Witching time

Five frightfully fun ideas for the horror film season

Halloween comes just once a year, but the Oct. 31 shudder can be felt long outside the day thanks to the enduring popularity of horror films.

The year to date has already seen frightfully good box office for “M3GAN,” “Talk to Me,” “Evil Dead Rise,” “Scream VI” and, most recently, “The Nun II” and “A Haunting in Venice.” There are more hits to come — including new chapters of “The Exorcist” and “Saw” franchises — as we head into pumpkin month and the thick of traditional fright-flick season.

The cost-conscious horror genre is thriving at a time when the bigbudget action genre seems to be driving over a cliff.

Underperforming actioners like “The Flash,” “Indiana Jones 5,” “Mission: Impossible 7” and “The Expendables 4” have had trouble recouping their enormous production costs.

“Horror films are a tried-and-true genre that have delivered huge dividends for Hollywood throughout its history by providing the chills and thrills that are best experienced in the communal environment of the movie theatre,” said box office expert Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore, a U.S. global media measurement firm.

“The lo-fi appeal of horror films has not wavered over the decades … (there’s) an enviable consistency that even blockbuster brands, mainstream stars and so-called reliable genres cannot match. Truly remarkable.”

Even art houses aren’t immune to jump scares and things that go “eek!” in the night. The newly announced fall season at the TIFF Bell Lightbox includes a Halloween-themed program, beginning Oct. 13 with TIFF ’23 hit “Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person,” the debut feature by Quebec’s Ariane Louis-Seize. The program also includes a Midnight Madness Presents screening of Dario Argento’s 1987 slasher film “Opera” (Oct. 28) and a TIFF Family Films presentation of comedy/ horror “Hocus Pocus” (Oct. 29).

Here’s my Frightful Five list of the most anticipated films of the current horror season. Release dates are subject to change:

Saw X

We ought to know by now that nothing is ever final in a horror franchise. So unroll your eyes at the news that John Kramer (Tobin Bell), a.k.a. the Jigsaw Killer, is back to inflict more arcane pain upon his prisoners, despite having died in “Saw III.” Ditto Jigsaw’s victim/disciple Amanda Young (Shawnee Smith), who also perished. “Saw X” is conveniently situated between “Saw” and “Saw II” on the torture porn timeline, allowing these retro resurrections to happen. If that’s not freaky enough, consider that we’re supposed to root for Jigsaw in this chapter, directed by franchise regular Kevin Greutert. That’s because cancer-stricken Kramer falls prey to scam medical treatments in Mexico that do nothing but drain his wallet. The bad docs fuel Jigsaw’s brand of righteous retribution. (Sept. 29)

The Exorcist: Believer

After two disastrous sequels and two failed prequels, you’d think it would be time to finally read last rites for this satanic film property, which had moviegoers clutching rosaries and puking in the aisles when it first hit screens 50 years ago. But David Gordon Green’s reboot, part of a planned trilogy, comes from the horror-minded director who revived the “Halloween” franchise. “Believer” also features not one but two possessed young girls: Angela (Lidya Jewett) and Katherine (Olivia O’Neill), who vanished for three days and returned with evil inside them. Even better, Ellen Burstyn is back as Chris MacNeil, mama to Regan (Linda Blair), the Crucifix-abusing kid who started it all. Angela’s dad (Leslie Odom, Jr.) urges Chris to help, along with two priests who have a devil of a job to do. (Oct. 6)

Foe

This may not be everybody’s idea of a straight-up scary movie, but it is mine because humanoid robots really creep me out. Garth Davis (“Lion”) adapts Canadian author Iain Reid’s 2018 sci-fi horror novel of the same name, about desperate times on a future dying Earth. Oscar nominees Saoirse Ronan (“Lady Bird”) and Paul Mescal (“Aftersun”) play devoted farm couple Hen and Junior, whose lives are upended after a charismatic stranger (Aaron Pierre) offers a chance to live off world for two years. The catch is only one can go; the other has to remain at home with a lookalike robot of their spouse for company. No chance of any weird jealousy there, right? This reminds me of a classic “Twilight Zone” episode titled “The Lonely” and I’m ready to be a cog in this machine. (Oct. 13)

Five Nights at Freddy’s

“Have you met them yet? Foxy, Bonnie, Chica … and Freddy. Back in the ’80s, some kids went missing. That’s why the place shut down.” So goes the trailer dialogue informing newbie night guard Mike (Josh Hutcherson) about his security duties at defunct and haunted Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, a 1980s eatery featuring animatronic critters. Directed by Emma Tammi (“The Wind”) this sounds like “The Blair Witch Project” at Chuck E. Cheese, but there’s hope it’s not pure fromage. The movie is based on a popular video game franchise of the same name, so the audience is already in line. Rest assured, Mike is gonna meet Foxy, Bonnie, Chica … and Freddy. It’s from Blumhouse, the people who brought you “M3GAN,” another horror about malevolent machines. (Oct. 27)

Thanksgiving

The gory punchline to a 16-year-old joke. Horror specialist Eli Roth finally makes good on his promise to plump up his “Thanksgiving” parody trailer from the 2007 Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez “Grindhouse” double feature. Plot details on this filmed-in-Toronto terror flick are scarcer than unbroken wishbones, but the story seems essentially the same: an axe-wielding serial killer dressed as a Mayflower Pilgrim arrives in Plymouth, Mass., intending to carve up holiday revellers. Patrick Dempsey, Addison Rae and Gina Gershon are among the cast. Fun fact: the screenplay was written by Roth’s childhood friend Jeff Rendell, who played the killer Pilgrim in the “Grindhouse” trailer. Let’s hope he managed to work in the splatterific tag line: “This year, there will be no leftovers!” (Nov. 17)