Here we are again, folks. It’s that time of year when it gets dark at 6 but it’s sweltering during the day, everything is pumpkin-flavored and, you guessed it, The Weekender puts out its Halloween issue!

This year, writers Saya, Kristen and Danielle all examined the ways movies have shaped our lives. Saya put the original “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” films under a lens, pointing out the strokes of cinematic mastery. Kristen returned to childhood classics and wrote about the lessons she’s learned from Disney Halloween flicks. Danielle found that truth is stranger than fiction and wrote about the ways that disaster films have helped people cope in 2020, even as uncertainty continues to loom on the horizon.

Jeana considered how Halloween is a time to express our individuality, while Paige explored the many hands Halloween traditions have passed through before landing in ours. Last but not least, Marina explores the reasons women turn to witchcraft, now and historically, arguing that witchcraft is an act of feminist reclamation.