After much deliberation, second-guessing and more than a little trepidation, I believe that I’ve finally selected this year’s October viewing. Since the order will depend, on some extent, to things that are rather out of my control (my experiences with our illustrious postal service are, shall we say, less than satisfactory), there will be a certain element of spontaneity to some of these choices. That being said, I can still pinpoint the very first and very last screenings: in order to shake things up, this Halloween-season will begin with a screening of Carpenter’s seasonal classic and end with a Halloween-night viewing of the neo-classic Trick r Treat. In no particular order, then, I present to you the 65 films that I plan to screen next month:
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) / The Texas Chain Saw Massacre 2 (1986) — TCM franchise
Blood Glacier (2014) / The Thing (1982) — frozen terror
Land of the Dead (2005) / Diary of the Dead (2008) — George Romero
The Descent (2005) / Dog Soldiers (2002) — Neil Marshall
Dead Alive (1992) / Undead (2003) — the laughing undead
House of 1000 Corpses (2003) / The Devil’s Rejects (2005) — Rob Zombie
The World’s End (2013) / Alien (1979) — aliens
Halloween (1978) / Halloween II (1981) — Halloween franchise
The Last Winter (2006) / The Burrowers (2008) — indie horror
Trick r Treat (2008) / All Hallows Eve (2013) — the reason for the season
Only Lovers Left Alive (2013) / Kiss of the Damned (2012) — vampire lovers
Invaders From Mars (1986) / Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) — alien invasions
Thale (2012) / I’m Not Scared (2003) — foreign horror
Splice (2009) / Cube (1997) / Haunter (2013) — Vincenzo Natali
Doc of the Dead (2014) / World War Z (2013) — zombie films
Alien Abduction (2014) / Unidentified (2013) — indie aliens
Mr. Jones (2013) / Static (2012) — couples in crisis
Torment (2013) / The Snowtown Murders (2011) / Simon Killer (2012) — serial killers
Poultrygeist (2006) / Tromeo & Juliet (1995) / The Toxic Avenger IV (2002) — Troma films
Visitors (2003) / Dead Birds (2005)
The Vampire Lovers (1970) / Argento’s Dracula (2012) — Euro vampires
The Happy House (2013) / Dead Silence (2007) — haunted houses
Inbred (2012) / Botched (2007) — bloody hilarious
Kill Zombie! (2011) / The Returned (2013) — foreign zombies
Stage Fright (2014) / Chillerama (2011) — horror-comedies
Some Guy Who Kills People (2011) / Hellbenders (2012) — gallows humor
Omnivores (2013) / Ravenous (1999) — cannibals
Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975) / Dark Space (2013) — sci-fi horror
Stoker (2013) / Under the Skin (2014) — arthouse horror
The Den (2013) / Antisocial (2013) — low-budget
House of Whipcord (1972) / Ichi the Killer (2011) — the pleasure and the pain
As you can see, I’m planning at least a double-feature for every day, although I’ll try to cram in a few extras on the weekends (one of the greatest unmitigated joys in this world is rising early on a Saturday morning and watching one film after the other until the sun goes down). I’m pretty sure that some old favorites like Night of the Living Dead and Nightmare on Elm Street 3 will sneak into the list, as well, but we’ll have to cross that bridge when we come to it. As always, there’s every likelihood that the list will change a bit, as new films become available, but this should be pretty solid.
And there we have it, folks: 65 films, 37 of which will be brand new to my jaded little eyes. I present to you the upcoming 31 Days of Halloween. Get ready: the evil approaches.
