31 Nights (& Days) of Halloween: 2020!

[Scott Taylor]

Last night ...

Nosferatu (1922) - Fairly close to Stoker's book for the first half, and much of the second half. Some of the various shots reminded me of the Val Lewton style, very good use of lighting. But I can see why they got sued and the movie negatives were destroyed (all thats around now is secondary copies).

6a. Ghost Ship (2002)

This one only partially counts; I happened to catch it on AMC, I missed the first 5-10 minutes, and I didn't pay very close attention to it. But I did technically watch most of it. What I saw seemed okay, I guess.

The first ten minutes of Ghost Ship are the best part, as far as horror. Its kind of like the Final Destination movies, and their gory kill stuff. The rest of the movie is kind of hohum.

[Joker]

1. Pet Sematary (2019)
2. IT Part 1 (2017)
3. IT Part 2 (2019)
4. Gerald's Game (2017)
5. As Above, So Below (some year...)

This was on some list of best horror on Netflix, so we watched it. It was alright. I liked some parts of it, and some of it was typical horror, so very predictable. A better idea than execution.

[Jared]

October 7th. 13 - Madman (1981). 14 - Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death (1989)



Madman is a pretty basic campground slasher. The theme music sounds like it wants to be John Carpenter, but then it turns out they also wrote lyrics for it. Madman Marz reminds me of Victor Crowley, who came later, obviously.




Zany b-movie spoof that, despite the title, is much more Zucker Brothers than Troma. Amazonian cannibals menace the jungles of California's vital Avocado Belt, and so the government sends in an expert to attempt contact.
While they probably wanted the irony of a Playmate playing a button-down feminist professor, in all her scenes I kept thinking how Shannon Tweed's role should have been Barbara Crampton. It got some solid laughs out of me, but not enough that I think I would watch it again.

[Moon Ronin]

1. The Curse of Buckout Road (2017) on Tubi
2. Winchester (2018) on Netflix
3. The Curse of La Lorena (2019) on HBO MAX
4. Doctor Sleep (2019) on HBO Max
5. The Frighteners (1996) on HBO MAX
6. You're Next (2013) on Peacock
7. I Spit On Your Grave (2010) on Amazon Prime
8. Halloween (1978) on AMC

Quote Loomis: He came home!

[Sean Whitmore]

1. Body Bags (1993)
2. The Hitcher (1986)
3a. Child's Play (2019)
3b. The Haunted Palace (1963)
4a. Cult of Chucky (2017)
4b. Night of the Demons (1988)
4c. The Gate II (1990)
5. Vampires vs The Bronx (2020)
6a. Ghost Ship (2002)
6b. The Guest (2014)
7. The Fly (1958)

8. Village of the Damned (1960)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villag...ed_(1960_film)
Seen on TCM

I've seen plenty of parodies, but this is my first time watching their source. It was good, though I have to admit I was more invested in the beginning of the movie when the military was trying to deal with the "coma barrier" surrounding the town than I was when the psychic monster kids showed up.

I'm interested in checking out the John Carpenter remake next, more just so I'll have seen every Carpenter movie than because I'm dying to see the concept again.

[Jared]

October 8th. 15 - A Study in Terror (1965). 16 - Hands of the Ripper (1971)



Sherlock and Jack the Ripper is one of the more logical crossover ideas to be found. Last year I saw Murder By Decree starring Christopher Plummer as Sherlock and I think it was the superior movie. I will give kudos to 'Study for not having the same Ripper solution that is shared by multiple movies. The portrayals of Sherlock and Watson here are fine, but unexceptional. The story played looser with the actual details of the case than I would have liked. A young Judi Dench is in the movie but I didn't recognize her while it was on.




According to 'Hands, the Ripper had a daughter who witnessed him kill her mother. 15 years later, she's going into a fuge state and murdering people. Is it possession or psychosis? A psychologist wants to study her to unlock the secrets of the criminal mind, and goes about it in increasingly disastrous manner. From Hammer Films. It was meh.

[Astral Disaster]

20. Army Of Darkness (1992) Once I get started with The Evil Dead I'll usually do all three films back to back to back. By this point, the series had strayed away from horror elements of the first two films, there's still the themes of deadite demon possession and the dead rising from the grave, but those are often used in the service of the movie's comedic moments. Not a negative, it's well done and the movie is a lot of fun, just don't expect any scares.

21. Shaun Of The Dead (2004) I swear, every year for about the past decade I find myself in disbelief this movie is as old as it is, because it still feels fresh 16 years after its initial release. Definitely a personal favorite of the zombie subgenre, and pretty high up on my theoretical list of movies in general.

[Jared]

I wish I had an edit that put the Evil Dead trilogy together "properly", without repeating scenes in different ways.

I might watch them that way on my own, simply skip the beginning and ending parts of II, and maybe the beginning of AoD.

[Joker]

1. Pet Sematary (2019)
2. IT Part 1 (2017)
3. IT Part 2 (2019)
4. Gerald's Game (2017)
5. As Above, So Below (some year...)

6. Monsters 2010

Not really a horror movie, but it's a monster movie, so I count it. I like this movie. It's quiet. A very different take on alien invasion movies.

7. The Ritual 2017

This is great. I saw it when it randomly hit Netflix in 2017, but it holds up to a rewatch pretty well.

[Joker]

double post

[Astral Disaster]

22. Zombieland (2009) I tend to forget how much I enjoy this movie, and that may be because in the build up to its original release I kept thinking it was going to be a rip off of Shaun Of The Dead, but, outside of merging the zombie apocalypse with well written comedy (NOT simply a series of cringey one liners), each has its own distinct flavor. Reminds me I still need to get around to seeing Zombieland: Double Tap at some point.

23. Young Frankenstein (1974) Been several years since I've watched this one, and most of the comedy is still as cornball as ever, but it looks fantastic, and a lot of scenes really nail the look and feel/atmosphere of the original black & white Universal monster movies.

[Jared]

October 9th. 17 - Room to Let (1950). 18 - Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993).


Room to Let is an early and brief mystery/chiller from Hammer. Another Jack the Ripper inspired tale, as 15 years after the murders mysterious doctor rents a lodging in an old woman's house. His behavior becomes increasingly distressing and prompts a reporter to investigate his background for any connection to an allegedly missing asylum patient. Good performance by the lodger, but overall the film is an underwhelming use of this premise.



Some fans really dislike this one for changing the format too much. Personally, I don't mind changing things up now and then, considering this was the ninth installment. I don't mind the impostor Jason of Part V, either.

I think the opening sequence is a hoot as we learn that finally, Jason managed to garner some serious attention. But not even being blown to pieces will keep a good slasher down as we learn Jason's demonic heart can possess people at meat puppetz as he continues killing and seeks to restore his true body.
I don't like the rinky dinky musical score, nor am I a fan of Jason's look in this one. There are some really good kills in this, but not the best in the series. The Creighton Duke bounty hunter character should have either been explored more, or it should have been Tommy Jarvis. There's a famous cameo at the very end, but well before that, a certain evil book is on display.

[Sean Whitmore]

6a. Ghost Ship (2002)
I missed the first 5-10 minutes

The first ten minutes of Ghost Ship are the best part, as far as horror.

Ah, dang it. Story o' my life.


1. Body Bags (1993)
2. The Hitcher (1986)
3a. Child's Play (2019)
3b. The Haunted Palace (1963)
4a. Cult of Chucky (2017)
4b. Night of the Demons (1988)
4c. The Gate II (1990)
5. Vampires vs The Bronx (2020)
6a. Ghost Ship (2002)
6b. The Guest (2014)
7. The Fly (1958)
8. Village of the Damned (1960)

9a. Children of the Damned (1964)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children_of_the_Damned
Seen on TCM

Sort-of sequel to Village of the Damned, in that it contains more psychic children but I don't think any direct references are made to the precipitating event from the last film.


9b. Hand of Death (1962)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_of_Death_(1962_film)
Seen on Fox Movie Channel

A goofy-ass "science gone wrong" movie where a scientist transforms himself into a radioactive monster. The inappropriate soundtrack has to be heard to be believed, and the movie's almost worth sitting through to get a look at the monster wandering around town disguised in a trenchcoat and hat looking like a deep-discount Ben Grimm.




9c. Friday the 13th (1980)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday...th_(1980_film)

I have never seen this movie from beginning to end before. I've seen the last act a lot, usually edited on TV.

I've actually not seen most of the films in this series before. Only Jason X and Freddy vs Jason, both fun enough but neither really thought of as the best examples. But thanks to the complete set just put out by Scream Factory, I'm aiming to change that this year.

(That said, this first one was underwhelming. It's frankly a little hard to believe it spawned a franchise)

[Joker]

1. Pet Sematary (2019)
2. IT Part 1 (2017)
3. IT Part 2 (2019)
4. Gerald's Game (2017)
5. As Above, So Below (some year...)
6. Monsters 2010
7. The Ritual 2017

8. Friday the 13th Part II

I don't know that I'd ever seen this one all the way through. Maybe? I've never been real big on the Friday the 13th movies, though. Jason is a great visual, but beyond that the movies never really did much for me.

[Astral Disaster]

24. An American Werewolf In London (1981) This one is a kind of mixed bag for me, good story elements and the bits of comic relief are well done, but the effects, which were great for the time, have not really aged all that well, and the ending feels kind of rushed, and also borrows heavily from a variety of classic monster movies, especially from the 50s.

25. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012) Historical revisionism with vampires, not great, but still a bit of brain dead fun.