Oct 22 2025 | Jaylin Emond-Hardin | Entertainment Editor
Fall is officially upon us, or, as fans of the “Twilight” franchise like to say, it’s when the weather starts to feel like “hoa hoa hoa” — the intro for “Eyes on Fire” by Blue Foundation, which is featured in the soundtrack of the franchise’s first installment.
This curated list is meant to embody the feeling that “Twilight” and “Eyes on Fire” emulate: foggy Pacific Northwest days, a blue filtered world and enough emotions to blur the line between longing and magic — where love feels both dangerous and inevitable, the air smells like rain, and everything aches in muted shades of gray and silver.
Movies:
“Practical Magic” — The Owens sisters — played by Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman — hail from a line of witches where any man who loves an Owens woman meets his untimely demise. The film combines romance, comedy and supernatural family drama as the sisters attempt to break the family curse. Equal parts warm and spooky, it explores themes of love, loss and sisterhood. “Practical Magic” is available to stream on HBO Max and is free with ads on Tubi.
“The Lovely Bones” — After she’s murdered, 14-year-old Susie Salmon — played by Saoirse Ronan — watches her family from the afterlife as they grieve and her killer remains at large. Alternating between Salmon’s desire to help solve her murder and the living characters’ attempts to heal and find the truth, it’s an emotional adaptation of Alice Sebold’s novel of the same name. The film is currently streaming on Paramount+.
Shows:
“Twin Peaks” — Set in the Pacific Northwest in the early ‘90s, “Twin Peaks” follows FBI agent Dale Cooper as he investigates the murder of Laura Palmer. There, he discovers a town full of secrets, surreal visions and supernatural undercurrents. The series itself mixes noir-style investigation with quirky small-town characters and the persistent sense that something wrong is happening under the surface — all with the iconic surrealism of showrunner David Lynch. The original 1990 series and the 2017 return are both streaming on Paramount+.
“Bates Motel” — A prequel series to Alfred Hitchcock’s iconic film “Psycho,” this series follows Norma and Norman Bates as they open the titular Bates Motel. Throughout the series, Norman Bates’ fragile psychology unravels under his mother’s intense, codependent influence, and it’s a slow-burning character study, chronologizing Norman Bates’ descent under his mother’s increasingly desperate attempts to protect him from outside influences. “Bates Motel” stars iconic actors, including Vera Farmiga, Freddie Highmore and Olivia Cooke — known for “The Conjuring” universe, “The Good Doctor” and “The House of the Dragon” respectively — and is streaming on Amazon Prime.
Books:
“If I Stay” by Gayle Forman — After her family gets in a catastrophic car accident, 17-year-old Mia has an out-of-body experience where she sees her loved ones struggle with grief and she decides whether she should stay alive or pass with her family. Set in Portland, Oregon, the novel explores love and memory, while also forcing the reader to consider the emotional weight of the choice between life and death. The novel is followed by its 2011 sequel, “Where She Went,” which continues Mia’s story three years after she woke from her coma.
“The Near Witch” by V.E. Schwab — Schwab’s debut novel follows Lexi in her small town of Near, a place that doesn’t welcome strangers and believes the past should stay buried. When a boy appears on the moor and children start vanishing from their beds, the townspeople suspect he is the cause. But Lexi doesn’t think that’s the case. As she investigates, Lexi uncovers the truth about the “Near Witch,” someone once thought to be a bedtime story. Weaving folklore with fear and feminine strength, Schwab’s writing is poetic, creating less of a fast-paced fantasy and more of a haunting love letter to ancient legends.
Music:
“The Night We Met” by Lord Huron — One of my all-time favorite songs, “The Night We Met” is a haunting ballad, drenched in longing and regret. The narrator mourns a long-lost love, stuck in the moment everything changed. With the desperate wish to return to the night when things were still “perfect,” the narrator focuses on the pain of losing the person he loves most. With soft reverb and echoing vocals, the song captures the ache and melancholy of memory so well, it leaves listeners aching for a time they might not even be sure exists. This song’s power lies in its restraint — it doesn’t try to explain love and loss, it allows listeners to actively feel it.
“All I Want” by Kodaline — This raw, emotional anthem talks about heartbreak, loneliness and the lingering hope that love might return to the narrator. The beginning is soft, like a confession, before it swells in an emotional crescendo, and expresses the painful contraction of loving someone who’s gone but being unable to let them go. While the lyrics are simple, they are deeply human: “If you loved me, why’d you leave me?” Kodaline’s emotional vocals and the song’s build are what make it cathartic, not sad, but a cleansing of everything that was left unsaid.
Of course, last on this list is any of the multitude of media in the “Twilight” franchise; they are, after all, what inspired this list, so how could I leave them out? All movies in the series are currently streaming on Disney+ and Hulu, which have seemingly become the permanent home for them for the time being.
With the weather turning foggy, it is the perfect time to wear Henleys, get lost in a small town and accuse the brooding boy from biology of being a vampire.
Contact the author at howlentertainment@wou.edu
