Okay, you know I obviously hate to give spoilers around here and I never do, but just this once I will let you in on a secret: Today's chunk o' list is the last chunk o' list to consist solely of films that received one vote each. I bet you won't be able to sleep tonight because you'll be so excited for tomorrow! But let's concentrate on the now, because we've got some real bangers in this bunch.
396. Bad Dreams -- 1988, Andrew Fleming395. Autopsy -- 1975, Armando Crispino
394. Aunt Alejandra (aka La tía Alejandra) -- 1980, Arturo Ripstein
393. Attack the Block -- 2011, Joe Cornish
392. Attack of the Beast Creatures -- 1985, Michael Stanley
391. Assassination Nation -- 2018, Sam Levinson
390. Army of Darkness -- 1992, Sam Raimi
389. Apartment Zero -- 1988, Martin Donovan
388. Ants! (aka It Happened at Lakewood Manor) -- 1977, Robert Scheerer
387. Anguish -- 1987, Bigas Luna
386. Angst -- 1983, Gerald Kargl
385. Angel Heart -- 1987, Alan Parker
384. Amulet -- 2020, Romola Garai
383. Amsterdamned -- 1988, Dick Maas
382. Amityville II: The Possession -- 1982, Damiano Damiani
381. Amityville IV: The Evil Escapes -- 1989, Sandor Stern
380. American Gothic -- 1987, John Hough
379. All of Us Strangers -- 2023, Andrew Haigh
378. All My Friends Hate Me -- 2021, Andrew Gaynord
377. Alien 3 -- 1992, David Fincher
376. Alien Resurrection -- 1997, Jean-Pierre Jeunet
375. Absentia -- 2011, Mike Flanagan
374. A Wounded Fawn -- 2022, Travis Stevens
373. A Vacation in Hell -- 1979, David Greene
372. A Quiet Place -- 2018, John Krasinski
371. A Quiet Place: Day One -- 2024, Michael Sarnoski
370. A Page of Madness -- 1926, Teinosuke Kinugasa
369. A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master -- 1988, Renny Harlin
- A reader on Attack of the Beast Creatures: "Okay it isn't *scary* but this a great time guaranteed!" I mean just look at the gif, do you have any doubts?
- Attack the Block came out in 2011? 2011? TWENTY ELEVEN??
- There's a special place in my heart for Bad Dreams. It's got a great cast (EG motherfucking Daily! Bruce Abbott! Dean Cameron! Richard Lynch! JENNIFER RUBIN!! Why, even Susan Rattan is there!), a nice twist on the standard slasher formula...heck, considering it's a slasher from 1988, it's pretty damn good.
- Speaking of 1988, I always forget that Renny Harlin directed NoES 4. Actually, I always forget that Renny Harlin has a sizable horror filmography. What can I say, when I think "Renny Harlin" I think "early 90s action movies." Actually, scratch that--when I think "Renny Harlin" I think "Geena Davis."
- A reader on A Vacation in Hell, which BY THE WAY is made-for-TV: "where else you gonna see Barbara Feldon (Get Smart), Priscilla Barnes (Three’s Company) and Maureen McCormick (Brady Bunch) romping through a jungle covered in sweat and mosquitos?"
- Speaking of made-for-TV...ANTS! Oh my crap I love Ants! I love that it comes with a built-in exclamation mark in one title, and the other title is It Happened at Lakewood Manor which is so cool. If you like animals run amok movies, trust me, you should see Ants! Though be warned, you may never want to watch anything else.
- Speaking of never watching anything else...Amityville 4, what more can I say.
- A reader on Aunt Alejandra, which I really want to see now: "What could go wrong when you let your great aunt who happens to be a grand witch stay with you and your family in your cramped Mexico City apartment?"
- Speaking of other things I really want to see now, I gotta gotta gotta see A Page of Madness. Bless this list and that one reader for putting it on my radar!
7 comments:
Two of mine here -- "Apartment Zero" was for very long impossible to find (although i see it's on the Roku Channel now) - some might classify it as a thriller, but Colin Firth's performance is unbelievable and it is easily one of the most suspenseful films I've ever seen.
"Angst", which I learned about on the Bloodhaus podcast, has almost no dialog; just a voiceover that's the inner thoughts of the killer, and apparently most of that is taken from interviews with various German/Austrian spree killers. Very, very chilling.
I was the single voter for Attack of the Beast Creatures in 2020, and although it sadly dropped off my list this year I'm happy to see someone else take up the mantle and keep it in play (you gave it a shoutout with that GIF then too).
My single voters tally comes to 9 this year. Can't wait to see where the other 11 end up (at least one other person voted for The Blob 1988 too?!?).
I will use that gif every time the movie comes up, it's just too good. And no ranking spoilers for 2024 but people do love the 88 Blob--in 2020 it got seven votes!
ABSENTIA seriously gave me the willies when I first saw it. And it proved the Mike Flanagan, even on a micro-budget, has a grasp on atmosphere and dread that you just can't teach. At his best it's almost Lynchian.
Is it just me or does this year's SHOCKtober feature an exceptionally large amount of single-vote entries, even compared to previous editions? More than half of the list is made up of movies that were nominated once, which seems like a lot.
At the very least, I think SHOCKtober 2024 has already proven to be the most diverse yet, with each chunk of list containing a handful of films I've never even heard of before.
I went back to take a peek at SHOCKtobers past and it's actually always like this--about half the list comprises one-vote films, no matter the total number of films.
In 2010, there were 732 films and the singletons went up to #382. In 2013, I asked for a top 10 of films that scared readers...out of a total 323 films, singletons went to #111. In 2017, 616 total films, singletons ended at #275. And 2017, 918 films, singles stopped at #461.
But I think you're right, this is probably the most diverse list. LOTS more international films than ever before, lots of "out of the box" entries (in terms of "horror"), and in general more "unusual" (for lack of a better word) entries. It's great. Once upon a time, when doing the post-game roundup I'd actually list the films directed by women, because there were so few. I'm so glad the list looks like this now.
I'm another vote for the 1988 The Blob! Such a fun movie.
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