[2025]
The time has come again, my Hooptobugs! We are all emerging from our A/C caves and stepping out into the crisp and crunchy wonderland that is FALL! Fall is the best version of Wisconsin, horror is the best version of movies, and Hooptober is the best version of a scavenger hunt.

Not only is this my favorite Hooptober list yet, but I can also humbly say that I’m my favorite version yet, too. Hooptober has now morphed into this unexpected yearly check-in for me, and I love the part of this process where I can look back at past lists, past films, and past reviews and remember the person I was when I wrote them. Each Hooptober list feels fun, worthy, and special in its own way, just like every new version of ourselves is fun, worthy, and special.
It’s like “Damn, who made this vibey playlist??” (When you know damn well it’s YOUR playlist.)

Fall is the best reminder that sometimes we have to let certain parts of our lives die. Those past versions of Becky are gone, and we’re better for it. We don’t carry their corpses around, trying to bring life back into them. We love them and we let them go. Just as watching films always reminds me of how many I’ve yet to see, releasing old versions of myself reminds me of how much life I still have yet to experience. The cycles of death and rebirth will continue on and instead of getting tossed around by the cycle, we can accept each season and ride it like a wave instead. It’s all magic.

Not Becky making a scary movie list dramatic and nostalgic again! Classic!

Everything is so important and so unimportant at the same time! So let’s all just keep being weird and dramatic!!

HAPPY HOOPING!!!
👻

There must be at least 31 horror films, my list will include the extra credit films as well.

All are First Watches again this year except the Wizard of Oz (1939) curveball!

6 countries (other than Italy🇮🇹 or US🇺🇸)
The Phantom Carriage (1921) - Sweden 🇸🇪
The Black Pit of Dr. M (1959) - Mexico 🇲🇽
Pin (1988) - Canada🇨🇦
Viy (1967) - Russia/USSR🇷🇺
German Chainsaw Massacre (1990) - Germany🇩🇪
The Vanishing (1988) - Netherlands🇳🇱

9 decades
The Man Who Laughs (1928)
White Zombie (1932)
Cat People (1942)
Night of the Hunter (1955)
Burn Witch Burn/Night of the Eagle (1962)
Eyeball (1975)
Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)
Def by Temptation (1990)
Jeepers Creepers (2001)

5 Zombie Films
Re-Animator (1985)
City of the Living Dead (1980)
Cemetery Man (1994)
The Beyond (1981)
White Zombie (1932)

3 cult or conspiracy horror films
HIM (2025)
The Devil Rides Out (1968)
They Live (1988)

1 film from a Black director with a Black lead
Def by Temptation (1990)

1 film from a Mexican or Central American director
The Black Pit of Dr. M (1959)

1 Canadian film
Pin (1988)

1 Russian or former Russian state film
Viy (1967)

The most popular film from the 1940s that you haven't seen and can access
Cat People (1942)

2 Post-apocalyptic horror films
The Last Winter (2006)
Day of the Dead (1985)

1 Film with dreams or a dream as part of the plot
Manhattan Baby (1982)

1 The animals are pissed at us film
Slugs (1988)
Phase IV (1974)

1 Silent film
The Phantom Carriage (1921)

4 based on Novels
Night of the Hunter (1955)
From Beyond (1986)
Coraline (2009)
The Vanishing (1988)

Any film from THIS list that you haven't seen.
Dawn of the Dead (1978) - cuz I'm a suck up to @Cinemonster 🫡

1 Ernesto Gastaldi written film
The Case of the Bloody Iris (1972)

1 film from 1932
White Zombie (1932)

Straight up - WIZARD of OZ ('39)

And 1 Tobe Hooper Film (There must ALWAYS be a Hooper film)
The Funhouse (1981)

***FOR THOSE THAT LIKE TO DO EXTRA WORK:
Burn Witch Burn (1962)
German Chainsaw Massacre (1990)
Trick or Treat (1986)

Viewing and reviewing will begin on Sept 15th!

Woo! 💀💀💀💀

________________________________________
My previous lists:
Hooptober 9 🎃 (My First Hooptober!🥲)
Hooptober X 🎃
Hooptober 11 🎃

Original list/criteria from Cinemonster:
The Twelfth of Hooptober: Diary of a Madman