And so ends the 10th year of watching far too many horror movies for a month. Took a massive chunk out of my backlog of films which is nice to finally do. But still more than enough for another year or two. Don't think I go for another year of this many though. Definitely gets brutal to keep up.

#SPOOKATHONX FILM #159 The Mist (2007) Another classic and must see. I maintain this is the best King horror adaptation to date still. Great vibe, great cast. Darabont manages to continuously create escalating tension and unease the whole time. Only criticism is the CG is obvious and dated. 9/10

#SPOOKATHONX FILM #158 Fright Night (1985) Absolute classic for me. Fun story, fun cast. Sarandon is one of the all time vampire performances ever. McDowell as Vincent is fantastic too. Effects aren't the most consistent but nothing egregious. One every horror fan should see once. 8/10

#SPOOKATHONX FILM #157 Re-Animator (1985) Modernization of Lovecraft. Good old fashioned mad science. Combs is great as always here. Effects are serviceable, nothing too amazing but I give them credit for trying some goofy things. Story wise I prefer From Beyond still but this is very fun. 7/10

#SPOOKATHONX FILM #156 The Monster Squad (1987) An old favorite. Still fun as hell. It confuses me it bombed so bad originally. Glad it has found a cult audience. Good cast, great effects aside from the green screen. Still my favorite wolfman in film. Just a fun 80's classic. 8/10

#SPOOKATHONX FILM #155 Stoker (2013) Park Chan-Wook always impresses. Great script/story from Miller too. Heavily Hitchcockian at pretty much every level. Story inspirations, homages, and motifs all taken from his work. Wraps itself up in a nice bow and is creepy as hell. Great thriller. 8/10

#SPOOKATHONX FILM #154 Ginger Snaps (2000) Mostly good. Great cast and acting. Some of the effects are good although the final wolf reveal is... not the best. The stand in messaging about puberty is a bit on the nose but it works. I found it a bit hard to stay engaged even though it's not bad. 7/10

#SPOOKATHONX FILM #153 Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2000) Same bonkers world, fun characters, improved production value. There's not much downside to this sequel/continuation. Not a direct sequel just another story in it. Novels are structured this way mostly too, pulp serials almost.

#SPOOKATHONX FILM #152 Vampire Hunter D (1985) Just watch it. It's a damn classic both of anime films and horror worlds. One of the best universes in all of fiction for creepy horror. It's up there with King's Outworld of the Gunslinger. They adapt a lot out for the film but understand it.

#SPOOKATHONX FILM #151 Patchwork (2015) Neat idea, but has problems. It's a horror comedy but it's not sure if it wants to be dry or camp. Varies scene to scene. Cast isn't the greatest. Only one or two decent performances the rest iffy to bad. Good effects and fun story though. 6/10

We made it to 150.

Chris Farley's Dramatic 'La-de-freakin'-da!'

ALT: Chris Farley's Dramatic 'La-de-freakin'-da!'

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#SPOOKATHONX FILM #150 Maniac (2012) Cool idea but execution wasn't great. Haven't seen the original but don't think it was shot the same way. Most of the film is first person from the killers viewpoint. Mainly just disturbing for disturbing sake but it is a little fun. 6/10

#SPOOKATHONX FILM #149 The Long Walk (2025) It's hard to make an entire movie of walk and talk work, it's ok. It's very similar to Death Race 2000 thematically but that had more going on to keep you engaged. Cast isn't bad, shot ok. The ending I don't like personally but it's fine. 7/10

#SPOOKATHONX FILM #148 The Neon Demon (2016) Great cinematography, shot really well but slow but that is Winding's style. Great performances. The story took a different turn that I was expecting but it's a good conclusion. Interesting and dark tale. Won't be for everyone but fun. 8/10

#SPOOKATHONX FILM #147 The Company of Wolves (1984) Has a unique structure that doesn't quite work for me. The story segments drag the pacing even if they are fun and well done. The effects here are actually bonkers. They do some dark and twisted stuff here. Interesting film indeed. 7/10

#SPOOKATHONX FILM #146 Frankie Freako (2024) Wasn't really my jam. Gave it a try since Psycho Goreman by these guys was so great. Also did Editor from earlier in the month. This is sadly one note and too niche. Send up of creature horrors and a bit of Troma style. Think Garbage Pail Kids. 5/10

#SPOOKATHONX FILM #145 Nighty Night (1986) SOV Japanese horror anthology that was thought to be lost media. Glad they did find it, the stories aren't bad. With polish some are good ideas for films. Decent make up and effects. Biggest issues are editing and lighting. For SOV really pretty good. 6/10

Also heads up, the Letterboxd list updates are likely paused until after the holiday. We are in the mad dash to finish as many of the backlog as I can right now. Updating the list takes as long as watching a movie at this point. Will be a mass update Sunday probably of the last three days watches.

#SPOOKATHONX FILM #144 Der Fan (1982) Dark as hell subject matter. Celebrity worship and mental problems go hard in this German psychological horror. I can see why it was infamously shocking and censored. But the violence is very tame now. More budget for effects would have gone far. 6/10

#SPOOKATHONX FILM #143 Inferno (1980) Not Argento's best. Has some cool ideas and set design. But the whole plot lacks much structure and feels more like world building to explain Suspiria more than telling a new story here. Cast isn't great aside from Daria and the witch. Music is pretty good.

#SPOOKATHONX FILM #142 Curse of Frankenstein (1957) Very classic and old school horror or drama. Everyone is solid aside from Cushing who is just on his own level of great. It's a loose adaptation but it chose smart ways to appeal to the masters. Neat watch from the Hammer catalog. 6/10

#SPOOKATHONX FILM #141 The Ugly Stepsister (2025) Very good body horror/satire. Great production design & performances. Works modern themes in while keeping in line with the period piece. Deeply disturbing on all levels. No one is really a hero here which is interesting. Recommend it. 8/10

#SPOOKATHONX FILM #140 Weapons (2025) Well produced and shot I guess. I didn't care for the score, too on the nose at times. Some of the effects pushed uncanny often (eyes). Looked like old HK effects but digital. The 30 year old practical ones looked better. Story is simple and yeah kinda spooky.

#SPOOKATHONX FILM #139 Opera (1987) Another one that is good in most ways but the plot is just lacking enough definition. The motives and backstory just aren't foreshadowed or built up. It's neat that it plays with structure a bit. Argento was trying new things but they didn't all work out.

#SPOOKATHONX FILM #138 Suspiria (1977) Really nice cinematography and lighting. Invokes some of Mario Bava's style. Creates a real mood. Goblin score really lends to it too. Cast is fine though weird seeing Harper not singing. Plot is kind of weak, needed more info. But it builds tension well. 8/10

There's still more Argento to go though. It's finally time for probably his most famous couple films now.

Suzy Bannion Suspiria

ALT: Suzy Bannion Suspiria

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Ranking the "Animal" trilogy of Dario Argento: Bird with the Crystal Plumage is far the best of them. Being his first film is all the more impressive. Four Flies on Gray Velvet would be next in the middle. Cat O' Nine Tails is the weakest. They're all good and fun just relatively speaking.

#SPOOKATHONX FILM #137 Four Flies on Gray Velvet (1971) The final of Argento's "Animal" trilogy. It's solid for the most part. Has some fun characters. More rock and roll vibe to it which was fun. Does drag a bit but not as bad as Cat. Didn't guess the twist but it's fine. Last scene is bad. 6/10

#SPOOKATHONX FILM #136 Cemetery Man (1994) One of the strangest films I've ever watched in these ten years. Wonderfully shot and a good cast. It's basically Soavi making a Raimi film. So goofy humor, slapstick, zombies, and a bunch of tits cause Italy. Everett really is great here, carries things.

#SPOOKATHONX FILM #135 Stripped to Kill (1987) Crime thriller taking place around a seed strip joint. There's a lot of topless dances, a few murders. But both the nudity and the violence is pretty tame really. In the end it's just kind of a low budget schlock film. Fun but mostly bad. 5/10