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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 the show must go on!

I typically aim for a wide variety of films, with as many countries, subgenres, and time periods represented as possible. However, this year’s focus is narrower. First, to celebrate the growing support for the Black Lives Matter movement, I’ve gathered a bunch of films showcasing Black perspectives, which have traditionally been underrepresented, stereotyped, and/or tokenized in horror. Second, some picks from one of the genre’s most pivotal decades, by way of Criterion Channel’s ’70s Horror collection. And third, a peek into the last 10 years or so of the overlooked world of short-form fright flicks. Some other odds and ends are also scattered throughout, including a couple of double features of classics and their recent remakes.

I haven’t seen any of these films before, so don’t take them as recommendations per se, but none of them were included frivolously. If you decide to watch any, I hope you enjoy. Have a horrific month!

Horror Noire

Xavier Burgin (USA, 2019)

A look at the history of Black horror films and the role of African Americans in the film genre from the very beginning.

Ganja & Hess

Bill Gunn (USA, 1973)

After being stabbed with an ancient cursed dagger, an anthropologist finds himself with an insatiable desire for blood.

Sugar Hill

Paul Maslansky (USA, 1974)

When her boyfriend is murdered by gangsters, Sugar Hill decides not to get mad, but BAD! The bad guys who think they got away clean are about to find out that they’re DEAD wrong.

It’s Alive

Larry Cohen (USA, 1974)

The Davises expect a baby, which turns out to be a monster with a nasty habit of killing when it’s scared. And it’s easily scared.

Long Weekend

Colin Eggleston (Australia, 1978)

When a suburban couple go camping for the weekend at a remote beach, they discover that nature isn’t in an accommodating mood.

The Invisible Man

James Whale (USA, 1933)

A scientist finds a way of becoming invisible, but in doing so, he becomes murderously insane.

The Invisible Man

Leigh Whannell (USA, 2020)

When Cecilia’s abusive ex takes his own life and leaves her his fortune, she suspects his death was a hoax. As a series of coincidences turn lethal, Cecilia works to prove that she is being hunted by someone nobody can see.

Street Trash

Jim Muro (USA, 1987)

A liquor store owner sells alcoholic beverages to homeless people, unaware of what the bottles actually contain: toxic brew.

The Driller Killer

Abel Ferrara (USA, 1979)

An artist slowly goes insane while struggling to pay his bills, work on his paintings, and care for his two roommates, which leads him taking to the streets of New York after dark and randomly killing derelicts with a power drill.

Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight

Ernest R. Dickerson (USA, 1995)

A man on the run is hunted by a demon known as the Collector.

Tales from the Hood

Rusty Cundieff (USA, 1995)

A funeral director tells four strange tales of horror with an African American focus to three drug dealers he traps in his place of business.

From Nerdist’s “20 Terrifying Short Horror Films You Can Watch On YouTube

Office Killer

Cindy Sherman (USA, 1997)

A mousy office worker accidentally kills one of her coworkers, then proceeds to bump off a few others.

Blood Diner

Jackie Kong (USA, 1987)

Two cannibalistic brothers kill various young women to use their flesh in their new special dish at their rundown restaurant, while seeking blood sacrifices to awaken a dormant Egyptian goddess.

The Witches

Nicolas Roeg (UK, 1990)

A young boy stumbles onto a witch convention and must stop them, even after he has been turned into a mouse.

Roald Dahl’s The Witches

Robert Zemeckis (USA, 2020)

Based on Roald Dahl’s 1983 classic book ‘The Witches’, the story tells the scary, funny and imaginative tale of a seven year old boy who has a run in with some real life witches!

Coma

Michael Crichton (USA, 1978)

When a young doctor notices an unnatural amount of comas occurring in her hospital she uncovers a horrible conspiracy.

Eve’s Bayou

Kasi Lemmons (USA, 1997)

What did little Eve see—and how will it haunt her? Husband, father and womanizer Louis Batiste is the head of an affluent family, but it’s the women who rule this gothic world of secrets, lies and mystic forces.

The Girl with All the Gifts

Colm McCarthy (USA, 2016)

A scientist and a teacher living in a dystopian future embark on a journey of survival with a special young girl named Melanie.

Atlantics

Mati Diop (France, Senegal, Belgium, 2019)

In a popular suburb of Dakar, workers on the construction site of a futuristic tower, without pay for months, decide to leave the country by the ocean for a better future.

Chained

Jennifer Lynch (Canada, 2012)

Bob is a cab-driving serial killer who stalks his prey on the city streets alongside his reluctant protégé Tim, who must make a life or death choice between following in Bob’s footsteps or breaking free from his captor.

Images

Robert Altman (UK, 1972)

A schizophrenic housewife, engulfed by terrorizing apparitions, kills off each, not knowing if these demons are merely figments of her hallucinatory imagination or part of reality.

Rabid

David Cronenberg (Canada, 1977)

A young woman develops a taste for human blood after experimental plastic surgery, and her victims turn into blood-thirsty zombies, leading into a city-wide epidemic.

Deathdream

Bob Clark (Canada, 1974)

A young soldier killed in Vietnam inexplicably shows up to his family home one night.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Jim Sharman (UK, USA, 1975)

A newly-engaged couple have a breakdown in an isolated area and must seek shelter at the bizarre residence of Dr. Frank-n-Furter.

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 →

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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 →

Go to this post

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 →

Go to this post

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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