October approaches rapidly, which can mean only one thing!
Ridley's Halloween Horror Movie Marathon: 90s Annual Edition
The Theme:
After dedicating the two previous marathons to a decade, the 70s and 80s respectively, it made logical sense that to continue down that road to bring us to the overlying theme of the films of the 90s. For 31 days, we'll be charting a similar course as we've embarked on in the previous two years as we explore the depths of the genre from 1990-1999.
The Challenge:
As a lot of horror film fans know, the 90s was not what one might immediately call a bumper crop, having to not only live up to the renaissance that we enjoyed in the 70s and 80s, but also having to adapt to changing public appetites: boogeyman slashers were out, high-class serial killers were in, and much of the talent from that vaunted era were either in sharp decline, moving away from the genre, ghettoized to the dregs of the DTV market or simply couldn't get anything up and running that they could call their own. New talent also didn't seem particularly interested in playing it straight, opting instead to forge their own path with hybrids that certainly incorporated horror film elements, but would perhaps have a hard time being called an outright horror film in some circles. To be fair, this is largely an American perspective I've been looking through, as outside of the US, tons of exciting talent were making films that provided some of the most exciting work that you would see in any decade for the genre, particularly in Asia, but it was hard to be really excited in a time before streaming and VOD would make a lot of these easily accessible beyond the truly hardcore fans. Simply put, it was tough to be a fan in the decade, which would make it seem like a retrospective marathon would be tough to follow through, especially in the event where one is already familiar with some of the biggest releases that hit the mainstream, like The Silence of the Lambs, Scream, The Sixth Sense and The Blair Witch Project.
Or so I thought.
The Process:
Combing through countless resources, including some old standbys and many new ones, my research into the decade provided with a veritable treasure trove of films that I had never heard of before, to go with a fair few films that I had but haven't gotten to until now. To make a long story short, I wound up with a scratch list of well over a hundred films, making the final selection process much tougher than I had anticipated, as I could easily get two marathons out of the films I found out about. But I only get to celebrate the ninth consecutive year of my own marathon just once, and though I suspect some of those films will wind up on a list down the line, I had to be firm and lock down my final selections. A lot of these will be solo watches, but a fair few are matched pairs and even trios based on a particular director or kind of film. All this, and the films this time around will be all first time views. The final list of films I've selected undoubtedly has a level of variety and eccentricity that will stand as the craziest programming I've ever done.
The Films:
As explained, some of the films will be shown back-to-back (and, in some cases, an additional -to back!) with some kind of connective tissue. For instance, I'll finally do something I've been meaning to do and witness the whimpering end of the slasher genre as we once knew it to be with the (then) final films to feature Freddy, Jason and Michael. While I won't spoil absolutely everything on that front, the steely-eyed may notice other connections, to which I will only reply with a sly grin and, if worn at the time, a tip of the hat.
-The Addiction
-Arcane Sorcerer
-Baby Blood
-Bad Moon
-Begotten
-Biohunter
-Body Snatchers
-Cat in the Brain
-Cure
-Dark Waters
-The Day of the Beast
-Dead Alive
-Ebola Syndrome
-The Eternal Evil of Asia
-The Exorcist III
-Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare
-Gemini
-Ghostwatch
-The Guard from Underground
-Halloween VI: The Curse of Michael Myers
-Halloween H20: 20 Years Later
-Highway to Hell
-Hiruko the Goblin
-Jacob's Ladder
-Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday
-Kolobos
-The Last Broadcast
-Lost Highway
-Man Bites Dog
-Midori
-Mikadroid: Robokill Beneath Disco Club Layla
-Mimic
-My Soul is Slashed
-Nightwatch (1994)
-Perfect Blue
-The People Under the Stairs
-The Quiet Family
-Raat
-Red to Kill
-The Reflecting Skin
-Ring
-The Ring Virus
-Seven (no, I'm stylizing the title, the number 7 isn't a goddamned V)
-Stir of Echoes
-Tales from the Hood
-Tetsuo II: Body Hammer
-Three-Oh-One, Three-Oh-Two
-Trauma
-The Ugly
-The Untold Story
-The Wax Mask
-Whispering Corridors
-The Wisdom of Crocodiles
As you can tell, I can't wait to start tumbling down this rabbit hole!