What Are You Watching in October?

Yesterday I finally caught up with Jaume Balagueró's La séptima víctima (2002), a completely nerve-jangling horror picture that I first saw in 2004 during its U.S. theatrical run.

Released in a severely shortened version as Darkness, I remember being distinctly underwhelmed when I saw it on opening night with a sparse crowd. It was alright, and I quite liked Anna Paquin in the lead role, but it did nothing to interest me in the director's other work. Which was a mistake, since the other day I also caught up with Los sin nombre (1999). It wasn't quite as thoroughly satisfying as La séptima víctima, but it was still quite good,

Personally, I'm finally making a dedicated effort to watch a horror movie a day, in the tradition of Brian W. Collins, who did that for six years, wrote about it consistently, and eventually wrote a book about it. I'm writing this on the morning of the fourth day of the month, and it's looking good so far!

Thanks to a critical colleague who kindly gave me a big trash bag filled with horror DVDs he'd been sent to review, I picked out 30 or so to watch, starting with The Watcher in the Woods (1980), a very enjoyable suspense picture directed by the reliable John Hough (The Legend of Hell House.

But if I didn't have a friend with a bag full of free DVDs, I'd be spending even more time watching horror movies on Shudder, a streaming service that's available in the U.S. and Canada. I "pre-gamed" this past weekend by watching The Midnight Swim (very quiet, very good), re-watching Blood Money (for some reason I keep forgetting I've already seen it), and The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears (which put me to sleep at Fantastic Fest a few years ago, and proved to be no more appealing -- to me, anyway -- when I was fully awake).

All this to say: What are you watching in October? Please comment below. (And, yes, I know it's facebook, but it's the best commenting system we have available to us at the present time.)