Halloween programming offers cable and streaming services an opportunity to load up the month of October with a plethora of thrills and chills.

While Peak Screaming at Paramount+ and AMC Networks’ “FearFest” deliver in a big way, there’s much to absorb even with other platforms.

Maybe not in the same league, FX Network is not to be left out as its “American Horror Stories,” co-created by horror genre maven Ryan Murphy, has its own “Huluween” five-episode event which will run on Hulu.

“American Horror Stories” is a spin-off of Murphy’s and Brad Falchuk’s award-winning hit anthology series “American Horror Story,” where the differentiation is that the derivative series features a different horror story each episode.

Leading up to Halloween is the sixth season debut of FX’s “What We Do in the Shadows,” a popular comedic series that documents the nightly exploits of vampire roommates.

Nandor (Kayvan Novak), Laszlo (Matt Berry), Nadja (Natasia Demetriou) and Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch) navigate the modern world of Staten Island with the help of human friend Guillermo (Harvey Guillen) as well as the vampire bureaucrat, The Guide (Kirsten Schaal).

The vampires are reconsidering their lives when a former roommate reappears after a 50-year nap, and realize they’ve accomplished little in a half-century. This could be a show to watch if you prefer laughs to frights.

AMC’s “FearFest,” the long-running annual horror and genre event features over 700 hours of iconic horror films, new series, specials and more. Anyone watching all 700 hours might just become a certifiable couch potato.

Artist, musician and horror enthusiast Janell Monae, as the official host of “FearFest,” has curated a list of her favorite horror films to stream, which include “An American Werewolf in London,” “The Fly,” Killer Klowns From Outer Space,” and “Carrie.”

AMC’s “The Walking Dead” is a familiar franchise, and now a highlight for “FearFest” is the original series “The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon – The Book of Carol,” picking up where season one left off.

Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) and Carol Peletier (Melissa McBride) confront old demons while she fights to find her friend and he struggles with his decision to stay in France, which apparently has some ramifications for the future of this European nation.

Within the AMC universe, Shudder presents the original series “Horror’s Greatest,” a deep dive into everything we love about horror. From fresh looks at classics to unearthing scores of hidden gems, this series has something for every fright film enthusiast.

What are the must-see films in horror’s many sub-genres? What’s the appeal of horror tropes, and how do today’s filmmakers subvert our expectations? What shape does horror take in countries outside of our own? “Horror’s Greatest” is looking for answers.

Shudder original film “Daddy’s Head” finds a young boy left in eerie solitude of a sprawling country estate with his newly widowed stepmother. The stepmother grows distant, and amidst growing family tension the boy begins to hear unsettling sounds echoing through corridors.

The boy becomes haunted by the presence of a grotesque creature bearing a disturbingly familiar resemblance to his late father. But as the boy’s warnings are dismissed as the imagination of a grieving child, the sinister entity tightens its grip on their crumbling lives.

To this day, writer, director, and actor Roman Polanski remains a fugitive from our justice system, but he’s the undeniable creative force behind great films like “Chinatown” and “Rosemary’s Baby,” the latter a classic psychological horror film.

Paramount+ has an all-new thriller film in “Apartment 7A,” which is set in 1965 New York City to tell the story prior to the legendary “Rosemary’s Baby,” exploring what happened in the infamous Bramford building before Rosemary (Mia Farrow) moved in.

An ambitious young dancer Terry (Julia Garner) dreams of fame and fortune in the Big Apple, but after suffering a devastating injury, an older, wealthy couple (Dianne Wiest and Kevin McNally) welcomes her into their home in the luxury Bramford apartment building.

When a fellow resident and influential Broadway producer (Jim Sturgess) offers her another chance at fame, it seems that all her dreams are finally coming true.

However, after an evening she can’t fully remember, disturbing circumstances soon have her second-guessing the sacrifices she’s willing to make for her career as she realizes that something evil is living not only in Apartment 7A but in the Bramford itself.

In the closing days of Halloween week, ABC delivers “Halloween Nightmares” episode on Dancing with the Stars, as the remaining couples get into the Halloween spirit with hair-raising transformations and spine-tingling routines.

Even the ABC game show “Press Your Luck” gets in on the act with its “Halloween Spooktacular” episode where the cartoon creature the Whammy delivers a few more tricks than treats as host Elizabeth Banks and the contestants scare up some big bucks.

ABC’s new series “Doctor Odyssey” episode “Halloween Week” features a high-stakes costume contest, but when a zombie-like illness plagues select passengers on the cruise ship, the festivities take a dark turn. This episode is a curtain call on Halloween night.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.