(now UPDATED with several more pieces)
I’ve got to tell you: It’s a relief not to have to watch a movie today. Those two-hour chunks of time can be difficult to cram into your schedule, even a schedule as goofy as mine. And when it’s mandatory, that introduces a whole nother level of stress into the proceedings. (I know, I know–wow, watching your favorite movies every day, what a drag.)
In all seriousness, though, I really enjoyed my little horrorblogging marathon. My mission, aside from providing some entertaining content for the blog, was to get back in touch with those films, and the part of me that loved watching them so much. Mission accomplished, without question. It was tremendously enjoyable to immerse myself in horror for that long, and I loved the debates and discussions that arose from the process. And, of course, the movies were good.
I’m also happy with the way I broke down the month. My original plan was to watch a horror movie a day for the duration of the month, which I quickly realized was asking way too much of my wife and my employers. The Missus suggested that I limit it to a 13-day countdown ending on Halloween, and also forced me to stick to this when it finally came time to select the Top 13 movies. Much as I hated whittling down my favorites to fit the guidelines, I think the overall 13 Days of Halloween project benefitted a great deal from the editing involved. From the comments I’ve received in the blogosphere, via email, and in the comments sections at Blogcritics, I did a good job, which is extremely gratifying to hear. (As I think I mentioned, I was very nervous about how florid my prose became, but with few exceptions people seemed to really enjoy the style, or at least what I was using it to say.)
That being said, it pretty much killed me to leave out Deliverance, Psycho, Hellbound: Hellraiser II, Nightbreed, Taxi Driver, Summer of Sam, the little-seen biopic Dahmer, and the fantastic documentary The American Nightmare out of both the big list and the runner-up posts that allowed me to talk about Heavenly Creatures, The Thing, Jeepers Creepers, 28 Days Later, and Della’morte Dell’amore. I also would have loved to talk about the films of David Cronenberg, M. Night Shyamalan, Steven Spielberg, Brian DePalma, and (other than Lost Highway, which I did include) David Lynch–not to mention Night of the Hunter, Cries & Whispers, Rosemary’s Baby, Jacob’s Ladder, Shallow Grave, A Clockwork Orange, Full Metal Jacket, Poltergeist, 1984, Day of the Dead, M, The Stand, Ghostbusters, Aliens, Batman…. Believe me when I tell you that the list goes on.
On the plus side, all the horror-related blogging this marathon helped inspire put a whole bunch of movies on my to-see list, the first time this has happened in such large quantities since college. I’m really looking forward to wading through the suggestions. Hell, maybe they’ll give me something to talk about next October….
A few more links to wrap this all up. (Actually, I can’t imagine that being the case–I have a feeling I’ll be horrorblogging, albeit with less… intensity, for some time to come.)
Bill Sherman has two more posts commenting on my choices for the Top 13. The first focuses on Night of the Lving Dead, particularly on its chilling depiction of night itself; the second on the pros and cons of Lost Highway, The Exorcist and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Johnny Bacardi submits a gorgeous piece on horror comics (the second such piece to come out of the comicsphere in honor of Halloween, the first being Bill’s). He also promises more analysis of my 13 Days, and I’m waiting not so patiently.
Jason Adams brings us a history of Halloween. Meanwhile, John Jakala agrees with Jason’s assertion that given person’s Ring/Ringu preference depends on which one that person saw first.
Jason Kimble joins the attack against anti-genre snobbery of the type that labels horror-genre films “genre-busting visions” if they happen to be any good.
Bruce Baugh becomes the latest person to unconsciously harrass me into buying the horror manga Uzumaki. (Speaking of which, John Jakala, I haven’t gotten Tomie in the mail yet….)
In an oldie but goodie, Kathy “Relapsed Catholic” Shaidle calls The Exorcist a Western. Interesting, though interpretations of The Exorcist lose points for arguing that the film is not scary, which is just preposterous.
Eve Tushnet continues our debate about the morality, or lack thereof, of Grosse Pointe Blank, and also explains why she prefers Stephen King’s The Shining to Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. (If you’re interested, my favorite King books are It, The Stand, Night Shift and Skeleton Crew–I always say that he’s at his best when he’s over 1,000 pages or under 100–though as far as the regular-length novels go I like ‘Salem’s Lot and Christine.) She also says she hasn’t seen The Exorcist, which she must do. At night.
Steven Bissette is a legendary, now-retired horror-comics artist whose passion for and interest in the genre clearly hasn’t waned. He gives an interview to Comic Book Resources that is one of the most fascinating and intelligent examples of horror theory and criticism I’ve ever seen. He defines the genre too broadly for my tastes (yes, there are parts of Jimmy Corrigan and Maus that are horrifying, but define them as “horror” and the word has lost its ability to describe a proper genre), but other than that it’s just great reading.
Finally, two last things:
A sincere and heartfelt thank you to all the bloggers and readers who praised the work I did on Where the Monsters Go and The 13 Days of Halloween. Your kind words, and your contributions to the discussion, truly made the project worthwhile.
And a note for all those who were genuinely in suspense regarding my choice for The Scariest Movie I’ve Ever Seen: That’s what the search function is for! Boo!