31 Nights of Horror X, Night 4: The Conspiracy
Three sentence review:
What if the dude shouting doomsday nonsense into a megaphone was actually right? This solid entry into the found footage arena is about two documentarians who follow a committed conspiracy theorist to the brink of madness. It’s a relatively recent film, but I’m still going to call this one ahead of its time because nine years later people are somehow even more bonkers about conspiracy theories.
31 Nights of Horror X, Night 3: Seance
Three sentence review:
Simon Barrett’s Seance is about a new girl at a cliquey boarding school who, with the help of her frenemies, tries to figure out why her classmates keep dying (by invoking spirits with a DIY lipstick planchette!) I got a little bored at times but I think this movie would be a winner at any high school slumber party (follow it up with The Craft!) Great performances and excellent production quality make up for some of the thinner plot points.
31 Nights of Horror X, Night 2: Bingo Hell
Three sentence review:
I am obsessed with Gigi Saul Guerrero and I am so happy that she has a feature on Amazon Prime right now called Bingo Hell. Adriana Barazza plays “Lupita”, a feisty old who teams up with her BFF Dolores to fight gentrification and the evils that come with it. Though a bit all over the place and at times randomly melodramatic, I think this movie is meant to be wacky and I think that more movies should feature the stories and bad assery of jilted senior citizens.
Welcome back, October. It’s great to see you. Tonight is very special because I am celebrating the TENTH year of my 31 Nights of Horror marathon! As always, you’ll get a fresh, fun-sized review every night this month. So grab your favorite soda or adult beverage and cozy up with me in the Nerdcropolis graveyard. We all deserve to escape into Horrorland more than ever this year, so let’s get to it.
Kicking off year 10: Motel Hell
Three sentence review:
If you’re sick of wondering what’s for dinner, look no further than Farmer Vincent’s renowned smoked meats at Motel Hell – just don’t ask how the sausage is made. Watching this low-budget, fan favorite from 1980 feels like your parents went to a party and left you on the recliner with a TV dinner and an afghan blanket. I love kicking off the month with a goofy B-movie, and you can’t go wrong with a lunatic farmer wearing a severed pigs head who buries his victims up to their necks in the dirt until they’re good and ripe.
Hi everyone! Whew, 2020 amirite? I actually got married on Halloween! It was so perfect. Unfortunately I was one of those Corona Brides that had to postpone their wedding (twice). So when we had to postpone it for the second time, we were like “Screw it, let’s get married on Halloween!” It was perfect and I will definitely write a post all about it. But! It definitely caused me to fall behind on my 31 Nights of Horror posts. That, plus election anxiety and just existential dread in general from this year. Then I got the ol’ Rona and it knocked me out for a bit. Losing your sense of smell is – bizarre.
So here are the final few movies I watched!
Night 25: Tremors: Shrieker Island! I honestly hope they make 50 Tremors movies I will watch them all. S s s spoiler alert; with that ending, I don’t know if they will or can!!
Night 26: Maleficent! This night was for my scaredy-friends who do not like horror. It was my first time watching Maleficent, and I was planning to be her for Halloween so I needed to watch it. Man, ol’ Mal was just love scorned! Typical dudes ruining everything. Take my wings? I take your baby!
Night 27: 30 Days of Night: I just learned that the makers of this film created an entirely new language for this movie. It makes sense of course, but my dumb American brain assumed it was something that already existed haha. Anyway I stand by loving this movie. I don’t always love vampire flicks but I love this one. The vampires don’t follow any conventional vampire rules and just bust through windows. I love love love Mark Boone Junior. And Ben Foster is supremely creepy. So what that the ending is weird. It’s a great action horror flick.
Night 28: MANIAC COP (1987). Bruce Campbell. Nuff said.
Night 29: The Mortuary Collection. Wow this was a fun anthology!! I have not seen a really solid anthology film in years. Highly recommended. Clancy Brown, y’all.
Night 30: The Purge: Season Two: As I said before I am a huge fan of the Purge universe bc of its infinite story line potential. Season two was a fun, interconnected tale of what happens when it’s not Purge night and the events leading up to it. Characters were fun to follow along with on their Purge journey and like in season one, I loved the intros to each episode which feature kooky Purge realities like what the day after the Purge cleaning crew does and the audition for the famous Purge announcement. Love that. Look, it’s not Hannibal or Breaking Bad or whatever but it’s enjoyable for what it is. I look forward to season 3!
Night 31: As always, Trick ‘r Treat. Sam had a great night. We did too.
Three sentence review:
I’ve been meaning to watch 2015’s The Barn for a couple years now thanks to the recommendation of one of my horror buddy’s from the From the Mouths of Madness horror podcast here in Richmond. It was such a fun love letter to 80s shlock, with everything you could ever want: low budget practical effects, great ghoulish characters, cheesy one-liners, and Halloween rules you cannot break. I loved it and really appreciated Ari Lehman’s cameo as DR. ROCK!
Three sentence review:
The Last Drive-In is the gift that keeps on giving to horror fans, and even though a lot of folks were hoping for Season of the Witch, I had a lot of fun watching HAUNT and HACK-O-LANTERN! I had seen Haunt before, but I have never even heard of Hack-o-Lantern and it was cuckoo bananas and amazing. I loved the throwback to Monstervision with the creepy skits during Joe Bob segments, and Darcy is awesome.
31 Nights of Horror IX, Night 22: Leviathan
Three sentence review:
Long live aquatic creature feature horror! Daniel Stern is so creepy and sleazy in this movie. If you’re looking to plan a great double feature night, watch Leviathan and then 2020’s Underwater (can you believe that was released this year – feels like a decade ago!)
31 Nights of Horror IX, Night 21: Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors!
Three sentence review:
This is a lot of people’s favorite NOES sequel, including mine! I am obsessed with the choice to bring in Heather Langenkamp as a young psychiatrist as if she’s old enough to treat these teenagers, though I suppose she does have a lifetime of trauma as experience. The effects are magical, Freddy’s one liners always deliver, and the world of the dream warriors is forever amazing.
OMG. I can’t describe how excited I was when it was announced that DRAGULA would have a Halloween special on Shudder!! If you haven’t watched Dragula before, seasons 2 and 3 are on Netflix. It’s the BEST. I had so much fun watching some of my favorite horror, filth and glam queens return to battle it out for a spot on season 4. MAKE SURE YOU WATCH THE POST CREDITS SCENE! Also I’m so happy for Priscilla Chambers – she looks so so happy!
NERDCROPOLIS 