Halloween has come and gone and the nightmare of Election Day is still upon us all. Seems like as good a time as any to see how the final week of our 31 Days of Halloween went, and recap the experiment as a while while we're at it!
The final week kicked off with the 2005 remake of The Amityville Horror on Day 24. I have fond memories of seeing this in the theater at about one in the morning with my heterosexual lifemate Chris, both of us sitting there in our hoodies with the hood pulled up over our heads because the movie was freaking us the fuck out. Thankfully, while I still enjoyed it this time around, it didn't have the same insomnia-inducing effect on me. Marisa said parts of this scared the crap out of her even though it was a slow burn, so that's a win.
The remake train continued on Day 25 with the 2003 version of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, another movie I saw in theaters with Chris that got to us so much that at one point fairly early in he tried to leave the theater. I just think this is a really effective remake. The wife thought this was just okay and since she has seen the sequel it wasn't that impressive.
We had to switch things up on Day 26; we were supposed to watch a movie called Emelie, but Netflix removed it sometime in October. At this point I had already used up all the alternates I had planned, so I scrambled a little before settling in a classic that had slipped my mind, Hellraiser. I still enjoyed it, despite how campy and over the top the acting is. Marisa liked some of the special effects, especially for its time, but the movie didn't do much for her.
For Day 27, we finished off the Welcome to the Blumhouse movies on Amazon Prime by watching Nocturne, which I thought was the best of the quartet by far. It has the scariest plot, the darkest ending, and the acting and production were both really good. Marisa really loved the musical aspects of this and thought it was a good movie.
Day 28 brought us to an actual Halloween movie, Halloween. Specifically, Rob Zombie's 2007 Halloween remake. I know, why didn't we just watch the original? I dunt know, I dunt really have a good answer for that other than that I have this on Blu-ray so it was the easy choice. I know not everyone agrees, but I enjoy this version, the backstory it gives, and it's focus on mental illness. This one got a thumbs up from Marisa overall, although she didn't like Zombie's oversexualized style.
So for Day 29 we finished up the Rob Zombie Halloween Duology with 2009's Halloween 2. I didn't like this one that much when I first saw it, but this time around, just a day after watching the first one, I liked it more and could better appreciate the themes running through both of them. Still not sold on the ending, though. Marisa liked the mental illness aspect of the story and the way it connected Michael Myers and Laurie Strode.
We got in one more new movie on Day 30, His House on Netflix starring Doctor Who's Matt Smith. I had to put a horror movie starring my favorite Doctor on the list, especially since Marisa's favorite was included in Fright Night. Unfortunately, his involvement in the movie was definitely oversold as he wasn't in it much and, while I liked the idea of what they were going for, the movie itself kind of bored me, although I did like the ending. This one was much of a bit with Marisa than it was with me, she thought it was an effective thriller overall with great twists.
That brings us to Day 31. Halloween. The main event, The Exorcist. A movie I've only seen once in my life because I was way too young and way too Catholic when I first saw it and it freaked me out like nothing else. Finally watching it again, I was underwhelmed. I don't know if it hasn't asked well or if I over-hyped it in my mind way too much, but for whatever reason it had no effect on me at all. I was a bit disappointed. Marisa however quite enjoyed it and thought it was freaky and scary as hell.
So there it is. I'll post the full list of what we watched below since it changed a bit from the original plan. Overall I enjoyed spending a month with daily horror, especially with my wife, exposing her to more types of horror and just horror in general. For what it's worth, out of all the movies and shows we watched, Marisa thought The Stuff was the worst, Haunting of Bly Manor was the best, and Nightmare on Elm Street was the scariest. And if nothing else, it got her more able to watch a horror movie in the dark!
What We Watched:
Trick 'r Treat
The Prophecy
The Strangers
Monsterland
The Stuff
The Lie (Welcome to the Blumhouse)
Books of Blood
Dawn of the Dead (2004)
Friday the 13th
Friday the 13th Part 2
Haunting of Bly Major
The Final Girls
Black Box (Welcome to the Blumhouse)
The Monster
Hubie Happen
Would You Rather?
Leprechaun
Helstrom
Nightmare on Elm Street
Evil Eye (Welcome to the Blumhouse)
The Autopsy of Jane Doe
Malevolent
Fright Night (2011)
The Amityville Horror (2005)
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
Hellraiser
Nocturne (Welcome to the Blumhouse)
Halloween (2007)
Halloween 2 (2009)
His House
The Exorcist
