It's my sophomore year at Hooptober High!

A mid-October vacation and the release of Red Dead Redemption 2 is going to put the screws to this season's viewing schedule. Unlike last year, I've decided to lay everything out in advance to make cramming my horror hole easier. Double, triple, and quadruple dipping is allowed. All first time watches for movies that check off requirements. I'm also trying to meet requirements with as many movies sitting in my "to watch" piles as possible.

See Cinemonster's seasonal call to arms here.

QUICK EASY RULES:

10 'Anniversary Films' (Release years end in an 8, excluding 2018)
-The Man Who Laughs (1928)
-Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
-Monkey Shines (1988)
-Halloween Night (1988)
-Night of the Demons (1988)
-Child's Play (1988)
-Maniac Copy (1988)
-Zombi 3 (1988)
-Slugs (1988)
-Blade (1998)

6 Countries
-UK: Suffer, Little Children
-Pakistan: Hell's Ground
-Spain: Slugs
-Austria: Angst
-Italy: Zombi 3
-Canada: I Downloaded A Ghost

6 Decades
-1920s: The Man Who Laughs
-1940s: The Phantom of the Opera
-1950s: The Bad Seed
-1960s: The Birds
-1980s: Suffer Little Children
-1990s: Lord of Illusions
-2000s: I Downloaded A Ghost
-2010s: Tales From The Hood 2

6 Films from before 1970
-The Man Who Laughs (1928)
-Phantom of the Opera (1943)
-Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
-The Creature From The Black Lagoon (1954)
-The Bad Seed (1956)
-The Birds (1963)

6 Films from the following: Romero, Cronenberg, Clive Barker, Terrence Fischer, Sergio Martino, Bill Lustig (mix-and-match, or all one)
-Romero: Survival of the Dead, Monkey Shines
-Lustig: Maniac Cop, Maniac Cop 2
-Barker: Lord of Illusions, Nightbreed

2 Flying things that kill you films
-Zombi 3
-The Birds

1 Silent film as a tribute to A Quiet Place
-The Man Who Laughs

1 Aquatic menace film as a tribute to The Meg
-The Creature From The Black Lagoon

2 Women directed films
-I Downloaded A Ghost
-Blood Diner

1 Inanimate object comes alive film
-Child's Play

1 Film with Barbara Crampton in it
-Body Double

And 2 Tobe Hooper Films (There must ALWAYS be a Hooper film!)
-The Funhouse
-Spontaneous Combustion

Requirements and extra credit met with 28 films, so the remaining 5 (and hopefully more) films will be watches listed after Tales From The Hood 2.

Hooptober 5.0: A Reflection:
I complete all requirement watches on October 28th, leaving a few days for more fun watches. Overall, I would have to say my Hooptober picks this year were a bit of a drag. I loaded up on films that had already been hanging over my head as needing to be seen (whether out of importance or my own completist drive) so a good amount of the watches almost felt like homework. And my other requirement-filling picks were just kinda dull. Better luck next year, I guess. The two standout watches were Night of the Demons and Body Double. I don't know why I put off Night for so long. The biggest letdown was Survival of the Dead. Zombies can't remember or learn tasks and they certainly don't eat horses. I know you made the genre what it is, but the fuck were you doing, George? This Hooptober also lead me to discover I just can't get on board with Clive Barker. For me, the evil sexiness of it all really gets lost in the dense, almost fantasy-skewing mythology. Until next year, happy Hooptober!