2012 Monster Madness

What started off as 13 Days of Halloween back in 2003 has grown into a full month long Horror movie-thon. Now unfortunately I don’t really have a record of what movies I watched in what year. I can only remember whether or not I’ve actually seen them. Randomly however, I found this list from 2009 which I believe was the last year that I did a 13 Days of Halloween countdown. Here’s the list:

Day 1 - Psycho
Day 2 - Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Remake)
Day 3 - Jaws
Day 4 - Frankenstein (1931)
Day 5 - Dawn of the Dead (Remake)
Day 6 - The Shining
Day 7 - John Carpenter’s The Thing
Day 8 - Night of the Living Dead
Day 9 - The Exorcist
Day 10 - Friday the 13th (Original)
Day 12 - Nightmare on Elm Street
Day 13 - Halloween (Remake)

It’s a pretty standard list, most of these movies I was every October just because of how awesome they are.

A bit of history

Those who know me are well aware that I’m a film buff. Those who know me better know that the Horror and Sci-Fi genres are my favourite. And for those who know me even better, the special effects in those classic movies are the biggest part of my love for them. Films like American Werewolf in London or John Carpenters The Thing are among my all time favourite special effect movies. So back in 2003 after seeing a few more classic horror films and starting to really get into movie making, I decided that I should learn more about the history of my favourite genres.

Now while I don’t remember all the movies I watched in 2003, I do remember that it was 13 movies that I had never seen before. Cult Classics such as Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Exorcist, Evil Dead 1 & 2 (I actually saw Army of Darkness before either) and I think this was the first time I saw Halloween as well. I had now exposed myself to some of the greatest horror movies of all time.

Over the years I’ve opened myself even further finding more obscure horror films most people have never heard of. Then...

2012 Monster Madness

What started off as 13 Days of Halloween back in 2003 has grown into a full month long Horror movie-thon. Now unfortunately I don’t really have a record of what movies I watched in what year. I can only remember whether or not I’ve actually seen them. Randomly however, I found this list from 2009 which I believe was the last year that I did a 13 Days of Halloween countdown. Here’s the list:

Day 1 - Psycho
Day 2 - Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Remake)
Day 3 - Jaws
Day 4 - Frankenstein (1931)
Day 5 - Dawn of the Dead (Remake)
Day 6 - The Shining
Day 7 - John Carpenter’s The Thing
Day 8 - Night of the Living Dead
Day 9 - The Exorcist
Day 10 - Friday the 13th (Original)
Day 12 - Nightmare on Elm Street
Day 13 - Halloween (Remake)

It’s a pretty standard list, most of these movies I was every October just because of how awesome they are.

A bit of history

Those who know me are well aware that I’m a film buff. Those who know me better know that the Horror and Sci-Fi genres are my favourite. And for those who know me even better, the special effects in those classic movies are the biggest part of my love for them. Films like American Werewolf in London or John Carpenters The Thing are among my all time favourite special effect movies. So back in 2003 after seeing a few more classic horror films and starting to really get into movie making, I decided that I should learn more about the history of my favourite genres.

Now while I don’t remember all the movies I watched in 2003, I do remember that it was 13 movies that I had never seen before. Cult Classics such as Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Exorcist, Evil Dead 1 & 2 (I actually saw Army of Darkness before either) and I think this was the first time I saw Halloween as well. I had now exposed myself to some of the greatest horror movies of all time.

Over the years I’ve opened myself even further finding more obscure horror films most people have never heard of. Then a couple years back I ended up watching an entire collection of Universal horror films. The Universal horror films are the classic monsters like Frankensteins Monster, Dracula and the Wolf Man. There are many many more, in fact I believe the collection is 100 films from the 1930s-50s.

2010 was the craziest year and a bit of a transition year because that’s when I watched something like 90 movies in October. I was so fried by the end of the month, but it was all my own doing and I enjoyed every minute of it. But I knew not to do that again. So under the influence of James Rolfe (aka Cinemassecre’s Angry Video Game Nerd and fellow film buff) I decided to start my own Monster Madness. So in 2011 I set up a schedule where each day I would watch a different horror film, try to watch ones I hadn’t seen yet as well as mix in my favourites and the classics.

2011 List

1 - Trick R Treat
2 - Dr. Phibes
3 - The Fly (1958)
4 - Dead Alive
5 - The Thing from Another World
6 - IT
7 - Hellraiser
8 - Creepshow
9 - Nosferatu
10 - Re-Animator
11 - Son of Dracula (1943)
12 - The Blob (1988)
13 - Poltergeist
14 - Jaws
15 - Scream
16 - Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
17 - The Phantom Creeps
18 - House of Wax (1953)
19 - The Last Broadcast
20 - Shaun of the Dead
21 - Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein
22 - Evil Dead
23 - Evil Dead 2
24 - Evil Ed
25 - Brain Damage
26 - The Wolf Man (1941)
27 - Return of the Living Dead
28 - American Werewolf in London
29 - The Thing
30 - Fright Night (1985)
31 - Dawn of the Dead (1978)

Not as many movies last year that I haven’t seen, but it’s tough to find new ones when you’ve seen so many.

2012 List

1 - Monster Squad
2 - Popcorn
3 - Night of the Creeps
4 - The Abominable Dr. Phibes
5 - Dracula (1931)
6 - Frankenstein (1931)
7 - Amityville Horror (1979)
8 - Last Man on Earth (1964)
9 - Eraserhead
10 - Evil Dead
11 - Zombi 2
12 - Night of the Living Dead
13 - Friday the 13th
14 - The Wicker Man (1973)
15 - Dead Alive
16 - The Shining
17 - Evil Dead 2
18 - Basket Case
19 - Dawn of the Dead (1978)
20 - C.H.U.D.
21 - Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
22 - Suspiria
23 - Return of the Living Dead
24 - Army of Darkness
25 - Videodrome
26 - Dawn of the Dead (2004)
27 - Sleepaway Camp
28 - Nightmare on Elm Street
29 - Last House on the Left (1972)
30 - The Haunting (1963)
31 - Halloween (1978)

The List

I like to try to keep the list balanced with a good mixture of Slashers, Ghosts/Supernatural, Weird, Zombies and Psycho thrillers. Out of those my favourite are usually zombie flicks and ghosts. As dumb as the Paranormal Activity movies are, they’re a guilty pleasure for me just because it’s that whole “unseen foe.” I’ve always thought the scariest type of enemy or bady in a movie are the ones where you can’t seen them, or they’re always obscured from vision. For example: Jason from the Friday the 13th films is scary with that hockey mask on, but as soon as you actually saw his face in I think the 3rd installment he no longer was scary. The Haunting (1963) is a PRIME example because not once do you ever see ANYTHING. Stuff just happens, or you hear noises and the camera just looks at a wall or a door. It really leaves a lot to your imagination for what could be making those noises. If you haven’t seen The Haunting (1963) I highly recommend you check it out!

Other movies make the list for just how gory they can be or how awesome the special effects are. Like Nightmare on Elm Street. Starting in the mid 80s, the Slasher genre was already in full swing. Friday the 13th already had 4 movies to the series and Halloween had 3 and there were many other copycat films out there that were cashing in on the success of those two series. Nightmare was a completely fresh take on the genre. A killer who kills you while you sleep IN your dreams. It really left things open to the imagination too because anything can happen in a dream, so the special effects department could really go to town with this. Also now instead of the Silent Killer, we now have Freddy Krueger (portrayed by Robert England) who is a smart mouth killer with a face. It’s really his attitude that makes these movies so enjoyable.

Those are just a few of the highlights and some of my thoughts. I love talking about movies in general and I’m always up for discussions. Or if you want to hear more history about some of the movies or genres, I’m more than happy to talk about that too. Anyways, hope you enjoyed this entry! Happy Halloween!