Sunday is for rest. And in this house we kneel at the altar of cinema. What better way to fight off the Sunday Scaries than with an all-day movie binge?
Whether you dread going back to school tomorrow, or Mr. Monday Jr. has your stomach doing flip-flops. Maybe you’re like me and stuck in the Groundhog Day-like nightmare existence of living in a trailer, facing down the fear of having to do it all, once again, with more feeling,
I’ve dug up five films that will put you at ease. At least for the moment.
This week-ending remedy list to help squelch the Sunday Scaries is timed perfectly for Halloween week, leading into the big holiday on Saturday. Can you believe we’re getting a real, true Halloween Weekend? That’s big news. And it comes with a lot of pressures.
You gotta finalize your costumes. Stock up on industrial-sized bags of candy. Get your trick-or-treat plans in order. Decide which haunts to hit in that final week ahead.
Most worrisome of all? Work out those final party plans. Tough if you’re like my friend Downey and have to choose between staying home and eating Peeps while handing out candy, or making an appearance at one of the big Halloween soirees you’ve been invited to.
Or tougher? You gotta choose whose party you’ll attend between two warring family members. Ugh. Hate that one.
Maybe, like me, you’ll be celebrating those pals who left this astral plane a little early with a planned séance. Ah, to hear my bestie Flexi bark from the other side one last time.
Alas.
These are the five films I want you to binge today. I even have your times planned so you can get to bed at a respectable hour. ’Cause the only rule of a Sunday Scaries binge is that none of these films exceed 97 minutes. Deemed the perfect runtime by DrScreams himself. Why? Because that’s the runtime of ThE LoSt BoYS. A perfect movie (it’s not on today’s list).
Here’s your Sunday Scaries movie marathon for Halloween Week 2026, arranged from the most chaotic, adrenaline-fueled pick to the coziest option for winding down before bed. And I know, I broke the 97-minute rule with The Munsters. But I couldn’t resist. Halloween is all about breaking rules, and Rob Zombie’s take on The Munsters is a perfect bag of mixed Halloween candy that I think you need to see. Trust me. I’m friends with a mad doctor.
1. TerrorVision (1986) | 83 minutes
If the Sunday Scaries have you feeling like your brain is being eaten alive by the prospect of Monday, why not watch a movie about a slimy alien monster that actually eats people alive? Meet TerrorVision, a gloriously trashy slice of ’80s sci-fi horror in which a suburban family’s new satellite dish picks up an alien transmission and delivers a hungry extraterrestrial right into their living room.
This movie is a neon-soaked fever dream packed with heavy metal attitude, outrageous practical effects, and enough camp to fill a suburban swimming pool. It feels like a Saturday-morning cartoon that escaped from a video store horror section and immediately started misbehaving. Nobody here seems particularly interested in behaving like a normal human being, and that’s precisely the charm.
Why It Beats the Sunday Scaries: TerrorVision is the cinematic equivalent of turning your brain off and cranking the volume up. Its frantic energy gives your anxious thoughts something far more entertaining to chew on. Monday can wait. There’s an alien in the house!
Anxiety Meter: 🟢 2/10 | Low-stakes chaos. The movie is loud, silly, and gloriously ridiculous, making it an ideal pick when you want to replace your worries with something slimy.
Where to Watch: TerrorVision has been listed on Tubi and Pluto TV, with rental options through Amazon Prime Video. Streaming availability can change, so check the services before settling in.
2. Eating Raoul (1982) | 83 minutes
Some people deal with the Sunday Scaries by making a to-do list. Paul and Mary Bland have a different approach. This straight-laced married couple accidentally kills a swinger who breaks into their apartment, then discovers a rather lucrative way to fund their dream of opening a country restaurant: luring wealthy swingers into their home and murdering them. Welcome to Eating Raoul, a dark comedy that makes the Blands’ perfectly respectable ambitions look increasingly deranged.
Why It Beats the Sunday Scaries: There’s something oddly soothing about watching a couple pursue their dreams with the same determination most people reserve for paying bills, except their side hustle involves a body count. The humor is bone-dry, the performances are wonderfully deadpan, and the movie treats its increasingly macabre business plan with a cheerful matter-of-factness. Suddenly, your Monday workload doesn’t seem quite so bad. At least, I hope your coworkers aren’t this committed to their retirement plan.
Anxiety Meter: 🟢 1.5/10 | Purely comical cynicism. The Blands remain so calm about their bizarre new enterprise that their unflappable attitude becomes part of the joke. It’s a wonderfully twisted way to spend 83 minutes before facing the real world again.
Where to Watch: Eating Raoul is listed on Max and the Criterion Channel, and is available free with ads on Plex. Check the services for current availability before settling in.
3. Trick or Treats (1982) | 91 minutes
Halloween night, a babysitter gets stuck watching a prank-obsessed little menace while a deranged killer escapes from a nearby asylum. The kid is a nightmare all by himself, and the babysitter has no idea how much worse the evening is about to get. Trick or Treats is an oddball slice of early-’80s exploitation cinema that mixes Halloween mischief with a very strange sense of humor.
Why It Beats the Sunday Scaries: Sometimes you need a movie that replaces your real-life problems with somebody else’s much sillier problems. This one leans hard into practical jokes and goofy B-movie antics, with very little interest in making you take any of it seriously. After a day spent worrying about Monday, watching a babysitter lose control of the world’s most obnoxious kid might even feel a little therapeutic. At least you can turn this one off when it gets to be too much.
Anxiety Meter: 🟢 1/10 | Completely ridiculous. The pranks and slapstick keep the movie in goofy exploitation territory, making it a suitably unserious pick for a Sunday night Halloween warm-up.
Where to Watch: Trick or Treats is available to rent on Amazon Prime Video, with rental prices starting at $2.99.
4. The Munsters (2022) | 110 minutes
DrScreams said every movie had to stay under 97 minutes, but I personally decided to break that rule just this one time. Because Rob Zombie’s The Munsters is awesome. This candy-colored prequel to the original series follows our beloved Lily, a quirky vampire who falls fangs over ankles for Herman, a towering green experiment with a heart of gold. Their romance takes them from Transylvania to the human suburbs, where fitting in is going to be a little more complicated than picking out the right curtains.
Why It Beats the Sunday Scaries: If you want Halloween atmosphere without the actual scares, this is your extended stay at the monster hotel.
Zombie trades his usual horror territory for bright colors, broad sitcom comedy, and an almost aggressively sweet affection for these classic characters. It feels like somebody turned a Halloween store into a television set and let the monsters run the show. It’s a lot, visually, but it’s gentle company for a night when you need your brain to stop thinking about tomorrow.
Anxiety Meter: 🟤 0/10 | Pure comfort-monster territory. It’s bright, silly, and easy on the nerves, making it a good choice when you’re ready to settle in and let the Sunday Scaries fade away.
Where to Watch: The Munsters is available on Netflix and to rent through Amazon Prime Video. Check current availability before you start your extra-long wind-down.
5. Kenny & Co. (1976) | 89 minutes
Before Halloween became all about elaborate yard displays and buying enough candy to bankrupt a small business, there was Kenny & Co. Directed by Don Coscarelli, this slice-of-life comedy-drama follows Kenny and his neighborhood friends through the three days leading up to Halloween. They’re busy making costumes, plotting pranks, and preparing for the big night. It’s a little trip back to a 1970s childhood, when the neighborhood was the playground and Halloween felt like the biggest event of the year.
Why It Beats the Sunday Scaries: This is the kind of movie that lets you forget about the calendar for a while. There’s no world-ending threat or monster waiting in the shadows. It’s just kids being kids, getting into trouble, and counting down to Halloween. The low-key pace and autumn atmosphere make it a lovely way to settle your brain before bed. Pour yourself some salted caramel apple cider and enjoy a time when the biggest worry was whether your costume would survive the night.
Anxiety Meter: 🟤 0/10 | Ultimate cozy wind-down. Kenny & Co. has virtually no traditional horror elements, just a warm, nostalgic look at childhood in the days before Halloween.
Where to Watch: Kenny & Co. can be difficult to find on major streaming services. You may come across unofficial uploads on YouTube, but availability and legality can vary. Check legitimate rental services or physical-media listings if you want to track down a copy.
There you have it, five movies to help you survive the Sunday Scaries and stumble into Halloween week with your sanity mostly intact. If you want to play by the rules, swap Wacko in for The Munsters and keep the entire marathon under DrScreams’ scientifically questionable 97-minute limit.
Otherwise, let the good doctor live a little and enjoy the extra monster time. The costumes will get finished, the candy will get eaten, and Monday will show up whether we’re ready or not. So make yourself comfortable, fire up the first movie, and remember: the weekend isn’t over until you say it is. Unless you have a job with a really strict attendance policy. In that case, maybe set an alarm.
