It's that time of year again, we're back and it's Halloween/Hooptober season, baby!
As ever I started putting my watch list together before the rules came out and then added some to hit the rules later.
This year is probably going to be a much lighter one for me due to having a target to work my way through my collection of Action and Crime Drama films at the moment. I'm sure I'll still end up adding a few here and there to this list, but right now as of the time of "completing" the initial set up, it has 54 movies... which is the amount last years list had before the rules had even came out (it ended up with 114!).

As is my tradition, I've hit the rules set for Hooptober, as well as some rules of my own (at least 1 vamp movie, 1 werewolf, 1 Frankenstein etc). It's also going to be a bit of a sad year as there are some movies by directors that I've really enjoyed, with these being the last horror movies I hadn't yet seen by them.

A full breakdown of my list and why I've chosen them will be at the bottom below the rules.

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letterboxd.com/cinemonster/list/the-twelfth-of-hooptober-diary-of-a-madman/

Now for the rules:
-There must be 31 horror films
-6 countries (other than Italy or US): UK, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Germany, Russia, Thailand, Australia.
-9 decades: 1920s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s, 10s, 2020s
-5 Zombie Films: Patient Zero, 28 Years Later, Burying the Ex, Dead Air, Battle of the Damned, Wyrmwood: Apocalypse
-3 cult or conspiracy horror films: Apostle, Cthulhu, Blood Creek
-1 film from a Black director with a Black lead: Bones
-1 film from a Mexican or Central American director: Don’t Panic
-1 Canadian film: The Shrouds
-1 former Soviet state film (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan): Sputnik
-The most popular film from the 1940s that you haven't seen and can access: The Devil Bat
-2 Post Apocalyptic horror films: Patient Zero, Wyrmwood: Apocalypse
-1 Film with dreams or a dream as part of the plot: Beyond Dream's Door
-1 The animals are pissed at us film: Crocodile
-1 Silent film: A Page of Madness
-4 based on Novels: The Langoliers, Wyrd Sisters, The Monkey, Edge of Sanity
-Any film from THIS list that you haven't seen: A Page of Madness
-1 Ernesto Gastaldi written film: The Horrible Dr. Hichcock
-1 film from 1932: Vampyr
-I have never made a specific film a part of this before, but WIZARD of OZ ('39): I've seen 'The Wizard of Oz' a million times before, so I'm going to watch it as part of the 'The Dark Side of the Rainbow' version that has Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side of the Moon' played over the top.
-And 1 Tobe Hooper Film (There must ALWAYS be a Hooper film): Crocodile, Mortuary, Toolbox Murders - doing 3 of these this year, as while going through my horror library in date order, I'll end up getting to these 3 by the time of this years hooptober.

***FOR THOSE THAT LIKE TO DO EXTRA WORK: WATCH Burn Witch Burn, German Chainsaw Massacre & Trick or Treat (1986).

Now for my full list and the reasons I've picked them:

28 Years Later - I haven't seen this year, it's new for this year and a lot of people have been talking about it. Kind of enjoyed the previous two movies in the series, although I still wish they'd made '28 months.'
A Page of Madness - My silent movie pick for this year.
Amityville: The Awakening - One of the many dodgy Amityville films, but I'm close to finishing these now (of the ones in the letterboxd collection anyway).
Apostle - Cult movie and I'm curious as to what Gareth Evans does with this.
Arachnid - Big Ass spider creature feature.
Battle of the Damned - Zombie schlock with Dolph.
Beyond Dream's Door - My dream movie entry.
Black Cab - Nick Frost has been churning out some odd horror over the past few years, so this is my pick for him for this year.
Blood Creek - the final horror film I haven't yet seen by Joel Schumacher.
Bones - Black directed and black led.
Bruiser - The final horror film I haven't yet seen by George A. Romero.
Burying the Ex - The final horror film I haven't yet seen by Joe Dante.
Crocodile - My Tobe Hooper pick number 1 this year.
Cthulhu - My Lovecraft pick for the year.
Cyclops - Fucked up Japanese horror.
Dark Shadows (2005) - I spent over 3 years slowing working my way through through the original Dark Shadows tv show at a rate of one episode a day. I finally finished it early this year, and then watched the 12 episode 1991 reboot series (they really speed run the original stories in that). So I figured I may as well add to this years Hooptober the second reboot from 2005 which never made it past the pilot. That also means I'll watch...
Dark Shadows (2012) - The final horror film I haven't yet seen by Tim Burton. Been waiting to get through all of the other DS stuff before seeing this.
Dead Air - Zombie shit which I've heard mixed things about, but I'm interested for Bill Moseley and Patricia Tallman.
Death Kappa - Have to have some Kaiju fun every year.
Don’t Panic - My Mexican director pick.
Edge of Sanity - A Jekyll/Hyde pick.
Final Destination Bloodlines - Catching up on the FD series.
Frankenstein Created Bikers - My Frankenstein pick.
Hollow Man 2 - My Invisible man pick.
I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025) - Catching up on this series and a post-modern slasher.
Let Me In - A remake, but my Hammer Horror pick for this year.
Mortuary - A second Hooper pick for the year.
My Soul to Take - The final horror film I haven't yet seen by Wes Craven.
Night of the Eagle / Burn Witch Burn - One of the extras for this year on the official list.
Patient Zero - Another Zombie apocalypse movie. Interested in seeing what Stanley Tucci does with this.
Sinners - Everyone has been raving about this, so here goes. My vampire pick.
Sputnik - My Russian pick, as well as some space horror.
Street Trash - A melty movie. Seen the original, so lets see if this can even come close to it.
The Dark Side of the Rainbow - Now I've already seen 'Wizard of Oz' ('39) about a million times, and as I always try to watch things I've never seen before, I thought I'd give this a go. It's the Wizard of Oz with Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side of the Moon' laid over the top.
The Devil Bat - Lugosi and a 1940s pick.
The German Chainsaw Massacre - The other official extra pick. I'm not including Trick or Treat in my list as I've already seen it.
The H-Man - My Ishirō Honda pick for this year. I've seen so many of his movies already.
The Horrible Dr. Hichcock - My pick for "written by Ernesto Gastaldi".
The Invisible Man Appears - Only heard of this for the first time this year. A Japanese invisible man movie from 1949?! Yes please!
The Lake - More Kaiju fun! This time from Thailand.
The Langoliers - Stephen King schlock from Tom Holland.
The Magnetic Monster - A random classic horror a discovered a few months back and have been saving for this.
The Monkey - More King fuckery and a comedy horror to boot.
The Shrouds - My Cronenberg pick this year. Don't really have any other horror left by him.
The Wasp Woman - Roger Corman schlock pick.
Together - There was so much talk about this film this year due to the plagiarism claims. Another body horror pick.
Toolbox Murders - My 3rd Hooper pick for this year. I've got 3 because by this time next year, I'll have already watched them in my timeline watch order anyway, so may as well watch them now.
Trick or Treat with Reed Richmond - An oddity pick.
Trog - My Freddie Francis pick for the year. Not many of his left.
V/H/S/Halloween - My anthology pick for the year, and what is becoming a tradition for Halloween viewing. It's cool that Shudder are doing these on an annual basis.
Vampyr - My 1932 pick.
Werewolves - My werewolf pick of the year.
Wyrd Sisters - My animated pick for the year and another one based on a novel.
Wyrmwood: Apocalypse - My Aussie trash zombie apocalypse pick.