Whew! We made it! Another Devil’s Night in the can and no razor-bladed apples nor babies exchanged for fairy changelings, at least not on our end, we hope the reader’s safe! Another season of witchy, spooky, psychotronic, oozey, resplendent, maroon-and-ochre foilaged, CINEMA reverberating our third eyes and haunting our dreams.
Here’s a moment of thank you to you, dear reader, for playing along this season! And a bit of reflection of all we done watched.
Pumpkin Spice Lattes to Pay Out:
3 to Astranger for correctly guessing Carnival of Souls, The Phantom of the Opera and The Wailing.
1 to Van Geem for guessing Seeding of a Ghost
1 to Stranger’s sister for guessing Boo! A Madea Halloween
Most Represented Filmic Decades:
The 80’s and the early oughts with 6 films represented each, followed by the 2010’s with 4 represented films. Every other decade of cinema beginning with the 1920’s had two represented films each.
Most Represented Cinematic Years:
2016- Black Mamba, The Wailing and Boo! A Madea Halloween
1934- Maniac & The Black Cat
1983- Sledgehammer & Seeding of a Ghost
1985- Mr. Vampire & The Peanut Butter Solution
Most Represented Countries of Origin (or co-productions)
USA with 19 features (slap my wrist for being a bad lil ethnocentrist)
Canada- The Peanut Butter Solution, Skinamarink, Slaughtered Vomit Dolls & I Downloaded a Ghost*
Hong Kong- Mr. Vampire & Seeding of a Ghost
Germany- The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari & Rammbock: Berlin Undead
The Phillipines- Shark Attack 3: Megalodon, & Pooh’s Heffalump Halloween Movie
France, Bulgaria, North Korea, China, Japan, Mexico, Lithuania, Italy, India, South Korea, and Thailand were all represented with a film (or co-production) apiece. No other countries represented this year.
Indie Films vs. Studio Pictures
The studio films just have it with 19 represented pictures (near as I can tell) vs. 13 indies.
Perfect Scores in Halloween Categories
5/5 Autumn Vibes- Let’s Scare Jessica to Death, Black Sunday, I Downloaded a Ghost & Pooh’s Heffalump Halloween Movie
5/5 Scares & Chills- Let’s Scare Jessica to Death
5/5 Cultural & Cinematic Importance- Mr. Vampire, Let’s Scare Jessica to Death, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Pulgasari, Cronos, Black Mamba, The Devil’s Bride, Carnival of Souls, Sledgehammer, Black Sunday, The Phantom of the Opera, The Wailing, Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla, & The Black Cat
5/5 Monster Action- Mr. Vampire, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Pulgasari, Seeding of a Ghost, & Shrine of Abominations
General High Scorers:
Let’s Scare Jessica to Death with a Halloween Score of 18/20
Black Sunday with a Halloween Score of 16/20
Mr. Vampire with a Halloween Score of 15/20
Bottom Scorers Overall:
Slaughtered Vomit Dolls with 4/20
Teen Witch with 3/20
October Sky with 2/20
Monster Tracker Tally Totals:
Approximately 240 zombies, 33 ghosts (including sheet ghosts), 31 vampires, 14 angels, 12 mermaids, 9 wizards, 7 witches, 7 demons, 7 kaiju/giant-monsters, 6 scary clowns, 6 dragons, 5 dinosaurs, 4 slashers/psychopaths, 4 yetis, 3 mad scientists, 3 gorillas, 2 zombie dinosaurs, 2 mummies (but only as costumes), and one Frankenstein and Wolfman each.
Approximately 9 other general monsters that don’t fall into any of the above categories.
A body count of 125 including 4 war battles.
9 instances of eyeball gore. 36 puke spews including one worm puke spew**
74 falling leaves, 64 jack-o-lanterns, 58 other pumpkins, 35 bats, 31 candelabras, 14 wolf howls, 13 creepy cemetaries, 9 skeletons, 8 crows/ravens, 7 monster cackles, 5 black cats, 4 full moons, 3 haunted houses, 3 seances, 2 insane asylums.
1 vulva, 4 dongs***(half of ‘em real flesh), 5 instances of bush, 6 bone zones, 7 hot topless beefcakes, 10 bare asses, 19 pairs of titties
28 musical numbers, 13 kung-fu fights, 8 explosions, 6 Matte paintings, 4 sword fights, 3 stunt burns, 3 roles for Bela Lugosi, 1 role for Boris Karloff
12 dogs, 7 big ole moustaches, 3 cool hats
Jasper’s Je Nai Sais Quoi Ranking of the 31 Features (and two Bonus Features) By Personal Taste
33. Slaughtered Vomit Dolls
32. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
31. Skinamarink
30. Brotherhood of the Wolf
29. Teen Witch
28. Rammbock: Berlin Undead
27. Pulgasari
26. Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman
25. Maniac
24. Shrine of Abominations
23. The Devil’s Bride
22. Pooh’s Heffalump Halloween Movie
21. Earth vs. the Spider
20. Son of Dracula
19. The Uninvited
18. Black Sunday
17. I Downloaded a Ghost
16. October Sky
15. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
14. Boo! A Madea Halloween
13. The Peanut Butter Solution
12. Cronos
11. The Phantom of the Opera
10. Shark Attack 3: Megalodon
9. Seeding of a Ghost
8. Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla
7. The Wailing
6. Carnival of Souls
5. Black Mamba
4. Sledgehammer
3. Mr. Vampire
2. The Black Cat
1. Let’s Scare Jessica to Death
I may come in here from time to time, add a more breadth to a description or two, ink and color some drawings or put in drawings where some got left out due to time. But for now: Happy Halloween! See you next year!
