At some point being a horror fan turned into a subscription management job. One service has the slashers, another has the arthouse stuff, and a third has that one movie you swore you’d finally watch this October.
Meanwhile the library card in your wallet might already have a horror collection waiting.
Hoopla is a digital streaming service that works through participating public libraries. If your library is on board, your card gets you in. According to Hoopla there are no subscription fees or ads, and titles in its Instant collection have no waitlists.
What’s in the Horror Collection
Hoopla’s horror collection covers more ground than you might expect from a library app.
Ari Aster’s Hereditary is there for anyone who wants a Halloween movie that ruins the rest of their week. Damien Leone’s Terrifier brings Art the Clown and his deeply unpleasant hobbies. Yeon Sang-ho’s Train to Busan remains the best argument ever made for driving.
Ti West’s X and Pearl are both in the catalog, and MaXXXine is there too if you want to finish the Mia Goth trilogy. For the cult crowd, John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness is waiting with Sam Neill losing his grip on reality one paperback at a time.
If you’d rather let someone else program your night, Hoopla’s October Movie Club is devoted to Ti West’s films, including The House of the Devil.
One caveat. What you can watch depends on your library and its catalog, so check before you build a marathon around a single title.
How to Watch
Sign up through the Hoopla app or hoopladigital.com with a card from a participating library. Find a movie, borrow it and start streaming.
Movie loans generally last three days. Once a loan ends you can borrow the title again if you have another borrow available.
Libraries set their own monthly borrowing limits, and some have additional daily restrictions. Hoopla won’t replace every streaming service you pay for, so pick your heavy hitters wisely.
Halloween is less than two weeks away. Check whether your library offers Hoopla, dig into the horror collection and save the subscription money for candy.