Abela). From the influence of her father (Eddie Marsan) and grandmother (Lesley Manville) to the love of her life, Blake Fielder-Civil (Jack O’Connell), the film shows us Amy’s bumpy road to success through her own eyes. “Abela's not doing an Amy Winehouse impression,” writes MovieWeb. “She vanishes into the role from every possible angle.”

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In the mood for the original rom-zom-com? | Shaun of the Dead

With Shaun of the Dead, Edgar Wright created a new genre that brilliantly mixed comedy, horror, and romance. To save their loved ones from brain-eating zombies, Shaun (Simon Pegg) and his best mate Ed (Nick Frost) rescue Shaun’s girlfriend (Kate Ashfield) and mom (Penelope Wilton) and head to their favorite pub to defend mankind and down a quick pint. “If the zombie genre steadfastly refuses to die,” writes The Washington Post, “we can be grateful to Shaun of the Dead for breathing fresh, diverting life into the form, with subtle visual humor and a smart, impish sense of fun.” Naming Shaun of the Dead as his favorite Halloween film, Collider’s Adam Chitwood writes how it “is one of those rare films that refuses to get old.”

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In the mood for a stylish murder mystery? The Outfit

In Graham Moore’s The Outfit, a transplanted Savile Row tailor (Mark Rylance) and his assistant (Zoey Deutch) make bespoke suits for the Chicago mob (which include Dylan O’Brien, Johnny Flynn, among others). The arrangement works fine until a suspected mole puts everyone connected with the tailor’s shop in danger. Like the tailor himself, the film seamlessly crafts an audacious thriller filled with exhilarating twists and turns. For Roger Ebert.com, “Movies rarely come as chic as The Outfit, a thrifty, continually unpredictable whodunit, fashioned with the same meticulousness found in the bones of a deceptively simple suit.”

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In the mood for a truly original horror film? | You Won’t Be Alone

Goran Stolevski rediscovers the humanity in horror in You Won’t Be Alone. Set in 19th century Macedonia, the film—heralded by Indiewire as “among the best horror debuts in years”—follows Nevena (Sara Klimoska), a young woman kidnapped as an infant and raised in isolation by a local witch, old Maid Maria (Anamaria Marinca). When she remerges into the world as an adult, Nevena takes over the bodies of strangers in order to understand this strange, new world through their eyes. The film, according to The New York Times, “moves so hypnotically between dream and nightmare, horror and fairy tale that, once bound by its spell, you won’t want to be freed.”

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