A Halloween Tradition

In a wonderful celebration of Halloween a few years ago Twincess and another of the many sisters Funkowitz had the idea to gather all of my DVDs that could be categorized roughly into the "horror" genre. We then attempted to pick one of the movies at random every night for the week to two weeks prior. Since then this has become a favorite tradition of mine and the one film festival Twincess and I share equal(sort of) joy in. The main goal here, like anything else is exploration. This happens to be an exploration of horror. I ultimately end up creating the mix of films, which I try to include a healthy mix of new and old and always have a handful of stuff that neither of us have seen. We abandoned the random choosing quickly and I would describe a few choices (gorefest, sci fi monster movie, kid friendly fun scary, atmospheric and so on) and then let Twincess choose.

There have been some steady inclusions, A Tale of Two Sisters from Kim Jee-Won has appeared every year except for this one, and has the honor of being one of the few movies I hear Twincess REQUEST year after year. The Signal was also seen the first two years. Last year saw a stream of films neither of us had seen. We saw House of the Devil, which I felt did not deliver on what could've been an amazing homage to 70's thrillers. It also marked the first time either of us had seen Paranormal Activity, which I felt was a fun if somewhat hollow experience, but I can't imagine anyone having any desire to watch this year after year. The gimmick itself started to grow old by the end of the film. Who knows maybe we will get to part two this year. But unlike Twincess I relish in the journey and discovery involved with cinema. Not everything can be brilliant or scary in this case.

This year I worked a bit harder on the list narrowing it down much more than usual. Here's what I got.

The Mist - Frank Darabont

The Thing - John Carpenter

Monster Squad - Fred Dekker

Trick R' Treat - Michael Dougherty

In The Mouth of Madness - John Carpenter

Videodrome - David Cronenberg

The list is always subject to change, especially with stuff being released all the time. Sharing the holidays with my family is always rewarding, but this tradition so focused on being with loved ones and sharing the experience of horror films is one I look forward to every year. Also, probably the only time I'll get Twincess to watch The Thing and Videodrome.

Have a great Halloween everybody

Bence

One last thought - so ....what would you pick?