Once more, we return.
Weather ain't the way it was before. There's no spring or fall at all anymore. It's either blazing hot, or freezing cold. It's therefore on us to keep the autumn winds blowing and keep the air thick with ghostly portent and haunted tidings. Another year, another Hooptober, another fall calendar filled to bursting with horror in all stripes.
This was a fun list to make -- more so than last year's! (I enjoyed the Phantasm series, but not having to do a full franchise run this year made the list a bit more varied and exciting, so glad to see that rule retired.) I managed to double the required number of countries (12 different countries are…
Once more, we return.
Weather ain't the way it was before. There's no spring or fall at all anymore. It's either blazing hot, or freezing cold. It's therefore on us to keep the autumn winds blowing and keep the air thick with ghostly portent and haunted tidings. Another year, another Hooptober, another fall calendar filled to bursting with horror in all stripes.
This was a fun list to make -- more so than last year's! (I enjoyed the Phantasm series, but not having to do a full franchise run this year made the list a bit more varied and exciting, so glad to see that rule retired.) I managed to double the required number of countries (12 different countries are represented here!), and selected a range of films spanning nearly a full 100 years (97; from 1926 to 2023)! Some embarrassing blind spots being filled in here, along with some deeper cuts I've been excited to get to (as well as a silent Japanese horror film that I watched about 10 minutes of at the National Film Archive of Japan back in June and was super into).
If you're new here, there's a rundown of the challenge down below, along with notes for each film outlining which rules it is satisfying. The whole ordeal is organized by Cinemonster, and the official list serves as a sort of community hub for everything; you can find it over here on Cinemonster's account. Join me, friends, and let's bring back the fall.
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The Challenge:
* Make a list of 31 horror films that fulfill all of the below rules.
* The goal is to watch one film a day every day in October, but because life is what it is, film viewing will take place from September 15th through October 31st. Two weeks of grace!
* Every film must be reviewed.
* Films can fulfill multiple rules.
* Films must be tagged with the "horror" genre on Letterboxd (this is my personal imposition, it's not part of Cinemonster's official rulings, so use at your own discretion).
* Try to include as many first watches as you can! Sometimes the rules make it impossible to go for all first watches, and that's okay. But do what you can to expand those horizons!
The Rules:
6 Countries (not counting the US or Italy)
9 Decades
5 Zombie Films
3 Cult or Conspiracy Films
1 Film with a Black Lead by a Black Director
1 Film by a Mexican or Central American Director
1 Canadian Film
1 Film from a Former Soviet State
The Most Popular Film of the 1940s that You Haven't Seen
2 Post-Apocalyptic Horror Films
1 Film Involving Dreams
1 Angry Animals Film
1 Silent Film
4 Films Based on Novels
1 Film from the Cinemonster List
1 Film Written by Ernesto Gastaldi
1 Film from 1932
The Wizard of Oz ('39)
And, as always: 1 Tobe Hooper Film
