31 for 31

It’s possible that many of you are looking at that title and asking yourself what on earth I’m talking about. I am fairly sure it was taken from a podcast of the same name, which was a recommendation list of 31 horror movies that would provide one per day for the whole month of October.

So I did that; watched 31 horror films over October. Some were very good, others were aggressively bad. Here’s the list:

1 Smile (2022)
2 Teeth (2007)
3 The Conjuring (2013)
4 The Omen (1976)
5 It Follows (2014)
6 The Fly (1986)
7 The Conference (2023, Sweden)
8 Haunt (2019)
9 The Possession of Hannah Grace (2018)
10 Hard Candy (2005)
11 Monstrous (2022)
12 The Craft (1996)
13 Evil Dead Rise (2023)
14 Jennifer’s Body (2009)
15 Barbarian (2022)
16 Vampire’s Kiss (1988)
17 Fright Night (2011)
18 Late Night with the Devil (2023)
19 The Invitation (2022)
20 The Sixth Sense (1999)
21 The Deliverance (2024)
22 Mother! (2017)
23 The Voices (2014)
24 Antlers (2021)
25 Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
26 Stigmata (1999)
27 Hellraiser (1987)
28The Dark Half (1993)
29 The Stuff (1985)
30 The Babadook (2014)
31 Mom and Dad (2017)
Bonus: The Amityville Horror (1979)

I prioritised watching films I hadn’t seen before, which I did for all except two: The Craft and Fright Night. The absolute stand out was The Conference. If you can imagine ‘Parks and Recreation’ meets Camp Crystal Lake. It was a comedy horror in the best way. I watched it on Netflix and I can honestly say, if you have access, you should watch it, I’ve included the trailer below. Other good ones were Hard Candy (although it’s a lot), Late Night with the Devil (excellent low budget film), and The Invitation (no spoilers).

From the list there are a few I would definitely not bother with, namely: Haunt, mediocre and pointless, The Deliverance, a non-sensical exorcism film, and The Stuff. I’d been told The Stuff was a comedic 80s romp, but it made me so angry. The plot made zero sense, the dialogue was both offensive and wooden, the acting was awful, there were characters popping up from nowhere with no exposition. I was coming down with a cold so this may have coloured my experience, but honestly, it was awful.

In the end I watched 32 films; I got a cold at the end of the month and decided to add one extra. I enjoyed it, mostly, though the quality varied wildly! Did anyone else do the 31 in 31 challenge? Let me know.