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Welcome back to (re)Viewing Last Month: October 2026, my monthly recap of the movies and television series my husband and I have been watching! This was a busy month! We watched more movies than shows. We also start watching all the holiday baking shows when October rolls around. I read a lot of horror novels but horror movies scare me sleepless. So we watch Halloween movies but they aren’t usually terribly scary. I pushed it a little with a couple of these choices though! Works appear in the the order in which we finished them.
Title: Weapons
Year of Release: 2025
Seen before? No
Based on a Book or Story? No
Eh. We found this to be an odd mix of boring and scary. There were also some moments that struck us as funny but we weren’t sure if they were actually intended to be humorous.
At the beginning, the film follows one character as she spirals into depression and alcohol abuse. That part was boring and way too long. Then the story starts moving around to other points of view to explain what happened previously, fill in gaps in other characters’ histories, and move the plot along. There were genuinely horrifying moments but this storytelling device got repetitive and tedious. There’s a good, scary plot at the heart of this movie but I thought the structure did it a disservice.
Title: Little Shop of Horrors
Year of Release: 1986
Seen before? We’ve seen the stage show but not the movie
Based on a Book or Story? Not exactly, though there are some “inspirations”
This movie is so campy and ridiculous but it’s completely in on the joke. And there are so many actors we recognized! We laughed even as we acknowledged that this was a bizarre, twisted movie. The songs are catchy too. It’s not perfect but it’s a fun way to kill an hour and a half.
Title: Hotel Transylvania
Year of Release: 2012
Seen before? Yes
Based on a Book or Story? No, though some graphic novels were later based on the movie
I went home for a few days early in the month and decided that my parents needed to see at least one Halloween movie this year. This seemed like a good choice we could all enjoy and we did! The story is a lot of fun, the animation is eye-catching, and the voice acting is fantastic. We laughed all the way through.
Title: Halloween Baking Championship
Season: 11
Year of Release: 2025
Seen before? No
I love this show for a lot of reasons. I love how creative bakers can be. I think Carla Hall is a fantastic food judge. She’s funny and gives fair criticism while also being encouraging. I love co-judges Zac Young and Stephanie Boswell for the same reasons. The Halloween costumes they wear while judging are always entertaining. Host John Henson delivers his corny lines so drily that it makes them even funnier but he steps in and tries to be encouraging when he sees a baker having an emotional meltdown.
This season started off with one baker having a meltdown right at the beginning and we braced ourselves for a lot of drama coming from that corner. We don’t like tons of drama so we were even questioning whether we should just skip this season entirely. If you’re like us, stick with it. You’ll be surprised by where it goes.
Neither of us cared for the format of everyone baking in the first round, then the three bottom bakers baking in the second round while everyone else looked on, even watching the judging. I cannot think if I know that someone is watching me work so that setup would be my worst nightmare. I hope they change it back to solo judging and everyone baking in both rounds, with the winner of the first round getting an advantage.
This wasn’t our favorite season but it was still solid and there was a lot of heart.
Title: Ghostbusters
Year of Release: 2016
Seen before? No
Based on a Book or Story? No
We love the original Ghostbusters We decided to give this reboot a try. It was silly, and I could have done without the objectification of Chris Hemsworth’s character, but we thought it was funny enough. Leslie Jones stole every scene she was in. It’s not a remake but it hits enough of the same beats as the original to please us.
Title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Year of Release: 1992
Seen before? No
Based on a Book or Story? No
Please note this is a review of the 1992 movie, not the beloved 1997 show (which I haven’t watched). Don’t come after me!
This was one of the worst movies we have seen in a very, very long time. I don’t think this script as written would be filmed today. My husband was ready to turn it off about halfway through but I kept hoping that it would get better. It most decidedly did not.
Buffy can sort of track vampires with her menstrual cramps. Ugh. As if a woman’s reproductive organs are the only thing that give her worth. Donald Sutherland’s character is her mentor but he looks like someone to be avoided at all costs. Rutger Hauer, who was about 48 years old at this filming, comes across as a pedophile as he tries somewhat successfully to seduce 21-year-old Kristy Swanson as teenaged Buffy. I don’t know what Paul Reubens and David Arquette were doing in this movie besides ridiculously overacting. The fight scenes were cartoonishly slow and lumbering. It was just terrible from start to finish.
Title: Schitt’s Creek
Season: 3
Year of Release: 2017
Seen before? No
Based on a Book or Story? No
As I mentioned in my July post, it took me quite while to warm up to this show but I am all in now! The Rose family members are slowly becoming better people instead of the self-absorbed snobs they were at the beginning. They’re still snooty because that’s half the show’s humor but they’re making progress. We laughed a lot and we finished the season with huge smiles on our faces. That season finale was perfection.
Title: Halloween Wars
Season: 11
Year of Release: 2021
Seen before? No
Based on a Book or Story? No
I slightly prefer Halloween Baking Championship to this show but I enjoy both. Zak Bagans (the host of a reality show called Ghost Adventures, which I haven’t watched) remotely challenges teams of bakers and candy makers to construct edible scenes based on his paranormal museum. I like these judges a lot (Shinmin Li, Aarti Sequeira, and Eddie Jackson) and the teams are very talented. The figures they build mostly from food amaze me!
Title: The Fall Guy
Year of Release: 2024
Seen before? Yes
Based on a Book or Story? No
We spent a weekend with my in-laws and were struggling to come up with something that would appeal to all of us. We chose this and I think it was a winner! My husband and I have watched it before but we liked it just as much the second time. Who doesn’t love Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt? It’s silly and far-fetched but the cast and crew are fully in on the joke. My in-laws stayed awake and laughed in all the right places. It’s got action, it’s got romance, it’s got comedy, and we thought it was perfect for a mixed group. Keep it in mind if you’re ever looking for something with fairly broad appeal.
Title: Bewitched
Year of Release: 2005
Seen before? No
Based on a Book or Story? No
So, Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell are completely mismatched casting choices. But as I sit here thinking about what I want to write, it occurs to me that Elizabeth Montgomery and Dick York were just as mismatched in the original show. Anyway, once we set that aside and just went with it, this was cute enough. We probably won’t remember much about it in a few weeks, but it was a good way to pass an October evening.
Title: The Visit
Year of Release: 2015
Seen before? No
Based on a Book or Story? No
We aren’t big fans of “found footage” films because the jerky camera motions can make us both dizzy. We didn’t realize this movie fell into that category until we started it but we decided to stick with it anyway and we were mostly okay.
I had to set aside some real quibbles with the basic plot that I won’t get into here. And the movie was boring in spots as the kids explore the house and farm and get to know their previously-estranged grandparents.
But then in the most mundane scenes, a horrifying little “What the heck?!?” moment would happen. The onscreen kids would look at each other. My husband and I would look at each other. And we would continue on this weird journey. Until the next bizarre moment made us jump. Or gag, in one scene.
Deanna Dunagan was fantastic as Nana. She was the perfect sweet and caring grandmother one second and then she would turn on a dime to be something completely different. She was amazing.
Title: The Witches of Eastwick
Year of Release: 1987
Seen before? No
Based on a Book or Story? Yes. The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike
Have I Read the Book? No
I mean, look at this cast. Cher. Susan Sarandon. Michelle Pfeiffer. Jack Nicholson. How could we resist?
It was okay. It was just hard for me to buy that these three women would get all hot and bothered over Jack Nicholson’s character. He was crass and one of those men who loudly proclaims how much he respects women while also mostly being interested in them for their bodies. His character was a complete turnoff for me.
But the ladies put on a fantastic performance as they set aside repressive societal expectations and start living their lives for themselves. They were magical together.
This movie was guilty of one of my own pet peeves. I have naturally curly hair and I wear it curly. I hate when books and movies use curly hair as a shorthand for a wild and untamed spirit. As these female characters get freer, their hair gets bigger and curlier. I’m one of the most quiet and practical people you will ever meet. I am not a stereotype and I don’t appreciate this one.
And that’s a wrap on our October. Congratulations on making it this far! What did you watch last month? Anything you would recommend? What do you think of our choices?
