2017 October Challenge

For the second year in a row, my wife and I attempted the "October Challenge", where you watch a horror movie every night of the month. This year, we didn't quite make it - only got to 30, instead of 31 - and the quality of the films was disappointing, but there were still enough good ones to make it worthwhile in the end. 

My average score for the month fell below the 5/10 threshold of "average" again this year, but I still found a handful of great films and a bunch more worth recommending. 

A recap of the most "memorable" titles from the month:

The Worst of the Worst -

* Yay! The worst part of the Luther TV series is the lead in a movie! *

I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House - 1/10  Holy hell, what an awful way to start out the month. The first pick (my wife's, I'd like to add) was boring, poorly acted, woefully written, and gave up it's big "surprise" with about 30 minutes left to go. 

* I can't even muster the enthusiasm to write something clever or interesting here *

The Tortured - 1/10  My wife's second pick of the month might be worse than her first, but it'd just be splitting hairs. In a movie where the a kid dies early on, the viewer shouldn't be jealous of the kid, but that's how I felt after a short while. The one redeeming feature: it's only 79 minutes long. 

* Even a hot girl with an axe can't save this POS *

Amityville: The Awakening - 1/10  I should have known better than to pick this one, considering it was being offered for free on the Google Play Store before it even hit theaters. It's essentially a paint by numbers style horror flick: every cliche is checked off and there's not a moment of tension, fright, or human emotion of any kind. It even messes up it's attempt at being meta. The idea that these characters had seen the original (and remake!) Amityville Horror seemed interesting, for about a minute. 

Very Bad, but with Some Redeeming Aspects -

* Further proof that CGI isn't always as lifelike as a man in a rubber suit, at least when it comes to alien design *

Alien: Covenant - 2.5/10  Sigh. I thought Prometheus would be as low as Ridley Scott could sink with his new Alien prequel series, but I was wrong. Covenant makes all the same mistakes - stupid characters, convoluted plot, bloated running time - but manages to have even fewer redeeming factors than that previous film. Other than the actual alien design, the film is quite beautiful to look at (a Scott staple) and it has a couple of decent scenes. I might be done with the Alien franchise now, though.

* Note to self - never ever look inside a box held by a stranger on the subway *

XX - 2.5  This anthology film consists of four short films, all written and/or directed by women and featuring stories centered around women. It's an interesting concept, but the execution here is all wrong. I only really liked one of the segments and the rest ranged from just okay to excruciatingly bad. My suggestion: watch The Box, the first of the four shorts, and then shut off the film. 

* This screenshot is one of the more tame options I found *

Baskin - 2/10  This Turkish film is mostly boring for the first 45 minutes and then batshit insane for the last 45 minutes. And not insane in a good way, either. It gets an extra rating point from me for the simple fact that it was one of the most fucked up movies I've seen in a while. I never knew what to expect, as the filmmakers seemed to just throw shit (literally, at times) at the screen and see what stuck. 

* It's going to take forever to get that fake blood off, using a little makeup sponge *

The Neon Demon - 2.5/10  Let's get the positives out of the way first: The Neon Demon is a gorgeous  film with a few interesting moments sprinkled throughout. The negatives: pretty much everything else. This might be the most pretentious horror film I've ever seen.

Worth Watching Once -

* The House of Usher before it fell *

Extraordinary Tales - 5/10  I haven't read much Edgar Allen Poe in my life, and what I have read was way back in high school, but this animated anthology of five of his well known stories intrigued me. Each story is done in a slightly different style of animation and features a voice cast containing Christopher Lee and Bela Lugosi. Like any anthology film, some segments are better than others, but each one has at least something going for it. 

* She's not exactly a willing or cooperative model *

Berlin Syndrome - 5.5/10  This movie suffers from a common trope of the horror genre - the protagonist, often a woman, behaves so stupidly at critical points that it takes me out of the film. If it wasn't for that fact and the letdown of the final act, Berlin Syndrome might have scored another couple points for me. It's a well made, well acted film with some genuinely tense scenes. 

* Vincent Price, chewing the scenery and dressing fashionably *

Pit and the Pendulum - 6/10  Another Edgar Allen Poe based film. This one is buoyed by the wonderful Vincent Price and an overall fun, somewhat campy 60's vibe. It's not scary or suspenseful in the least, but it's labeled as "Drama, Horror" on IMDb, so it counts for the Challenge!

* Bruce Greenwood and Carla Gugino are about to play a game... *

Gerald's Game - 6.5/10  Since it was adapted from a Stephen King book that I struggled to finish and so many of the adaptations of his works are terrible, maybe Gerald's Game benefited from lowered expectations, but I thoroughly enjoyed this Netflix original. The story is compelling enough, the performances are solid, and the direction is first rate.

Very Good - Highly Recommended -

* A father-son coroner team, what more could you ask for? *

The Autopsy of Jane Doe - 7.5/10  Another movie this month that loses some steam in the final act, but The Autopsy of Jane Doe is still worthy of a viewing or two. It's got some great moments of tension and fear, characters you can relate to, plus a pair of lead performances (from Brian Cox and Emile Hirsch) that are far better than most in the horror genre. I find the profession of coroner to be massively interesting in its own right, though, and would almost prefer a story centered around just an interesting case, rather than something with a supernatural bent, though.  

* You never want to be in a situation where you're awoken in the middle of the night by strangers inside your house *

Them (Original French title - Ils) - 7.5/10  Horror films that center around real life terrors are definitely the scariest for me and Them is a great example of such a terror. It starts out with a bang, lets up for a bit to establish the characters, and then kicks it into high gear again when a group of strangers wreak havoc on an unsuspecting couple. I'm going to have to check out more French horror, after seeing Martyrs last year and now this. It seems like they know what they're doing over there. 

* This weird scene from very early on sets the tone for the entire film *

The Eyes of My Mother - 7.5/10  This film is unsettling pretty much throughout and left me guessing as to what was going to happen next, which is definitely a positive thing. The stark black and white photography and overall unusual tone somewhat reminded me a Roman Polanski film from the 60's, but it also has some grotesque scenes of graphic violence that probably wouldn't have made it past the ratings board back then. There's lots to love about this film.

The Best of the Best -

* Sometimes an artist is moved by unusual forces *

The Devil's Candy - 8.5/10  By far the most surprisingly good film I watched all month, The Devil's Candy really blew me away from the start. I happened to find it on Netflix and added it to our queue simply as fodder for the Challenge, never expecting anything remotely as good as it turned out to be. The performances (especially from Ethan Embry and the always interesting Pruitt Taylor Vince) and technical aspects are wonderful, plus the script is full of twists and interesting, compelling characters who you want to root for. Don't let the generic poster/thumbnail photo on Netflix dissuade you from giving it a chance.

* The look of a mad man *

Psycho - 9/10  It's always comforting to rewatch an old favorite, especially if you've been watching a lot of new, disappointing films lately. It had been years since I last watched Psycho and I was relieved to find out it's just as good as I remembered. Anthony Perkins performance here has inspired me to check out some of the sequels, just to see more of his Norman Bates. 

* Such a fucking bad ass character... *

Train to Busan (Original Korean title - Busanhaeng) - 9.5/10  I have a general rule to never give a film a 10/10 rating after only one viewing and that's pretty much the only thing holding this one back from getting that rare score. At this point, I'm confident saying Train to Busan is definitely a new member of my Top 10 Horror Films, Top 100 Favorite Films, and is probably the single greatest zombie film ever, edging out The Night of the Living Dead. There's just so much to love about this film - great suspense and moments of terror, fascinating and truly human characters, fun action, great performances across the board, and several moments of heartbreaking sadness. I cried at three different moments and I don't think a horror film has ever made me cry even once before. I can't recommend this one enough and I'm excited to watch it again soon.

The entire list of films I saw during the October Challenge: 

* denotes a rewatch

I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House - 1/10
Backcountry - 4/10
The Tortured - 1/10
The Autopsy of Jane Doe - 7.5/10
The Rezort - 3/10
Alien: Covenant - 2.5/10
* Psycho - 9/10
Pit and the Pendulum - 6/10
A Dark Song - 5/10
The Devil's Candy - 8.5/10
Beyond the Gates - 2/10
Amityville: The Awakening - 1/10
The Void - 5/10
The Neon Demon - 2/10
Tales of Halloween - 3.5/10
* The Conjuring 2  - 8.5/10

XX - 2.5/10

* The Babadook - 9/10

He Never Died - 3/10

Blair Witch - 2.5/10

* The Reaping - 5/10 (down from 7/10)

Them - 7.5/10

The Eyes of My Mother - 7.5/10

Patchwork - 3/10

Extraordinary Tales - 5/10

The Midnight Meat Train - 2.5/10

Gerald's Game - 6.5/10

Train to Busan - 9.5/10

Baskin - 2/10

Berlin Syndrome - 5.5/10

AVERAGE RATING: 4.33/10 (below average)

Did you watch any horror films last month? Anything that you'd recommend? Have you seen any of the ones above? If so, what did you think? Let me know in the comments section! 

Thanks for reading!