letterboxd.com/cinemonster/list/the-night-hooptober-came-home-hoop-tober/

My 3rd year in a row traveling back to Castle Hooptober high in the Carpathian mountains. I find myself...helplessly drawn to it on the eve of each coming autumn. The villagers keep telling me to turn back, but it's no use...

Yeah, I love love love love love horror movies. To be clear: I know a whole lot of them are dreck, and don't pay off, but some do, and just traipsing into this world of scary, macabre cinema like taking the quaint yet vividly decorated haunted house ride at the fairgrounds is an aesthetic pleasure few things in life surpass. Thank you ever so much for making Halloween on Letterboxd a special occasion, Cinemonster.

This year, I find myself boxed in even tighter by the dwindling options of unseen horror movies. There remain great amounts I've yet to explore, but within the given criteria, it's a challenge. I want to shine my flashlight into previously unseen corners, yet as a horror fan I've already seen the genre fare of Raimi, Carpenter, Whale, and Craven, and every one of the "of the Living Dead" series. So for the first time I'll have to submit a re-watch with "Night of the Living Dead", and it's probably about time, since I haven't sat down with this classic since I last saw it in film school almost 2 decades ago. As for the Craven/Raimi/etc category, I'm digging deeper with the student film that inspired "Evil Dead" and more of Craven's TV movies (after trying some out in last year's round). I like that these restrictions push me beyond the superficial completism of theatrical features, though. Time to think outside the coffin.

*note: I was hoping to find room for more '80s and slashers ("Just Before Dawn", "Mortuary", "Bloody Birthday", "Sundown", "The Unholy", "The Unnamable"), more sequels (still haven't gotten to "Basket Case 3", "Sorority House Massacre" continuations, the other "Warlock"s), and more British anthologies ("Asylum", "The Uncanny"), but Hooptober 5.0 will find a way. For now I am frothing at the mouth to sire this year's crop into my rotting psyche of horror movie experiences:

QUICK EASY RULES:

6 sequels (mix-and-match. 6 total)
1) Return of the Fly (1959)
2) Curse of the Fly (1965)
3) It's Alive III: Island of the Alive (1987)
4) Slumber Party Massacre II (1987)
5) Slumber Party Massacre III (1990)
6) Maniac Cop 2 (1990)

6 countries
1) Tales That Witness Madness (1973) (England)
2) Encounters of the Spooky Kind (1980) (Hong Kong)
3) The Pit (1981) (Canada)
4) The Beyond (1981) (Italy)
5) Stage Fright: Aquarius (1987) (Italy)
6) El Dia de La Bestia (1995) (Spain)

6 decades
1) Captain Clegg (aka Night Creatures) (1962)
2) Martin (1978)
3) Night Life (1989)
4) Society (says 1989 but wasn't released until 1992)
5) Laid to Rest (2009)
6) Honeymoon (2014)

6 films from before 1970
1) The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958)
2) Return of the Fly (1959)
3) Captain Clegg (1962)
4) Black Sabbath (1963)
5) Curse of the Fly (1965)
6) Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966)

6 films from the following: Carpenter, Raimi, Whale, Browning, Craven, Tom Holland (mix-and-match, or all one)
1) The Unknown (1927) (Browning)
2) The Devil-Doll (1936) (Browning)
3) Within the Woods (1978) (Raimi)
4) The Beast Within (1982) (written by Holland)
5) Invitation to Hell (1984) (Craven)
6) Chiller (1985) (Craven)

3 people eating people (non-zombie)
1) Blood Diner (1987)
2) Cannibal Apocalypse (1980) (aka Invasion of the Flesh Hunters)
3) Welcome to the Jungle (2007)

1 Hammer Film
1) The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958)

1 Romero Dead film
1) Night of the Living Dead (1968)

1 terrible oversight (use the following link, filter out the films you've seen and picked the highest rated film from the list that you can get ahold of) letterboxd.com/films/genre/horror/by/rating/size/small/
1) Possession (1981)

And 2 Tobe Hooper Films (There must ALWAYS be a Hooper film)
1) Lifeforce (1985) (finally!)
2) Spontaneous Combustion (1990)

***FOR THOSE THAT LIKE TO DO EXTRA WORK: WATCH THE ORIGINAL AND REMAKE OF "IT". YOU WILL RECEIVE A SHOUT OUT IN NEXT YEARS HOOP-TOBER***