What I Learnt During The 31 Day October Horror Movie Challenge

Rounding out my usual 31 Day October Horror Movie Challenge posts, I like to create an article about what I learnt during the challenge - about myself, about horror movies in general, and about the way of the world. Here are a few little sneaky tidbits I discovered.

Weed is not conducive to the challenge

Moving into October and the start of the challenge I set myself a goal that I would not smoke any weed for the entirety of the month because thinking back on my 2020 challenge I actually don't really remember a lot of the movies that I watched. I smoke weed to relax and to also quell my anxiety, but being lost in the COVID 2020 haze affected what I remembered about the horror movies I watched, and this is something I wanted to avoid. I managed to go three weeks without, which I was very proud of, but fell off the wagon towards the end due to some bubbly depression and anxiety. As of such, I chose to not smoke before any horror movie to assist me in remembering the movies. After all, if you're not going to remember what you watched, what is the point of even doing the challenge?

This worked well for me, and allowed me to learn better ways to function and to ensure I could be present in the challenge I had set myself.

Women are being less sexualised in horror movies

Now, this isn't exactly a blanket ruling and the fact that this has even come up could be a testament to the fact that I actually didn't watch as many slashers this year as I have in the past. But what I noticed was that out of the 34 and a half horror movies that i watched over the course of the month, there was only one film that featured any kind of unnecessary female nudity or strong over-sexualised violence, and that was the Euro trash film of Halloween Pussy Trap Kill! Kill!

In a world that is becoming more inclusive of feminism and shedding the tropes of the whore and the Friday the 13th stigma of sex = death, it's actually really nice not to see a girl take her top off, fuck the jock, and then get killed for acting our her very normal and very human sexual urges. We are no longer shaming women for being human, and this is such an amazing thing to see as horror movies go from over the top killfests to actually intelligently designed and equal films. Could this mean more Black Christmas type feminist films are emerging? Yes please!

I now lock my doors at night

I never used to lock my doors when I went to sleep. It wasn't for fear of someone breaking in, or a killer wanting to go on a crazed rampage on me while I slept, but it was just because I never really got around to it. But now, I rather enjoy the process of locking all of the doors front and back before heading to bed. I think this has been engraved into my mind from all the horror movies I have watched over the course of the month, as basically this is a prime scene in most of the movies. So, thanks horror movies for reminding me to lock the doors!

Phones are just as distracting as the weed was - so put it away!

There is a favourite monologue of mine from the God of Media, played by Gillian Anderson in the TV Show American Gods. The God of Media talks about time and attention being stronger then lambs blood when it comes to worshipping (or utilising) media, and that even when people get bored watching a movie they flick to their phones or another screen to give even more attention to something else. Basically, it has become a habit of people nowadays to switch on a movie and then ignore the screen completely in favour of social media, emails, or something else. This is something that I did often when watching TV, needing something else to capture my attention, and that is when I realised that using the phone while watching my 31 Day October Horror Movie Challenge was basically the same as smoking weed before watching the movie - there was no point if you weren't going to pay attention.

So I put my phone away on charge in my bedroom while I watched every horror movie on my list, and I was amazed to find just how involved in the story and the challenge I was without the distractions of weed or other forms of social media. I could concentrate on the show and enjoy it more, and this is something I think is very important for people to learn nowadays!

Since the challenge I have found myself more involved in the activities I am engaging it, rather than simply pulling out my phone and switching off for a few minutes. I'm no longer slaughtering the lamb so to speak, and this is probably the most important lesson I learnt during the whole 31 Day October Horror Movie Challenge. I definitely suggest you give this a go!

So there you have it - the final part of my 2021 31 Day October Horror Movie Challenge. It was a good time this year, and I look forward to starting the challenge in 2022 and seeing where it will take me.

Thanks so much for coming along for the ride!