31 for 31 – Spooky Season films

Some of my readers may remember that last year I did a 31 for 31 horror films in October, you can read about that here. Well I’ve done it again!

This year I was a took slightly better notes, and I used Letterboxd to give the films ratings:

1. Carrie (1976) – very fun, I’ve seen it before which I forgot, 5 stars.
2. Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017) – beautiful but bleak, 4 1/2 stars.
3. Am I the pretty thing that lives in the house (2016) – very slow burn, quite beautiful, 4 1/2 stars.
4. The Monkey (2025) – quite silly, fun, very Stephen King, 4 stars.
5. Talk to me (2022) – good Aussie horror, quite gory, good cyclical ending, 4 1/2 stars.
6. Hellraiser II (1988) – good body horror, quite hard to follow the plot, low dialogue, 4 stars.
7. The Conjuring 2 (2016) – made the Warrens seem like saviours. Very cookie cutter, 3 stars.
8. Bloodlust (1992) – super bad Australian film, funny but stupid, 2 1/2 stars.
9. The Crow (2024) – very different to the previous version, quite well done overall, though perhaps a little indulgent, 4 stars.
10. Poor Things (2023) – not exactly horror, quite depressing but had a moderately happy ending. Visually interesting, 4 1/2 stars.
11. The Dunwich Horror (1970) – quite confusing, really didn’t have the visual effects to show the cosmic horror, a good attempt, 3 stars.
12. Rosemary’s Baby (1968) – a classic, very moody, hard to tell if she’s crazy right until the end. Excellent despite Roman Polanski being a shit, 4 1/2 stars.
13. Halloween (1978) – classic, lots of build-up, a lot of screaming from Jamie Lee Curtis, 4 1/2 stars.
14. Sinister (2012) – quite good, supernatural killer, 4 1/2 stars.
15. 28 Days Later (2002) – very good, though the humans were not much better than the infected, 5 stars.
16. The House with the Laughing Windows (1976) – Italian. Really strange and funny, nice setting, weird plot, 3 stars.
17. The Neon Demon (2016) – visually stunning, sinister, a bit confusing, overall not bad. Good soundtrack, 3 1/2 stars.
18. Something wicked this way comes (1983) – kids film based on a Ray Bradbury story. A bit dated but pretty scary for kids, 3 1/2 stars.
19. The First Power (1990) – solid middle of the road police/supernatural horror with an infuriating ending, 2 stars.
20. Hereditary (2018) – very enjoyable but slightly confusing. Slow start with a good payoff, 4 1/2 stars.
21. Midsommar – chilling, slow burn with some epic gore, bleak, 4 1/2 stars.
22. Road games (1981) – very weird tone, possibly horror comedy, 3 1/2 stars.
23. The Strangers (2008) – middle of the road home invasion. Good for low budget, 3 stars.
24. Razorback (1983) – good effects, fun visuals, got distracted while watching, 3 1/2 stars.
25. The Substance (2024) – very well executed, and the ending was excellent, 5 stars.
26. House of 1000 Corpses (2003) – trashy as shit, definitely less than 1000 corpses, 3 stars.
27. Cradle of Fear (2001) – trashy, low budget, good fun, 3 stars
28. X (2022) – solid, middle of the road horror, 3 stars.
29. Night of the Demon (1957) – surprisingly good for the era, fun special effects, 3 1/2 stars.
30. The Faculty (1998) – surprisingly good, stacked cast, 4 1/2 stars.
31. Weapons (2025) – pretty good, a bit more witchy than I expected, 4 1/2 stars.
32. The Descent (2005) – quite good creature design, I hated many of the characters, 3 1/2 stars.

I tried to focus on films I hadn’t seen before, and have a variety of horror subgenres. a few of my choices were terrible – some in a fun way, and some in an infuriating way.

The stand outs for me were The Substance, which I really enjoyed the ending of (no spoilers), and 28 Days Later, which I hadn’t seen despite seeing 28 Years Later earlier this year.

I watched The Descent as an added bonus film even though I already had 31 films just for fun. I had to do a few days with two films as I was away for a couple of days at the end of the month. Of note, I did House of 1000 Corpses and Cradle of Fear in the same day. They were quite different despite both being produced by bands, and in the early 2000s.

I might start compiling a list of films for next year’s 31 for 31. There were a few on my list for this year that weren’t easily accessible so I will have to try to source them another way.

How was your Halloween/spooky season? Did you watch anything fun? I’m starting to get excited for the release of my newest book, A Wolf of His Own, which will be out next weekend. If you would like a signed paperback copy, please let me know!