Yee! This is my first Hooptober, being new to Letterboxd this year, and I'm excited to jump in! I've also never seen a Tobe Hooper film and figured: what better way to jump into Hooptober than with the big daddy, Texas Chain Saw Massacre. I've actually been saving it just for this challenge.
As for the rest: well I'll probably be watching a lot of horror in October anyway, I'm disabled and out of work due to it so I have a lot of time and I've been spending a lot of my cross stitching time this year catching up on the horror genre in film, as I haven't been a huge movie watcher in the past. So may as…
Yee! This is my first Hooptober, being new to Letterboxd this year, and I'm excited to jump in! I've also never seen a Tobe Hooper film and figured: what better way to jump into Hooptober than with the big daddy, Texas Chain Saw Massacre. I've actually been saving it just for this challenge.
As for the rest: well I'll probably be watching a lot of horror in October anyway, I'm disabled and out of work due to it so I have a lot of time and I've been spending a lot of my cross stitching time this year catching up on the horror genre in film, as I haven't been a huge movie watcher in the past. So may as well combine it!
I'll probably start this on 15th September as well, just because I'm an eager beaver, but there will be plenty of horror throughout October regardless. I just love these challenges because they force me to pick movies depending on a criteria and prioritise films I may otherwise not have. And sometimes I find new favourites.
I've also got the September Scavenger Hunt listed up and I may participate in the Season challenge, too. We'll see, if it's a lot I will drop stuff and go by mood, but Hooptober is the big one I wanted to do this season!
Oh and I have a little story for the Peter Cushing prompt! My mum had a blue teddy bear when she was a little girl that she passed down to me (I'm not sure where it is now but that's not the point) she called 'Peter Cushion'. She told me that she would watch the Hammer Horror films with Peter Cushing and hide behind the cushion with her bear Peter, and realised: Peter - Cushion. That story always stuck in my head even though I had no connection to the actor or Hammer horror until a lot more recently.
Progress: 31/31 ✅
And thus completes my first Hooptober! That was a lot of fun but despite watching a lot of movies anyway, still very tough. A lot of the criteria forced me to go out of my comfort zones, which was great to get me watching classics I've been meaning to watch but endlessly putting off, finding some new favourites in areas I may not have looked at, and explore a few things I've been missing. However, it also forced me to watch 2 films I hated, and a few that were an absolute slog, and it became really tough getting through some things.
Halfway through the month I got so burned out on horror I had to pause for a few days but slowly came back to things and got it done. But I am happy to be able to relax back into watching whatever I want for a while now. I may finish up some annual challenges, or I might just do whatever for a bit. But I'm definitely pausing the monthly challenges!
I most loved the community surrounding the event (and I wish there were a Discord server, that would be lovely) and meeting some new folks on here!
Favourites:
1. The Wailing
2. Terrified
3. Rosemary's Baby
4. Carrie
5. Ghostwatch
Least Enjoyed:
1. John Carpenter's Vampires
2. Dracula 3000
3. Devil
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QUICK EASY RULES:
There must be 31 films
10/6 countries: Argentina (Terrified), Canada (Anything for Jackson), Mexico (Cronos), USA (Master/The Uninvited/Dawn of the Dead/People Under the Stairs), Iceland (Lamb), Japan (Jigoku), Korea (The Wailing), Germany (Dracula 3000), Italy (Black Sunday), UK (Dracula/Final Prayer)
9/8 decades: 1940s (The Uninvited), 1950s (Dracula), 1960s (Rosemary's Baby/Jigoku/Black Sunday), 1970s (Dawn of the Dead/Carrie), 1980s (Nightmare on Elm Street/Serpent and the Rainbow), 1990s (Cronos/People Under the Stairs), 2000s (Dracula 3000), 2010s (Terrified/The Wailing/Devil/Final Prayer), 2020s (Anything for Jackson/Lamb/Master)
2/2 post apocalyptic or natural disaster related films (Dawn of the Dead, Night of the Comet)
1/1 film with Robert Englund (Nightmare on Elm Street)
2/1 something is underground film (The Borderlands/Tales from the Crypt)
4/3 Satan/Devil centered films (Jigoku, The Wailing, Devil, Rosemary's Baby)
1/1 Amicus film (Tales From the Crypt)
1/1 The worst Dracula film (by Letterboxd rating) that you haven't seen and can access (Dracula 3000)
1/1 LGBTQ+ connected film (Nightmare on Elm Street 2)
5/5 Films from De Palma, Wes Craven, Ken Russell, Hitchcock and/or Morehead & Benson (Carrie, Serpent and the Rainbow, People Under the Stairs, Deadly Friend, Lair of the White Worm)
2/2 Peter Cushing films (Dracula, Tales From the Crypt)
2/1 film based on a work of or invoking the name Bram Stoker (Dracula, Dracula 3000)
1/1 film based on a Clive Barker story (Nightbreed)
1/1 film that was released the year that you turned 10 (John Carpenter's Vampires)
1/1 Mario Bava film (Black Sunday)
1/1 film with an 'x' in the title (The Exorcism of Emily Rose)
1/1 Tobe Hooper Film (There must ALWAYS be a Hooper film) (Texas Chainsaw Massacre)
***FOR THOSE THAT LIKE TO DO EXTRA WORK: WATCH The Zodiac Killer and 10 Rillington Place. Like last year, there is a third film: Shaky Shivers.
