COMPLETED 10/31/2025
Top 5
Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris (1999)
Habit (1995)
Knife+Heart (2018)
The Flesh and the Fiends (1960)
Mister Designer (1987)

Bottom 3 (First is Worst)
The Mangler Reborn (2005)
The Mangler 2 (2002)
Salvage (2015)

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Hello fellow boils and ghouls, it's time for our yearly October tradition, Cinemonster's annual horror challenge. This is the 12th go-round, and my 10th time participating.

The challenge is to watch (at least) 31 horror movies that fulfill the listed criteria by the end of Halloween night.

As is my tradition, there will be no rewatches on my list, first-watches for everything... except for the fact that I still have exhausted all of Tobe Hooper's horror offerings. So, once again I'm going to revisit a Hooper film, this time I'm rewatching "The Mangler" (1995) to fulfill the requirement, and I will also be watching its sequels "The Mangler 2" (2002) & "The Mangler Reborn" (2005), just to watch something new. The last time I watched "The Mangler" was when I rented the VHS from my local Movie Gallery, so it's been a hot minute. As for "The Wizard of Oz", I hadn't seen it in decades and finally rewatched it just a few months ago. Despite generally being a stickler for the rules, given how recently I watched it, I'm instead going to rewatch 1985's "Return to Oz", as I've been meaning watch that one again, and it's arguably a lot more horror-adjacent than "The Wizard of Oz" anyway.

I probably won't get around to reviewing them, but never say never.

The criteria for this year's challenge and my selections that fulfill them are as follows:

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6 Countries (that aren't the USA or Italy:
16 countries in total are represented, 14 excluding the USA & Italy. Canada, France, Greece, Hong Kong, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, the Phillipines, Senegal, South Africa, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Russia, United Arab Emirates (and the USA + Italy).

9 Decades:
10 decades are represented; 1910s, 1930s, 1940s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s.

5 Zombie Films
The Cured (2017), The Curse of the Doll People (1961), Dead & Breakfast (2004), Helldriver (2010), and One Dark Night (1982).

3 Cult or Conspiracy Horror Films
The Babysitter (2017), The Seventh Victim (1943), and Sound of My Voice (2011).

1 Film from a Black director with a Black Lead
Saloum (2021).

1 Film from a Mexican or Central American Director
The Curse of the Doll People (1961)

1 Canadian Film
Come True (2020)

1 Former Soviet State Film
Mister Designer (1987)

Most Popular Film from the 1940s that You Haven't Seen
The Seventh Victim (1943)

2 Post Apocalyptic Horror Films
The Cured (2017) and Helldriver (2010).

1 Film with Dreams or a Dream as Part of the Plot
Come True (2020).

1 "The Animals are Pissed at Us" Film
The Swarm (1978)

1 Silent Film
Dante's Inferno (1911)

4 Based on Novels
Mad Love (1935), Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932), The Other (1972), and The Swarm (1978).

A Film from Cinemonster's Favorite Horror Films List
The Babysitter (2017) and One Dark Night (1982).

1 Ernesto Gastaldi Written Film
The Case of the Bloody Iris (1972)

1 Film from 1932
Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932)

The Wizard of Oz (1939)
As stated above, I just revisited this film a few months ago, so I'm going to rewatch "Return to Oz" (1985) instead.

1 Tobe Hooper Film (There must ALWAYS be a Hooper film)
As stated above, I exhausted Mr. Hooper's horror offerings a few years ago, so we'll be rewatching "The Mangler" (1995), and to watch something new, I'll also be watching the sequels, "The Mangler 2" (2002) and "The Mangler Reborn" (2005).

FOR THOSE THAT LIKE TO DO EXTRA WORK:
Since I've already seen "Burn Witch Burn / Night of the Eagle" (1962) and "Trick or Treat" (1986), we'll just do "The German Chainsaw Massacre" (1990) since that's already on my watchlist.

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Edited: Swapped "Beauty & the Beast (1978) for "V/H/S Halloween" (2025), as B&tB was slated for later in my HORRORx52 Challenge schedule.
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