Dagger Death's 31 days of Horror
The month of October is about to start and Dagger Death couldn't be happier. Nothing is better than carving pumpkins, setting up ghouls in your front yard, dressing up as your favorite knife wielding maniac and most importantly watching your favorite horror films and Dagger Death is here to give you 31 of our favorites one for each day of the month.
OCTOBER 1st
Halloween 3: Season of the Witch
This 1982 underrated masterpiece directed by Tommy Lee Wallace is the perfect way to get you in the mood for Halloween. The movie follows a doctor (Tom Atkins) solving the mystery of deaths that all involve a mysterious mask company under the name Silver Shamrock, the film then unravels the secrets of human sacrifice and druid rituals. No, this film does not have Michael Myers but, it doesn't make the movie not great. Tom Atkins puts on a killer performance and the overall theme and atmosphere of the movie is the perfect starting piece for your month of horror.
OCTOBER 2nd
The Gate
The Gate is a 1987 horror and metal mashup featuring great stop motion. Something about mini demons and the 1980's go so well together. The movies plot follows a hole that is opened up in a boys backyard and small monsters begin crawling from the pit and the boys soon find out that its a gate to hell. The movie features a great performance from a young Stephen Dorff. For all fans of heavy metal I would highly recommend this movie.
OCTOBER 3rd
The Prowler
The 80's was full of great slashers which Dagger Death will talk about throughout this list but we want to start with Joseph Zitos 1981 film The Prowler. The movie is your basic above average slasher that starts with a murder on the homecoming night for troops in the 50s. The movie then jumps 35 years later and begins killing teens in the same town. The highlights are the killers costume and the great makeup effects for the great Tom Savini. Also just look how great that shot is.
OCTOBER 4th
The Fog
Atmosphere! Atmosphere! Atmosphere! God damn is this film moody and cool. One of the best Carpenter films. The film follows a small harbor town, and a ghost filled fog begins to set on the town and begins to unveils its dark history. The movies cast is filled with horror greats like Jaime Lee Curtis, Tom Atkins and Adrian Barbeau. Also looks at this shot...just...wow.
OCTOBER 5th
Pieces
Now on to our first senseless splatter flick. Pieces is one of hell of an odd gore-fest that is so fun and entertaining to watch. Pretty much the film is a bunch of girls are getting hacked up with a chainsaw on a college campus and the school and police are trying to figure out who's doing it. If Texas Chainsaw didn't give you enough blood and guts this sure will.
OCTOBER 6th
Fright Night
Tom Hollands vampire horror comedy(ish) from 1985 is an absolute classic. Its pretty much the boy who cried vampire. The boy next door has a new neighbor who happens to be a vampire and he enlists his best friend, his girlfriend and local horror tv host Peter Vincent to stop his vampiric neighbor. The makeup effects are so so good in this movie so pay attention to that..... "YOU'RE SO COOL BREWSTER"
OCTOBER 7th
Basket Case
So..... this movie is a weird one. Frank Henenlotter is known for his odd movies and this is by far the best. The movie consists of a man who's been carrying a basket with a secret inside and secret who wants revenge. Pretty low budget but very entertaining and has a pretty great puppet.
OCTOBER 8th
Trick Or Treat (1986)
SAMMI CURR!!!! This movie is heavy metal horror at its finest. After Sammi Curr, a outrageous, satanic rockstar dies, a super fan gets a rare pressing of his last record but, when played backwards it brings him back to life this time with evil intentions. This movie is great if you're into 80s metal and has that nostalgia feeling. It also has cameos from Ozzy and Gene Simmons.
OCTOBER 9th
Night of the Creeps
This one is Tom Atkins third film on the list because he is that awesome and so is this movie. This movie is a mix of an alien film, a zombie movie and a classics 80s slasher. The premise is basically aliens send these worms to earth that reanimate the dead and control your brain, unknowingly two college kids thaw out a corpse unleashing the worms on their college campus. The movie tho has a lot more going on than this, so just watch the movie...it will thrill you!
OCTOBER 10th
Haxan: A journey of witchcraft through the ages
A small change up 10 days into the movie marathon with this silent film from 1922. If you're into the occult this is the film to watch, the film showcases witchcraft in the medieval ages and how it would be looked at from a more modern point of view. This film has some of the coolest imagery of devils and witches that you can possibly find and will quench your thirst for Halloween images.
OCTOBER 11th
Silver Bullet
A Stephen King story with Corey Haim and Gary Bussey...how could you go wrong, you just can't.
Based on the short story "Cycle of the Werewolf", the story follows a young wheelchair bound boy who begins to investigate the strange and gruesome murders in his town every month, he slowly begins to realize that its the work of a werewolf but, who is the creature at night. The film has a great atmosphere and is one of the great King adaptions.
OCTOBER 12th
Tenebre
The first entry from horror master Dario Argento is a giallo masterpiece. The basic plot is a murder writer goes to rome for his next book "Tenebre" but soon after he gets there murders begin happening and pages of his book are being left at the scenes. This movie has on of my favorite Goblin soundtracks and is one of Argento's most gruesome films. The scene of painting the wall red is great....watch the film you will see what I mean.
OCTOBER 13th
Friday the 13th 1-4
Yes I know this is 4 films but you kinda need to watch these all at once because the story line continues through all of them. The best of the 4 will be the Final Chapter because its honestly perfect and has the great Tom Savini on makeup as well as the first movie. The basic plot is groups of teens go to Camp Crystal Lake and get picked off by a mysterious killer. These films besides Halloween spawned the the slasher genre and are some of the best. Also it had to take the 13th spot!
OCTOBER 14th
In the Mouth of Madness
A later John Carpenter masterpiece, In the Mouth of Madness takes reference from lovecraft in telling the story of a horror writer who goes missing in the town in which all of his stories take place and a insurance investigator goes looking for him but begins to realize the writers stores are real. Carpenter just knows how to create great atmosphere and this film has one and Sam Neil is a great lead for the film.
OCTOBER 15th
Pumpkinhead
The late and great Stan Winston's directional debut is a fun, eerie and is a great practical effects showcase. A group teens accidentally kill a mans (played by Lance Henriksen) son and the man goes to a witch to get revenge on the kids that killed his son by bringing a creature to life. Some people don't care for this film but I think its great and the Pumpkinhead design is iconic and classic Stan Winston.
OCTOBER 16th
Videodrome
LONG LIVE THE NEW FLESH! Cronenberg's T.V violence mind fuck is the perfect film to watch in October. The movie follows a T.V executive who stumbles on a channel that streams strange violence and sex. As the executive digs into Videodrome he begins to feel the side effects and what the show does to the flesh. I love this movie and its a such an original idea. I mean a guy gets a flesh VHS shoved in his stomach vagina..how cool is that.
OCTOBER 17th
Brain Dead (aka Dead Alive)
Peter Jackson of Lord of the Rings fame was once a director of horror and Brain Dead is one of his best...actually it is his best. Jackson's zombie filled gore epic follows a man who's mother is bitten by the rat monkey which caries the zombie virus and soon everything turns to shit and zombies begin to take over. This is probably the goriest film I've ever seen but, the gore is so absurd its great. You will never look at a lawnmower the same ever again.
OCTOBER 18th
Re-Animator
Stuart Gordon's 1985 sorta zombie flick is more about reanimated corpses than zombies. Herbert West is the new med student in town, but he has something he's been working on, a fluid that brings the dead back to live, but the dead are not very nice. Great gore effects and actually pretty funny which makes this movie standout and Jeffery Combs always slays every role he plays.
OCTOBER 19th
C.H.U.D
So this movie is a odd one. Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers (C.H.U.D) is pretty much the story of government conspiracy and toxic waste that turns the homeless into bloodthirsty monsters. This was one of those movies that I searched for a lot when I was a kid and fell in love with it instantly and I hope you will too. GREAT creature designs in this.
OCTOBER 20th
Suspiria
THIS IS ONE OF THE GREATEST HORROR FILMS OF ALL TIME. A new girl moves into a dance school in Italy and soon strange murders begin happening and unravels a tale of witchcraft. Beautiful cinematography, beautiful colors and and one hell of a soundtrack from Goblin. This is Argento's gift to the cinema world and the perfect film to countdown the last days of October.
OCTOBER 21st
The Monster Squad
If you took all of the universal monsters and then put them all in one movie and had them fight a group of kids you get The Monster Squad and its a blast. Dracula comes back to life to find amulet and gets the rest of the monster to help them but a monster club will not let that happen. Again Stan Winston and his company create great creature costumes and this films is just all around fun. Fun fact: Wolfmen do have nards.....
OCTOBER 22nd
A Nightmare on Elm St pt's 1 and 3
If you don't know who Freddy Krueger is you have a real problem. He was a child killer who was burnt by the the parents and he comes back to kill kids in their dreams. The movie has lots of sequels but the first and third films are the best, the third one being my personal favorite. The films have unique and at times funny kills and are staples for any horror fans.
OCTOBER 23rd
An American Werewolf in London
John Landis's horror classic is hands down one of the best werewolf movie and has the best werewolf transformation of all time thanks to the great Rick Baker. The plot is two american tourists are attacked by a werewolf, one survives but begins to slowly sees the signs of becoming a werewolf himself. The movie is somewhat of a black comedy which is unexpected but fits very well.
OCTOBER 24th
The Witch
Our first entry from the last 20 years is probably one of the greatest to come out in the last 20 years. This horror folktale tells the tale of strong religious family and what the evil of witchcraft and obsessive religion does to a family. Some of the best imagery I've seen in horror and and of the best actors in horror, BLACK PHILIP. This movies atmosphere is perfect for fall.
OCTOBER 25th
The Beyond
Besides Dario Argento and Mario Bava there was one other true Italian horror great and it was Lucio Fulci and The Beyond is his best movie. A woman moves into a house that sits on one of the gates of hell and it opens bring the dead back to life. Great gore from the Italian gore master and damn do I love this movie. It also has a pretty great score from Fabio Frizzi which great scores is a staple for any Italian horror film.
OCTOBER 26th
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
THE horror classic. Texas chainsaw is one of the many horror films that laid the groundwork for every horror film. A group of kids stumble on a cannibal family in the middle of nowhere... the plot is simple but the cinematography and hot uncomfortable feeling that this movie gives is what makes it such a classic. R.I.P Tobe Hooper...the saw is family.
Also watch pt 2 its great and super fun.
OCTOBER 27th
Creepshow
Stephen King and George Romero team up for this one and its of my all time favorite horror movies. Its honestly 5 horror movies in one. Based off of old E.C comics of the 50's Creepshow is an anthology film featuring zombies, roaches, meteor shit, water copses and things in crates. The standout in this movie is the lighting which makes the film feel like a live action comic book. This movie is perfect for Halloween.
R.I.P George Romero.
OCTOBER 28th
Night of the living/Dawn of/Day of the Dead
George Romero is on the list again but this time for what he does best. George Romeo is the one who created the modern zombie. Each of these films showcase Romero's great directing skills of storytelling and subtle social commentary. Each film follows a group of survivors making their way through a world of zombies and each film changes the horror genre in different ways.
R.I.P George Romero.
OCTOBER 29th
Return of the Living Dead
Another living dead movie but. this time not one from Romero. This one coming from John Russo (who worked on Night of the Living Dead) and the late great Dan O'Bannon. This one follows a two employees who find a take carrying the zombie virus and they accidentally let it out forcing a group of punk to fight off the living dead. This one is my all time favorite zombie movie and it a great comedy as well as its a horror film. Plus it has a awesome soundtrack featuringf The Cramps and 45 Grave.
OCTOBER 30th
The Evil Dead
Dagger Death's favorite horror movie. Sam Rami created one of the most original and innovative horror films ever made. This great follow a group of friends who stay in a cabin and read from the Necronomicon and the unwillingly unleash demon forces. Evil Dead was made on a very small budget but that doesn't affect the film one bit and will always go down as one of the greatest ever made.
OCTOBER 31st Day
Trick R Treat
Halloween is here yaaaay!!! So for this day we are giving you two movies, one for the day and the other for the night. The day film is none other than the modern horror classic Trick R Treat (not to be confused with the 80s metal horror film). This one is another anthology and focuses on the lore of Halloween with 4 stories that all wrap around on Halloween night. The highlight of this movie would be Sam the spirit of All Hallows Eve.
OCTOBER 31st Night
Halloween and Halloween 2
You saw this one coming. John Carpenter again with the classic 1978 masterpiece Halloween. A killer (Michael Myers) escapes a mental hospital and returns to the dreamy town of Haddonfeild to murder unknowing baby sitters. I recommend you watch the second film as well because they go hand and hand. These movies create atmosphere like no other and inspired the modern slasher. Halloween is the only film to watch Halloween night.
Now this list is not a list of the greatest horror films but a list of our favorites.
Watch the movies and take pictures tagging Dagger Death on Facebook or using the hashtag #daggerdeaths31daysofhorror
thanks for reading...
Music to go with your movies
Acid Witch-Stoned
Acid Witch-Witchtanic Hallucinations
Cultes Des Ghoules- Henbane
Dead Mans Bones-self titled
King Dude-Love
John Carpenter- Lost themes
Scorched-Echo's of Dismemberment
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!!
