October 18

#10 out of 13

I have seen several versions of Invasion of the Body Snatchers before, but I had never seen the original 1956 version, so I found it on Amazon Prime and added it to the list of the October 13.

You could tell this was a classic because it was just a wonderful film.

The film was an allegory for the world at the time, with the Joe McCarthy Communist “Red Scare” Hearings creating a paranoia about who may not be what they seem. This is obviously a commentary about that dark period in American history with the pod people being substituted for the Commies.

According to IMDB, “A small-town doctor slowly comes to realize that the population of his community is being perfectly duplicated and replaced by an alien entity.“

Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter were our lead protagonists in this epic thriller with an amazing amount of tension and sinister suspense. The movie moves at a brisk pace and has a true creepy nature to it. The black and white worked great to keep the mood filled with anxiety.

Starting off with McCarthy as Dr. Miles J. Bennell in what seemed like an asylum flipping out was a strong beginning and a great hook for the film.

This is an iconic movie with a top notch performance from Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter. You can’t help but root for them, even though you know that they were not together at the hospital like we saw at the beginning. I was hoping for a hopeful ending, and, while that may not be exactly what we got, it was a proper end to the film.

October 18

#9 out of 13

The next film in the October 13 is a 60’s film featuring the iconic Vincent Price as the Last Man on Earth.

Dr. Robert Morgan (Vincent Price) was a survivor of a plague that crossed the world. The plague turned the victims into a vampire/zombie-type hybrid that came out at night. Morgan would go out in the day and try to kill and burn however many vampires he could.

Vincent Price was as wonderful as he always was. The overall production of the film was not as strong as it could have been. It had some weaker sound design and the vampires were not the best looking threats we have ever had. I have a feeling that came from a low budget.

I do like how it was filmed in black & white. It makes the film feel more like one of the past movies in the genre.

October 16

#8 out of 13

Boris Karloff is one of the greatest icons of the early horror genre, playing the iconic version of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. This movie was an adaptation of a H.P. Lovecraft story called “The Colour Out of Space.” I had seen a film based on that story a few years back, but this felt very different than that one that starred Nic Cage.

According to IMDB, “A meteorite’s radiation creates giant plants in a scientist’s greenhouse. When it affects his wife, the wheelchair-bound man attempts to destroy it, leading to catastrophe.”

This was an interesting film with some good atmosphere. I liked the performance of Boris Karloff, and also his co-stars Nick Adams and Suzan Farmer. The three of them did most of the heavy lifting in this movie.

The story itself was not a standout for me. I felt like there were several things that were either left out or were brushed over. When Nick Adams’s character arrived in the town of Arkham, the city’s population wanted nothing to do with him when they found out where he was heading. I am not sure this story element was ever really dealt with in any substantial basis.

There was good tone and mood on the show, and I did think it was a decent film. It just did not wow me as much as I thought it could have.

October 13

#7 out of 13

The October 13 rolls on with the sixth film of the month, The Faculty. I have to say that this cast is filled with some great actors including Elijah Woods, Josh Hartnett, Salma Hayek, Shawn Hatosy, Usher, Famke Janssen, Bebe Neuwirth, Robert Patrick, Jon Stewart, Christopher McDonald, Laura Harris, Clea DuVall, Jordana Brewster and Piper Laurie.

According to IMDB, “Six misfit students must band together to save mankind when mind-controlling parasites from another planet infect their high school’s faculty.”

I actually thought this was about witches, but I must have been confusing this with The Craft.

This one was a mixed bag. There were some moments that I enjoyed. I liked most of the cast, but a lot of the story was just strange and it had some dumb moments stuck in too. There were some real conveniences in the script that are there just to be there.

The special effects were fine for 1998. It was nothing incredibly special, but they did a good job of keeping the aliens a mystery for most of the film.

In the end, this was some fun, in a shut your mind down kind of way. I think were better films that dealt with the same idea as this, but I did not hate watching it.

October 9

#5 out of 13

I remember finding out about this rock opera earlier this year when Anthony Stewart Head passed away. I loved Head as Giles on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and I knew he could sing so I was curious about this film.

It is one of the most bizarre things I have ever seen.

According to IMDB, “A worldwide epidemic encourages a biotech company to launch an organ-financing program similar in nature to a standard car loan. The repossession clause is a killer, however.”

The film reminded me of Rocky Horror Picture Show, Moulin Rouge, and Heavy Metal. This movie did not make any money on its release, but it has become a cult film, much in the same manner as Rocky Horror. The music throughout was rocking and entertaining.

The story was crazy. Anthony Stewart Head was really solid in the role of Nathan. Paul Sorvino was the lead antagonist in Rotti Largo. I am not sure I liked his voice as much as I did Head’s.

The film had fun comic book-like panels used at times during the film to help with exposition. It was a fun technique to move the story along.

The rock opera was entertaining, but the story was so weird and extremely gory, some times too much so. It was gross at too many moments.

I could listen to Anthony Stewart Head’s voice all day though. This was something else.

October 8

#4 out of 13

A few months ago, I came across a film called Dementia 13, which interested me. I wanted to save it for the October 13, so I emailed myself the name of the film to remember it.

I added it to the list for The October 13 and chose to watch it tonight. As the opening credits were running, I spotted something that I did not know. This film was written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. In fact, this was Coppola’s feature film debut. It was intended to be a low-budget film similar to Psycho, and the film would be produced by Roger Corman. I did not know about Coppola’s involvement at the time I emailed myself, but it was a welcome addition.

According to IMDB, “Ax murders follow a heart attack at an Irish castle full of mourners.” This is a fairly simplistic synopsis of the film, which had some decent and unexpected twists in it. The ending was predictable as I kept waiting for a bigger surprise to happen. One that never did arrive.

The film had some good ambiance. It was creepy and filmed well int he style of a gothic horror. You could certainly see what Coppola may have in his future with the directing of this film.

Actors appearing in the film included William Campbell, Luana Anders, Mary Mitchel, Bart Patton, Patrick Magee, Eithne Dunne, Karl Schanzer, and Derry O’Donovan.

You could tell this film was older and not as cleanly preserved as some other 1960s film, but it was still a decent watch, and I am glad to have seen the historic first film directed by an all-timer.

October 4

#2 out of 13

I have had this on my Netflix queue for quite awhile, but I have been saving it for the October 13. Wrinkles the Clown was a documentary directed by Michael Beach Nichols. It followed a man in Florida who would offer to be hired by people who want him to scare misbehaving children or pull pranks.

It is a weird doc because it changes from the beginning halfway as something strange happened. I’m not sure if spoilers fit for a doc, but I’m going to play it close to the vest anyway.

I thought the film was interesting but it felt as if it weren’t very cohesive as it could have been and that came from the beginning of the film.

I’m glad I watched this, but I think it could have been a better viewing experience.

13 of The October 13

With this film, the October 13 comes to a close for 2025. For the final movie of the list, I decided to give Terrifier 2 a chance.

I had watched the original Terrifier last week as a part of the October 13, but I did not like it much. Outside of a neat new killer, Art the Clown, there wasn’t much to the film.

Terrifier 2 however takes a much different route. I did enjoy this one much more.

It started off with some brutality that made me look away from the screen a couple of times. I am not a huge fan of the graphic blood and gore in the franchise, but that is something that I have never been much of a fan of.

What was different with this movie compared to the first one was the protagonists. Sienna (Lauren LaVera) and her younger brother Jonathan (Elliott Fullam) were two characters that I really enjoyed. I thought both of them had much more development than any character in the original and I wanted to see them survive the movie. It was nice to have some characters to root for.

Now, the third act was weird and magically bizarre and I am not sure if I loved how things happened, although the conclusion to the movie was oddly satisfying.

I did like this film better than the first one. It was still too long, but I was cheering for Sienna and Jonathan the whole time. Maybe I can watch Terrifier 3 for next year’s October 13.

12 of The October 13

I had high hopes for this film.

The Uninspired was based on Kim Jee-Woo’s 2003 Korean horror film, A Tale of Two Sisters. I have never seen that film so I did not have to worry about a comparison.

According to IMDB, “Anna returns home after a stint in a mental hospital, but her recovery is jeopardized by her father’s new girlfriend and ghastly visions of her dead mother.“

I started with this movie and I was intrigued with what it was laying out. There was kept its story close to the vest at the beginning, and I liked the very beginning of the film. Then, it seemed to take a shift into a situation with a manipulative girlfriend that we’d seen many times before.

Sadly, that middle part of the movie was so dumb that the film skidded to a halt. It became nonsensical several times. Then, in the third act, the film went completely off the rails as the film tried to pull a poor man’s Sixth Sense twist that really did not work… at all. I found it to be totally ridiculous and it did not make any sense, nor did they care that it did not.

I was really disappointed with the film.

11 of the October 13

In all honesty, I am not sure I have any idea of what happened in this movie.

The October 13 headed back to 1932, thanks to HBO Max, for a black and white gothic horror movie entitled Vampyr.

It is bizarre, wild, disorienting and nightmarish. And I am not sure I know what happened.

According to IMDB, “A drifter obsessed with the supernatural stumbles upon an inn where a severely ill adolescent girl is slowly becoming a vampire.”

The info drop they present us with included a lot of details that we have not seen in vampire stories before, which is fine, but it was a little difficult to follow.

The visuals of this movie, especially the odd out-of-body experience that our main protagonist, Allan Gray went through happened without any explanation at all. The death of the doctor at the end of the film, smothered in flour, was also as weird of an ending as you could expect. Then, Gray and Giséle, who had been kidnapped by the doctor, were on a boat.

It all feels more like a fever dream than anything else.

10 of the October 13

With this year’s October 13, most of the films have been from the last 10-15 years. I wanted to find something older to add to the list, so I went to HBO Max and found a film from 1945 featuring EYG Hall of Famer Boris Karloff called Isle of the Dead.

According to IMDB, “On a Greek island during the 1912 war, several people are trapped by quarantine for the plague. If that isn’t enough worry, one of the people, a superstitious old peasant woman, suspects one young girl of being a vampiric kind of demon called a vorvolaka“

The film was a slow burn for much of the runtime, as the characters stuck on the island began to fall from the plague. However, once the identity of the “vorvolaka” was revealed and she went on her spree in the end of the film, the story picked up rapidly.

Boris Karloff gives a great performance as General Nikolas Pherides. The General was very much suspicious of Thea (Ellen Drew) and the combination of the sickness and his own paranoia led to a madness gripping him. Karloff was definitely the stand out of the actors involved.

The music of the score worked extremely well, creating a sufficient feel for each scene.

The story was simple and the horror did elevate near the third act. With a strong performance from an iconic horror actor, Isle of the Dead ended on a strong note.