Sixteen Further Screams For Halloween: Day 16 (Halloween: The Curse Of Michael Myers)

Boo.

Happy Halloween! I hope the ghosts and/or goblins are good to you and that many a child came to your door searching for the treats, which you will have provided of course. 'Cause you're good like that. I had a good few at the door, and possibly more now that the sun is down. Of course, the kids knocking were a welcome distraction, because it gave me a reprieve from engaging with GODDAMN FUCKING HALLOWEEN SIX THE CURSE OF MICHAEL MYERS. Perhaps I gave the game away a little early in this review, but oh my God. Oh my good God this is dire. It's been a long time coming, after going through this series in a strange order (and detouring for the David Gordon Green trilogy), but here we are. The end of the Jamie Lloyd trilogy. That which Halloween 5 was building up to with its strange glimpses of the man in a coat and hat. And it's shit. It's a complete and muddled clusterfuck fired on screen in 90 minutes, it killed whatever the hell these folks were planning, and only by the good graces of Wes Craven making Scream a year later and causing people to go "hey these slasher things sure are popular" did we get Halloween H20 from that. Let's go wild into this thing and what it does wrong.

Sixteen Further Screams For Halloween: Day 15 (28 Years Later)

It's another curious place I'm in here, as the astute among you will note I've not actually talked about anything from this series before. I know it by reputation, mostly by the fact that it bucked the usual zombie trend by having the zombies be able to run really fast at you to get you. Also not traditional undead zombies, but people infected by a plague. Kay. I knew all that going in, and didn't quite know what to expect. The result is a strange film, but one with a lot of artistic merit and thematic weight. I'm not sure if I get all of it, or if my read is correct, but as always I'm going to take a stab at it. Let's talk about some fast and spooky British zambabinos, I guess.

Sixteen Further Screams For Halloween: Day 14 (Anatomy)

 As we wind down here, let's branch out a bit from the cinema before the final push and talk about a spooky video game. Previously when I've done this sort of thing, it's been a focus on mainly retro titles like Splatterhouse or Sweet Home. Brief and short little experiences from the olden days of gaming that nonetheless tried to add the spooks and scares of horror cinema to the interactive medium. Anatomy is not one of those, but rather is an indie horror game from one Kitty Horrorshow, which you can purchase here for a couple of bucks. It's about an hour long and has some spooky atmosphere which I'm going to talk all over, so if you're interested then by all means check it out before I go into that. Which I will do, right about now.

Sixteen Further Screams For Halloween: Day 13 (Pearl)

It's been a strange road which has led me here to this motion picture, and it's all thanks to Scream. TO make a long story short, last year the two stars of the recent Scream pictures getting shitcanned because one said pro-Palestine things and the other protested her costar getting shitcanned. That led to me swearing off new Scream, but also doing a duo of films each starring those girls as my tribute in solidarity. Those films were Abigail with Melissa Barrera, and X with Jenna Ortega. Ignoring for the moment that X wasn't the best Ortega tribute because A) She's a supporting character and B) she doesn't make it through the film, it nevertheless remained a pretty good motion picture. I had a bunch to say about old age, sex, and the notion of sexhavers in horror movies when I covered it. What I didn't know then was that this was only half the story. That movie has a companion piece, which is what we're covering here today. I only had the vaguest memories of X, given that it was literally a year ago when I watched it. I recognized some of the geography from the prior movie, but went in with only the notion of "Mia Goth, who was in X, is now playing a young version of that creepy old bitch who killed everyone in X". I was not ready for what was about to transpire.

Sixteen Further Screams For Halloween: Day 12 (Godzilla Vs. Hedorah)

It wouldn't be a Halloween marathon without a little bit of kaiju posting. Having done a whole bunch of Heisei Gamera, and a whole bunch of the really stupendous Godzilla films, I didn't have any actual recommendations on where to go from there. So I went with this film, which I happened to have laying around. Oh. Oh my good God what in the fuck is happening here? Godzilla Vs. Hedorah is many strange and inscrutable things, all at once. It is a profoundly ambitious film, attempting to mash together dissonant styles and tones. It is a film with a ton of attempted meaning, wanting to make a claim on the effects of pollution circa the early 70's. It is a film that, at times, just gets weird as fuck. It is also a film with several jarring missteps that just crater the thing into the ground, over and over again. Within the last 30 minutes of the film I grew to hate it. I was feeling a deep-seated disappointment. I had to cool off, reconvene, talk to folks about it, and let that sludge settle and simmer. I no longer want to torpedo the film into the sun, and I admire that it had its heart in the right place... but holy fuck is this a goddamn mess. Let's dig into that.

Sixteen Further Screams For Halloween: Day 11 (Sinners)

Well, holy god damn. Every once in a while you come across a film that just floors you. Surprising nobody who read the previous two sentences, Sinners is the latest film to do that for me. Yet here I sit, baffled about what to say regarding it. It is at once vast and infinite in its intricacies and meanings, and also exactly what it says on the tin. There are angles I can come at the movie, but we have to deal with the main thing upfront: I'm white and this isn't my story or struggle. It's why I did not cover a movie like Get Out on this here marathon, despite it also being spectacular and having a lot to say. That aspect is hugely vital to Sinners, anyone can see it, and I have. I'm just putting the disclaimer here so you know that if I missed something, it's out of privilege and not malice. With that out of the way, let me try and do this film justice.

Sixteen Further Screams For Halloween: Day 10 (V/H/S 94)

Alright, here we go, another deadly dance with the found footage franchise. So far, me and the VHS series (I'm not typing it out with all those slashes in the post, deal with it) have had up and downs. The original VHS film was one I did not care for, being real sicknasty towards women with a particular cruelty and straight up just doing one as a goddamn Skype call in a haunted VHS tape movie. VHS 85, on the other hand, kinda ruled. A nice variety of segments, spooky and gross and intriguing, and a movie that did not overstay its welcome. This is a movie with Mexican death gods, technopaganism, and dreams about a serial killer recorded onto analog tape. It's kind of crazy but kind of fun. I was going to give the newest entry, VHS Halloween, this slot. Unfortunately that one is getting sort of mixed reviews, so maybe another year. For now, we picked VHS 94. How is it? It's pretty good. Not quite as good as 85, but nowhere near as dire as the original. Let's talk about it a bit.

Sixteen Further Screams For Halloween: Day 9 (The Monkey)

It's shocking how good 2025 has been when it comes to the tried and true Stephen King cinematic adaptation. This along with The Long Walk already out, and a new version of The Running Man due out in the cinema soon. That and a goddamn It spinoff series coming some... time? Too spooky for me. Which leaves us here, with an adaptation of an old short story from the 80's done by that guy what done Longlegs. That was one hell of a movie, as is this. I actually read The Monkey before sitting down with the picture, just as a curiosity. It's a simple enough concept, and King uses the fear and dread of this toy that kills people when you wind the key well. A nice 30 pages of scares and frights and trying to get rid of this cursed object. Osgood Perkins takes that idea and runs with it in different and exciting directions, and the result is one hell of a horror picture.

Sixteen Further Screams For Halloween: Day 8 (Dolores Claiborne)

(TW: discussion of CSA)

I'd like to tell you a little story. It's one I've told on the blog before, but we're coming at it from a different angle this time, sort of a road not taken. Sometime in the late 90's our neighbor was getting rid of a bunch of old books and offered me first dibs on anything I wanted. That led me to be in their basement going through these things. The standout I remember taking back with me was The Secret Diary Of Laura Palmer, which led to its own odyssey. I've told that part before, but let me tell you about one of the books I passed on. I lifted up this hardcover novel to see a woman in a red dress looking down at me with what I assumed was malice and menace. I was looking at Dolores Claiborne by Stephen King, and I put that down right away because it was Stephen King and Stephen King is too scary. Never mind that, with hindsight, Laura Palmer's diary is just as harrowing. There's a deep synchronistic meaning to the fact that I should encounter both of those books in the same basement. In a mad way, they deal with the same story, but from different worlds. So, even though it's not a typical Stephen King movie with ghouls and blood and scares, fuck it, it's my blog and I get to talk about whatever I want. (Okay, you'll get the typical Stephen King stuff next time. I'm nice like that.) Let's talk about Dolores Claiborne.

Sixteen Further Screams For Halloween: Day 7 (The Substance)

 Boy howdy, sometimes you just get blown away by a motion picture. That happened with me this afternoon watching The Substance. I went in expecting "something something body horror picture", and by God did I get that in spades. There is much of the body horror to be had, grotesque morphings of the human form and lots of ichor and orifices and bloody stuff. You will not be disappointed in that respect should you choose to view The Substance. What's shocking is the "something something" at the heart of it all: it isn't just set dressing to get you to the gross shit. No, it has some actual (and I do apologize) substance behind it, and some actual complex and heady layers to delve into. It requires a little bit of good faith and active imagination to really plunge in; not so much as, say, a David Lynch picture, but an amount certainly. That's what I've been spending not just the run time of the film, but the hours since, doing. So. Here we go. What's going on in between the lines here?

Sixteen Further Screams For Halloween: Day 6 (The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles: Transylvania)

Indiana Jones vs. Count Dracula. That's what this is, on the tin. It feels pertinent to start with that pitch, and wonder just how in the hell we got here. The answer is my pal Mike, who asked for this. It turned out to be 45 minutes long, so what the hell, a little quickie to bang out on an off day because yesterday was full of six parts of Classic Who and then two hours of talking about it for the Internet. Where this comes from is a little bit interesting, though. The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles is, again, exactly what it says on the tin. A prequel Indiana Jones series done on a TV budget, and from a brief glance at the Wikipedia episode summaries it seems like it does a lot of Quantum Leap-style kisses with history where the young Indiana Jones will meet some famous historical dude or lady. That kind of sort of happens here, except the historical dude is the actual Vlad Tepes who is an immortal vampire. From what I gather, this show was a fun little side gig for George during the 90's wherein he got to push special effects forward a little bit more to the digital age, before he went back to Star Wars near the end of the 90's. Let's not re-litigate that, I have enough horror to last me the month. Instead let's talk about INDIANA JONES AND THE VAMPIRES.

Sixteen Further Screams For Halloween: Day 5 (Phenomena)

The lady who loved insects.

We all deserve a little giallo, as a treat. Dario Argento is not a filmmaker I have seen much of, this film marking only my second encounter with him. That being said, my first brush with Argento was Suspiria, and that movie fucking ruled. Just a sea of bright colors, lurid murder, ancient witches, and 70's progressive rock. Better times with horror movies are few and far between. This isn't even my first time seeing Phenomena, as I was drawn to watch it back in May or so because of its lead and its premise, about which more in a second. It lurked in the back of my mind since then, it has just as much incredible power as it did in May, and now we get to talk about it.

Sixteen Further Screams For Halloween: Day 4 (Trap)

Oh, and this shot was cinema.

Well, this was unexpected. I'll be upfront and say that it isn't really a horror movie and more of a thriller, but like... Fuck it, it's got a serial killer protagonist and it's my blog so I get the final say on what belongs. There's at least one other film on my list this year that doesn't fall under the traditional horror umbrella, so I am breaking all the rules. Ooh, I'm a rebel. The other unexpected thing for me was that I really enjoyed Trap. M Night Shymalan and I, we have a rocky history. A couple of years ago I watched Old for one of these. I really didn't like it, for reasons I forget but wrote down in that blog post. In contrast to that, earlier this year since my pal Joe did a whole marathon of all of Shymalan's films, I rewatched The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, and those movies kind of rule. Trap is not quite as good as those, but nor is it shit. It was actually pretty fucking good and had me engaged at all times. Yes, even the back half. It seems like this is sort of a Marmite movie, with lots of mixed opinions. All I can do is share mine, and I enjoyed it, and here's a little of why.

Sixteen Further Screams For Halloween: Day 3 (The Craft)

As above, so below.

In contrast to what we've covered so far, this is something I've seen already. I've lost count of how many times I've mentioned, but I was not a horror fan in the 1990s. I was scared shitless of the genre after encounters with Stephen King and the like. That being said, at some point I do remember The Craft. I couldn't tell you if I'd watched it within the last 25 years, and yet portions of it were seared into my memory. That was long ago, and now here I am a little older and wiser, and a little more attuned to the magical side of things. Also I have witchy friends, so there's that. I'm more an alchemist, in some respects, but I also respect the actual craft. As it turns out, I respect the motion picture The Craft a lot too. Let's see what sort of magic is in store with it.

Sixteen Further Screams For Halloween: Day 2 (Weapons)

Mood, Josh Brolin (but affectionately)

This one has been a long time coming. Ever since I saw the first trailers for Weapons, I knew it was a must-watch for this particular scary season. It was brilliant marketing, revealing just enough to intrigue and entice but not so much that it gave any of the game away. A movie you just go into and try to understand as it unravels before you. For a bit near the beginning I worried that this would be a more run of the mill thriller, and that I would have to cook a bit with some metaphor for horror. I could do that, but I don't have to. Weapons firmly belongs in the horror camp, and it is a staggering masterpiece of recent cinema in that camp. That's a fucking accomplishment considering some of the other horror films that have come out recently, but by fuck does Weapons accomplish it.

Sixteen Further Screams For Halloween: Day 1 (Gnome Cave)

 ooooOOOOoooo!!! Here we are, once again, on the dawn of another October! Spooky season is upon us! The last embers of summer have burned away, there's a chill in the air, I need a sweater and a blanket, and so it is time to once again begin with our spooky marathon. When building the lineup this year, it was quite interesting. There were a few shoo-ins, a few recommendations, and then just a few choices which kind of fell into my lap. Like this getting announced a short while ago; the debut horror novel of one James Rolfe. I trust that the man needs no introduction, but let's just say his reputation precedes him. That's complimentary, by the way. I know that reviews of this book came out from the usual Youtubers orbiting Rolfe, but I did not pay them any heed. It's difficult to trust the Internet on him when he has, for lack of a better term, a cult of haters. Not every critic of his is acting in bad faith, but holy fuck are the ones who are fucking organized. In a mad way, that becomes sort of relevant for what this book is doing.