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Robtober 2012

A month’s worth of movies to help you stay awake

Every October, I try to watch as many horror films that I haven’t seen before as possible.

Corman’s World

Alex Stapleton (USA, 2011)

A documentary on DIY producer/director Roger Corman and his alternative approach to making movies in Hollywood.

Not of This Earth

Roger Corman (USA, 1957)

An alien agent from the distant planet Davana is sent to Earth via a high-tech matter transporter. There, he terrorizes Southern California in an attempt to acquire blood for his dying race, the result of a devastating nuclear war.

Not of This Earth

Jim Wynorski (USA, 1988)

An alien arrives on Earth looking to take human blood in an attempt to preserve his dying planet.

Popatopolis

Clay Westervelt (USA, 2009)

Prolific B-movie director Jim Wynorski attempts to make a feature film in three days.

The Wasp Woman

Roger Corman (USA, 1959)

The head of a major cosmetics company experiments on herself with a youth formula made from royal jelly extracted from wasps, but the formula’s side effects have deadly consequences.

Not of This Earth

Terence H. Winkless (USA, 1995)

An anemic alien comes to Earth from a dying planet, in the remake of the Corman 50s classic.

Sinister

Scott Derrickson (USA, UK, Canada, 2012)

A controversial true-crime writer finds a box of Super 8 home movies in his new home, revealing that the murder case he is currently researching could be the work of an unknown serial killer whose legacy dates back to the 1960s.

Insidious

James Wan (USA, Canada, 2010)

A family looks to prevent evil spirits from trapping their comatose child in a realm called The Further.

The Innkeepers

Ti West (USA, 2011)

During the final days at the Yankee Pedlar Inn, two employees determined to reveal the hotel’s haunted past begin to experience disturbing events as old guests check in for a stay.

Hostel: Part III

Scott Spiegel (USA, 2011)

Four men attending a bachelor party in Las Vegas fall prey to the Elite Hunting Club, who are hosting a gruesome game show of torture.

Screamtime

Stanley A. Long, Michael Armstrong (UK, 1983)

A trilogy of three improbable stories of horror and the supernatural are combined into this low budget thriller: “That’s the Way to Do It,“ “Dreamhouse,” and “Do You Believe in Fairies?”

Poltergeist II: The Other Side

Brian Gibson (1986)

The Freeling family have a new house, but their troubles with supernatural forces don’t seem to be over.

Night of the Comet

Thom Eberhardt (1984)

A comet wipes out most of life on Earth, leaving two Valley Girls fighting against cannibal zombies and a sinister group of scientists.

V/H/S

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, David Bruckner, Tyler Gillett, Justin Martinez, Glenn McQuaid, and 4 more (USA, 2012)

When a group of misfits are hired by an unknown third party to burglarize a desolate house and acquire a rare VHS tape, they discover more found footage than they bargained for.

28 Days Later

Danny Boyle (UK, USA, 2002)

Four weeks after a mysterious, incurable virus spreads throughout the United Kingdom, a handful of survivors try to find sanctuary.

The Gate

Tibor Takács (Canada, 1987)

Kids left home alone accidentally unleash a horde of malevolent demons from a mysterious hole in their suburban backyard.

Paranormal Activity 3

Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman (USA, 2011)

In 1988, young sisters Katie and Kristi befriend an invisible entity called Toby, who resides in their home.

Room 237

Rodney Ascher (USA, 2012)

An exploration of various interpretations of Stanley Kubrick’s horror film, The Shining (1980).

All posts in this series

Robtober 2011

A month’s worth of movies to help you stay awake

Every October, I try to watch as many horror films that I haven’t seen before as possible.

Hostel

Eli Roth (USA, Czech Republic, 2005)

Three backpackers head to a Slovak city that promises to meet their hedonistic expectations, with no idea of the hell that awaits them.

Saw

James Wan (USA, 2004)

Two men awaken to find themselves on the opposite sides of a dead body, each with specific instructions to kill the other or… See more →

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Robtober 2012

A month’s worth of movies to help you stay awake

Every October, I try to watch as many horror films that I haven’t seen before as possible.

Corman’s World

Alex Stapleton (USA, 2011)

A documentary on DIY producer/director Roger Corman and his alternative approach to making movies in Hollywood.

Not of This Earth

Roger Corman (USA, 1957)

An alien agent from the distant planet Davana is sent to Earth via a high-tech matter transporter. There, he terrorizes Southern California in an attempt to acquire blood… See more →

Go to this post

Robtober 2013

A month’s worth of movies to help you stay awake

Every October, I try to watch as many horror/suspense films that I haven’t seen before as possible. This is the first year the films were somewhat carefully selected and scheduled in advance. They span seven decades and eight countries. Dates and times (subject to change) are listed for any friends who want to join me.

Don’t Look Now

Nicolas Roeg (UK, Italy, 1973)

A married couple grieving the recent death of their young daughter are… See more →

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Robtober 2014

A month’s worth of movies to help you stay awake

Every October, I try to watch as many horror/suspense films that I haven’t seen before as possible. Dates and times (subject to change) are listed for any friends who want to join me.

The Devil’s Backbone

Guillermo del Toro (Spain, Mexico, 2001)

After Carlos – a 12-year-old whose father has died in the Spanish Civil War – arrives at an ominous boys’ orphanage, he discovers the school is haunted and has many dark secrets which… See more →

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Robtober 2016

A month’s worth of movies to help you stay awake

Every October, I put together a sizable schedule of horror/thriller/exploitation films, most of which I haven’t seen before. Dates and times (subject to change) are listed for any friends who want to join me. Also available as a handy Google calendar!

Don't Breathe

Fede Álvarez (USA, Hungary, 2016)

Three delinquents break into the house of a war veteran who is blind to steal his money. However, they discover that the man is not as defenseless as… See more →

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Robtober 2017

A month’s worth of movies to help you stay awake

Every October, I put together a big schedule of horror films, most of which I haven’t seen before. Films, dates, and times (all subject to change) are listed for any friends who want to join me, and ticket links are included for public screenings. The schedule is also available as a handy Google calendar and as a Letterboxd list.

Below the schedule you can find a bit about how it’s curated as well as a roundup… See more →

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Robtober 2018

A month’s worth of movies to help you stay awake

Every October, I put together a big schedule of horror films, most of which I haven’t seen before. Films, dates, and times (all subject to change) are listed for any friends who want to join me, and ticket links are included for public screenings. The schedule is also available as a handy Google calendar and as a Letterboxd list.

This year, Michael Myers’ imminent return to the big screen has inspired me to binge my way… See more →

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Robtober 2019

A month’s worth of movies to help you stay awake

Every October, I put together a big schedule of horror films, most of which I haven’t seen before. Films and dates (all subject to change) are listed for any friends who want to join me, and ticket links are included for public screenings.

This year, I’ve set aside a weekend to plow through the entire Nightmare on Elm Street series (I’ve only ever seen the first three). I’m also finally finishing off (the current version… See more →

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Robtober 2020

A month’s worth of movies to help you stay awake

Every October, I put together a big schedule of horror films to watch, focusing mostly on ones I haven’t seen before. It’s usually a mix of home viewings and public theatrical screenings, and the schedule is published both for posterity and for the sake of anyone who might like to join me. This year, sadly, the pandemic will keep me out of theaters, and guests won’t be able to join me for home viewings. But… See more →

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Robtober 2021

A month’s worth of movies to help you stay awake

Every October, I put together a big schedule of horror films to watch, focusing mostly on ones I haven’t seen before. The schedule, a mix of theatrical screenings and home viewings, is published for posterity and for the sake of anyone who might like to join me.

This year’s batch is a little less focused than usual, drawn from new releases, repertory screenings in Philadelphia, recent additions to Time Out’s “100 Best Horror Films,” Criterion… See more →

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Robtober 2021 Design Notes

The making of a custom-designed blog post

Robtober is what I call the horror movie binge I do every October. After I redesigned my site in 2017, I started documenting the event each year with a horrifically custom-designed blog post, getting a little more elaborate each time. This post goes behind the scenes of the 2021 edition.

The data

I generate my site with Jekyll, and a custom-designed post like Robtober gets its own unique layout file. To keep things tidy, all the… See more →

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Robtober 2022

A month’s worth of movies to help you stay awake

Every October, I broaden my cinematic horizons by putting together a big schedule of horror movies I haven’t seen yet. Alas, this year’s plans have been upended by my abduction, and for some reason, my mysterious captors aren’t interested in money. Instead, their ransom demand is that people watch the movies I’ve scheduled. These dudes seem like they mean business, so if you can help me out, I’d really appreciate it. But if you’re too… See more →

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Robtober 2022 Design Notes

How to design a ransom note

Happy Halloween! Here are a few quick notes about this year’s design for Robtober, my annual horror movie marathon.

The ransom letters

The ransom note concept for the title screen came to me in the middle of the night, and I don’t remember if it was inspired by something specific. But in my subsequent research, I read the entire Wikipedia article about the murder of JonBenét Ramsey, so if that’s a knowledge hole your pub… See more →

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Robtober 2023

A month’s worth of movies to help you stay awake

Every October, I put together a big schedule of horror films to watch, focusing mostly on ones I haven’t seen before. The schedule, a mix of theatrical screenings and home viewings, is published for posterity and for the sake of anyone who might like to join me.

I’ll often use this month as an opportunity to catch up on a franchise, and this year, for reasons surpassing understanding, the new, tenth installment of the Saw… See more →

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Robtober 2024

A month’s worth of movies to help you stay awake

Every October, I put together a big schedule of horror films to watch, focusing mostly on ones I haven’t seen before. The schedule, a mix of theatrical screenings and home viewings, is published for posterity and for the sake of anyone who might like to join me.

This year I seem to be nostalgic for the age of Satanic panic, as I’ll be doing concurrent, chronological deep dives on The Exorcist and The Omen, two… See more →

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