31 Nights of Halloween & Horror: 2021!

[ZuLuLu]

My list
1) 1922 (2017)
2)Gerald's Game (2017)
3) Doctor Sleep (2019)
4) In the Tall Grass (2019)
5)Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Things heard and seen.jpg

6) Things Heard & Seen (2021)
Based on the novel All Things Cease to Appear by Elizabeth Brundage, Things Heard & Seen released on Netflix is just bland and boring.

[CellarDweller]

1. Halloween (1978)
2. Halloween II (1981)
3. Poltergeist (1982)
4. Ghost Ship
5. The Crazies (2010)

[Jared]

October 1st. 1- The Cat and the Canary (1927). 2- Vampyr (1932)
October 2nd. 3- Young Frankenstein (1974)
October 3rd. 4- The Return of the Vampire (1943)
October 4th. 5- Viy (1967)
October 5th. 6- Escape the Undertaker (2021) 7- Terror Train (1980)



Escape the Undertaker is an interactive Choose Your Adventure WWE movie on Netflix. It's geared for kids who are already into the New Day and/or Undertaker characters. I wasn't impressed. I'd rather just watch the Undertaker vs AJ Styles Boneyard Match.




A fairly standard slasher with better than average cast and cinematography. I saw it two or three years ago but completely forgot that Ellis from Die Hard and Vanity were in it, but I did remember David Copperfield. While the party train full of costumed coeds makes a suitably claustrophobic setting for a murder spree, it's also so inherently limited that you just have to handwave the killer's ability move around stealthily and hide bodies. There are only two directions to go in each train car!

Setting aside Halloween II where she reprised her earlier character, it's a shame that neither this, Prom Night, or Road Games thought of a more clever use for Jamie Lee Curtis beyond obvious Final Girl. No one thought to kill her early, or to make her the killer. Missed opportunity there.

[Sean Whitmore]

Terror Train seems to be the odds-on favorite for one of the movies Joe Bob Briggs is showing this Friday, so I might be watching that one for the first time soon.

1. Isle of the Dead (1945)
2a. The Vampire Bat (1933)
2b. The Body Snatcher (1945)
3a. The Thing (1982)
3b. The Old Dark House (1932)
3c. Freaked (1993)
4. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)
5. Wishmaster (1997)

6. Jason X (2001)



I got into the Jason series very much after the fact; I saw most of the series for the first time just last year. Jason X was actually the first full one I ever saw. I wouldn't say I have a soft spot for it...it's not a very good movie...but I have enough distance that I can view it fondly as the end point of an increasingly ridiculous series rather than some offensive last gasp for relevance.

We're well out of whatever horror cache the franchise had by this point, though. It's essentially an R-rated version of Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.

[Astral Disaster]

18. Maggie (2015) - The feel good movie of 2015... just kidding, it's actually a decidedly bleak, post-apocalyptic story about a girl bitten and infected with a zombie virus (though I don't think the word "zombie" is ever mentioned), and the emotional turmoil both she and her father, who has vowed to care for her in her final days, experience as she gradually succumbs to the infection. Other than being more a drama than a horror, it's a somewhat atypical zombie movie in that there aren't the usual shuffling hordes terrorizing the countryside, and because of this it seems there's not a massive disruption to people's daily routines, at least in the rural setting the film takes place. There are a few other things which also raise questions in my mind about the history of this world and why things are the way they are now.

19. The Void (2016) - Lovecraftian cosmic horror utilizing practical effects rather than CGI, most of which look pretty good for a contemporary low budget flick. The film borrows heavily from previous horrors, The Thing (1982) and Hellraiser are two which immediately come to mind, this is my third viewing and I've pretty much gotten over that and can appreciate it more on its own terms.

20. Harbinger Down (2015) - Another low budget creature feature taking inspiration from John Carpenter's The Thing and featuring well done practical effects, this time enhanced with CGI. From the Wikipedia page: "The film follows a group of graduate students aboard the crabbing trawler Harbinger who are studying the effects of global warming on a pod of Belugas in the Bering Sea. They recover a crashed Soviet spacecraft encased in a block of ice that is apparently virulently infected with tardigrades, and after thawing, they are attacked by shapeshifting alien monsters." Not a bad film per se, one of the better knockoffs of The Thing, and the acting is ok, but at times it did start to feel like a movie produced by the Sy-Fy channel, especially closer to the ending, whether that's a bad thing is down to personal preferences, but it did tend to take me out of the film whenever I noticed it.

[batnbreakfast]

18. Maggie (2015) - The feel good movie of 2015... just kidding, it's actually a decidedly bleak, post-apocalyptic story about a girl bitten and infected with a zombie virus (though I don't think the word "zombie" is ever mentioned), and the emotional turmoil both she and her father, who has vowed to care for her in her final days, experience as she gradually succumbs to the infection. Other than being more a drama than a horror, it's a somewhat atypical zombie movie in that there aren't the usual shuffling hordes terrorizing the countryside, and because of this it seems there's not a massive disruption to people's daily routines, at least in the rural setting the film takes place. There are a few other things which also raise questions in my mind about the history of this world and why things are the way they are now.

19. The Void (2016) - Lovecraftian cosmic horror utilizing practical effects rather than CGI, most of which look pretty good for a contemporary low budget flick. The film borrows heavily from previous horrors, The Thing (1982) and Hellraiser are two which immediately come to mind, this is my third viewing and I've pretty much gotten over that and can appreciate it more on its own terms.

20. Harbinger Down (2015) - Another low budget creature feature taking inspiration from John Carpenter's The Thing and featuring well done practical effects, this time enhanced with CGI. From the Wikipedia page: "The film follows a group of graduate students aboard the crabbing trawler Harbinger who are studying the effects of global warming on a pod of Belugas in the Bering Sea. They recover a crashed Soviet spacecraft encased in a block of ice that is apparently virulently infected with tardigrades, and after thawing, they are attacked by shapeshifting alien monsters." Not a bad film per se, one of the better knockoffs of The Thing, and the acting is ok, but at times it did start to feel like a movie produced by the Sy-Fy channel, especially closer to the ending, whether that's a bad thing is down to personal preferences, but it did tend to take me out of the film whenever I noticed it.

Do you by any chance can help me come up with the name of another "zombie girl" movie? The 28 Days Later one with a black kid? Thanx in advance...

[Moon Ronin]

1. Friday The 13th
2. Friday The 13th, Part II
3. Friday The 13th, Part III
4. Friday The 13th Part IV: The Final Chapter
5. Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning
6. Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives
7. Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood
8. Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan
9. Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday
10. Jason X

10.5 .Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th

Ok so I've not really had a chance to post here too much but I have been watching the movies, I binged through the Friday the 13th movies (didn't watch the remake). Next I'll take on the Nightmare on Elm street to finish off with Jason vs Freddy. Then maybe the remakes.
Friday the 13th was my introduction to horror when I was a kid and I've branched out from it (the movies were not so great for a kid but we had HBO and I stayed up late) My favorite would have to be Jason Lives, that is were super natural Jason makes his appearance and has a good use of humor "what were you gonna be when you grew up?". The one that I like the lest is Jason Goes to Hell. It is just bad and creates on terrible origin when it really isn't needed.

I also threw in the 6.66 hour long (the run time was a nice touch) documentary which I won't count fully as it is not a horror movie but is great for any fan of the Franchise

[Jared]

October 1st. 1- The Cat and the Canary (1927). 2- Vampyr (1932)
October 2nd. 3- Young Frankenstein (1974)
October 3rd. 4- The Return of the Vampire (1943)
October 4th. 5- Viy (1967)
October 5th. 6- Escape the Undertaker (2021) 7- Terror Train (1980)
October 6th. 7- The Company of Wolves (1984)




A dark fairy tale riffing on the story of Red Riding Hood with werewolves. Right up front we're shown that the movie is a dream, and the atmosphere of the whole thing carries that through quite well. Of course the wolves are a metaphor for a girl's apprehension about womanhood. It's well made for what it is, but I didn't find it particularly engaging. I distinctly recognized a couple scenes from the movie so I must have seen parts of it as a kid, but I didn't know most of it.

This is one of the rare Cannon productions that looks and feels like a real movie all the way through. The cast includes Angela Lansbury, David Warner, Stephen Rea, and a brief appearance by Terrance Stamp.
There is, however, a grisly transformation scene where I think they tried to outdo An American Werewolf in London, but they just didn't have the budget or the craft, so it looks more obviously fake despite the extra blood.

Overall I would call this movie, interesting.

[GeekSmark]

Do you by any chance can help me come up with the name of another "zombie girl" movie? The 28 Days Later one with a black kid? Thanx in advance...

The Girl with all the gifts?

[Jared]

October 1st. 1- The Cat and the Canary (1927). 2- Vampyr (1932)
October 2nd. 3- Young Frankenstein (1974)
October 3rd. 4- The Return of the Vampire (1943)
October 4th. 5- Viy (1967)
October 5th. 6- Escape the Undertaker (2021) 7- Terror Train (1980)
October 6th. 7- The Company of Wolves (1984)
October 7th. 8- Gretel & Hansel (2020). 9- Babylon 5: Thirdspace (1998)



Another dark fairy tale. Of course, most fairy tales were actually quite dark to be begin with. This stars the girl from It Chapter One as Gretel, who needs to look after her little brother after they're forced to leave home in the Middle Ages. It's more modern in tone and faster paced than something like the VVitch, but still far away from the high camp of Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters. The same director made The Blackcoat's Daughter (aka February) which I liked an October or two ago. I liked this one too.




Thirdspace is a TV movie that takes place during the fourth season of the TV series, essentially being an extended 'lost' episode. To that end, if someone is going through the series I would recommend viewing this in its chronological place, there's nothing in it that benefits from being later. It probably works OK as a standalone, but I can't say for sure. Either way, there's still some very dated VFX and sets that range from OK to "oh...that's the best they could afford?" The score does the best it can with some weird music. I first saw this back when it came out on TNT. I didn't know it then, but the story is straight-up Lovecraft meets space opera. There's a primordial artifact, mysterious entities from beyond, ominous nightmares, cultists, even tentacles. However, the visual aesthetic is still that of 90s episodic TV, from the lighting, framing, to over-acting extras. The way it's shot never really conveys the horror theme the material calls for, and the content is PG. Where it should feel more like Aliens or something, it just feels like the show. But, it's a pretty good story nonetheless.

[Astral Disaster]

21. The House of the Devil (2009) - A well-crafted and suspenseful homage to slasher films of the 70s and 80s, with a nod to haunted house movies of the 50s and 60s, along with a dose of satanic occultism to spice things up a bit. It's a slow burn and takes a while to get going, and likely will not appeal appeal to those looking for action and jump scares, gore, and an ever increasing body count (except for about the last 15 ,imutes), but it does an excellent job of creating a creepy, unsettling atmosphere prior to reaching its climax. I enjoyed it quite a bit, other than a couple of things that pulled me out of the movie, first being I do not remember anyone in the 80s using plastic accordian straw drinking bottles, secomd, the guy with the gun was dressed like some generic Seattle hipster bro, circa 1990s to just this afternoon, which was disappointing since it seemed a lot of effort was put into giving much of the rest of the film a late 70s/early 80s vibe. Definitely one I'll revisit to see if I'm able to eventually overlook those issues.

22. The Brain That Wouldn't Die (1962) - Watched the "uncensored version", a surgeon who has been secretly experimenting with transplanting human body parts keeps his fiancée's head alive after she was decapotated following a car accident. Despite her protests that he should have let her die, the doctor goes out on the town, vowing to find her a replacement body, while she gains indefined "powers" which allow her to communicate with the misshapen monstrosity he keeps locled away from view.

23. Absentia (2011) - From IMDb: "Tricia's husband Daniel has been missing for seven years. Her younger sister Callie comes to live with her as the pressure mounts to finally declare him 'dead in absentia.' As Tricia sifts through the wreckage and tries to move on with her life, Callie finds herself drawn to an ominous tunnel near the house. As she begins to link it to other mysterious disappearances, it becomes clear that Daniel's presumed death might be anything but 'natural.' The ancient force at work in the tunnel might have set its sights on Callie and Tricia ... and Daniel might be suffering a fate far worse than death in its grasp." Not a straight out horror movie in the traditional sense, it delves into examining the characters, their relationships with each other, with the horror elements being secondary to the narrative.

[Astral Disaster]

Do you by any chance can help me come up with the name of another "zombie girl" movie? The 28 Days Later one with a black kid? Thanx in advance...

I'm also thinking The Girl With All The Gifts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjGkB_oWTe0

[Jared]

20. Harbinger Down (2015) - Another low budget creature feature taking inspiration from John Carpenter's The Thing and featuring well done practical effects, this time enhanced with CGI. From the Wikipedia page: "The film follows a group of graduate students aboard the crabbing trawler Harbinger who are studying the effects of global warming on a pod of Belugas in the Bering Sea. They recover a crashed Soviet spacecraft encased in a block of ice that is apparently virulently infected with tardigrades, and after thawing, they are attacked by shapeshifting alien monsters." Not a bad film per se, one of the better knockoffs of The Thing, and the acting is ok, but at times it did start to feel like a movie produced by the Sy-Fy channel, especially closer to the ending, whether that's a bad thing is down to personal preferences, but it did tend to take me out of the film whenever I noticed it.

I remember there being some ice that looked distractingly fake. The story behind the movie is that the creature FX team was supposed to do The Thing prequel, but the studio replaced or covered all their stuff with CG, so they took the stuff they made and revamped it for another movie.

I'm also thinking The Girl With All The Gifts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjGkB_oWTe0

Huh, for some reason I thought that was about vampires.

Ok so I've not really had a chance to post here too much but I have been watching the movies, I binged through the Friday the 13th movies (didn't watch the remake). Next I'll take on the Nightmare on Elm street to finish off with Jason vs Freddy. Then maybe the remakes.
Friday the 13th was my introduction to horror when I was a kid and I've branched out from it (the movies were not so great for a kid but we had HBO and I stayed up late) My favorite would have to be Jason Lives, that is were super natural Jason makes his appearance and has a good use of humor "what were you gonna be when you grew up?". The one that I like the lest is Jason Goes to Hell. It is just bad and creates on terrible origin when it really isn't needed.

I also threw in the 6.66 hour long (the run time was a nice touch) documentary which I won't count fully as it is not a horror movie but is great for any fan of the Franchise

Jason movies on USA Up All Night were my gateway into the horror genre when I was a preteen. You might want to check out the 'Never Hike' fanfilms on Youtube.

I haven't watched that doc yet or the Elm Street one, but I will. Maybe not until after October, just because of how long they are.

[Sean Whitmore]

1. Isle of the Dead (1945)
2a. The Vampire Bat (1933)
2b. The Body Snatcher (1945)
3a. The Thing (1982)
3b. The Old Dark House (1932)
3c. Freaked (1993)
4. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)
5. Wishmaster (1997)
6. Jason X (2001)

Felt like a cheat when I included the first one on the list a few years ago, feels like a cheat now, but screw it. It's got alien monsters that bite people's heads off, it's close enough:

7. Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021)



It isn't scary, but...Jason X wasn't scary. If I included that'n, may as well include this'n.

[Astral Disaster]

I remember there being some ice that looked distractingly fake. The story behind the movie is that the creature FX team was supposed to do The Thing prequel, but the studio replaced or covered all their stuff with CG, so they took the stuff they made and revamped it for another movie.

Ah, yeah, I remember hearing or reading about that several years ago, it explains why some effects scenes look really good while others are noticeably dodgy.