Local filmmakers Drew Marvick (Pool Party Massacre) and Mike Lenzini (Beast: A Monster Among Men) have generated buzz with their indie horror features, and now, along with fellow local Darren Flores, they’ve set up a new film festival celebrating their favorite genre. The first Sin City Horror Fest takes place October 27-29 at Downtown’s Eclipse Theaters, showcasing independent horror features and shorts starting at $5 per screening. Highlights include the Vegas premiere of local feature It Stains the Sands Red, a screening of haunted-house movie Still/Born from local filmmaker Brandon Christensen and a special showing of 1989 cult classic Puppet Master, plus Q&A with director and UNLV professor David Schmoeller. sincityhorrorfest.com

Retro horror/sci-fi sensation Stranger Things returns on October 27 for its second season on Netflix, perfect for binge-watching over Halloween weekend. The nine-episode season features new cast members Sean Astin and Paul Reiser, plus the return of fan favorite Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), because of course no one ever stays dead on shows like this.

Local theaters will be bringing horror classics back to the big screen, including Halloween (October 26, Texas Station and Village Square), The Nightmare Before Christmas (October 27-31, theaters citywide), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (October 28, Suncoast and Santa Fe Station), The Rocky Horror Picture Show with a live shadow cast (October 28, Tropicana Cinemas), the director’s cut of Little Shop of Horrors (October 29 & 31, theaters citywide), 1988’s The Blob (October 29 & November 1, Galaxy Green Valley) and The Shining (October 29 & November 1, Cannery; October 30-31, Boulder Station). The weekly series celebrating schlock-meisters The Asylum continues at Sam’s Town and Santa Fe Station with A Haunting in Salem (October 26) and Zombie Spring Breakers (November 2). And for horror masochists, Jigsaw, the reboot of the torture-friendly Saw series, opens in theaters citywide on October 27.