Hooptober X: Feverish Brains, Meat-Filled Trains, and Triple XXXorcisms

Here it is, my complete list for 2023's Hooptober festivities, put on for us once again by Cinemonster.

I'm doing this one on "easy mode" this year since I'm not doing any other weekly challenge lists, but I've made my selections in the spirit of those challenges by seeking out both genuine classics as well as unexplored corners of the cult horror canon.

As always, I've stressed first-time watches. There are a couple of titles that I've seen before, but they pass my loose 10 year statute of limitations on rewatches. From where I sit today, I might as well be a different person from the high school kid who watched Bram Stoker's Dracula as his first "hard-R" theatrical experience 30+ years ago.

I have copied the below text (with a few of my own customary visual blandishments) from the OFFICIAL RULES LINK: https://letterboxd.com/cinemonster/list/hooptober-x-hooptober-hooptober-let-satan/

There must be 31 films ✅ <em>(I have 31, plus the three suggested bonus features, for a total of 34.)</em>

6 countries ✅ <em>(Besides the USA, I also count the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, and South Korea, among others.)</em>

8 decades ✅ <em>(1940s through 2020s, with only the 1950s MIA.)</em>

☢️🌪️☣️🌀 2 post apocalyptic or natural disaster related films ✅ Land of the Dead (2005) ✅ The Last Man on Earth (1964)

🧤🤠 1 film with Robert Englund ✅ Night Terrors (1993)

⚒️🚇 1 something is underground film ✅ The Midnight Meat Train (2008)

😈👹👿 3 Satan/Devil centered films ✅ The Pope's Exorcist (2023) ✅ The Exorcist: Believer (2023) ✅ The Exorcist III (1990)

🇬🇧💂 1 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amicus_Productions#Filmography">Amicus</a> film. ✅ Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965)

👎🧛‍♂️ The worst <a href="https://letterboxd.com/rak_zombie/list/all-dracula/by/rating-lowest/">Dracula film</a> (by Letterboxd rating) that you haven't seen and can access. ✅ Dracula 3000 (2004) <em>(NOTE: This is currently the worst one, going by the aggregate Letterboxd ratings. I'm curious to watch the linked list and see if it moves at all by the end of the challenge.)</em>

👭🌈👬 1 LGBTQ+ connected film ✅ The Wild Boys (2017)

🎥🎬 5 Films from De Palma, Wes Craven, Ken Russell, Hitchcock and/or Moorhead & Benson. ✅ The Fury (1978, De Palma) ✅ The Last House on the Left (1972, Craven) ✅ Gothic (1986, Russell) ✅ The Birds (1963, Hitchcock) ✅ The Endless (2017, Moorhead & Benson)

👁🔍 2 Peter Cushing films ✅ Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965) ✅ Horror Express (1972)

📚🧛‍♂️ 1 film based on a work of or invoking the name Bram Stoker ✅ Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)

📌🤕 1 film based on a Clive Barker story ✅ The Midnight Meat Train (2008)

👦🎂 1 film that was released the year that you turned 10 ✅ The Hidden (1987)

🇮🇹🎥🎬 1 Mario Bava film. ✅ Lisa and the Devil (1973)

❌❌❌ 1 film with an 'x' in the title <em>(I have four because I'm nothing if not e❌tra:)</em> ✅ The Pope's E❌orcist (2023) ✅ The E❌orcist: Believer (2023) ✅ The E❌orcist III (1990) ✅ Horror E❌press (1972)

🧔🎥 And 1 Tobe Hooper Film (There must ALWAYS be a Hooper film) ✅ Night Terrors (1993)

Extra Credit Movies: ✅ The Zodiac Killer (1971) ✅ 10 Rillington Place (1971) ✅ Shaky Shivers (2023)