As much as I love October and horror movies I normally find myself retreading my essentials, floundering to make decisions on what else to watch, and settling for whatever bullshit is at the top of the Netflix horror list due to selection overload exhaustion. I hope that adding a little structure to this year's spooky watch marathon will allow me to actually enjoy the time I spend doing the thing I love most.

I was going to hold off until October to start this but I can't fight the urge any longer. I need to dive head first into this holiday spirit. Official Hoop-tober watches will begin September 15, 2017 with the hope that the extra time will allow me to push past the 31 movie minimum.

I'm trying to keep it fresh for me without leaving my horror rookie girlfriend in the dark.

I'm not going to post my films in advance. The best laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft a-gley anyways, right? I think one of the most fun parts of this will be seeing the tapestry of posters come together as I go. But I am running an extensive Google Doc with plans, rules, and availability and I plan on posting rule qualifying information with each entry.

See Cinemonster's seasonal call to arms here.

QUICK EASY RULES:

Six Sequels (mix-and-match or all from one)
-Bride of Frankenstein
-Land of the Dead
-Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies
-Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2
-Phantasm II
-Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead
-Phantasm IV: Oblivion
-Phantasm: Ravager
-Ghoulies II

Six Countries
-United States: Frankenstein
-Hong Kong: Mr. Vampire
-Indonesia: Mystics In Bali
-United Kingdom: City of the Dead
-Japan: Women's Flesh - My Red Guts
-Sweden: Häxan
-France: Diabolique
-Italy: Suspiria

Six Decades
-1920s: Häxan
-1930s: Frankenstein
-1950s: Diabolique
-1960s: Spider Baby
-1970s: The Hills Have Eyes
-1980s: Mr. Vampire
-1990s: Gorgasm
-2000s: Land of the Dead
-2010s: Charlotte

Six Films From Before 1970
-Häxan (1922)
-Frankenstein (1931)
-Freaks (1932)
-Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
-Diabolique (1955)
-The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)
-Psycho (1960)
-City of the Dead (1960)
-Spider Baby (1967)

Six Films From the Following: Carpenter, Raimi, Whale, Browning, Craven, Tom Holland (mix-and-match, or all one)
-Whale: Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein
-Carpenter: Body Bags
-Browning: Freaks
-Craven: The Hills Have Eyes
-Holland: Thinner

Three People Eating People (Non-Zombie)
-IT (2017) - Pennywise was gnawing on a hand right before the rock fight.
-Mystics in Bali - Flying severed head cannibalistic cunnilingus abortion.
-Spider Baby

One Hammer Film
-The Curse of Frankenstein

One Romero Dead Film
-Land of the Dead

One Terrible Oversight (We're doing two--hers and mine)
-Psycho (Mine)
-Diabolique (Hers, also one for me)

Two Tobe Hooper Films (There must ALWAYS be a Hooper film)
-Body Bags
-Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2

Extra Credit:
Watch the original and remake of IT.
-DONE

SELF IMPOSED RULE:
At least 50% of the Hooptober watches must be new watches.
-DONE

SELF IMPOSED RULE THAT PROBABLY WON'T BE SEEN THROUGH:
Write something about at least 50% of the watches--sarcastic quips and dumb jokes count.
-DONE

Reflections On My First Hooptober
Unfortunately my first Hooptober is ending early due to my work schedule. I was hoping to hit some of my essentials on Halloween night but duty calls. This challenge really was the most fun part of a rather dull Halloween season--spooky junk food brought nothing new to the table, the weather was garbage, even seasonally appropriate TV specials and commercials seemed to be pretty scarce. Maybe going to Disney World and Universal Studios last October set the bar too high. Anyways. Stepping out of my usual tract for October watches was pretty refreshing, even if I didn't take the most direct route to completing the criteria.