As I write this, it's almost September, so it's almost time for the next Hooptober, which was just announced today. Cinemonster's lists have been really fun in previous years — I did it last year and the previous year did my own variant of it, as I was just starting out on LB and foolishly wanted to do my own thing.  

I already have movie tickets to see things in mid/late September I want to include in my list, so I’m tempted to start soon. But I'm gonna try to resist and start on the 15th this time, as it seems like the list might be pushing me into watching a number of things I normally wouldn't choose to watch. Which is the point of these things! (For me, at least).

I know a lot of people make up their entire lists ahead of time, but I decide on the fly and log them as I go. For me, the fun is in figuring out what I want to watch in the moment. My tastes change over even just a few weeks.

Cinemonster's list of categories is replicated below, and I'll update what I am watching in this list description as I go along (putting a √ down when I've completed a category) --

QUICK EASY RULES:

There must be 31 films: Current count is 31!
√ 6 countries: UK (The Mummy; Corpse Bride, co-production); US (X; Pearl; Near Dark; Truth or Dare?: A Critical Madness; Coraline; It; The Legend of Boggy Creek; Barbarian; Corpse Bride; The Birds II: Land's End, co-production; It Chapter Two; The Innkeepers; The Mummy; The Bride of Frankenstein; The Fly; Mimic; House of Wax; Jennifer's Body; The Texas Chain Saw Massacre; Silent Madness; Psycho; Pennywise; Dawn of the Dead; The Love Witch; The Phantom of the Opera); Italy (Planet of the Vampires, co-production; Black Sunday); Spain (Planet of the Vampires, co-production; The Last Circus); Austria (The Hands of Orlac); Brazil (Good Manners)
√ 8 decades: 1950s (The Mummy; House of Wax); 2020s (X; Pearl; Barbarian; Pennywise); 1980s (Near Dark; Truth or Dare?: A Critical Madness; The Fly; Silent Madness); 2000s (Coraline; Corpse Bride; Jennifer's Body); 2010s (It; It Chapter Two; The Innkeepers; Good Manners; The Last Circus; The Love Witch); 1970s (The Legend of Boggy Creek; The Texas Chain Saw Massacre; Dawn of the Dead); 1930s (The Mummy; The Bride of Frankenstein); 1960s (Planet of the Vampires; Psycho; Black Sunday); 1990s (Mimic; The Birds II: Land's End); 1920s (The Hands of Orlac; The Phantom of the Opera)
√ 2 insect centered films: The Fly; Mimic; maybe Coraline (do ghostly arachnids count?)
√ 1 horror film set in space or the future (relative to when it was released): Planet of the Vampires
√ 2 animated films: Coraline; Corpse Bride
√ 1 bloodthirsty old person/people film: X; one scene in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre; (plus maybe Barbarian depending on your definitions of bloodthirsty and old?)
√ 2 1970s regional US films (Thanks Sean Young): The Legend of Boggy Creek; The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (plus Truth or Dare?: A Critical Madness is also on the list, but it's 1980s)
√ The worst horror sequel from the 1990s that you haven't seen and can access. (I realize that this will take a little work): The Birds II: Land's End
√ 1 German Silent: The Hands of Orlac (yes, it's an Austrian production and not made in Germany, so I'm interpreting this challenge as watching a German language film — one that also stars a German-British actor and directed by a German director, so there, it's German enough)
√ 5 Films from David Cronenberg, Ti West, Bill Rebane, Charles B. Pierce, William Grefe and/or Joy N. Houck Jr.: X; Pearl; The Legend of Boggy Creek; The Innkeepers; The Fly
√ 2 Christopher Lee films: The Mummy; Corpse Bride
√ 1 film with a musician or band in it (A real life musician or band): X (Kid Cudi); Plus: The Fly, as Jeff Goldblum spends as much of his time as a musician as he does an actor these days; also extra bonuses are The Hands of Orlac is literally about a pianist, Jennifer's Body centrally features a bad indie band, and The Phantom of the Opera is about an opera, duh.
√ 1 Stephen King adaptation that is not the first go around: It; It Chapter Two
√ 1 Lon Chaney film: The Phantom of the Opera

√ And 1 Tobe Hooper Film (There must ALWAYS be a Hooper film): The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

√ ***FOR THOSE THAT LIKE TO DO EXTRA WORK: WATCH The Last Circus and Silent Madness. Like last year, there is a third film: Pennywise: The Story of It: Silent Madness; The Last Circus; Pennywise

...

This is gonna be hard for me. This year, the list seems to skew toward schlock more than I like (I'm more of a pre-1970s horror/Gothic horror fan). I have, in the past, peppered in some Halloween-ish kids' movies into my list, as well as explored things I care more about than others do. I went on Christopher Lee binges in previous years, for instance, and now I've gotta find a couple more movies he was in that I haven't yet seen!

So, instead of only trying to complete Cinemonster's list, I will do what I did last year and pack in some incentives to keep me going. I won't complete this challenge if I'm stuck watching horror that I find corny or dull, so I need additional categories to keep me going.

Last year, I created five new categories just for myself (which is what I did for the whole list in 2020; I guess I can't resist making this thing my own). This year I have seven additional categories for myself — so far! — which are categories of things I actually want to see mixed with a few others to keep me on task (seeing X number of movies I haven't seen before, plus watching a bunch with my wife). Here's the current list, and who knows, maybe it'll expand to 7 or 8 categories as I go along and invent new ones based on what I've been watching:

√ 20 movies I haven't seen before: The Mummy; X; Pearl; Near Dark; Truth or Dare?: A Critical Madness; Coraline; It; The Legend of Boggy Creek; Barbarian; Corpse Bride; It Chapter Two; The Innkeepers; The Fly; Mimic; The Hands of Orlac; House of Wax; Jennifer's Body; The Birds II: Land's End; The Texas Chain Saw Massacre; Silent Madness; Good Manners; The Last Circus; Pennywise; The Love Witch
√ 3 films directed or co-directed by women: Near Dark; Jennifer's Body; Good Manners; The Love Witch
√ 8 films that feature a prominent character's reanimated corpse: The Mummy; Corpse Bride; The Mummy; The Bride of Frankenstein; Planet of the Vampires; The Hands of Orlac (sort of; doesn't really count as just hands and not really ghostly); Jennifer's Body (this is unclear but I don't think the movie makes much sense if she isn't actually a reanimated corpse); Dawn of the Dead; Black Sunday — Note: Bumped this up from 3 to 5 and then to 8 when I realized how many reanimated corpses there are in the movies I like to watch
√ 3 movies seen in 3D (theatrically or at home): Coraline; House of Wax; Dawn of the Dead (new 3D conversion)
√ 10 movies I manage to convince my wife, who doesn't like horror, to watch with me: Near Dark; It; It Chapter Two; The Fly; Planet of the Vampires; House of Wax; Jennifer's Body; The Birds II: Land's End; Good Manners; Psycho; Pennywise; The Love Witch; Black Sunday— bumped this from 5 to 8 to 10 as she's watching a lot more than we expected with me this year
√ 10 movies I see in a movie theater: X; Pearl; Coraline; Barbarian; The Mummy; The Bride of Frankenstein; House of Wax; Psycho; Dawn of the Dead; The Phantom of the Opera
√ 1 Black Sunday — There always has to be a Black Sunday: Black Sunday

This list will evolve. I've already edited it like 5 times in the past day or so, and likely will continue to. These 6 — ahem, now 7 — categories are just a starting point, and I might find other categories evolving from what I watch (and yes, another did). The numbers might change too. Last year, I think I started off with the goal of seeing 5 vampire movies, but as I kept going, I found myself watching over 10 and changed the category to reflect that. (And also, yes, I apparently really want to see a lot of reanimated corpse movies this year...)

.........

What will I watch? Again, I'm going to use the list to record what I actually watch and won't pre-fill it with a list. My tastes change as Hooptober goes on, but I have some ideas that I'll jot down now...

As Cinemonster encourages us to, I always double/triple/quadruple/quintuple-dip categories whenever I can. So, I'm planning to watch The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and that'd count for a country and decade (America, 1970s), but it's also on the regional horror list, it's a Tobe Hooper movie (duh), and it's... a movie I've never seen (I know, I know, but this is finally the year). This film contributes to five categories across Cinemonster's list and my additional categories.

Atop The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, as of August 27th, I have about 10-15 movies in mind I know I want to try to get to this year. A bunch are double-dippers and some are just movies I've wanted to watch for a while:

• It and maybe It, Chapter Two — I've never seen any adaptations of It and before the King remake category was announced, this was already on my list. Since the Pennywise documentary is also on Cinemonster's extra credit list, I think I might start by watching the original miniseries before Hooptober officially begins...

• The Legend of Boggy Creek — Not a movie I want to see, and everyone I know who has seen it says it sucks, but it contributes to a few categories this year, so I'll take my medicine...

• Fright Night — I've never seen this movie, a friend participates in the commentary track for it, so I pre-ordered the new steelbook and will finally see it...

• Daughters of Darkness — I don't think this fulfills any categories other "I want to see this finally!" and it's a Belgian production that helps me cross a country off that I otherwise wouldn't be watching a horror movie from...

• The Fly — combined Cronenberg and insect category help, thank you very much — I might just do that and the original film to knock out the insect category entirely...

• Glorious — I don't have much interest in watching anything made in the 2020s, but this looks fun and I've enjoyed listening to Rebekah McKendry on the Colors of the Dark podcast (plus, helps fulfill my women directors category)...

• Dead of Night — the classic 1945 British anthology film, which has sat on my shelf for two years and I need to finally see it...

• The Unknown — What has been described as the weirdest, most depraved Tod Browning/Lon Chaney collaboration also has, surprisingly, Joan Crawford in it?! And our University has this as part of its streaming archive? Of course...

• A bunch of family-friendly and kid-friendly and neighborhood-friendly choices — we will be screening some movies outside in the backyard (my "cinema120" tag) this September/October for our neighbors and friends to enjoy with us, which will probably skew much tamer than most people record for this thing. Movies like The Lost Boys and Young Frankenstein have been requested, and we might do some classic Universal movies with the kids/neighbors. Or, hey, maybe something like The Watcher in the Woods or When Good Ghouls Go Bad, even?

And there are even more which I haven't seen that I want to squeeze in which I haven't seen yet, ranging from Ghost of the Hunchback to Nadja to The Frighteners to Near Dark to Happy Death Day to House of the Devil to REC to Truth or Dare? A Critical Madness. Plus, I know I'll be seeing Psycho again on the big screen in October at the local Alamo, plus they are screening the 3D Coraline as well as the 3D Creature From the Black Lagoon in late September. Atop that, the local Regal is showing the Romero Dawn of the Dead rerelease in 3D as well. Lots on my private watchlist to try to catch up on and I haven't even thought about what movies I want to watch which star my favorite horror actor, Christopher Lee!

So, if it isn't clear, I can't really make decisions ahead of time. I seem barely capable of making any decisions right now, but that's the fun of this for me at this stage. There are too many good options, too much I want to see. After all, while I love horror, I don't consider myself primarily a horror fan, just someone who is eager to learn. I use Hooptober every year to indulge in a little comfort watching of favorites (Black Sunday each and every year), but mainly to push myself to finally watch more genre films that I have ignored for too long.

Follow this list if you'd like! I wonder how many of the above movies are ones I'll actually watch. I'm not sure how similar or different this is to others' lists, but I'm excited to get started.