Established in 2009, though going through its share of growing pains, the Monster Mash Movie Marathon Month is my yearly October movie submerssion. Each night of the month, I watch a horror movie I've never seen before. I always mean to follow up these summary posts with reviews as the festival kicks into gear, but it doesn't always happen. Your mileage may vary.
No mini-themes once again this year, but traditions will be observed. This year's festival features films from the genres' most celebrated directors (Lucio Fulci, Mario Bava, John Carpenter and more!), actors (Vincent Price, Peter Cushing, Boris Karloff and many, many more!) and writers (Stephen King... Probably not just Stephen King, but, Stephen King for sure!). I'm finally going to watch the widely-popular It remakes (across two consecutive nights... Let's not go crazy...). This year marks the first year... perhaps ever, that I've not got a Larry Cohen film in the mix (I think I've seen all his work in the genre), but we must instead pay tribue to another MMMMM favorite that passed away this year, director of Re-Animator and From Beyond, Stuart Gordon. His TV movie release, Castle Freak, has been selected. I picked this one over some of his better known works because it features the stars of his first film, Jeffrey Combs & Barbara Cramden! Likewise, a couple of entries from some other countries have made its way on this list, including Spain (Thesis, The Platform), Korea (the Wailing, Parasite) and Italy (Nightmare City, House by the Cemetery).
But the sharper of you might notice that, due to the smaller offering of movies through 2020, thanks in no small part to the aforementioned pandemic, that I've relied a lot on past reccomendations this year, as opposed to pouring through my old horror tomes and looking for long-forgotten treasure. So a big thank you to everyone who has given me titles over the years to consider -- keep it up!
Below, you'll find the official seletion of films for this year's festival. The links should take you to each film's trailer on YouTube. Please note that this is the CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER of the selected films, NOT the order in which they will be watched (that doesn't get planned in advance).
(1945) The Body Snatcher
(1963) The Haunting
(1963) The Comedy of Terrors
(1973) The Creeping Flesh
(1975) The Love Butcher *
(1976) Twitch of the Death Nerve (aka Bay of Blood)
(1980) Nightmare City
(1981) House by the Cemetery
(1987) Prince of Darkness
(1987) Angel Heart
(1988) Waxwork
(1989) C.H.U.D. 2: Bud the C.H.U.D.
(1990) The Exorcist Part III
(1995) Castle Freak
(1996) Thesis (aka Tesis)
(2007) My Name is Bruce
(2009) The Hole
(2013) A Field in England
(2016) The Wailing
(2016) The Neon Demon
(2017) Velocipastor
(2017) It, Chapter 1
(2019) It, Chapter 2
(2019) Parasite
(2019) Color Out of Space
(2019) Villains
(2020) The Platform
(2020) Blood Quantum
(2020) Gretel & Hensel
(2020) Host
* - I am still waiting for my copy of The Love Butcher to arrive from Roninflix. However, the USPS is in a difficult state at the moment, and I feel I cannot rely on this arriving on time for this year's festival. Thus, as a back up, I will watch 1982's Xtro if the Love Butcher hasn't arrived by the last week of October.
A final word on this year's festival: Due to COVID19, it seems likely I won't be having folks stop in regularly to watch films with me this year, but I am working on a solution or two. It is entirely possible something might pop up in a stream somewhere for someone, but, I'm something of a lazy luddite, and don't want to promise this until I have it ready to go.
