Showmax: Here are six ways to scare yourself on Halloween

It’s that time of the year, folks! When it’s time for trick ‘n treating, and when the horror buffs among us can watch scary stuff on TV without being too harshly judged for it.

If you appreciate a good scare, then get the popcorn ready – or Ghost Pops, we won’t judge – and settle in with Showmax’s Halloween lineup.

Film title: IT: Chapter One

It – The 2017 film and 1990 miniseries – is based on the bestselling novel by Stephen King. The 2017 film is also the highest-grossing horror movie of all time.

It tells the story of a group of bullied kids in a small Maine town in the summer of 1989, who must band together against one of horror’s most terrifying villains, Pennywise, a shape-shifting clown who preys on children.

IT: Chapter I : The cast

• Jaeden Lieberher as Bill Denbrough, the leader of the group of kids known as the Losers Club
• Bill Skarsgård as It / Pennywise The Dancing Clown / Bob Gray, an ancient, trans-dimensional evil that awakens every twenty-seven years
• Jeremy Ray Taylor as Ben Hanscom, a shy, overweight boy with a crush on Beverly
• Sophia Lillis as Beverly Marsh, a flame-haired tomboy who fends off an abusive father at home
• Finn Wolfhard as Richie Tozier, the bespectacled best friend of Bill, whose loud mouth and foul language often get him into trouble
• Wyatt Oleff as Stanley Uris, the pragmatic son of a rabbi, whose bar mitzvah studies are haunted by a ghoulish woman from a painting
• Chosen Jacobs as Mike Hanlon, a sweet, softly-spoken black boy living on the outskirts of Derry on his Grandfather’s farm
• Jack Dylan Grazer as Eddie Kaspbrak, a sickly boy who only feels truly well when he is with his friends
• Nicholas Hamilton as Henry Bowers, a young sociopath who leads the Bowers Gang, and terrorises the Losers’ Club
• Jackson Robert Scott as George Denbrough, the innocent, energetic 7-year-old brother of Bill Denbrough

IMDb Score: 7.3

Film title: Hereditary

When the matriarch of the Graham family, Ellen, passes away, her daughter’s family begins to unravel increasingly terrifying secrets about her life.

The more they discover, the more they find themselves trying to outrun the sinister fate they seem to have inherited. I saw Hereditary in the cinema, and I was too afraid to back home, alone.

Hereditary: The cast

• Toni Collette as Annie Graham, a miniature artist
• Gabriel Byrne as Steve Graham, Annie’s psychiatrist husband
• Alex Wolff as Peter Graham, Annie’s and Steve’s 16-year-old son
• Milly Shapiro as Charlie Graham, Annie’s and Steve’s 13-year-old daughter
• Ann Dowd as Joan, a support group member who befriends Annie
• Mallory Bechtel as Bridget, Peter’s schoolmate and love interest
• Kathleen Chalfant as Annie’s mother, Ellen Taper Leigh

IMDb Score: 7.3

Series: Outcast

Patrick Fugit from Almost Famous and White Oleander portrays Kyle Barnes, a reclusive young man with a troubled past. He returns to his hometown where he most confront his demons.

Barnes has had a series of misfortunes in his life. His mother would beat him as a child and he was accused of attacking his own daughter.

After attending an exorcism in his native town, he is convinced his mother and his wife were possessed and that he was not the source of them going over to the dark side.

Outcast: The cast

• Patrick Fugit as Kyle Barnes, a young man struggling with the effects of demonic possession
• Philip Glenister as John Anderson, the local Reverend and a close associate of Kyle
• Wrenn Schmidt as Megan Holter, Kyle’s sister and wife of Mark
• Kate Lyn Sheil as Allison Barnes, Kyle’s ex-wife and the mother of his daughter, Amber
• David Denman as Mark Holter, a local police officer and husband of Megan
• Julia Crockett as Sarah Barnes, Kyle’s estranged mother who also suffered from possession
• Brent Spiner as Sidney, a mysterious preacher
• Reg E. Cathey as Byron Giles, Rome’s Chief of Police
• Madeleine McGraw as Amber Barnes, Kyle and Allison’s daughter

IMDb Score: 7.4

Series: The Walking Dead

The award-winning series is based on Robert Kirkman’s comics, and follows Rick Grimes and his bad of survivors as they fight to stay alive after the zombie apocalypse.

The Walking Dead tells the story of the months and years after the outbreak and drives home the harsh realization that the undead aren’t the most frightening aspect of a zombie apocalypse. Humans are the real monsters.

The Walking Dead: The cast (season 1)

• Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes, a former sheriff’s deputy
• Jon Bernthal as Shane Walsh, Rick’s former police partner and friend
• Sarah Wayne Callies as Lori Grimes, Rick’s wife
• Laurie Holden as Andrea, a former civil rights attorney
• Steven Yeun as Glenn Rhee, a former pizza delivery boy
• Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon, the group’s primary hunter
• Chandler Riggs as Carl Grimes, Rick and Lori’s son

IMDb Score: 8.3

Series: American Horror Story: Hotel

The mysterious Hotel Cortez is loosely based on a real Chicago hotel built in 1893 by serial killer H. H. Holmes, which came to be known as ‘Murder Castle’.

The Cortez is host to many disturbing scenarios and paranormal events, and is overseen by its enigmatic matron, The Countess – portrayed by Lady Gaga – a bloodsucking fashionista.

American Horror Story: Hotel: The cast

• Kathy Bates as Iris
• Sarah Paulson as Sally McKenna and Billie Dean Howard
• Evan Peters as James Patrick March Wes Bentley as Det. John Lowe
• Matt Bomer as Donovan
• Chloë Sevigny as Dr. Alex Lowe
• Denis O’Hare as Liz Taylor
• Cheyenne Jackson as Will Drake
• Angela Bassett as Ramona Royale
• Lady Gaga as The Countess / Elizabeth Johnson

IMDb Score: 8.1

Series: The Strain

From the pen of Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro, The Strain opens with a mysterious outbreak on a plane, which escalates to the entire city of New York falling prey to a viral strain of vampirism.

It tells the story of Dr. Ephraim Goodweather, the head of the Center for Disease Control Canary Team in New York City after his team is called upon to investigate a mysterious viral outbreak.

The Strain: The cast

• Corey Stoll as Dr. Ephraim “Eph” Goodweather, the head of the CDC Canary Team in New York City
• David Bradley as Professor Abraham Setrakian, a Holocaust survivor turned New York pawnbroker.
• Mía Maestro as Dr. Nora Martinez, a member of the CDC Canary Team and Eph’s closest ally
• Kevin Durand as Vasiliy Fet, a once-solitary rat exterminator of Ukrainian descent, who is caught up in the fight for humanity.
• Jonathan Hyde as Eldritch Palmer/The Master, an elderly billionaire invalid driven to obtain immortality.
• Richard Sammel as Thomas Eichhorst, an undead vampire acolyte of the Master who has a 70-year history with Setrakian.
• Sean Astin as Jim Kent, a CDC administrator who works with Eph and Nora
• Jack Kesy as Gabriel Bolivar/The Master, a philandering rock star with an appetite for recreational drugs
• Natalie Brown as Kelly Goodweather, Eph’s estranged wife

IMDb Score: 7.3