I watched 48 movies in October. 29 of them were new to me. 19 of them were made before I was born. It was scary month, and I watched 27 horror movies.
It was a good movie month for me. The best of the year in terms of number of movies watched. Over the last few years I’ve gotten to where I watch most of my movies on the weekend, and then weekdays are spent watching TV or doing other things. But this month I had three boxed sets of films to get through (Seven Nightmare on Elm Streets, Six starring Errol Flynn and Four starring Joan Crawford) and review, so I wound up watching a lot of films through the week and then even more on the weekend.
While I did watch a lot of horror movies, I didn’t write about them nearly as much as I usually do for 31 Days of Horror. Partially this was due to all the other writing duties I had – reviewing those boxed sets plus 5 Cool Things and Picks of the Week. But I also intentionally slowed down my horror writing. When I decided to come back to writing after a long break, I did so with the intention of keeping it fun. I don’t want to ever feel like I have to write something in order to keep up this blog. I’ve settled into the realization that this blog will never really take off, so it has to be enjoyable to do. I want to have fun with this, and pressuring myself to write more articles is a fast way to make it feel like work. I figure writing about my movie theme at least once a month is plenty.
Those boxed sets also had a good effect on my most watched stats.
The directors list is almost entirely different from last month. There is now a six way tie for first place, with the leaders having only four films watched. I feel like by this point I usually have one or two directors who have taken a clear lead with many more films on the chart than this.
The tie for second place goes on to eight people with just three films watched. With only two more months to go until the end of the year it will be interesting to see if anybody reaches the double digits.
The most watched actors list has seen some changes as well. This is mostly due to the boxed sets. Robert Englund jumps up to a tie for first place at eight films, which is entirely due to the Nightmare set. Peter Cushing was on the list last month, but he pushes forward to that first place tie. This is due to all the Hammer Horror films I watched this month. That’s the same reason Christopher Lee is now in second place. I fully expect I’ll watch more Hammer before the year is out, so you can expect both of them to rise even higher. Joan Crawford and Errol Flynn both make their debuts entirely due to boxed sets.
Anyway, here’s the full list.
Dracula’s Daughter (1936) – ****
The Evil of Frankenstein (1964) ****
Halloween (1978) *****
Trick ‘r Treat (2007) **
The Terror of the Tongs (1961) ***1/2
The Women (1939) ****
Possessed (1947) ***
Grand Hotel (1932) ****1/2
The Damned Don’t Cry (1950) ***1/2
Aliens (1986) ****1/2
Lou Reed and John Cale: Songs for Drella (1990) ***
The Shrouds (2024) ****
The Thing (1982) *****
The Thing from Another World (1951) ****
Triangle (2009) ***1/2
Rogue (2007) ***1/2
The Cat and the Canary (1927) ****1/2
OSS 117: Mission for a Killer (1965) **
The Phoenician Scheme (2025) ****
Only the River Flows (2023) ***1/2
Cloud (2024) ****
A Better Tomorrow (1986) ***1/2
The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958) ****
New Nightmare (1994) ****
Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991) **
A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Child (1989) ***
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988) ***1/2
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987) ****
A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985) **1/2
Objective, Burma! (1945) ***1/2
Edge of Darkness (1943) ****
The Sea Hawk (1940) ****
City on Fire (1987) ***1/2
Santa Fe Trail (1940) **
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) ****
Radioland Murders (1994) ***1/2
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) ****1/2
The Hard Way (1943) ***
The Strange Woman (1946) ***
Last Known Address (1970) ***1/2
The Forever Purge (2021) **
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) ****1/2
Heretic (2024) ***1/2
for The Mummy (1959) ***1/2
Body Puzzle (1992) ***
The Descent (2005) ****
What Lies Beneath (2000) ***
One Battle After Another (2025) ****
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