[ignition]

GOAL: 31 After completely missing last year due to moving to Texas and getting a real job, I'm finally ready to go for 31. I've grown remiss to working and PSU football isn't going to be very captivating this season, so I think it's attainable!

October 1:
1. Friday the 13th: The Killer Cut (2008) First time watching this... definitely felt like a Michael Bay film. Not a huge fan of a lot of the characters, but when viewed in isolation is pretty entertaining.

October 4:
2. Cube Zero (2004) Long weekend in Illinois killed my timing, but came home and popped this in the PS3. Not as original as its namesake, but I enjoy knowing a bit more behind the actual trap. Not as many kills to talk about, though.

October 5:
3. Cube (2002) I forgot how much dialogue-driven this movie is, which is much different from its "prequel." Of course, this also allows for much better characterization in the end. Truly frightening.

October 6:
4. The Invisible Man (1933) I still have one more "Universal Legacy Collection" to go, so I figured these would be great movies to watch during the workweek with their short run time. I can't recall the last time I watched the film, but I was delighted by the story and pacing. The transfer looked awful on my plasma, but I suppose that's to be expected.

October 7:
5. The Invisible Man Returns (1940) First viewing of the sequel... and quite possibly the last. An alright movie by itself, offering only a slight bit of continuation from the original.

October 8:
6. The Invisible Woman (1940) You know, sometimes these "sequels" just aren't good. I would probably classify this more of a comedy than horror, but since I took the time to watch it, I'm counting it. Again, a good film in its own right, but no continuity whatsoever to the original Invisible Man.

October 9:
7. Pandorum (2009) May have riffed off Event Horizon a bit, but I was pleasantly surprised by how well this firm kept my interest. I was disappointed by the lack of originality for design of the "monsters," but I suppose the fact that they were limited in their appearances kept them mysterious enough. Very decent film despite its limited run in theaters.

October 10:
8. I Spit on Your Grave (1978) I'm not sure what possessed me to toss this in between college football games today, but I ran down my movies until the 'I' section and decided to give it a spin. I know it's supposed to be shocking and controversial, but the more times I watch this film the more I realize the woman is just a huge slut. I mean, sure she kills the guys in the end, but he still manages to give them all a good time AGAIN before she does it.

October 11:
9. Zombieland (2009) Very entertaining film - especially if you think that these same people were in the same universe as Dawn of the Dead... while some people are fleeing for their lives others are having a blast.
10. Halloween (2007) For as bad as some of Rob Zombie's other films have been, I thoroughly enjoyed this remake. His choice of music along with his actual storytelling made this one very watchable. I'm not sure why it was knocked so much.

October 12:
11. Sleepaway Camp (1983) Man, I watch other movies made in the early 1980s, but none of them ever seem quite as "1980s" as this one. I don't know what it is, but the shorts are shorter, the men seem more homoerotic, and the mustaches are more prevalent than ever before. Despite all this, the last image of Angela on the beach is still very haunting.

October 13:
12. Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers (1988) The difference in production quality is night and day between the first film and this sequel. Obviously the plot will have a different feel since you already know who the killer is, but I think it succeeds and in fact surpasses the original because of this.

October 14:
13. Paranormal Activity (2009) I would say not worth the hype; however, it is original and still a bit disconcerting. For the most part, the acting is pretty decent. Although the writing is very good, it's almost too good in that it's exactly what I would say, except that it takes away from the suspense of the movie.

October 15:
14. Cube 2: Hypercube (2002) I remain one off my pace of 31, and I will only get further behind this weekend because I'll be traveling to Dallas for UT/OU weekend. I thought this film was pretty weak in the kills department, although I enjoyed the story. I still think that the more they reveal about the cube, however, the less interesting the movie becomes. I wouldn't mind seeing them continue the series, but I don't know where you can go from a tesseract.

October 18:
15. Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland (1988) (Need to pick up the pace to avoid the need for a 5-movie day...) This third (and final?) installment is pretty fun, despite the lack of character development. A few good kills, but most are pretty mundane. I guess after Jason's killed people almost every way known to mankind, there's only so much a diminutive Angela Baker can do.

October 19:
16. The Invisible Agent (1942) This was a fun sequel to The Invisible Man. Again, not so much 'horror' as it is a 'monster' movie, but has some really great elements. A little strange seeing Nazis as somewhat sympathetic characters in 1942, but a decent watch nonetheless.

October 20:
17. The Invisible Man's Revenge (1944) Another non-sequel sequel... not bad, but not really great. I feel a little let down by this Universal monster series.

October 21:
18. Child's Play (1988) It's been a loooooong time since I watched this film, but watching it brought back a lot of nervous nights I spent as a kid after seeing this when I was young. I personally think the sequels are more frightening that the first one, but it's probably only because I was around the right age for horror viewing in 1990 than in 1988.

October 22:
19. The Blob (1958) People are down on the original, but I still like it. It has Steve McQueen for Christssake! Not so many gruesome kills, but still a pretty entertaining film.

October 23:
20. Drag Me to Hell (2009) Sam Raimi's return to horror... and you can blatantly tell it's a Raimi film by the sheer amount of liquid flowing from people's oral and nasal cavities. Aside from the extremely obvious ending, I really like the return to shlock for Sam.
21. Friday the 13th (1980) Color me as a skeptic of Blu-Ray and its inability to improve upon movies that weren't filmed in high-def, but I was fairly impressed by the transfer on a movie that wasn't even supposed to succeed when it came out. Despite a story that's been told for eons, I still find the original film very well written and executed. No flashy kills, but honestly - you ask anyone on the street who was the killer in Friday the 13th and they'll respond Jason... who remembers that it was really his mother?!?

October 24:
22. Zombi 2 (1979) Zombie v. Shark. 'Nuff said.

October 25:
23. Friday the 13th: Part 2 (1982) It's refreshing to watch this film and see Jason run through the wood as opposed to randomly appear magically behind his victims. I think they could have stuck with this motif and still had a successful franchise.
24. Friday the 13th: Part III (1983) I love the fact that they're re-releasing the Blu-Ray films with their 3-D versions. Sure it's full of random crap just to take advantage of the 3-D medium, but it's that bit of camp that's fun. Unfortunately, the transfer is kinda crappy, but I think that's more a product of the lame glasses. Also, a big question - why is there no gratuitous nudity?

October 26:
25. 28 Days Later (2002) Another attempt at re-inventing the zombie movie by explaining the cause of zombification. I think Danny Boyle did a fair job with his attempt, although I think it may have played out better without the introduction scene with the monkeys, etc. A bit more mystery would have been pretty decent. I'm also not a huge fan of the 'happy' ending.

October 27:
26. 28 Weeks Later (2007) An okay sequel, although massive continuity errors (in the first film there were reported attacks in New York and Paris yet at the beginning they explain only England was affected). That aside, I think the film suffered from an inflated budget. Too much emphasis on special effects and not enough zombies.

October 28:
27. Legend of Hell House (1973) I needed a good haunted house movie, so I turned to Legend of Hell House. I probably should have gone with Amityville Horror, but I felt I needed to watch this one again to keep me well-rounded. While not as action-packed as other haunted house films, this one gives a pretty chilling vibe if you're not expecting to be shocked by loud noises and other modern-day tricks.

October 29:
28. Darkness Falls (2003) I admit I was distracted by the UNC/Va Tech football game, but the chunks I caught gave me chills. I recall being pretty spooked by this film when I originally saw it in the theater. I wish they could have given the tooth fairy a bit more backstory, but I'll take what we got.
29. Phantasm II (1988) Finally caught up! I don't think I've actually ever seen this installment of the series, but I'm fairly certain that Phantasm III recounts the movie in its entirety for the first half. That said, I really like this film as a sequel to the first. A much different movie in terms of 'horror', but very entertaining on its own.

October 31:
30. Burnt Offerings (1976) Not sure why I picked this film out of all my others, but I think it's been a while since I watched it so I felt the need to give the DVD another spin. Not a terrible film, but not exactly the most riveting either. The transfer is awful, but the softness actually makes its more watchable on my plasma.
31. Jason Goes to Hell (1993) Last film, so I had to make it a personal favorite. Sure it takes the entire 'Jason' mythology and takes a big dump on it, but this was the first horror film that I saw that had boobs, so it holds a space near and dear to me.