61 Nights of Halloween, 2023 Edition

[flickchick85]

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!

****

 

[NDX]

01. Rifftrax: The Night Of The Living Dead (1968)*
02. Halloween III: Season Of The Witch (1982)*
03. The Boogey Man (1980)*
04. The Devonsville Terror (1983)*
05. The Dentist (1996)*
06. The Dentist 2 (1998)*
07. Brain Dead (1990)*
08. Night Of The Living Dead 3D: Re-Animation (2012)*
09. The Devil's Messenger (1962)*
10. Double Exposure (1982)*
11. The Crazies (1973)*
12. The Crazies (2010)*
13. Friday The 13th (2009)*
14. Countdown (2019)*
15. Trick (2019)*
16. Long Island Cannibal Massacre (1980)*
17. We All Scream For Ice Cream (2007)*
18. Virus X (2010)*
19. The Night Sitter (2018)*
20. Video Violence (1987)*
21. Video Violence 2 (1987)*

I'm A Lifer at The Video Studio.

I was hoping to be caught up but this was not a good weekend. I still got time.

 

[Batgirl0202]

Renfield (2023)

Definitely enjoyed this as a fun little lark for Spooky Season. It was funny and very entertaining but I agree with the general consensus that the two Nics were the highlights and I would have preferred to see more of them together. Hoult is a very fine actor and Cage of course was born to play Dracula so I would have liked to see more of their shared history and escapades over the centuries.

The whole mob subplot felt tacked on with that tired one honest cop in a corrupt system trying to reconnect with her estranged sibling while avenging her murdered father trope, which has been done to death in far better movies than this one. Still, the self help angle was a cute one and I liked how the film respected the Dracula lore, while at the same time allowing Cage to chew more scenery than should be permitted by law The over-the-top gore and violence was almost Raimi-esque in places, unexpected but appreciated.

Overall a good time. Not essential but fun for this time of the year

 

[Mani-Man]

Night 23...Ghosts on Mars?

Ghosts of Mars

Early 2000s horror movies are always a tricky thing.
Often really flat and just gore and action, boring tropes etc made for more mainstream.
Sometimes i like that however.
Horror at times just is really dumb fun and i love it for it.

So i did enjoy the movie.
Its dumb, its empty, its as simple as it gets...but it was fun for one night.

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
23.Ghosts of Mars

 

[Kane52630]

 

[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)
23. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)

20th anniversary!!!

R. Lee Ermey must've had back problems from carrying this film.

 

[-Arya-]

Night 23...Ghosts on Mars?

Ghosts on Mars

Early 2000s horror movies are always a tricky thing.
Often really flat and just gore and action, boring tropes etc made for more mainstream.
Sometimes i like that however.
Horror at times just is really dumb fun and i love it for it.

So i did enjoy the movie.
Its dumb, its empty, its as simple as it gets...but it was fun for one night.

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
23.Ghosts of Mars

Carpenter’s Ghosts of Mars? Yeah that one sucked but I had fun laughing at everything Ice Cube did.

 

[Man in the Suit]

The Exorcist: Believer (2023) dir. David Gordon Green

Like their Halloween trilogy, DGG and Danny McBride are taking an existing horror franchise to tell a story about America and community. The first half is great and feels very much like a DGG drama, but he second half kinda falters a bit with a lack of the original's provocation. Maybe I just vibe with DGG as a filmmaker because I liked this one. I can understand the criticisms, but the seething reaction from critics and fans is just bizarre.

 

[Kane52630]

Carpenter’s Ghosts of Mars? Yeah that one sucked but I had fun laughing at everything Ice Cube did.

What do you mean?

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Night 53

139. The Babadook (2014) dir. Jennifer Kent

Bite-Sized Review: Someone, please, shut that kid up.

****1/4

140. Halloween (2018) dir. David Gordon Green

Bite-Sized Review: Perfectly adequate third attempt at the same movie.

***1/2

141. Halloween Kills (2021) dir. David Gordon Green

Bite-Sized Review: Michael does Jason, and it's a riot. Only thing I don't love is the extended Laurie hospital scenes. Honestly not sure she needed to be conscious for most of this.

****1/4

142. Halloween Ends (2022) dir. David Gordon Green

Bite-Sized Review: This gothic romance is one "Michael died in the sewers" away from being a true all timer. Still, very good.

****

 

[Kane52630]

Megan is Missing

For a found footage film with an extremely small budget even by indie horror standards, I thought this was impressive yet deeply disturbing when you get to the last 30 minutes. I don't think I even heard about this one when it came out but it's almost hilarious to see the tiktok people believing this is real when there's a lot of amateurish acting and production value. I will say I do think the movie has spots where the acting does feel authentic to the mid/late 00s, not to mention the suburban culture and fashion of the time. Rachel Quinn as Megan feels like she belongs in the movie Thirteen by Catherine Hardwicke and I thought it was kinda rough to follow her around in the first 40 minutes along with other people in the cast who can't really act. Amber Perkins as Amy probably gave the only decent performance out of everyone. When the movie does shift from annoying teen antics and cheap/laughable scenes to more serious ones, the movie does get more horrific. The last 30 minutes are pretty horrific and hard to watch in a way that reminded me of watching the Poughkeepsie Tapes or The Den and I see why it became viral. Overall, cheap and sometimes annoying but it's super effective as a horror film by the end.
3/5

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)
Day 23: Halloween III: Season of the Witch (5/5) (REWATCH)
Day 24: Megan is Missing (3/5)​

 

[Ninjablade]

33. Halloween: Resurrection (2002) dir. Rick Rosenthal

Quote of the film: "Trick or Treat, mother****er!"

This exists and yet Kills is somehow the low point of the franchise. Sure... This one deserves to be last on the list simply for wasting the awesome glory of Busta Rhymes vs Michael.

 

[flickchick85]

The "I'm Married!!!" at the end destroyed me.

 

[Mani-Man]

Night 24 in a Ghostly Castle? According to the German title for sure.

The Haunting(Here in Germany its called The Ghost Castle)

End of the 90s Horror Fantasy Mainstream movie...yeah.
The horror in these movies isnt really there unless you talk about some super bad CGI...but then, its 1999 CGI.
Outside of that, the movie has little to offer if you are in the Mood for horror and Halloween.
Its more a movie for a lazy saturday when you go through the channels and it shows up.

Other than that, its rather empty and lackluster.

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
23.Ghosts of Mars
24.The Haunting

 

[Batgirl0202]

Escape Room: Tournament of Champions (2021)

Dumb, mindless, harmless fun. I'm far more forgiving of movies like this during Spooky Season than I would be at any other time during the year

Tons of extra points for bringing back Deborah Ann Woll's character! Lawd I hope she returns as Karen Page; I had almost forgotten how much I enjoy seeing her onscreen...

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Night 54

143. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) dir. Henry Selick

Bite-Sized Review: Even more magical on the big screen.

****1/2

144. Killer Klowns From Outer Space (1988) Stephen Chiodo

Bite-Sized Review: Cult classics rarely live up to the hype the way this one does.

****1/4

145. The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster (2023) dir. Bomani Story (NEW)

Bite-Sized Review: A tragic and beautiful portrayal of black pain and it's effects on kids.

****1/4

146. The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016) dir. Eugene Kotlyarenko

Bite-Sized Review: I love these movies that could serve as a good Twilight Zone episode or a segment in an anthology. A quick, fun, decent scare. Just don't overstay their welcome.

****

147. Spree (2020) dir. Eugene Kotlyarenko

Bite-Sized Review: This is 100% about Steve's performance and boy does he pull it off.

****

 

[-Arya-]

3/10

Awful, feels more like a Texas Chainsaw rip off rather than part of the franchise. It’s basically the first movie again but much, much worse. Leatherface himself isn’t intimidating in the slightest bit. The only thing that prevented me from turning it off was Ken Foree and Viggo Mortensen.




5/10

A frustrating experience. Imagine if Leatherface had Carrie’s telekinetic abilities. He also loves Mannequins and brings them to life to do his bidding. Sounds cool right? Unfortunately the movie badly drags in the middle and nothing interesting happens. It leans too much into a slasher narrative and not enough into the supernatural. The mashup just didn’t work for me.

 

[CaptainWagner]

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?

The Ritual (2017) immediately comes to mind. Incredible acting, visuals and maybe my favorite modern creature design. Sweetheart (2019) for a more tropical take and Kiersey Clemmons being awesome. A Quiet Place (2018) was pretty good and Underwater (2020) is underrated, IMO.

Spoiler: Full Marathon

1. Friday the 13th
2. Friday the 13th Part 2
3. Friday the 13th Part 3
4. Friday the 13th The Final Chapter
5. Haunted Mansion
6. Smile
7. Totally Killer
8. Chopping Mall
9. The Exorcist
10. Exorcist II: The Heretic
11. Chernobyl Diaries
12. The Shining
13. The Ring
14. Hocus Pocus
15. Friday the 13th: A New Beginning
16. Friday the 13th: Part VI: Jason Lives
17. Friday the 13th: Part VII: The New Blood
18. Friday the 13th: Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan
19. Goosebumps
20. The Conference (2023)

21. Cabin in the Woods (20__) - rewatch

The Big Red Button still makes me SO mad. But other than that, always a blast to revisit.

22. The Pyramid

What a let-down. Thought I was getting a found-footage archeological horror, a Mummy for the 21st Century. This is not that movie. It has more in common with the worst parts of The Mummy 2 (2001) than any classic Universal monsters.

First off, it won't commit to being found footage, which was annoying as heck. And it just doesn't do anything interesting with its premise OR its twist, which is the sort of insane carpet-pull that should AT LEAST be memorable but is mostly just "Meh"

23. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

Another classic off the list! I fully thought this starred Karen Allen until the credits rolled. It's funny to look at old responses to movies like this. Young Ebert had some wild takes, claiming the film encouraged suspicion of "people different from you" when it has - pretty transparently - the opposite theme. It's patently anti-conformity, and derives most of its horror from the all-too familiar anxiety associated with being out of step with the expected social norms. Kaufman and Chapman do a brilliant job of conjuring the Fear of Being Percieved through direction and camerawork.

I feel like it jumps the shark a little in the 3rd act - the dog really took me out of what had previously been some awesome practical effects. No real reason IMO to put it in when it didn't look good. But the final scene makes up for any lost steam in spades.

 

[Luigi]

Night 53

139. The Babadook (2014) dir. Jennifer Kent

Bite-Sized Review: Someone, please, shut that kid up.

****1/4

140. Halloween (2018) dir. David Gordon Green

Bite-Sized Review: Perfectly adequate third attempt at the same movie.

***1/2

141. Halloween Kills (2021) dir. David Gordon Green

Bite-Sized Review: Michael does Jason, and it's a riot. Only thing I don't love is the extended Laurie hospital scenes. Honestly not sure she needed to be conscious for most of this.

****1/4

142. Halloween Ends (2022) dir. David Gordon Green

Bite-Sized Review: This gothic romance is one "Michael died in the sewers" away from being a true all timer. Still, very good.

****

Tempted to watch The Babadook but I'm allergic to annoying kids in movies.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Tempted to watch The Babadook but I'm allergic to annoying kids in movies.

I do not blame you.

Still, I'd recommend it. It's an important part of the tale and overall, it's very much worth it's reputation imo.

 

[KaijuDude1992]

I get why some people might enjoy this but man I found this to be really generic and lazy for the most part. If it wasn't for Exorcist being in title this could have easily been any of the 10 or 20 demonic possession films that have come out over the years and some I consider even superior to this. Now I'm not one of these guys that hates DGG or anything even though I really wasn't a fan of Halloween Ends but his direction isn't the problem here as much as the bland writing and uninspired scares. The acting isn't the problem either but I just found nothing scary or atmospheric about this and by the time it got to the third act I was just wanting it to be over as soon as possible. Oh well at least we still got the original Exorcist and Exorcist 3 as far as good films in this franchise go and maybe one of these days I'll actually find some time to check out the show.

5/10



Easily one of the better films I've seen put out by Gravitas Ventures who have had way more misses than hits IMO so that ain't saying much but I can at least appreciate the effort put into this one. Sure it's low budget and the acting isn't all that great but I really like how some of the supernatural/paranormal aspects are handled and the direction in certain scenes is actually pretty solid. It somewhat of a confused mess though especially when you get to the ending and it definitely has some slow spots that really hurt the overall pacing.

5.5/10



My second time watching this one and I still think it's a bit of an underrated gem. Definitely one of the more unique/interesting zombie films out there even though a good majority of it is more like a dark, tragic, family drama than a horror film but when the horror stuff is onscreen it's actual pretty brutal at times and very effective. What really elevates this film for me though are the strong across the board performances in particular Elliot Page and Tom Vaughn-Lawlor who is a super talented actor outside of just playing Ebony Maw.

7/10

 

[Ninjablade]

34. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022) dir. Chris Thomas Delvin

Quote of the film: "He's wearing her face!"

I've never seen any of the TCM movies outside of the original. This movie starts as just cringe garbage, but once things start going it becomes hilarious trash. The insane amounts of stupidity are my kind of fun. Gotta say, some of the effects work was impressive.

 

[Mani-Man]

34. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022) dir. Chris Thomas Delvin

Quote of the film: "He's wearing her face!"

I've never seen any of the TCM movies outside of the original. This movie starts as just cringe garbage, but once things start going it becomes hilarious trash. The insane amounts of stupidity are my kind of fun. Gotta say, a some of the effects work was impressive.

Has some neat effects and i like Leatherfaces look.
Still dont get why they try all kinds of stuff with this...except the most obvious thing...let Rob Zombie do a TCM Movie.
They rather do a cheap Halloween 2018 immitation than this.


Night 25...we come to a strange town that is rather Silent and on a hill?

Silent Hill

Shockingly i remembered the movie worse than it was in the end.
Sure not a top notch movie that perfectly captures the essence of SH...but not as bad as i thought i remembered it.
But then, im not the biggest SH fan out there, so i dont care as much.
At times this was rather solid, had good visuals.
Needed more Suspense, Horror etc, but i cant say i had a bad time.

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
23.Ghosts of Mars
24.The Haunting
25.Silent Hill

 

[Kane52630]

The Autopsy of Jane Doe

For some reason, I got this movie confused with Deadgirl so I was expecting the worst, but this was actually a great mainstream horror with some surprises. I did like where they went with the story and how they resisted from being a dumb shlocky exploitation flick that doesn't have anything to say and André Øvredal is the perfect director for this kind of movie. It very much feels like a well-written horror short story that would later show up in a Creepshow movie. Even before the horror really starts they do a good job on the build-up and showing the process of being a coroner and they did a good job setting up the father-son relationship. Brian Cox and Emile Hirsch really elevated the film with their performances and Olwen Kelly was extremely impressive playing dead. Overall, a surprisingly well made movie.
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)
Day 23: Halloween III: Season of the Witch (5/5) (REWATCH)
Day 24: Megan is Missing (3/5)
Day 25: The Autopsy of Jane Doe (4/5)​

 

[Kane52630]

Also this movie made me realize how robbed we are of a Emile Hirsch/Spider-Man movie.