Yes! We’re doing it again! We are putting Halloween into a part of the year it doesn’t usually go! Why? Because it’s fun and we can!

The end of April and the start of May is the halfway point to Halloween. For Halfway to Halloween, or Halfoween, fans are happy to mark the occasion as we start counting down the last six months of the year to the big day. Kinda like Christmas in July, but awesome! Horror-centric vehicles like Shudder spend all of April celebrating the halfway mark. Some places even have events to give everyone an early taste of scary season. If something like Easterween isn’t really catching on (though I ended up embracing it a little this year, sharing creepy pictures of old-timey Easter Bunny costumes with friends who also love horror) this is still a great way to put some creep factor into your spring season.

But while summer, fall and winter have built-in bones for fear, I feel like spring is still a season trying to find it’s horror legs. With the other mini Halloween holidays it’s nice to incorporate seasonal horror rather than just replaying fall vibes, which are always best enjoyed in the fall if you ask me. But that doesn’t mean there are no scares to be found in spring. Doing a little digging into the idea of spring being scary I found a few aspects of it that fit the bill. The unpredictable weather (including thunder and lightning). The exposure of rot left over from winter. Allergies. Something called ‘false spring’ which is a natural horror show. And in addition to all of that, there are books and movies that bring the creeps and still tie into the season of life and rebirth.

To start with, folk horror is pretty perfect for this time of year. In case you’re unfamiliar, folk horror is a subgenre that uses things like rural settings, paganism, ancient cults, and old beliefs clashing with modern sensibilities to create terror. One of these days I’ll write a post about folk horror, but in the meantime there’s an excellent documentary about it you can find here. As for examples, there’s The Wicker Man and Midsommar to check out this spring. I included both of those movies in my list of summer horror, but technically The Wicker Man is set in the spring (leading up to May Day specifically) and Misommar at the end of spring (and has a ton of flowers in it), so they work here too. Also, avoid the Nicholas Cage version of The Wicker Man unless you want an unintentionally hilarious watch.

For some scares that have to do with plants, biology or nature you can try Annihilation (which was adapted from the novel of the same name), Pan’s Labyrinth and/or A Botanical Daughter by Noah Medlock. Spring is a time when we pay a little more attention to the natural world, as we watch life spring back from stasis. One thing that can be a tad unsettling about spring is how much nature can grow and overwhelm its surroundings, how plants, animals and weather do what they do regardless of our needs and plans. This can make us feel out of control, which is scary. Annihilation takes this concept and dials it up by giving our characters a space to explore that does not follow the usual rules of nature. Pan’s Labyrinth is very ‘earthy’ in it’s setting and it’s fantastical characters. And A Botanical Daughter has natural intelligent life butting heads with scientific ambition.

For horror set at Spring Break (which has a lot of overlap with summer due to often being set in warm climates) we have Piranha and The Ruins. One involves deadly fish attacking a whole bunch of people in swimsuits. The other involves a trip to isolated Mayan ruins that goes horribly wrong. I’ll leave you to discern which one is which.

What do we think? Do we think spring is poised to be the next big season of horror? Are there any other books or shows or movies that capture the halfway-to-Halloween time of the year? Do we just want an early taste of pumpkin spice and jack o’ lanterns instead of keeping it to spring?

By all means, treat yourself to a couple of Halloween-set movies, shows or books this time of year too. Me personally, I just heard about an episode of Creepshow set at Halloween that has a twist to it, so that’ll be my go-to for Halfoween. We just need to tide ourselves over until fall is finally upon us. It’s coming everyone! We just have to hold on for a few more months! Plus, Summerween is right around the corner.