It seems strange to say, but I think we need horror now more than ever. We need the outrageous, the terrifying…as long as I can see the edges of the screen and walk away in 90-130 minutes, I can expend all my fears and frights, leave them up on the screen with the ghosts, ghouls, and foul presences, hopefully better equipped for the horrors of reality waiting just on the edges of the film…

Finding time to give these films their due along with all the other obligations – both here (Shaken, Not Stirred with return with Timothy Dalton in November) and elsewhere – has been trying, so we’re going to do things a little differently.

I want to really experience these films, and not get so caught up in the writing of it all. So while the drill DOES remain the same: September 15th – yup, TODAY – kicks off the marathon, running until Halloween. You can see my full list on Letterboxd here, and the plan is to have capsule reviews of my thoughts and feelings posted weekly here on the site. Like always, you can follow along here, on Letterboxd, and even join in: there’s no better way to expand your cinematic knowledge than getting lost in the great global dark, and finding all the things that bump, in the night or otherwise.

THE RULES:

1. 31 films watched and reviewed
2. 6 films from different countries (other than Italy or the US)
3. 9 films from different decades
4. 5 sequels
5. 1 Steve Miner film
6. 1 “Meta” horror
7. 1 film with ‘massacre’ in the title
8. 1 film with ‘devil’ in the title
9. 2 films that Screaming Mad George worked on.
10. 1 Romero film
11. 1 Black director
12. 1 Michael Gough film
13. 1 haunted house/building/room film
14. 1 film with a character or actor that you had a crush on when you were younger. You have to call out your crush. (Jamie Lee Curtis)
15. 1 film that Tom Savini worked on
16. 1 cursed item film
17. 1 film with LGBTQIA+ character or story
18. 1 baaaad kid film
19. 1 Sam Neill film
20. 1 inanimate object is alive film
21. 1 Horror at sea
22. 2 Bela Lugosi films.
23. 2 films that Harry Manfredini did the score for.
24. The lowest rated film from the 1980s that you have not seen.
25. 1 film from 1981 that you haven’t seen.
26. And 1 Tobe Hooper film (there must ALWAYS be a Tobe Hooper film)

***FOR THOSE THAT LIKE TO DO EXTRA WORK: Dead Ant, Shriek of the Mutilated and Night of the Living Doo***

My starting list (subject to change provided I still adhere to all the rules above), for the visually inclined:

The carnage begins NOW. Be seeing you.