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31 Days of Horror 2 |OT| The October Movie Marathon

Annnd that concludes my 31 days of horror, once again it was really fantastic, just like last year. See you guys next year :D

My final list:

Click the pictures to see what I thought of the movies!

The Good:
Maniac - Underrated slasher that deserves a better status.
Nosferatu - Well directed, chilling telling of the classic story.
The Loved Ones - Like a John Hughes movie gone awfully wrong.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers - Both the original and remake are great and hold up well.
Halloween - Well, it's Halloween. You already know.
The Innocents - Hauntingly classic ghost story.
Dream Home - Uber violent slasher with fun and imaginative kills.
Rosemary's Baby - Polanski's classic tale of the great mix between satanism and pregnancy.
Suspiria - I rediscovered Argento's hallucinating fever dream and enjoyed every minute of it.
Bride of Frankenstein - The monster is back, and we just love to feel bad for it.

The Bad:
Cabin Fever // Chernobyl Diaries // Session 9 // The Howling // Hellraiser // The Fog
 
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31. Lo

What better way to end a month of horror than with a love story? Lo's aesthetics reminded me of the theatrical sets of Lars von Trier's Dogville and Manderlay, and the structure of dialogue between two stationary characters also lends to the film's theatrical feel. For the sparse sets though, the make-up on the demons is very impressive.

It's a darkly comic film featuring a musical number and talking hand wounds, and it's also a shot at the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope. The revelations about the nature of protagonist's love should not surprise you, but it remains a brief meditation on how love can blind and how love defines and how strange these emotions might seem to someone who's unfamiliar with them.
 
2011:

#1 The Others
#2 Exorcist 2
#3 Scream 4
#4 Horror High
#5 Dead Alive
#6 Beetlejuice
#7 Child's Play
#8 Friday the 13th Part 2
#9 Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
#10 Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein - Oct. 9th.
#11 - Gremlins
#12 - Halloween II (October 11)
#12 - Jaws 2 - October 12
#13 Ghostbusters
#14 - Basket Case - October 14
#15 - Young Frankenstein (October 15)
#16 - A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freedy's Revenge - Oct. 16
#17 - Ed Wood (1994) - October 16th
#18 - Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS
#19 - Diabolique (Les Diaboliques) (1954)
#20 - Night of the Creeps (1986) - October 20
#21 - Poltergeist (1982) - October 21
#22 - Pet Sematary - October 22
#23 - The Exorcist (1973)
#24 - Westworld (1973)
#25 - Blood Beach (October 24)
#26 - Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)
#27 - Zombi 2
#28 - The Island of Lost Souls
#29 - A Nightmare on Elm Street 3
#30 - Dracula
#31 - The Shining

2012:

#1 The Monster Squad
#2 The Living Dead Girl
#3 Halloween (1978)
#4 The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
#5 The Last Exorcism
#6 - The Blob (1958)
#7 - Little Shop of Horrors - Director's Cut (1986)
#8 - Equinox (1970)
#9 - The Evil Dead (1981)
#10 - Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn (1987)
#11 - Zombie (1979)
#12 - Halloween III: Season of the Witch
#13 - Carnival of Souls (1962)
#14 - Alien 3 (1992)
#15 - Coraline (2009)
#16 - Galaxy of Terror (1981)
#17 - The Horror of Dracula (1958)
#18 - The Birds (1963)
#19 - Village of the Damned (1960)
#20 - From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
#21 - Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1958)
#22 - They Live (1988)
#23 - Friday the 13th Part 3: 3D (1982)
#24 - Young Frankenstein (1974)
#25 - Night of the Living Dead (1990)
#26 - Halloween II (1981)
#27 - Rosemary's Baby (1968)
#28 - Vampyr (1932)
#29 - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
#30 - The Haunting (1963)

A lot of fun and surprised I had the time to watch as many movies as I did. There are a ton of movies I still have yet to see based on the recommendations. I say we keep this thread going and keep watching great horror movies.
 
Oct. 31: Repulsion/Rosemary's Baby/The Tenant (all three, dir. Roman Polanski)

Rather than focusing this review on the better known films, which are still pretty damn fantastic (and I think Rosemary's Baby wound up being a lot better than I remember it being), I'm going to turn the spotlight onto the lesser-known and lesser-seen of the three.

Whether he was out of beautiful women to psychologically torture, or he actually felt a little guilty about doing them to such beautiful women in the first place, Polanski decided that the time would finally come to see him be subjected to the rigors of isolation himself. The former tenant of the apartment that he's moving into has committed suicide under seemingly mysterious circumstances. Things are fine at first, but the neighbors begin making strange complaints about his habits, he begins seeing strange happenings, and starts to see his life spiral not so much out of control, but into another one entirely.

More broadly comedic than Rosemary's Baby, but retaining more of the trappings of Repulsion, The Tenant is an oddball film that's initially off-putting, but it quickly finds it footing as Polanski allows for himself to be painted as both a clown and a real nutcase. Unlike the other films, there's never really any question to what's really happening, as Polanski never bothers to hide it. But that doesn't mean that he's content with just taking the piss out of himself, as he's still able to stage masterful sequences of suspense and terror all the same. He also casts incredibly well, as the fellow tenants are a colorful and memorable sort, and he's also able to make it so that the radiant Isabelle Adjani is still stunning when even wearing gigantic eyeglasses. While perhaps not as effective as its spiritual predecessors, it is certainly a great deal more genuinely entertaining, and how many films feature Polanski in drag as a major plot element?

Did you pick up Rosemary's Baby on Criterion?
 
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#30 - The Fog (1980)
Went in knowing nothing but having high hopes due to it being a Carpenter movie and being made in between his classics Halloween and The Thing, but it turned out to be very disappointing. I guess there are some decent ideas to the myth being used as the supernatural backdrop, but the execution was just severely lacking. The creatures were not scary and look ridiculous, the effects weren't great nor was the acting. I also did not care for any of the characters, they were just bland and empty vessels. The score was nice, but reminded me a lot of Halloween. 4.5/10

Is this the one or is there another Fog horror movie where there's an amazing post-credits stinger of a dude in an empty cinema who gets murdered by the fog?

That shit kept me up as a kid.
 
I was channel-surfing the movie channels last night and stumbled upon this odd nugget, The Theater Bizarre (2011):
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It's an anthology of six shorts with a frame story about a woman who sneaks into an abandoned theater where a crazy marionette show is happening, and the puppetmaster "tells" these stories. I actually only started watching in the middle, so I only saw the last 4 shorts, but I'll give some quick thoughts anyway.

"Wet Dreams" is a surrealist and odd look at a husband and wife increasingly mistrustful of each other, due to the husband having nightmares about cheating and other bad things happening. It plays with the line between dreams and reality and combines a lot of familiar tropes of dream imagery and revenge and infidelity but it doesn't really jell into anything coherent. Tom Savini wasted in a cameo.

"The Accident" isn't really horror at all, but a meditation about a little girl who witnesses an accident that kills a deer and has to think about death and cruelty for the firs time. It's actually very well done and somber and kind of stirring, but feels way out of place from the others.

"Vision Stains" takes an interesting idea but wastes it with campy execution. An unnamed woman finds that she can relive the memories of a dying person by...I won't say what exactly, but those of you who treasure your eyeballs probably won't like it--in order to chronicle their life stories like a historian. Goes off in a strange and unearned direction at the end and just feels like they didn't know what to do with the premise. The eyeball effects are pretty good from what I saw though (not that I was able to watch most of them).

"Sweets" is the quirkiest and most surreal, and goriest one, about a couple who have a strange relationship with food and sweets, culminating in a very messy breakup. Tonally it's the most off-kilter and fun one, and the food-fetish scenes are pretty funny, but the climax tries a little too hard and kind of falls flat, and the final shot imitating another famous image is just lame.

Overall, just based on those 4, the film is tonally all over the place and most of them don't quite work, but there are some interesting ideas and scenes that make it sort of worth it. If it makes it to a streaming service I'd recommend a watch; otherwise, pass. 5/10
 
So now that we're done and everyone is just checking in with their finals, I wanted to say thanks to everyone who participated this year. There's definitely a lot of great recommendations in this thread that I'm looking forward to checking out for next year's marathon and some that look so good I'm probably not going to be able to wait that long.

One thing I'd like to do next year is come up with a way for everyone to enter their movies so at the end we can see how many we got though collectively. I tried keeping a running tally last year in a notepad file but it just became too difficult and time consuming to keep up with. Anyone have any suggestions?
 
My only entry to this thread is Jaume Balagueró's Sleep Tight (AKA Mientras duermes), which I just saw at the local Night Visions horror festival.

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Night Visions favourite Jaume Balagueró (The Nameless, Darkness, Fragile, [REC] 1&2) returns with this unsettling thriller about an apartment complex concierge (Luis Tosar) with nasty habits related to creative use of chloroform. A winner of six Gaudi Awards on its home turf, Sleep Tight is one of the most celebrated genre entries to come out of Spain over the past 12 months.

”Luis Tosar is electrifying as every tenant’s worst nightmare in this deeply unsettling, shrewdly measured slice of Hitchcock.”
- Shaun Munro / What Culture

The movie was delightfully disturbing, and pretty different from Balagueró's previous works. Although the theme of evil, or perhaps more precisely the absence of sympathy, was once again present. Balagueró has certainly become my current favorite genre director during the last years.
 
Session 9

My final movie of the month is this subdued horror film starring CSI Miami's David Caruso (and is where his 'fuck you' gif is taken from). Caruso is part of an asbestos removal team on a gig in an abandoned asylum. It wasn't great, but not too bad. Relatively low budget, so it visually it looked cheap, and the actors weren't too good. It builds a decent atmosphere, but never really goes anywhere besides the twist. Some of it was good, but overall a disappointment.


My final list. Aside from running a day over, this was good. Next year I'll need to spread them out more, since I had to jam them into long sessions too often to keep pace.

1 The Deaths of Ian Stone
2 Quarantine 2
3 Jeepers Creepers
4 Candyman
5 The Langoliers
6 The Fog
7 Friday the 13th part 2
8 Friday the 13th part 3
9 Friday the 13th part 4 the final chapter
10 Friday the 13th part 5
11 Friday the 13th part 6
12 Friday the 13th part 7
13 Friday the 13th part 8
14 Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday
15 Jason X
16 Freddy Vs Jason
17 Frankenstein
18 Bride of Frankenstein
19 Birdemic: Shock and Terror
20 Ils (Them)
21 Pulse
22 Don’t be Afraid of the Dark
23 Leviathan
24 The Omen
25 Prince of Darkness
26 Ju-On The Grudge 2
27 The Shrine
28 Playback
29 Audition
30 Exit Humanity
31 Session 9
 
Since I have to rely on what's available on Netflix Instant, Amazon Prime Instant, or YouTube, I've updated my prospective list a few times in the past month or two just to keep up with movies that get added to or fall from those services.
 
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Yeah, I'll have it up on the 15th guys, thanks for showing early interest :)

I didn't want to post it too early since Gaming OTs can only go up a week early and I couldn't find anything about when we can post Off-Topic OTs. I figure posting on the 15th is a happy medium. Hopefully it gives everyone enough time to prep their movies.

I started the graphics for the thread yesterday so everything is on track.

Does anyone have any rule changes they'd like to see? I think OT2 went pretty smoothly so I can't think of anything.
 
Heh, just the other day I almost started to watch a horror movie but then remembered I needed to stock pile that for October's marathon. I can't wait.
 
Ya, I'm really looking forward to this years 31 Days of Horror marathon too... I'm posting my previous two lists from 2011 & 2012 for easy reference when it's time to kick into the new thread:

2011:
#1 The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) - (Oct. 1)
#2 Tremors - (Oct. 1)
#3 Mimic - (Oct. 2)
#4 Demons (1985) - (Oct. 2)
#5 Bubbahotep - (Oct. 3)
#6 The Black Cat (1934) - (Oct. 3)
#7 The Screwfly Solution (Masters of Horror) - (Oct. 4)
#8 Shadow of the Vampire - (Oct. 4)
#9 The Washintonians - (Oct. 5)
#10 Kiss of the Vampire - (Oct. 5)
#11 The Frighteners - (Oct 5)
#12 Night of the Eagle (aka Burn, Witch, Burn) (1962) - (Oct. 6)
#13 White Zombie (1932) - (Oct. 6)
#14 King Kong (1933) - Oct. 6
#15 The Thing (1982) - Oct. 7
#16 Dracula's Daughter (1936) - Oct. 8
#17 I Married a Monster from Outer Space (1958) - Oct. 8
#18 Dead of Night (1945) - Oct. 9
#19 Not of this Earth (1957) - Oct. 9
#20 Mr. Vampire (1985) - Oct. 10
#21 Bucket of Blood (1959) - Oct. 11
#22 The Alligator People (1959) - Oct 12
#23 The Earth Dies Screaming (1964) - Oct. 13
#24 Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) - Oct. 14
#25 The Return of the Vampire (1944) - Oct. 15
#26 Young Frankenstein (1974) - Oct. 16
#27 The Thing (2011) - Oct. 16
#28 The Thing From Another World (1951) - Oct. 17
#29 Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
#30 Plague of the Zombies (1966) - Oct. 19
#31 Cat People (1942) - Oct. 20
#32 Nomads (1986) - Oct. 22
#33 Creature From The Black Lagoon (1954) - Oct. 22
#33 The Mummy (1999) - Oct. 25
#34 Island of Lost Souls (1933) - Oct. 25
#35 Trick'r Treat (2007) - Oct. 26
#36 The Evil of Frankenstein (1964) - Oct. 28
#37 Underworld (2003) - Oct. 28
#38 The Mummy (1932) - Oct. 29

2012:
  1. Nosferatu (1922) - Oct. 1
  2. The Wolfman (1941) - Oct. 2
  3. Sleepaway Camp (1983) - Oct. 3
  4. The Undying Monster (1942) - Oct. 4
  5. Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988) - Oct. 5
  6. Fiend Without a Face (1958) - Oct. 6
  7. The Reptile (1966) - Oct. 7
  8. Dark Night of the Scarecrow (1981) - Oct. 8
  9. The Raven (1963) - Oct. 9
  10. Fallen (1998) - Oct. 10
  11. The Frozen Ghost (1945) - Oct. 11
  12. Dracula Prince of Darkness (1965) - Oct. 12
  13. The Fog (1979) - Oct. 13
  14. The Hunger (1983) - Oct. 14
  15. Shaun of the Dead (2004) - Oct. 15
  16. The Exorcist (1973) - Oct. 16
  17. Count Yorga Vampire (1970) - Oct. 17
  18. The Old Dark House (1932) - Oct. 18
  19. The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) - Oct. 19
  20. Silent Hill (2006) - Oct. 20
  21. Frankenstein (1931) - Oct. 21
  22. Dracula (1931) - Oct. 21
  23. An American Werewolf in London (1981) - Oct. 23
  24. Quarantine (2008) - Oct. 24
  25. Altered (2006) - Oct. 25
  26. Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000) - Oct. 25
  27. Hotel Transylvania (2012) - Oct. 27
  28. Godzilla (1954) - Oct. 28
  29. Halloween (1978) - Oct. 29
  30. Monsters (2010) - Oct. 30
  31. Trick 'r Treat (2008) - Oct. 31
 
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Yeah, I'll have it up on the 15th guys, thanks for showing early interest :)

I didn't want to post it too early since Gaming OTs can only go up a week early and I couldn't find anything about when we can post Off-Topic OTs. I figure posting on the 15th is a happy medium. Hopefully it gives everyone enough time to prep their movies.

I started the graphics for the thread yesterday so everything is on track.

Does anyone have any rule changes they'd like to see? I think OT2 went pretty smoothly so I can't think of anything.
couldn't resist putting my own spin on this. i fucking love this thread, already been getting a list together.


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I didn't make it to 31 either year, but I got a good ways there. October is a rough month for work usually. Will definitely participate again this year.

Last year's list:

The Thing
Alien
The Faculty
Candyman
The Relic
Leviathan
Tremors 2
The Thing (original)
The Serpent and the Rainbow
Predator
Altered States
Trick'r Treat

Had a few more random ones on there but it looks like I didn't update my list.
 
This will be my first year doing this I will have to wing it going for all Netflix horror movies because I have seen a lot of movies and need some off the wall stuff.
 
I can't wait until this goes into full swing. I most likely won't be able to watch one every day, but I'll do as many as I can. I've actually already started. Got VHS 2 and Insidious crossed off the list.
 
Year 3 Yeah Bitches!
Im Still working on my list for this year

2012 list
1.Cut
2.The House Of The Devil
3.Zombie Aka Zombie Flesh Eaters
4.Dawn Of The Dead (78)
5.Hocus Pocus
6.City Of The Living Dead
7.Evil Dead
8.Evil Dead 2
9.Army Of Darkness
10.The Exorcist 3
11.Sleepaway Camp
12.The Exorcist
13.Halloween
14.Event Horizion
15.Switchblade Romance
16.The Beyond
17.Deep Red
18.Day Of The Dead
19.Candyman
20.Candyman 2 Farewell to the flesh
21.Inferno
22.Trick R Treat
23.Night Of The Demons (2009)
24.Attack The Block
25.Shaun Of The Dead
26.The Loved Ones
27.Scream 4
28. Suspiria
29.Tenebrae
30.Dead Set
31.Ghostwatch

2011
1.Hatchet
2.The House Of The Devil
3.Zombie Aka Zombie Flesh Eaters
4.Dawn Of The Dead (78)
5.New York Ripper
6.Zombi 4
7.Evil Dead
8.Evil Dead 2
9.New Nightmare
10.Phantasm
11.Jacobs Ladder
12.The Exorcist
13.Halloween
14.Event Horizon
15.Switchblade Romance
16.The Beyond
17.Deep Red
18.Day Of The Dead
19.Candyman
20.Trick R Treat
21.Inferno
22.I Spit On Your Grave (remake)
23.Night Of The Demons (2009)
24.Attack The Block
25.Shaun Of The Dead
26.The Loved Ones
27.Scream 4
28. Suspiria
29.Creepers Aka Phenonema
30.Dead Set watched
31.Ghostwatch
 
Im ready for number 3, the difference this year round is that I moved house and my gf hates Horror films with a passion.. and we share the PC/TV so watching is quite limited with me...

I will watch as many as I can though, definetely got some horrors that I want to watch this time round!
 
I'm curious to see how they handle the opening scene with the cutting in-and-out editing of the soundtrack. You really can't fuck around with the timing at all.
 
I'm not even crazy about Suspiria, but holy shit would I love to see it with live Goblin music.
Hell, I'd even settle for just seeing it in a theater with a good sound system instead of my dinky TV speakers.

Save posting your lists for the new thread on Sunday guys or we won't have anything to talk about until Oct :)

I think I'm finally happy with the new thread's logo. Just gotta review the text and then I think it's ready to go.
 
Oh man i bottomed out at about 12-15 movies last year
And just did my own 31 days of horror in general mixed in too ie played horror games like resi 6 and watched tv show such as dead set. Because i didn't feel like i had enough time


Let's see if i attempt to beat 15 movies this year, will start on a list soon.
Some of you guys are hardcore fair play.
 
I never finished 31 days but damned if I don't like participating. You guys are my horror film buds. My wife hates horror and it's my favorite genre. So I'm glad I have people to "watch" with.
 
I have a confession...

I bailed about halfway last year with no notice T__T

Basically a mixture of shit coming up, me wanting to finish RE6, and just being a bit burnt out on watching horror flicks.
I won't lie though, a part of me has deliberately avoided watching horror films all year in anticipation of this again <3

...Oh and another fun fact, I always recommend/describe this whole jaunt to friends and coworkers and how I look forward to doing it again every year :)
 
Alright, since everyone is already talking about the marathon and since it's Friday the 13th(!) I'll put the thread up early. Look for it this afternoon!
 
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