What I Learnt During The October 31 Day Horror Movie Challenge - Part 4
You can really learn a lot about yourself by the things you expose yourself to, and setting myself a challenge to watch a horror movie a day for 31 days has definitely exposed me to a lot of viscera.
In 2019 I did a lot of contemplation over what is actually scary, and what constitutes a horror movie because I found the lines were getting blurred a bit. I wasn't getting scared, I wasn't even sure I was watching horror anymore despite their IMDB genre profiles. So this year I decided to try and get out of my comfort zone because pushing yourself out of your comfort zone is the best way to learn and to grow. So here are a few things I learnt while I set about on my 2020 October 31 Day Horror Movie Challenge:
Make A List In The Lead Up!
As October began to get closer in the lead up I started chomping at the bit to get into the horror movies again. With the streaming service Shudder becoming available, new movies being shuffled quicker into streaming rotation thanks to COVID-19 and with all of the extra time I had to bliss out and watch movies I found myself struggling to hold back and wait for October. The beautiful thing about the entertainment industry though is that there is a lot of movies available for your viewing pleasure so I wasn't really want of horror movies to watch, but the thing is there were a few that seemed so iconic, so horrific, or ones that I was super interested in watching that I had wanted to leave them for the 31 Day October Horror Movie Challenge.
The best way I could think of making sure I had an awesome selection of movies to watch in October and didn't burn through them earlier in the year was to make a list. I wrote down all the horror movies I wanted to watch, leaving plenty of rooms for add in's, random films, and other films that people may want to watch with me, and I intentionally avoided watching ANY of those films on the list prior to October. This left me still with heaps of movies that I hadn't considered available to watch in the lead up and I was able to get into the Halloween spirit early.
Like anything, preparation is key!
In a world of social distancing, social media is key!
This year, without all of the themed parties, bar crawls and trick or treaters there is a real lack of events in which to celebrate the festive season, so I had to get a little bit creative to ensure I was invoking the Halloween spirit in my every day to day life, and that was done through the power of social media.
For the whole 31 days I kept followers and friends up to date on the 31 Day October Horror Movie Challenge via Facebook and Instagram, which I updated to include spooky photos and elements in design. I also updated Instagram followers on a daily spooky outfit post (in which I was dressed up in gothic and/or spooky themed outfits for as many days as my outfits would allow) and included horror or Halloween themed posts such as presents people gave me and Halloween decorations I put up at my work. It was a great way to share my Halloween celebrations with people I couldn't necessarily see due to COVID-19 restrictions. I did get a lot of feedback from people saying it was a lot of fun to watch, so is definitely something I will continue to do next year.
Most horror movies are titled "THE something"
Something I noticed way more while I was watching the horror movies in the 2020 challenge was that most horror movies were titled as "THE something", whether that be The Lie, The Hunt, The Voices, The Boy, The Apparition. It's all about labelling it just one thing. In fact, over 10 horror movies that I watched during the 31 Day October Horror Movie Challenge featured that as the title! Not going to lie - it started getting confusing. Are we watching something about a ghost, or about a mysterious voice?
Silence of the Lambs doesn't count as a horror!
Usually I have a foolproof plan for setting the restrictions and parameters of the 31 Day October Horror Movie Challenge and that is that the genre of 'Horror' has to be listed in the top 3 genre listings of a film on the IMDB page. For those that don't know, IMDB stands for Internet Movie Data Base and it is the go to for all things film, actors, writers, producers, trivia, and credits. I use it constantly and so it seemed an appropriate base for the horror movies that I was keen to watch - but you know what didn't count as a horror movie? Silence of the Lambs!
That's right, a movie about eating people that many regard one of the classics is actually listed as falling under the genre of Crime, Drama, Thriller and thus it cant be counted! The same went with the Disney Channel classic Halloweentown, which falls under Adventure, Comedy, Family, and even Adam Sandler's specific Halloween Netflix movie Hubie Halloween doesn't count because it falls under Comedy, Fantasy, Mystery. What is a Halloween person supposed to do to celebrate is Halloween isn't counted as Horror?
So I guess I leave my readers to help me determine if these kinds of movies should count towards the 31 Day October Horror Movie Challenge, or if we should only stick to the horror? What do you think? Leave me your comments in the information below!
