8 Scary TV Treats Coming This Halloween

It's October and that means that the leaves are getting browner, the nights are getting darker, and people everywhere are looking for viewing material to scare them senseless. Fortunately, our current era of TV has got you covered.

While on the big screen Halloween is the time for studios to release their safest, middle of the road horrors - with the true genre gems tending to be scattered throughout the year - TV is very happy to schedule its creepiest chills for autumn.

This year's Halloween schedule, whether bingeable releases from the streaming giants or interesting one-offs from the good old BBC, run the gamut from armies of vampires to covens of witches, and from true-life tales of terror to the wildest flights of gothic fancy.

What that means is that, whatever flavour of fright you're looking for this Halloween, you can find it without ever leaving the house. Here are eight of the best ways for your TV to give you nightmares this month.

When & Where: Netflix from 26th October

After a brief four-episode first season last year, Netflix's flashy anime-style 1980s video game adaptation, returns the week before Halloween for an extended eight-part second run.

The gothic vampire cartoon once again benefits from the dark, twisted wit of Transmetropolitan writer Warren Ellis still on scripting duty. Not having to abide by the rules of network TV also means that there's still no need to dial back the skull-crushing, limb-slicing bloody violence.

The double-length season will be less hyper-action focused, though, allowing more time to explore characters and their motivations, especially Graham McTavish's angry, vengeance-filled Dracula as he gathers a hoard of fellow monsters to oppress medieval Romania.

This season will also see a mistrustful alliance between Castlevania's monster fighters, Richard Armitage's moody disgraced vampire hunter Trevor Belmont and Dracula's part-human son Alucard (James Callis).

With an impressive level of talent involved in its production, Castlevania surprised a lot of people with its first season by pulling off a decent video game adaptation, so hopes are high for the second part to continue in that vein.