Best Classic Movies Airing on TV This Week: October 5-12
Tired of finding out that your favorite movie is on TV … and it started an hour ago? Our weekly classic movie schedule guide gives you a day-by-day breakdown of some of the best classic and nostalgic movies showing during primetime on broadcast networks and cable channels this week, plus other notable programming highlights, so you never miss out.
Check out the week ahead, and see if you can catch your favorite!
Classic TV & Movies on Sunday, October 5
Warner Bros. Television/ Everett Collection
“Gilmore Girls” 25th Anniversary Marathon
Hallmark Channel, beginning at 8am
To mark the 25th anniversary of Gilmore Girls, Hallmark Channel is hosting a marathon filled with iconic episodes including “Love, Daisies and Troubadours,” “They Shoot Gilmores, Don’t They?,” “Raincoats and Recipes” and “You Jump, I Jump, Jack.” A must-watch for every fan of Stars Hollow.
Sundays With Hitch
TCM, beginning at 8pm
TCM devotes Sunday evenings in October to Alfred Hitchcock, the Master of Suspense. First up is Rear Window (1954), where a wheelchair-bound photographer (James Stewart), confined to his apartment, believes he has witnessed a murder in a neighbor’s window and enlists the help of his girlfriend (Grace Kelly) to investigate. Hitch brilliantly shot this film almost entirely from one room, and the film is considered by many critics as his best as the viewer follows the story from the point of view outside the window. Following is Spellbound (1945), starring Ingrid Bergman as a psychoanalyst who tries to help an amnesiac man (Gregory Peck) accused of murder recover his memory and uncover the truth, while falling in love with him.
Primetime Movies:
6:45pm Freddy vs. Jason (2003, Horror) Robert Englund, Ken Kirzinger AMC
7pm Gladiator (2000, Historical drama) Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix ENCORE
7:20pm Hocus Pocus (1993, Family) Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker FREEFORM
7:30pm Days of Thunder (1990, Action) Tom Cruise, Robert Duvall CW
8pm Halloweentown (1998, Children) Debbie Reynolds, Judith Hoag DISNEY
8pm Ocean’s Twelve (2004, Comedy-drama) George Clooney, Brad Pitt E!
8pm Rear Window (1954, Suspense) James Stewart, Grace Kelly TCM
8:30pm Christine (1983, Horror) Keith Gordon, John Stockwell BBCA
9pm Pulp Fiction (1994, Crime drama) John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson CMT
9:30pm Hocus Pocus 2 (2022, Family) Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker FREEFORM
9:38pm War of the Worlds (2005, Science fiction) Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning ENCORE
10pm Spellbound (1945, Mystery) Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck TCM
10:30pm Misery (1990, Horror) James Caan, Kathy Bates BBCA
11:30pm Scream (1996, Horror) Neve Campbell, David Arquette SHO
Classic TV & Movies on Monday, October 6
Alien MOVIES!
MOVIES!, beginning at 9:05am
Everett Collection
Spend the day watching the aliens invading Earth with some classic sci-fi. Starting the day is Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster (1965), a campy B-movie where an android astronaut battles a disfigured alien mutant sent to abduct Earth women for a dying Martian civilization. Following is the beloved Village of the Damned (1960), where an eerie, emotionless group of super intelligent children with psychic powers are born simultaneously in a quiet English village. Next up is The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), in which an alien named Klaatu arrives on Earth with a powerful robot to deliver a warning to live in peace or be destroyed. Next is The Day Mars Invaded Earth (1962), about invisible Martian energy beings attempting to conquer Earth by duplicating a scientist and his family. Next up, The Blob (1958), about a growing, gelatinous alien creature that crashes to Earth and begins consuming everything in its path (Steve McQueen stars). In Battle Beyond the Stars (1980), a young man recruits a ragtag team of alien mercenaries to defend his peaceful planet from a tyrannical warlord. (Think The Magnificent Seven, only in space.) Following is Space Truckers (1996), a sci-fi comedy in which a rough-and-tumble space hauler (Dennis Hopper), his crew and a mysterious cargo of deadly cyborgs get caught in a battle to save humanity. Communion (1989) follows, which is a sci-fi horror film based on Whitley Strieber’s alleged real-life experiences with alien beings. Afterward comes Inseminoid (1981), where a female archaeologist on a distant planet is impregnated by an alien creature. Finishing up the alien invasion marathon is The Crawling Eye (1958), a creeper that tracks a series of mysterious deaths in the Swiss Alps linked to a cloud-shrouded mountain hiding giant, telepathic, tentacled aliens.
Primetime Movies:
Warner Brothers/courtesy Everett Collection
6pm Creepshow (1982, Horror) Hal Holbrook, Adrienne Barbeau BBCA
7pm The Addams Family (1991, Comedy) Anjelica Huston, Raul Julia FREEFORM
8pm Final Destination (2000, Horror) Devon Sawa, Ali Larter IFC
8pm Francis (1949, Comedy) Donald O’Connor, Patricia Medina TCM
9pm Addams Family Values (1993, Comedy) Anjelica Huston, Raul Julia FREEFORM
9pm Boyz N the Hood (1991, Drama) Larry Fishburne, VH1
9pm Tales From the Darkside: The Movie (1990, Horror) Deborah Harry, Christian Slater BBCA
9:30pm Aliens (1986, Science fiction) Sigourney Weaver, Carrie Henn FX
9:45pm Francis Goes to the Races (1951, Comedy) Donald O’Connor, Piper Laurie TCM
10:15pm Final Destination 2 (2003, Horror) Ali Larter, A.J. Cook IFC
10:30pm Tommy Boy (1995, Comedy) Chris Farley, David Spade PARMT
11:30pm Francis Goes to West Point (1952, Comedy) Donald O’Connor, Lori Nelson TCM
Classic Movies on Tuesday, October 7
Editors Pick: Tootsie
TCM, 8pm
Columbia Pictures/courtesy Everett Collection
Dustin Hoffman took months to perfect his famous “Dorothy” voice in director Sydney Pollack‘s classic gender-bending comedy filled with a lot of heart. “I had to become a woman that I would want to talk to,” Hoffman had said. As a struggling actor, Michael Dorsey (Hoffman) disguises himself as a woman named Dorothy Michaels to land a role on a popular soap and ends up becoming a feminist icon by accident. Hoffman walks a tightrope between farce and sincerity, playing the role with just enough restraint to make Dorothy feel real, not ridiculous. Jessica Lange plays Dorothy’s costar and Michael’s love interest, which earned her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Primetime Movies:
6pm Pet Sematary (1989, Horror) Dale Midkiff, Fred Gwynne AMC
6:15pm House of Wax (2005, Horror) Elisha Cuthbert, Chad Michael Murray BBCA
6:30pm Hocus Pocus (1993, Family) Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker FREEFORM
7:27pm Don’t Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood (1996, Comedy) Shawn Wayans, Marlon Wayans STZENC
8pm Sweet Autumn (2020, Romance) Nikki Deloach, Andrew Walker HALLMARK
8pm Tootsie (1982, Comedy) Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Lange TCM
8:35pm Hocus Pocus 2 (2022, Family) Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker FREEFORM
8:45pm I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997, Horror) Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar BBCA
10pm Tremors (1990, Horror) Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward AMC
10:15pm Terms of Endearment (1983, Comedy-drama) Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger TCM
10:38pm Smokin’ Aces (2007, Action) Ben Affleck, Andy Garcia STZENC
Classic TV & Movies on Wednesday, October 8
TCM Celebrates Randolph Scott
TCM, beginning at 7am
Everett Collection
Spend several hours with Randolph Scott, best known for his roles in Western films from the 1930s through the 1950s, often portraying stoic, principled characters who became a symbol of the American Western hero. Starting the day is Fighting Man of the Plains (1949), in which Scott portrays Jim Dancer, a Confederate outlaw who assumes a dead man’s identity to start a new life as a lawman. Following is Ride the High Country (1962), Scott’s final film, in which he plays a former outlaw escorting a shipment of gold. Next is Canadian Pacific (1949), in which Scott plays a surveyor helping to build a transcontinental railroad across the Canadian Rockies. Virginia City (1940) finds Scott playing a Confederate officer trying to smuggle gold out of the West back to the Confederacy, and Carson City (1952) sees Scott playing an engineer trying to build a railroad through the Nevada town. Next is Roberta (1935), in which Scott plays a professional football player who accompanies his bandleader friend (Fred Astaire) to Paris. Wrapping up the marathon is Shoot-Out at Medicine Bend (1957), in which Scott plays a soldier who goes undercover in a corrupt frontier town to expose a crooked merchant whose faulty goods caused the death of a comrade.
Primetime Movies:
© Paramount/courtesy Everett Collection
6pm Friday the 13th (1980, Horror) Betsy Palmer, Adrienne King AMC
7pm The Green Mile (1999, Drama) Tom Hanks, David Morse USA
8pm A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984, Horror) John Saxon, Ronee Blakley AMC
8:30pm Casper (1995, Children) Christina Ricci, Bill Pullman FREEFORM
9pm Jeepers Creepers (2001, Horror) Gina Philips, Justin Long BBCA
9:45pm Daisy Kenyon (1947, Romance) Joan Crawford, Dana Andrews TCM
10pm Panic Room (2002, Suspense) Jodie Foster, Forest Whitaker VH1
10:55pm Freddy vs. Jason (2003, Horror) Robert Englund, Ken Kirzinger AMC
11:30pm Anatomy of a Murder (1959, Crime drama) James Stewart, Lee Remick TCM
Classic TV & Movies on Thursday, October 9
TCM Star of the Month: Angela Lansbury
TCM, beginning at 8pm
Everett Collection
Turner Classic Movies’ monthlong Angela Lansbury celebration continues with five titles tonight. First up is In the Cool of the Day (1963), a romantic drama about a troubled couple (Lansbury and Peter Finch) whose strained marriage becomes further complicated when the husband falls for a terminally ill woman (Jane Fonda) during a trip to Greece. Following that is If Winter Comes (1947), about a man whose marriage comes under strain when his former lover returns. Next up is Dear Heart (1964), a romantic comedy about a middle-aged woman who meets a salesman at a convention and falls in love, followed by The World of Henry Orient (1964), a comedy in which Lansbury plays the mother of a girl chasing after a concert pianist (Peter Sellers). Last on the docket is Mister Buddwing (1966), a drama about an amnesiac man (James Garner) who wanders New York City trying to piece together his identity through encounters with women from his past.
Primetime Movies:
6:30pm Casper (1995, Children) Christina Ricci, Bill Pullman FREEFORM
7pm An American Werewolf in London (1981, Horror) David Naughton, Jenny Agutter BBCA
7pm Christine (1983, Horror) Keith Gordon, John Stockwell AMC
8pm In the Cool of the Day (1963, Drama) Jane Fonda, Peter Finch TCM
8pm Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001, Adventure) Angelina Jolie, Jon Voight MGM
8:55pm Beetlejuice (1988, Comedy) Michael Keaton, Alec Baldwin FREEFORM
9:45pm If Winter Comes (1948, Romance) Walter Pidgeon, Deborah Kerr TCM
9:45pm Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003, Adventure) Angelina Jolie, Gerard Butler MGM
10:30pm Enemy of the State (1998, Suspense) Will Smith, Gene Hackman TNT
Classic TV & Movies on Friday, October 10
Peter Cushing Icon-a-Thon
MOVIES!, beginning at 8:20am
Everett Collection
Horror icon Peter Cushing is featured in eight movies, starting with From Beyond the Grave (1974), where an antique-shop owner (Cushing) offers cursed items to four customers, each of whom meets a grim fate. Next up is the thinker Asylum (1972), where to gain employment at a psychiatric institution, a psychiatrist must interview four patients and determine which one is a former doctor. Following is Horror of Dracula (1958), a Hammer film pairing Cushing as Van Helsing with Christopher Lee as the Count. Next comes And Now the Screaming Starts! (1973), in which a young woman marries into a family with a curse and becomes impregnated by a ghost. Twins of Evil (1971) follows, telling the story of a pair of orphaned twin sisters who become involved in a clash between a puritanical witch-hunter (Cushing) and a charismatic vampire. Following is The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), in which Baron Frankenstein (Cushing), awaiting execution for murder, tells the story of how he created the creature (Lee) and lost control of him. Then comes The Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas (1957), in which Cushing plays a scientist who travels to the Himalayan Mountains in search of the legendary creature. Finally, we get The Beast Must Die (1974), in which a millionaire invites six people to an island, claiming that one is a werewolf and he plans on hunting the creature.
Women in Horror
TCM, beginning at 11:30pm
Courtesy Everett Collection
Tonight’s celebration of women in horror showcases some characters with raw human vulnerability. The marathon of late-night films begins with The Haunting (1963), starring Julie Harris, which follows a small group of people investigating paranormal phenomena in a supposedly haunted New England mansion. Next up is Sugar Hill (1974), about a photographer named Sugar Hill (Marki Bey) who enlists the help of a voodoo queen to raise an army of zombie slaves to exact revenge on the mobsters who murdered her boyfriend. Following is Night School (1981), a film starring Rachel Ward in which a series of gruesome murders targeting young women in Boston leads a detective to suspect a connection to a local night school. Following is Night Watch (1973), about a wealthy and emotionally fragile woman (Elizabeth Taylor) who, after witnessing a murder through her window, struggles to convince others of what she saw. Finally, we get Cat People (1942), about a woman (Simone Simon) who fears that she will transform into a deadly panther if aroused by passion.
Primetime Movies:
Everett Collection
6pm Halloween II (1981, Horror) Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasence AMC
6:10pm School Ties (1992, Drama) Brendan Fraser, Matt Damon MGM
6:45pm The Shining (1980, Horror) Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall IFC
7pm War of the Worlds (2005, Science fiction) Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning STZENC
8pm He Ran All the Way (1951, Crime drama) John Garfield, Shelley Winters TCM
8pm Titanic (1997, Historical drama) Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet MGM
8:35pm Sleepy Hollow (1999, Horror) Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci FREEFORM
9:15pm The Wedding Singer (1998, Romance-comedy) Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore BRAVO
9:30pm Die! Die! My Darling! (1965, Horror) Tallulah Bankhead, Stefanie Powers TCM
10pm Menace II Society (1993, Drama) Tyrin Turner, Jada Pinkett VH1
10pm Silver Bullet (1985, Horror) Gary Busey, Corey Haim IFC
10:30pm Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988, Horror) Donald Pleasence, Ellie Cornell AMC
11:30pm The Haunting (1963, Horror) Julie Harris, Claire Bloom TCM
Classic TV & Movies on Saturday, October 10
The Fog
MOVIES!, 8pm
AVCO Embassy Pictures/courtesy Everett Collection
John Carpenter followed up his 1978 classic slasher Halloween with a few TV films before releasing the atmospheric The Fog. Rather than relying on sheer gore, the film builds tension through the quiet, creeping dread of this supernatural threat. In a picturesque fishing town in Northern California exactly 100 years ago — on April 21, 1880 — a ship’s crew mistakenly thought a campfire was a lighthouse and crashed into the shoreline killing everyone aboard. Or so the tale goes … the truth behind the ship’s crash is what unleashes this eerie, dense fog and its vengeful ghosts. Adrienne Barbeau, Carpenter’s wife at the time, was cast as the lead in her first major role. Tom Atkins, Jamie Lee Curtis and Janet Leigh help add to the terror. Scenes like the ghostly figures suddenly emerging from the fog are psychologically unsettling. The narrative, rooted in a town’s buried guilt and betrayal, gives this horror film its true weight. The past is never truly buried.
Svengoolie Movie of the week: Them
MeTV, beginning at 8pm
Everett Collection
The earliest atomic tests in New Mexico cause common ants to mutate into giant man-eating monsters that threaten civilization.
Two-for-One: Jamie Lee Curtis
TCM, beginning at 8pm
Tonight, TCM primetime host Ben Mankiewicz is joined by scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis, who introduces two films of her choosing. Curtis will offer commentary on each title’s cultural significance and its influence on other films, behind-the-scenes stories, and her own personal reflections on them. First up is The Manchurian Candidate (1962), a Cold War-era thriller about a decorated U.S. soldier (Laurence Harvey) who is unwittingly brainwashed into becoming an assassin, also starring Frank Sinatra, Angela Lansbury and James Gregory. Following is Sweet Smell of Success (1957), about a New York gossip columnist (Burt Lancaster) who manipulates a desperate press agent (Tony Curtis) into attempting to break up his sister’s relationship with a jazz musician (Martin Milner).
The House of Svengoolie Hosted by The Sven Squad! – Arachnophobia
MeTV, beginning at 10:30pm
A new species of South American killer spider hitches a lift to a California town in a coffin and starts to breed, leaving a trail of deaths that puzzle and terrify young Dr. Ross Jennings, who is newly arrived in town with his family. With Jeff Daniels, Julian Sands, and John Goodman.
Primetime Movies:
Buena Vista/courtesy Everett Collection
7pm Hocus Pocus (1993, Family) Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker FX
7pm Ocean’s Eleven (2001, Comedy-drama) George Clooney, Matt Damon BRAVO
7:25pm The Addams Family (1991, Comedy) Anjelica Huston, Raul Julia FREEFORM
8pm Heat (1995, Crime drama) Al Pacino, Robert De Niro SHO
8pm Men in Black II (2002, Action) Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith VH1
8pm The Manchurian Candidate (1962, Suspense) Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey TCM
9:30pm Addams Family Values (1993, Comedy) Anjelica Huston, Raul Julia FREEFORM
9:35pm Ghostbusters II (1989, Comedy) Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd USA
10pm Blue Streak (1999, Comedy) Martin Lawrence, Luke Wilson BET
10pm The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997, Adventure) Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Moore PARMT
10:15pm Sweet Smell of Success (1957, Drama) Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis TCM
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Top 50 Horror Movies
October 2025
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