CRITTERS (1986) - 40 YEARS OF KILLER KRITES, BIG BITES, AND EPIC SPACE FLIGHTS!

CRITTERS (1986) d. Stephen Herek (USA) 

CRITTERS 2: THE MAIN COURSE (1988) d. Mick Garris (USA)
CRITTERS 3 (1991) d. Kristine Peterson (USA)
CRITTERS 4 (1992) d. Rupert Harvey (USA)

**CLICK HERE TO WATCH FULL YOUTUBE EPISODE**

The energetic creature feature Critters landed with a splash in the spring of 1986, sporting a killer cast, memorable monsters, sharp scripting, and a newly minted PG-13 rating to introduce youngsters to the joys of horror and humor swirled together for their viewing pleasure. Though often dismissed as a Gremlins clone, like that film, the reasons why Critters works as well as it does are a) director Stephen Herek keeps his wacky antagonists (Furballs-with-teeth alien criminals known as The Krites) consistently vicious and scary, and b) we are given relatable human protagonists, courtesy of screenwriter Domonic Muir, that we actually grow to care about and worry for their safety.

WILLARD (1971) TEARS 'EM UP AT 55 - RAT HERE RAT NOW!

WILLARD (1971) d. Daniel Mann (USA)
BEN (1972) d. Phil Karlsen (USA)
WILLARD (2003) d. Glen Morgan (USA)

**CLICK HERE TO WATCH FULL YOUTUBE EPISODE**

In Willard (1971), one of the first “animals attack” movies of the 1970s (a subgenre that would expand exponentially in the wake of “the little rat movie that could”), Bruce Davison stars as the title character, a shy and awkward young man slaving away in the factory office under the thumb of his bullying ogre of a boss (played by a superbly oily Ernest Borgnine). To make matters worse, he has no real friends except those of his batty bedridden mother (played by the Bride of Frankenstein herself, Elsa Lanchester).

SCARE-A-THON 2026 FINAL RESULTS!!!

And that, my Autumnal Aficionados and Allies, brings us to the end of Scare-A-Thon 2026 and yet another OCTOBER HORROR MOVIE CHALLENGE!

In its humble origins, the Challenge itself has always been to watch (at least) one fright flick for each of those glorious 31 days that make up the month of October, 16 of which being first time viewings. In 2010, I launched the annual Scare-a-Thon to coincide, raising funds and awareness for various charities and organizations along the way.

Thanks to the generous hearts and minds of fans like you, over $7,900 has been raised for IMPACT CHICAGO, with additional funds still coming in, making this one of the most successful Scare-A-Thons EVERRRRRRRR! (The fundraiser link will remain open for another week, so if you would like to make a donation, there is still time!)

**CLICK HERE TO DONATE NOW!!**

Thanks to all my guests who showed up at all hours from across the globe to chat on the HORROR 101 with Dr. AC YouTube channel, as well as everyone who participated in some way, whether it be making a contribution, liking a Facebook/Instagram post, watching or listening to a partner podcast, leaving a comment, suggesting a movie, attending our Terror Tuesdays lectures at the Chicago Public Library, or even just sharing what YOU were watching this month.

Below are the 38 "official" horror titles viewed for the October season. Before we get to that, however, there is the usual assemblage of useless factoids to ponder while you're thinking ahead to next year's costume.

Have fun!

CHALLENGE STATS:
Total Horror Movies Watched: 38
First Time Views: 16
Total Scare-A-Thon Donations to IMPACT CHICAGO: $7,926

THE WOLF MAN (1941) - THE UNIVERSAL CLASSIC MONSTER COMES ALIVE AT 85!!

THE WOLF MAN (1941) d. George Waggner (USA)
FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN (1943) d. Roy William Neill (USA)
HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1944) d. Erle C. Kenton (USA)
HOUSE OF DRACULA (1945) d. Erle C. Kenton (USA)
ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN (1948) d. Charles T. Barton (USA)

**CLICK HERE TO WATCH FULL YOUTUBE EPISODE**

“Even a man who is pure of heart, and says his prayers by night
May become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms, and the autumn moon is bright.”

As any good horror fan knows, these words foreshadow the nightmare to come in Universal Studios’ classic monster flick, The Wolf Man. Produced/directed by George Waggner in 1941, this howling good b/w film introduced audiences to a character that stands alongside Frankenstein’s Monster and Dracula as one of the “Unholy Three,” the most recognized of the Universal monsters.

THE TENANT (1976) at 50 - Polanski's Psychological Horror Masterpiece Still Has Teeth!

THE TENANT (1976) d. Roman Polanski (USA)

**CLICK HERE TO WATCH FULL YOUTUBE EPISODE**

The Tenant (1976) follows a quiet man named Trelkovsky (played by director/co-writer Roman Polanski) who locates a Parisian apartment right as he is about to be evicted from his current one. It’s available, he discovers, because the previous tenant, Simone Choule, threw herself out the window. Trelkovsky’s celebration of his good fortune is short-lived when he realizes the vacant apartment comes at a hefty price, as he soon becomes convinced that his neighbors are the reason for Simone’s attempted suicide, and that they are intent on driving him to the same fate.

WHO CAN KILL A CHILD? (1976) — Narciso Ibáñez Serrador’s Spanish Horror Classic Turns 50!

WHO CAN KILL A CHILD? (1976) d. Narciso Ibáñez Serrador (Spain)

**CLICK HERE TO WATCH FULL YOUTUBE EPISODE**

Narciso Ibáñez Serrador’s taboo-smashing classic, Who Can Kill a Child (1976), is a movie that packs a lethal punch both in terms of onscreen mayhem and intellectual philosophizing. When a couple of English tourists (Lewis Fiander, Prunella Ransome) arrive on an isolated Spanish island, they begin to discover the mutilated corpses of adults and eventually realize the shocking truth: These innocent-looking youngsters have massacred their elders, exploiting the grownups’ reluctance to defend themselves against the children.

THE BEYOND & THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY - Lucio Fulci's 1981 Double Feature from HELL!!

THE BEYOND (1981) d. Lucio Fulci (Italy)
THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY (1981) d. Lucio Fulci (Italy)

**CLICK HERE TO WATCH FULL YOUTUBE EPISODE**

Italian director Lucio Fulci’s 1981 pairing of The Beyond and The House by the Cemetery represents perhaps the most beloved period of his career, especially by horror fans. Paradoxically, these films are also why his wider cinematic career is often overlooked. By this point, Fulci was already a veteran filmmaker who had worked across comedy, westerns, crime films, gialli and historical dramas. But these days, The Beyond and The House by the Cemetery—alongside Zombie and City of the Living Dead—have become almost a shorthand for what “a Fulci film” is.

SCARE-A-THON 2026: PREDATORS HIT THE BRICKS

Greetings, my blood brothers and sanguinary sisters! It’s that time of year again, when the night air turns crisp and cool, the shadows contain mysteries dark and deep, and tricks and treats trade beats with greets on the streets....

It’s time for SCARE-A-THON 2026

This year, for reasons that might seem obvious, I have selected IMPACT Chicago, a non-profit organization dedicated to ending sexual violence and harassment through empowerment-based self-defense training for women, girls, LGBTQ+ and people with disabilities, providing them with the tools needed to prevent, minimize, and stop violence.

Andrzej Zulawski's POSSESSION (1981) Turns 45 — Breaking Up Is Hard to Do

POSSESSION (1981) d. Andrzej Zulawski (France/West Germany)

**CLICK HERE TO WATCH FULL YOUTUBE EPISODE**

This week, we dive deep into the abyss of challenging cinema with Andrzej Zulawski’s Possession (1981). Deliberately abrasive and queasy, the idiosyncratic Polish director’s best known film assails its audience from the opening scenes and never lets up for a second, leaving the viewer exhausted, exasperated, and exhilarated.

CARRIE (1976) AT 50: Stephen King, Sissy Spacek, & The Prom From Hell

CARRIE (1976) d. Brian De Palma (USA)
THE RAGE: CARRIE 2 (1999) d. Katt Shea (USA)
CARRIE (2002) d. David Carson (USA)
CARRIE (2013) d. Kimberly Peirce (USA)

**CLICK HERE TO WATCH FULL YOUTUBE EPISODE**

Based on Stephen King’s first published novel, 1976’s Carrie holds the distinction for being the first filmed adaptation of one of his works. A truly landmark American horror movie that combines supernatural terror with a powerful story about adolescence, cruelty, repression, and revenge, the film stars Sissy Spacek as the titular and telekinetic Carrie White, a shy, awkward high-school student bullied by her classmates and controlled by her extremely religious mother, Margaret White, indelibly played by Piper Laurie.

HAMMER HORROR 1966 (PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES, THE REPTILE, ONE MILLION YEARS BC, THE WITCHES)

THE PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES (1966) d. John Gilling (UK)
THE REPTILE (1966) d. John Gilling (UK)
ONE MILLION YEARS B.C. (1966) d. Don Chaffey (UK)
THE WITCHES (1966) d. Cyril Frankel (UK)

**CLICK HERE TO WATCH FULL YOUTUBE EPISODE**

For nearly a decade, Hammer had built its reputation on sumptuous Gothic horror, with mysterious castles, suspicious villagers, and iconic monsters, usually with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing topping the bill. But by 1966, Hammer was looking outward, experimenting with new monsters, new settings, and even entirely new genres.

CLASS OF NUKE 'EM HIGH (1986) and POULTRYGEIST (2006) - Bad Taste Tastes Great!

CLASS OF NUKE 'EM HIGH (1986) d. Richard W. Haines / Lloyd Kaufman (USA)
CLASS OF NUKE 'EM HIGH PART II: SUBHUMANOID MELTDOWN (1991) d. Eric Louzil (USA)
CLASS OF NUKE 'EM HIGH PART III: THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE SUBHUMANOID (1994) d. Eric Louzil (USA)
RETURN OF CLASS OF NUKE 'EM HIGH (2013) d. Lloyd Kaufman (USA)
RETURN TO RETURN OF CLASS OF NUKE 'EM HIGH (2017) d. Lloyd Kaufman (USA)
POULTRYGEIST: NIGHT OF THE CHICKEN DEAD (2006) d. Lloyd Kaufman (USA)

**CLICK HERE TO WATCH FULL YOUTUBE EPISODE**

Few independent film companies have cultivated a cinematic identity as unmistakable—or as gloriously unhinged—as Troma Entertainment. Founded by Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz, the New York-based outfit built its reputation by giving audiences the movies Hollywood wouldn’t touch: outrageous, irreverent, low-budget spectacles that mixed horror, comedy, sex, punk attitude and social satire.

"Hello, Sidney." | CELEBRATING 30 YEARS OF WES CRAVEN'S SCREAM (1996)

SCREAM (1996) d. Wes Craven (USA)
SCREAM 2 (1997) d. Wes Craven (USA)
SCREAM 3 (2000) d. Wes Craven (USA)
SCRE4M (2011) d. Wes Craven (USA)
SCREAM (2022) d. Matt Bettinelli-Olpin/Tyler Gillett (USA)
SCREAM VI (2023) d. Matt Bettinelli-Olpin/Tyler Gillet (USA)
SCREAM 7 (2026) d. Kevin Williamson (USA)

**CLICK HERE TO WATCH FULL YOUTUBE EPISODE**

Released in 1996, Scream arrived at a crucial moment for horror cinema. Directed by Wes Craven and written by Kevin Williamson, the film helped rescue a genre that many believed had run out of ideas. By the mid-1990s, the slasher cycle that had produced Halloween, Friday the 13th, and A Nightmare on Elm Street had become increasingly formulaic, with audiences being fed a stream of quote/unquote “psychological thrillers.” True horror was, in many respects, considered “dead.”

TOMBS OF THE BLIND DEAD (1972) | The Undead Templar (K)NIGHTS OF THE LIVING DEAD!

TOMBS OF THE BLIND DEAD (1972) d. Amando de Ossorio (Spain/Portugal)
RETURN OF THE BLIND DEAD (1973) d. Amando de Ossorio (Spain)
THE GHOST GALLEON (1974) d. Amando de Ossorio (Spain)
NIGHT OF THE SEAGULLS (1975) d. Amando de Ossorio (Spain)

**CLICK HERE TO WATCH FULL YOUTUBE EPISODE**

Writer/director Amando de Ossorio's Tombs of the Blind Dead (1972) represented a landmark achievement that introduced an entirely new monster into the genre, the haunting Knights Templar (based on the legitimate historical figures who fought in the Crusades and were later put to death for their efforts), complete with shabby robes, skeletal faces, grizzled facial hair, shiny swords, and a quenchless thirst for human blood.

David Cronenberg’s THE FLY (1986) Turns 40: The Greatest/Grossest Love Story Ever Told

THE FLY (1986) d. David Cronenberg (USA/Canada)
THE FLY II (1989) d. Chris Walas (USA/Canada)

**CLICK HERE TO WATCH FULL YOUTUBE EPISODE**

After years of building a reputation as a fiercely intelligent filmmaker that deftly combined gooey special effects, challenging technical concepts, and emotional narrative heft, Canadian David Cronenberg finally hit the jackpot in this updating and reimagining of the 1958 classic, THE FLY. Rather than the simple swapping of heads and hands, brainy inventor Seth Brundle (played to perfection by Jeff Goldblum) sees his transporter pods inadvertently become gene splicers when a wayward fly enters the equation.

RODAN (1956) x MOTHRA (1961): Celebrating Two Essential Toho Kaiju

RODAN (1956) d. Ishiro Honda (Japan)
MOTHRA (1961) d. Ishiro Honda (Japan)

**CLICK HERE TO WATCH FULL YOUTUBE EPISODE**

Rodan (1956) and Mothra (1961) stand among the most trendsetting films in the history of Japanese cinema, introducing two iconic monsters whose legacies have endured for decades. Produced by Toho, both films expanded upon the success of Godzilla (1954), demonstrating that giant monsters could represent far more than simple destructive forces. Each creature possessed its own distinct identity, symbolism, and mythology, helping create a growing kaiju universe, a rich collection of memorable characters rather a single monster.

THE BAD SEED (1956) — The Original Evil Child/Killer Kid Classic turns 70!

THE BAD SEED (1956) d. Mervyn LeRoy (USA)

**CLICK HERE TO WATCH FULL YOUTUBE EPISODE**

Released in 1956, The Bad Seed remains one of the most influential psychological thrillers ever produced and one of the definitive "killer kid" movies. Adapted from Maxwell Anderson’s hit Broadway play, itself based on William March's bestselling novel, the film shocked audiences with its unsettling premise: what if an innocent-looking little girl were capable of cold, calculated murder? At a time when childhood was generally portrayed onscreen as the ideal of purity and optimism, The Bad Seed dared to suggest that evil could wear pigtails, polished shoes, and perfect manners.

GRIZZLY, SQUIRM, & FOOD OF THE GODS / 1976 Eco-Horror Triple Feature!

GRIZZLY (1976) d. William Girdler (USA)
SQUIRM (1976) d. Jeff Lieberman (USA)
THE FOOD OF THE GODS (1976) d. Bert I. Gordon (USA)

**CLICK HERE TO WATCH FULL YOUTUBE EPISODE**

In the wake of Steven Spielberg’s Jaws from 1975, drive-ins and hardtop theaters alike were suddenly overrun by creatures with a taste for human flesh. Intrepid and imaginative independent filmmakers proved that almost any member of the animal kingdom could be transformed into a successful box-office menace. Three standout entries from 1976—Grizzly, Squirm, and The Food of the Gods—perfectly capture the exuberant creativity and unapologetic pulp appeal of the Nature Strikes Back Eco-horror boom.

FROM DUSK TILL DAWN (1996) at 30: The Vampire Cult Classic Still Has Teeth!

FROM DUSK TILL DAWN (1996) d. Robert Rodriguez (USA)
FROM DUSK TILL DAWN 2: TEXAS BLOOD MONEY (1999) d. Scott Spiegel (USA)
FROM DUSK TILL DAWN 3: THE HANGMAN'S DAUGHTER (2000) d. P.J. Pesce (USA)
FROM DUSK TILL DAWN: THE SERIES (2014-2016) d. Robert Rodriguez (USA)

**CLICK HERE TO WATCH FULL YOUTUBE EPISODE**

Thirty years ago, From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) kicked open the saloon doors, ordered a round of tequila, and then revealed that everyone in the bar was about to be eaten by vampires. Of course, From Dusk Till Dawn is much more than its famous twist. It's a perfect snapshot of '90s independent filmmaking, bringing together Rodriguez's kinetic, resourceful direction, Tarantino's Fonzie cool dialogue, KNB's outrageous practical effects, and an ensemble cast led by George Clooney, Harvey Keitel, Juliette Lewis, Salma Hayek, and cameos from Michael Parks, John Hawkes, Tom Savini, Cheech Marin, Danny Trejo, and the Hammer himself, Fred Williamson.

THE BEST (AND WORST) SLASHERS OF 1981!! (Part 2 of 2)

BLOODY BIRTHDAY (1981) d. Ed Hunt (USA)
BLOODY MOON (1981) d. Jess Franco (Spain/Germany)
DEADLY BLESSING (1981) d. Wes Craven (USA)
DON'T GO IN THE WOODS (1981) d. James Bryan (USA)
EYES OF A STRANGER (1981) d. Ken Wiederhorn (USA)
FINAL EXAM (1981) d. Jimmy Huston (USA)
GRADUATION DAY (1981) d. Herb Freed (USA)
NIGHT SCHOOL (1981) d. Ken Hughes (USA)
STRANGE BEHAVIOR (1981) d. Michael Laughlin (New Zealand)
STUDENT BODIES (1981) d. Mickey Rose (USA)

**CLICK HERE TO WATCH FULL YOUTUBE EPISODE**

A few months back, we took a deep dive into the slashers of 1981, and now we're back to finish the job! If our first installment focused on future classics and franchise cornerstones, this week's episode explores the stranger, sleazier, and more offbeat corners of the slasher boom.