We cap things off for the month with an examination of Rob Zombie’s remakes and discuss the Requel Trilogy that started in 2018 and ended this year with Halloween Ends.

A bittersweet episode, both due to the end of October and the beginning of my hiatus. But at least we’re ending it on a high note.

Happy Samhain, everyone!

HALLOWEEN ENDS: When I say “skip for spoilers,” go to about 39:48.

Yep. It’s time. The Halloween franchise, from John Carpenter’s 1978 classic to the much-maligned ’02 Resurrection. The RZ entries and the Requel Trilogy will be tomorrow.

Five works by the Italian horror and exploitation film legend Lucio Fulci. We touch on his Gates of Hell trilogy, which had two among its number on the infamous Video Nasties list, Zombie (an unofficial sequel to Dawn of the Dead), and his infamous slasher/giallo hybrid The New York Ripper.

Another speed run episode with Hulu’s INTO THE DARK- two seasons of horror films, each themed around a specific holiday, all produced by Blumhouse. I will give my thoughts on all of them, and my two cents on which stood out to me.

Don Coscarelli’s low-budget cult classic, centered around a couple of brothers who begin to suspect their local mortician’s involvement in a bizarre killing. While not as famous as the slashers that came before or after, the Tall Man is still iconic in his own right, and four sequels were made up to 2016. This the story of Phantasm.

Third ever Weird Wednesday

THE LOVE BUTCHER

DON’T GO IN THE HOUSE

DON’T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT

POSSESSION

THE CHANGELING

THE BABY

MOTEL HELL

THE LIVING DEAD AT THE MANCHESTER MORGUE

Link* for LOVE BUTCHER: https://m4uhd.tv/watch-movie-the-love-butcher-1975-243173.html

*Website's UI is not user-friendly, but it's the only copy I could find with decent resolution.

A trio of films released over three weeks on Netflix, Fear Street is based off the books of the same name by R.L. Stine. Taking place in the small town of Shadyside, a group of teens investigate a set of murders in town, and uncover a curse lingering on the town for centuries. With influences from Scream to Friday the 13th, to Terrence Malick’s The New World, Leigh Janiak’s Fear Street is an underrated addition to modern horror.

A venture into the final frontier, we’re talking sci-fi and cosmic horror, the differences between them, and a sampling of each. Between the two categories, we have a wonderful selection.

The Color Out of Space

Alien

Annihilation

The Void

The Endless

Event Horizon

What is your favorite scary movie? Well, the first up today is definitely in my Top 20. We’re talking Wes Craven’s Scream franchise, the 2022 reboot/sequel, and my thoughts on the future entry(s). Though not the first self-referential horror movie, Scream really popularized the concept of a horror movie that pokes fun at the tropes of the genre, and dealt with all manner of showbiz topics during its run, including satirizing the general political discourse around media violence.

A speedy tour through the Hellraiser franchise, an examination of the Clive Barker novella that inspired the first two, and the long list of direct-to-video sequels, culminating in the David Bruckner iteration that released on Hulu this year. And despite the later reception of these movies, at the risk of sounding like Pinhead, I say there is some sweetness to be found amidst the suffering.