Credit: Netflix

Netflix has officially entered October of 2026, and if you are expecting horror recommendations this month, don’t worry, you are not a stereotypical viewer. It’s only natural. The month has that energy to it; horror is in the air.

And sure, throughout the month you’ll come across multiple horror recommendations, but how about we save the scary ones for the end of the month and start it with something lighter?

That’s why we present to you the best of both: horror comedies. Horror-comedies earn their keep in that gap between panic and practicality, where a dark joke can sometimes make the situation light without making the threat feel any less real.

So before October starts putting on airs, Netflix has five films that know a fright is fightier when the film around it has a sense of humour.

The five best movies to watch on Netflix this weekend

Zombieland (Ruben Fleischer, 2009)

First of all, kudos to Jesse Eisenberg’s range. The man can do something as serious as The Social Network and then, well, Zombieland within the span of a year and both quite excellently. When the country is dealing with zombies literally everywhere, Columbus decides the sensible thing is to make rules for staying alive, and honestly, it’s a smart move.

Although his character is a nervous wreck who survives because he worries about absolutely everything, he runs into Tallahassee, Woody Harrelson’s overconfident zombie killer with a fixation on finding a Twinkie. Wichita and Little Rock soon join the journey, although trust is in rather short supply when everyone has learned that once you get comfortable, you become someone’s lunch.

That is where Zombieland has most of its fun. Columbus treats survival like a health-and-safety manual, while Tallahassee behaves as though killing zombies deserves him some bravery award. Their clash is the best part.

Day Shift (J.J. Perry, 2022)

Oh, we’re hunting vampires next. In Day Shift, vampire hunting is a grubby side hustle which comes with paperwork. Jamie Foxx’s Bud Jablonski tells his family he cleans pools around the San Fernando Valley, while the real money comes from killing vampires and selling their fangs.

Sadly, it doesn’t pay enough, and Bud has one week to find enough cash for his daughter’s tuition and braces before his estranged wife moves away with her. Not ideal when he has already fallen out with the vampire-hunters’ union and now has to get back in with Dave Franco’s Seth, watching his every move. So forget graceful bloodsuckers. This one hits the floor hard.

Bride of Chucky (Ronny Yu, 1998)

By the fourth Child’s Play film, Chucky had become a mouthy lad who kept pretending he was just a nightmare, so Bride of Chucky does the smart thing and gives him a girlfriend. Jennifer Tilly’s Tiffany resurrects her serial-killer ex, expecting, well, something better than what she gets; only Chucky’s manners are still atrocious, and the reunion goes crazy.

He kills her, her soul ends up inside a bride doll, and now the pair need an amulet buried in New Jersey if they want human bodies again. Enter Jesse and Jade, who unknowingly become their drivers.

The film is so crazy it has a doll sex scene which most of you probably remember. Tilly has said it was improvised, which feels accurate. There were even plans for Chucky and Tiffany to record love songs. Honestly, what else were they going to do?

The Babysitter (McG, 2017)

It’s the story of Cole, a shy, nervous 12-year-old who gets bullied at school and feels more comfortable around his babysitter Bee than he does around most people his own age. She is funny and basically the coolest person in his world, so when his parents leave him with her for the night, Cole decides to stay awake and find out what Bee does once he is supposed to be asleep.

He expects maybe a secret boyfriend. Instead, he finds Bee taking part in a satanic blood ritual with her friends. Well, that crush has gone badly off course. Once the group realises Cole has seen everything, the night turns into a fight to make it until morning, and McG lets the whole thing get bloody, very, very bloody.

Little Evil (Eli Craig, 2017)

Gary Bloom (Adam Scott) is a real estate agent who has just married Samantha and is trying to settle into life as stepfather to her five-year-old son, Lucas. The poor bloke already has enough on his plate because Lucas doesn’t seem interested in bonding with him, but then people around the boy start dying in bizarre ways, and Gary begins wondering whether this is ordinary step-parent trouble or whether he has married into the apocalypse.

That is the joke this Netflix film keeps running with. Gary wants desperately to be a decent husband and stepdad, yet every attempt at family life seems to bring him one step closer to believing Lucas may actually be the Antichrist. Scott is perfect at looking like a man who wants a family life but instead is negotiating with Satan.