If you’ve got a few Amazon Echo or Alexa-enabled smart home gadgets around the house and you’re looking to get into the Halloween spirit, Amazon has revealed some of the spookiest utterances than you can request to voice assistant Alexa… if you’re brave enough. Some of these are the same voice commands you might use every day – like “Alexa, how are you?” – but Amazon has added a number of creepy replies that will only appear when then the clock strikes midnight on All Hallows’ Eve.
Whether you’re looking for a recipe for Halloween treats to complement a Halloween party (local lockdown tier dependent, of course), want to stream something bone-chilling on Prime Video, or want to set the mood in your living room by turning any smart bulbs blood-red… Alexa can handle all of that and much more.
First off, it’s worth trying some of your usual day-to-day voice commands to Alexa to see what creepy responses Amazon has added to celebrate Halloween.
Alexa, how are you?
Alexa, good morning!
Of course, there are also more specific Halloween-themed commands you can try, like “Alexa, Happy Halloween” and “Alexa, give me a Halloween rap”. You can also ask, “Alexa, open Spooky Sounds” or play “Alexa, play a Halloween playlist” to get some thrilling tricks from Amazon Music, which is available to listen for free for Prime subscribers.
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Amazon Echo owners can also take advantage of some of the functionality built into the Alexa app to set-up more personalised responses. For example, the Alexa app allows users to create their own smart gadget-enabled haunted home – using smart bulbs or smart plugs connected to your existing lamps and lights to create a terrifying atmosphere for friends or family members. Using the Alexa Routine feature, which lets you chain together a number of Alexa functions from a single personalised voice command, you can trick guests with flickering lights and spooky sounds that you can blame on the ghosts!
You could kick things off with a voice command like “Alexa, it’s Halloween!” or “Alexa, scare me!”
If you want to bake some Halloween treats, you only need to ask “Alexa, give me a recipe for Halloween biscuits” for step-by-step instructions from BBC Good Food. Alexa can also read you a spooky story, thanks to the vast Audible audiobook service.
Amazon will sync the page you’re up to with the ebook version if you happen to have a Kindle with a copy of the same page-turner around too.
If you have an Amazon Fire TV streaming stick or a Fire Edition Smart TV – or just fancy watching something on the Prime Video app on your tablet or smartphone – Amazon has published a list of some of the bone-chillers available to stream right now. It has highlighted All The Boys Love Mandy Lane, American Psycho, Blade II, The Cabin In The Woods, Dark Shadows, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, Hollow Man, Hostel, The Limehouse Golem, Pride And Prejudice And Zombies, Scouts Guide To The Zombie Apocalypse, Shaun Of The Dead, The Purge, and Vampires Suck.
And if you have an Amazon Echo and a Fire TV Stick, you can ask Alexa to find the movie you want to watch, start streaming – and pause with a quick voice command if you need to have a break to inspect where that strange creak from the attic came from…
