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There's a reason the queer community loves horror. Sure, the spooks and campy thrills are fun, but as a genre, horror has long been a ripe territory for metaphor, and for exploring the dark and fantastical sides of otherness that's so inherent to many queer and trans experiences.

Queerness has been all over the history of horror, even if it hasn't always been loudly represented. From the queer coding of classic monster movies to very obviously gay vampire flicks, from horror sci-fi explorations of gender identity to the openly LGBTQ+ characters of modern slashers, queer and trans audiences have long found themselves reflected — whether intentionally or not — in the horror genre.

This spooky season, whether you're in the mood for a queer cannibal romance, a surreal lesbian vampire tale, a gay cruising thriller, a haunted house comedy, or a trans horror twist on The Little Mermaid, there are plenty of movies to keep you entertained and up at night throughout October.

Jennifer's Body Credit: Moviestore / Shutterstock

"I go both ways." Name a better, queerer, and funnier line of dialogue from a horror movie monster. Megan Fox's iconic "My tit!" reaction is a close second. Both of those lines from Jennifer's Body highlight the brilliance of Diablo Cody's script, and the perfect balance of tone that director Karyn Kusama strikes throughout the cult horror comedy, a film unfairly lambasted upon release that's found its long-deserved appreciation in recent years.

Back in 2009, Jennifer's Body was slammed by male critics and audiences with a 46 percent Rotten Tomatoes score and a C- Cinemascore. But despite a misleading marketing campaign, this was never a film for men, and it especially wasn't the usual type of horror film cisgender heterosexual men men were used to watching, where female characters are victimized for their viewing pleasure. This is a film about the absolute hell that is growing up as a teenage girl, about male violence towards and the sexualization of femininity, about trauma, and about the monstrous pain of queer repression. Jennifer's Body cleverly uses the tools of its genre — over-the-top gore, suspense, and camp — to subvert expectations and tell a story that, at its tit-covered heart, is funny as hell, and pretty damn gay.

How to watch: Jennifer's Body is streaming on Hulu and available for rent or purchase on Prime Video and Apple TV.

Cat People (1942)

Lesbians, cats, and witchcraft collide oh-so-perfectly in the fantastic B-horror movie Cat People (not to be confused with Paul Schrader's synth-heavy 1982 remake, which shifted its focus to even more risqué taboos, such as, uh, incest). This eerie, atmospheric film from Jacques Tourneur follows a Serbian woman named Irena (Simone Simon) who becomes fixated on the idea that she may be a descendant of an ancient society of people who morphed into cats. "Crazy!" thinks her new husband, who's also aware of the fact that Irena has yet to kiss him, and who's also spending more and more time with his pretty female coworker. Irena grows jealous of this other woman and begins to stalk her. The rest is best left discovered in this deliciously sinister masterpiece that uses expressionistic noir photography to build suspense and link the ostracization of lesbian desire with monstrosity.

How to watch: Cat People is available for rent or purchase on Prime Video and Apple TV.

Stranger by the Lake Credit: Les Film Du Worso / Arte France Cinema / Prods / Kobal / Shutterstock

Set at a gay cruising beach in the glistening summertime of rural France, 2013's Stranger by the Lake remains one of the most fascinating, haunting, and sexiest erotic thrillers of years. Franck (Pierre Deladonchamps) arrives at the popular cruising spot and soon sets his eye on a mysterious stud named Michel (Christophe Paou). The attraction is mutual, as some incredibly hot beachside sex scenes show, but Stranger by the Lake makes a severe pivot when one character witnesses a horrific act. In Alain Guiraudie's film, the horror comes less from what's seen on screen and more from the film's psychological examination of lust and voyeurism — particularly when intimacy and desire become tangled up with acts of violence and aggression. 

How to watch: Stranger by the Lake is streaming for free on Kanopy and available for rent or purchase on Prime Video and VUDU.

Under the Skin Credit: Filmnation / Jw / Kobal / Shutterstock

Jonathan Glazer's sci-fi masterpiece Under the Skin is the type of movie that leaves you uncomfortable, transfixed, and possibly unable to move from your seat once the credits roll. Scarlett Johansson, giving what is easily her best and most subtle performance, plays a nameless woman who drives around Scotland at night searching for random men to pick up in her van. The rest is best left unspoiled, but what earns it a spot on this list is how Under the Skin serves as a fascinating exploration of what it feels like to be a trans person in a society dominated by, and oriented around, cisnormative ideas of gender and bodies. It's a haunting tale about otherness, about the paralyzing loneliness and horror of realizing that you — and your body — are not like those around you, that it's alien, even unnatural to some. Under the Skin, almost surely unintentionally on Glazer's part, taps into a specific trans perspective of the interior longing to connect with, to understand, and to feel aligned with the exterior. It's beautiful and tragic and horrifying, and some of the most imaginative sci-fi horror filmmaking the genre's ever seen.

How to watch: Under the Skin is available for rent or purchase on Prime Video and Apple TV.

Bones and All Credit: Yannis Drakoulidis / Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures

In director Luca Guadagnino's Bones and All, cannibalism serves as a potent metaphor for an unquenchable desire and longing for that which is taboo or even evil by some standards. It's clear to see the queer symbolism across the horror romance starring Taylor Russell and Timothée Chalamet, who play a pair of outcast lovers on the run, à la Terrence Malick's Badlands — and there are some explicit queer moments throughout. The two wanderers both suffer from an inescapable hunger to feed on people, a new twist on the age-old horror trope of vampirism as a metaphor for queer desire. Remove the grotesque element of eating people, and you get a story about two teens burdened with shame and alienation simply for the way they yearn for love and connection. But Bones and All also understands how that non-heteronormative longing is viewed as grotesque and monstrous by so much of society. Fans of Guadagnino's other work, like Call Me by Your Name, Suspiria, and I Am Love, will find plenty of thematic parallels here, only instead of Chalamet sensually devouring a peach, it's a bloody corpse.

How to watch: Bones and All is available for rent or purchase on Prime Video and Apple TV.

SEE ALSO: How Luca Guadagnino's 'Bones and All' is different from the novel Daughters of Darkness Credit: Moviestore / Shutterstock

Vampire films have long been fixtures of sapphic storytelling, from 1936's Dracula's Daughter to the explosion of lesbian vamp films in the '70s, but Daughters of Darkness is easily the GOAT. This 1971 Belgian film takes the folklore of Elizabeth Báthory — a 16th-century Hungarian countess rumored to have drunk the blood of the women she lusted after — and turns it into an erotic psychological horror story. 

French actress Delphine Seyrig plays the Countess, a platinum blonde, red-lipsticked menace who saunters around a vacant seaside hotel in sparkling gowns alongside her quiet secretary/girlfriend. But when a young woman arrives on honeymoon with her husband, the Countess's unquenchable desire sets in, and she'll do anything to have her. Daughters of Darkness is a surreal trip of a movie that's like the stylish and subversive art-house cinema of Rainer Werner Fassbinder cross-pollinated with '70s lesbian erotica.

How to watch: Daughters of Darkness is streaming on Shudder, AMC+ or Shudder via Prime Video, and with ads on VUDU, and is available for rent or purchase on Apple TV.

Bodies Bodies Bodies Credit: Erik Chakeen

Bodies Bodies Bodies is the most Gen Z slasher comedy you could imagine — it's Clue with rich, coked-out twentysomethings stuck in a mansion during a hurricane with nothing but TikTok, liquor, and drama to keep them occupied. When Sophie (Amandla Stenberg) brings her shy new girlfriend, Bee (Maria Bakalova), to her best friend David's (Pete Davidson) lavish house to shelter in/party at during a storm, the vibes are immediately sour. Sophie's friends bristle at her unexpected arrival, her awkward girlfriend, and how she ghosted them after she went to rehab. But it's nothing some shots and pills can't fix. When the group sits down to play the titular murder mystery game, that's when everything goes haywire and an actual dead body winds up in the house. Director Halina Reijn's film is a deliciously fun and gory mix of comedy, suspense, and drama — much of that comedy so perfectly nailed by standout Rachel Sennott — proving that the most deadly weapons aren't candlesticks or lead pipes, but backstabbing bitchy gossip.

How to watch: Bodies Bodies Bodies is streaming on Prime Video and available to rent or purchase on Apple TV.

SEE ALSO: Let's talk about that shocking 'Bodies Bodies Bodies' ending, with director Halina Reijn The Lure

The Lure has been described as a lesbian mermaid horror musical, but somehow even that doesn't come close to capturing what this audacious Polish film is. Agnieszka Smoczyńska's debut feature is the darkest retelling of The Little Mermaid you could imagine, incorporating grisly violence and the sex work industry into that classic fairytale. 

After two young singing mermaids, Silver (Marta Mazurek) and Gold (Michalina Olszańska), are invited onshore, the girls become the newest members of a cabaret-like band where they strip and dance on stage. The girls have legs when out of water but no genitals (much to the male characters' frustration), which becomes a focal point for Silver, who becomes increasingly desperate for an operation to change that. The only catch is, losing her fin also means losing her voice. 

This is where The Lure becomes a trans take on the classic mermaid story. It's a metaphor for medical transition, a grim love story with incisive commentary on transmisogyny, and through the characters of Silver and Gold, the film explores two different trans feminine perspectives on transition, as well as their own queer sexuality. The Lure is a gory, thrilling, and bold spectacle that's unlike anything you've ever seen.

How to watch: The Lure is streaming on The Criterion Channel and Max, and is available to rent or purchase on Prime Video and Apple TV.

The Fear Street Trilogy Credit: Netflix

Leigh Janiak's Fear Street trilogy is the queer horror thrill ride of every '90s kid's dreams. Spanning three time periods with two separate casts and a queer couple as the protagonists, the Fear Street movies bring R.L. Stine's book series to the screen with plenty of blood, spooky lore, teen romance drama, and some killer '90s needle drops on the soundtrack. The story centers on a group of friends who try to undo a decades-old curse on their town that's led to it being dubbed the murder capital of the country. Most fun and innovative is how each film in Janiak's trilogy pays homage to a different horror subgenre, from Fear Street Part 1: 1994 evoking the slasher vibes of Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer, the Friday the 13th terror of Fear Street Part 2: 1978, and the pagan folk horror of the witchy finale, Fear Street Part 3: 1666.

But these movies aren't just on this list for simply having queer leads. Janiak's trilogy is keenly aware of the history of horror as an avenue to subtextually explore queer identity. Instead of playing into that legacy of coding, she uses the classic tropes of the genre to give us a narrative that is explicitly about queer repression, and in turn, unabashedly celebrates the power of queer love.

How to watch: The Fear Street trilogy is streaming on Netflix.

The Bride of Frankenstein Credit: Universal / Kobal / Shutterstock

Many pre-code classic horror films are gurgling with queerness, and much of that is thanks to the work of openly gay filmmaker James Whale. Everything from Frankenstein to The Old Dark House and The Invisible Man has been dissected by queer film historians, but it's Whale's The Bride of Frankenstein that remains the queerest of them all. This is a movie about the ways gay male relationships are constantly thwarted by society and deemed, well, monstrous. 

Sure, the sequel is about the creation of a female mate for Boris Karloff's Monster, but that preoccupation with heterosexuality is kinda the point — she's the beard. Of course, no one in this movie is overtly gay, but you can read the Monster finding safety with a blind man as him finding a gay companion, or even the Bride's creation scene as two men's attempt to use their power to create life despite their inability to procreate together. From the layers of queer coding and campy humor all over Whale's sequel, it's no doubt Elsa Lanchester's Bride has become cemented as a fixture of drag culture.

How to watch: The Bride of Frankenstein is streaming on Prime Video, and is available to rent or purchase on Apple TV, and VUDU.

The Blackening Credit: Glen Wilson

"Name a horror movie where the Black character survives" is the first trivia question to kick off the twisted murder game at the center of The Blackening. Morgan (Yvonne Orji) and Shawn (Jay Pharoah) are stumped, and understandably so, given the genre's exploitation and tokenizing of Black characters (although just in case you also find yourself in a similar game of life-or-death trivia, there are a handful of films where Black folks do indeed live). 

A clever slasher comedy that uses the genre to comment on the history of Black stereotypes across horror and Hollywood overall finds a group of friends reuniting at a remote cabin in the woods on Juneteenth. The group gets forced into playing a racist board game while being hunted by a masked killer, all while relationship tensions and drama pull the friends apart. Dewayne Perkins, who co-wrote the film with Tracy Oliver, also stars as the group's token gay guy, which adds another layer of playful and refreshing commentary on both the Bury Your Gays trope and on gay masculinity in Black culture. 

How to watch: The Blackening is streaming on Netflix, and is available to rent or purchase on Prime Video, Apple TV, and VUDU.

The Hunger Credit: Mgm/Ua/Kobal/Shutterstock

Few things are hotter than the image of Catherine Deneuve and David Bowie as cool-as-hell ancient vampires sauntering around an underground nightclub as they cruise for their next meal. But Tony Scott's cult favorite The Hunger is memorable for more than its good-looking and fashionable leads; it's also one of the sharpest examples of the vampire story as a metaphor for queerness. 

In the world of these vampires, love, desire, and companionship goes beyond gender, and while Deneuve and Bowie's Miriam and John Blaylock have been lovers for centuries, Miriam begins to set her sights on a new companion once John becomes ill: Susan Sarandon's doctor Sarah. Beyond the lesbian love story, Scott's 1983 film can also be read as a commentary on the AIDS crisis through John's sudden onset of an incurable illness that his doctors mindlessly dismiss. There's also a pervading sense of grief and loneliness across the film that feels true to the experiences of many LGBTQ+ folks who survived the AIDS epidemic — a haunting sadness that Miriam, the most ancient of vampires, is condemned to throughout her immortality, as she's forced to forever grieve the lovers she outlasts.

How to watch: The Hunger is available to rent or purchase on Prime Video, Apple TV, and VUDU.

The Hitcher Credit: Silver Screen / Hbo / Tri Star / Kobal / Shutterstock

In The Hitcher, a young guy driving across the country to his dream destination of California stops in the middle of a rainy night in who-knows-where to pick up a hitchhiker. Jim Halsey (C. Thomas Howell) can hardly keep his eyes open, so hopefully this stranger will help him stay awake. The stranger who calls himself John Ryder, played by a terrifying and near emotionless Rutger Hauer, is the exact type of hitchhiker your mother warned you about picking up — a maniacal killer. 

On the surface, The Hitcher could be read as a classic road horror movie about a deranged psychopath who taunts and terrorizes with no motive. But queer coding is all over this '80s film — so much so that Hauer doesn't exactly make John's advances on Jim subtle — and the film could easily be viewed as a horror thriller about a gay man hell-bent on unleashing his rage on heteronormative society, and perhaps seeking a partner to go on that killing spree with him. It's a hair-raising chiller with some shocking moments of violence and plenty of suspense.

How to watch: The Hitcher is streaming on DIRECTV and Cinemax via Prime Video or via Hulu.

Hereditary Credit: Palmstar Media / Kobal / Shutterstock

Bet you never considered how Hereditary is a horror movie about transmasculinity. On the surface, Ari Aster's gory nightmare is about a family discovering a long-kept secret tied to the women of their ancestry. But when it is read through a trans lens, it's also a story about the agonizing experience of dysphoria as a transmasc person in a body deemed female by society, and the subsequent demonic attempt to change that. Without spoiling too much for those unacquainted, Hereditary is littered with small exchanges of dialogue — Charlie saying of her late grandmother, "She wanted me to be a boy" — and imagery that several trans folks, myself included on first viewing, have spotted. In a fantastic piece examining the transition allegory of Hereditary, writer Sasha Geffen analyzes the way Aster's film "understands just how deep gender goes" in society, and in a very heightened anti-trans political period, filled with moral panic around transmasculine identity. Seen through that lens, Aster's film takes on a whole new meaning.

How to watch: Hereditary is streaming on Max and is available to rent or purchase on Prime Video, Apple TV, and VUDU.

Thelma Credit: Moviestore / Shutterstock

In Thelma, Norwegian filmmaker Joachim Trier takes the queer subtext of Brian De Palma's Carrie and brings it right to the surface. In this 2017 psychological horror thriller, the titular Thelma (Eili Harboe) is a shy and repressed young woman who leaves her sheltered, conservative Christian home for the first time to go off to college. There, she discovers queer desire when she meets and becomes infatuated with Anja (Kaya Wilkins), along with a sudden onset of violent seizures that cause a series of strange happenings. Thelma's powers, like Carrie's, emerge as an outward manifestation of a suppressed woman's desire for agency and control. What makes Trier's film so visceral is how he uses the trappings of horror and supernatural storytelling to tell a very queer coming-of-age tale as Thelma grapples with expressing her rage and identity all at once.

How to watch: Thelma is streaming for free on Kanopy, and is available to rent or purchase on Prime Video, Apple TV, and VUDU.

Wendell & Wild Credit: Netflix

Wendell & Wild, the latest stop-motion horror fantasy from Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline), follows the titular pair of demonic brothers desperate to escape the clutches of the underworld and their overlord father. The duo, voiced by Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, come up with a scheme to dupe a young orphan into inviting them into the free world of the living. Kat is a green-haired 13-year-old girl who blasts punk music through the halls of her new, all-girls Catholic school. 

As much as the demon brothers and their satanic home may seem like the main bad guys of this story, the real villain of Wendell & Wild is pretty surprising: It's the prison industrial complex. The true evil in Kat's town is led by the Klaxons, a private prison corporation that's been buying up all the local businesses. Through a series of spooky resurrections, Kat and her new friend Raúl, a young trans boy voiced by trans actor Sam Zelaya, attempt to defeat the Klaxons and get her deceased parents back.

How to watch: Wendell & Wild is streaming on Netflix.

The Craft Credit: Columbia / Kobal / Shutterstock

Subtextual queerness in movies doesn't only mean unspoken nods to sexuality, but it also reflects the inherent otherness of growing up as a queer person — this is especially true for the horror genre. In the case of The Craft, queerness comes through in the form of four teenage girls whose goth aesthetic, rejection of the status quo, and witchy doings can be seen as a stand-in for the abnormality and derogatory difference that's long been associated with being queer. In The Craft, it's the weirdos, the freaks, the outcasts who turn to the supernatural to wield some sense of control over the strait-laced hetero world that rejects them so readily. What's gayer than a bunch of girls exploring their power over their own bodies with a little "Light As a Feather, Stiff As a Board" sleepover seance anyway?

How to watch: The Craft is streaming on Paramount+, Prime Video, and on Tubi with ads, and is available for rent or purchase on Apple TV and VUDU.

Seconds Credit: Paramount / Kobal / Shutterstock

In John Frankenheimer's masterful sci-fi film Seconds, a middle-aged man who lives an unfulfilled life as a banker discovers a company that gives people alternate identities via plastic surgery. Arthur Hamilton (played by John Randolph) decides to undergo the procedure that turns him into the man of everyone's dreams circa 1966: Rock Hudson. Arthur is now Tony Wilson (played by Hudson), a hot young artist with a beachside villa. But the transition into a new life, and keeping the secret of his old one, begins to torture Tony.

Seconds is a fascinating psychological horror sci-fi hybrid that speaks to trans and queer identity on multiple levels. An entire essay could be written about the trans themes of its narrative, from the emotional and psychological process of medical and social transition to the societal pressures to assimilate into a cis and hetero-centric life. Separately, Seconds also plays like an explicit commentary on Hudson's own closeted life. Hudson's performance as Tony, easily the most unnerving of his career, feels like a looking glass into what many assume was his own experience as a major star forced to keep a secret and live a double life in early Hollywood.

How to watch: Seconds is streaming for free on Kanopy and on Pluto TV with ads, and is available to rent or purchase on Prime Video and Apple TV.

Scream Credit: Miramax / Kobal / Shutterstock

All gays know Scream is queer. It's canon (no, literally). The iconic slasher franchise has queerness all over it — and the writers finally gave us an overt queer character in the latest installments, with Jasmin Savoy Brown's Mindy. But it's the reveal of the killers behind the Ghostface mask at the end of the first Scream that really solidified things. Skeet Ulrich's Billy and Matthew Lillard's Stu were so obviously gay, so much so that even the first Scary Movie said it right out loud. Even Scream writer Kevin Williamson has revealed in recent years that the two characters were based on famed gay killers Leopold and Loeb. None of that confirmation was necessary though — the camp of Drew Barrymore making Jiffy Pop and fondling a knife in her cream knit sweater while gabbing on the phone with a murder? Gay as hell.

How to watch: Scream is streaming on Paramount+ and AMC+ via Prime Video, and is available to rent or purchase on Prime Video, Apple TV, and VUDU.

Interview with the Vampire

Ah yes, the film that gave us Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt as a gay vampire couple. While the curse of being a blood-sucking creature of the night has long been associated with queer identity, it has more often favored lesbian storytelling; however, Interview with the Vampire finally gave us two queer men bonded in their blood lust. Of course, the 1994 Neil Jordan film never made that gay relationship explicit, but there's no doubt that when Cruise's ancient vampire Lestat turns the young Louis (Pitt) into one of his kind, the two begin a life reminiscent of any closeted gay couple. They even turn and raise a young girl (Kirsten Dunst) as a child of their own. After venturing abroad, the little vampire family is threatened by the allure of another very hot, very gay vampire in Antonio Banderas's Armand. While the recent AMC series made Louis and Lestat's romance incredibly explicit (and incredibly sexual), we'll always have the hush-hush gay desire of two of the '90s biggest leading men sucking each other's necks.

How to watch: Interview with the Vampire is streaming on HBO Max and Tubi with ads, and is available for rent or purchase on Prime Video, Apple TV, and VUDU.

SEE ALSO: "Interview with the Vampire" is a brilliant gay fever dream We're All Going to the World's Fair

We're All Going to the World's Fair is a horror film for and about anyone who grew up with the internet. This micro-budget indie from filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun is essentially Creepypasta the Movie. Casey (Anna Cobb) is a lonely teen who joins an online role playing game and begins to grow paranoid that something strange is happening to her mind and body. Schoenbrun's film isn't scary in the traditional sense, except for some freaky creepypasta-esque imagery, but more so a film that aims to show the psychology of extreme loneliness, depression, and alienation — all intense, scary things that many queer folks who grew up online experienced.

While the film isn't explicitly queer, it's been hailed as a trans horror film by several critics, and it's not hard to see why. Schoenbrun, who is nonbinary, has made a film that evokes the constant unease, terror, and anxiety of gender dysphoria before you may even know what that is, and the urge to escape into another reality (i.e., the internet) to find yourself. In one scene, Casey buoyantly dances in her room to a pop song before suddenly stopping, as if to realize she's been possessed. She lets out a horrifying shriek, then goes right back to giddily dancing. It's haunting in an indescribable way, and speaks to a constant masking and toggling between identities that's all too familiar to the experience of dysphoria.

How to watch: We're All Going to the World's Fair is streaming on Shudder and Kanopy, and is available for rent or purchase on Prime Video and Apple TV.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show Credit: Moviestore/Shutterstock

Rocky Horror might not be a movie that'll give you nightmares — unless you're afraid of kinky, horny queers going bananas at a deranged house party, and if so, get outta here! Nevertheless, the wacky cult classic is a spooky season staple. A riff on B-movie sci-fi and monster movies of the past, the musical horror comedy takes us, along with Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick's square-as-can-be couple, on a wild trip to Transsexual Transylvania. There's Time-Warping and Tim Curry's Frankenstein-esque monster-making, there's ax-hunting and laser guns and seduction and dancing — so much dancing! Rocky Horror is a joyously bizarro classic that belongs to the weirdo queers and us alone.

How to watch: The Rocky Horror Picture Show is available for rent or purchase on Prime Video, Apple TV, and VUDU.

The Haunting Credit: Mgm / Kobal / Shutterstock

The Haunting is a classic horror film about a classic type of horror story: a haunted house. You won't find any cheap jump scares or acts of violence in this 1963 film, though. Instead, director Robert Wise and cinematographer Davis Boulton use a mix of innovative visual techniques and camera tricks, from gliding tracking shots and anamorphic lenses, to create an atmosphere of total paranoia and unease that's genuinely unnerving to watch.

The film, based on the Shirley Jackson novel The Haunting of Hill House, follows a group of strangers who arrived at a haunted mansion to prove the existence of ghosts, including the timid Eleanor (Julie Harris) and the bold Theo (Claire Bloom) — yes, the same queer Theo from Netflix's Hill House series. Theo is the rare example of an explicitly lesbian character in classic horror, much less classic cinema overall, and most notably, her queerness is never treated with disdain or mockery. While her sexuality isn't overtly stated, it's a fascinating element of a story about women choosing to experience the evils of a haunted house to escape the real-world anxieties and trauma of their daily lives.

How to watch: The Haunting is available for rent or purchase on Prime Video, Apple TV, and VUDU.

Border

An underseen gem, 2018's Border is a Swedish body-horror romance about otherness that will speak to anyone who knows what it feels like to finally find someone like you. Tina (Eva Melander) is a customs officer with an ability to smell guilt, making her especially good at catching contraband at her job. Tina also believes she has some type of developmental disorder, describing herself as an "ugly, strange human with a chromosome flaw," which leads to an isolated and lonely life. But one day a man with similar bodily features to Tina's appears at her work, and it's a powerful moment of recognizing that maybe she isn't alone, and maybe she's finally found her person.

Border is a wild, highly original tale full of unsettling twists that's also super trans. Amid its dark fantasy and suspense, this Cannes Film Festival winner is a transfixing and emotional story about spending a lifetime thinking something is wrong with you, the rage and pain that can fester from it, and to finally feel seen as you are for the first time.

How to watch: Border is streaming on DIRECTV and Tubi with ads, and is available to rent or purchase on Prime Video, Apple TV and VUDU.

The Lost Boys Credit: Warner Bros/Kobal/Shutterstock

In The Lost Boys, we get vampires in the form of a biker gang, and honestly, there's nothing gayer than that. When brothers Michael (Jason Patric) and Sam (Corey Haim) move to a beachside town in Northern California with their mother (Dianne Wiest, who, by law, makes every film campier, gayer, and better), eldest brother Michael soon falls in with a local motorcycle crew who also happen to be blood-suckers. While it's a girl who first catches Michael's eye, there's no denying the big queer energy that soon evolves when he's initiated into the vampire group. Kiefer Sutherland as David Powers, the platinum blonde leather-clad leader of the gang, oozes homoerotic desire towards Michael, whose vampiric transformation can be read as a coming-out of sorts. Even Haim’s Sam can be read as queer through small but unmissable character details, like a very suggestive Rob Lowe poster hanging on his bedroom wall. The Joel Schumacher film brings campy, queer goodness to a genre storytelling staple that was foundational for many young queers. 

How to watch: The Lost Boys is available for rent or purchase on Prime Video, Apple TV, and VUDU.

The Picture of Dorian Gray Credit: MGM / Kobal / Shutterstock

The Picture of Dorian Gray is a big, gay, gothic horror story about two rich older queens obsessed with the radiant beauty of a young closeted dandy, and how that young dandy sells his soul to stay forever gorgeous and young. Sure, the Oscar Wilde novel that Albert Lewin's 1945 film is based on is about vanity and the superficial desires of a group of aristocratic white men, but it's also about living with the unbearable torture of queer repression and internalized homophobia. 

When the 22-year-old Dorian Gray (Hurd Hatfield) gazes upon his luminous portrait and wishes to never age a day, something magical happens — Dorian's dashing looks remain fixed, and the portrait ages instead. It also begins to reflect the sins of Dorian's behavior. It's impossible to not read Dorian Gray through a queer lens, given Wilde's personal life, as well as the flamboyant performances and attitudes expressed by the film's three male characters. This is a story about doing absolutely everything in your power to suppress your true self to the outside world, and that no matter how hard you try, you'll be forced to look at the wretched toll it takes on your soul.

How to watch: The Picture of Dorian Gray is streaming on HBO Max, and is available for rent or purchase on Prime Video, Apple TV, and VUDU.

The Shape of Water Credit: K Hayes / 20th Century Fox/Kobal/Shutterstock

No one blends fantasy and romance with horror and suspense quite like Guillermo del Toro. The 2018 Best Picture winner is a movie where the most otherized characters — a woman who uses ASL to communicate (Sally Hawkins's Elisa), a closeted gay man (Richard Jenkins's Giles), a Black woman (Octavia Spencer's Zelda), and a giant fish-man (Doug Jones) — are targeted and labeled as the monsters threatening society. Del Toro takes the classic monster movie horror theatrics of The Creature from the Black Lagoon and reshapes it into a moving, heroic tale about those on the fringes of society fighting back and liberating themselves from the real monsters — in this case, Michael Shannon's terrifying colonel set on hunting down Jones's creature to exploit for the 1960s space race.

But The Shape of Water is also a love story that queers traditional hetero narratives through a swooning romance between Elisa and the fish-man. In del Toro’s fantastical world, two lonely and ostracized characters finally get to experience love, acceptance, and pleasure together — and that pleasure is incredibly sexual, as the filmmaker intended. With stunning visuals, an incredible blend of practical and CGI effects, some grisly gore, and lush romance, The Shape of Water pretty much has it all. 

How to watch: The Shape of Water is streaming on DIRECTV, and is available for rent or purchase on Prime Video, Apple TV, and VUDU.

Rebecca Credit: Selznick / United Artists / Kobal / Shutterstock

Many classic Hitchcock films are brimming with queer undercurrents, from the transfeminine villany of Psycho to the gay murderous couple of Rope, but Rebecca offers a different kind of queer story. In the 1940 psychological thriller, Joan Fontaine's second Mrs. de Winter and her new husband, Maxim (Laurence Olivier), arrive at the gothic mansion that is to be her new home, only to discover that that home is deeply haunted by echoes of the first Mrs. de Winter. It's Maxim's late wife, the never-seen Rebecca, who consumes our otherwise-unnamed protagonist with jealousy and self-doubt. 

Where the queerness arrives most notably is in the form of the icy housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson), who reveals her not-so-subtle obsession with the late Rebecca. In one famously analyzed scene, Mrs. Danvers gives a tour of Rebecca's old bedroom, caressing her dressing gown, displaying her underwear drawer as if it were treasure, and speaking of Rebecca as if she were a longtime secret lover. This suggestion of a lesbian affair between the women isn't merely speculation, either. Rebecca author Daphne du Maurier was said to have been bi, and even during the 1940 film's production, the Hays Code sent threatening letters to producer David O. Selznick to remove the queer subtext. Yet, gay Rebecca persisted.

How to watch: Rebecca is streaming on Roku.

UPDATE: Oct. 22, 2025, 5:23 p.m. This list was first published on Oct. 1, 2023. It has been updated to reflect streaming options.

The latest version of Apple iOS has been out for more than a month, but plenty of folks are probably still undecided as to whether or not to install the upgrade.

iOS 26 features the biggest design overhaul to Apple's mobile OS in a decade, bringing the new Liquid Glass aesthetic to iPhones. But in the weeks since iOS 26 launched, users have shared as many opinions about it as there are apps in the App Store. Its new translucent visual style, user complaints about battery drain, and other quirks have led some users to conclude that they don't need to download it just yet. After all, once you download iOS 26 and switch to Liquid Glass, there's no going back.

However, there are positives to iOS 26, as well. Here are just a handful of reasons why you should (or shouldn't) download iOS 26 on your iPhone.

SEE ALSO: Why are some cosmic orange iPhones turning pink? Pro: Some of the new features are great

Every new version of iOS comes with new feature drops, of course. Some years bring very little, while other years bring a lot. There are at least a couple of new features in iOS 26 that put this year's update in the latter category.

For starters, it's got Live Translation in Messages, FaceTime, and phone calls. Two people who speak different languages being able to mutually understand each other over the phone is probably the best application yet of Apple Intelligence. Sure, it might be a little awkward having to wait to listen to a translation of what was just said to you before responding, but not as awkward as not understanding what was said at all.

That's genuinely kind of transformative, but there are other standouts, as well. Being able to make polls and set custom backgrounds in group chats in Messages seem small, but they could inject a lot of personality into spaces where you commune with your loved ones and friends. That's not nothing, and you can only do it on iOS 26.

Pro: You might like Liquid Glass Credit: Apple

Liquid Glass didn't just come to the iPhone. Thanks to macOS Tahoe 26, iPadOS 26, and other OS updates, it's also changing the look of MacBooks, iPads, and Apple Watches. Mashable's tech editor gave iPadOS 26 a positive review, thanks in part to the new Liquid Glass design. Many users like the translucent glass effect.

To quote our review:

Per Apple, Liquid Glass "combines the optical qualities of glass with a fluidity only Apple can achieve." What does that mean? Core elements of the user interface are now translucent and expressive, so when objects overlap or interact, new liquid-like animations cause a transparent light effect, as if you're looking through glass or water...I haven't experienced any lag with the subtle animations that occur when different widgets or icons meet at the edges. Liquid Glass also makes the simplest interactions a lot more satisfactory. In the updated camera app, switching between Photo, Video, Pano, and other settings causes the text to bend and refract.

Liquid Glass also comes with new custom lock screens, which allow you to add a touch of personalization to your iPhone.

Con: You might not like Liquid Glass A custom lock screen in iOS 26. Credit: Apple

Again, the most noteworthy change Apple made with iOS 26 is Liquid Glass, and the new design language permeates the entire UI on your iPhone after you install the update. It makes everything look, well, like liquid glass, with lots of transparency effects and dynamic animations that make everything flow very nicely — when it works.

There's just one problem: Not everyone likes Liquid Glass. While you have some control over how it looks, the added effects and transparency don't work for everyone. You also can't really turn it off. One of the latest iOS 26 beta builds has a new "tinted glass" mode that lets you exert a little more control over how Liquid Glass looks, but it still falls short of just allowing users to retain the old UI, and it's just a beta feature. I don't personally mind Liquid Glass (although I did tweak it a bit to make a little less glassy), but if you absolutely hate it, you might want to hold back on installing iOS 26.

Pro: Crucial app redesigns Why wasn't it always like this?! Credit: Screenshot: Apple

Aside from new features and a new design language, iOS 26 also introduced at least one vitally important app redesign. Of course, I'm talking about the Photos app.

On previous versions of iOS, Photos had become a jumbled mess with multiple confusingly laid out tabs. It was harder than it should be to just find your library or your Favorites folder, for example, at least until you got used to it. On iOS 26, Photos has been streamlined so there are just two tabs, Library and Collections, at the bottom of the screen. One of them shows you everything on your phone, while the other shows you everything you've put into folders.

It's so simple that it makes you wonder why it wasn't always this way.

Con: Your battery might suffer

Last but certainly not least, there have been numerous user complaints that iOS 26 is affecting — or even outright ruining — the battery life on their iPhones. To be perfectly clear, this has not affected everyone or even a majority of iOS 26 users, but that doesn't mean it isn't real.

There are some potential explanations for this. Apple itself says that this is a temporary setback as your phone gets used to the new update (my words, not theirs). Some have claimed that updating all your apps and power cycling the device helps. Low Power Mode (and the new Adaptive Power setting) could alleviate this, at least, potentially. It's also possible that none of those will work, at which point you might need to make an appointment with Apple support.

I personally don't have anything against iOS 26, having used it since it launched, but there are good reasons not to upgrade.

ChatGPT is already deeply integrated into the Apple ecosystem thanks to a partnership between OpenAI and Apple to use ChatGPT models to power some Apple Intelligence features.

Now, OpenAI has taken the initiative to tread even further into Apple's territory.

On Thursday, OpenAI announced that it acquired Software Applications Incorporated, the developer of an AI interface for Mac called Sky.

Sky is an AI-powered natural language interface that provides AI functions for a user directly on their computer. It appears to work like AI assistant web browsers; however, in Sky's case, the functionality is running directly on Mac instead of through the browser.

"We’re building a future where ChatGPT doesn’t just respond to your prompts, it helps you get things done," said VP and Head of ChatGPT Nick Turley, who led the acquisition deal, in a blog post. "Sky’s deep integration with the Mac accelerates our vision of bringing AI directly into the tools people use every day."

There is a demo video released back in May showcasing what Sky can do on Mac. However, Sky has yet to be released to the public.

The Sky demo showcases the Mac AI assistant adding dinner plans made by text message to a user's calendar, researching nearby bars to go to beforehand, and responding back to the text message with the pre-dinner plan suggestion.

"We’ve always wanted computers to be more empowering, customizable, and intuitive," said Software Applications Incorporated CEO and co-founder Ari Weinstein said in an announcement blog. "With LLMs, we can finally put the pieces together. That’s why we built Sky, an AI experience that floats over your desktop to help you think and create. We’re thrilled to join OpenAI to bring that vision to hundreds of millions of people.”

Sky looks to work like most other agentic AI systems. The AI assistant requires numerous permissions, including the ability to view and record a user's screen, in order to take actions based on what the user is looking to do. Cybersecurity experts and privacy advocates have already shared concerns regarding this.

Perhaps, with Sky being a native-based application instead of an AI agent built into a web browser with its own security concerns, OpenAI is hoping this software will alleviate those fears among consumers.

But we won't really know much about that or Sky itself until it's officially released to the public.

Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.

If you've been on TikTok lately, you've likely seen the Group 7 meme, and you'd be forgiven if you don't quite understand what's going on with it. The whole thing connects back to a single source and, strangely enough, it's actually a remarkably well-conceived bit of promotional posting.

And don't worry, it's not too difficult to understand.

We covered Group 7 as it first broke onto the online scene, but it has since grown even more popular. As Mashable's Chance Townsend wrote earlier this week, the trend stems from singer Sophia James promoting her song "So Unfair" on TikTok. James posted seven separate videos promoting the single that put people in "groups" based on which video showed up on your algorithm, and, for whatever reason, the final TikTok labeling "Group 7" went viral. It's now racked up some 63 million views.

SEE ALSO: The Group 7 TikTok trend explained

So why did it go viral? Simply put, it became an inside joke — the thing to be because TikTok collectively decided it was. Everyone suddenly wanted to be in Group 7. The lore unfolded in the comments: Group 7 was elite. Top replies on James' original post read, "I didn’t choose Group 7, Group 7 chose me!" and "Group 7 is a group full of baddies that always win, just saying." It’s kind of like the 6-7 meme — meaningless on the surface, but rich with meaning because we, as a collective, decided it mattered.

"I was just trying to promote my song. That's all it was," James told Mashable over email earlier this week. "But the reason I make and perform music in the first place is to foster community and connect with people, so the way this thing is bringing people together is literally a dream come true."

And the trend has brought an (albeit strange) sense of community to TikTokkers. People really want to be a part of Group 7.

User @popsamcam explained how that fact is a bit of marketing genius.

As user @not.bethel explained, TikTok loves to just run with something. Once it reaches a certain point, there's no stopping the momentum.

Soon enough, it spread to the real world — workers asking their colleagues if they're Group 7, for example. It's an inside joke for millions of people on the app.

With time, everything became attached to the Group 7 meme. This TikTok about bringing back the word "grody" from @wesleyryann racked up nearly 200,000 views and, yes, mentioned Group 7 at the end.

Soon enough, what was once niche had the relatively stodgy PGA Tour (yes, the golf league) posting about it. Once the Normie brands arrived, the trend ballooned to a massive size.

It's wild, but exceptionally like TikTok, to take such a benign thing and blow it up. We all learned this week that Group 7 is forever — or at least until the next big thing takes off.

From YouTubers and TikTok stars to streamers and podcasters, Mashable covers the creators shaping digital culture today. Meet The Mashable 101, our list of the internet’s most exciting voices; and explore our other series, on how creators are building their platforms; on the gear they swear by; and on the trends of today and tomorrow.

GET A FREE TOOL: As of Oct. 24, when you buy the Bosch 18V 2-Pack (4 Ah 4 Ah Battery Kit) for $179 (that's $40 off its usual price) at Lowe's, you'll get a bonus tool at no extra cost.

Opens in a new window Credit: Bosch Bosch 18V 2-Pack (4 Ah 4 Ah Battery Kit) $179 at Lowe's
$219 Save $40   Get Deal

Whether you're finally tackling that home renovation project you've been putting off or just trying to build up a decent toolkit, you know that good power tools aren't cheap. Luckily, Lowe's has a deal running right now that makes adding a high-quality tool to your collection a lot easier.

As of Oct. 24, when you buy the Bosch 18V 2-Pack (4 Ah 4 Ah Battery Kit) for $179 (that's $40 off its usual price) at Lowe's, you'll get an additional Bosch 18V power tool on the house.

SEE ALSO: The Home Depot's 12-foot skeleton is on sale for the first time ever, but there's a catch

The kit you're buying includes two Bosch Core 18V batteries and a fast charger (it takes about 65 minutes to get to a full charge). These batteries are designed to be lightweight and use Bosch's "CoolPack 2.0" tech to prevent overheating, which should help them last longer.

Once you add the battery kit to your cart, you can choose your freebie: a 1/2-inch hammer drill, an oscillating multi-tool, a reciprocating saw, or a 4.5-inch angle grinder. These are all cordless tools that run on the 18V batteries you just bought. Depending on which tool you choose, you're getting a free item worth up to $159. Plus, the tools come with a five-year warranty.

Lowe's says this deal runs through Jan. 7, 2026, so you could definitely snag this as a holiday gift for the handy person in your life.

Close enough: Welcome back, Clippy.

Microsoft Copilot announced it has updated its AI companion to bolster its personality and appearance — and it has given it a name. Say hello to Mico.

In a blog announcing Mico and its Copilot fall release, Microsoft wrote that it was looking to build an AI companion that made life easier for people. The central idea is that "technology should work in service of people," wrote Mustafa Suleyman , the head of Microsoft AI.

Wrote Suleyman in the note:

"Copilot now connects you to yourself, to others, and to the tools you use every day. It’s there for you, helps you stay organized, and even supports your health. It brings people together in shared chats, helps you learn with voice and visuals, and shows up with warmth, personality and even an appearance: Mico."

That's all well and good, but come on, we're all going to compare Mico to Clippy, the (beloved?) paperclip that helped us navigate Microsoft programs back in the day. As Mashable's Timothy Beck Werth wrote about Mico back when it was an experiment, the "marshmallow, emoji-like face" cannot help but give "major Clippy vibes."

Microsoft's blog stated that Mico should feel like a personalized experience and that the AI companion will speak to users conversationally. The updates to Copilot, including Mico, went live in the U.S. and should roll out elsewhere soon.

SAVE 40%: As of Oct. 24, the 3i G10+ Robot Vacuum and Mop Combo is on sale for $269.99, down from $449.99, at Amazon. That's a 40% discount and $180 in savings.

3i G10+ Robot Vacuum and Mop Combo $269.99 at Amazon
$449.99 Save $180   Get Deal at Amazon

Trying to pick a robot vacuum these days is overwhelming. There are tons of brands, and figuring out which features actually work (and which are just hype) is tough, especially on a budget. So, when Mashable Senior Shopping Reporter Leah Stodart tested the relatively unknown 3i G10+ and called it the "most impressive robot vacuum under $500," we paid attention. And right now, it's on sale for even less.

As of Oct. 24, the 3i G10+ Robot Vacuum and Mop Combo is on sale for $269.99, down from $449.99, at Amazon. That's a 40% discount, $180 in savings, and the lowest price we've seen since launch.

SEE ALSO: I found the best robot vacuums for every floor, budget, and level of laziness

What makes this one stand out, especially for the price, is how it handles dirt disposal. Instead of needing one of those giant self-empty towers, the G10+ actually compacts the debris inside its own dustbin. This means you might only need to empty it every couple of months, plus the charging dock is small enough to hide under furniture. Stodart also found its mapping really smart — it uses LiDAR and could even tell which rooms were bedrooms or bathrooms based on furniture.

It's got strong suction (18,000 Pa), uses AI to spot dirtier areas and adjust cleaning, handles carpets well, and avoids most obstacles. "The only time I really saw debris left behind was when I intentionally spilled a giant pile of rice on the kitchen floor, and the G10+ cleared about 90 percent of it in two passes," Stodart writes in her review.

Credit: Leah Stodart / Mashable

The mopping function isn't super fancy, but it does have a little spinning edge mop that Stodart says detailed the wall where her bathroom floor and shower meet "quite well."

It also has a livestream camera, which is rare for vacuums at this price point. "I've never seen one of these on a robot vacuum that costs less than $1,000, let alone $500," she writes. "It sounds ridiculously unnecessary at first, but I know pet parents understand the appeal of being able to remotely check on their pets."

SAVE $79.01: As of Oct. 24, get the Apple AirPods Pro 2 for $169.99, down from their usual price of $249 at Amazon. That's a discount of 32%.

Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Apple AirPods Pro 2 $169.99 at Amazon
$249 Save $79.01   Get Deal

Looking to lock in a new pair of earbuds? There are tons of options on sale at any given time, but when a pair of Apple AirPods are discounted, it's time to sit up and take notice. That's happening right now: you can score a pair of Apple AirPods Pro 2 for their Prime Day price once more.

As of Oct. 24, get the Apple AirPods Pro 2 for $169.99, down from their usual price of $249 at Amazon. That's $79.01 off and a discount of 32%.

SEE ALSO: Apple AirPods Pro 3 vs. Sony WF-1000xM5: Which noise-canceling earbuds are better?

Though Apple has released a brand new pair of buds with the AirPods Pro 3, their previous iteration are every bit as worthy of picking up. They've been labeled as our favorite earbuds for Apple users multiple times in a row, taking the top spot in our best headphones lists many times as well.

They get those top honors for their noise cancellation ability, great sound, and excellent battery life. They continue to prove themselves a great pick in terms of earbuds as well, even with the newer AirPods Pro 3 out in the wild. Their svelte profile, the way they fit into your ears comfortably, and even their usage as a status symbol for some make them an excellent candidate for your next pair of buds.

If you want to score these AirPods Pro 2 for their most recent Prime Day price, though, you'll want to act fast. They likely won't last long while they're discounted again.

The best Apple deals this week, at a glance: Best MacBook deal Apple MacBook Air, 13-inch (M4, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) $999 (Save $200) Shop Now Best iPad deal Apple iPad Pro, 13-inch (M5, WiFi, 256GB) $1,249 (save $50) Shop Now Best AirPods deal AirPods Pro 2 $169.99 (save $79.01) Shop Now Best Apple accessory deal Apple AirTags (4-pack) $64.99 (save $34.01) Get Deal

We've seen a slew of new Apple products hit shelves in the last couple of months, from yet another new iPhone to a much-needed AirPods Pro upgrade to an M5 chip debut in the form of a new iPad and MacBook.

When Apple drops new products, we tend to see the prices drop on older products. It's a cycle we know and love. So, for your shopping pleasure, we've rounded up some of the best Apple deals you can shop as of Oct. 24. Diehard Apple fans will be thrilled to know that the latest iPad Pro with the M5 chip is already on sale, as well as the M4 models of the iPad Pro, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro.

Best MacBook deal Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple MacBook Air, 13-inch (M4, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) $999 at Amazon
$1,199 Save $200   Get Deal Why we like it

Check out our full review of the M4 Apple MacBook Air.

The M4 MacBook Air earned a top spot on our list of the best laptops for 2025. The 15-inch version is our favorite MacBook for most people, while the 13-inch version is our favorite budget pick — even at full price. But we love it even more when it's on sale. As of Oct. 24, the 13-inch option with 16GB RAM and 512GB of storage is down to just $999 at Amazon. That's $200 off its retail price and its best price on record. You'll essentially get double the storage for the same cost as the base model. If you don't need the more advanced specs of the MacBook Pro for things like video editing and graphic design work, the M4 Air will treat you more than fine.

More MacBook deals

MacBook Air

M3

• Apple MacBook Air, 15-inch (M3, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $999 $1,299 (save $300)

M4

• Apple MacBook Air, 13-inch (M4, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD) — $849 $999 (save $150)

• Apple MacBook Air, 15-inch (M4, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD) — $1,078.33 $1,199 (save $120.67)

• Apple MacBook Air, 13-inch (M4, 24GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $1,249 $1,399 (save $150)

• Apple MacBook Air, 15-inch (M4, 24GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $1,398.24 $1,599 (save $200.76)

MacBook Pro

M3

• Apple MacBook Pro, 14-inch (M3, 8GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $1,198.99 $1,599 (save $400.01)

M4

• Apple MacBook Pro, 14-inch (M4, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $1,349 $1,599 (save $250)

• Apple MacBook Pro, 14-inch (M4, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $1,549 $1,799 (save $250)

• Apple MacBook Pro, 14-inch (M4, 24GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $1,749 $1,999 (save $250)

• Apple MacBook Pro, 14-inch (M4 Pro, 24GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $1,750.93 $1,999 (save $248.07)

• Apple MacBook Pro, 16-inch (M4 Pro, 24GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $2,189.13 $2,499 (save $309.87)

M5

• Apple MacBook Pro, 14-inch (M5, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD) — $1,584 $1,599 (save $15)

• Apple MacBook Pro, 14-inch (M5, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $1,779 $1,799 (save $20)

iMac

• Apple iMac (M4, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD) — $1,347.50 $1,499 (save $151.50)

Best iPad deal Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple iPad Pro, 13-inch (M5, WiFi, 256GB) $1,249 at Amazon
$1,299 Save $50   Get Deal Why we like it

Check out our full review of the M5 iPad Pro.

If you want your tablet to not only double as a laptop, but rival some of the best laptops, then the brand-new M5 iPad Pro is for you. Mashable's tech editor says, "It's the kind of gadget that makes you feel like you're living in the future." It's essentially everything we loved about the M4, but with a super-powered M5 chip — a razor-thin and feather-light design, a gorgeous display, and an unbeatable performance. That said, it's not for everyone. As our reviewer Tim Beck Werth notes, "Everyday use is wasted on this tablet." The larger 13-inch model starts at $1,299, but just days after its debut, it's already on sale for $50 off.

More iPad deals

iPad

• Apple iPad, 11-inch (A16, WiFi, 128GB) — $299 $349 (save $50)

• Apple iPad, 11-inch (A16, WiFi, 256GB) — $399 $449 (save $50)

iPad Air

• Apple iPad Air, 11-inch (M3, WiFi, 128GB) — $537 $599 (save $62)

• Apple iPad Air, 11-inch (M3, WiFi, 256GB) — $649 $699 (save $50)

• Apple iPad Air, 13-inch (M3, WiFi, 128GB) — $738.54 $799 (save $60.46)

• Apple iPad Air, 13-inch (M3, WiFi, 256GB) — $843.88 $899 (save $55.12)

• Apple iPad Air, 13-inch (M3, WiFi + cellular, 128GB) — $866 $949 (save $83)

• Apple iPad Air, 13-inch (M3, WiFi, 512GB) — $999 $1,099 (save $100)

iPad Pro

• Apple iPad Pro, 11-inch (M5, WiFi, 256GB) — $984 $999 (save $15)

• Apple iPad Pro, 11-inch (M4, WiFi, 512GB) — $1,098 $1,199 (save $101)

• Apple iPad Pro, 13-inch (M4, WiFi, 256GB) — $1,195 $1,299 (save $104)

• Apple iPad Pro, 13-inch (M4, WiFi, 512GB) — $1,381.42 $1,499 (save $117.58)

Best AirPods deal Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple AirPods Pro 2 $169.99 at Amazon
$249 Save $79.01   Get Deal Why we like it

Check out our full review of the AirPods Pro 2.

We stay raving about the AirPods Pro, but it's even easier to recommend the second-generation buds now that a new pair has dropped and knocked the price down a peg. At $169.99, the Pro 2s aren't the cheapest they've ever been, but they're still a steal for what you get: excellent ANC, impressive sound quality, and seamless Apple device connectivity. You can likely get them even cheaper if you wait around until Black Friday. But for those who can't wait, rest assured this is a great price (it matches Prime Big Deal Days).

More deals on AirPods

• Apple AirPods 4 (without noise cancellation) — $114.80 $129 (save $14.20)

• Apple AirPods 4 (with noise cancellation) — $157 $179 (save $22)

• Apple AirPods Max — $479.99 $549 (save $69.01)

Best Apple accessory deals

• Apple AirTag — $24.99 $29 (save $4.01)

• Apple AirTag (4-pack) — $64.99 $99 (save $34.01)

• Apple Pencil USB-C — $69.99 $79 (save $9.01)

• Apple Pencil Pro — $99 $129 (save $30)

Apple may have created a problem with the latest version of iOS.

Since iOS 26 launched in September, there have been reports around the internet of the new update significantly shortening battery life, even on newer iPhones. For instance, one user on Apple's support message board posted a thread at the beginning of this month claiming that their brand new iPhone 15 was impacted, and as they put it, the only possible explanation is iOS 26.

"Today, I was busy all day and did not use my phone from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., yet it still dropped from 90% to 45% without doing anything. No apps were open, the “Refresh apps in background” option was not enabled, the screen was set to turn off automatically after 30 seconds, and automatic brightness was enabled," the user wrote. "So it's definitely not the phone's fault because it's brand new with a 100% original battery, nor is it the settings because it was in permanent mode. So the fault lies solely with iOS. There are no excuses."

SEE ALSO: iOS 26 is both the cause and solution to your iPhone battery problems

There are also lengthy Reddit threads about it. For example, in one thread, users with iPhones as old as the iPhone 13 and as new as the iPhone 16 pointed out they were getting several hours less of battery life compared to what they had before the update. User Responsible_Film_778, who has an iPhone 13 Pro Max, summed it up succinctly.

"I have replaced the battery last year with Apple and it was exceptional with iOS 18.6. I was ending the day with 87% battery left with light usage. Now I’m lucky if it’s above 50%," the user wrote. "It seems to consume the battery when scrolling through the Liquid Glass enhanced tabs or panels. Really disappointed with this update. I have 98% battery health but it acts like it has lost 1/3 of its capacity. Hopefully a new update will come soon to rectify the problem."

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Naturally, you don't have to go far on X to find people mad about this, either. User @Digitalix complained that their iPhone 16 Pro is now only a "half-day phone" thanks to the iOS 26 update.

Of course, this hasn't all happened without any kind of response from Apple. The company has a support page with information about possible battery life downgrades as a result of software updates. According to Apple, it might just be temporary and could go away on its own as the company makes further updates to iOS 26.

"Immediately after completing an update, particularly a major release, you might notice a temporary impact on battery life and thermal performance. This is normal, as your device needs time to complete the setup process in the background, including indexing data and files for search, downloading new assets, and updating apps.

New features are exciting and help you get even more out of your Apple product, though some may require additional resources from the device. Depending on individual usage, some users may notice a small impact on performance and/or battery life. Apple continually works to optimize these features in software updates to ensure great battery life and a smooth user experience."

Users in the Apple support forum and Reddit threads also suggested some possible fixes, and Mashable previously wrote about the new "Adaptive Power" setting in iOS 26. It sounds like updating all of your apps and then power cycling the phone helped some people, as third-party apps may not be optimized to run efficiently on iOS 26 right away. There are also other measures you can take, such as turning off ProMotion on higher-end iPhones or activating Low Power Mode.

Fingers crossed anyone dealing with this is able to fix it without sending their phone off to Apple for a battery replacement.

Bumble is one of the most well-known dating apps out there. Founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd started Bumble in 2014 after founding Tinder years prior. Bumble was, for many years, women's answer to Tinder. That's because it utilizes the same "swipe left or right" model to either pass or seek to match with someone else, but there is a key difference between the two: on Bumble, only women can message first ("make the first move") in heterosexual matches. 

Bumble has changed since 2014, though, and in case you're seeking answers on how Bumble works, look no further.

SEE ALSO: How to use Bumble, and is it better than Tinder? How does Bumble work?

In Bumble's early years, if you were a man matching with a woman, you had to wait until she messaged you first. But in April 2024, Bumble switched that up with Opening Moves, a way for anyone to message anyone else first. (In gay matches, or with nonbinary users, that was typically the case before this.)

With Opening Move, any user could respond to a prompt on someone's Bumble profile for matches to respond to. (If you think this is similar to Hinge, you're right. Recently, major dating apps have added features that other apps already have.)

Then, in October 2024, Bumble expanded Opening Moves so users could add up to three prompts for matches to reply.

Any user can set an Opening Move. 

How to use Bumble

First, you must create a profile on Bumble. Upload photos of yourself (Bumble recommends four to six), fill out your personal details — such as your age and gender — and set your dating intentions and filters for what you're looking for. The more information you give, the likelier it is that the algorithm will serve profiles that fit what you want.

Once you create your Bumble profile, you can find potential matches in the People tab, located squarely in the center of the navigation panel at the bottom of the screen. Swipe right if you want to match, left if you don't. Once you match with someone, you can go to the Chat tab to start the conversation. (If you have a Premium account, you can also check out who's liked you first.)

Then there's the Discover tab, which is to the left of People. Bumble highlights four profiles it thinks you'll really like (or at least, its algorithm does). You can either Like these profiles or tell Bumble they're not for you. This selection of four refreshes daily at 9 a.m.

Unlike some other dating apps, matches on Bumble expire after 24 hours of matching unless someone messages. Free users can "extend" one match per day, but you have to pay for the app for more chances to extend matches.

As mentioned above, you can also set an Opening Move to give a match a chance to message once you match. With Opening Moves, both people have to send a message, otherwise the chat will expire.

Featured Video For You 'I was cloaked.' What it's like to be blocked and stood up by your Hinge date. Is Bumble free?

Bumble does have a free tier, and you don't have to pay anything to match and message people. But if you want extra perks, you'll have to pay.

As of late 2025, Bumble has three paid tiers: Boost, Premium, and Premium+.

"We are committed to delivering the best possible value for our members with our products and as a result pricing can vary by location," a spokesperson said. "There are a number of different subscription options, you can do a week, a month, or even a year. Prices for Bumble Premium start from $32.99 for a week."

Here are the perks of each Bumble subscription, according to its blog.

Boost

• Unlimited swipes

• Rematch with expired connections

• Extend matches by 24 hours

• Backtrack accidental left swipes

• Spotlight your profile (temporarily bring it to the front of people's queues)

• Five SuperSwipes (Bumble's version of a SuperLike) each week 

Premium 

All the features of Boost, and:

• See who Liked you first

• Unlimited Advanced Filters

• Travel mode, so you can change your location when you go on a trip

• Incognito mode 

• One Spotlight per week

Premium+

All the benefits of Premium, plus (get it?):

• 10 SuperSwipes per week

• Two Compliments per week

• Two Spotlights per week

• Profile insights to see how your profile is performing 

SAVE 50%: As of Oct. 24, the Soundcore by Anker P20i true wireless earbuds are on sale for $19.98, down from $39.99, at Amazon. That's a 50% discount and $20.01 in savings. It's also just one cent more than these buds' record-low price.

Opens in a new window Credit: unknown Soundcore by Anker P20i  

Finding a decent pair of wireless earbuds doesn't have to mean dropping hundreds of dollars. Sometimes you just need something reliable for commutes, workouts, or listening to podcasts, and thankfully, there are some good budget options out there.

As of Oct. 24, the Soundcore by Anker P20i true wireless earbuds are on sale for $19.98 at Amazon, down from $39.99. That's a 50% discount and $20.01 in savings. It's also just one cent more than these buds' record-low price.

SEE ALSO: The 8 best earbuds to buy in 2025, selected by Mashable audio experts

The P20i earbuds feature 10mm drivers tuned for powerful bass, and you can further customize the sound in the Soundcore app (22 EQ presets to choose from). The battery life is also impressive for the price; you'll get 10 hours on a single charge without the case and 30 hours with it. There's also a fast-charge option that'll give you two hours of playtime in 10 minutes.

They use Bluetooth 5.3 for a stable connection, are water-resistant (IPX5-rated) to handle sweat or rain, and feature two mics with AI processing to make calls clearer. Plus, the case is small, comes with a handy lanyard, and the app even has a "Find My Earbuds" feature in case one goes missing.

If you need a backup pair or just want some solid, super-affordable wireless buds, this deal is hard to beat.

SAVE $149.02: The Home Depot's iconic 12-foot skeleton is on sale for just $149.98 (normally $299) as of Oct. 24 — a 50% savings. However, it's only available for in-store pickup.

Opens in a new window Credit: The Home Depot 12 ft. Grave & Bones Giant-Sized Skelly with LifeEyes $149.98 at The Home Depot
$299 Save $149.02   Get Deal

It's been six years since the Home Depot launched its 12-foot skeleton yard decoration to viral, meme-ified acclaim. And for the past five, "Skelly" has been impossible to find in stock around Halloween — much less on sale. This year, that finally changes.

As of Oct. 24, the Home Depot's 12-foot skeleton is marked down to just $149.98. That's a whopping 50% off its usual sticker price of $299 and the first I've ever seen it go on sale in all my years covering its cult following.

There's a catch, though: At the time of writing, the 12-footer wasn't available for delivery. You can only buy it for half off if you find it in stores, and you can't reserve it for pickup ahead of time — i.e., you'll have to go on a bit of a wild Skelly chase.

The skeleton, the myth, the legend. Credit: The Home Depot

You can use the "Check Nearby Stores" feature on Skelly's product page to see if it's sitting on a shelf somewhere near you. For reference, three of the ten Home Depot locations within ten miles of me had limited stock available.

SEE ALSO: Is the Home Depot's viral 12-foot skeleton a victim of President Trump's tariffs?

If your Skelly search comes up dry, know that some of the Home Depot's other giant-sized Halloween decorations are on sale for 50% off and available for delivery (see below). I'd also recommend checking out my colleague Leah's list of the best Halloween clearance sales across all major retailers for more decorating deals.

• 5 ft. Long Grave & Bones LED Skelly's Cat — $99 $199 (save $100)

• 5 ft. Grave & Bones Skelly's Sitting Dog with LifeEyes — $124.98 $249 (save $124.02)

• 7 ft. Dead Water LED Megalodon Shark — $174.98 $349 (save $174.02)

• 8 ft. Wide Gruesome Grounds Giant-Sized Color Changing Animated LED Wyvern — $199.98 $399 (save $199.02)

SAVE 40%: As of Oct. 24, you can get the ASUS ROG Strix 24.5-inch gaming monitor (XG259CMS) on sale for $179, down from $299, at Amazon. That's a 40% discount or a $120 price cut. It's also the lowest price we've seen on this model to date.

ASUS ROG Strix 24.5-inch gaming monitor (XG259CMS) $217.49 at Amazon
$299 Save $81.51   Get Deal at Amazon

If you're a gamer, then you're probably aware that getting a super-high refresh rate usually means shelling out big bucks, especially for a reputable brand like ASUS ROG. But right now, you can get a Strix model with some seriously speedy specs at a much more budget-friendly price.

As of Oct. 24, you can get the ASUS ROG Strix 24.5-inch gaming monitor (XG259CMS) on sale for $179, down from $299, at Amazon. That's a 40% discount or a $120 price cut. It's also the lowest price we've seen on this model to date.

SEE ALSO: The 50+ best gifts for gamers that they won't already have

This monitor has a 24.5-inch Full HD (1080p) Fast IPS panel with a 310Hz refresh rate and a 1ms response time (GTG). Translation: motion should look incredibly smooth, and input lag minimal, which is exactly what you want for competitive shooters or racing games. It's also G-SYNC Compatible and features ASUS's ELMB Sync tech to further reduce motion blur and tearing.

It supports HDR400 for better contrast and brightness, covers 110 percent of the sRGB color space, and has a handy USB-C port that supports DisplayPort Alt Mode for a cleaner connection to laptops or other devices. The stand is fully adjustable (height, tilt, swivel, and pivot), and it even has a tripod socket if you want to mount a webcam directly to it.

For under $180, getting this level of speed and features from the ROG Strix lineup is a pretty great find.

Creator IShowSpeed is not a big fan of AI deepfakes — and he's not the only one.

During a recent livestream, the streamer with more than 45 million YouTube followers watched several Sora 2 videos featuring deepfakes of himself laughing, coming out as gay ("No no chat, this is not real. This is actually AI"), kissing a fan, racing a cheetah, and visiting Nepal ("Look, bro. I haven’t even been to Nepal yet"). Reacting to the videos, he said he was "turning this shit off."

SEE ALSO: bbno$ says 'F*CK AI' — and he's putting his money where his mouth is

"Why does this look too real? Bro, no, that’s like my face," he said.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

OpenAI's Sora 2 allows users to create videos using celebrity likenesses — but only if those celebrities opt in. While IShowSpeed apparently gave permission, he admitted during his stream that it "was not the right move to do."

"Whoever told me to make it public, chat, you’re not here for my own safety, bro. I’m fucked, chat," he said.

IShowSpeed isn't the only public figure pushing back against the use of AI deepfakes. Zelda Williams, daughter of Robin Williams, recently urged fans on Instagram to "please, just stop sending me AI videos of Dad," according to IGN. Steve Harvey and Scarlett Johansson have both supported legislation aimed at banning deepfakes, per CNN.

Even within influencer culture, there's growing resistance. Creator Zay Dante told Mashable that he’s “just not an AI guy,” while a YouGov survey of U.S. consumers reported by Reuters found that more than 50 percent of Gen Z and younger generations "already dislike engaging with AI-generated influencers."

Meet The Mashable 101: the creators keeping the internet interesting. From meme-makers to movement-starters, these are the people powering our timelines today.

The AI boom may be changing the meme landscape, but it also has people increasingly worried about their jobs — and seemingly with good reason. According to a recent report from The New York Times, Amazon has plans to make robots a big part of its workforce in the future.

"We just learned that Amazon plans to replace more than half a million jobs with robots," says Stephen Colbert in The Late Show clip above. "The news of Amazon's plan comes from a cache of internal strategy documents viewed by The New York Times. Wow, that's the kind of scoop you used to get at The Washington Post, if only Bezos hadn't changed their slogan from 'Democracy Dies in Darkness' to '20% Off Next-Day Delivery of Six-Pack Men's Ankle Socks.' [Amazon owner Jeff Bezos has owned The Washington Post since 2013.]

"According to the documents, in order to calm the worried workers, Amazon is avoiding terms like 'automation' and instead will be using terms like 'advanced technology,'" Colbert continued. "And to imply the AI workforce will collaborate with humans, they will replace the word 'robot' with 'cobot'. And instead of calling all that 'bulls**t', I will call that 'advanced livestock butt derivative.'"

KPop Demon Hunters is the pop culture phenomenon that has already defined 2025. The most-watched movie on Netflix proved such a smash hit that the streamer rolled out a sing-along theatrical release, not once but twice! The soundtrack hit #1 on Billboard, with "Golden" becoming the longest-running #1 hit by a girl group on the Billboard Hot 100 in the 21st century. All of this is fueled by the fans. Love for KPop Demon Hunters is everywhere online, but perhaps it's most enthralling on TikTok, where fans share their excitement through singing, dancing, and cosplaying. Just like in the movie, the KPop Demon Hunters themselves love seeing their fans express themselves.

So, when Arden Cho and May Hong, who provide the voices for Rumi and Mira, came by Mashable's Say More studio, Entertainment Editor Kristy Puchko presented them with some of our team's favorite KPop Demon Hunter TikToks for their reactions. Whether it's a baby bopping to Saja Boys' "Soda Pop," a fleet of little Rumis, or cosplayers recreating even the quirkiest characters, Hong and Cho were elated, sharing their thoughts on each vid.

With Halloween around the corner, KPop Demon Hunters fans will likely be out in force at costume parties and the return of the theatrical sing-along release. For more from Arden Cho and May Wong, check out Mashable's full Say More interview on YouTube. There, they reveal what it was like recording the dialogue for Rumi and Mira, what their favorite moments were, and what it means to be such a pivotal part to the movie that's appealing to kids, parents, and child-free entertainment reporters.

KPop Demon Hunters: A Sing-Along Event returns to theaters on Oct. 31. KPop Demon Hunters is now streaming on Netflix.

Amazon has launched a new incident report generation tool in CloudWatch, allowing customers to quickly build post-incident analysis reports.

The company announced the new feature in a blog post Wednesday, failing to mention that just days ago half the internet didn't work due to a massive AWS outage.

Amazon CloudWatch is a service that allows customers to monitor apps and resources on Amazon's AWS cloud, as well as other clouds. It is typically used by businesses who run their operations on AWS.

The new feature generates detailed reports by automatically capturing critical operational telemetry, service configurations, and investigation findings, according to Amazon. It's available in a number of regions, including US East, where the recent outage has happened.

The full list of the regions where the tool is available is as follows: US East (N. Virginia), US East (Ohio), US West (Oregon), Asia Pacific (Hong Kong), Asia Pacific (Mumbai), Asia Pacific (Singapore), Asia Pacific (Sydney), Asia Pacific (Tokyo), Europe (Frankfurt), Europe (Ireland), Europe (Spain), and Europe (Stockholm).

SEE ALSO: AWS outage update: Amazon, Alexa, Snapchat, Reddit, more hit by massive outage

To create your first incident report (hopefully not very soon), create a CloudWatch investigation and click on "Incident report."

Seth Meyers took "A Closer Look" at the contrast between voter concerns over rising costs in the 2024 election and Donald Trump's $250 million new ballroom a year later.

Meyers began his deep dive segment on Thursday with a look at how inflation was top of mind for voters last year. The Late Night host then contrasted this with a look at the impact of Trump's tariffs on the price of groceries, as well as the president's expensive and controversial 90,000 square foot ballroom. Demolition of parts of the White House's East Wing, built in 1902, began on Monday. By Thursday, workers had completely pulled it down — all despite Trump's promise in July that his new ballroom "won't interfere with the current building...It'll be near it but not touching it."

"So he basically promised to treat it like his marriage," said Meyers, with a trumpeted womp-womp on cue.

SEE ALSO: Stephen Colbert rips into Trump 'going Hulk Smash on the White House'

Meyers also spoke on Trump's statement to reporters that knocking down the East Wing was decided "after really a tremendous amount of study with some of the best architects in the world."

"Oh yeah, who was the architect you talked to, Godzilla?" said Meyers.

"This couldn't be any more of a bait and switch," the host concluded. "Trump got elected by claiming he was going to make life more affordable for hard-working Americans, and now he's demolishing the White House to build himself a gilded vanity project. If you voted for Trump thinking he'd bring down your grocery bills, tough luck."

It turns out Adam Brody's unruffled demeanour can't even be disturbed by an onslaught of spicy wings.

In the First We Feast video above, the Nobody Wants This star takes on the Hot Ones challenge, knocking back 10 spicy wings while answering questions on everything from surfing and pre-fame jobs to his big break in TV.

Is he as calm and collected as Jenna Ortega? Hard to say, but it's certainly close.