61 Nights of Halloween, 2023 Edition

[Snow Queen]

Another week, some more favourites:

Spoiler

The Addams Family (1991) dir. Barry Sonnenfeld

One of my favourite watches every year, never fails to make me laugh.


Addams Family Values (1993) dir. Barry Sonnenfeld

A little looser than the first one, but the humour is still... to die for.

Chopping Mall (1986) dir. Jim Wynorski

Classic cinema that makes you contemplate the nature of our existence, the frailty of our lives, and watch killer robots ride the elevator in pursuit of their prey.

Coraline (2009) dir. Henry Selick

The animation never fails to blow me away.


Hereditary (2018) dir. Ari Aster

One of the most unsettling movies of recent years, Hereditary pulls me in and doesn't let go.


Hush (2016) dir. Mike Flanagan

Flanagan has snuck his way into being a creator I look forward to every project from. This might not be one of his most ambitious, but it's a wonderfully effective, unique spin on a classic setup.


Orphan: First Kill (2022) dir. William Brent Bell

They have her moving around on her knees to pretend she's a child. A+

Ready or Not (2019) dir. Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett

This movie knows how to have fun. As someone who's a big fan of this and the Final Destination movies, really excited by the fact the new one and this will have a writer in common.


Scare Me (2020) dir. Josh Ruben

Aya Cash is always great.

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019) dir. André Øvredal

When I was younger, I was a big Goosebumps kid. This movie always makes me feel nostalgic about it.


Slumber Party Massacre II (1987) dir. Deborah Brock

The gif speaks for itself.


Slumber Party Massacre III (1990) dir. Sally Mattison

There is an extended section of this film during which the killer is blinded and the victims are trapped in the house by their inability to open a sliding door. Cinema, baby!


The Stylist (2020) dir. Jill Gevargizian

One of my favourite lead performances in a horror movie, anchoring a compelling film in something identifiable.

Villains (2019) dir. Robert Olsen and Dan Berk

Maika Monroe and Bill Skarsgård are the comedic duo I didn't know I needed.

Werewolves Within (2021) dir. Josh Ruben

Unrivaled best video game movie.

 

[Ninjablade]

30. Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988) dir. Dwight H. Little

Quote of the film: "Jesus ain't got nothin' to do with this place."

I like this one a lot. It's stupid as all hell, but it exudes a weird aura that I just have fun with.

 

[Luigi]

1. Creepshow
2. Night of the Creeps
3. Saw X (New)
4. The Descent
5. Chopping Mall (New)
6. Resident Evil: Death Island (New)
7. The Pope's Exorcist (New)
8. V/H/S/85 (New)
9. Venus (New)
10. Raw
11. Titane
12. Alien
13. Jason X
14. Ghostwatch (New)
15. Cure (New)
16. Dead Alive
17. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
18. Ginger Snaps
19. The Thing
20. Prince of Darkness
21. In the Mouth of Madness

The Thing

To be fair to the Norwegian guy, I would've also done a terrible job of throwing that grenade.

Prince of Darkness

Started the Apocalypse trilogy, so might as well keep it going.

Dream sequences never do anything for me, but the ones in this film genuinely creep me out.

In the Mouth of Madness

Dare I say, Carpenter's best ending?

 

[Kane52630]

Lake Mungo

A deeply haunting horror film that will appeal to documentary obsessives. While it can get a bit stale at times in the first half, I thought they did a great job committing to the documentary format and keeping it pretty authentic while adding some found footage horror flourishes. It's definitely not a movie for those who find the Ken Burns Zoom effect on a creepy/blurred image not scary enough. It's simply an effective horror mockumentary that takes a look inside grief and loss and turns it into something more haunting. You can see why someone like Mike Flanagan thought this was a masterpiece. Overall, I really dug it, it's one that really stays with you when you get to the end of this.
4/5

31 Days of Horror Marathon
Day 1: Saw X (3.5/5)
Day 2: No One Will Save You (4/5)
Day 3: Cobweb (3.5/5)
Day 4: The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster (4/5)
Day 5: The Exorcist: Believer (2.5/5)
Day 6: V/H/S/85 (4/5)
Day 7: Totally Killer (3/5)
Day 8: Beaten to Death (3/5)
Day 9: The Wolf Man (4/5)
Day 10: Werewolf of London (4/5)
Day 11: She-Wolf of London (3/5)
Day 12: Friday the 13th (4/5) (REWATCH)
Day 13: Friday the 13th Part 2 (3.5/5) (REWATCH)
Day 14: Friday the 13th Part III (3/5) (REWATCH)
Day 15: Tremors (4/5)
Day 16: Someone's Watching Me! (4.5/5)
Day 17: Tourist Trap (3.5/5)
Day 18: When a Stranger Calls (1979) (3/5)
Day 19: Motel Hell (3/5)
Day 20: Night of the Comet (4.5/5)
Day 21: Eden Lake (4.5/5)
Day 22: Lake Mungo (4/5)​

 

[Kane52630]

 

[Mani-Man]

Night 22, something for the Collectors.

The Collection - The Collector 2

Underrated series imo.
I like the idea and execution of both movies quite a bit.
Not the greatest of all time, but i think it deserves more attention.
The third one is in development since 2012 i think, so i dont have high hopes to ever see the series finish.
It is what it is.
Once in a while i enjoy the Movies, and thats all that matters in the end.

1.Winnie Pooh: Blood and Honey
2.Terrifier 2
3.Halloween Ends
4.Smile
5.The Last Voyage of the Demeter
6.From Hell
7.Jeepers Creepers Reborn
8.Renfield
9.Pearl
10.Hellraiser 2022
11.Operation Overlord
12.Blood Vessel
13.The Winter Witch
14.The Popes Exorcist
15.Leatherface
16.Titanic 666
17.Jack in the Box 2: Awakening
18.The Boogeyman(2023)
19.The Black Phone
20.Evil Dead Rise
21.Venom(2005)
22. The Collection - The Collector 2

 

[Batgirl0202]

No One Will Save You (2023)

Absolutely fantastic. Kaitlyn Dever delivers a heartbreaking performance and deserves an Oscar for this film, just as I felt Mia Goth deserved one for X when I saw it last year. Seriously.

No One Will Save You also delivers one of the saddest endings I've seen in a film this year. As a metaphor for 'alienation', how tragic that Brynn is only able to find a degree of grace and happiness among the aliens; even more ironic that these aliens have taken possession of the fellow humans who denied her their acceptance and forgiveness for all those years. Heartbreaking...

Beautiful movie, highly recommended.

 

[Kane52630]

Halloween III: Season of the Witch

I always forget to watch Season of the Witch on the 23rd because of "Eight More Days Until Halloween" but not this year! As always, it's still a banger and it's still one of the best Halloween movies to put you into the mood for Halloween. It's still something of note that this is pretty much the last movie that had almost everybody from Carpenter's original film crew all working on it (Debra Hill, John Carpenter, Tommy Lee Wallace, and Dean Cundey). I've lost count of how many times I've rewatched this but it always takes me back to the first time the moment they played the opening credits. Overall, forever an icon.

31 Days of Horror Marathon
Day 1: Saw X (3.5/5)
Day 2: No One Will Save You (4/5)
Day 3: Cobweb (3.5/5)
Day 4: The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster (4/5)
Day 5: The Exorcist: Believer (2.5/5)
Day 6: V/H/S/85 (4/5)
Day 7: Totally Killer (3/5)
Day 8: Beaten to Death (3/5)
Day 9: The Wolf Man (4/5)
Day 10: Werewolf of London (4/5)
Day 11: She-Wolf of London (3/5)
Day 12: Friday the 13th (4/5) (REWATCH)
Day 13: Friday the 13th Part 2 (3.5/5) (REWATCH)
Day 14: Friday the 13th Part III (3/5) (REWATCH)
Day 15: Tremors (4/5)
Day 16: Someone's Watching Me! (4.5/5)
Day 17: Tourist Trap (3.5/5)
Day 18: When a Stranger Calls (1979) (3/5)
Day 19: Motel Hell (3/5)
Day 20: Night of the Comet (4.5/5)
Day 21: Eden Lake (4.5/5)
Day 22: Lake Mungo (4/5)
Day 23: Halloween III: Season of the Witch (5/5) (REWATCH)​

 

[Luigi]

1. Creepshow
2. Night of the Creeps
3. Saw X (New)
4. The Descent
5. Chopping Mall (New)
6. Resident Evil: Death Island (New)
7. The Pope's Exorcist (New)
8. V/H/S/85 (New)
9. Venus (New)
10. Raw
11. Titane
12. Alien
13. Jason X
14. Ghostwatch (New)
15. Cure (New)
16. Dead Alive
17. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
18. Ginger Snaps
19. The Thing
20. Prince of Darkness
21. In the Mouth of Madness
22. Possession (New)

Possession



Isabelle Adjani's performance is simply otherworldly.

Sam Neill and the rocking chair is peak comedy.

 

[Kane52630]

I feel like I've got this monologue memorized like an actor who would memorize Shakespeare.

 

[Snow Queen]

It's that time again.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Night 52

136. Pearl (2022) dir. Ti West (NEW)

Bite-Sized Review: It does a good job of making you feel Pearl's anxiety to a situation that's all too familiar for a lot of us. As for the gif choice. My attempt to get @flickchick85 in here finally!

****

137. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) dir. Tim Burton

Bite-Sized Review: A beautiful looking film with beautiful music, with the most genuine moment of acting in the career of Jack Sparrow. The last time Timmy made me feel that special way.

****1/2

138. Kamera o Tomeru na! (2017) dir. Shin'ichirō Ueda (NEW)

Bite-Sized Review: You will never guess where this is going, and it's all the better for it.

****

 

[DarthSkywalker]

1. Creepshow
2. Night of the Creeps
3. Saw X (New)
4. The Descent
5. Chopping Mall (New)
6. Resident Evil: Death Island (New)
7. The Pope's Exorcist (New)
8. V/H/S/85 (New)
9. Venus (New)
10. Raw
11. Titane
12. Alien
13. Jason X
14. Ghostwatch (New)
15. Cure (New)
16. Dead Alive
17. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
18. Ginger Snaps
19. The Thing
20. Prince of Darkness
21. In the Mouth of Madness
22. Possession (New)

Possession



Isabelle Adjani's performance is simply otherworldly.

Sam Neill and the rocking chair is peak comedy.

 

[Man in the Suit]

It's that time again.

Me defending David Gordon Green from horror fans who never watched his indie dramas or HBO shows:

 

[KaijuDude1992]

Not as good as the first movie but for a DTV flick it's not too bad and once again Christopher Walken really gets to shine here although the writing and direction is nowhere near as good as the first movie. I really liked some of the new additions here in particular Jennifer Beals and Brittany Murphy. Those two easily get the most out of what they've been given and that's just testament to how truly talented both of those actresses are. I felt like Russel Wong was kind of wasted though and it would have been cool if there was more Eric Roberts in this since he plays a pretty interesting character. I also wasn't a fan of how they treated Elias Koteas's character from the first movie but that's just the nature of these DTV sequels.

6/10



A pretty interesting and ambitious sequel IMO. I actually think I preferred this over two mostly because it has a much better third act and they actually try to do something interesting with the Gabriel character but the lead kid in this was pretty weak acting and character wise but looked better than Russell Wong did during the action scenes which honestly surprised me the most. Vincent Spano wasn't too bad as the villain here either but man they easily could have went in any other direction for this last movie like finally bringing Viggo Mortensen's Lucifer back and having him play a bigger role or at least making better use of Brad Dourif who is completely wasted in this.

6.5/10

 

[DarthSkywalker]

When I think about the reaction to the three newest Halloween flicks, all I can think about is how a large portion of horror franchise fans only want what they are familar with. Try to make something different, inventive, good? No!

The first one is fine. They kill off the only real new element to it in the first act, but it's fine. Another retelling of a movie we saw back in the 70s and people went wild. Kills and Ends though? These are ****ing movies. In a way, even with Michael there, they figured out how to anthologize the series properly. And they got **** on for it.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

I love that Michael Meyers adheres to the pro wrestling concept that the older you are, the stronger you become.

 

[-Arya-]

7/10

I would’ve preferred a more serious follow up to the original, but dammit man…I just have to admire Tobe Hooper for straight up trolling the audience with this garish, trashy sequel. Apparently Dennis Hopper was coked up during the entire movie? I wouldn’t be surprised based on his performance. It’s glorious.

 

[Luigi]

138. Kamera o Tomeru na! (2017) dir. Shin'ichirō Ueda (NEW)

Bite-Sized Review: You will never guess where this is going, and it's all the better for it.

****

Got this one and it's French remake lined up for this week. Pretty excited.

 

[lespaul59]

Last week I was actually disappointed when I was at one of my local Wal-Mart and the only Werewolf movies were The Wolfman and the Underworld 5 movie set. Being disappointed by Wal-Mart isn't nothing new but no carrying movies like An American Werewolf In London or The Howling even in smaller areas like mine during Halloween makes no sense. This would be like not being able to find A Christmas Story or Christmas Vacation at Christmas.

Any cool monster movie in recent years?

 

[Ninjablade]

31. Blood Shack (1971) dir. Ray Denis Steckler

Quote of the film: "Go ahead and stay, but if the Chooper comes to get you? Well, you just deserved it."

Daniel vs the Chooper. The greatest rivalry in horror history.

32. Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998) dir. Steve Miner

Quote of the film: "That's... terrible. Take off your clothes"

God, is this movie boring.

 

[Kane52630]

Me defending David Gordon Green from horror fans who never watched his indie dramas or HBO shows:

Same, right @Sawyer?

 

[Man in the Suit]

When I think about the reaction to the three newest Halloween flicks, all I can think about is how a large portion of horror franchise fans only want what they are familar with. Try to make something different, inventive, good? No!

The first one is fine. They kill off the only real new element to it in the first act, but it's fine. Another retelling of a movie we saw back in the 70s and people went wild. Kills and Ends though? These are ****ing movies. In a way, even with Michael there, they figured out a way to kind of anthologize the series properly. And they got **** on for it.

The reaction to those movies is so ****ing bizarre. Even professional critics were confused, and I'm sure a lot of them have seen David Gordon Green's filmography outside of Pineapple Express. The studio hired him to make Halloween... and he did. Ends is basically him making one of his earlier movies like All The Real Girls but as a horror movie.

 

[Sawyer]

Me defending David Gordon Green from horror fans who never watched his indie dramas or HBO shows:

Listen, I can’t speak for his Exorcist (still haven’t seen it), but it is funny to me the way horror fans act like every bad horror sequel is the first one they’ve ever seen.

It seems to me that the worst possible Exorcist sequel happened almost immediately after the original in the seventies, so that movie’s reputation as some untouchable sacred cow is just not true to life. And I didn’t like Halloween Kills… but that franchise endured H5 and Resurrection. And 2018 was good!

 

[Man in the Suit]

The Old Dark House (1932) dir. James Whale

Whale's run from 1931-1935 is incredible. Oh, and have a potato.