Cinespia Unveils Spooky October 2026 Horror Lineup at Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Cinespia has announced its October 2026 horror lineup, and the films are heading back to one of Los Angeles's most atmospheric outdoor venues: Hollywood Forever Cemetery. The four-night series, presented by Amazon MGM Studios and Prime Video, opens with Tim Burton's Corpse Bride on 3 October and closes on Halloween night with John Carpenter's The Thing (The Hollywood Reporter, 25 August 2026).
In between, Brian De Palma's Carrie screens on 10 October — the date marks the film's 50th anniversary. The original Stephen King adaptation, released in 1976, has lost none of its pull for outdoor crowds. Jennifer's Body, the 2009 horror comedy starring Megan Fox, screens on 30 October, the night before Halloween.
Cinespia's website also lists a screening of The Craft on Saturday 11 October at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, as part of the same 2026 season presented by Amazon MGM Studios and Prime Video (Cinespia.org).
For fans of the genre, the Halloween-night The Thing screening is the headline. Carpenter's 1982 Antarctic horror film, a commercial disappointment on release that grew into one of the most celebrated science-fiction horror pictures ever made, screens among the cemetery's headstones — a setting that needs little decoration. Corpse Bride, Burton's stop-motion animated feature, offers a gentler entry point earlier in the month.
Founder John Wyatt said Halloween at Cinespia has become an annual tradition (The Hollywood Reporter, 25 August 2026). That tradition stretches back to the organisation's earliest days. Cinespia began 25 years ago with a screening of Alfred Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train for a few hundred people. It has since grown into a staple of Los Angeles outdoor culture, hosting screenings at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, the Greek Theatre, and Los Angeles Historic Park, as well as producing private screenings, fundraisers, concerts, and film and television premieres.
The Amazon MGM Studios and Prime Video sponsorship signals a continued appetite from streaming companies to attach their brands to live, communal viewing experiences — the kind of event that a living-room subscription cannot replicate. Financial terms of the presentation deal have not been disclosed.
Cinespia's recent seasons have leaned into milestone horror titles. In October 2025, the organisation presented a 50th-anniversary screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, featuring an interactive shadow cast, special guests, and DJ sets (The Hollywood Reporter, 7 August 2025). The group has also hosted a Scream Halloween Party listing original cast members including Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, and David Arquette (Cinespia.org, 31 October 2025).
October 2026's four-film slate is smaller in scale but sharply curated: one animated favourite, one seminal prom-night horror, one cult horror comedy, and one of the most revered creature features ever made. All of it unfolds under the open sky, surrounded by the names on Hollywood's oldest headstones.
