Greetings, fellow assholes, and welcome to Hooptober IX: The Redemption of Shelby.
Two years ago I stumbled upon Hooptober: a horror movie challenge by legendary Letterboxd user Cinemonster. Each year, Cinemonster creates very specific criteria for movie buffs to curate a list of movies to watch and review between - well, now - and October 31st.
Two years ago, I used the challenge to lose weight - and I did. And then I gained it back. And then some. Whoops.
Last year, I abandoned Hooptober early, because frankly reader, I got dumped, and I didn't feel much like finishing. The girl I was seeing lived in Rhode Island and didn't want to commit to a long-term, long-distance relationship. Neither of…
Greetings, fellow assholes, and welcome to Hooptober IX: The Redemption of Shelby.
Two years ago I stumbled upon Hooptober: a horror movie challenge by legendary Letterboxd user Cinemonster. Each year, Cinemonster creates very specific criteria for movie buffs to curate a list of movies to watch and review between - well, now - and October 31st.
Two years ago, I used the challenge to lose weight - and I did. And then I gained it back. And then some. Whoops.
Last year, I abandoned Hooptober early, because frankly reader, I got dumped, and I didn't feel much like finishing. The girl I was seeing lived in Rhode Island and didn't want to commit to a long-term, long-distance relationship. Neither of us was very happy about it.
Well, joke's on us, reader, because literally, like, five days into November, I got a thoroughly-perfumed, three-page-long letter about what a mistake she'd made - not in considering me in the first place, as one might expect, but rather in dumping me.
Now we've been "Facebook official," as is common in the tongue of our people (elderly millennials), for about nine months. We're both very happy and are on the brink of moving in together (finally).
As penance for her crimes, however, this year Shelby has agreed (read: been coerced) to embark with me on not just fulfilling the views for this year's Hooptober, but also on making up the films I missed out on last year due to the heartbreak that she caused. The good news for Shelby is that she almost likes me as much as she loves horror movies. "She prefers them," she says over the noise of me typing this in front of her. To accommodate the extra films (punishment?) we are starting earlier than ever - September 1st.
I like having goals to improve myself through Hooptober, but I bit off more than I could chew last year. Therefore, this year, for every two minutes I spend watching a movie for Hooptober, I will spend one minute doing one of the following activities:
- Budgeting (calories or cash)
- Exercising
- Cleaning (includes selling stuff on eBay)
- Reading
- Writing
Goal #2 - Watch and review 52 horror movies in 61 days. Shelby and I are very excited :)
Updates will come in the form of Letterboxd blog posts. I will give an update on Goal #1 and review a film as part of Goal #2.
The viewing order is worst to best according to Letterbox, but adjusted so that we can watch sequels back-to-back. We jump around a lot because life is hard and we should be allowed to break the rules more often. If you're reading this list after Hooptober IX and are confused by the order it's because I adjust the list as we watch it to reflect our final viewing order.
I did my best to limit the movies to ones I had not yet reviewed for Letterboxd, but I let Shelby pick The Wicker Man (or as I like to call it, Midsommar for British Boomers) as a lil' treat :)
I would normally put in the notes how I met each requirement but it's 10:25 PM and I start school tomorrow. Figure it out yourself.
Welcome to Hooptober IX: The Redemption of Shelby.
You can follow Shelby's progress here. We'll see you on the other side!
