The Nicsperiment Halloween 2025 Reca

I have had some weird years. Then there is this one. I'm not sure why I expected to get through October unscathed after the way the rest of the year has gone. Scrap that sentence. It's pointless to be so fatalistic. It doesn't help. Isn't "it doesn't help" kind of a fatalistic statement? Either way, I'm eight days late to this post for something I'll try to spin positively as a teachable moment for my position as a father. Yeah, that sounds good. My October was mostly awesome. I spent the first third of the month driving from rural South Louisiana to Yale, staying with a dear friend and his girlfriend on campus for a few days, then driving back. Before I left for the trip, in fact, the night I left for that trip, I recorded a podcast episode for Filmshake: The 90's Movies Podcast on the 1990 horror-thriller, Jacob's Ladder. Here's a YouTube Link:

And then, when I returned to South Louisiana, I watched and reviewed so many horror films. 
I started things off thinking I would spend the month just watching and reviewing 2005 horror films. The year has been so nuts, I have generally been paying attention to it, and doing little retrospection, other than revisiting the films of 20 years ago (and generally only finding 2005 to be an okay cinematic year). Things started off well, with a film shot in my swampy backyard, like many films from that era of big boot tax cuts, the fun and mysterious The Skeleton Key. I then went straight from an enjoyable film, to an absolute stinker, An American Haunting, one of 2005's worst films. White Noise is little better, though Michael Keaton's herculean efforts nearly lift it from mediocrity. Wolf Creek, meanwhile, is a much better film, though its brutal nihilistic realism (though the film is based upon true events that had a thoroughly negative outcome) are tough to sit through. Dark Water is a solid, but definitely not great film, full of atmosphere, shot in a cool location, that works better as a domestic drama than it does a horror film. Strangely enough, The Ring Two, a film which should not exist, and which pales next to its masterpiece predecessor, rips off Dark Water. House of Wax is as dumb as The Ring Two, but way more fun, maybe my favorite 4/10 movie of all time.
 

If you watch one cave movie from 2005, watch The Descent, an all-time great horror film; don't watch the lousy The Cave. Speaking of all-timers, for some reason The Exorcist has two prequels, and Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist is one of them...it isn't an all-timer. I rewatched the original Saw for the first time in 21 years with my son a few days ago...we were supposed to watch it a week ago and it was supposed to be reviewed here--I have some lofty comments to make about it, but I guess I will watch it again during the season and review it next year. I watched Saw II during the season, though, and while it doesn't measure up to the original, it has its charms.
 

I decided I'd had enough of 2005 horror films and that I didn't want to dive deeper into a well when I'd already reached mud, so I watched a few 2000 horror films for their 25th anniversary. I started off with What Lies Beneath, and while the story still doesn't feel very original, holy cow is every other element of that film great. I then watched the cult film Ginger Snaps, and soon found why it is only a cult film. I kept the 2000 party going with Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, yet another lousy sequel to a horror classic on this list. I figured since I'd already watched one The Blair Witch Project Sequel, I'd watch the other, 2016's The Blair Witch, which is somehow even worse!
 

I wrote quick reviews for both the main subject of Filmshake, Jacob's Ladder, as well as the punishment film from that episode, the fun little kids horror anthology, The Willies. And for my final pick, I took a friend's advice and watched 2011's Kill List. What an insane, deranged film. I'm still thinking about it. What an insane, deranged year. Hope these last two months are good. For me and for you. Whatever it is, at some point I've just got to make the best of things. Adios.