I'll pitch in 🫡

A godsend for people who want tasty rice bowls but don't feel like cooking (i.e. me).

It's no flaming rum punch but it could always be a grittier Clarence I suppose.

Hoping it's both

👋

Me immediately after watching Messiah of Evil: wow that was so visually striking I wonder what else that director has done

...

Me: what

I didn't watch any horror films until mid-October this year because I just wasn't in the mood :/ Thankfully I found my way in eventually and watched a lot of good new-to-me stuff. Black Christmas and Messiah of Evil ranked pretty high for me.

I was curious about Enys Men from your thread. I don't watch many short films so I'm glad for those recs too!

I really like Coherence!! I think it has so much style for something with such a small budget. Mixed feelings about Lake Mungo although the final sequence has stuck with me. And maybe predictably I love The Wicker Man to an unreasonable degree.

My old colleagues at Pitt Libraries do some of this! It's now offered through the Open Lab @ Pitt. Your guy for this is Dan at dkk10[at]pitt.edu. (If you email him you can tell him you got his name from Gesina 🙂)

teaching.pitt.edu/open-lab

A young woman, covered in blood, stands in a room engulfed in flames.

13. Carrie (1976)

This movie also made me feel bad. It was somehow weirder than expected, at times almost surreal. Sissy Spacek's wide-eyed march during the prom scene is so, so good.

This also brings the number of religiously-inspired orgasms on this list up to at least two.

A pale woman with light brown-to-reddish hair lies in a green-carpeted stairwell, clutching her face.

12. Saint Maud (2019)

This movie made me feel very bad. I think I really liked it.

Morfydd Clark was incredible. I'm glad I've now seen her get to do her thing outside of Rings of Power, which robs everyone in it of any screen presence whatsoever.

A woman in what looks like early 1900s mourning attire stands in the sunlight in a grassy field next to the remains of a stone structure. A man in a tan coat stands facing her, his back to the viewer.

11. The Woman in Black (1989)

A British made-for-TV movie with some pretty creepy moments, partially due to the incredibly remote setting out on the marsh. I love a good haunted house story and a bleak ending. The shots of the woman reminded me a bit of The Innocents.

A beautiful woman with pale, rosy skin, a short brunette pin-curl(?) hair style, and a vivid green gown.

10. Doctor X (1932)

SYNTHETIC FLESH

This one was kind of rough because of the acting/directorial conventions of the age but it was fun and it had Fay Wray in it. I watched the two-color Technicolor version, the first time I've seen a movie using that technique.

A pale blonde woman with short hair, holding a telephone handset, stands in front of the weirdest painting of a small(?) old woman(??) wearing a blue dress and top hat and holding a whip with a grey cat at her feet.

9. Pet Sematary (1989)

Lol what the fuck

Okay there were barely any pets in this movie. But I really love a movie where the protagonist just keeps making terrible decisions. I am so glad I did not see this as a child because those scenes with the sister would have scarred me.

A black and white still of a pale woman with dark hair done up in a 1940s style.

8. Cat People (1942)

The real horror: psychiatry.

Also, Simone Simon has a great face, Alice deserves the world, Oliver sucks, and Judd deserved so much worse.

A black and white still of a blonde woman with pale skin, completely soaked and covered in mud, staggering toward the camera away from a body of water. Text reads "Carnival of Souls."

7. Carnival of Souls (1962; rewatch)

One of my favorite movies. My friend didn't like it but he did find this incredible quote from the director about his input on the story: "The last scene...had to be a whole bunch of ghouls dancing in that ballroom."

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carniva...

A parade of people in animal masks (a badger, a...fox?, a Salmon of Knowledge, and a cow). One person carries a life-sized figure made of bread.

6. The Wicker Man (1973)

I had THE BEST time watching this. I was not prepared--it was more bonkers than I had anticipated. It also had a great sense of humor. Incredible no notes.

(Yes, of course I have seen the Nicolas Cage remake already.)

A young woman crouches down, outside of a beam of intense blue-green light. An alien appears to float horizontally within the light.

5. No One Will Save You (2023)

This was a refreshingly unpredictable movie with actually interesting aliens. I barely noticed that there was no dialogue so that's a real mark in its favor in terms of being engaging. I really liked the vibe of the final scene, a decently bold decision.

A very pale woman in a voluminous red dress stands with her arm outstretched, looking off to the side.

4. Suspiria (2018)

This really captured the subtlety (some might say impenetrability?) of the original with lots of loaded glances and mysterious details. And then the climactic scene goes absolutely bonkers over the top. Great acting, imagery, and design.

Two men sit at a table, holding mugs. They are slightly in shadow. They both have light skin, although the one on the left has a deep tan. The paler man has his leg on the table, pant leg rolled up to show a large scar. The other man is laughing.

3. Jaws (1975; rewatch for the nth time)

I love this movie. I didn't get to see it this summer, but better late than never. This feels like it barely counts because I've watched it a bunch but I'm counting it anyway.

Ohh you're right, it has some of that Stephen King "haunted place" energy!!

A brightly sunlit scene with 9 people sitting/standing on a large boulder, some of them holding guns, all looking toward two tentacles in the foreground.

An honorable mention from just before the month started: I watched Tremors (1990) for the first time and had a great time.

A figure walks down a long staircase along a rocky outcrop, with a lighthouse visible in the background and water beyond.

2. The Fog (1980)

A little silly but there was a lot to like here between the radio DJ plot, the scenery, a Carpenter score, a good ghost story, & a Janet Leigh/Jamie Lee Curtis teamup.

A still of Megan Fox, a pretty young woman with dark hair and pale skin. Her mouth is open and covered in what looks suspiciously like blood.

1. Jennifer's Body (2009; rewatch)

I've been meaning to re-watch this one for a while, as I hadn't seen it since it came out. It's very 2009 but the horror-comedy elements are well done, the script is fun, and the adolescent female friendship horror angle is interesting.

I'm breaking in this account by posting my annual Halloween month horror movie thread. 👻💀🔪