Chad

Some recent suggestions include...

Include a section based on characters (Frankenstein's Monster, Igor, The Wolf Man, etc.)

R.I.P. John Vulich:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0904418/

R.I.P. Ted V. Mikels:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0586399/

Horror Films with Fog:
http://www.imdb.com/search/title?cou...e_type=feature

Adam Wingard:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1417392/

The Horrors of USA Up All Night:
https://letterboxd.com/noahphex/list...-night/detail/

R.I.P. John Zacherle:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0951650/


Fire away.

BobO'Link

Have a single discussion thread since the site software no longer "breaks" with longer threads.

DaveyJoe

The sooner the subset list is finalized the better!

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

Single discussion thread.

For the checklist, do a count of how many of the sub-genres / types that people completed, take off something like the 5-10 least completed items to replace next year.

For the groups of actors/composers/directors/writers/makeup/etc, even them out by decades. Example, for the groups where there's 5 to choose from, pick someone that has a good chunk of films from 1925-1944, #2 is someone predominately from 1945-1964. #3 is 1965-1984, #4 is 1985-2004, #5 is 2005-2017. I wasn't too thrilled with some of the distribution from a few of these groups.

Change subset and theme night to do 25/31 to complete.

Let a real horror event count as a wildcard for theme night. You're out possibly visiting a haunted house and miss out on theme night. That's not right.

Let 1 entry worth of tv shows/shorts count for theme night and checklists.

Undeadcow

Replace 'Nazi' on checklist with a more general term like 'cult' or 'conspiracy'

Remove MPAA ratings, those are arbitrary. If it's seen as necessary to push X or G ratjngs consider using more general terms like 'splatter gore film" or "family movie."

I wasnt a fan of the 'listen to 1 of 7 indicated commentaries' item because it makes trying to 100% the checklist much more tedious.

Curses should be a staple on checklist.

I second using a live event as one theme night wildcard.

Remove 'format' from checklist because unless someone has access to less common formats like VHS or laserdisc there's not mucb to watching different formats. It doesn't really encourage diversity in films or add much of interest to the conversation because most of us will do it anyway. [I do like the idea of tracking total format viewings, just not as a checklist item]

orlmac

I agree with continuing multiple discussion threads as a historical thing (or even because of some people's OCD).

Second the sooner the subset list is finalized the better.

Second trying to even out by decades the groups of actors/composers/directors/writers/makeup etc.

Third letting a real horror event count as a wildcard for theme nights.

I like the idea of only using movies to complete theme nights and checklists.

I prefer to not change how many subset and theme nights it takes to complete.

Second removing formats from checklist.

I like the MPAA ratings in checklist.

Second Curses should be staple on checklist.

I don't know the solution to the "listen to 1 of 7 indicated commentaries item" but agree that it should be looked into.

Continue the "watch 3 films that you've never seen before" checklist with new categories.

Add select one from the chronological horror years faceoff to checklist

Spiderbite

I definitely vote to make the main discussion thread one single thread.

If you complete all the subset movies, do you also complete other challenges as well by default?

WillieMLF

If it was just a blanket 'listen to a commentary', then I know which commentaries I would gravitate toward. If the directive wasn't 'listen to one of the seven', I wouldn't have listened to any of the seven. It took me out of my comfort zone of commentaries, so I felt it was a pretty good checklist item.

I agree with the comments regarding format as well. I don't even think my laserdisk player even works anymore....

WillieMLF

I remember seeing the discussion on this and agree that one should use movies to complete checklist and themes.

I also really like the 'watch 3 films that you've never seen before' on the checklist.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

Counterpoint (to the first, I liked the watch 3 new films), it shouldn't hurt someone else if another person watches enough tv/shorts to count for a theme or checklist. It should be about having fun above all. The same amount of time is spent either way.

With all the types of lists to checkoff, I'd be happy to see things move to a less rigid and restricted setup. Then doing some of these things wouldn't end up feeling like work sometime. Watching a subset film you absolutely hate but you want to complete the checklist because you have to see everything is the exact opposite of fun. I won't lie. I didn't bother with the subset list because there were about a half dozen movie I just didn't want to watch. If I didn't have to watch everything, I would have gone out of my way to do the rest and would have seen some movies I've never seen before. One could say I lost out on something but on the other hand, if the average running time of 6 movies is 9 hours, I gained a lot of time being able to watch things I wanted and not spend almost half a day hating life with things I don't like.

I was thinking that maybe, at the very least, if someone suggests a subset film that they include all the things it'll checkoff. I think it'd be hard to come up with a subset list that completed the main checklist unless it was built off of the subset list and I don't think we'd want to do that.

I'm kind of thinking I might just be moving in the direction of only doing a list, not doing any checklists, and not numbering anything because I'd end up having more fun. I'm just the odd man out but I don't mind because I'm used to it.

Darth Maher

Maybe a day or two reprieve on the theme nights (instead of the "wild card for a non-movie" idea)?

There were a few movies that I wanted to watch to coincide with the theme nights but I had other obligations. Since I couldn't watch it on THAT night, I figured "why bother?" and moved onto something else.

Trevor

I'm torn on what's best for the checklist, theme, and subsets. Do we make them a little easier, more inclusive? Or do we keep them as part of what makes this a "challenge"? Either way, we should probably move any prize consideration away from completing them.

DaveyJoe

I think the checklist should remain challenging. I think I've only completed it once or twice.

Undeadcow

I agree the checklist should be a challenge and encourage diversity. The main thing is ensuring there are relevant items on there and not things that seem arbitrary (like format watched or MPAA ratings, imo). I'm all for "space ape zombie" items that do actually make you watch stuff that's different as long as they make sense for the content of the challenge and availability of movies.

SterlingBen

send more paramedics

CrazyMat

Voting yes on a Single discussion thread it would make it easier to keep up with

A refinement on a suggestion I made last year (2 to 3 to pick from for each day) is to have maybe 3 to 5 substitute themes with subsets you could use on any day in place of the subset and/or theme for that day

mmm brains

clckworang

Here are a few of my thoughts. I like that the optional items are a challenge and make me work harder to finish. It gives me a greater sense of accomplishment. Plus, by forcing me to watch something again, I might gain a greater appreciation for it. I also enjoy hearing the different points of view, even if it is one I didn't like.

I'm very torn on the idea of shorts or TV for theme nights. I can see both points of view, but there is part of me that wouldn't feel right watching Treehouse of Horror episodes for anthology day.

Definitely one discussion thread. I think the brief confusion over some of the broken or missing links illustrated the need for that. If someone has an old discussion thread up, he wanted see if Chad made a change, and I certainly don't expect Chad to update all previous discussion thread. I think it would reduce any errors and count down on some of Chad's work.

I was mixed on the commentary category this year but ended up really enjoying the one for I Spit on Your Grave that I watched. Nice to get out of my comfort zone, so ultimately, I liked it. One suggestion for that category: Wes Craven. I've always enjoyed his commentaries, and I was surprised he wasn't listed among the masters of commentary.

Another good one for the commentary list would actually be Herschell Gordon Lewis. I've listened to a few of his commentaries and thought they had good content.

That's it for now, but I'm sure I'll come up with something else.

Spiderbite

There may be a reason for it but I would save one of the super-duper big prize packs for the final "Best List" winner. The really awesome prize packs are given out randomly, which is fine, but I would think that the one of those should be reserved for that prize. Just a thought.

SterlingBen

Might be too far out for some but plan some of next years subset picks based on Black friday sale titles?

indiephantom

I loved the challenge, but I would like to see us do something new next year. Not sure what the hell it is, but we've added to it in the past, so there must be something. At the same time, I agree that elements might need to be streamlined. Perhaps a random list of 10 - 15 subset films that everyone could watch any time during the month.

Sometimes I think a list of several themes that could be used for the whole month might be better, too. It could be something to consider.

Still, I'd be fine if subset films and theme nights were kept the same. Both are challenging to complete, but possible. It's been awhile since I was able to do both, and I've been aiming for just theme nights in recent years.

The checklist is another matter entirely. It is so time consuming and detailed, that I usually don't even find the time to fill in the thing that I've done. The lists of actors, directors etc. I often forget who is even on the list. Even though we're not required to finish it all, I kind of just have to ignore it. Of the three, I've found theme nights the most feasible. Subset films also tend to have a lot of films I've seen lots or am not too interested in, so I no longer pursue them. I still think it's a great idea, but do we have numbers on how many of us actually do complete it. If you do choose to only watch subset films, you do automatically complete theme nights, so it's not a bad idea. Also, it's kind of the closest thing to a group watch as we have.

Also, I've noticed on YouTube, irc, and other places that people are now streaming films and kind of watching them simultaneous;y. I think this would be cool to try maybe on weekends sometime. I don't know how, but I think the tech is there to try new things next year.

clckworang

I think we tried to do a group viewing in the past, maybe through Xbox Live. Can't remember for sure. Anyone have a better memory of that?

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

I setup a DVD Talk Horror account. All you had to do was be friends with the account and that was enough to connect you to the other friends to do a group watch. The DVD Talk account didn't have to be logged in or anything for that to work.

People added it as friends but nobody ever did it. I tried organizing something once but there were some time zone differences, so nothing ever happened.

orlmac

I agree with some of the concepts that indiephantom addressed. I think it is always a good idea to look for ways to change up the challenge. The subset films and theme nights are both fine as far as I'm concerned. They are challenging but enjoyable. The checklist is very detailed but I think that is a good thing. For myself, I didn't even do the comedy challenge, partly because of no checklist. I'm in the minority on this but that's ok, nobody is agreed with all of the time. I love the idea of setting up things to watch simultaneously, one of the best new ideas come up with in a long time.

I do want to agree with Trevor on removing prize consideration away from completing subsets, theme nights or checklists. I LOVE prizes but completing these various items should be rewards in and of themselves.

And to misquote SterlingBen's quote, "send more brains!"

CORRECTION: The idea of setting up things to watch simultaneously is evidently not new, but is probably worth exploring again!

Chad

July bump. Believe it or not, it's almost time for the pre-challenge thread.

It normally goes up around the 1st of August, and I'm considering posting it slightly earlier (a week, maybe?) in hopes we don't do the last-minute thing yet again.

If you have list suggestion ideas feel free to share them now. Emphasis on themes since that starts first. Or just wait.

Chad

And for the inevitable Romero (R.I.P.) theme, I suggest we tack it on to the permanent zombie day. It just seems fitting. In other words, zombies + Romero's qualifying filmography.