EDIT: I did it!!! I actually completed my Hooptober challenge! Okay, so I had to change the initial list here and there, but this still pushed me out of my comfort zone and encouraged me to watch a bunch of movies I probably wouldn't have watched otherwise. For that reason alone, I'm super glad I did it.

Since the challenge is complete, I've reordered the list (originally it was chronological). Now the movies are ranked by preference. Most of them were first time watched, though it happens that the #1 movie was a rewatch (albeit I hadn't seen it in ages). Overall I think my top 8 is incredibly solid, with a bunch of movies I really love and will undoubtedly revisit in the future. The rest of the list is more hit or miss, but I can confidently say I enjoyed at least my top 20, which is not a bad hit ratio when it comes to horror!

Original description preserved below.

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Okay, let's do this one more time.

Last year, I attempted and failed to complete Hooptober. I watched a little over half of the movies on my list. I was disappointed, but also not surprised. I like making lists. Following them is another matter. It starts to feel like homework, but like, homework without a grade. How do you people actually motivate yourselves to complete this thing??

This year, I have more constraints. To begin with, I don't have any of my movies, or a blu-ray player, or indeed even a television, in my new living arrangements. I hope to get those things sometime soon, but I have to assume that I'm constrained by whatever is streaming. Specifically, what's streaming on the services I already subscribe to - I want to avoid paying money for a movie whenever possible. And of course, what's streaming changes on a month-to-month basis, which means it's hard to predict what, on this list, will still be available to me during October.

For that reason, I'm starting now. Ideally, I would have started earlier, but what can you do, I forgot about this until today. And as tempted as I am to retroactively count everything I watched in September, that doesn't quite feel in the spirit of things.

Okay. I think that's enough of a preamble. Below, I've pasted the HOOPTOBER CATEGORIES. In the notes for the movies below, you'll see what each one counts for.

Here's the categories this year, as stated in the original list by Cinemonster. Remember that one movie can count for more than one category:

6 countries
[X] Theater of Blood (UK)
[X] Ringu 2 (Japan)**
[X] The Mimic (South Korea)
[X] Under the Shadow (Iran)
[X] Impetigore (Indonesia)
[X] Raw (France)***

6 decades
[X] A Bucket of Blood (1950s)****
[X] House of Usher (1960s)
[X] Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1970s)
[X] Creepshow (1980s)
[X] The Mortuary Collection (2010s)

7 2nd films of franchises
[X] Dawn of the Dead (1978)
[X] The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2*****
[X] Creepshow 2
[X] Gremlins 2: The New Batch
[X] Halloween II
[X] Child's Play 2
[X] Ringu 2**

4 body horror films
[X] Raw***
[X] The Brood
[X] The Fly
[X] From Beyond

2 films from this year
[X] Scare Me
[X] The Haunting of Bly Manor

3 disease based films
[X] The Masque of the Red Death
[X] The Crazies
[X] Blood Quantum

The highest rated horror film from the 50s that you haven't seen and can access.
[X] A Bucket of Blood (1950s)****

1 film that is set entirely inside one location
[X] Pandorum

1 Invisible Person film
[X] The Invisible Man Returns

1 Non Dracula Hammer Film
[X] The Mummy

2 films with a black director or predominantly black cast or lead.
[X] Blacula
[X] Tales from the Hood

1 film with a movie theater in it.
[X] Demons

1 film by Tobe Hooper
[X] The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2*****

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HOOPTOBER SE7EN WATCH ORDER

1. A Bucket of Blood
2. Pandorum
3. Gremlins 2: The New Batch
4. Creepshow
5. Creepshow 2
6. Demons
7. Scare Me
8. The Crazies
9. House of Usher
10. The Mimic
11. From Beyond
12. Theater of Blood
13. The Fly
14. The Brood
15. The Mummy
16. The Masque of the Red Death
17. Blood Quantum
18. The Mortuary Collection
19. Halloween II
20. Dawn of the Dead (1978)
21. Impetigore
22. The Invisible Man Returns
23. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2
24. Ringu 2
25. Tales from the Hood
26. Child's Play 2
27. The Haunting of Bly Manor
28. Under the Shadow
29. Blacula
30. Raw
31. Invasion of the Body Snatchers

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Copy and paste for reviews:

Hooptober Se7en: The Revenge of Hooptober - #X
Category: X