spooky season

Why Is the Internet Starting Spooky Season Early?

Photo: Nelvana Ltd./YouTube

The internet seems to have decided September is now officially a spooky month. Remember those “Me on September 30/Me on October 1” memes? Everyone’s making them for September 1 now. Why?

Why are people getting spookier earlier?

Global warming? Jk! Unless…

Blame it on Christmas Creep. Or Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’s Venice premiere. Sabrina Carpenter’s “Taste” music video is a factor. It’s possible Demure Autumn isn’t the comedown we really need from Brat Summer. Or perhaps it all comes down to the increasingly distressing nature of the world at large. But for one reason or another, Halloween season is starting in September this year. Spooktober? Meet Spooktember, her creepy haunted doll of a little sister.

Lewis is back at Target, and that can’t help

@thefrazmaz

‘Tis the season #target #halloween #mynameislewis #lewis #jackolantern #fyp

♬ original sound - Fraz

You remember Lewis! He’s not a Jack-O-Lantern? Queer icon? He’s back.

Lewis has a partner now!

@nogood.io

WAKE UP NEW LEWIS JUST DROPPED 🚨 @target #lewis #halloween #halloweendecor #targetfinds #marketing

♬ original sound - NoGood

And a baby! Lewis has a husband now, a skeleton named Bruce, and two chibi Lewii sons. Bruce is not a stepdad, he’s the dad who stepped up.

But how will this affect Letterboxd?

You’re asking the right questions, guy we made up in our head. Luckily, the boxderati have acknowledged the September sprawl of spooky season. Cinemonster, architect of movie scavenger hunt Hooptober, has released the guidelines for Hooptober 11: The Return To Texas Because We Need That Extra Push Over The Cliff. Starting September 15, participants ahve to watch 31 horror movies that fit Cinemonster’s elaborate, well-outlined criteria. This year, that includes movies from 6 countries and 8 decades. There’s also more specific boxes to tick, like a movie worsened by weather, and one starring a Black woman. Nope fits both of those, btw.

How else can one get spooky with it?

Now is a great time to catch up on last year’s horror content. Interview With the Vampire is on Netflix now, and TikTok is eating it up. Lisa Frankenstein is on demand. And the “nun impregnated with ____” dueling movies The First Omen and Immaculate are streaming on Hulu.

There’s always Halloween Horror Nights on both coasts. This year, The Weeknd is taking you inside his twisted mind at Universal Hollywood. Will there be a Jocelyn jumpscare? You’ll have to go to find out. Jimmy Fallon is doing much the same thing at 30 Rock in a limited time haunt, Jimmy Fallon’s Tonightmares.

And if even the grotesqueries of Jimmy Fallon’s unconscious cannot slate your thirst for terror, congrats! We are scared of you.

Why Is the Internet Starting Spooky Season Early?