#31in31 – “This is Not a Test” (2026)

Posted on October 12, 2026 by Denise



“RUN!”

Story: 12/12/1998, and teenager Sloane is about to unalive herself in the bathtub. But a strange loud noise startled her, and boom. Welcome to the zombie apocalypse! But can Sloane and a handful of her friends survive? And will Sloane want to?

Scares: Of the jump variety.
Splat Factor:  Lots of blood and bloody goop.

Subgenre: Teen Zombie Horrors
Year Released: Festival circuit 2025, wide release 2026
Remake, Sequel or OG (Original Ghoul)?: Based on the book of the same name by Courtney Summers.

Trick or Treat?: Test takes a good idea, and fumbles it with disjointed editing, and a tedious plot. It’s one of those films that could have been much more than just fine, but couldn’t seem to find it’s stride.

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#31in31 – “The Guest”

Posted on October 11, 2026 by Denise



“I’m a friend of the family.”

Story: the Petersons are grieving the loss of their oldest son Caleb, who died in Afghanistan. When David, a man who says he knew Caleb, arrives on their doorstep, why not invite him to stay a while? Siblings Anna and Luke are suspicious, yet glad to have the protective guy around. Then David gets a little too protective. And things really get deadly for anyone who’s in the family’s way. Or maybe just anybody, period.

Scares: Creeping dread as we learn about David.
Splat Factor:  Relatively mild for a murderous super soldier story.

Subgenre: Super Soldier Scares
Year Released: 2014
Remake, Sequel or OG (Original Ghoul)?: Original.

Trick or Treat?: Touted as an “action adventure”, this chilling tale is not only incredibly creepy, but it’s set around Halloween. That makes it tailor made for October. Guest is one of those films that’s perfect for group viewing; suspenseful enough for the season, but with it’s lean toward action? Horror averse folks can join in on the shudders. It’s the kind of film that doesn’t ask much of you beyond simply tuning in. And sometimes, that’s nice.

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#31in31 – “Do Not Enter”

Posted on October 10, 2026 by Denise

“What could go wrong?” [#BlessTheirHearts]

Story: Ricky, Diane, Cora and Vern are a group of friends who love crawling; discovering unknown urban areas. And documenting it for social media, of course. They don’t even great numbers, though. So when Diane suggests breaking into the old Paragon Hotel, a site that has been abandoned since the 80s because spooky. I’m sure they’ll be fine.

Scares: A few jumps, but nothing interesting.
Splat Factor: Rather dry deaths. Most of the blood shown looks black, thanks to the dark environment.

Subgenre: Good Book, Meh Film
Year Released: 2026
Remake, Sequel or OG (Original Ghoul)?: Based on the Stoker Award nominated book “Creepers”, by David Morrell. Yep, the guy that wrote “First Blood”, bringing Rambo into the world.

Trick or Treat?: Enter isn’t bad, it isn’t good, it simply exists. You can actually feel the time slipping by you as this hollow “horror” plays out. Not a bad film to put on when you’re looking for background while you’re doing something else. Watching this with total focus will have you noticing the dragging plot and middling performances. But hey, the black guy lives! That’s pretty sweet.

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#31in31 – “Monster Inside: America’s Most Extreme Haunted House”

Posted on October 9, 2026 by Denise

“… every horror movie has a monster.”

Story: A look at extreme haunt McKamey Manor, it’s owner/ringleader Russ McKamey, and how incredibly fucked up they both are.

Scares: Actual footage of visitors to the haunt getting straight up tortured is scarier than any fictional horror movie I’ve seen this year.
Splat Factor:  Clips of bloody noses, faces and bodies. After-the-haunt bruised bodies.

Subgenre: Truly Scary Documentaries
Year Released: 2023
Remake, Sequel or OG (Original Ghoul)?: About the infamous extreme haunted house/haunt McKamey Manor.

Trick or Treat?: In most extreme haunts, there are safe words that can be used to end the experience. Not here. House shows how people’s search for an adrenaline rush through extreme haunts can get much more than they expected. Here, that’s a very bad thing.

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#31in31 – “There’s Nothing Outside!”

Posted on October 8, 2026 by Denise



“I should investigate. FAT CHANCE!”

Story: It’s finally summer break! A group of friends head out to a great house in the woods, owned by one of Our Gang’s friends. It’s got everything: lots of bedrooms, a great kitchen, a pond out back…and a killer prowling around. What’s that sound? *ribbit*

Scares: If you’re a lightweight, sure. This is mostly schlocky fun that winks at the audience.
Splat Factor:  Low budget “blood”, a decapitation in wide-shot, and some pretty cool flesh melting FX.

Subgenre: Troma-tastic Films
Year Released: 1991
Remake, Sequel or OG (Original Ghoul)?: Original. In fact, this is one of the first meta-horror comedies.

Trick or Treat?: Troma produced. Zero budget. Twenty year old Rolfe Kanefsky’s first film. If these things aren’t getting you salivating? Perhaps this one’s not for you. But for everybody else, it’s a sincere ode to horror tropes and clichés.

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#31in31 – “Send Help”

Posted on October 7, 2026 by Denise

“We’re not in the office anymore, Bradley.”

Story: Linda is the oddball of the office. Incredibly talented, incredibly quirky, and incredibly into survivalism. So when a work trip becomes a forced island retreat? Who’s the power broker now?

Scares: More survival comedy than horror.
Splat Factor: Sam Raimi? The Evil Dead guy? Oh indeed.

Subgenre: Survivor Horror With Laughs
Year Released: 2026
Remake, Sequel or OG (Original Ghoul)?: Original.

Trick or Treat?: Sam Raimi helming a island survival gross out film? I couldn’t stay away. Help starts out feeling like it’s going to be a satisfying morality play that shows the bad boss getting his comeuppance. But it ends up a messy tale that doesn’t seem to know what it wants to say.

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“Digger” – to quote the main character, WTF?

Posted on October 6, 2026 by Denise

“It all feels so fake.”

Story: Digger Rockwell comes from a long line of oil men. Oil men who did whatever it took to get that precious crude. So when a “sudden” iceberg catastrophe hits one of his drilling site in Antarctica, Digger does what anyone in his line would do; denies, covers-up, and blames everybody else. Will he get his act together before the world collapses? Or will he just strut and fret his hour upon the stage? And speaking of stages…

Genre I’d put it in: Desperate Wannabe Oscar Bait
Release Date: 2026
Remake, Sequel, Based-On, or Original :Original, seemingly fueled by ketamine and haphazard surrealism
Animals okay: Maggie, Digger’s 30 year old cat, is in the sweet embrace of eternal rest by the midpoint of the film. But there are tons of taxidermy animals all over his mansion. Most likely fake, but FYI if that’s an ick for you.
Special Shout-out: To everybody in this film. Y’all tried. I hope you got your bag up-front.

Gotta say: Digger asks the question “if the last half hour of a film is actually interesting, does that forgive the staggeringly dreadful first hour and a half?” And that answer is no. No it doesn’t. I’m not mad at the film. I’m not disappointed. I’m disgusted that I wasted over two hours watching this vain attempt at message satire. Alejandro G. Iñárritu, you created The Revenant. You’re better than this.

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#31in31 – “Lee Cronin’s The Mummy”

Posted on October 6, 2026 by Denise

“I can fix her.”

Story: Charlie Cannon has a pretty good life. He’s a journalist stationed in Cairo, soon to become a news anchor in NYC. But when his oldest child Katie is kidnapped, things fall apart. They get even worse when she’s found. Because Katie isn’t alone in her body. I’m sure things will be fine.

Scares: Of the jump variety.
Splat Factor:  Some actually quite good gore FX.

Subgenre: Possession Horror With Sarcopgagus Icing
Year Released: 2026
Remake, Sequel or OG (Original Ghoul)?: Supposedly based on the Universal Mummy franchise of films. I’d say it’s also based on Egyptian history and mythology, but that’d be an insult to Egypt.

Trick or Treat?: Less mummy and more demon possession, Mummy is just as disappointing as the Tom Cruise reboot. At least this one’s got the genre right. At least.

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#31in31 – “From Beyond the Grave”

Posted on October 5, 2026 by Denise



Story: Four stories that have one thing in common; items that were obtained in a curio shop. A mirror, a medal, a snuff box, a an elaborate door. Do the new owners have what it takes to survive once things start to go very wrong? We’ll see…

Scares: 70s creepy modern Gothic vibes.
Splat Factor:  Some blood, and a bit of the old ultra-violence.

Subgenre: Mid-20th Century Horror Anthologies
Year Released: 1974
Remake, Sequel or OG (Original Ghoul)?: Based on stories by award winning writer R. Chetwynd-Hayes.

Trick or Treat?: Finally getting around to the last of the Amicus anthologies. Not as good as the ones based on Robert Bloch stories or EC comics, but campy fun. Especially as the shop keeper is none other than the great Peter Cushing, giving it his all.

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#31in31 – “Men” (2022)

Posted on October 4, 2026 by Denise



“What the fuck are you?”

Story: After the death of her emotionally manipulative and abusive husband, Harper rents a lovely home Herefordshire. She’s gone there to heal from her recent past, and to deal with her trauma, grief, and guilt. But she sees odd men everywhere. Odd men who all look the same. Is she an unreliable narrator? Or is this screenplay just a messy slog overstuffed with metaphor? Spoiler – it’s a bit of both.

Scares: Lots of dread and odd creepiness.
Splat Factor:  A bloody Sue-of-side, stab wounds, and a weird body horror climax.

Subgenre: Weird Patriarchal Horrors
Year Released: 2022
Remake, Sequel or OG (Original Ghoul)?: Original

Trick or Treat?: I’d been fascinated by the trailer for this film when it hit theaters. But I never seemed to get around to it. Now, after watching it? I can see I was simply trying to avoid a clunker. Oops.

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