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31 Days of Horror 7 |OT| The October Movie Marathon

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October is slowly shambling towards us, so it's time again to resurrect our annual 31 Days of Horror Movie Marathon!
Remember gremlins and ghouls, this thread is posted early to allow people time to begin hording movies if they wish to participate - please do not begin your marathon viewings until Oct 1st.



What is 31 Days of Horror?

31 Days of Horror is a torturous, self-inflected movie marathon in honor of Halloween. Attempted by only the most degenerate, the survivors always come back for more (and sometimes the non-survivors too).
The sickly intent of the marathon is to consume and share your thoughts on as many horror, monster or Halloween themed movies as you can throughout the month of October. Ideally, participants are to do 1 movie a day until reaching a full 31 movies by October 31st - however this is only accomplished by the most depraved of souls. You may participate no matter how many movies you plan to watch.


The MANDATORY Rules of the Slaughter

- Beginning October 1st, watch as many full-length horror movies as you can until October 31st. Please only include movies watched during this period.
- After each viewing, you must post which movie(s) you've watched and your thoughts/opinions on them. Be as brief or as detailed in your review as you'd like, but don't just list what you've watched - none wants to read a list. Please number your movies and keep a running tally of your progress. If you are cross posting your reviews elsewhere, do not only provide a link to the offsite review, post the full review here as well.
- Short films may be included, but should be 45 minutes in length or longer.
- TV series (The Walking Dead, American Horror Story, Halloween themed episodes of sitcoms, etc) do not count - please do not include them in your numbered tally. You may discuss them as "extra credit" if you view them along with your full movies.
- TV series consisting of stand alone short films (such as Masters of Horror) are allowed as long as they meet the 45 minutes or longer time requirement for short films.
- Please use the SPOILER tag to hide any possible spoilers. Remember, a lot of people use these threads for recommendations so let's not ruin anything, regardless of the movie's age.
- The Curse of the Mandatory Movies has been lifted. There are no required viewings this year. If you would like to see them return next year, make your screams heard. Thanks again to Divius for providing us with Netflix picks in the previous years.
- No cheating, the Great Pumpkin will know.


The OPTIONAL Challenges to Keep the Flesh Fresh

- Do 1 movie every day, so you end up with a 31 films as your final total. As before, the full 31 films total is fully optional. Only attempt this if you have a lot of free time and/or are completely insane and self-abusive.
- As the purpose of this is to expose yourself to new horror films, attempt to watch as many movies you haven't seen as possible. This makes going for the full 31 movies a lot more interesting than slogging though the same movies every year.
- Adding poster images, screenshots, quotes, trailer links, etc to your opinion posts are not mandatory, but will help bring attention to your reviews of each film - especially useful if you feel it's a film worth recommending to other participants.


Streaming Resources for the Ravenous

Need help fleshing out your decaying collection of movies? Here's a few free, legal streaming resources that may be available in your earthly realm to assist in your depravity:

- ShoutFactoryTV
- Troma (YouTube) [NSFW]
- Kings of Horror (YouTube)
- Shudder (free trial) (Thanks to Ridley327 for pointing this out)


Thanks for the Scares

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A particularly harsh year for genre fans, we lost both the father of modern zombies and the creator of Leatherface. This year’s marathon is dedicated to the memory of George A. Romero (1940–2017) and Tobe Hooper (1943–2017). Thanks for making us rethink our diets, Gentlemen.


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Please don't resurrect old threads, these are listed for reference only.
 

GhaleonEB

Member
Subscribing the FUCK out of this thread.

I need to think about my theme for this year. Last year was "horrible Netflix streaming shit".
 
Let's do this. I have some ideas for my list, but I'm still mulling it over. Don't think I'm going to do any themes. Maybe just a huge master list of 30+ movies. I'm going to do my best to actually review everything this time.
 

Ridley327

Member
Should have my list posted tomorrow, but at this point, I wouldn't be shocked if more films manage to creep up when I least expect them to. It's been a fun year as far as research and acquisition has gone.
 
Oh hell yes! Got most of my list together. Will probably post it tomorrow.

- The Curse of the Mandatory Movies has been lifted. There are no required viewings this year. If you would like to see them return next year, make your screams heard. Thanks again to Divius for providing us with Netflix picks in the previous years.
Boo!

2017 list (not watching order):

A Blade in the Dark (1983)
Antichrist (2009)
Ballad in Blood (2016)
Burial Ground (1981)
Calvaire (2004)
Dead Ringers (1988)
Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971)
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)
I Spit on Your Grave (1978)
Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS (1975)
Kwaidan (1964)
Maniac Cop (1988)
Maniac Cop 2 (1990)
Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence (1993)
Martin (1978)
Monkey Shines (1988)
Mulberry Street (2006)
My Bloody Valentine (1981)
Raw (2016)
Redneck Zombies (1989)
Return of the Living Dead 3 (1993)
TerrorVision (1986)
The Crazies (1973)
The Driller Killer (1979)
The House That Screamed (1969)
The House with Laughing Windows (1976)
The Howling (1981)
The Innocents (1961)
WNUF Halloween Special (2013)
What Have You Done to Solange? (1972)
Zombie Holocaust (1980)

Past lists:
2016
2015
2014
 

kevin1025

Banned
Subscribed! Can't wait to read some reviews in here.

I have 52 movies in my Halloween sights, so I'm going to starting a week early (though they definitely won't be added --- no cheating from me!). I'm probably going to clean out one of the lesser horror franchises during that week so then October is all bloody goodness!
 

Metalmarc

Member
Might give this a go again this year, last year i dropped down to 15-17 films only.

As it's out of copyright and in honour of Mr Romero its only right that Night of the Living Dead gets watched by me this year at least, and should be easy to find.
 
"It's the most wonderful tiiiiiiime of the year"

This is one of my favorite events of the year. I'm back for my 8th October Challenge. It's going to be hard to get to 31 this year since I have a kid coming on the 3rd, but I'll make it happen. The last few years I've reached 50 films, but not shooting for the moon this time around.

I've been perusing the giallo section on Shudder since I tend to wait for the challenge to view those films, a couple of Asian films (I Saw the Devil will finally be seen), and a few others I've been saving. If anyone knows where I can view an animal cruelty free version of Cannibal Holocaust, I'd much appreciate it.

List will be up soon. I. CANT. WAIT.

P.S. - I'm glad for the no mandatory viewings this year. Hush and Creep were alright though.
 

kevin1025

Banned
"It's the most wonderful tiiiiiiime of the year"

This is one of my favorite events of the year. I'm back for my 8th October Challenge. It's going to be hard to get to 31 this year since I have a kid coming on the 3rd, but I'll make it happen. The last few years I've reached 50 films, but not shooting for the moon this time around.

I've been perusing the giallo section on Shudder since I tend to wait for the challenge to view those films, a couple of Asian films (I Saw the Devil will finally be seen), and a few others I've been saving. If anyone knows where I can view an animal cruelty free version of Cannibal Holocaust, I'd much appreciate it.

List will be up soon. I. CANT. WAIT.

You're in for a hell of a time. One of my absolute favorites.
 

Blader

Member
I'll be out of the country for the back half of the month, so I'll only be able to manage 13 films this year, but I think I've got a good list together. Here's what I've got on tap this year:

In honor of Romero
Day of the Dead
Martin
Creepshow
White Zombie
The Return of the Living Dead
Shaun of the Dead

In honor of Jonathan Demme
The Silence of the Lambs

Because of what was on TV this year
Eraserhead
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

Because there's an actual Friday the 13th in October
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter
Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI

Because I always end these with a Halloween movie
Halloween III: Season of the Witch
Halloween H20: 20 Years Later
 

Wanderer5

Member
Think I be joining in on the fun this year, even through it will probably be more like 10-15 films depending how I feel, but I definitely want to push least a bit of seeing more stuff for this Oct. Just got a new library card and still have amazon prime till Nov for now, so I shall do some digging there.

At minimum, I definitely desire to finally see The Thing and rewatch Halloween, since I been in bit of a John Carpenter mood.
 
Feels like this has come round so quick this year. Can't wait to begin.

I'm a bit sad to see the mandatory movie curse lifted. I know it's been a little divisive in previous years but I had my eyes opened to some great stuff I would never have considered without it. I will watch a public domain black and white classic in its memory!

I haven't got a theme this year, other than 'stuff that can be streamed on Shudder, Netflix or Amazon'.

Watched list:

Film #1: Zombie Flesh-Eaters
Film #2: The Stendhal Syndrome
Film #3: Last Girl Standing
Film #4: Gerald's Game
Film #5: We Go On
Film #6: Howl
Film #7: Mark of the Devil
Film #8: Eaten Alive!
Film #9: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2
Film #10: Diary of the Dead
Film #11: Survival of the Dead

Film #12: Under The Shadow
Film #13: Demonic
Film #14: The Collection
Film #15: Friday the 13th (2009)
Film #16: The House of Him
Film #17: Sendero
Film #18: Shivers
Film #19: Rabid
Film #20: The Babysitter
Film #21: Blood Feast
Film #22: Worry Dolls
Film #23: The ABCs of Death
Film #24: Johnny Frank Garrett's Last Word
Film #25: Ouija: Origin of Evil
 

halfbeast

Banned
any slasher movie recommendations? I've watched the popular ones, obviously. but I'm in a slasher kinda mood since the Ft13th game release.
 

Laieon

Member
I've done 31/31 the past 2 years, looking forward to it this year. My personal rules are a little different though, movies can be horror or Halloween related (ie: things like Hocus Pocus).

Definitely in. Very, very glad to see the mandatory movie thing is gone. Always thought that was lame so I never followed it.
 
I'm trying my best to not have any rewatches this year, so to keep myself from being tempted I've gone ahead and watched a few of the heavy hitters this week. Just in case anybody forgot, though I sincerely doubt it, Halloween and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre are still masterpieces. However, if anything is going to tempt me, it'll be the new Blu-ray of The Thing that Arrow is releasing. It might not get here until after October though due to international shipping, so that'll help.

It's going to be hard to get to 31 this year since I have a kid coming on the 3rd, but I'll make it happen. The last few years I've reached 50 films, but not shooting for the moon this time around.

Congrats!
 
I'll type up my list tomorrow. It's pretty rough right now and I still have to decide on what Romero and Hooper to watch in tribute. I've seen all their biggies.

"It's the most wonderful tiiiiiiime of the year"

This is one of my favorite events of the year. I'm back for my 8th October Challenge. It's going to be hard to get to 31 this year since I have a kid coming on the 3rd, but I'll make it happen. The last few years I've reached 50 films, but not shooting for the moon this time around.

I've been perusing the giallo section on Shudder since I tend to wait for the challenge to view those films, a couple of Asian films (I Saw the Devil will finally be seen), and a few others I've been saving. If anyone knows where I can view an animal cruelty free version of Cannibal Holocaust, I'd much appreciate it.

List will be up soon. I. CANT. WAIT.

P.S. - I'm glad for the no mandatory viewings this year. Hush and Creep were alright though.

Congrats on the upcoming addition to the family. I heard somewhere you shouldn't feed them after midnight or get them wet. That's babies, right?

I'm interested to see what gialli you go with. I don't know what Shudder has to offer. And I Saw the Devil is amaaaaaazing. I hope you like it.

Feels like this has come round so quick this year. Can't wait to begin.

I'm a bit sad to see the mandatory movie curse lifted. I know it's been a little divisive in previous years but I had my eyes opened to some great stuff I would never have considered without it. I will watch a public domain black and white classic in its memory!

I haven't got a theme this year, other than 'stuff that can be streamed on Shudder, Netflix or Amazon'.

As far as the mandatory movies go, I'm not against bringing them back, so we'll see how this year goes. Right now I'm thinking maybe we'll just do the 2 picks again next year but change the wording to "suggested" instead of "mandatory" so those who want to participate in them can, and those who don't won't feel like they're ignoring a rule. It's getting kind of hard to find worthwhile public domain movies though, which is one of the reasons it was easy to ditch this year.
 

Wanderer5

Member
There is like 5 versions of Night of the Living Dead on Amazon Prime lol, one of which is the color version, and another is the 50th anniversary. Guess go with the 50th anniversary one? I don't think I seen this movie fully, so I am definitely throwing this in.
 
There is like 5 versions of Night of the Living Dead on Amazon Prime lol, one of which is the color version, and another is the 50th anniversary. Guess go with the 50th anniversary one? I don't think I seen this movie fully, so I am definitely throwing this in.

50th Anniversary? Do you mean the 30th Anniversary Edition? If so, that's the one with new additional scenes filmed by original co-writer John A. Russo. I haven't seen it myself, but it's notoriously bad. I'd avoid that one.

Go with whichever 96 minute black and white version you can find. An edited 90 minute one is fairly common as well so be sure to check the runtime,

wow, those are great recommendations! Marilyn Monroe with a sax? SOLD! also, was the burning an inspiration for clock tower?

Heh, I don't know about Clock Tower, but honestly I wouldn't be surprised if someone on the dev team just saw The Burning's poster and took inspiration from it considering how much Japanese game devs and anime studios ripped off old genre movies.
 

gforguava

Member
wow, those are great recommendations! Marilyn Monroe with a sax? SOLD! also, was the burning an inspiration for clock tower?
Not really, only thing they have in common(to my memory at least) is the murder weapon. Clock Tower was most overtly inspired by Argento's Phenomena, shamelessly so.
 

Wanderer5

Member
50th Anniversary? Do you mean the 30th Anniversary Edition? If so, that's the one with additional scenes filmed by original co-writer John A. Russo. I haven't seen it myself, but it's notoriously bad. I'd avoid that one.

Go with whichever 96 minute black and white version you can find. An edited 90 minute one is fairly common as well so be sure to check the runtime,

No this, which is 95 mins. Doesn't seem like they have the edited 90 min nor the 30th anniversary one.
 
No this, which is 95 mins. Doesn't seem like they have the edited 90 min nor the 30th anniversary one.

Hm. Well, the good news is it's not Russo's hack job. Bad news is it looks like it's the same version as that upcoming Mill Creek BD that they're rushing out. I don't know what the quality of that is like, but they don't have a great track record.

Still, it's the right version at least. Should be good enough for this.

Edit: Reading up on that Amazon version on the blu-ray.com forum, it sounds terrible.
 

Wanderer5

Member
Hm. Well, the good news is it's not Russo's hack job. Bad news is it looks like it's the same version as that upcoming Mill Creek BD that they're rushing out. I don't know what the quality of that is like, but they don't have a great track record.

Still, it's the right version at least. Should be good enough for this.

Well whatever as long it is the right version. There is a "Digitally Remastered" one from 2009 that appears at the top if you type the name in.
 
The rumor was that Criterion was going to put out a new 4k restoration of NotLD. The 50th anniversary is just a quick cash grab using an older transfer for all I know. At this moment, it might be the best way to see the film though.
 
Ahh, the 31 Days of Horror thread, will this be the year I finally reach 31 films? Probably not, but it's a good time as any to watch some stuff I've been putting off.
 
Well whatever as long it is the right version. There is a "Digitally Remastered" one from 2009 that appears at the top if you type the name in.

Yeah, I believe there's a Criterion one coming out which will be the one to get, but as far as I know there's no date. The Japanese BD is currently the "best" but none are without flaws so just watch whatever you can get at this point.

I can't tell what that digitally remastered one is (I don't have Prime), but if it's the Weinstein master that suffers from cropping issues.

I'm sticking with my old Millennium Edition DVD until the Criterion comes out.
 

Rei_Toei

Fclvat sbe Pnanqn, ru?
Cool, thanks for making the thread! I'll participate a bit. Lurked in previous years and this year, half of oktober I'll be on holiday, but I'll squeeze in some stuff :)
 

MattyH

Member
Halloween 2017
Theres a few low budget and trash horror movies in there this year but its different as always il be starting with Trick R Treat and ending with GhostWatch
22 disc
blade in the dark blu
anthro blu
Deep Rising dvd
Sleepaway Camp 2 blu
Slither dvd
Kill list blu
Pontypool dvd
Red State dvd
$la$her$ dvd
Skinned Alive dvd
Horns dvd
Stay Alive dvd
Halloween 2 (RZ) dvd
Trick R Treat dvd
Ghostwatch dvd
The Bogey Man blu
Cherry Falls dvd
BTK dvd
End Of Days dvd
Fear 2 Halloween Night dvd
Granny dvd
Ringu dvd

9 streaming (I'm away from home most weekends so only have access to netflix and shudder)
Phantasm Ravager shudder
Sadako Vs Kayako shudder
The Love Witch shudder
Witchfinder General shudder
Ginger Snaps shudder
Mark of the Devil shudder
It Follows netflix
What We Do In The Shadows netflix
XX netflix

also got a few bonus movies

The Lighthouse shudder
Hocus Pocus
WNUF Halloween Special
Psychoville Halloween Special
 
I'm very much ready for this. I'm going to fogoe a theme or list this year (I kinda tried last year) since I end up just freestyling anyway and I like to be spontaneous with my watches. Who knows, maybe a pattern will emerge? Likely a lot of Universal and Hammer horror will make it in though because TCM has a pretty dope October schedule lined up that's heavy on those.

I'm not confident I'll make it to 31 this year but that's okay because I went over 31 last year.
 

MattyH

Member
I'm very much ready for this. I'm going to fogoe a theme or list this year (I kinda tried last year) since I end up just freestyling anyway and I like to be spontaneous with my watches. Who knows, maybe a pattern will emerge? Likely a lot of Universal and Hammer horror will make it in though because TCM has a pretty dope October schedule lined up that's heavy on those.

I'm not confident I'll make it to 31 this year but that's okay because I went over 31 last year.

shudder launching in the uk last year has really helped this year
 

lordxar

Member
Ahh that magical time of year again, thanks Thirsty! I've enjoyed each year I've done it. Suggested, mandatory, or optional films for us all to watch are always welcome.

This will be my third entry into this ghastly series. Follow the ghoul for your guided tour into ghosts of lists past...

2015
For the first entry I had merely learned of the existence of this beast known as the October movie marathon. Who would subject themselves to this madness? How can you watch 31? I had no concept so I started with what was on Netflix. Then the reviews came in. Bloody stump after shredded skull and new realms of torture from the land of Italy came up. Giallo was watched. Fulci zomibies shambled. All told there was a modest body count of 67 films that first year.

2015 GAF Halloween Movie Marathon Death Toll

2016
Last year there was a prequel and a sequel. During the first bloodletting I was shown Letterboxd for tracking body count. Then in preparation for the second year I saw that they did their own challenge and thus a prequel was born.

Letterboxd Hooptober 2016 List

Those fiendish ghouls at Letterboxd start on September 15 which led me to a bit of a combined list..a merging of the flesh if you will. For this GAF list I delved deep into the history of this beast known as horror and started back in 1913 with entries for each decade after. Horror was found with dragons, burning, cannibals, a bit of opera, puppets, and I even saw the devil and a witch.

2016 GAF Halloween Movie Marathon Death Toll

2017
Current day. We are five days into the Letterboxd pre-sequel and there will not be a fleshy merging of the lists this year. I'm at a hard run from the slasher behind me to get this out of the way to start fresh on October 1 with the GAF list...but will a tree root catch my foot?

Letterboxd Hooptober 2017 List

Which brings us to the present moment. What ghoulish surprises will there be in my GAF 2017 list? How much terror can there be with a madman running around a peeping Tom? I may go psycho in my frailty of these twisted productions. Yet a brave one may saw through the killers before months end. In all its glory...I give you...

2017 GAF Halloween Movie Marathon

Peeping Tom
Psycho
Slaughter Hotel
Frenzy
The Driller Killer
Madman
Psycho II
The Final Terror
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
Psycho III
Psycho IV: The Beginning
The Silence of the Lambs
Copycat
Frailty
Saw
Twisted
Antibodies
Saw II
Saw III
Mr. Brooks
Saw IV
The Brave One
Saw V
The Chaser
Saw VI
Cold Fish
Saw: The Final Chapter
Bella Kiss Prolog
Confession of Murder
Killers
Jigsaw

Edit: all that yapping and I neglected to say that this year's theme is serial killers as suggested by the girlfriend of Frankenstein although she probably won't watch much...
 

Melchiah

Member
I can't watch a movie every day, and the local Night Visions horror movie festival is probably held in November, but I'll try to take part in the gruesome fun.
 

Zutrax

Member
I'd love to do this and will probably attempt to do so. However, I'm a huge horror fan and have seen an inordinate amount of all the pretty much typically praised films. I'm actually the biggest fan of really fun, garbage, B-Horror Grindhouse stuff, but that's also the hardest sub-genre within horror to actually find anything worthwhile in. I've seen pretty much all the obvious ones (Grindhouse, Evil Dead, Dead Alive, etc.), but does anyone have any really good gems that they've seen of that style that I could add to my list and watch with a group of friends?
 
I'd love to do this and will probably attempt to do so. However, I'm a huge horror fan and have seen an inordinate amount of all the pretty much typically praised films. I'm actually the biggest fan of really fun, garbage, B-Horror Grindhouse stuff, but that's also the hardest sub-genre within horror to actually find anything worthwhile in. I've seen pretty much all the obvious ones (Grindhouse, Evil Dead, Dead Alive, etc.), but does anyone have any really good gems that they've seen of that style that I could add to my list and watch with a group of friends?

Have you gotten into Italian horror? Stuff like Fulci's stuff would probably be right up your alley. City of the Living Dead and The Beyond particularly so. Torso is a fun little gem I saw last year that is kind of crap but has some amazing sequences particularly the last act.

Also Prince of Darkness and In the Mouth of Madness from Carpenter, but you've probably seen those.
 

Blader

Member
any slasher movie recommendations? I've watched the popular ones, obviously. but I'm in a slasher kinda mood since the Ft13th game release.

Not sure if it meets your definition of popular so maybe you've seen it already, but Black Christmas is goddamn excellent. Outside of Psycho, probably my favorite slasher ever.
 
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