Spooky Movie Month, Pt. 3: October 11-21

The 2nd batch of horror movies that I’ve watched in October; these are movies that I’ve either never seen before or have only watched once:

October 11th: “Altered States” (1980). Oh, this movie went deeeep into the ‘weird’ side of the Horror spectrum. A psychologist starts experimenting with the human consciousness… and Central American herbs. The results? Visions, possible time-travel(?), and a lot of body horror, especially for a movie from 1980. It could also be classified as a ‘Sci-Fi’ movie. Whatever it was, it was weird.

October 12th: “The Houses October Built” (2014). This was “Hell House LLC”, but not as scary and not as good, in my opinion. The main characters weren’t much better, either. A group of 4 guys and a woman travel the country to find the spookiest haunted house; instead, they found trouble. Not going to go on a ‘rewatch’ list.

October 13th: #1 – “Twins of Evil” (1971). A vampire terrorizes
#2 – “Evil Dead Rise” (2023)

October 14th: ‘Spooky Trivia’ (not a movie). A local brewery hosted a Halloween/Horror/Spooky Facts Trivia night, complete with music and some costumes. 3 people that showed interest did not show, so I went solo. Out of 10 teams, I tied for 5th (2 other teams tied for 2nd). I apparently do not know much about family-friendly movies, but did decent on the other Halloween categories. Also had a pretty delicious drink called “Cinder & Spice”, a drink with Ginger, Orange flavoring, Cinnamon, and Bourbon. All in all, a fun evening!

October 15th: “The Nun” (2018). I own this movie but, for some reason, never watched it until this month. I like it! While not as overall good as ‘The Conjuring’, ‘The Nun’ was 90 minutes of creep jump scares and atmosphere. Sometimes, with Horror movies, you don’t need an elaborate plot or backstory – you just want to be scared and entertained.

October 16th: “The Watchers” (2024); A surprisingly entertaining movie, although not terribly frightening. A woman gets lost in the woods, finds other lost people, and discovers that something is watching them all.

October 17th: —

October 18th: “The Nun II” (2023). Completely forgot that was a 2nd ‘Nun’ movie. This one had an even more creep atmosphere – maybe because it was set in an old church and boarding school – but not quite the amount of jump scares. Stii enjoyed it!

October 19th: “The Night House” (2021). This was a pleasant surprise. A recently widowed woman is being stalked by an unseen being. The mix of her grief and whatever is in her house makes this movie’s atmosphere heavy and eerie.

October 20th: “Ghost Story” (1981). Of the movies that I watched, that were made before 1990, this might have been the best one. A group of old guys meet up to tell ghost stories, each week; meanwhile, something is killing them, one by one. If you are a fan of ‘classic’ horror movies, add this to your list!

October 21th: “It Comes At Night” (2017). I was expecting a zombie movie, after reading the plot summary before watching. Instead, I got a pretty decent, post-Apocalyptic survival thriller. Two families, after humanity is all but devastated by a plague, are trying to survive, despite growing tensions and panic.

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Overall, this batch was a better batch than the first set of movies. They were overall creepier – especially ‘The Nun’ movies – with a couple of pleasant surprises. I even managed to go to a Halloween-themed event! I’m hoping the last set of movies will be at least as entertaining and spooky as the movies I’ve watched so far. And if I can get to another Spooky Trivia event, or a Halloween party, then all the better!