Chad

Here's a few earlier suggestions. Apologies if any were overlooked.

Of course 2022 marks the 100th birthday of Christopher Lee.

Fire away.

Undeadcow

With links...

Cosmic Horror:
https://www.imdb.com/list/ls099432688/
https://www.ranker.com/list/best-cos.../grayson-titan

Grief:
https://bloody-disgusting.com/editor...mourning-loss/
https://www.talkdeath.com/how-horror...rror-of-grief/
https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?t...ror&plot=grief
https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?t...&plot=mourning

Birds:
https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?t...rror&plot=bird
https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?t...ror&plot=raven

Babysitter:
https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?t...lot=babysitter
https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?t...ror&plot=nanny
https://www.imdb.com/list/ls031559821/

Undeadcow

Checklist suggestions...

Special Effects
Patrick Baxter [Saw films, Mandy, Dawn of the Dead '04, Evil Dead '13, etc] - https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?t...role=nm1154076
Brian Wade [Midnight Mass, Army of the Dead, The Thing, Blade, NOES 5, etc] - https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?t...role=nm0905395
Franco Di Girolamo [New York Rippter, Shocking Dark, Black Cat, Horror Castle, etc] - https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?t...role=nm0226565

Writer
Everett De Roche [Road Games, Razorback, Patrick, Storm Warning, etc] - https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?t...role=nm0211193

Composer
Paul Zaza [Prom Night, My Bloody Valentine, Popcorn, Curtains, etc] - https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?t...role=nm0006344
Mark Korven [The Witch, Cube, Resident Evil: Raccoon City, etc] - https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?t...role=nm0466805

Producer
Aaron B Koontz [Scare Package, Superhost, Starry Eyes, Pale Door, Found Footage, etc] - https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?t...role=nm1323319
James Fler [Psycho Goreman, Trench 11, For the Sake of Vicious, Barbarous Mexico, etc] - https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?t...role=nm3524562

Actors
Chase Williamson [John Dies @ the End, Victor Crowley, Siren, Beyond the Gates, etc] - https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?t...role=nm3311695
Radha Mitchell [Silent Hill 1-2, Pitch Black, Rogue, Dreamcatcher, Sacrifice, etc]- https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?t...role=nm0593664

Undeadcow

For the checklist it might be fun to have a brief template for highlights/awards. At the extreme reformat the whole checklist to be a genre awards list (not just a vampire movie, but 'best vampire film this year,' etc), at a minimum add a few open ended items to get recommendations (similar to how people might not indicate formats, decades, etc if not encouraged but here for film recommendations). For example:

'Movie That Actually Scared You':
'Best Creature Feature':
'Most Memorable Soundtrack':
'Worst Film':
etc etc etc.

Even if these items were option it might be a way to see recommendations in the checklists or use existing items in a way to frame that people indicate a highlight within that subgenre.

rbrown498

As much as I love Jenny Agutter, Deborah Foreman, and Chuck Conners, 5, 6, and 7 films for them just aren't enough. I may have been one of ones who voted for a minimum of five films to get an actor included on the "Actor" portion of the checklist, but now that I've seen it in practice, it's just too few to choose from. Maybe we could come up with a list of 10-15 actual horror movie icons (like this year's Boris Karloff and others) to keep in the "Actor" portion on a permanent basis, and complete the roster with those actors with fewer credits (such as Jenny Agutter) or those whose films generally suck (like Arielle Brachfield, who, out of a total of 20 films actually available to see, has 14 that have a rating under 5) in order to give the checklist some freshness. Personally, I'd rather have just icons, but I'm old and cranky and get off my lawn.

I'd also like to suggest another checklist item: Watch three horror short films (under 40 minutes each). That would add some variety to things without overtaxing anyone unduly. I'd love to see what short films people watch and like during the Challenge.

mallratcal

Actor suggestion: Cameron Mitchell
https://www.imdb.com/filmosearch/?ex...&genres=Horror

Unless I missed it I don't think he has been used in the challenge before.

SterlingBen

I really liked when we did that bonus day one year. Also 2022 has a Friday The 13th in May.... just sayin.

clckworang

I'd like to suggest overhauling or eliminating the wildcard. Think back to the original wildcard and why we added a wildcard in the first place. In the beginning, the challenge was so restrictive. We couldn't count TV or shorts. It was only features. The original wildcard, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, was created as a wildcard only because it failed the TV and short rule, not because of content. Strangely, the use of the wildcard seems to have gotten increasingly broad even as our choices for countable content has greatly expanded.

Now that the rules have changed and shorts and TV are included, I don't think we need the wildcards. We already have so much flexibility. You could probably reach 100 without even watching a horror movie and instead just focusing on Halloween TV specials. There are even reality shows that would count! With all of that available content, do we really need people listing things that are clearly not in the true spirit of the challenge? I don't think so. Feel free to watch what you want, but it doesn't belong on your list.

I would have liked to maybe keep the wildcard for borderline entries or ones someone thought were horror but turned out not to be, but I think people would abuse and do crazy rationalizations (Pete's Dragon has a dragon in it, dragons are scary monsters, so it counts. Barney is a dinosaur, and dinosaurs are scary. My local news reports on murders; therefore, it is close enough).

What I think I would rather see is to eliminate wildcards altogether for movies and TV but allow them for other things. In practice, that would mean no wildcard movies but instead use a wildcard for the horror podcast you listened to or that book you read. Use it for Halloween parties, haunted houses, applicable museum visits, concerts, plays, trick or treating, etc. If we did that, I'd even be in favor of increasing our wildcards! It would encourage some breaks and socialization. People won't maybe feel like they're missing out on things trying to stay home for movies. It would also encourage some horror or Halloween-related content outside of just movies and TV.

SterlingBen

Yo fam Friday the 13th is tomorrow…

While I mostly agree with the above I vote for keep wild cards mainly for 2 reasons.

1. Not quite horror theatrical showings, being a movie forum I would venture that going to the theater is still a pretty big deal for a lot of us and I wouldn’t want people to skip out on a not quite movie because of the lack of wild cards also we all really could use the excuse to get out a bit more in October.
2. The ability to count a live event for the reasons listed in the post above.

Also it is now a great time to request time off work for October everyone, I just did.

Undeadcow

Next year, in 2023 - Friday, October 13

Trevor

Travis McClain

1. So far as I've ever understood things, theatrical exhibition counts as a format. I've used it as one going back to my first Horror Challenge in 2009 and every subsequent challenge I've participated in since where appropriate.
2. I don't get the compulsion to list live events, but I've no reason to object to it. It's your list.

I had an idea for a Free Check reward. Example: Let's say you can earn one each from the Decades sections. Currently, you only have to complete 6 of 11. If, however, you watch a movie from all 11 decades, get a Free Check. Now you can skip doing homework to find out what format something was shot on, or comb through the obituaries to see who's died recently. I'd offer no more than 3 Free Checks throughout the entire checklist, and require at least 10 movies per section (except MPA Rating since there are only 9, unless we add "TV Rating" or some such). I feel like that's a cleaner system than wildcards, and science has proven people like to earn rewards. Or at least I think it has.

I like the idea of the sections for different directors, producers, makeup artists, etc. The pools need to be expanded to at least ten options. I'd add Carl Laemmle, Jr. to Producer and Jack Pierce to Makeup. I spent my challenge last year going through the Universal Classic Monsters box set. I was surprised that neither of them got me anything.

Amend "Watch a movie and its remake on the same day" to add "or two adaptations of the same source material." Coppola's Dracula wasn't a remake of Universal's, but I feel watching both together fits the spirit of this check item. They'd have to both be adaptations of Bram Stoker's novel, though. You couldn't just pick any two movies that happened to feature the character Dracula, so you couldn't get away with a double feature of Billy the Kid vs. Dracula and Hotel Transylvania.

SterlingBen

The emphasis on number 1 was the "not quite horror" part. Thinking back the last 2 Venom movies were out in October and I think we can all agree they aren't horror movies but perhaps have some horror elements. But also it would be quite easy to skip a movie like that one would have traditionally gone to and steal a bit of the fun out of the movie going experience for the month, although I do usually try to force myself out to see at least 1 traditional horror movies in the theater every October as well with varying degrees of success. But yes I could have worded that better.

And then the other side that I also didn't flesh out for 2 (I was on mobile at the time) was taking away the OHMC's excuse not to live a little. I have found it very easy over the years to pass up on activities in October because I need to watch 2-3 movie movies to stay on track or what not. Keeping the live events broaden the pallet a bit and thinking back some of my favorite OHMC comments have been some of the live ones, but again subjective.

clckworang

Both Venom movies were counted in previous challenges without objections. No one is stopping you from going to the movie theater, but again, I don't see why one needs to count a movie that isn't horror.

And did you read the rest of my suggestion? I proposed tossing out wildcards for movies but broadening (even increasing the number) to use with different activities. If anything, it encourages more activities apart from movies.

SterlingBen

Yes, when I said for the reasons above I meant from your post (being the one above mine).

Travis McClain

BTW, I updated the Trek or Treat list on Letterboxd. I'd forgotten all about it until this thread. It grew by 39 movies. Most of the changes have to do with genre tag changes at TMDB.

Darkgod

A little over 4 months to go... i suggest we knock out the checklist, theme nights and subset films in the next 3-5 days.

Chad

So Darkgod's annual reminder post reminded me of some changes that need have to be made. I don't have to explain to anyone the current state of the forum, or that the two things considerably slowing the pre-challenge thread down are theme voting and subset volunteering. I can tell you from the perspective of the person doing the majority of the work, it's become intolerable. The last two challenges have forced me to make a mad dash to cram everything last-minute due to the constant waiting. I'd very much prefer to not have to do that again.

That said, here's two changes that will streamline the whole pre-challenge process by cutting that time down considerably, and give me some breathing room to get things done earlier...

1. Eliminate the voting on theme nights. Let me assemble it. It's not exactly a new suggestion as its already been mentioned a few times in the past. Of course nothing would be set in stone, so anything considered blasphemous could always be rectified. Really the only other difference would be any new suggestions would be posted in this thread before the pre-challenge goes up, and suggestions given after go in the 2023 pile. Bonus: if for whatever reason the list doesn't live up to expectations, you can blame it squarely on me!

2. Eliminate the 31 subset volunteers requirement. Go back to the early days when some volunteers had more than one spot. In other words, the number of volunteers are determined by how many volunteer before the pre-challenge thread goes up. The volunteer process starts now in this thread, BTW (see next post). If we don't hit the usual 31, which we probably won't, some might have two (or more) spots to fill. I'll also send out PMs to all volunteers as a courtesy reminder right before the pre-challenge thread goes up.

Just to clarify, all the threads would still go up around the same time as usual. The difference would be once the pre-challenge thread goes up the theme nights list would be ready to go and the subset volunteers would already be chosen. We go directly from there.

I'm also not wasting time by putting this up for vote so please be on board with this! I guarantee you this is a much more efficient way of doing this without sacrificing anything. It not only speeds up the process so you can have more time to plan ahead accordingly, but makes my job extremely more tolerable as well.

Chad

31 Film Subset Signup Sheet for 2022

Gobear

I volunteer as tribute!

Darth Maher

I’m sure I can come up with at least one subset film between now and… whenever it’s needed.

tarfrimmer

I’m in for a subset.

Undeadcow

Im interested in a subset - or two; whatever works.
Changes seem reasonable. Thank you.

shellebelle

I'm definitely in for a subset or two or three! I like the changes. I'm all for making it easier on you Chad.

shellebelle

Here are some actors that have quite a few credits:

*Patty Duke[https://www.imdb.com/filmosearch/?ex...genres=Horror] (19)
*Christopher Eccleston[https://www.imdb.com/filmosearch/?ex...genres=Horror] (8)
*John Goodman[https://www.imdb.com/filmosearch/?ex...genres=Horror] (5)
*Tom Sizemore[https://www.imdb.com/filmosearch/?ex...genres=Horror] (31)
*Jeremy Renner[https://www.imdb.com/filmosearch/?ex...genres=Horror] (5)
*Idris Elba[https://www.imdb.com/filmosearch/?ex...genres=Horror] (14)
*Tony Amendola[https://www.imdb.com/filmosearch/?ex...genres=Horror] (29)
*Louis Ferreira[https://www.imdb.com/filmosearch/?ex...genres=Horror] (34)