31 Demonic Days and Nightmarish Nights of Halloween: 2023 Edition!

[Moon Ronin]

5. The Exorcist (1973) Not much I can say about this fim that hasn't already been said

Don't know if I'm gonna rush out and see The Exorcist: Believer when it comes out or wait. The Exorcist is one of my favorites of all time

[Vakanai]

2. Dracula (1931). Not the greatest Dracula film, in my opinion, but it had a great Renfield. Lugosi's performance didn't thrill me, they just didn't give him much to do other than look cryptic. I think he was just typecast at that point due to his successful run on the theatre production and he pretty much hated the role.

Actually he hadn't grown to hate the role yet, it wasn't until years later when he was typecast because of this film that he'd grow to hate it a bit. But when this was filmed he was still very much happy in the role, and saw it as his big break. He was very much taking it seriously and bringing his A+ game to it, however you feel about his actual performance (which we strongly disagree on btw, but that's just down to personal tastes).

[Jared]

October 1st. 1- The Necronomicon: Book of the Dead (2023)
October 2nd. 2- The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923)



(I somehow got my days mixed up and had initially put an Oct 3 movie here)

Celebrating its 100th anniversary this year is the silent classic starring Lon Chaney Sr. I realized that I've never seen or read any full version of the story. I have no idea how faithful this is to Victor Hugo's novel. I suspect there's a lot that was missing. Chaney's makeup and his physicality are both impressive. This is kind of a prototype of the Universla monster movies. It's got a sympathetic "monster" and a very Gothic setting. Thr facade of thr cathedral and some of the crowd scenes are also well done.

[Astral Disaster]

Don't know if I'm gonna rush out and see The Exorcist: Believer when it comes out or wait. The Exorcist is one of my favorites of all time

I'll wait until I can see it at a discount or for free, I was not particularly impressed with the trailer.

[Astral Disaster]

8. Return of the Living Dead Part II (1988) - Other than two or three chuckle-worthy gags, and one scene highlighting the special effects, this is a sub-par and far inferior sequel, even despite casting James Karen and Thom Matthews from the previous film, there just wasn't much for them to work with, and they end up coming off more annoying than endearing. One point for unexpected grave robbery.

9. Antrum: The Deadliest Film Ever Made (2018) - Bad dogs go to hell. The movie starts with a mockumentary segment purporting the lost 1979 film Antrum to be cursed and the cause of multiple viewer deaths upon release and during subsequent screenings. After a warning/disclaimer screen a found copy of the film is shown, two children venture into the woods to dig a hole to hell in order to save their pet, their mother having said she wouldn't get into heaven because she had been a bad dog. As they dig deeper, increasingly strange and unsettling events take place, culminating in the two being captured by Russian hillbilly cannibals. They do escape, but tragedy isn't far behind, the mockumentary then returns during the end credits.

10. The Night Eats The World (2018) - After passing out at a party at his ex-girlfriend's Paris apartment, a young man awakes to discover the zombie apocalypse has occurred while he was asleep. Barricaded in the building, it appears his resourcefulness will assure his survival, but the isolation gradually begins to take its toll, only he may not be as alone as he originally believed.

[Sean Whitmore]

1a. Dracula 2000 (2000)
1b. Dracula II: Ascension (2003)
1c. Dracula III: Legacy (2005)
2.The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (1953)

3. House on Haunted Hill (1959)

Didn't have much time today, so I just went with something recently taped from TCM. Any movie with Vincent Price is a comfort film, even if the film isn't actually very good, which this isn't. Still, it seems to make its way onto my list every year, if only because it's public domain and can be found anywhere.

[Moon Ronin]

No. 3: Sleepwalkers 1992 on Pluto



Charles Brady and his mother, Mary, are the last of a dying breed whose needs are not of this world. They are Sleepwalkers - able to stay alive only by feeding on the life-force of the innocent, but destined to roam the earth, avoiding discovery while searching for their next victim. That search takes them to the sleepy little town of Travis, Indiana, where beautiful teenager Tanya Robertson is about to become an unwilling pawn in their nightmarish fight for survival.

This is the story of Clovis, the John Wick of cats and his quest for revenge. Quit possibly the greatest feline vengeance film of all time, hands down. You can really feel Clovis's loss, anger, and finally his satisfaction when he deals out his own form of retribution.

[Jared]

October 1st. 1- The Necronomicon: Book of the Dead (2023)
October 2nd. 2- The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923)
October 3rd. 3- Warlock (1989)


There's witchery afoot! The late Julian Sands stars as the unnamed Warlock, whisked from 17th Century Boston to 1989 LA to assemble a world-ending MacGuffin. Richard E. Grant is in pursuit has his rugged witch-hunter foe who teams up with a modern girl to try to save the world. The movie doesn't quite commit to either embracing the silliness of the concept or playing it straight as a serious thriller. The score is by Jerry Goldsmith...but it doesn't sound like his A game at all. The leads are good, but the acting from a lot of the secondary characters is really bad. It's watchable, but I first saw it perhaps 10 or 15 years ago, and only a few scenes were memorable to me then, and I understand why. Still, I'm curious enough to check out the sequels

[Jared]

October 1st. 1- The Necronomicon: Book of the Dead (2023)
October 2nd. 2- The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923)
October 3rd. 3- Warlock (1989). 4- Warlock: The Armageddon (1993). 5- Warlock: The End of Innocence (1999)




Julian Sands returns as what may or may not be the same character. Within 10 minutes the movie is far gorier than the first. This time it's up to a Jedi Druid who has just learned of his powers to stop him from acquiring the evil gems to unleash Satan on Earth. Some nice explosions and prosthetic effects are mixed with some really poor digital/optical stuff. Nobody here is as fun as Richard E Grant's Purtian out of time was. Definitely worth watching if you like the first one, but there's also a decent chance you'll enjoy it even if you didn't, because they're both standalones and fairly different in tone.





Bruce Payne takes over, and he's probably a different character, though again, it's not entirely clear. This one very much has the look and feel a direct-to-video sequel, which it of course it was. Ashley Laurence from Hellraiser and a group of college students all in their mid-late 30s go to a spooky house overnight and wake up a warlock. The premise could have been tweaked to be almost any monster or ghosts. It's all much smaller than the previous two flicks. Still, not terrible, it just is what it is, if you've seen these kinds of vid sequels from that era then you know what you're in for.

[Sean Whitmore]

1a. Dracula 2000 (2000)
1b. Dracula II: Ascension (2003)
1c. Dracula III: Legacy (2005)
2.The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (1953)
3. House on Haunted Hill (1959)

4a. Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (2005)

4b. Exorcist: The Beginning (2004)

Available on Peacock and FreeVee.



I rented one of these two on DVD back in the day, but can't really remember which one. Probably "The Beginning", since that was the theatrical release. It left very little impression.

Today, watching the two of them back to back and thinking about the changes made was a lot more interesting than either movie on its own. Paul Schrader's "Dominion" is not great, but it's the much better movie of the two. It's more purposeful, better paced, with more room to breathe. Renny Harlin's "Beginning" is the definition of schlock and cliche.

Here's a good example of what I mean. In "Dominion", Father Merrin suffers a traumatic incident at the beginning of the movie, and it informs his character throughout the rest of it. He goes on sabbatical from missionary work and instead becomes a religious archaeologist, which is what puts him in place for the story to unfold.

In "Beginning", we meet Merrin as a run-down drunk in a bar, no longer a priest, pointedly correcting everyone who calls him one throughout the movie. The same traumatic incident is introduced slowly, through snippets of flashback, not fully revealed till more than halfway through the movie. A mysterious guy with a mysterious employer shows up out of nowhere and invites him...for some reason...to an archaelogical dig. And Merrin...for some reason...accepts.

It's just the difference between characters finding themselves in a situation, and characters being placed into a situation because a movie needs to happen.

[Astral Disaster]

11. From Beyond (1986) - Sci-Fi body horror "loosely based on the short story of the same name by H. P. Lovecraft" which "centers on a pair of scientists attempting to stimulate the pineal gland with a device called the Resonator, with the unforeseen result of their perceiving creatures from another dimension. The creatures drag the head scientist into their world, returning him as a grotesque shape-shifting monster that preys upon the others at the laboratory." (from Wikipedia)

12. The Beyond (1981) - "[The] plot follows a woman who inherits a hotel in rural Louisiana that was once the site of a horrific murder, and which may be a gateway to hell. It is the second film in Fulci's "Gates of Hell" trilogy after City of the Living Dead (1980), and was followed by The House by the Cemetery (1981)." (from Wikipedia)

13. City of the Living Dead (1980) - From Wikipedia: "The film follows a priest whose hanging (suicide) opens a gateway to hell that releases the undead, where a psychic and a reporter team up to close it before All Saints' Day." Loosely taking inspiration from H.P. Lovecraft (the town where the main action is centered is named Dunwich) the movie is a follow up to Lucio Fulci's success with Zombi 2. The plot and narrative are fairly thin, and have often been criticized as being nonsensical and hard to follow (I found it easy enough by keeping track of all the characters), and I've had friends say it's best enjoyed by turning off your critical brain and watching it as a series of horror set pieces.

14. The Wind (2018) - Period film set in the late 1800s about a woman who's sanity slowly unravels following the stillbirth of her child and dealing with the unrelenting isolation of the western frontier.

[Scott Taylor]

3. Hound of the Baskervilles (1939). Gothic mystery. An English manor in the moors has a murderous hound on the loose. The first and one of the better Sherlock Holmes movies with Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. This story is public domain so has been made into movies a lot. This version features a truly scary dog and moors, and is very atmospheric.

4. The Woman in Green (1945). Mystery. A music box made in a prison holds the musical key to one of England's most ingenious crimes. Another great Rathbone/Bruce mystery, it definitely highlights a lot of detective work. And ... Moriarty!

5. Bell, Book and Candle (1958). A witch falls in love and must renounce her magic if she is to keep her man. A bit bland, as movies go, but its got incredible visuals. This movie was Jimmy Stewart's last role as a romantic leading man. This was one of the movies of the studio era, when studios had contracts with stars. In order for Kim Novak to appear in Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958), a Paramount movie, Stewart would then appear in a later Columbia film.

6. Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (1943). Gothic mystery. Watson is doing medical services for a spooky home that houses recovering war veterans, when mysterious murders begin happening. Definitely my favorite of these old Sherlock Holmes movies so far. Its a slow burn, with Holmes putting the pieces together and the murderer is a true mystery up until the very end. There is also a clever climactic sequence with a giant chess board.

7. Sherlock Homes in Washington (1943). Wartime mystery. Holmes has to track down secret war plans hidden in a matchbook to keep them from falling into the hands of a group of Nazi sympathizers. During the war, a few of these movies were made involving stopping the Nazis and they always contain plenty of pro-war propaganda. Decent entry in the series and probably the best of the war-themed ones.

[CJStriker]

1.) Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)(Original Cut)~ Blu-Ray!

Honestly the Reputation as one of the worst sequels ever does make sense for this movie, it does not do what fans hoped an Exorcist sequel would do. But this movie is for more one of the unique examples of a Bad movie to most that I have come to like. It still feels like a unique world build take on the Exorcist world trying to explain why the possession happen in a unique Meta Human way, a Term called New Men, Spiritual Meta Human like Saviors of the world trying to be stopped by Demons felt very comic book too me and I love that with spirituality at the for front of it. Plus, the cinematography is Amazing and the music is well done.

2.) King Kong (1933)~ YouTube HD!

No Words to say but CLASSIC that holds up Amazingly Well! For the viewers that 1st saw this come out in 1933 no wonder it blew their minds by how amazing it was! The Legacy of Giant Monsters started here at its finest!

3.) Son of Kong (1933)~ YouTube HD!

Another Sequal that did not live up to the original but still I found it fun and cute at the same time and the characters are all likable in this. Not the best follow up but not bad either.

[Moon Ronin]

No. 4 Maximum Overdrive (1986) On Pluto



When a comet passes close to the earth, machines all over the world come alive and go on homicidal rampages. A group of people at a desolate truck stop are held hostage by a gang of homicidal 18-wheelers. The frightened people set out to defeat the killer machines … or be killed by them.

COCANE!, yes to would seem that after an all day bender that Stephen King while beating away at his type writer in the dead of night looked up and saw Night of the Living Dead playing on the TV across the room and decided that he could totally do what Romero did but use Trucks. A campy movie with some funny kills which would be forgettable if this was not King's one and only directorial credit. King became clean of drugs and alcohol in 1987 after an intervention from friends and family, this movie came out in 86, coincidence?

[Moon Ronin]

Double post