I love horror movies, even though I have trouble watching them. So why am I planning to watch thirty-one horror flicks I’ve never seen for Halloween? I do watch horror movies around Halloween, but it’s always stuff I’ve seen before. Halloween, The Exorcist, Dracula, The Wolf Man, Dawn of the Dead. All the old stand-byes…
((BTW, Jaws is one of my favorite horror movies, but you have to watch it during the summer. There’s a rule about that.))
As the years have rolled by, I feel like I’ve gotten stodgy and staid. I’ve seen these movies so many times they aren’t even scary anymore. So this year I’m trying a different approach. This year I’m challenging myself!
Here’s the details: I have a list of thirty-six movies, below, and I’m using a Random Number Generator to determine what movie I’ll watch. This adds uncertainty to the mix. Also, if I can’t finish a movie, I have five alternates. I’m also going to lose the remote control. No fast forwarding or pausing. I will be watching the movies between September 28th and October 25th. I’m traveling towards the end of October, so I won’t be watching anything at that point.
((I will be live-tweeting some or all of the movies, using the following hashtags: #nameofthemovie and #helloween))
How did I choose? Recommendations from friends, best-of lists, stuff like that. I don’t think there are any sequels, and I’m limiting myself to one movie per director. I’m trying to be eclectic, although these flicks do conform to my tastes. I don’t like torture porn, although I think at least one of the movies on the list might qualify (Cannibal Holocaust). There’s also a shaky cam flick (REC), even though they make me dizzy. I spent most of The Blair Witch Project nauseous and annoyed at the characters bickering about that stupid map.
I’m sure most of these movies have jump scares. I have an unfortunate history of shrieking in movie theaters. There’s a scene in Night Breed, hardly a horror classic, where one of the characters opens the fridge, whereupon I gave out a great shriek. The resulting laughter from my fellow audience members defused the actual jump scare. Luckily, the walls of my apartment are thick enough so that nobody will hear me scream…
I think I’m up for this! Thanks to Pokémon Go, I’ve lost twenty pounds so I think my heart can deal with the strain. I’ll post an article the next day detailing my reactions, any bad dreams, seizures when the cat jumps me in the dark, taps on the windows, chest pains, whether I slept with the lights on, etc. Oh, also whether I liked the movie.
Just so you know…my favorite horror movie is The Exorcist. I saw it at my local theater when it was re-released a few years ago. Sitting in a darkened theater with a bunch of teenagers, I was shocked that they spent most of the movie laughing.
Did they think this was funny?
Was I getting old?
Anyway, here’s the list:
- Babadook (2015)
- Berberian Sound Stage (2012)
- Beyond (1981)
- Brood (1979)
- Cannibal Holocaust (1980)
- Changeling (1980)
- Conjuring (2013)
- Dead Snow (2010)
- Devil’s Backbone (2002)
- Don’t Look Now (1973)
- Event Horizon (1997)
- Ghostwatch (1992)
- Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (2015)
- House of the Devil (2009)
- Hunger (1983)
- Innocents (1961)
- Insidious (2011)
- It Follows (2014)
- Ju-On: The Grudge (2002)
- Let the Right One In (2008)
- Lips of Blood (1975)
- M (1931)
- Mulholland Drive (2001)
- Near Dark (1987)
- Others (2001)
- Possession (1981)
- REC (2009)
- Salem’s Lot (1979)
- Silence of the Lambs (1991)
- Sinister (2013)
- Spring (2014)
- Suspiria (1977)
- We Are What We Are (2013)
- The Witch (2016)
- Tucker & Dale vs. Evil (2010)
- Wolfen (1981)
Abandoned Places 