And that, my candy corn comrades, brings us to the end of Scare-A-Thon 2021 and yet another OCTOBER HORROR MOVIE CHALLENGE!
As always, the Challenge itself is to watch (at least) one fright flick for each of those glorious 31 days that make up the month of October, 16 of which must be first time viewings. I am happy to report that goal has been accomplished, along with this year's added BONUS CHALLENGE of watching 31 movies from 31 different countries. Along the way, thanks to the generous hearts and minds of fans like you, over $2,900 has been raised for ALBANY PARK THEATER PROJECT, with additional funds still coming in, making this one of the most successful Scare-A-Thons to date! (Yes, you can still drop a line at drach101@gmail.com if you wish to donate!)
My thanks to everyone who participated in some way, whether it be reading the reviews, making a contribution, watching the Kicking the Seat podcasts, sharing a YouTube link, or just stopping by to chat. During these isolated times, it's nice to connect with each other in any way possible, Sharing the Scare across the ether as best we can.
Below are the 31 "official" international features viewed (with links to full-length reviews), as well as 8 additional horror and horror-adjacent titles "just for fun". Beyond that, there is the usual assemblage of useless factoids you might enjoy, like reaching around in the bottom of your popcorn bag to see if you missed anything. You just never know.
Have fun!
CHALLENGE STATS:
Total Movies Watched: 40
First Time Views: 19
Total Scare-A-Thon Donations: $2,902.85
BONUS STATS:
TOTAL TIME: 3943 min (65.7 hours)
AVERAGE MOVIE LENGTH: 98.5 min
LONGEST MOVIES: Doctor Sleep (152 min), The Wailing (156 min)
SHORTEST MOVIES: La Casa Lobo (74 min), Tetsuo: The Bullet Man (72 min)
OLDEST MOVIE: The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
NEWEST MOVIES: The Pond (2021), PG: Psycho Goreman (2020)
MOVIES WATCHED ALONE: 30
MOVIES WATCHED WITH OTHERS: 10
NON-HORROR MOVIES: 2 (both of which came **thisclose** - see reviews below)
COMMENTARY TRACKS: 1 (The Twilight People)
SOURCES:
Blu-ray review screeners: 3
Personal Library: 8
Shudder: 12
AMC+: 4
Shout! Factory TV: 2
Chicago Public Library streaming: 7
YouTube: 1
Redbox: 1
Borrowed from Friends: 2
Cinema: 0
FAVORITE DISCOVERIES:
The Wailing, Hagazussa, Amsterdamned, Terrified, Out of the Body, Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist
FAVORITE REVISITS:
Santo y Blue Demon Contra Los Monstruos, Juan of the Dead, Seytan, The Gorgon, Grabbers, The Incredible Shrinking Man, Night Watch, Shaun of the Dead
MOST VIEWED DIRECTORS:
Not a double-up in the bunch!
MOST VIEWED ACTORS:
Christopher Lee (2), Peter Cushing (2)
COUNTRIES REPRESENTED: 33
France, Austria, Germany, Canada, Taiwan, Serbia, Mexico, Cuba, Spain, Italy, New Zealand, Hungary, USA, South Korea, Norway, UK, Japan, South Africa, Netherlands, Chile, Argentina, Belgium, Turkey, Ireland, Uruguay, Australia, Laos, Czech Republic, India, Poland, Philippines, Russia, Sweden
SUBGENRES:
Psycho Killers: 8
Ghosts/Hauntings: 3
Science Gone Awry: 4
Monsters: 2
Animals Attack: 1
Psychic Powers: 1
Vampires: 2
Killer Kids: 1
Zombies: 3
Aliens from Space: 2
Cannibals: 1
Werewolves: 1
Scary Clowns: 0
Anthologies: 0
Witches: 2
Occult/Religious Horror (Satan/possession/demons/cults): 5
Mummies: 1
Big Bug Movies: 0 (although to a shrinking man, everything is relative)
Based on Videogames: 0
Based on Real Events: 5
Documentaries: 2
Sequels: 5
Remakes: 2
THE OFFICIAL SCARE-A-THON FILMS
(with links to full reviews):
1. HOSTILE (France)
2. HAGAZUSSA (Austria/Germany)
3. PG: PSYCHO GOREMAN (Canada)
4. THE TAGALONG 2 (Taiwan)
5. THE POND (Serbia)
6. SANTO Y BLUE DEMON CONTRA LOS MONSTRUOS (Mexico)
7. JUAN OF THE DEAD (Cuba/Spain)
8. THE KILLER RESERVED NINE SEATS (Italy)
9. FRESH MEAT (New Zealand)
10. THE WAILING (South Korea)
11. COLD PREY (Norway)
12. THE GORGON (UK)
13. THE SOUL COLLECTOR (South Africa)
14. AMSTERDAMNED (Netherlands)
15. LA CASA LOBO (aka THE WOLF HOUSE) (Chile/Germany)
16. ATERRADOS (aka TERRIFIED) (Argentina)
17. ALLELUIA (Austria/France)
18. SEYTAN (aka THE TURKISH EXORCIST) (Turkey)
19. GRABBERS (Ireland)
20. A DRAGONFLY FOR EACH CORPSE (Spain)
21. TETSUO: THE BULLET MAN (Japan)
22. THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN (USA)
23. LA CASA MUDA (aka THE SILENT HOUSE) (Uruguay)
24. OUT OF THE BODY (Australia)
25. DEAREST SISTER (Laos)
26. THE NOONDAY WITCH (Czech Republic)
27. BHOOT (India)
28. THE THIRD PART OF THE NIGHT (Poland)
29. THE TWILIGHT PEOPLE (Philippines)
30. NOCHNOY DOZOR (aka NIGHT WATCH) (Russia)
31. EVIL ED (Sweden)
And the rest!
Doctor Sleep (2019) d. Flanagan, Mike (USA) (1st viewing) (152 min)
Having read Stephen King’s source novel last summer, I was curious to see how writer/director Flanagan would marry the great divide between King’s version of The Shining and Stanley Kubrick’s. Answer: the first two hours is a fairly loyal adaptation with some clever trims, and the last 30 minutes a production designer’s wet-dream fan film on the continuing adventures of the Overlook Hotel. The craziest thing is… it kind of works on those terms. Ewan McGregor is never going to be my go-to guy for dramatic roles, but he does fine here as grown-up Danny Torrance and is surrounded by a solid ensemble that includes Cliff Curtis, Zahn McClarnon, Emily Alyn Lind, Zackary Momoh, and Carel Struycken (aka Lurch from the Addams Family movies). In the key role of his teen ally Abra Stone, Kyliegh Curran more than holds her own opposite her elders, while Rebecca Ferguson commands the screen as the monstrous Rose the Hat. Bottom line, Flanagan has kind of pulled off a magic trick by being faithful to both King and Kubrick, a task which at first glance feels impossible, and somehow making it look completely organic. Well done, sir.
One Cut of the Dead (2017) d. Ueda, Shinichiro (Japan) (2nd viewing) (97 min)
***FULL MOVIE REVIEW HERE***
The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973) d. Gibson, Alan (UK) (4th viewing) (87 min)
Christopher Lee’s final fanged appearance for Hammer goes much, much further into the bonkers-verse than any Dracula effort ever dreamed before. Picking up two years after the events of the previous film, Cushing’s Van Helsing character learns that a mysterious organization (run by a Howard Hughes-type billionaire) is designing a virus to wipe out humanity in toto. It’s no surprise to learn the hermit-like mogul is Dracula (played by guess who) – what is surprising is how much the audience is just expected to go along with Don Houghton’s breakneck narrative, thanks in large part to Peter Cushing’s welcome and grounded presence. Still, the questions abound: Where did Dracula get all those sheepskin vest-wearing, motorcycle-riding henchman? Where’d his infinite wealth come from? How’d he come back from the grave in the first place? Why’s he trying to wipe out his food source? It’s best not to get caught up looking for logic and just enjoy the pairing of these two titans of terror who, in spite of the insanity and inanity, are game as ever, determined to ride this bus to its thorny end.
Shaun of the Dead (2004) d. Wright, Edgar (UK) (7th and 8th viewings) (99 min)
***FULL DVD REVIEW HERE***
ALMOST HORROR:
Kontroll (2003) d. Antal, Nimrod (Hungary) (1st viewing) (111 min)
Shot entirely in the Budapest subway system, Antal’s extraordinary character study of a band of train officials who attempt to keep order in their underground world is both funny and sad, thrilling and existentially desperate. A critical smash on its release, it had lingered on my radar for years and I decided to finally give it a go due to the fact that it was a) from Hungary and b) Shout! Factory TV had it listed in its Horror section. The only problem is that despite the fact that there is, in fact, a serial killer haunting the midnight platforms, shoving unsuspecting passengers onto the tracks in front of oncoming locomotives, this plot point only takes up about 15 minutes of the running time. For that brief quarter-hour, it turns into a terrifying and atmospheric fright flick, and then goes on about its business. As such, I really didn’t feel like I could in good conscience throw it in the mix, but I highly recommend film fans of every stripe to check it out pronto.
The Stanford Prison Experiment (2015) d. Alvarez, Kyle Patrick (USA) (1st viewing) (122 min)
Based on the groundbreaking real-life psychology experiment in 1971, where Dr. Philip Zombardo (Billy Crudup) recruited a group of student volunteers, assigning half of them to be “prisoners” and the others to be “guards,” and then stood back and watched the sparks fly. Things start off subtly enough, with the prisoners submitting to the guards’ authority and the guards beginning to enjoy the power a bit much, then starting to play the game of seeing what they can get away with, whereupon the prisoners start to push back and the power struggle begins and escalates. What I found genuinely shocking, however, is that while things do get bad, they never get as bad as I thought they were going to get. Because of the parameters of the test, because these students still knew in some part of their minds that they were just playing roles and that there were consequences to their actions, no real violence is visited upon their fellow man, and I have to admit, that is what caught me off guard. It’s also what kept a perfect horror film scenario from being realized. Again, I understand that this was based on the facts of the case. I’m also assuming someone else out there has made a (fictional) film that carries things to their natural conclusions, an instance where art feels more authentic than life.
DOCUMENTARIES:
Haunters: The Art of the Scare (2017) d. Schnitzer, Jon (USA) (1st viewing) (88 min)
I’ve never been a fan of haunted houses because they mess so heavily with my “flight/fight/freeze” instincts. You don’t want to race through the whole thing – after all, you did pay your entrances fee – but in real life that’s what we would be trying to do: get out as quickly as possible. By the same token, if I were being menaced by a creepy figure who posed a threat to my safety, I would use all means available to stop the threat. But again, we’re not supposed to do that. As a result, this was the perfect way for me to experience the haunted house experience from a distance, as Schnitzer takes us inside and behind the scenes of some successful homegrown scare palaces, as well as exploring the rising trend of “extreme” attractions where the performers are allowed to touch and restrain the participants… who have all signed waivers for the privilege of being assaulted. I’m not going to stand here and cast judgment as to who are the bigger weirdos in this equation; I’ll just say that I’m not signing up to be in either camp any time soon. Good movie, though.
Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist (2019) d. Philippe, Alexandre O. (USA) (104 min) (1st viewing)
I’ve been waiting for the opportunity to listen to the director of one of my favorite films sit and talk exclusively about that film for about 40 years now. The Exorcist played an enormous role in my life, from me discovering it on television (the edited version, no less) in my early teens to performing a 10-minute cutting of the climax at speech tournaments across Colorado in high school, eventually qualifying for Nationals in Dramatic Interpretation. I was told by my advisor that it was not a good selection, that I would get dinged for “lack of literary merit” and he was right, but I didn’t care. This was my chance to play all the various characters from what was at the time my favorite film on earth, and I played it to the teeth, swearing and cursing and growling and making all kinds of commotion. The thing is, people liked it. So, I kept doing it, and kept being rewarded for doing it. 28 years later, I got to tell the story to Friedkin in person at the 2012 Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival and he was doubly thrilled to find out that I was currently living in his home city of Chicago. Granted, he created a few issues while at BIFFF (including the stipulation that he WOULDN’T be talking about The Exorcist), making the adage of “never meet your heroes” all too true, but it was still cool to make the (French, er, Belgian) connection. For a film he made nearly 50 years ago, Friedkin retains apparent total recall (or he’s just making stuff up, which I wouldn’t put past him) and the stories he has to share are (wait for it) Legion. Thumbs up.
That’s it. See you next year!!!
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