Tubi builds Halloween slate with Pumpkinhead 2 and Babysitter next
Tubi has made R.L. Stine the centre of its Halloween slate, following the exclusive debut of R.L. Stine's Pumpkinhead 2 on 9 October with a film version of The Babysitter due in 2027.
The 2026 sequel runs 1 hour 33 minutes and is rated TV-14, a US television label that advises parents the programme may be unsuitable for under-14s. It follows Sam and Becka as they try to stop a new Pumpkinhead curse awakened in Redhaven before it claims the whole town, according to Tubi.
The story began with 2025's R.L. Stine's Pumpkinhead. Teenager Sam, played by Bean Reid, searches for his missing brother Finn in a town gripped by an evil crop curse. After Finn disappears, everyone else forgets he ever existed.
Writer-director Jem Garrard developed the first film with Tubi and returned for the second, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The project was overseen by Josh Van Houdt, Tubi's vice-president of original scripted content. Tubi entered a three-picture deal with Front Street Pictures, the company behind the 2010 anthology series The Haunting Hour. Van Houdt knew the company from his earlier work at Syfy.
The team shaped the films for a young-adult audience. Producers weighed a TV-PG rating against TV-14. A standards discussion settled what horror could be shown. Vegetable gore was allowed. Regular gore was not. Pumpkin guts were fine. Blood was out. Creative reference points were Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Gremlins and The Gate.
The trailer for Pumpkinhead 2 teased an appearance by Cassandra Peterson, reported by The Hollywood Reporter. The sequel draws on Stine's The Haunting Hour. Stine's catalogue holds more than 300 middle-grade and young-adult horror titles. Tubi, a free, advertising-supported streaming service, counts 110 million monthly active users.
What makes this stand out is the plumbing. A free service needs films that viewers can find at once and recognise at once. A familiar author, a returning director and a simple calendar — Halloween horror in October — give it that.
