Wow! Here we are on what is merely "day" "two" and already there have been cries of outrage, gasps of disbelief, and the rending of garments over some of the films that have received but one vote. SHOCKtober plays by its own rules! SHOCKtober takes no prisoners! SHOCKtober is a stone cold ice vixen! SHOCKtober is a good reminder of the power of voting! (Please vote on November 3rd.)
Anyway, I will tell you now, this year's list is full of surprises when compared to the lists of yesteryear. Is this a sign of a changing "horror fan" demographic? Has the last five years changed the horror canon? It is (mildly) fascinating from a sort of sociological standpoint. What would the list look like if I courted votes from, say, the demographic that reads mainstream horror websites? Does it matter? Oh well, perhaps if there is still a world/internet in 2025 and there is still a me in 2025 (you never know!) there will be a SHOCKtober 2025 and we'll see how it shakes out. For now, here's the next chunk o' list!
Each of the following films received one vote.
918. Baby Blues -- 2008, Lars Jacobson & Amardeep Kaleka
- Blood and Roses! Ugh, gorgeous. Please oh please won't someone give it a nice, fancy, cleaned up release? I cry, for I have only seen it on VHS which is better than nothing but also the picture looks like it was made out of mud.
- Forgive me if I lose all "horror" "fan" "cred" with what I'm about to say: I've never seen Buio Omega. But I have the soundtrack and it's really great! But I feel that the movie is super duper gross and EXTREME? While I do enjoy other extreme things regularly, such as snowboarding whilst drinking a Mountain Dew or paragliding in my squirrel suit whilst drinking a Red Bull, I am afraid of Buio Omega. Well, not "afraid," you know, but afraid.
- In a comment on yesterday's post, a reader mentioned that they're doing their SHOCKtober thang, wherein each evening's entertainment will be one of the movies posted in that day's chunk o'list. That's a great idea! I should have done that. Oh well, maybe in 2025.
- I love Berberian Sound Studio! It is a feast for the eyeballs and earholes. Peter Strickland is rad.
- As soon as I read "Body Parts" in someone's list my mind conjured the box art, thanks to seeing it on shelves over the countless hours spent browsing at various video stores. Yet I've never seen the movie itself! Hmm.
22 comments:
What a welcome diversion on a zany morning! I had a feeling my vote for Cabin Fever might be the only one. Thanks to me, that goofy lil movie is up there with such masterpieces as Border and The Black Cat! God, I feel weird.
Can't wait to see the next SHOCKtober! surprises.
I’ve never seen The Blood on Satan's Claw, but, weirdly, I’ve listened to an audio drama version that showed up on Audible....
Also, it’s only day 2, and I’m already making a list of stuff to watch/rewatch. Ms. Ponder, you are sure doing [supernatural force of your choice]’s work!
@ AE -- you are definitely in my thoughts on big news days! May your eyeballs and fingers (and brain) remain intact. Also I'm a bit surprised by a sole vote for Cabin Fever. It was such a sensation in its time!
@ Peter -- thank you! I picked up that fancy pants edition of Blood on Satan's Claw that Severin put out recently...I, uh, really should watch it! Now's as good a time as any, I say.
I love this so much, as someone who loves picking over "have you seen...?" lists and is always excited to say "No! I haven't!"
I back your Cabin Fever vote. Thank you for your service.
High fives to whoever threw in for Bad Dreams!
Also, I feel Calvaire never got the gay cult status it deserves
Hey Stacie- as I recall, Beyond the Darkness (my uncultured ass had to google Buio Omega) is a breeze. You’ve seen much worse. I remember reading a post where someone said the grossest thing in it was watching the old lady eat - so I went in expecting to be v grossed out and even that was nothing. So yeah, go see this over-hyped probably-just-boring movie!
I just might steal that idea to watch a movie that shows up on that post that night (wow, that is bad sentence structure!) - I do plan to watch a movie a night, so maybe on nights I'm not forcing my partner to watch with me I'll pick out one of these gems!
Gotta say, seeing peoples creativity in choices is both inspiring and makes me feel utterly pedestrian for being like "oh gosh I really like nightmare on elm street" I also have the same granola bar every day for breakfast so
Hell, yeah! *plays air guitar next to the dried up Blood Lake from BLOOD LAKE*
I'm glad to see someone threw their hat in the ring for BLOOD AND DONUTS. Also I talked myself out of BURN, WITCH, BURN because I've only seen it once and now I feel bad about it. It's So Good.
I am so excited that the B movie on my list is not here, which means it got at least two votes.
FYI, the full European version of Blood and Roses in widescreen format can be found on a German PAL dvd wIth original French or German soundtrack and English subs at Amazon Deutschland: https://www.amazon.de/vor-Lust-Sterben-Filmclub-Limited/dp/B00HYSHWRU/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=und+vor+lust+zu+sterben&qid=1601681846&sprefix=und+vir+lust&sr=8-1
Shipping ain’t cheap but I’m glad I bought it.
Gotta agree with Ben Manners...just finished Buio Omega (Beyond the Darkness on TubiTV) and besides the OTT eating scene, you have nothing too extreme...unless you have nightmares about your Lee Press-On Nails being involuntarily removed.
Alas, that I am the only Blood For Dracula superfan here.
@ Ben & Unknown -- thanks for the heads up! Am I crazy? Am I thinking of another film? I swear Buio Omega has A REPUTATION, although maybe 1) I've just exaggerated that in my mind, or 2) it used to be "extreme" but times have gotten extreme-ier. Whatever the case, I'll check it out, if only to hear the soundtrack in situ!
I was the one Berberian Sound Studio vote! Feel obligated to say I can't believe I'm the only one. Love the uncomfortable humor sprinkled in there.
I was the Cache entry. Didn't think it would get many/any votes.
Ah, but because of you it may very well dominate next SHOCKtober ( with the gracious goodwill of the estimable, Stacie Ponder.) Thanks to you, I have now seen Cache!
I considered Blood for Dracula, great movie, just not a rewatchable as much as others on my list of 20 (even though 1 of my 20 in retrospect is a mistake).
I also googled Buio Omega 🤭
I forgot about Baby Blues, that's some dark stuff there. Also Cast A Deadly Spell which was so fun and seems to have completely disappeared.
I was the vote for Better Watch Out. Wish it had gotten more
@onechubbyninja, you're right! Burn, Witch, Burn is so good. I should have thrown a vote that way. Next time!
@ everyone I watched Beyond the Darkness last night and I can see both sides of the argument. I think for 1979 that level of gore would have been shocking*. In my opinion a lot of the gore happens for no reason which maybe makes it more shocking than the gore in something like Hostel?
I'm not sure if the version is edited, but you can see it for free on Tubi, so it wouldn't take much to check it out.
* I know, I know...at that point you'd already had a ton of Giallo films as well as Salo but I feel that, for its time, this had more gore, more viscera, more over-the-top splat than other films.
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