Announcing... 31 Nights of Terror 2012

It's October, which means it's time for the third annual 31 Nights of Terror movie marathon!

Just like last year, I'll be watching a total of 31 horror movies during the 31 days of October. They will for the most part be movies I haven't seen before. They will be on VHS and DVD and cover all sorts of sub-genres. The only link will be that they're all horror.

 In fact, I started on October 1 and am already averaging one movie a day - I just haven't had time to upload the reviews of those movies.

So, expect a flurry of reviews to be posted in the next 24 hours, and then hopefully I can get up the reviews as I watch the movies for the rest of the month.

Here's to October, my favourite month of the year!

Announcing... Summer of '87 VHSathon

SUMMER OF '87 VHSATHON

The first weekend in June in New Zealand is Queen's Birthday Weekend, a three-day weekend when we celebrate the birthday of our monarch. Last year I used this long weekend for Cormania 2011 - a movie marathon in which I watched 11 movies over two days, produced or directed by the King of the Bs, Roger Corman.

It's hard to believe a whole year has passed since Cormania 2011, but Queen's Birthday is here again, and you know what that means... it's movie marathon time!

This year I've got today (Friday) off as well, so I'm going to be holding my movie marathon over Friday and Saturday. I'll be watching 12 movies over the two days and blogging as I watch them. If you've read any of my past marathons you'll know what to expect - bullet-point observations rather than fully-blown reviews.

This year's marathon is called SUMMER OF '87 VHSATHON. All of the movies I'll be watching fit two criteria. They a) were released in 1987, and b) are on VHS. Simple as that. Most of them will also be movies I have never seen before. There are a couple in there I have seen before, but I've still avoided all of the obvious choices from 1987 (Beverly Hills Cop 2, Robocop, Predator, Hellraiser etc).

So stay tuned for updates as the marathon proceeds!

Announcing 31 Nights of Terror... the sequel!

Hi everyone, sorry for my lack of blogging lately. The usual real life things have gotten in the way.

But that's about to change!

Back in 2008 I attempted the first 31 Nights of Terror marathon. My intention was to watch one horror movie every night for 31 consecutive nights leading up to Halloween.

I failed. I made it through 21 nights but found it too hard to commit to watching a movie every single night for a whole month. (You can read the marathon in its entirity in the blog archive).

But now I'm extremely happy to announce the revival of 31 Nights of Terror! It remains essentially the same - I will try to watch 31 horror movies in the month of October. But to make it a little easier on myself, I won't be watching *every* night. Some nights will have double features, others will be movie-free, but in the end it will still add up to 31 movies over the month.

What are the movies? Sorry, you'll just have to wait and see, but for the most part they will be movies I have either a) never seen, or b) haven't seen in a long time. Some will be on VHS and some on DVD. The only connecting thread is that they will all be horror flicks.

The only cheat I'm allowing is that I'm starting the marathon tonight, which is Friday September 30. I know, not technically October, but like I said it's a small cheat and doesn't ruin the spirit of the marathon.

As with my past movie marathons, I won't be writing full reviews of the movies I watch, but will instead post the notes I write while I watch, followed by a short summary of my overall thoughts.

So, stay tuned!

Announcing Cormania 2011

It's time for another movie marathon! I'm pleased to announce Cormania 2011, which will be taking place this Saturday and Sunday (NZ time).

Inspired by the fantastic Doomed Moviethon, I intend to watch 11 Roger Corman movies over two days and will be blogging about it as I go. I wanted a marathon which could provide plenty of variety in terms of years and genres, and who better to provide that variety than the King of the Bs?

Because I want to take advantage of the resources I have at hand (VHS, DVD and a few AVI) and not have to go hunting for anything, I'm opening Cormania 2011 to movies that the great Roger Corman has produced, as well as those he has directed.

I'm not going to give away what titles I will be watching, but it's fair to say the genres are diverse, covering everything from a classy Edgar Allen Poe adaption to a low-budget CGI monster fish flick.

Stay tuned over the weekend (Friday and Saturday nights US time). It should be a lot of fun!