Yet again I join my fellow film-watching fiends in digging up unknown horrors from the graveyards of cinema, by participating in Cinemonster's annual horror challenge. This is the 10th time this has happened, and I look forward to many more.

The challenge is to watch 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 have finally exhausted all of Tobe Hooper's horror offerings. So, I'm going to revisit "Lifeforce" (1985) to fulfill the horror side of this entry, but I'm also going to watch the non-horror film "Eggshells" (1969) just to watch something I haven't seen from ol' Tobe.

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:

6 Countries:
This years list has a whopping 15 countries represented, including Argentina, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Poland, South Africa, Spain, the UK, and the USA. I believe this is the most countries I've ever covered in a Hoop-Tober challenge.

8 Decades:
9 decades are covered, with films from the 1920s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s represented.

2 Post-Apocalyptic or Natural Disaster Related Films
We'll split the difference with "Extinction" (2015) for a post-apocalyptic film and "Cyclone" (1978) for a natural disaster film. "Plaga Zombie" (1997) might technically count as post-apocalyptic but I obviously haven't seen it so I can't say.

1 Film with Robert Englund
Not many options here, or at least ones that look worth my time. We'll gamble on "Phantom of the Opera" (1989) because why not?

1 "Something is Underground" Film
Ah, if only I hadn't seen "C.H.U.D." (1984) so many times before. If you haven't seen it, I'd recommend it for a pick for this category. I went with Takashi Shimizu's "Marebito" (2004), which has been kicking around my watchlist for a great many years. It also stars Shinya Tsukamoto, who I've always been a fan of.

3 Satan/Devil-Centered Films
I'll finally scratch "Day of the Beast" (1995) off my list; this one has been put off for too long. "Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell" (1978) is part of my Cult Movie Challenge, so it crosses over nicely here. Finally, I went with some old-school German Expressionism that I've been meaning to get to with "Faust" (1926).

1 Amicus Film
"The Beast Must Die" (1974) will fill the Amicus slot, truth be told I'd probably prefer "Vault of Horror", but this pick has Peter Cushing, which I needed anyway. Maybe next year.

Worst Unseen Dracula Film (by Letterboxd rating)
"Dracula 3000" (2004), which I imagine will be most people's selection for this category, was actually already on my Wheel of the Worst: Ripoff Edition list of candidates that get picked for a weekly bad movie viewing I do with my friends. It was on that list for a reason, so I can only hope it will at least be entertaining.

1 LGBTQ+ Connected Film
Some options I saw others suggest for this category seemed barely related to the theme, but "Spiral" (2019) seems to pretty unambiguously meet the theme requirements, so it gets picked here.

5 Films from De Palma, Wes Craven, Ken Russell, Hitchcock and/or Moorhead & Benson.
Why not do one of each? I've seen a lot of films by most of these directors, but there's still some meat on the bone to be had.
De Palma: "Raising Cain" (1992)
Wes Craven: "Swamp Thing" (1982)
Ken Russell: "Trapped Ashes" (2006)
Hitchcock: "Frenzy" (1972)
Moorhead & Benson: "The Endless" (2017)

2 Peter Cushing Films
"The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires" (1974) A Hammer-Shaw Brothers co production with Peter Cushing? Yes please. The aforementioned "The Beast Must Die" (1974) rounds out the 2nd pick.

1 Film Based on a Work of or Invoking the Name Bram Stoker
We'll go with something unconventional (ie, not Dracula) and pick "The Awakening" (1980), (supposedly) based on Stoker's "The Jewel of Seven Stars".

1 Film Based on a Clive Barker Story
I've seen most of the films based on his work, but I haven't seen the somewhat recent "Books of Blood" (2020). I enjoyed the anthology / short stories that these are presumably based on when I read them years ago, so maybe this will be alright?

1 Film That Was Released the Year That You Turned 10
1995 happens to be the year that "The Day of the Beast" (1995) was released, which I would have probably ended up picking for this category anyway, but it nicely double dips with the Satan / Devil criteria from earlier.

1 Mario Bava Film.
"Shock" (1977) is the highest rated Bava film I haven't seen yet, so on the list it goes.

1 Film with an 'X' in the Title
Alas, I have already seen "X" (2022) and "Xtro" (1982), which would both be great picks here. "XX" (2017) has fairly mixed reviews, but it does have "X" in the title, so... we'll go with that.

1 Tobe Hooper Film:
Lifeforce (1985) - As mentioned before, I've seen this one, but it has admittedly been several years so it's likely due for a rewatch anyway. Just to watch something new from Tobe Hooper, I'll be watching Eggshells (1969), listed as a drama / fantasy, which isn't horror in my book, and thus would not fulfill the quota here.

Extra Credit Films: I'll probably take a shot at these as well.
The Zodiac Killer (1971)
10 Rillington Place (1971)
Shaky Shivers (2023)

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Thanks as always to Cinemonster for delivering this yearly bit of joy, and to everyone out there checking out all the great lists.

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Completed: ?/?/2023