So we made it through October, and it is Halloween. We made it through four weeks of horror. I love horror. I love everything about horror. So obviously, this is my favorite time of the year. Every year I spend all of October binging horror films that I have never seen before, and this time I took you all along for the ride.

We laughed. We cringed. We saw some blood and guts. Lots of images are now etched into our brains. We saw aging horror icons, cannibalistic mountain men, Freddy and Jason, Todd Farmer naked, someone dive into a wood chipper, fish people, creepy clowns, and even zombie cheerleaders. Now it is time for the final five.

Green Room (2015)

I was a big Anton Yelchin fan. I say “was” because he recently died in a freak accident at the age of 27. In his later years, Yelchin started doing a lot of horror with movies such as “Burying the Ex” and “Fright Night”. He gained the most fame from the “Star Trek” movies. I, for one, was extremely upset when he died. If you ask me, “Green Room” was a great movie to be one of his last films. This movie had a decent cast. It was really cool seeing Anton Yelchin and Imogen Poots back together again, since they were great together in “Fright Night”. Patrick Stewart (another famous “Star Trek” actor) was a fantastic villain, and I found it to be very reminiscent of “Conspiracy Theory”. The story was about a musical group of starving artists on a national tour who book a gig at a backwoods bar where they witness a murder and get picked off one by one by a bunch of skinhead white supremacists. This movie reminded me a lot of the recent “I Spit on Your Grave” trilogy. It was definitely very similar as far as style. The film was definitely unnecessarily gory. The pacing wasn’t that great. It had a slow build up, and towards the end it started to go on too long. I found it difficult staying awake towards the end, and had to re-watch the ending several times. The movie invoked a realistic feeling of fear. You were able to really relate to the characters and the predicament they were in. They made this movie feel like it was happening in the real world, which made it scarier. Overall, this is a good movie. It’s a bit difficult to watch at times, and it is not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach. I recommend it to anyone who wants to see skinheads get brutally murdered by punkrockers.

Krampus (2015)

If they turned “Christmas Vacation” into a horror film… Well, they did turn “Christmas Vacation” into a horror film, and it’s called “Krampus”. There are a lot of similarities between this movie and “Dead End”. It is about a dysfunctional family during Christmas who are a bunch of horrible people, and get picked off one by one. Even the ending is very similar. For one, let me say that “Krampus” had a phenomenal cast. Toni Collette is easily one of the greatest actresses of all time. It also had Adam Scott and David Koechner, who are both comedic actors with a lot of range. It also featured Allison Tolman, who was great in “Mad Dogs” (a must see.) This movie was not what I expected it to be. For one, I had no idea this film was going to be post-apocalyptic. Yes, I said “post-apocalyptic”. They wake up Christmas Day to find no electricity, no cellphone reception, and find out that they are the only people left on Earth. Or maybe just the neighborhood. Who knows? I also thought that Krampus was going to be the main villain. It seemed like he had a lot of minions, which included: elves, a demonic jack-in-the-box monster, and evil gingerbread men. It started off seeming like Krampus himself was going to pick them off one by one. But it looks like he’s a resourceful guy, and he has his whole crew with him. One great thing about this movie is that they kept the suspense going and built up the fear by not showing Krampus till the very end. When they finally do show him, it’s scary as hell even though he just kind of looks like a demented Santa Claus. I feel like the ending kind of ruined the movie. It was sort of confusing and anti-climactic. And does every horror movie need to have a foreign prophet in it?!

The House of the Devil (2009)

I am a big fan of Ti West. I love his movie “The Innkeepers”, as well as the work he has done on “Wayward Pines”. I forgive him for “Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever”, but even he will tell you that that movie sucked, especially since he tried to take his name off of it. The cool thing about “The House of the Devil” is that unless you know when the movie was made or recognize the actors, you’d think that it was shot in the 70’s. The movie takes place in the 80’s, but the style is in the same vein of horror films from the 70’s and 80’s. The film even opens by saying “based on true events” (even though it’s not), which is meant to pay homage to films such as “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” and “The Amityville Horror”. The film was shot on 16mm, to give it that vintage look. Ti West also replicated styles from the era. They never pan or dolly, they only zoom in and out. Also, the opening title is a huge signifier of the era. They also played a lot of period music, and used a Walkman as a main prop. The film has a good cast. I think I fell in love with Jocelin Donahue, which made it easier for me to invest in her character. There were also classic horror movie actors, such as: Tom Noonan and A.J. Bowen. The scene where Jocelin Donahue is dancing around the house while listening to her Walkman may be one of my favorite scenes in any movie. This movie also seemed to use more prop blood than most horror films out there. Overall, I enjoyed this movie, but not as much as “The Innkeepers”. It’s definitely worth watching for the style alone.

You’re Next (2011)

They did it! They finally did it! They turned “Home Alone” into a horror movie! I don’t think any of us ever asked them to do it, but that doesn’t make it any less impressive. Once again we have a movie about a dysfunctional family full of awful people who get picked off one by one. At first, this was just a movie I’ve already seen a thousand times. It seems that after “The Strangers” came out, Hollywood has tried to replicate it every chance they get. That was how I felt at first. But, man, was I wrong. Everything about Shami Vinson and her character was absolutely amazing. She is an incredible actress. This movie is both a revolution and a revelation. They have reinvented “the final girl”! Something that is as old as time has been born again! What this movie is really about is a group of trained killers, who think that their current mission is just going to be like shooting fish in a barrel, go up against someone who they have no chance of defeating. Neither the characters nor the audience could have ever predicted how much of a badass Shami Vinson is. If I ever have to fight bloodthirsty home invaders, I want her on my team. Other than that, the film is violent and creative. The score is strange at times. Sometimes it helps the suspense, other times it hurts it. The soundtrack is great though, and works well with the action. The funny thing is that A.J. Bowen and Ti West are both in this movie. I don’t know why Ti West was in it. He is not an actor, and his character served no purpose, other than being the first kill. He also wore a hideous scarf.

Dead Rising: Endgame (2016)

When I first saw “Dead Rising: Watchtower”, it was immediately one of my all-time favorite zombie movies. It was a zombie movie that wasn’t too gory, had great action, great characters, and a perfect blend of horror and comedy. At first seeing “Dead Rising: Endgame” was a little disappointing. The first half was sort of slow, disappointing, and a little heavy for a horror film. It seemed like they were trying to do more with this one, focusing more on government and corporate conspiracy, trying to make it kind of like the “World War Z” book and movie. But after the first half, everything else made up for it. Once the action kicked in, I was satisfied. Two years after the last movie, and our hero Chase Carter has built up a reputation of being a true badass. After the events of the first film, he has become a well-known journalist known for going into the battlegrounds of the zombie wastelands and capturing the story. This time around, he has a whole team behind him. One thing that was disappointing was that this movie mostly had a whole new cast. Jesse Metcalfe, Keegan Connor Tracy, and Dennis Haysbert did return, but the film was lacking great actors from the first movie, such as Meghan Ory and Rob Riggle (as Frank West from the games.) Though the cast has some great installments, like Marie Avgeropoulos, Billy Zane, and Victor H. Webster (who played Chuck Greene from the games.) Honestly, I will watch anything with Billy Zane in it. The movie also kept the theme going. The whole point of the “Dead Rising” movies is to emulate the games. And both movies do a great job. They both have a scene where the characters craft their own weapons, and they emulate the gameplay by having one man single handedly fight a horde of zombies. That also gives these movies more action than your typical zombie movie. Hopefully, we get another “Dead Rising” movie, and even a TV series, which is rumored to be in the style of “24”.

So, there you have it, four weeks of horror. We made it through 21 blood curdling films. Some of them were good and some bad. But that’s the great thing about this genre. Even if the movie is bad, it might still be worth watching. So enjoy your Halloween. Watch something scary and eat some candy. I will see you next year for another spooky four weeks.