I started getting that itch around late July. That itch that can only be scratched with a cleaver, or chainsaw, or by a spooky ghost. That Hooptober itch.
Even after a less than stellar slate of picks last year, I wasn't going to let myself be deterred. My schedule is largely free from travel and a heavy work load this Halloween season, so hopefully I'll be able to let myself sink in and really enjoy my favorite time of the year.
In my two previous Hooptobers I tried to knock out the requirements with as few films as possible and crammed random watches to hit the 31 film mark. Limitations on potential watch time from work and life made hitting…
I started getting that itch around late July. That itch that can only be scratched with a cleaver, or chainsaw, or by a spooky ghost. That Hooptober itch.
Even after a less than stellar slate of picks last year, I wasn't going to let myself be deterred. My schedule is largely free from travel and a heavy work load this Halloween season, so hopefully I'll be able to let myself sink in and really enjoy my favorite time of the year.
In my two previous Hooptobers I tried to knock out the requirements with as few films as possible and crammed random watches to hit the 31 film mark. Limitations on potential watch time from work and life made hitting all of the requirements a priority instead of picking titles that would lead to a better overall experience. But not this year. Hopefully more carefully curating a meander instead of a sprint will lead to more thriller and less filler. While fulfilling multiple requirements with a single film will still happen, it's not going to be a primary objective this time around and I will make sure each entry hits a requirement so I don't have any fodder watches. I'll be using a separate list to keep track of any other seasonally appropriate viewings I have as well as my Hooptober watches. As usual, I'm going to try and pull as many watches as I can from my stacks of unwatched movies, however unmotivated I am to watch them after staring at them for years. All watches will be new watches. Watching will commence on September 15th.
See Cinemonster's Hooptober 6.0 list here.
Happy Hooptober to all and to all a good fright!
Some Closing Thoughts:
Last night (10/28) I wrapped up my Hooptober watches and the one extra credit I wanted to check out. This was by far the best Hooptober I've had not only due to selection but also due to the pace at which I was able to consume. I was able to fill in a lot of gaps and there were not that many let downs. However, as Halloween was drawing nigh I was starting to get a little burnt out on my selection--even if I was excited to see the movie, having it looming over your head for a month-plus makes it feel a bit like homework. The stand out film for me this year was Dog Soldiers. It was just so much fun and I'm glad the years of it languishing on my watch list didn't tarnish my expectations. While I'm sad to close the casket on another Hooptober, I'm a bit relieved to be free from it's grasp so I can take a more leisurely approach to the remaining days of October and Halloweekend and watch some of the other things I've discovered through everyone else's watches. Be sure to check out my all of my seasonally appropriate watches on the list in the link above. See you all next year!
Six Countries
-Australia: Next of Kin
-France: Knife+Heart
-Italy: Cemetery Man
-Japan: Audition
-Sweden: The Phantom Carriage
-UK/Luxembourg: Dog Soliders
Six Decades
1960s: Night Tide
1970s: Tourist Trap
1980s: Ghost Story
1990s: Hocus Pocus
2000s: Bloody Murder
2010s: Excision
Six Films From Before 1966
-The Walking Dead (1936)
-The Wolf Man (1941)
-Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)
-Strangler of the Swamp (1946)
-Terror by Night (1946)
-Caltiki, The Immortal Monster (1959)
Six Films Whose Year Ends in '6'
-The Walking Dead (1936)
-Strangler of the Swamp (1946)
-Terror by Night (1946)
-Queen of Blood (1966)
-Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006)
-Bug (2006)
Six Films Featuring Work From The Following: John Carl Buechler,
Jack Pierce, Rob Bottin, Screaming Mad George, Lon Chaney,
or Carlo Rambaldi
-Rob Bottin: The Howling
-John Carl Buechler: Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers
-Jack Pierce: The Wolf Man, Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man, Terror by Night
The 6th Film of a Franchise
-Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers
One Reptile Rampage Film as Tribute to Crawl
-Eaten Alive
Two Women Directed Films
-Jennifer's Body
-The Slumber Party Massacre
The Lowest Rated Film From The 80s That You Can Access
-Hobgoblins
One Film Where The Men And Women Of The Church Are Having A Bad Day
-Def by Temptation
One Larry Cohen or Dick Miller Film
-The Terror (Dick Miller)
One Classic Universal
-The Wolf Man
One Film With Dee Wallace In It
-The Howling
One Film With A Black Director Or Predominantly Black Cast (NO JORDAN PEELE)
-Def by Temptation
One Film From A Mexican Director To Honor Two Great Films From Gigi Saul Guerrero & Issa López (NO GDT, But It Can Be GSG Or Issa)
-Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary
One Tobe Hooper Film (There must ALWAYS be a Hooper film)
-Eaten Alive
Extra Credit:
-Horror Noire
-Innocent Blood (I'm not going to watch this one because I prefer to keep my child killing fictional)
