And so, it begins...

This is the moment I've been desperately waiting for. Friday Night at Midnight I at long last get to begin my Halloween viewing for lucky 2013. This year, thanks to a wonderful new work schedule, I get not 2 but 3 nights each week to watch spooky material. That's a whopping 50% increase! I watched 40 movies total last Halloween Season, will I watch 60 this year? Quite possibly, but I also have a profoundly richer selection of TV and documentaries to watch this year, so time will tell. I guess I better get down to some watchin'!

And hey, thanks to Netflix and Amazon Prime, I'll get through this season barely spending a sent. Here's a rough draft of my TV/film list for this year. It will be frequently edited. Keep in mind the goal isn't to watch everything, the goal is to always have something good to watch!

Content available for free on Netflix and/or Amazon Prime is coded in BOLD.
Keynote/primary content is coded in RED.


TV Drama

Dead Set
American Horror Story Asylum
The Walking Dead Season 3
Survivors
Falling Skies
Harper's Island
Earth 2
The Vampire Diaries (s1/s4)
Teen Wolf
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
The X-Files
Jeremiah
Being Human
Apparitions
Hemlock Grove
Revolution
The Gates
The Lost World
Defiance
Under the Dome
The Secret Circle
Roswell
Stephen King's The Stand
Defying Gravity
Outcasts
Wolf Lake


TV Anthology

Masters of Horror
R.L. Stine's The Haunting Hour
Are You Afraid of the Dark?
Lost Tapes
Goosebumps
The Hunger
Kolchak: The Night Stalker
The Twilight Zone


1st Tier Films

Warm Bodies
The Roost by Ti West
Scream 3
Ginger Snaps Back
Cronos
Silent House
V/H/S 2
The East
Abandoned Mine
Mutants
Citadel
Stake Land
Invasion
The Road
The Reef
House at the End of the Street
Compliance
Apartment 143
Hunger
Cargo
The Mooring
The Bay
Abducted
Tomorrow When the War Began
Axe Giant: The Wrath of Paul Bunyan
The Others
The Eye
The Uninvited
Devil's Backbone
Trigger Man
Diary of the Dead
Zombieland
Les Revenants
Darkest Night
Right At Your Door
The Quiet Earth

Carriers

Unaware
Absence
Another Kind
Europa Report

Night Skies

Silent Warnings
Progeny
Midnight Son
Evidence
Last House on the Left
World War Z
Nightfall


2nd Tier Films

Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows

Lovely Molly
Tremors 3: Back to Perfection 

The Devil Inside

The Hole

The Hole (other one)

Intruders

To. Get. Her.

Kill List
The Ward

John Dies at the End

Pet Sematary

The Lost Boys

Identity (2003)

Slither

The Host

Big Bad Wolf

Zombie Diaries 1/2
Hollow
Vampires
Mimic
Fear Island
Kidnapped
Black Death
The Faculty
Trapped Ashes
The Devil's Carnival
Greystone Park
Ghost Cat
Crowsnest
Cropsey
June 9
UFO Target Earth
The Ritual
Exhibit A
Recut
Girl Vs. Monster
Creepy Tales: Girls' Night Out
Vampire Diary
Spiders (2013)
Elevator
Dark Waters
The Objective
Truth or Die
The Pact
The Frozen
Jacob
Dead of Winter
Splintered
Blackout
State of Emergency
Ghoulies
Barrio Tales
Rites of Spring
Last Kind Words
Munger Road
I Spit On Your Grave
Pontypool
The Open Door
The Shrine
The Afflicted
Shark Week (film)
Donner Pass
The Orphanage
Under the Bed
Visitors
The Bunker
Darkness
The Strangers
Excision
Sinister
American Mary
The Purge
War of the Worlds: The Untold Story
Communion

Apollo 18

Shadow of the Vampire

Bram Stoker's Dracula

Blindness

The Divide
Battle Dogs

Lo

I Know What You Did Last Summer

Splice

Carrie (2013)

Halloweentown

My Babysitter's a Vampire

Blood and Chocolate
Mother of Tears
I Am Legend

HORROR FEST

Documentary TV Shows

Is It Real?
Paranormal Witness (highly recommended)
Unsealed Files
A Haunting
The Universe
Dark Matters: Twisted But True
Urban Legends
My Ghost Story: Caught On Camera
Celebrity Ghost Stories
Deadly Women
Best Evidence
Shark Week
Stalked: Someone's Watching

Dark Days in Monkey City

Untamed & Uncut

Night

I'm Alive

After the Attack

Nightmare Next Door
Beyond
Ancient Aliens
Destination Truth
Ghost Adventures
Forecasting The End
Real Scary Stories
Beyond Belief/Bizarre
MonsterQuest
Sightings

Documentaries

The Truth Behind Zombies, National Geographic
Mermaids: The Body Found
Mermaids: The New Evidence
The Last Dragon/Fantasy Made Flesh
Werewolves: The Dark Survivors
Twisted History: Vampires
PBS Nova: Can We Make it to Mars?
Apocalypse How?
Secrets of the Dead: The World's Biggest Bomb
Countdown to Zero
Trinity & Beyond
Out of the Blue
The Watcher
Hiroshima: BBC History of WWII
The Forgotten Bomb

Eyes of the Moth Man

The History Channel: Apocalypse, Puzzle of Revelation
Secret KGB UFO Files
Murder By Proxy: How America Went Postal
666 Revealed
Fastwalkers
The White Mountain Abduction
Devil Worship: The Rise of Satanism
Hell: The Devil's Domain
History Channel/A&E specials
The Unexplained: Zombies
History's Mysteries: Zombies
Investigating the Haitian Zombie

History Channel: Hauntings
Haunted History: Halloween
Zombie Apocalypse (Discovery Channel)\
Europa: Mystery of the Ice Moon

Film Classics

Cryptic TV & other Roku horror channels
Jaws
An American Werewolf in London
Night of the Living Dead
Night of the Living Dead (1990)
Alien
Nosferatu
Suspiria
The Exorcist
Fire in the Sky
The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane


Notable Rewatches

Perkins' 14
Penny Dreadful
Trick 'r Treat
The House of the Devil
The Cabin in the Woods
Jack & Diane
Deadgirl
Grizzly Man


I've decided (loose blueprint) that Saturday will be movie night, Sunday will be theme night, and Monday will be TV night. I mean each night will feature a mix, but each with a different focus. I've already got Witch night set up for this Sunday.

But it's not just about the watching. I've got about 17 (and counting!) of Halloween-themed audio on my iPod. Eight & a half of those hours are creepy campfire stories. I'm also on the lookout for a good horror novel to read.

I'm planning two "Samhain Feasts" this year, though the specifics of what they'll include is sub-preliminary at this point. This time it's A Feast For Ghouls and A Feast For Goblins; the first being intended to scare the shit out of me and the second just for pure Halloween fun.

The Top 15 Best Superhero Movies

Like much of the world, I had my little super hero phase in the 00s. Yeah it's getting played out by this point, but that doesn't mean there weren't a lot of great films made, and hopefully some great ones left to be made.

I'm someone who really, on an intense personal level, likes to visit that fantasy world where morality is not ambiguous and good crushes evil. It's the same reason Taken is one of my favorite films of all-time. I like super heroes for being successful vigilantes more than anything else. And with that in mind I've seen much more than my share of super hero movies and these are the best ones, if you're asking me.


15. Superman Returns (2006)

It's definitely more of a quiet, underwhelming kind of film that doesn't hit you over the head with bombast. But with so many by-the-number super hero bunkerbusters, I find the tone in Superman Returns pleasant. It's not brilliant but it's interesting and entertaining. Plus it features the amazing Kevin Spacey and a super-cute Kate Bosworth. In this era of instant-reboots, this quasi-sequel to 1980's Superman II has become even more unique and refreshing since 2006.


14. Iron Man (2008)

Iron Man is cool because, like Batman, Tony Stark's primary super powers are limitless wealth, impossible technology, and the ability to amass military-grade weapons without inviting the suscpicion of the FBI. This makes suspension of disbelief a lot easier for those of us who aren't keen supernatural powers and alien intervention. The first Iron Man film was crisp and fun.


13. The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

It may have some flaws, but The Dark Knight Rises provides a very satisfying climax to Nolan's magnificent Batman trilogy. It retains the sharp-witted ability of the other films to weave an impressive menagerie of classic Batman characters to form a coherent whole, and it packs an emotional punch as well.


12. Batman Returns (1992)

It's twisted, it's fun, it's Burtonesque. Burton's first Batman was good, but the sequel introduces more of the vigilante action I love plus the best film version of Catwoman to date, and Danny Devito as a grotesque Penguin.


11. Chronicle (2012)

The found footage aspect doesn't really add much to this story other than a gimmicky dose of uniqueness. But that doesn't stop this from being by far one of the best super hero tales, about a few friends who happen upon supernatural powers and the complex ethical and social dilemmas they face as a result. The special effects are also excellent.


10. Spider-Man (2002)

A perfectly paced, emotional and exciting origin story for one of Marvel's greatest characters. Martin Sheen as Uncle Ben was pretty awesome in the new Spiderman, but it was the same story we had heard so recently before, and 2002 just did it better.


9. Unbreakable (2000)

M. Night Shyamalan was a decent filmmaker back before he ruined The Last Airbender. Unbreakable is among the more straight-faced superhero movies, with a stoney atmosphere and an exceedingly clever storyline.


8. Kick-Ass 2 (2013)

It doesn't expand too much into new territory, but Kick-Ass 2 provides bucketfuls of what made the original Kick-Ass such a remarkable standout film in a sea of superhero movies. Excellent characters abound and Jim Carrey, as "Col. Stars & Stripes," fantastically fills the patriarchal shoes left behind by the first film's charismatic Nicolas Cage (as "Big Daddy.")


7. The Dark Knight (2008)

A disturbingly brilliant Joker provides The Batman with a worthy counterbalance to his crimefighting agenda in this excellent and brooding sequel to 2005's Batman Begins. Just a shame they couldn't get Katie Holmes back.


6. Boy Wonder (2010) 

Technically this could be considered simply a vigilante film, but the thematic content is clearly there and it reminded me a lot of both Unbreakable and Kick-Ass. Very grim, very dark, very real, and it never flinches from a punch. When his mother is killed by assailants, an average boy toils to turn himself into a ripped supersleuth and seeks revenge on the criminal underworld.


5. X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)

This is one of the least-beloved X-Men films but suffice to say I have very specific things I like about X-Men and Last Stand touches on those things vastly more than any other X-Men film to date. It's based on Joss Whedon's story of a mutant cure, similar to one of my favorite episodes of the 1990s X-Men cartoon. Furthermore, Magneto, with his pro-gay, er I mean... pro-mutant agenda and quiet dignity, is my single favorite fictional character of all-time. The Magneto of X-Men: First Class might get to kill some nazis, but I find more depth in the way Sir Ian McKellen (one of the all-time greatest actors), subtly alludes to the dark genesis of his worldview and his love for Professor Xavier, in this film.


4. V for Vendetta (2005)

Wasn't quite sure if this one counts, but hey Wikipedia lists it as a super hero movie and we all know that's a reliable source. This stunning dystopian comic book film about a masked vigilante who uses prodigious skill to debase the totalitarian government is gothically cool and considerably powerful.


3. Watchmen (2009)

This is one of the best and most-celebrated takes on the concept: what if real people decided to become superheroes? The characters are deep, the story is nuanced, and the alternate history it posits is fascinating. Zack Snyder may have a bit of a slow-mo fetish but Watchmen is stylized in just the right way to make it slick and effective.


2. Kick-Ass (2010)

Overly-stylized action and gore are generally things I try to avoid, but I have to admit that scene of Big Daddy in the warehouse is just so utterly gorgeous. This story of a regular joe who decides to fight for love & peace expertly flirts with relative realism while never straying from its roots as a trashy comic book adventure. It's a solid, clever story with likable characters, and it provides everything I need in both superhero-style realism and rah-rah vigilantism.


1. Batman Begins (2005)

The Dark Knight may have the indelible Heath Ledger, but Batman Begins boasts two of my all-time favorite actors: the perpetually-enchanting Katie Holmes, and the reputable Liam Neeson. I also have a thing for origin stories. And Bruce Wayne searching for truth in the crimepits of the world makes for an exquisite story. Plus I like to see the easy, early stuff, like when the superhero is up against regular every day criminals and just pounds the fuck out of their scumbag asses, yay Batman! It's dark, it's cool, it's smart, it's fun: Batman Begins is just, to me, the perfect super hero movie.

31 Days of Halloween 2013

It's August 25th, you probably haven't started thinking about Halloween yet. Me? I've been obsessed with Halloween all year, practically clawing my eyes out for 10 months waiting until September 1st so I can start my Halloween festivities. I start in September because there's just not enough time if I wait until October. I mean, I've been watching horror movies all year, an average of two per weekend. But for Halloween I go all out, everything becomes Halloween: what I listen to, what I read. And to pump myself up and research which movies, TV shows, and documentaries I'm going to be watching this Halloween season, I compose my "31 Days of Halloween," 750 hours of premo spooky October television for my as-of-yet purely hypothetical fanstreamed television network.

The inaugural 2012 version was more about structure than content. While the pieces were there, it was full of filler: movies and programs I haven't even seen that were necessary to withhold the structure for each different marathon. This time around I have a much more vast collection of horror film, tv, and documentary knowledge in my hands and I've crafted what is, for me personally, a completely flawless month of horror programming. Nothing but the best films, the best documentaries, the best TV shows, everything here is either a personal favorite of mine or something I'm looking forward to watching this season.

I've also expanded many of the themes. So you may not be ready for Halloween yet, but if you're looking for some great material to watch this October, bookmark this page or get out a pen and paper, 'cause I've got you covered for 750 hours! I'll also be updating the list as I watch new programs this season, to insure that the absolute best possible marathon is represented here.

Movies are coded in RED.
Documentary programs & series are coded in GREEN.
Fictional (drama, comedy) television series are coded in BLUE.

Weekday Lineup (Monday through Thursday October 1st through October 24th.)

4am: Beyond Bizarre
5: movie slot d "early morning"
7: Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction
8: The Twilight Zone

9: Falling Skies

10: movie slot a "kids"
12:  Urban Legends (Mon & Tues) / Ancient Aliens (Wed) / MonsterQuest (Thurs)
1pm: slot reserved for Halloween-themed episodes
2: Unsealed: Conspiracy Files
2.30: R.L. Stine's The Haunting Hour (Mon & Wed) / Lost Tapes (Tues & Thurs) 
3: Jericho
4: The Vampire Diaries
5: Are You Afraid of the Dark?
5.30: Sightings
6: A Haunting (Mon & Wed) / Paranormal Witness (Tues & Thurs)
7:  movie slot b "primetime fun"
9: American Horror Story

10: The Walking Dead
11: Real Scary Stories

11.30: Unsealed: Alien Files

12: movie slot c "scary"

2am: Is It Real?
3: Masters of Horror

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"Halloween Essentials" Weekend Theme Marathons (Beginning 4am Friday morning, ending 4am Monday morning)

-------------------------

Prehistoric Night

(Friday, October 4th, 2013)

4am: Carnosaur

6: Jurassic Fight Club
7: MonsterQuest s3e18 "The Last Dinosaur"
8: Is It Real? s1e5 "Lake Monsters"

9: Land of the Lost (1960s)

10: Land of the Lost (1990s)

11: Dino King
1pm: Terra Nova

2: Terra Nova

3: Shark Week: Prehistoric Sharks

4: Planet Dinosaur

5: Planet Dinosaur

6: Jurassic Park

8: The Dinosaur Project

10: Jurassic Park III 

12: Area 407

2am: Incident at Loch Ness

-------------------------

Beast Night

(Saturday, October 5th, 2013)

4am: Open Water

6: Night

6.30: Shark Week: Blood in the Water

8: MonsterQuest s2e18 "Jaws in Illinois"

9: When Animals Attack

10: Dark Days in Monkey City
10.30: Dark Days in Monkey City

11: In the Shadow of Kilimanjaro

1pm: Untamed & Uncut

2: I'm Alive 

3: MonsterQuest s2e15 "Giant Bear Attack"

4.30: Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives

6: Jaws

8: The Reef

10: Grizzly Park

12: Grizzly Man

2am: Eyes in the Dark

-------------------------

Creature Night

(Sunday, October 6th, 2013)

4am: Feast

6: The X-Files s1e20 "Darkness Falls"

7: iCarly s3e17 "iBelieve in Bigfoot"
7.30: Futurama s4e17 "Spanish Fry:"

8: Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science

9: Is It Real? s2e2 "Chupacabra"
10: MonsterQuest s1e12 "The Real Hobbit"

11: They

1pm: Lost Tapes

1.30: Animal X
2: Animal X

2.30: Mermaids: The Body Found
3.30: Mermaids: New Evidence 

4.30: The Last Dragon (Fantasy Made Real)

6: The Roost

8: The Descent

10: Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

12: Trollhunter

2am: Cloverfield

-----------------------------------

Alien Abduction Night 

(Friday, October 11th, 2013)

4am: Visitors of the Night

6: Is It Real? s1e2 "UFOs"

7: The White Mountain Abduction

7.20: Is It Real? s3e6 "Ancient Astronauts"

8: The X-Files s2e5 "Duane Barry"

9: The X-Files s3e9 "Nisei"
10: Best Evidence: UFOs

11: Altered

1pm: UFO Files s2e12 "Texas' Roswell"

2: Sightings

2.30: Sightings
3: Unsealed: Alien Files
3.30 Unsealed: Alien Files
4: The X-Files s3e20 "Jose Chung's From Outer Space"
5: Sightings

5.30: Unsealed: Alien Files

6: Fire in the Sky

8: Grey Skies

10: Night Skies

12: Alien Abduction: Incident in Lake County

2am: The Wicksboro Incident

-------------------------

Extraterrestrial Life Night 

(Saturday, October 12th, 2013)

4am: Unaware

6: Falling Skies

7: Falling Skies

8: Falling Skies

9: Curiosity s1e2 "Alien Invasion: Are We Ready?"

10: The Universe s2e7 "Astrobiology"

11: District 9

1pm: Defying Gravity

2: Europa: Mystery of the Ice Moon

3: Is It Real? s2e7 "Life on Mars"

4: The Universe s5e2 "Mars: The New Evidence"

5: The Universe s6e4 "Crash Landing on Mars"

6: Alien

8: Monsters (2010)

10: Europa Report

12: Infection (2005)

2am: Nightfall (2011)

-------------------------

Apocalypse Night

(Sunday, October 13th, 2013)

4am: Carriers

6: Outbreak: Anatomy of a Plague

7.30: Survivors

8.30: Survivors

9.30: Stephen King's The Stand (part one)

11: Hell

1pm: Countdown to Zero 

2.30: Jericho

3.30: Forecasting The End s1e2 "Rogue Planet"
4: Forecasting The End s1e6 "Tsunami"

4.30: Apocalypse How?

6: The Road

8: Right At Your Door

10: The Quiet Earth

12: The Bay

2am: Chernobyl Diaries

-----------------------------------

Night of the Full Moon (Wolf Night)

(Friday, October 18th, 2013)

4am: Dog Soldiers

6: Freak Encounters s1e2 "Werewolf"

6.30: Lost Tapes s2e4 "Werewolf"

7: The Real Wolfman

8: MonsterQuest s1e14 "American Werewolf"

9: Fear Itself s1e9 "Something With Bite"

10: Wolf Lake

11: The Grey

1pm: Teen Wolf

2: Teen Wolf

3: Being Human

4: Being Human
5: Werewolves: The Dark Survivors

6: An American Werewolf in London

8: Ginger Snaps

10: Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed

12: Jack & Diane

2am: Ginger Snaps Back

-------------------------

Witch Night

(Saturday, October 19th, 2013)

4am: Suspiria
6: Curse of the Blair Witch

7: Eastwick (2009)
8: Charmed
9: Salem Witch Trials [History Channel]

10: Witchcraft: The Magick Rituals of the Coven

11: Hocus Pocus

1pm: The Secret Circle

2: The Secret Circle

3: The Secret Circle

4: Secret Circles Hidden Prayers

4.30: R.L. Stine's The Haunting Hour s1e15 "My Sister the Witch"

5: Witchcraft: Myths & Legends [National Geographic]

6: The Wicker Man

8: The Craft

10: The Woods

12: The Blair Witch Project

2am: Paranormal Activity 3

-------------------------

Vampire Night

(Sunday, October 20th, 2013)

4am: Interview With the Vampire

6: Lost Tapes s2e1 "Vampire"

6.30: Hellsing

7: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

8: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

9: True Blood

10: True Blood

11: Cronos

1pm: Real Vampires... Exposed!

2: Vampire Secrets

3.30: Hellsing

4: The Vampire Diaries

5: Diary of a Vampire: The Legacy of Bram Stoker

6: Stake Land

8: Let the Right One In

10: 30 Days of Night

12: Vampires (2010)

2am: Shadow of the Vampire

----------------------------------

Zombie Night

(Friday, October 25th 2012)

4am: [REC] 3: Genesis

6: Lost Tapes s3e1 "Zombies"

6.30: Unsealed: Conspiracy Files s1e5 "Zombies"

7: Dead Set (part one)
8: Dead Set (part two)
8.30: Dead Set (part three)
9: Dead Set (part four)
9.30: Dead Set (part five)

10: History's Mysteries: Zombies

11: Zombieland

1pm: The Walking Dead
2: The Walking Dead

3: The Walking Dead

4: The Unexplained: Zombies

5: Zombie Apocalypse (Discovery)

6: Night of the Living Dead

8: 28 Days Later

10: 28 Weeks Later

12: [REC]

2am: Diary of the Dead

-------------------------

Partially-Dead Syndrome Awareness Day

(Saturday, October 26th, 2013)

4am: Beneath the Surface

6: Investigating The Haitian Zombie

7: Zombies: A Living History

8.30: Masters of Horror s1e3 "Dance of the Dead"

9.30: Scare Tactics s3e16 "Zombie Town"

10: The Truth Behind Zombies 

11: Shaun of the Dead
1pm: Fear Itself s1e6 "New Year's Day"

2: Beyond Bizarre s1e4 "Goths and Zombies"

3: In The Flesh s1e1

4: In The Flesh s1e2

5: In The Flesh s1e3

6: Warm Bodies

8: Deadgirl

10: Les Revenants

12: Mutants

2am: Perkins' 14

-------------------------

Ghost Night

(Friday, October 27th 2013)

4am: Atrocious

6: Real Scary Stories

6.30: Real Scary Stories

7: American Horror Story

8: American Horror Story

9: American Horror Story

10: My Ghost Story

11: Insidious

1pm: Scariest Places on Earth

2: Celebrity Ghost Stories

3: A Haunting

4: Paranormal Witness

5: Paranormal Witness

6: Poltergeist

8: The Innkeepers

10: Session 9

12: Paranormal Activity

2am: Lake Mungo

-----------------------------------

Possession Night

(Monday, October 28th, 2013)

4am: Exorcismus

6: Exorcism: Driving Out the Devil

7: Is it Real? s1e9 "Exorcism" 

8: A Haunting s1e8 "The Diabolical"

9: Apparitions

10: Apparitions 

11: The Conjuring

1pm: Apparitions

2: The Secret Circle s1e4 "Heather"

3: The Secret Circle s1e5 "Slither"

4: A Haunting s3e24 "The Possessed"

5: A Haunting s2e4 "Where Demons Dwell"

6: The Exorcist

8: Requiem

10: The Possession

12: The Last Exorcism

2am: [REC] 2

-------------------------

Killer Night

(Tuesday, October 29th, 2013)

4am: Penny Dreadful

6: The First 48

7: Snapped

8: Deadly Women

9: American Justice

10: Harper's Island

11: Scream 4

1pm: Stalked: Someone's Watching
2: Unusual Suspects
3: American Horror Story: Asylum

4: American Horror Story: Asylum
5: American Horror Story: Asylum

6: Scream

8: Wilderness Survival for Girls

10: ATM

12: Home Movie

2am: Amber Alert

-------------------------

Devil's Night

(Wednesday, October 30th, 2013)

4am: Night of the Demons (2009)

6: Lost Tapes s2e10 "Dover Demon"

6.30: Lost Tapes s2e7 "Jersey Devil"

7: The Twilight Zone s2e41 "The Howling Man"

8: Scare Tactics s3e1 "Satan's Baby"
8.30: Todd McFarlane's Spawn

9: Todd McFarlane's Spawn

9.30: Todd McFarlane's Spawn

10: Masters of Horror s2e5 "Pro-Life"

11: Devil
1: Todd McFarlane's Spawn
1.30: Hell: The Devil's Domain

3: Unsealed: Conspiracy Files s1e09 "The Anti-Christ"

3.30: Masters of Horror s1e8 "Cigarette Burns"

4.30: Devil Worship: The Rise of Satanism

6: Jacob's Ladder
8: Evil Dead (2013)

10: The House of the Devil

12: Darkest Night

2am: Paranormal Activity 2

-------------------------

All Hallow's Eve (Campfire Night/Anthology Night)

(Thursday, October 31st, 2013)

4am: Trick 'r Treat

6: Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files

7: Tales from the Crypt
7.30: Goosebumps

8: Goosebumps
8.30: The Hunger

9: Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction

10: Real Scary Stories
10.30: The Hunger

11: Trick 'r Treat

1: Beyond Bizarre

2: Urban Legends

3: Masters of Horror s1e9 "Fair Haired Child"
4: Masters of Horror s1e13 "Imprint"
5: The Real History of Halloween

6: Campfire Tales

8: Trick 'r Treat

10: V/H/S 2

12: V/H/S

2: Trick 'r Treat
4am: The Cabin in the Woods

-----------------------------------

Weekday Movie Slots

Movie Slot A (kids)
10am
- 15 slots -

Surviving Crooked Lake
Pan's Labyrinth
Ghost Cat
Let Me In
Wilderness Survival for Girls
Legend
Fun Size
Ginger Snaps
Requiem
The Hole
The Devil's Backbone
The Boy Who Cried Werewolf
My Babysitter's a Vampire
In The Company of Wolves
Halloweentown


Movie Slot B (primetime fun)
7pm
- 15 slots -

Scream
Scream 2
Scream 3
Scream 4
The Mooring
The Cabin in the Woods
Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil
Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed
Incident at Loch Ness
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark
Abandoned Mine
The Horseman
Bram Stoker's Dracula
The East
Trigger Man

Movie Slot C (scary)
Midnight
- 15 slots -

Atrocious
Blair Witch Project
Paranormal Activity 2
[REC]
The House of the Devil
Grave Encounters
Silent House
Ghostwatch
Dying Breed
Cherry Tree Lane
Another Kind
Midnight Son
Compliance
From Within
The Mist


Movie Slot D (early morning)
5am
- 15 slots -

Deadgirl
Fourth Kind
Hideous
Kissed
Splice
Unearthed
Crazy Eights
Tooth and Nail
I Know What You Did Last Summer
Milo
Battle Royale
Communion
The Woman
Red State
Midnight Meat Train

HALLOWEEN THEMED EPISODES (1pm Mon - Thurs slot)

- 15 slots -
(half hour programs are paired together)

• iCarly s1e7 "iScream on Halloween" & iCarly s6e4 "iHalfoween"
• Roseanne s2e7 "BOO!" & Roseanne s3e7 "Trick or Treat"
• A.N.T. Farm s1e14 "MutANT Farm" & Jessie s2e1 "The Whining"
• Veronica Mars s3e5 "President Evil"
• Sabrina the Teenage Witch s2e7 "A River of Candy Corn Runs Through It" & Eerie, Indiana s1e5 "America's Scariest Home Video"
• Dawson's Creek s3e7 "Escape from Witch Island"
• The Drew Carey Show s2e5 "The Devil, You Say" & George Lopez s3e7 "No One Gets Out Alive"
• Freaks and Geeks s1e3 "Tricks and Treats"
• Wizards of Waverly Place s3e2 "Halloween" & Austin & Ally s2e1 "Costumes & Courage"
• Dawson's Creek s5e9 "Four Scary Stories"
• Good Luck Charlie s2e25 "Scary Had a Little Lamb" & Good Luck Charlie s3e15 "Le Halloween"
• Pretty Little Liars s2e13 "The First Secret"
• Beavis and Butt-head s5e1 "Bungholio: Lord of the Harvest" & Everybody Hates Chris s1e6 "Everybody Hates Halloween"
• Dawson's Creek s1e11 "The Scare"
• The Secret World of Alex Mack s2e4 "The Secret" & Lizzie McGuire "Night of the Day of the Dead"

Wilderness Survival for Girls (2004)

Underrated is not a word I use often. Most of my favorite things are massively popular. Taylor Swift & Tom Petty, Harry Potter & ASOIAF... in terms of films, you might find a lot of cult classics but within their audience they're all regarded as unmitigated classics: Trick ' Treat, The House of the Devil, The Blair Witch Project...

Yet when it comes to Wilderness Survival for Girls, it doesn't receive half the praise it deserves. What a perfect film this is. Three girls go up to the woods to celebrate the end of high school. Smoke, drink, unwind. But things take a dark turn when a  stranger barges into their cabin in the middle of the night. Miles away from any civilization, what will they do? But this isn't your typical slasher story, so don't think that's the direction this is going in.

For starters, the woodsy 'cabin in the mountains' feel is beyond sublime, captured with utter perfection. It's guaranteed to always give me flashbacks of vacations in my youth, spent in cabins just like this one. A lot of scary movies try for this kind of setting but Wilderness Survival for Girls does it more effectively and more convincingly. This is partly because the filming is completely real: shot on location in the mountains, at an old cabin with a backstory similar to that of the setting in the film. Truly gorgeous mountain scenery. And this is also partly because the general feel of the cinematography and everything just oozes classic 90s thriller kind of feel. While the film is set in modern day (2004, when the movie was made), it works like a House of the Devil-style period piece. The cabin hadn't been much used in years before the girls arrive, so it still had all its 90s garb intact, and it looks perfectly like the kind of 90s fashion I remember from when I was a kid. That's part of why it resonates so much with me.

But the other part of why it does that, is of course the writing. I won't spoil any plot points for those who've yet to see it, but the dialogue is sincere and the twists are clever. It's a classic cat-and-mouse thriller as well as a bit of an atmospheric horror (with pitch perfection execution of the 'creepy cabin at night' motif in the early portion of the movie), and ultimately it becomes something of a dark coming of age film.

The back of the DVD box describes it as "teensploitation" so I was hesitant to jump in head first... But after viewing the director's commentary, it's clear that a lot of the content and scenarios from the film were inspired by director Kim Roberts' own childhood experiences. Without being precocious, preachy, or overstated, the film manages to ruminate thoughtfully on the culture of fear girls have to grow up with. And the relationships between all four main characters are incredibly real and remind me so much of my friends growing up -- almost embarrassingly, painfully so. It's not Bob Dylan-esque writing that you're going to want to quote but it's true to life and that can be worth a lot more.

Another little plus that makes the movie even better, as if it wasn't already one of my favorite films: it's got an unexpected gay angle with sincere build up and development, which doesn't come off at all as being there just to titillate.

I know I keep saying it, but I can't help it from being true: the movie is just executed perfectly. Movies this picturesque don't come around very often. So why isn't it very popular? Maybe it just never was able to reach the proper audience. It's one of those films that sometimes makes you wonder what market they had in mind... It's too uninhibited for Lifetime but it's not brutal enough for the general horror audience either. It does seem to have been promoted more as a bit of exploitation-genre fun and that was a pretty poor choice, since it lacks both the gore and the sex the genre is popular for. Wilderness Survival for Girls will obviously appeal more to young girls.

It's that perfect type of guilty pleasure for a young teen to stumble on, like the kind of movies I'd find on at 2am when I was 13 or 14. Unrepentant drug use, the foreboding threat of violence, even a little nudity, it's salacious enough to keep you enthralled. But ultimately it's a genuine, honest movie that resonates with the trials of being young without talking down to its audience or throwing a phony moral on top.

Wilderness Survival for Girls is available on Netflix Streaming and Amazon Prime and it comes in at a terse, smooth hour & 19 minutes, so you really have no excuse for not seeing it.

What happened to instant live shows?

I went to my first concert in 2002. And outside the show, they had an official booth where if you sign up and pay in advance, they'll send you a CD of the actual fricking concert you're about to see! You could also go online and buy any show from the tour. In fact, you can *still* go online and buy those shows. I thought I was living in 3030 AD.

I thought this was the future of concerts, I thought this was going to catch on. Eleven years later, it hasn't. And I couldn't be more pissed. And I don't understand why not.

Here's the fuckin' kicker, alright? It's simple as pie to record a live show, all you do is tap into the soundboard. The content is already being mixed, the sound is reasonably clear, this is how good bootlegs are made. In fact, recording live shows is so easy that most artists already record most of their shows, if not all of them. They record hundreds of shows in the off-hand chance that someday any given show will be useful in composing a live album or box set, etc.

So they already have these shows recorded. God forbid they sell them to fans for an exorbitant profit. The really stunning thing is... this isn't 2002 anymore. They don't have to spend 30 cents on blank CDs and print the damn things themselves anymore. They can charge fans $35 for a digital download that costs exactly nothing to make. They're already recording the shows, and they would cost zero dollars to sell... that's pure profit. And fans would pay! Either for the novelty of having the shows they personally attended, or for completists who want a thorough record of the tour, or for gigs that contain special performances such as exclusive duets or rare deep cuts.

But for whatever reasons, nobody bothers to do this.

I would gladly slam my face into a brick wall repeatedly for these performances to be available. I would do anything. Because I would swoon for years straight if I could have all five of my Tom Petty shows and compile a personal best of Tom Petty featuring performances I actually saw in the flesh. That's $175 that I am begging to give to Tom Petty, and I'm only one fan. I also would pay top dollar times ten to have my different Neil Young shows and be able to reevaluate them in today's light, as I was a novice Neil fan when I started seeing him.

But the real kicker is Taylor Swift. You know how dedicated her fans are. You know that out of the ballpark 3 million or so people who are going to see Taylor on this tour, you could recoup whatever negligible labor costs it would require to post 70 shows on iTunes a billion times over.

And on this tour she's doing something very, very special. On the last tour most gigs got a wild card song that was a cover by an artist from whatever region she was playing in at the time. That's cool and all but... covers, meh, that doesn't really interest me as I'm more into Taylor's originals than anything she'd be covering.

But this tour she's doing every fan's dream, and playing ubercool deep cuts. Shit she's never even played before. AND she's doing it solo-acoustiC!!! As an old school folk music fan from way back this blows my fucking mind more than a thousand hydrogen bombs. And I am clawing my eyes at over the prospect that I may never get to hear even five or six of these amazing songs. This is the kind of problem that for god's sake I wish I could throw money at. I would gladly pay so, so much just to have these songs in decent audio quality.

If we're lucky enough to get a Red Tour official album, it will most likely contain one or even a few of Taylor's wild card solo acoustic songs. But even a best case scenario, 3 out of the 20 or 30 different songs isn't remotely good enough. They'll probably pick some of the big hits instead of the jaw-dropping rarities and all the best stuff from this tour will fade away into obscurity, never to be heard.

For the life of me I don't know where to find Taylor Swift bootlegs. No sources have yeilded results. I know audio recordings are blase' in the era of shitty cellphone recordings posted to youtube, but there are literally tens of thousands of people at a Taylor Swift gig. All it would take is one bloke who's old school, one music geek who's my age, and in the internet age that's all it should take for the show to be readily available.

Alas, I'm at my wits end. If anyone might know where I could find audio recordings of Taylor's shows, I would be eternally grateful.