10 years deep into Cinemonster's evil creation, the Hooptober Challenge, I'm finally willing to see if I have the intestinal fortitude to wade my way through a series of horrors, unexplained phenomenon, and buckets of blood. Big ups to Adam Baldwin for finally getting me to take the plunge.

The challenge is to watch 31 horror movies which fulfill the listed criteria before the clock strikes midnight on Halloween.

These will all be new watches, with all coming out of my rather significant "to watch" pile, except one. Two birds, one stone. I'll review as many as I can -- assuming I have something to say, of course.

The criteria for this year's challenge and my selections that fulfill them are as follows:

6 Countries:
There are 12 countries represented in my picks, doubling up the required 6. Included this year are Australia, Canada, France, Italy, Mexico, The Netherlands, Serbia, Spain, South Korea, Taiwan, UK, and USA. So there's some solid representation here.

8 Decades: 9 decades are covered with films from the 1930s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, and the 2020s represented.

2 Post-Apocalyptic or Natural Disaster Related Films
Cyclone (1978) is up for the natural disaster requirement...my first Rene Cardona Jr. flick. For post-apocalyptic, I'm going with Peninsula (2020).

1 Film with Robert Englund
This is the perfect time to finally watch The Wishmaster (1997).

1 "Something is Underground" Film
I'm going to go with The Hole (2001) here. It was that or Tremors: A Cold Day in Hell. Basically a coin flip. Wish me luck.

3 Satan/Devil-Centered Films
I'm finally going to watch the 4K of Day of the Beast (1995), wade into controversial territory with Mexico's Infernal Rapist (1988), then step back into classic film with Night of the Demon (1957).

1 Amicus Film
I always want at least one horror anthology on my list, so Asylum (1972) fits nicely here.

Worst Unseen Dracula Film (by Letterboxd rating)
My self imposed caveat of choosing movies out of my collection saved my ass here as there's some real shit fests on his list. I'm going with Love at First Bite (1979)...maybe this one has a shot at being tolerable?

1 LGBTQ+ Connected Film
I've been meaning to catch up with Raw (2016) since its release. Who doesn't like their LGBTQ+ films with a side of cannibalism?

5 Films from De Palma, Wes Craven, Ken Russell, Hitchcock and/or Moorhead & Benson
So DePalma is off the table for me -- nothing left in his filmography that comes close to the spirit of this list. Luckily, Hitch made a ton of movies over a LONG stretch of time, so I'm going with Murder! (1930) and The Trouble With Harry (1955) from the master of suspense. Rounding out the 5 are Deadly Blessing (1981) from Craven, Gothic (1986) from Russell, and Syncronic (2019) from Moorhead & Benson.

2 Peter Cushing Films
Most of the Peter Cushing films in my library have already been watched, so I'm going to go with one of his less than reputable efforts, Scream and Scream Again (1970) and Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972), where he simply plays a character named "Ship's Captain."

1 Film Based on a Work of or Invoking the Name Bram Stoker
Let's get dirty here -- I'm going with Dracula Sucks (1978), a X rated horror effort.

1 Film Based on a Clive Barker Story
I'm going with Hellraiser (2022) since I don't have any new to me Clive in the collection.

1 Film That Was Released the Year That You Turned 10
Time for some fucking shark action...Deep Blood (1990) from Joe D'mato.

1 Mario Bava Film.
Shock (1977) has been hanging out on the shelf, seems like the perfect time, no?

1 Film with an 'X' in the Title
In Climax (2018), Sofia Boutella takes LSD and goes on a hallucinatory nightmare guided by cinematic madman, Gasper Noe. Yep, this will work nicely.

1 Tobe Hooper Film:
Running low on possibilities here...going to go with Mortuary (2005) despite its reputation.

Big thanks to Cinemonster for continuing the tradition and putting some great criteria out there!

Started: 9/1/2023
Ended: 10/27/2023