*extremely Strong Bad voice* “IT’S OVER!”

We’ve reached the end of October (sad), which means the October Horror Movie Challenge is complete for this year (mixed). I’m always a bit relieved when it’s over, but grateful for the opportunity to watch some new-to-me films. I often think about the one year I did the Challenge and I tried to watch as many films as I could, which ended up being somewhere around 50 or 60 total movies. I thought it would be such a badge of pride but it ended up kind of breaking my soul, which I think is why I take a much more delicate approach nowadays. I won’t lie: horror can be an incredible genre, equally beautiful and terrifying, but it can weigh you down as well. You have to be kind to yourself.

I’m pleased with my effort this year – I completed the Challenge with 33 total films (two over the minimum): 17 were repeats, and 16 were first time views. Out of the 16 FTVs, the worst I can say about any of them is “it was fine, but I probably won’t watch it again.” As a quick and dirty wrap up post, here’s the rest of what I watched, in list format sans summaries but with brief notes on all. I’ll also let you know my top three FTVs of the month, and the one film that gets the Big Stinker Award. So without further ado…

THE REST OF THE FILMS:

Cannibal Holocaust (1980, Ruggero Deodato) – repeat: I don’t want to say too much, because I’ll be on Dr. AC’s Horror 101 upcoming vidcast discussing this film in more depth, but I will say if you’re a newcomer to the genre, don’t start with this film. This is graduate-level stuff. Do I think it’s important to the history of horror? Yes. Do I think everyone should watch it? Absolutely not.

The Substance (2024, Coralie Fargeat) – FTV: this was great. I sort of hate to do this kind of description, but it’s like David Cronenberg meets John Frankenheimer’s Seconds (1966), but WAY better. Demi Moore should have gotten the Oscar for this film.

Companion (2025, Drew Hancock) – FTV: I enjoyed this film a lot more than I thought I would, although I do have weird mixed feelings about being more sympathetic towards the synthetic human than the real ones. We’re supposed to be flawed and messy! Great cast, especially Sophie Thatcher (who also starred in Heretic).

Abigail (2024, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett) – FTV: fun vampire joint, but I wish it were funnier for something that’s touted as a horror-comedy. They really could have leaned into it but the filmmakers didn’t quite stick the landing. Still worth a watch.

Sinners (2015, Ryan Coogler) – repeat: for the longest time, I said Kung Fu Hustle (2004, Stephen Chow) was the Best Film of the Year regardless of the year, then Get Out (2017, Jordan Peele) held the title for like two or three years in a row, and now with Sinners I just don’t know what to think. This is more than a horror film, and I kind of hate how it got marketed as such. Yes, there are vampires and blood and gore, but that’s only a fraction of the story. And if that one scene (if you’ve seen the film, you know what it is) does not move your soul, you are deeply broken. If there is ever a sequel to this film, and there better not be, the only way I would accept it is if it were a one-off comic book that’s basically Buddy Guy: Vampire Hunter.

The Exorcist (1973, William Friedkin) – repeat: this is my favorite film of any genre, of all time. I think it’s Friedkin’s masterpiece. The older I get, the less I’m terrified by the supernatural/demonic aspect of the film and the more I’m genuinely upset by all the awful medical procedures Regan (Linda Blair) is put through. What a torture chamber of its own.

The Ninth Configuration (1980, William Peter Blatty) – repeat: this is a better sequel to The Exorcist than Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977, John Boorman), although not a direct one. The connection here is that Billy Cutshaw (Scott Wilson) is the astronaut that Regan says is “going to die up there” in The Exorcist. Cutshaw’s subsequent nervous breakdown is the primary catalyst for the events in The Ninth Configuration, leading to an ending that affirms and uplifts the concept of life after death. It’s also more of an existential horror than anything, with heavy doses of black comedy to boot. The ensemble cast is incredible and filled with almost every “That Guy” from the 1970s you can think of.

Weapons (2025, Zach Cregger) – repeat: I saw this in the theater back when it came out in August and while I liked the film, I didn’t really know what to make of it, especially when it came to the big reveal. Watching it again was a way better experience; I caught more details and more of the humor. I wish I could say the same for Cregger’s first major horror film, Barbarian (2022), which gets more sluggish on repeat views. The less you know about Weapons going into it, the better, but that’s going to be harder the more a certain character gains in popularity.

The Thing (1982, John Carpenter) – repeat: top three horror film in my opinion. Carpenter nails the isolation and paranoia of John W. Campbell’s original short story, “Who Goes There?” Kurt Russell in this film and in Big Trouble in Little China (1986) is very “inside of you are two wolves” for me.

Frankenstein (1932, James Whale) – repeat: 31st film of the Challenge for me. A timeless classic. Who doesn’t love Boris Karloff as The Monster?

The Bride of Frankenstein (1935, James Whale) – repeat: if you’ve seen Young Frankenstein (1974, Mel Brooks) but not Frankenstein or Bride of Frankenstein, you’re kind of missing out on how much Brooks outright steals from both of those films. I don’t mean that in a bad way; he could see the comedy in those movies (it’s far more obvious in Bride) and knew how to play even the straight scenes for laughs. Refer to the bit with the blind hermit in both Bride and Young Frankenstein: the scenes are almost identical but the one with Gene Hackman is uproarious.

Trick ‘r Treat (2007, Michael Dougherty) – repeat: this is a must-watch for me at Halloween. So few films really capture the spirit of the holiday, with all the tricks and treats that it entails. And so few films are able to take several storylines and weave them together so seamlessly. I remember back before this film had a real distribution deal, writer-director Michael Dougherty was taking it around the country for screenings, and I had the distinct honor of being able to see it at the Music Box Theatre with a packed house (truly the ideal setting for this kind of film). I was blown away, and hoped that it would get a proper theatrical release, or at least a deal for DVD/Blu-Ray. Thankfully, Warner did give this a physical release, and word of mouth certainly helped bring Trick ‘r Treat into the horror canon.

And that’s it for OHMC 2025! My top three first time views this year are:

3. The Black Phone (2021, Scott Derrickson)
2. The Substance (2024, Coralie Fargeat)
1. The Monkey (2025, Osgood Perkins)

Honorable Mention to One Cut of the Dead (2017, Shin’ichirō Ueda)

The Big Stinker of the Year was ‘Salem’s Lot (2024, Gary Dauberman) – not a bad film, just unnecessary when the Tobe Hooper version is still out there.

Coming up: the aforementioned guest gig to talk all things Cannibal Holocaust with Dr. AC, a recorded discussion of Stephen King’s 2025 film adaptations with blog bestie Christianne over at Krell Laboratories, Noirvember (perhaps, or at least some love for this year’s Noir City films), a look at the books I read this year, and all the usual claptrap in between!