For the last three years, I’ve undertaken a 31 in 31 challenge. The goal is to watch a horror movie each day for the month of October. Click on the links if you want to read my 2025 or 2024 blogs.
This year I started on September 30, just for fun, with a film I’ve seen before, What We Do In Shadows.
30 Sep – What we do in the shadows (2014) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Though not as good as the TV series that came later, this is a fun, silly film.
1 – Choose or Die (2022) ⭐⭐⭐ – I watched this for Asa Butterfield, and it was fine. The story had plenty of potential but somehow didn’t quite get there.
2 – Five Nights at Freddie’s 2 (2025) ⭐⭐⭐ – This film is pretty dumb, but that’s okay because sometimes dumb is good. I look forward to the third one.
3 – Maxxxine (2024) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – I enjoyed this third film in the series (though I haven’t seen Pearl, I have seen X). Mia Goth really is a horror legend.
4 – The House on Haunted Hill (1959) ⭐⭐⭐.5 – This film was a struggle to get through; the pacing was super slow. If it had been a 45min episode of television if would have been good, though the scenery chewing acting gave it some life. Bonus points for Vincent Price.
5 – I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) ⭐⭐⭐ – A classic 1990s horror film where young, stupid kids decide their ability to go to college is more important than anything else.
6 – I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998) ⭐⭐⭐ – Not as good at the original.
7 – Mirrors (2008) ⭐⭐⭐ – This is a weird Kieffer Sutherland film which had very strange pacing: the first part everything seemed to happen all at once, and then the remainder took ages. It was fine.
8 – Village of the Damned (1995) ⭐⭐⭐.5 – For a 1990s remake this held up pretty well. The children were terrifying, and Christopher Reeve and Kirstie Alley put in solid performances.
9 – Demon Detective (2025) ⭐⭐.5 – If you want to watch Constantine (2005) but less good, this is your film.
10 – Snakeman (2005) ⭐.5 – Also called The Snake King, this film was really bad, though it was funny in parts so that helped. Probably not worth watching.
11 – Greenroom (2015) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – This is a brutal film, so be warned: the gore is a lot and there is very little levity to break up the awful things that happen. Patrick Stewart as a Nazi is a strange watch, but he’s convincing.
12 – The Silence of the Lambs (1991) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – This is one of my comfort watch films, which seems a bit nuts now I say it aloud. There are so many things about this movie that are great.
13 – Scream (1996) ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 – A classic film from the 1990s slasher pantheon. It stands up to the passage of time fairly well, though some of the attitudes are no longer okay.
14 – Heart Eyes (2025) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – A film which managed to successfully combine the tropes of horror and rom com. The tone is a bit schizophrenic, but overall, it works.
15 – Crash (1996) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – If there was one film on this list that isn’t really a horror film, it’s this one. A wildly horny and fucked up exploration of aberrant human sexuality. As a person who has been in a car crash it was a hard to get my head around it, but James Spader is smoking in this film.
16 – Black Phone 2 (2025) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – This had a bit of a different vibe to the first one, focusing more on the magical world part than the serial killer part. The similarity to The Shining was much more obvious, though I’m not sure Joe Hill would agree.
17 – Lights Out (2016) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – This is a pretty contained film, with only a few locations, but the execution was well done.
18 – Orphan (2009) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Better than I expected, and the actor playing the little girl was really talented, for a child to show that range is unusual.
19 – Re-animator (1985) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – I’ve never seen this Lovecraft adaptation, and it stood up well for its age (and for what I assume was a pretty low budget). Some of the body horror was truly disgusting.
20 – Get Away (2024) ⭐⭐⭐- For a film that was written by, and starred, Nick Frost, it was less good than I hoped. It was fine, the twist was good, and the gore was well done, but I can’t give it better than middling.
21 – Eli (2019) ⭐⭐⭐.5 – I’m unsure whether twist about halfway through saved this film or ruined it. It was fine.
22 – Arcadian (2024) ⭐⭐⭐.5 – A surprisingly naturalistic Nicholas Cage performance in a post-apocalyptic world. The creature design was original and pretty creepy too, so that’s fun.
23 – The Guest (2014) ⭐⭐⭐.5 – I admit I watched this mainly for Dan Stephens, and he plays an absolute psycho well. The screenplay was middling, but the production values were pretty good.
24 – The Gift (2015) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Joel Edgerton wrote, directed and played the villain in this film and he did well across the board. Jason Bateman’s character is awful. Very low gore, so fairly accessible for non-horror fans.
25 – The Hunt (2020) ⭐⭐⭐⭐- Betty Gilpin is the best part of this film, and it took some unexpected turns.
26 – You Can’t Kill Stephen King (2012) ⭐ – genuinely one of the worst things I’ve ever seen, and not even in a fun way. This had the vibes of a late 1990s film despite being made in the 2010s. The dialogue was truly dreadful, the misogyny was strong, the acting was way too much. Don’t bother.
27 – Thirst (2009) ⭐⭐⭐ – This is the first Korean film I’ve watched, so I don’t know how much of my confusion is cultural and how much was this film specifically. It was schizophrenic in its tone shifts; one minute pious, then horny, then creepy, then despairing.
28 – Smile 2 (2024) ⭐⭐⭐.5 – I don’t remember much of the first Smile film, perhaps that says something. Not impressive but also not terrible, this film was fine, though there were a few cool set pieces.
29 – The Devils (1971) ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 – I saw this in the cinema with a group of friends, and initially we all thought it was quite comedic. Especially the part about the crocodile. But about halfway through the comedy starts to turn dark, and by the time you get to the orgies no one is having fun. Some of the most gruesome violence happens off screen, the camera focusing on Oliver Reed’s face instead but that doesn’t make it any easier to take. The ending is bleak, and while this is visually stunning, and the performances are superb, it required more mental fortitude than I expected.
30 – The Last Man on Earth (1964) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – An adaptation of ‘I am Legend’ by Richard Matheson starring Vincent Price (he was basically on his own for the first half of the film). The ending was much bleaker than I expected, I might need to add a couple of other adaptations to the list to compare.
31 – Tucker & Dale vs Evil (2010) ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 – I’ve seen this horror comedy featuring Alan Tudyk before and I wanted something light as a palate cleanser at the end of a tough couple of days. A reliable comfort watch.
Did anyone else watch anything good over the last month? Feel free to let me know if the comments. You can also check out my Letterboxd profile where I have given (probably different) reviews for each of the films.
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