👻 Good morning, and welcome to the Daily Authority! I had a great weekend, but I swear they get a little shorter every month.

Today’s newsletter is for movie lovers, specifically spooky movie lovers. Next week is Halloween, so there’s no better time to stock up on confectionery and plan your horror movie playlists. Android Authority‘s streaming team has been hard at work seeking out the greatest spooky flicks ever made. Find a small sample of those lists below.

Spooky season streaming

This is Ripley

• First off, no sci-fi horror movie list is complete without Alien.
• The 1979 Ridley Scott-directed flick locks an angry alien in a spaceship with an ill-prepared crew.
• We love Sigourney Weaver’s performance as Ellen Ripley and the titular alien’s Lovecraftian design.
• There have been plenty of sequels and spinoffs to date. We’d shout out to the 1986 James Cameron follow-up and the 2014 survival horror game Alien: Isolation as two properties worth experiencing.
• However, few movies have come close to challenging Alien as one of the most frightening flicks.
• Catch the movie on Starz.

He’s got an arm off

• If Alien is too intense for you, try Shaun of the Dead.
• Grounded in George A. Romero’s zombieverse, directed by Edgar Wright, and starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, this movie packs everything.
• In brief, the drunken and irresponsible Shaun faces an existential crisis when his girlfriend ends their relationship just before the zombie apocalypse.
• Faced with a rare sense of duty, he journeys to save her, his family, and his friends from jagged jaws.
• Character arcs are tight, the screenplay is riveting, and the humor breaks the tension at just the right moments.
• We’d recommend viewing the two accompanying Cornetto Trilogy films: Hot Fuzz and At World’s End.
• Catch the flick on Peacock.

Sorry, but you’re infected

• Battling zombies in a pub isn’t too bad, but what about a high-speed train?
• Train to Busan imagines this exact scenario.
• This 2016 South Korean flick stars Gong Yu (The Silent Sea, Squid Game) as a father trying desperately to reconnect with his daughter.
• But while on a train from Seoul to Busan, the occupants rapidly morph into zombies, threatening their lives.
• It’s a great flick with swift action sequences and a heart-wrenching ending.
• Directed Yeon Sang-ho went on to direct the 2020 sequel Peninsula and Netflix‘s Hellbound, which is due for a second season in 2023.
• Catch Train to Busan on The Roku Channel.

I want more!

• Once you plow your way through these flicks, you’ll probably be hungry for more.
• But be sure to view our full list of the best sci-fi horror movies and best zombie movies at the respective links.
• If you’re looking for shows instead, binge this list of the best horror shows to watch this Halloween.

Roundup

🚗 No car keys, no problem: Here’s how Android digital car key will change how we drive (Android Authority).

🔎 One year later, have developers warmed to Google’s Material You overhaul? (Android Authority).

🌈 Remember Moto Maker? Well, the Pixel 7’s bland colors really make us wish it still existed (Android Authority).

🗳️ Survey results: eSIMs might be the future, but they’re definitely not the present (Android Authority).

🚘 Forget hybrids, hydrogen-powered cars were all the rage at this year’s Paris Auto Show (Ars Technica).

👩‍⚕️ Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor Who replacement has finally been revealed, and yes, it’s a massive spoiler (BBC).

🐴 Clip-clop: Sneakers for horses are now a thing and are unsurprisingly rather expensive (Cnet).

☁️ NOAA forecasts suggest that most of the US mainland is in for another dry winter (Gizmodo).

⌚ Is this the best Google Pixel Watch alternative? We review the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 (Android Authority).

🎲 Game therapy: How therapists are turning to tabletop games to help people explore their issues (Wired).

📸 Own a Samsung phone? Samsung Camera Assistant lets you customize your stock camera app (Android Authority).

🍏 The next Apple Mac Pro could feature as many as 48 CPU cores with up to 256GB of RAM (Bloomberg).

🍅 In a world where ketchup doesn’t exist, what sauce do you use to eat with fries? (r/askreddit).

Monday Meme

Picture this. You’re about to write a mid-term exam when the supervisor tells you to create an anti-cheating hat from things lying around the classroom. What do you do?

You make this, of course.

• Mechanical engineering students at a college in the Philippines were asked by their tutor to create homemade anti-cheating hats to wear during their recent exams (via BBC).
• The professor behind the idea notes that the hats have been “really effective” in ensuring “integrity and honesty.”
• There are some great examples, too. One student made binoculars from toilet roll inners. Another wore a motorcycle helmet. Another made the egg carton contraption pictured above. Resourceful indeed.
• The students’ designs have since gone viral, and we’re here for it.
• Anything that makes learning (and especially exams) fun should be applauded.
• We think this would also be great for office workers and those easily distracted work-from-home folk.

Have a great week ahead!

Andy Walker, Editor.