mem·o·ry·less·ness

The goal is to watch one horror film per day this month.

I plan to update this post and fill in the following list (including, possibly, extremely brief reviews) as the month goes by.  An asterisk (*) indicates a film we had seen before (13 of the 31 films).

October 2009 Horror Films

1. Nightmare Man (Paradigm Pictures 2006) – decent; bonus = appearance by Richard Moll (Bull from Night Court)
2. Wicked Little Things (Millennium Films 2006) – ravenous little kids are creepy; Lori Heuring, who plays the mother, was in the episode of Walker Texas Ranger featuring Baboon that we saw on 9/29…weird
3. Pandorum (Constantin Film Produktion 2009) – sci-fi/horror (the IMDB lists its first genre as horror, though I might reverse the order); good overall, though not as scary as Paul W.S. Anderson’s Event Horizon (P.W.S.A. produced Pandorum and directed Event Horizon)
4. Scream (Dimension Films 1996) * – still a good’un
5. In the Mouth of Madness (New Line Cinema 1994) – the Anti-Christ (Sam Neill – I’ve called him that since I saw Omen III: The Final Conflict) is good in this and it’s still disturbing, even after multiple viewings; Lovecraftian horror is more unsettling than slasher horror
6. Perkins’ 14 (After Dark Films 2009) – more ravenous children (teens this time, I guess); disturbing
7. Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (Glen Echo Entertainment 2006) – I didn’t care for it, but the appearances by Robert Englund and Kane Hodder were kind of cool; The Blair Witch Project really should have been the end of “documentary”-as-horror (which has been going since at least 1980’s Cannibal Holocaust)
8. Prom Night (Alliance Films 2008) – pretty good, basically a standard slasher film; I’ve never seen the original, but I probably should
9. Cthulhu (Arkham Northwest Productions 2007) – huh?
10. Carrie (Redbank Films 1976) * – they’re all gonna laugh at you!
11. Paranormal Activity (Blumhouse Productions 2007/released 2009) – creepy and at least a different take on the “documentary”-as-horror thing (note from 10/7 still holds, though)
12. Night of the Living Dead (Image Ten 1968) * – good film and, interestingly, in the public domain; the zombies are referred to as “ghouls” in this film
13. John Carpenter’s Vampires (Film Office 1998) * – I’ve always liked this one, particularly the scene near the beginning where Valek kills most of the vampire-slaying team without saying anything; John Steakley’s novel (Vampire$ – on which this is based) is a lot different, but worth a read
14. Bram Stoker’s Dracula (American Zoetrope 1992) * – a good adaptation of the book (with the exception of the added Dracula/Mina love story); features a bad British accent by Keanu as well
15. Clive Barker’s Book of Blood (Matador Pictures 2008) – a pretty good adaptation of two of Clive’s short stories (better, imo, than Midnight Meat Train). Bonus = cameo by Doug “Pinhead” Bradley. Apparently, we’re all about movies with people’s names above the title (see the last three days).
16. Friday the 13th (Platinum Dunes/New Line Cinema/Paramount Pictures 2009) * – imo, this is better than the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake that Platinum Dunes did a few years ago; it’s basically more like another sequel to the original than a real remake…this gives me hope for the Nightmare on Elm Street remake that comes out next year — we finished this on 10/17 due to needing sleep before the half-marathon on the morning of 10/17
17. The Rage: Carrie 2 (Red Bank Films 1999) * – we enjoy this one, though it doesn’t get much love on the IMDB (Just 4.3 stars?  No way.)
18. Freddy vs. Jason (New Line Cinema 2003) * – one of the best movies of the last 10 years; we finished this on 10/19
19. Trick ‘r Treat (Bad Hat Harry Productions 2008) – kind of disjointed (which I guess is the point), but decent overall; not to be confused with Trick or Treat
20. Seventh Moon (Haxan Films 2008) – by one of the co-directors of The Blair Witch Project; interesting and different, based on Chinese mythology, worth seeing
21. Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (Geffen Pictures 1994) * – a decent adaptation of the novel (which makes sense, as Anne Rice wrote the screenplay. I suppose if it’s good enough for Anne Rice…); oddly, the actor who looks the most like the character he’s playing is supposed to look according to the books is Tom Cruise
22. Låt den rätte komma in (Let the Right One In) (EFTI 2008) – interesting Swedish vampire film
23. Queen of the Damned (Warner Bros. Pictures 2002) * – enjoyable even though it’s basically a mashup of the second two Vampire Chronicles novels; it’s not a great adaptation, but I think it would be hard to follow if you haven’t read the books
24. Borderland (Tonic Films 2007) – disturbing and gory; loosely based on true events
25. Candyman (PolyGram Filmed Entertainment) * – based on “The Forbidden,” which is the first Clive Barker story I ever read; I don’t think this is a very faithful adaptation (it’s been ~16 years since I read that story), but it’s a good film
26. The Sentinel (Universal 1977) – weird and didn’t really play out like I expected it to; starring Chris Sarandon who we saw at Texas Fear Fest
27. Tamara (Integrated Films and Management 2005) – pretty good and unformulaic
28. Red Victoria (Cashel Entertainment 2008) – had some mildly amusing parts
29. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation 1975) * – I still don’t get it
30. Return of the Living Dead III (Bandai Visual Company 1993) – an interesting take on zombies and whether or not they can retain cognition — we finished this one on 10/31
31. Halloween (Compass International Pictures 1978) * – one of my favorite movies; the timing is great

We made it, aww yeah. Thanks to my pal Rob, from whom we stole this idea. Next year, we’re thinking of doing themed weeks (vampires, zombies, etc.).