31 Days of Horror

At the beginning of the month, I decided I would watch at least one horror movie every day for the entire month of October. I wanted to use these viewings in an effort to broaden my mind and see if I would be inspired by any of these movies as it pertains to my writing. I believe you can find inspiration in just about anything if you set your mind to it and this was an opportunity to find the good, the bad and the ugly in a list of movies I wanted to see. Some of these I have watched before while others were brand new to me. The list happened day by day and to be honest, the first few days were me at my laziest (days 2-5 were made up of Friday the 13th sequels simply because I was too lazy to find a different movie, lol). But the majority of the list is all over the horror spectrum. Some are gory, some are psychological horror, some are campy and some are just down right ridiculous- but I’ve enjoyed them all and thought I would share the list with you guys. In later posts, I may return to this list and expand on what I liked and/or disliked about each one, but for now I just wanted to share the list and give a brief description of each.

Day 1- Gerald’s Game

The minute I heard about this one I broke down and read the book (one I had put off for many years despite being a King fanatic). My original thought was how can you possibly hold my interest about a woman handcuffed to a bed for over 300 pages? As always, King didn’t let me down and after reading it, I was excited to see how director Mike Flanagan could do the same. He passed with flying colors and Netflix hits another one out of the park with this one. It was a great way to start the list and I highly recommend it.

Day 2- Friday the 13th

How could I possibly go wrong with the original trip to Camp Crystal Lake? Well, for starters I probably should have saved this one for day 13 since it was an actual Friday the 13th, but I was playing a lot of the video game at the moment and felt like revisiting an old friend. No one ever said I was the sharpest tool in the shed… At any rate this one is a classic and must watch for any fan of the horror genre. A tale about a mother and her son… as well as a bunch of camp counselors wanting to have premarital sex (including a young Kevin Bacon who gets his… and then gets killed).

Day 3- Friday the 13th 2

This marks the first time we see Jason as the killer (and not the deformed child of Pamela jumping out of the lake and scaring the crap out of poor Alice Hardy). Alice returns for a moment in this one, but for the most part this film revolves around a group of counselors in training not too far from Crystal Camp Lake. My first question- why do we always see counselors getting ready for camp but no actual campers? I suppose because given the times, no one was going to approve a child killer movie (though killing sexually active teens seems to be A-okay). Jason wears a bag over his head for this one (the hockey mask has yet to show up, but the scarecrow look is terrifying in its own way- even if it is a rip on the Town that Dreaded Sundown).

Day 4- Friday the 13th 3

At this point I was simply swapping one DVD for the next in the box set so if you are tired of Jason skip on down to Day 6, lol. Part 3 is important because it is the first time Jason puts on the iconic mask. The mask has changed from movie to movie as the series goes on, but from this point forward we can identify Jason as the dude in the hockey mask. This was also a 3D movie and if you watch it without the special glasses you can tell they went overboard trying to use the effect to their advantage. A snake scare, weapons aimed directly into the camera… even a yo-yo trick that lasted way too long.

Day 5- Friday the 13th 4 (Final Chapter)

Okay, so this was obviously NOT the “final chapter”, but this movie did try to build a better plot (kind of) and if not for the success it had at the box office, they fully intended to kill Jason off for good in this one. As history would have it, that didn’t happen. We are introduced to Tommy Jarvis (a young Corey Feldman) and in all honesty, this one has always stuck out in my mind when I think of Jason. There is something positively disturbing about the end of this movie that I can’t put my finger on. Maybe it was because Corey Feldman tried to pull a Jedi mind trick on Jason and ends up scarring his own fragile brain for life in doing so. I’m not sure, but at any rate I thought it was a good stopping point for the Jason series for now and moved on to other scares.

Day 6- Pet Semetary

So with Jason set aside I went back to an old familiar- Pet Semetary. I read this book when I was a teenager (absolutely loved it) and watched the movie in the theater when it came out. It has probably been ten years or so ago since I seen it last and it was as good a time as any to revisit it. There are some truly terrifying scenes in this one and a disturbing theme running throughout. “Sometimes dead is better.” Seriously, lots of chills in this one- Pascow walking around with half of his head missing, Gage’s casket getting turned over, Zelda… King really dug deep when he wrote this one and the film does a good job of representing the book. The thing to remember is that this story isn’t about coming back from the dead. The terror lies in what people will do for love, even if it goes against common sense and human decency.

Day 7- Phantasm

Surprisingly enough, this movie had been on my radar for a really long time before I finally broke down and watched it on Day 7. Sure, there are a few problems with the story (kids don’t try the hammer-shotgun shell trick at home if you like your hands and face), but the Tall Man makes up for it. In fact, toss out the dwarf zombies/reanimated townsfolk and just give me a flick centered entirely around the Tall Man! (They may have for all I know- still need to look into the sequels). In all seriousness, the fact that the movie establishes fear as the actual killer here makes the movie work on a much larger scale. This is a must see if you haven’t already! Do it now- “BOOOOOOOOYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!”

Day 8- Night of the Comet

There are a few silly moments in this one, but I actually enjoyed the whole concept and would have loved to seen Night of the Comet become a serial franchise. This is an interesting post-apocalypse world that could have drawn a lot of appeal and intriguing story lines. Supposedly Kelli Maroney’s portrayal of Sam inspired Joss Whedon’s character Buffy, so if you are a Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan, this is a much watch just for Maroney’s character. I love Buffy and as soon as she graced the screen I knew Buffy inherited a lot of traits from her. The movie is dripping of the 80’s (which I love), including the soundtrack. Not so much scary as it is entertaining.

Day 9- They Live

This was another movie I put off for a long time. I don’t know if it had to do with Rowdy Roddy Piper being in it (during that time I knew him as a wrestler and didn’t think he would have the acting chops to pull this role off- he did excellent by the way) or what, but Day 9 brought an end to the hold out. What’s scary about this one most of all was the social commentary, especially when you put it alongside today’s media and advertising campaigns. What starts off as a typical scare turns into a psychological horror that will have you thinking about it long after the movie is over. And of course there was the iconic line, “I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass and I’m all out of bubblegum.”

Day 10- Body Bags

This was a weird compilation from John Carpenter. It had some cheesy moments (to be expected), but the stories weren’t bad and it was interesting to see some of the cameos- Wes Craven, Tobe Hooper, Sam Raimi, Roger Corman, Debbie Harry, Greg Nicotero, etc. Carpenter hammed it up as The Coroner (although some of his lines were cringe-worthy). I really enjoyed Stacy Keach’s performance in “Hair” as well as Mark Hamill in “Eye” (although I could have done without seeing Luke Skywalker’s butt, thank you very much- please don’t show us the “dark side” anymore Mark).

Day 11- The Car

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a big fan of Stephen King’s Christine, so when I watched The Car for the first time it was a no-brainer that I would love it! There is just something about a badass car terrorizing people that I really dig- don’t know why. The Car gives us that recipe in spades long before Christine was written (I would even go so far as to say that King was probably influenced by this movie, as well as Richard Matheson’s Duel and an episode from the Twilight Zone called “You Drive”, but I digress). The look of the Car and the way it acts like a savage animal ready to attack makes this movie great.

Day 12- The Curse

Somehow I managed to miss this movie somewhere along the way and i don’t know how. The Curse is an adaptation of H. P. Lovecraft’s The Colour Out of Space” and stars a young Wil Wheaton and John Schneider (Bo from the Dukes of Hazard or Jonathan Kent from Smallville if you prefer). They dodge the whole “color” aspect of the story as that is hard to visually portray, but the plot is practically the same. There are some good scares and a few gross out moments that help fuel this movie. What I loved most about this movie is the step brother Cyrus (played by Malcolm Danare who you may remember as Moochie from Christine). This dude was an ass, but added some much needed comic relief throughout the movie.

Day 13- The Cult of Chucky/Zodiac

So Friday the 13th rolls around and since I had already messed up earlier in the month with movies of the same name, I decided on a double feature with The Cult of Chucky and Zodiac. We’ll start here with the Chucky flick. If you are a fan of this franchise, you should appreciate The Cult of Chucky (but if you’ve never watched any of the others you may want to do that before you see this one). This one brought back a lot of old familiar faces and tied in nicely with the last movie in this series bringing back Nica from the Curse of Chucky. I don’t know if they planned this from the start, but Nica’s transformation is creepy and cool- that’s all I’ll say on the subject.

As for Zodiac, this is probably the tenth time I’ve watched this movie about Robert Graysmith’s account of his investigation into the Zodiac killer. I love this movie. A lot of it has to do with focusing on Graysmith more than the actual killer. I find it interesting and to watch him go from a cartoonist with a mild interest in the Zodiac to full on obsession makes this movie worthwhile for me. I wouldn’t call this movie scary at all (minus what the Zodiac did, of course), but I think it holds up well because of the in depth character development of all the people involved. I really enjoyed the rabbit trails Graysmith’s investigations lead him on and how he scares himself at times (as anyone would chasing a serial killer). Great movie.

Day 14- Elvira Mistress of the Dark

Don’t laugh! I see you snickering at me from afar, but Elvira is a horror icon and has the assets to prove it! Seriously, I needed a break from the guts and gore but wanted to stick to my horror theme. Elvira fit the bill nicely. Take my word for it, this movie is only good if you like bad movies. Picture Pee Wee Herman with boobs and delivering his lines without the nasal tone and you get Elvira Mistress of the Dark. There is nothing scary about this film (except for maybe the way she dressed up her poodle as a punk rocker or the town picnic orgy, but really both of these stunts were just funny because they were so bad, lol). This is a movie I will probably never watch again, but now I can say that I have and regardless, I still love Elvira.

Day 15- Scanners

Another one I was well aware of back in the day but never got around to watching. Keep in mind that when I caught glimpses of the previews for Scanners all I pulled away from it was that people could make other people’s heads explode with their minds (I was a teen and mind control head explosions didn’t do a whole lot for me, I suppose). This movie is so much more than that. It has a creepy, underground quality to it that’s interesting and disturbing. And the ending… literally mind blown. I had to back it up and re-watch to fully understand what the hell just happened.

Day 16- The Prowler

When people talk about slashers, the first thing that comes to mind is Jason and Michael Myers (which is totally understandable). But if you are into slasher flicks, The Prowler is a great one to watch and should be discussed as part of the slasher genre. There is a lot of creative gore (keep in mind the time period here- it was 1981 after all) and a believable plot for the most part. Like any slasher flick the Prowler gets around faster than he should, but that’s acceptable. The only thing they missed the boat on (and it was timing since this was released in November of ’81) was being able to use the WWII gas mask to complete the look. Unfortunately, My Bloody Valentine came close enough to that with the miner in February that year.

Day 17- Maniac

This one was weird, but in a sick and twisted, good kind of way. I loved the portrayal the main actor (Joe Spinell- you might remember him from Rocky or The Godfather) delivered and the plot was okay. Joe was also a co-writer on the film. Maniac takes the viewer on a deranged ride through the mind of a serial killer who likes to scalp his female victims. One notable scene is watching him shotgun blast Tom Savini’s face (using Savini’s special effects wizardry to pull it off). Definitely gory and unexpected. The ending is another one of those WTF moments that makes the film good.

Day 18- The Babysitter

OMG, I absolutely loved this movie and Netflix is really cranking out some winners! The Babysitter is an accumulation of all the best in horror flicks tossed into a runaway blender so it can splatter all over the walls in all its horrific splendor. Are there cliches? Absolutely, but that’s kind of what makes this movie work as a whole. I felt like I was watching Home Alone where they replaced the robbers with a bunch of psychos. The only thing missing from this movie was a chainsaw- but it is set up for a sequel so one can hope…

Day 19- Cabin Fever

Cabin Fever (the original- not to be confused with the 2016 remake that changes nothing but the pervy cop) is a weird little movie that I found highly enjoyable and disturbing at the same time. It manages to take a tension-building serious situation and sprinkle in some off the wall humor as well. My main thought throughout the whole flick is that no one would ever act this way in this type of situation. Why would you set someone on fire who was in need of help? Why would beating a truck with a baseball bat make the engine no longer work? Who would hire a county cop that can only talk about parties and getting laid? It was weird… but enjoyable. So much so, I went back for seconds in Cabin Fever 2…

Day 20- 1922

But before I could watch Cabin Fever 2, Netflix dropped another bomb on me- 1922. I wasted no time and opted for the Stephen King adaptation over a sequel I could watch another day. I read this novella from King’s Full Dark, No Stars sometime last year and loved the story. After much thought, I realized why I loved the story. I love just about everything King puts out, but that wasn’t the reason. 1922 is an elaborated version of Poe’s The Tale Tell Heart if you think about it. The movie did a decent job of staying faithful to the story and my only real complaint was understanding Thomas Jane’s dialect at times. Points for realism, Thomas, but we kind of need to understand what you are saying, too. All in all a good movie, though.

Day 21- Cabin Fever 2

For the record, there is no cabin in Cabin Fever 2. The story kind of picks up where the original left off and we see that whatever disease attacked the group in the cabin is now floating into the town water. So where better to show the onslaught of sickness than at a high school prom, right? Apparently the bottled water is tainted with the Cabin Fever disease and all of the kids are starting to fall apart. There is a lot here to dislike (welcome back creepy perv cop from the first movie), but there are some good scenes in this one as well. Almost as enjoyable as the first one and there is one particular scene that will haunt my dreams for years to come…

Day 22- Callgirl of Cthulhu

Oh, yeah baby! You read that right. I went all H. P. Lovecraft on Day 22 and as ridiculous as the movie’s title sounds… well, it is pretty much ridiculous as expected. The plot is remedial at times and the acting is exactly the caliber you would expect from a movie about the whore of Cthulhu, but honestly- I dug this movie. Callgirl of Cthulhu is one of those flicks that will having you laughing because its so bad, but I’m pretty sure that’s what the filmmakers intended. There are some truly disturbing scenes in this one that might actually rival the one from Cabin Fever 2… just saying.

Day 23- Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers

What’s that you say? Back to back nights of ridiculous horror? That’s right. Callgirl of Cthulhu had me wanting more absurdity and over the top humor in my horror so i went old school and enjoyed Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers. I will give the filmmakers credit here for not taking themselves too seriously. Anytime you open up by saying the movie’s original script took many rewrites to achieve the perfection that is now Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers, you win my vote. This movie has an old school, detective feel to it (but not in a serious manner) and it works (for humor’s sake, of course). There were no real scares here, but that was okay- I didn’t expect any.

Day 24- Slumber Party Massacre

It felt like the majority of this plot was organized around getting the actresses naked, but with a name like Slumber Party Massacre, I fully expected as much. The very first scene shows one of the main characters undressing and let’s be honest- though she looked fantastic, it did very little to set up the plot (other than alerting the audience that there is a lot more of this to come- girl’s basketball team shower scene anyone?) The killer wasn’t anything to write home about and his weapon of choice was a battery operated drill with a massive bit (somehow his tool represented his “tool”, if you know what I mean). The movie was okay for an old ’80’s flick, but I stand strong on my belief that a machete will not chop a drill bit in two.

Day 25- Motel Hell

I don’t know how I missed this cult classic back in the day, but somehow I did. I loved the originality in this movie! Seeing the victims buried neck deep in a “garden” with their vocal chords cut so they can’t scream? That was creepy and awesome! Hearing their grunting noises? That was terrifying. Rory Calhoun was perfect as Farmer Vincent, but I absolutely adored Nancy Parson’s Ida. Without her the movie wouldn’t have been near as good and she did a fantastic job. Are there a few plot holes? Maybe, but who cares! It was done so well and so entertaining, I certainly didn’t. You never know what goes on in these backwoods farms and Motel Hell serves as a strong warning to the naive. “It takes all kinds of critters to make Farmer Vincent’s Fritters!”

Day 26- Videodrome

Speaking of original ideas for horror, Videodrome leads the pack. David Cronenberg (Scanners) gave us a twisted look into the future (film was released in 1983) long before virtual reality and showed us down a dark path of what being engrossed in our TVs could possibly lead to. I enjoyed seeing James Woods in this and I believe he was the perfect actor for the role. On a different level, I really enjoyed seeing Debbie Harry in this and all of her naked splendor, lol. Seriously, Blondie is a hot woman and to be honest, I didn’t think she would work as well as she did as an actress here, but her portrayal was spot on and worthy of praise. Great movie!

Day 27- Starry Eyes

Starry Eyes gets a pat on the back for some originality here, too. The story follows a woman trying to break into show business and what she is willing to do to make her mark. This is one you shouldn’t judge by the cover or the title of the film (I did at first and almost passed on it- so glad that I didn’t). The whole “actress willing to do anything to make it big” bit has been done before, sure, but where Starry Eyes stands out is how they bring her through. Each step is difficult for her and each step has a consequence she can’t recover from. The directors did such a fine job with this one, they’ve been enlisted to handle the remake for Pet Semetary in the near future.

Day 28- Residue

We are on an originality role here and Residue is another one that stepped outside the norm and provided a high quality movie you haven’t seen before. This one is heavily influenced by H. P. Lovecraft (Mister Original himself). I liked the way the story leaps from one character to the next, highlighting their experience with the book and the residue that seeps from it. I really enjoyed the conversations with Matt Frewer (Max Headroom/Trashcan Man) and his shotgun blasted face. I also liked the way the writers found a legitimate way to get our main character safely through the story- it was a very nice trick that worked well and didn’t diminish the plot or the horror of the book at all.

Day 29- The Mummy (2017)

I’m often split down the middle when it comes to Tom Cruise in a movie- its either going to be really good or I’m really going to hate it. That’s no reflection on Cruise as an actor- its more about how I have a hard time separating the star from the character when I watch. The Mummy had a chance to fail due to that, but Sofia Boutella was absolutely fantastic. She was scary, sexy and intriguing all at once and I couldn’t look away every time she graced the screen. The plot works and sets up well for a Dark Universe series of movies that will introduce the classic monsters. I want to see more of this and I’m interested to see what monster Cruise turns out to be. This one surprised me.

Day 30- Basket Case

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! AHHHHHHHHH! Lol! If you haven’t seen Basket Case you are missing out on one of the creepiest, funniest horror flicks ever made (and my “ahhhhh!” outbursts will make a lot more sense). I’ve seen people rag on this for the rubber-like creature and stop motion moments, but you have to keep in mind the time period when it was made and how terrifying that would actually be. The plot is simple and there is a small tension build up at the start of the movie which helped move the story forward. The main character is creepy in his own right- awkward and weird in the company of others as he should be. I’m looking forward to watching the sequels to this one.

Day 31- Pumpkinhead

I wrapped up my month of horror with Stan Winston’s directorial debut Pumpkinhead. Man, this one is scary and the creation of the actual monster by Winston was perfect. But just as important is the story. There is a lore involved about a vengeance creature aptly named Pumpkinhead. The main character, Lance Henrikson, was crucial to the story and his portrayal is spot on. He seeks revenge for the death of his son and as the monster extracts that revenge, he is forced to visualize and feel the horror of his victims. In time, he sees the error of his ways and tries to stop it. The ending was perfect and tied up the story in an unexpected way. Great film!