This year's list is a real mixed bag. Some new, some old, a couple of video nasties, some spooky, some splattery, some genre classics, some English, American, a couple of Italian ones, Belgian, Swedish and a Irish monster flick to top it all off. One great thing about the hashtag on Twitter is seeing other people's lists. It's a deadly way to get inspired and to hear of underground or foreign stuff that has passed you by.
Here's my list for this year. I plan to get through as many of them as possible providing life doesn't throw me any awkwardness.
The Slayer
Why not start the month off with a (kind of) video nasty. People on an island get picked off by the eponymous beastie but to the classy sounds of the London Philharmonic orchestra. Look at those teeth!
The Witch Who Came in From The Sea
Yet another (kind of) video nasty. Haven't seen this. No idea what its about but it was confiscated from video shop shelves at one stage so that's a nice reason to watch it.
The Hills Have Eyes
The ferociously effective remake from Alexandre Aja and not the dull and silly original from Wes Craven. Sorry Wes. This blew me away in the cinema years ago and I'm looking forward to a revisit.
Evil Ed
Swedish splatter par excellence as a film editor is driven deranged by the very horror films he's working on.. Made as a rallying call against Swedish film censorship so you can imagine what's within. It's good fun though.
Daughters Of Darkness
A Belgian set vampire story that's atmospheric enough for 10 normal films, about a newly married couple who have a strange experience in a seaside hotel . Dreamy, weird, spooky and twisted. It ticks all the boxes a vampire film should.
Scream Blacula Scream
A vampire is roaming 1970's Harlem bit this is a different kind of vampire. A voodoo vampire. Superfly meets Dracula. Awful but in a brilliant way. Plus Pam Grier is in it and she's always a reason to watch a film.
Twisted Nerve
Oh this one would never be made these days. A man pretends to be mentally disabled to get close to a woman he's obsessed with. Anyone who gets in his way dies. This is on the list because it terrified my Da in the cinema in the 70's and I want to see how it holds up. Not well I'm guessing.
Ghost Stories
The only film on the list from this year. Liked this when I saw it at the cinema and it's so packed with details that a second viewing should hold up very well indeed.
Erotic Nights Of The Living Dead
People go to an island for a fashion shoot and ride each other and get killed by the living dead. Yup, it's a blue movie with zombies. Hilarity will no doubt ensue. Just look at George Eastman on the right. The absolute shape of him.
It's Alive
A baba is born that lives to kill. From horror maestro Larry Cohen, this could have been awful but it's surprisingly good. 70's horrors could be unusually intelligent and packed with subtext and asides towards the political climate of the day and this is a fine example of that.
Dark Night Of The Scarecrow
A simple man killed by bullies returns from the dead for revenge. While dressed as a scarecrow. Despite its TV movie origins this is a genuinely effective chiller that conjures up all those Wurzel Gummidge nightmares we all had at one point.
Dead Of Night
I do love an anthology horror and this is one of the classiest of the lot. Weekend guests at a cottage regale each other with spooky stories. The ventriloquist story will stick with you.
Rawhead Rex
A bit of Irish horror. Wicklow shtyle. Actually better than it looks or sounds. No wait, seriously.......come back.
Serial Mom
John Water's satire of America's obsession with serial killers is a hilarious watch that makes full use of Kathleen Turner's comic talents. "Pussy willow daaahhhling."
Friday The 13th part 6
The most entertaining film of the bunch. Jason vs paintballers and a beginning inspired by none other than Mary Shelley. A highbrow mountain in a mostly cheap franchise.
My Sweet Satan
I've no idea. Satan though. Spooky. Wooooooo.
The House Of Whipcord
Another first time watch from the mind of British exploitation film king Pete Walker. Not a clue what to expect here.
Psychomania
Bikers from beyond the grave return to trash 1970's Britain. Great craic, cheesy, silly, weird and oddly eerie. A definite one of a kind.
Prey
An alien lands in the British countryside and kills chickens, foxes and policemen. And makes friends with a female couple. An absolute oddity of a film. Emmerdale meets Under The Skin.
Grim Prairie Tales
A strange mish mash of a film. A horror western that's also an anthology film. It works though. Brad Dourif & James Earl Jones are fine leads and it's packed with atmosphere and ideas.
Requiem For A Vampire
2 women on the run find themselves in a castle haunted by a Nosferatu. But seeing as this is a 70's french film, he's a funky, kinda kinky Nosferatu. Jean Rollin films are always.....eh...interesting.
Dementia 13
The film that put Francis Ford Coppola on the map. A lurid little black and white slasher movie that was filmed in Howth of all places. It's cheap, tacky and terrible looking but somehow it works and maintains a nice ambience.
The Unnameable
I last saw this when I was about 15 so don't have high hopes. Dopey students stay in a haunted house and guess what happens next. But it is based on a HP Lovecraft story and the monster is pretty cool so that gives it another chance.
Ganja & Hess
Horror meets blaxploitation but with a serious slant this time. An African Vampire film. You don't get many of those. Hits all the beats you'd expect and still manages to be upsetting in places, intelligent in others and genuinely unsettling all round.
Dracula Has Risen from the Grave
Another vampire film. Jesus. I love this one though. A hammy slice of Hammer horror. Christopher Lee's 3rd time as Dracula vs German bishops and a hero who looks uncannily like the lead singer of the Who. Who's also a baker. A hero baker. You don't get many of those. Great fun.
Cut & Run
Investigative journalism leads a group of yanks from a drug den massacre in New York to the depths of the Amazon jungle. Blood letting ensues. Ruggero Deodato's 1985 action horror is always a fun watch. Plus Michael Berryman and Richard Lynch. 2 legendary visages.
Abbot & Costello Meet The Mummy
Exactly what it says on the tin. Plus giant lizards and spiders. A big ol' cup of nostalgia that would make the saturday mornings of your youth comes rushing back at you.
The Monster Squad
And speaking of nostalgia. A blast of 80's goodness as American kids take on famous cinematic monsters. So much fun.
Psycho
Even if you've seen Hitchcock's horror classic a dozen times it never stops being unsettling. Norman is a peculiar boy and poor Marion Crane has the misfortune to cross his path. A film that changed cinema.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
A granddaddy of 70's horror. A film so effective it managed to be banned for years despite barely spilling a drop of blood. 44 years later it's still a ferocious watch.
Suspiria
What scary movies are you going to watch this Halloween?
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