Hooptober X: The Devil Made Me Do It🩸
We're back with another Hooptober! Once again, I'll watch at least 31 horror movies from September through Halloween. The official start is September 15, but I may need to start sooner. Most if not all of these films will be first-time watches. Some will cover multiple categories. I may even double dip and cover some for both Hooptober and The Podcast Macabre Horror Challenge -- but Hooptober takes priority. Films may be changed based on availability. Last Hooptober, to my great shame, I was only able to get to 19 of my planned films. Life got in the way, as…
A ★★★½ review of Dracula (1931)
Hooptober X: The Devil Made Me Do It #1: 1 film based on a work of or invoking the name Bram Stoker: Dracula The Podcast Macabre 2023 Horror Challenge 13/52 50. The original version of #24 My copy So let me get this straight: Dracula has his own cool spooky castle that features armadillos (?!), possums, a comfy bed, nice soil, delicious wine AND 3 vampire babes? And he decides to leave?? Honestly the most unbelievable part of all this. You can't downplay how important this film is to horror and cinematic history. DRACULA helped usher in the new age
A ★★★ review of The Pope's Exorcist (2023)
Hooptober X: The Devil Made Me Do It #2: 3 Satan/Devil centered films (1) Netflix Russell Crowe hams it up as a Vespa-riding, whiskey swilling renegade priest who's also tight with the Pope. This film is surprisingly campy and Crowe carries it on his back while zipping around in his Vespa yelling "Cuckoo" to nuns. Crowe is in his scenery-chewing era and I love him for it. Exorcism films are really overdone. None of them come close to capturing the magic and terror of THE EXORCIST. Early on it felt like THE POPE'S EXORCIST was going the same dreary route.
A ★★★½ review of The Brides of Dracula (1960)
Hooptober X: The Devil Made Me Do It #3: 2 Peter Cushing films (1) Prime THE BRIDES OF DRACULA follows 1958's DRACULA where Christopher Lee's bloodsucker has been destroyed. David Peel plays a good aristocrat but I can't take him seriously when he vamps out with that ridiculous mop on his head. That being said, it still has Peter Cushing as Van Helsing, and it has the fantastic gothic atmosphere you'd expect from Hammer. The sets are gorgeous -- every square inch is draped with tapestries, paintings and ornate furniture. The main vampire, Baron Meinster, is a young man whose
A ★★★½ review of Hellraiser (2022)
Hooptober X: The Devil Made Me Do It #4: 1 film based on a Clive Barker story Hulu I've only watched the first 2 in the original HELLRAISER series. I know 3 is where they try to turn the Priest (aka Pinhead) into another slasher like Jason and Freddy. I know after that it gets bad, but I haven't experienced just how bad it gets. I'm happy to say that this Bruckner-helmed reboot is a solid addition to the mythos, and it paves the way for solid sequels. HELLRAISER is very slick. Almost too slick, compared to the original, which
A ★★★★★ review of Talk to Me (2022)
Hooptober X: The Devil Made Me Do It #5: 8 decades (1) I heard great things about TALK TO ME, and it did NOT disappoint. I'm a sucker for films based around newer urban legends, like IT FOLLOWS and THE RING. It's very mean-spirited, which I dug. There was one scene in particular where I had my hand over my mouth saying "No no no don't do it!" so you know I enjoyed it. Sophia Wilde gave an AMAZING performance -- I got shades of Heather Langenkamp from A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, just constantly at her wit's end and
A ★★★ review of The Mummy (1932)
Hooptober X: The Devil Made Me Do It #6: 8 decades (2) My copy I always found Karloff's mummy creepy when he was all wrapped up in bandages. I'd never actually seen the film until now, and what I didn't realize was he just looked like that in one scene. Once he comes back to life he dons clothes and talks. So that was a little jarring. Still, it's a beautifully shot, atmospheric film with great performances like all the Universal Monster jams. THE MUMMY is almost a recreation of DRACULA, right down to Edward Van Sloan playing a character
A ★★★ review of Tales from the Crypt (1972)
Hooptober X: The Devil Made Me Do It #7: 1 Amicus film, 2 Peter Cushing films (2) Tubi I can see where this anthology and its comics inspired the later TALES FROM THRE CRYPT show. It has the same morally repugnant characters and the over-the-top campiness. This movie even has its own Crypt Keeper! But he's nothing like the rhyming ghoul from HBO, he's just an old dude in a robe. The best story features Peter Cushing playing a kindly old widower who finds himself terrified by snooty neighbors. This was shortly after Cushing lost his own wife, so I
A ★★★½ review of The Tunnel (2011)
Hooptober X: The Devil Made Me Do It #8: 1 something is underground film Tubi I'd watched this on YouTube years ago, but the picture quality was terrible (even for found footage) and I watched it at my desk while doing something else. Not surprisingly, I never got into it. This time I gave it a proper watch and enjoyed it much more. I love the premise. I'm big on abandoned places, underground places and hidden communities, so this story hooked me. Abandoned subway tunnels? Homeless encampments living underground? I'm in. I understand they really did film this in subway
A ★★★★ review of Ravenous (2017)
Hooptober X: The Devil Made Me Do It #9: 2 post apocalyptic or natural disaster related films (1) Netflix Even though Netflix is skipping Halloween this year, they still have some good stuff if you know what to search for. Seriously, it looks like they're not putting out any new horror movies for October. Really disappointing after the FEAR STREET trilogy and MIDNIGHT MASS. I probably would've gotten to RAVENOUS sooner if I wasn't burned out on zombie movies. And don't get me wrong, I still love Fulci's ZOMBI, Romero's Dead trilogy, BURIAL GROUND, RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD, and
A ★★★ review of The Haunted Palace (1963)
Hooptober X: The Devil Made Me Do It #10: 8 decades (3) Tubi I'm not sure why Edgar Allen Poe gets credit for "inspiring" this film, because it was very clearly based on Lovecraft's "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward." Hell they even used the same name for the main character! It's spooky season and that means you owe it to yourself to watch Vincent Price in something. He plays double roles as an evil warlock and his mild mannered descendent. The setting is a cursed, desolate New England town with deformed townsfolk shuffling through layers of fog in the
A ★★★★★ review of Rear Window (1954)
Hooptober X: The Devil Made Me Do It #11: 5 Films from De Palma, Wes Craven, Ken Russell, Hitchcock and/or Morehead & Benson (1) DVD rental John Michael Hayes' script crackles with snappy dialog. Jimmy Stewart manages to drive so much of the action while sitting down the entire film. Grace Kelly effortlessly scales a second-story window in a flowing dress while looking amazing. It I hadn't known what this was about, I would've been lulled into a false sense of security by how lighthearted most of the film is, before the alleged murder happens. It all comes together in one
A ★★★★★ review of The Exorcist (1973)
Hooptober X: The Devil Made Me Do It #12: 1 film with an "X" in the title, 8 decades (5) Theatrical screening (director's cut) "You're going to die up there." I try to only include first watches on my Hooptober lists, but I had the opportunity to see THE EXORCIST director's cut in the theater to celebrate its 50th anniversary, so I decided to include it. This was actually my first time in the theater since the pre-Covid "before times" of yore. The last movie I'd seen in the theater was STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER so it was
A ★★★ review of Nightbeast (1982)
Hooptober X: The Devil Made Me Do It #13: 8 decades (6) Tubi NIGHTBEAST gets a star just for the name. NIGHTBEAST! It's an awesome name for a movie, and it'd be a sick name for a band if anyone hasn't already claimed it. The nightbeast serves the Nightman, eternal enemy of the Dayman, Oh ah ah! NIGHTBEAST is a quivering heap of late night schlocky goodness, right down to the fantastic rubber monster in a stylish V-neck space suit, awkward cop sex scene, laser blasts, ripping guts, dismembered limbs and what have you. There's a scene where a scumbag
A ★★★½ review of Sisters (1972)
Hooptober X: The Devil Made Me Do It #14: 5 Films from De Palma, Wes Craven, Ken Russell, Hitchcock and/or Morehead & Benson (2) Max De Palma's take on the "evil twin" trope, SISTERS takes a bit to get going but pieces together a fun, sleazy murder mystery with a little giallo flavor to sweeten the pot. Margot Kidder and William "Winslow" Finley give stellar performances. While the kill count is low I didn't find myself bored at all. While I didn't plan this, it turns out this was a nice companion piece to Hitchcock's REAR WINDOW. I have some glaring
A ★★★ review of Scary Movie (1991)
Hooptober X: The Devil Made Me Do It #15: 1 film that was released the year that you turned 10 The Podcast Macabre 2023 Horror Challenge 14/52 49. Set in a funhouse or haunted attraction Tubi "Let's pollinate! A once-forgotten regional horror out of Austin, Texas SCARY MOVIE was rescued and restored by AGFA. I love the Halloween haunt atmosphere, and while the jokes don't always land it's a fun little horror comedy. John Hawkes plays the biggest scaredy cat who ever lived, and the escaped mental patient on Halloween night is a solid trope. This could be a good
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