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As the temperatures begin to descend and the foliage unfurls its brightly coloured plumage, we are once again reminded that it is that special time of year in which the wonders of the season are to be taken in, and not just enjoyed, but embraced.

Of course I’m talking about Shlock-tober, my annual month-long dedication to films of the macabre in honour of Hallowe’en. It’s just like Ramadan. Except it takes place in the 10th month of the whitey calendar. And instead of fasting, I watch horror movies. And it’s got nothing to do with Muslims.

So, anyway, as I’ve said many times, I’m not a big Hallowe’en guy, because it seems to have become a night for people to dress up and get drunk and act like dicks. So, since I hate (most) drunk people, I hate people acting like dicks, and I hate wearing my own pants, let alone someone else’s, I decided a couple of years ago that I would try and take Hallowe’en back in my own way. Thus, Shlock-tober was born. This will be the third year I’ve done this, and I hope to make it even more successful than last year. The goal, of course, is to watch a horror movie/Hallowe’en special every day of October. The other, lesser goal of this was to see all the horror movies about which everyone asks, “Is this one scary?”  I actually just checked to see if I’d written a note detailing the results…I think I hit 22 movies all told…which is pretty good.

Here are the guidelines that I set for myself:

• I’m not watching any Saw or Hostel movies. No torture movies.
• The only Rob Zombie movie in play is House of 1000 Corpses. I felt that both Devil’s Rejects and his Hallowe’en were blatant attempts at trying to shock me, more than I’m willing to accept. Therefore Feed and Inside are also out of play.

The List

Here they are, in no particular order. An * indicates I have not seen them yet.  The other ones…I just like.

1. The Blob (1958) — this is my traditional starting point
2. Sleepy Hollow
3. Midnight Meat Train *
4. Creepshow *
5. Psycho
6. Trick ‘R Treat*
7. 30 Days of Night
8. Wrong Turn *
9. Amityville Horror (1979) *
10. Dawn of the Dead (2003)
11. The Thing (1982)
12. Jeepers Creepers *
13. Horror of Dracula *
14. Dracula Has Risen From the Grave *
15. Taste the Blood of Dracula *
16. Dracula A.D. 1972 *
17. Drag Me to Hell
18. Evil Dead
19. Evil Dead 2
20. Night of the Living Dead
21. Slither
22. Feast
23. Feast 2 *
24. Feast 3 *
25. The Mist
26. Disney’s Adventures of Sleepy Hollow
27. Let the Right One In *
28. 28 Days Later
29. 28 Weeks Later
30. Land of the Dead *
31. Shaun of the Dead

That’s 31 movies right there. And it doesn’t even include any Treehouse of Horror episodes of the Simpsons…or the Werecar episode of Futurama…which count.