Hello, friends. It has been a long time. Obviously, I haven’t been doing much writing in these pages of late. Before I disappeared, I talked a little bit about how my hit counter for this site was abysmal. People just don’t come here anymore.
There are probably lots of reasons for that, most of which are out of my control. The few things that I could do to get me more readers would feel more like work than fun and probably wouldn’t garner that many more visitors anyhow.
However, I find I still love this site. I still like writing about movies and music and whatever else I’ve got on my mind. I’ve been thinking about returning for a little while now, but the calendar rolling over to October has pushed me to just start writing again.
One of the first movie themes I created was 31 Days of Horror, and I just can’t not write about horror movies in October. I’m not sure how much I’ll do. I’d like to return to doing the Friday Night Horror Movie and my Picks of the Week. I’ll probably write at least a few horror movie reviews and maybe a few other things. I imagine I’ll post stuff I’ve written for Cinema Sentries here like I used to.
I’m sure I’ll stick around for Noirvember as well, but after that…well, we’ll just have to wait and see.
But I don’t know what the future holds. I may get fed up with this again and drop completely out. Or I may find some alternative place to post my words. Probably I’ll just keep writing things here whenever I feel like it.
I want to say that I’ll only post when I want to, that it will be a casual thing. That I don’t want to push myself to post things because then it becomes unfun. But the truth is I need a little bit of a push. If I don’t, then I get lazy and don’t do anything.
I’m also in the process of moving all the posts on the music site back to this one. It just seems silly to keep that music site if I’m not going to post any more music. But I’d hate to lose those old posts and the many comments you all left on them. I actually have some ideas about doing some music posts again (without download links), but I’ll save that discussion for another day.
Anyway, here I am, back for now. Since September just ended and I haven’t yet watched any horror movies, I thought I’d begin with my monthly wrap up. And here we go.
I watched 32 movies in September. Twenty three of them were new to me. Eight of them were made before I was born. My theme for the month was The Seventies in September, and I watched ten movies from that decade.
I’ve now watched 337 movies this year. Twenty one of them are from 2025. 73 percent of them have been new to me.
Willem Dafoe is tied with Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant for first place in my most watched actors category. The latter of which are due to me watching a full season’s worth of their Doctor Whos.
Johnnie To and David Lynch remain at the top of my director’s list with four films watched.
And that’s it. I do hope to keep writing, just for fun. Maybe I’ll get more readers, maybe I won’t. But if you enjoy my words, please do leave a comment, as that helps a great deal. And here’s the full list.
Ballerina (2025) ****
Dogtooth (2009) ****
Mystic Pizza (1988) ***
Rebel Ridge (2024) ****1/2
The Rapacious Jailbreaker (1974) ****
Mark Strikes Again (1976) **
Practical Magic (1998) **
The Raven (2012) ***/12
Peking Opera Blues (1986) ****
The Man Who Cheated Himself (1950) ***1/2
The Great Gatsby (1974) **
The Thursday Murder Club (2025) ***
Red Riding: The Year of Our Lord 1980 (2009) ***1/2
Honey Don’t! (2025) ***1/2
Dracula (1958) ****
The Fog (1980) ****
When a Stranger Calls (1979) ***
The Craft (1996) ***1/2
Red Riding: The Year of Our Lord 1974 (2009) ***1/2
5 Fingers (1952) ***1/2
Alucarda (1977) ***1/2
The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) ***1/2
Highest 2 Lowest (2025) ****
All the President’s Men (1976) ****1/2
Sisters (1972) ****
City of Ghosts (2002) **1/2
Blithe Spirit (2020) **1/2
The Devils (1971) ****
Winter Kills (1979) ***1/2
The Crow (1994) ****
Sorcerer (1977) ****1/2
The Witch: Part 1. The Subversion (2018) ***1/2
The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil (2019) ****
themidnightcafe.org 
It’s good to hear from you again Mat, the first thing i thought was, crikey it’s been awhile. I can’t work due to mental health issues, and chronic fatigue. However i can do quite well at times. So i am into photography, it’s virtually an addiction. At least when i am shooting regularly, the time goes by relatively quick. It’s great to see you back though, warm regards, Simon.
Thank you my friend. I’m sorry to hear about your health issues. I hope you are getting all the help you need.
I’m glad you’ve found something to occupy your time. And photography sounds awesome. I’d love to see some of your work if you ever want to share.
Thank you Mat, very kind words. My health issues have been very long term, i have not been able to work since 2001. So it’s kind of the norm in a way, however some days can be very good. If you look on Flickr, you don’t need to have an account. You can just type in Simon Folkard, i live over here in the UK, and you can have a peruse if you want. Some of the people i follow are incredible photographers, and it does benefit us mentally and physically. Great to see you posting again mate, Simon.
Sorry my friend. You sent me a link to your photos and I looked at them and then I got distracted and forgot to comment. I liked them very much. I love taking photos myself but I’m terrible at remembering to actually do it. So I like that you seem to be enjoying yourself just taking lots of wonderful and random photos.
Hi Mat, no worries. It’s been wonderful for me really, it gets me out and about. Also it’s really good for my mental and physical health, There is so much you can capture too, i appreciate your kind comments.
I get it. Like I said I love taking photos but I just never remember to stop and take the time. We’ve had some beautiful sunrises here lately. My drive to work takes me over this bridge over a lake and there has been a couple of beautful sunrises there. I wish I could take a photo but there is no good place to stop.
That’s a pity. With myself it’s a little different as i cannot work, and have not been able to for years. I did do some voluntary work many years ago, then i got some physical issues that stopped me. I have a lot of free time, and when i am doing relatively ok, i like to get out and do some. Sunrises or sunsets can be really amazing.
Welcome back
Thanks very much.