Alamo Drafthouse is leaning hard into October with a slate of horror classics, cult favorites, mystery screenings and lighter spooky-season picks spread across the month, and one of the strangest entries on the calendar refuses to even tell audiences what they are about to watch. Dismember the Alamo, a mystery horror marathon, returns October 10, and true to form, organizers are keeping the film titles under wraps until the lights go down.
No Spoilers, Not Even for Ticket Buyers
The marathon promises at least four blood-soaked films, though the exact slate is left up to each local programmer, according to do312.com's listing for the Chicago edition. The outlet notes that the lineup stays classified until it hits the screen, meaning even the most devoted horror fans walk in blind. That secrecy is baked into the format: Dismember the Alamo has a different lineup in each participating city, and moviegoers reportedly do not learn which movies they are watching until the films are already playing.
Bridget Mae Garraway, who joined Sierra Waggoner and Trevor Scott on We Are Austin to preview the month, said as much about the format, confirming that audiences do not get the titles in advance. The event is also expected to include at least one newly restored film from the American Genre Film Archive, the Austin-based nonprofit whose restorations have become a selling point of the marathon. Per the same Chicago listing, attendees can expect a pre-show, an exclusive soda jerk hat, and butcher-themed merchandise alongside a special menu built for the occasion, including the Dismember Dawg, Spicy Loaded Fries, Splatter Pizza, Brimstone Hot Chicken Sandwich and an Eyeball Highball.
A Full Month of Horror Classics and Cult Favorites
Dismember the Alamo is just one piece of a packed October calendar at Alamo Drafthouse, which is hosting a month of horror classics, cult favorites, mystery movies and lighter picks throughout the month, per the We Are Austin segment. The October lineup includes The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Halloween, The Craft, Ginger Snaps and Daughters of Darkness, giving horror purists plenty to chew on beyond the mystery marathon. Garraway offered viewing advice for the genre's enduring tropes, telling We Are Austin that moviegoers should go down the hallway and down the stairs in horror movies — a nod to the genre's most familiar, and most ignored, warning signs.
Hellraiser and Hellbound: Hellraiser II are also screening at Alamo Drafthouse, with the Hellraiser screenings paired with a themed menu built around the films. On the lighter end of spooky season, the slate includes Beetlejuice and Practical Magic 2, giving audiences who want atmosphere without gore somewhere to turn. Tickets and showtimes for the full October calendar are available online and through the Alamo Drafthouse app.
Book Lovers Get Their Own Spooky Crossover
October is also bringing a wave of book adaptations to theaters, including Whalefall, Verity, Sense and Sensibility and Klara and the Sun. Garraway noted that reading and movies go hand in hand, tying the adaptations into Alamo Drafthouse's Book Club programming. The club gives participants a passport and offers a different themed sticker for each movie, turning the month's literary crossover into its own small collectible chase for members.
Why Theaters Are Doubling Down on Genre Programming
The push to expand horror and cult programming is not confined to October. Alamo Drafthouse plans to roll its long-running Terror Tuesday and Weird Wednesday series out to theaters nationwide in 2026, according to chron.com. Those weekly events had previously been limited to Austin theaters along with a handful of other markets such as Chicago and Springfield, the outlet reported. Terror Tuesday, which started out as Terror Thursday, has been part of Alamo's lineup since 2006, and January's slate was set to include the supernatural thriller The Cat followed by Cube for Terror Tuesday, with Kung Fu Hustle and Dildo Heaven on Weird Wednesday.
The expansion lands at a moment when movie theaters are trying to pull audiences back through the doors as the broader box office continues to lag behind pre-pandemic levels, chron.com reported. Gower Street Analytics forecast the 2025 global box office at $33.5 billion, down from $42.3 billion in 2019 — a gap that helps explain why chains like Alamo Drafthouse are betting on cult programming, secret lineups and themed menus to keep seats filled, in Austin and now in cities well beyond it.
