I watched 45 movies in November. 36 of them were new to me. 32 were made before I was born. It was Noirvember and I watched 22 film noirs. That’s pretty good considering I spent the first week or so of the month watching and reviewing a bunch of movies for Cinema Sentries including two large Shaw Brothers martial arts films.

Those Shaw Brothers films had a huge impact on my most watched actors and directors lists.

For the actors, Ku Feng now leads the pack with 11 films of his being watched. He’s followed by Sammy Hunt, Cheng Pei-Pei, Vincent Price, and Boris Karloff with eight films each.

Sam Peckinpah still leads the directors list with six films. Chang Chey enters the list with five films and Ho Meng-Hua and Lo Wei both come in this month with four films each. Martin Scorsese, William Nigh, and Fernando Di Leo are still tied for second place with five films each.

Next month isn’t going to have a theme, but I am going to try and catch up on all the films that came out this year and that I missed.

Obviously, I tend to watch old movies. That wasn’t always the case. I used to go to the theater just about every weekend and I would watch everything that looked interesting to me (and plenty that didn’t). I’ve mostly lived in smallish towns and cities so I’ve never been able to see smaller, independent films or the type that often wind up on critics’ best-of lists.

These days I rarely make it to the cinema, and I don’t really keep up all that well with new films. I still watch the Oscars every year, because I like the ceremony, but it is rare anymore that I’ve seen more than a couple of nominated films.

So, I’d like to spend December making an effort to see some of the best films that came out this year. I’ll probably review a few of them, but mostly I’ll just try and enjoy.

My favorite new watches this month included Brighton Rock, Man on the Run, The Devil’s Mirror, and Night and the City.

Carrie (1976) – ****
Johnny O’Clock (1947) – ****
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) – ****
Touch of Evil (1958) – *****
Doctor Who: The Daleks (1964) – ****
10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) – ****
Seance on a Wet Afternoon (1964) – ***
Brighton Rock (1948) – ****1/2
My Neighbor Totoro (1988) – *****
Man on the Run (1949) – ****1/2
The Killer is Loose (1956) – ****
Private Hell 36 (1954) – ***
I, the Jury (1982) – ***1/2
I, the Jury (1953) – ***1/2
Road House (1948) – ****
The Shanghai Gesture (1941) – **1/2
The Racket (1951) – ***1/2
Blackhat (2015) – **1/2
The Frightened City (1961) – ****
Cast a Dark Shadow (1955) – ****
Deep Red (1975) – ****1/2
Backdraft (1991) – **1/2
Carlito’s Way (1993) – ****
Beware, My Lovely (1952) – ***1/2
Human Desire (1954) – ****
The Killer (2023) – ****
The Tattered Dress (1957) – ***
The Girl in the Kremlin (1957) – ***1/2
Pitfall (1948) – ***1/2
A Haunting in Venice (2023) – ***1/2
Man Afraid (1957) – ***
The Dragon Missile (1976) – ***
Gator (1976) – ***
White Lightning (1973) – ***1/2
The Water Margin (1972) – **
The Devil’s Mirror (1972) – ****1/2
Force of Evil (1948) – ****
The Shadow Whip (1971) – ***1/2
The Crimson Charm (1971) – ***1/2
Black Angel (1946) – ***1/2
The First Power (1990) – ***
Brothers Five (1970) – ****
Night and the City (1950) – ****1/2
Lady of Steel (1970) – ****
The Flying Guillotine (1975) – ***1/2

I watched 44 movies in the month of October. Thirty-four of them could be considered horror movies. Twenty-three of them were made before I was born. Only five of them had been previously viewed by me.

Obviously, this was spooky season for me. I do love a good horror movie. I even love a bad horror movie once in a while. Although, ever October I start out watching horror with a fevered passion by by the end of the month, by the time actual Halloween rolls around, I’m kind of tired of them. I’m always ready for Noirvember when it comes.

As you can see from the links I reviewed quite a few of the films I watched. I’m pretty proud of that. Although, as you can tell, I got worse at that as the month wore on. I received a couple of big boxed sets of Shaw Brothers kung fu films a week ago and I’ve been plowing my way through them. Expect a review over at Cinema Sentries soon.

Surprisingly, my wife who doesn’t like horror movies watched a lot of them with me this year. I intentionally watched a lot of Pre-Code horror and Hammer horror just for her.

Unusual for me I watched three films that actually came out in 2023. Two were silly streaming horror films but I did manage to catch Killers of the Flower Moon in the Theater. Of course I did, I’ve been looking forward to seeing that film for a few years now. It is excellent by the way.

Vincent Price jumped all the way to number one on my actors most watched this year list. I’ve watched eight of his films this year. That makes sense as he’s in a lot of horror movies. Brad Dourif also moved into the second-place spot. He’s one of my favorites, and he played in both the Rob Zombie Halloween movies which gave him the bump.

The director’s list stayed the same except for Chang Cheh, who entered the list tied for third with four films watched. He directed a lot of those Shaw Brothers films I was talking about.

Anyways, here’s the list

Halloween II (2009)
Dragon Swamp (1969)
Halloween (2007)
The Flying Dagger (1969)
The Jade Raksha (1968)
Tucker and Dale vs. Evil (2010)
The Thundering Sword (1967)
The Wicker Man (1973)
Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)
Golden Swallow (1968)
The Assassin (1967)
Saw (2004)
Constantine (2005)
Coogan’s Bluff (1968)
Doctor Who: An Unearthly Child (1963)
The Hitcher (1986)
Theatre of Blood (1973)
The Mummy’s Shroud (1967)
House of Wax (1953)
Lorna, the Exorcist (1974)
Waxwork (1988)
The Iron-Fisted Monk (1977)
Haunted Mansion (2023)
Count Dracula (1970)
Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933)
Phantom of the Paradise (1974)
Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993)
Castle of Blood (1964)
Nothing Underneath (1985)
Murders in the Zoo (1933)
Murder-Rock: Dancing Death (1984)
Marebito (2004)
Retribution (2006)
Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932)
Black Christmas (2006)
Thirteen Women (1932)
The Final Girls (2015)
The Invasion (2007)
Totally Killer (2023)
Body Snatchers (1993)
The Night Stalker (1972)
Talk to Me (2022)
Doctor X (1932)
Secret of the Blue Room (1933)

I watched 47 movies in August, 38 of which were new to me. Thirty of those were made before I was born. There was no real theme this month, although I did periodically try to watch a new to me movie made in my lifetime and I watched those in chronological order.

I spent a week at my in-laws and so I mostly watched movies I knew they would enjoy, which means movies that I’ve seen before and loved, or films I knew wouldn’t offend anybody.

I watched a remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s silent film The Lodger. It starred Laird Cregar as the Jack the Ripper-esque killer and George Sanders as the inspector. It was pretty good.

I also watched two adaptations of Daniel Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon that did not star Humphrey Bogart. They were both pretty good too, but not nearly as good as the Bogart version.

I watched an adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s incredible novel The Handmaid’s Tale that was recently adapted into a very good TV series (at least the first season is great, I haven’t seen the others). The movie is from 1990 and it is weird.

All in all a very good month.

My favorite films were Red River, The Warriors, Roadhouse (yes the one with Patrick Swayze – it’s terrifically fun 1980s cheese), and The Wonderful Country.

Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Allred entered my top five actors of the year list with six films both to their names. All of their films are from classic Doctor Who episodes. Apparently, I’ve been watching a lot of their era stories. Peter Foster punched his way into my director’s list with four films watched. All of those were from the Mr. Motto series with Peter Lorre.

Here’s the full list.

An Inspector Calls (1954)
Lady of Burlesque (1943)
The Warriors (1979)
The Man with Two Faces (1934)
Night Key (1937)
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir 1947
The Clouded Yellow (1950)
Maggie Moore(s) 2023
Mr. Moto Takes a Chance (1938)
The Third Secret (1964)
The Raven 1963
Doctor Who: The Curse of Fenric (1989)
The Scorpion with Two Tails 1982
The Stuff (1985)
Satan Met a Lady (1936)
Whirlpool 1950
The Maltese Falcon (1931)
The Handmaid’s Tale 1990
Cobra Woman (1944)
Bitter Moon (1992)
The Breakfast Club 1985
Jungle Fever (1991)
Blue Steel 1990
Road House 1989
Slaxx (2020)
Grabbers (2012)
The Doll of Satan (1969)
The Lodger 1944
Strangers in the House 1942
A Study in Scarlet (1933)
My Darling Clementine (1946)
The Birds (1963)
The Guns of Navarone 1961
Two Rode Together 1961
The Wonderful Country (1959)
The Lusty Men (1952)
Bigger Than Life (1956)
Born to Be Bad (1950)
Lonely Are the Brave (1962)
Ocean’s Eleven (1960)
Appointment with Death (1988)
House of Usher (1960)
Doctor Who: Ghost Light (1989)
Popcorn (1989)
Conan the Barbarian (1982)
Red River (1948)
Jamaica Inn (1939)

I watched 26 films in the month of May. Twenty-one of those films were new to me. Thirteen of them were made before I was born.

I had originally intended the theme of this month to either be Pre-Code films or erotic thrillers. Neither of those became a reality. The theme this month became that there was no theme this month. And that’s ok.

My brother-in-law died early in May. Naturally, that threw everything out of whack. We spent a week in Nashville and I didn’t watch anything. In the weeks that have followed, I’ve remained a bit out of sorts. I’m still trying to get back into the groove of things here on the blog. As you’ve probably noticed I haven’t been writing any movie reviews, or anything else really. I will make a better effort in June.

I hate how callous that sounds. Of course, a death in the family has impacted my movie-watching and blog writing. These things are completely secondary to the well-being of my wife and mourning with her family. I’m not complaining about not being able to watch as many movies this month as I usually do. Not at all.

But this is a post about the movies I did watch and so I mentioned it as a way of explaining why I didn’t watch as many movies.

I did watch the new Scream movie. Actually, before I watched the new one I went back and rewatched the six movies that came before it. I had really planned on doing a whole write-up on them, maybe even doing one of those dumb Ranked posts you see all over the Internet. But I just couldn’t get it done.

The Scream franchise did do a number on my most-watched actors of the year list. Four of those actors (Courteny Cox, Roger Jackson, David Arquette, and Neve Campbell) are now in the top five. James Coburn is the only non-Scream actor on that list.

The Director’s List remains mostly the same except for Wes Craven taking a spot due to him directing several of the Scream films.

Here’s the complete list:

Spy Hunt (1950)
Appointment with a Shadow (1957)
One Way Street (1950)
Undercover Girl (1950)
Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
Undertow (1949)
The Pope’s Exorcist (2023)
Fear in the Night (1972)
Outside the Wall (1950)
Hold Back Tomorrow (1955)
Doctor Who: Silver Nemesis (1988)
Sister, Sister (1987)
Bullet Train (2022)
Winchester ’73 (1950)
Eight Hours of Terror (1957)
The Babysitter (2017)
Psycho III (1986)
Safe in Hell (1931)
Scream VI (2023)
Scream (2022)
Scream 4 (2011)
Scream 3 (2000)
Scream 2 (1997)
Honor Among Lovers (1931)
Scream (1996)
The Comfort of Strangers (1990)

I watched 40 movies in April. Thirty-Five of them were new to me. Only four of them were made before I was born. That’s because my theme for this month was the Awesome ’80s in April. I watched 31 movies from that decade and reviewed most of them.

That’s really good for me. It turns out that watching movies from one particular decade (especially a popular one) is rather easy. I mostly didn’t get bored either (as I often do when I’ve chosen a genre for the month’s theme) because the 1980s hold all kinds of different movies. I watched action films, and horror films, comedies, thrillers, and dramas.

I will say here towards the end I got a little tired of it. I missed watching classic movies, and modern ones too. The month didn’t turn out quite as I expected. I really thought I’d wind up watching a bunch of movies from Spielberg or starring Schwarzenneger and the like. I thought I’d watch more of the big blockbusters that I grew up watching as a kid.

But I wasn’t really in the mood for those. Or rather what I really wanted to watch were films from the 1980s that I’d never seen before. And that’s mostly what I did. They weren’t all great, but I’m really glad I got to fill in some gaps.

I haven’t quite decided yet what my theme for May is going to be. I was originally going to go with Erotic Thrillers but that would keep me in the 1980s and 1990s and I suspect I’ll really get to itching for some classic movies if I go with a relatively modern set of films again. Right now I’m thinking about Pre-Code movies (films made from about 1927 to 1934) but I also suspect I’ll get a little bored with those after a bit.

Maybe I’ll split the month up and do both.

Stats for 2023:

Number of Movies Watched: 171
Number of New To Me Watched: 143
Star of the Year: James Coburn, 6 films watched
Director of the Year: Sam Peckinpah, 6 films watched.

Here’s the complete list.

Merrily We Go to Hell (1932)
Color of Night (1994)
The Sunday Woman (1975)
Hôtel du Nord (1938)
Bound (1996)
A Return to Salem’s Lot (1987)
Tag (2018)
The Suspect (1944)
The Big Red One (1980)
The King of Comedy (1982)
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
Life is Cheap… But Toilet Paper is Expensive (1989)
Tightrope (1984)
Stage Fright (1987)
The Company of Wolves (1984)
Street Smart (1987)
The Final Countdown (1980)
Night Game (1989)
Lethal Weapon (1987)
Pale Rider (1985)
Yes, Madam! (1985)
The Bedroom Window (1987)
Call Me (1988)
Silver Bullet (1985)
Evils of the Night (1985)
Dune (1984)
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985)
Purple Rain (1984)
Slave Girls from Beyond Infinity (1987)
2010 (1984)
Chopping Mall (1986)
Monkey Shines (1988)
The Presidio (1988)
Flash Gordon (1980)
Mad Max 2 (1981)
The French Lieutenant’s Woman (1981)
Desperately Seeking Susan (1985)
Dead Calm (1989)
Tales from Earthsea (2006)
Firestarter (1984)

I watched 40 movies in February. Seven of which I had seen previously. 19 of them were made before I was born. As it was Foreign Film February 13 of them were not made in the United States and were not in English.

Stats for the year to date include:

Number of movies watched: 90
Number of previously not watched by me: 74
Top Five Actors: Henry Silva (4 films), Giulio Baraghini (4 films), Vittorio Caprioli (3 films), Val Avery (3 films), and James Coburn (3 films).
Top Five Directors: Fernando Di Leo (5 films), Howard Hawks (3 films), Quentin Tarantino (3 films), Martin Scorsese (3 films), Sam Peckinpah (3 films).

My favorite films watched this month (that were new to me) were: She Dies Tomorrow, Possessor, I Was A Male War Bride, The Tragedy of Macbeth, Titane, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, Pig, Nostalghia, and The Bicycle Thieves.

Here’s the full list:

Welcome to the Sticks (2008)
El Dorado (1966)
Rio Bravo (1959)
Brimstone (2016)
Black Rain (1989)
She Dies Tomorrow (2020)
The Night (2020)
Possessor (2020)
I Was a Male War Bride (1949)
The Amazing Quest of Ernest Bliss (1936)
The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)
Roughshod (1949)
Five Shaolin Masters (1974)
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967)
Capricorn One (1977)
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974)
Titane (2021)
Crimes of the Future (2022)
The Brasher Doubloon (1947)
One on Top of the Other (1969)
The Osterman Weekend (1983)
A Study in Scarlet (1933)
Dark Alibi (1946)
Mr. Wong, Detective (1938)
Cujo (1983)
Fist of Fury (1972)
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973)
A Virgin Among the Living Dead (1973)
Hellraiser (2022)
Tampopo (1985)
Pig (2021)
Nostalgia (1983)
Ride Lonesome (1959)
The Tall T (1957)
Biutiful (2010)
Micmacs (2009)
Run (2020)
C.H.U.D. (1984)
Bicycle Thieves (1948)