Reel Talk: Our Plans for Scary Movie Month

 by Adam Riske and Sonia Mansfield

Adam and Sonia chat about their excitement for Scary Movie Month. What are you all planning to watch in October?

Adam: We’re back, and I’m pumped because it’s almost Scary Movie Month, one of the best months of my movie-watching year where I normally (irrationally) decide I can only watch horror movies for 31 days. I have a few screenings planned at repertory theatres already, know what movies I’m covering for podcasts/commentaries/articles at F This Movie, and I’ve set aside my stack of DVDs I want to either revisit or watch for the first time. I can’t wait to get into it. How about you, Sonia? Have you started your Scary Movie Month preparation yet?

Sonia: October is the best month of the year. It’s my birthday month (Libras, rise up!). Fall is officially happening, which means the weather is delightful and everything has pumpkin in it. Plus, it’s Scary Movie Month, so a lot of folks are talking about spooky stuff. I usually give myself a theme for Scary Movie Month. In the past, I’ve worked my way through the Halloween or Nightmare on Elm Street movies, or I've just watched a lot of movies about vampires. One year I only picked movies from Patrick and Heather’s book In the Search of Darkness. This year I’m torn between two themes. Maybe you and the F This Movie community can help me decide.

A new show called Crystal Lake drops in October, and it's about the origins of Jason and Pam Voorhees, with Linda Cardellini as Pam Voorhees. This makes me think it’s a perfect time to work my way through the Friday the 13th movies. I’ve seen the first three multiple times (they were on cable a lot when I was a kid), but I’ve skipped a lot of the other sequels.

The other idea is I just go all in on witches. I thought Practical Magic 2 would have great witchy vibes and ease me into October, but I kinda hated it.

Adam, what do you think? Also, I’d love to hear how you decide what to watch. Now that practically everything ever made is available, it’s getting harder to make choices.

Adam: I kind of like the witch idea. I know I’ve accidentally watched a ton of vampire and werewolf movies during Scary Movie Months prior and didn’t realize I was doing that until near the end of the month. It’s fun and offers a lot of variety under a broad subgenre.

It’s funny you ask how I’m deciding on what to watch because up until a couple of weeks ago I was very structured in what I was watching. Everything was falling into a category or a project I was trying to complete like watching movies from 1998 or movies from 2006 that I wasn’t writing about for 2K Replay or they were movies I was covering at F This Movie or repertory screenings etc. It was good for taking the guesswork out of what to watch but also kind of took the fun out of watching movies. It became work and I felt guilty or like I was wasting my time if I was stuck watching something that didn’t fit into one of those boxes. I’m trying to have as little of a plan as possible this October.

I’ve also tried to watch 60 horror movies during Scary Movie Months in the past. It was the number I felt like I really went all-out on horror but didn’t get burnt out on horror over 31 days. I’m not sure (for mostly work and playoff baseball-related reasons…go White Sox hopefully!) I’ll get to 60 this year but I’m kind of curious how many I watch by winging it more than I have in the past.

That said, I do have a bunch of ideas of what I plan to watch. I’d really like to catch up on 2026 horror next month. I’ve seen the big things like Obsession and Backrooms, but I’ve missed movies like Buddy, Evil Dead Burn, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, etc. I also have tickets purchased for a few repertory screenings like Aliens (in 70mm!), Se7en, Ernest Scared Stupid, Grindhouse, and the annual Music Box of Horrors marathon. I revisit some movies every October, like The Blob (1958), The Last Man on Earth, Bubba Ho-Tep, and the Tales from the Crypt movies, Demon Knight and Bordello of Blood. I also have a stack of movies I own I want to give another spin, like An American Werewolf in London, Hannibal, and Monkey Shines, to name a few. I just don’t want to make a list and feel like I have to check things off like I’ve done in the past.

Now that you’ve had many Scary Movie Months under your belt, what is your favorite part of the month typically? It can be movie-related, something at the site, general Halloween goodness, etc. Also, have you established any Scary Movie Month quirks? I know one of mine is that by October 5th I’ve either thought I’ve fucked up my whole month with no chance of recovery based on picking one of two bad movies to watch upfront and/or I get sad the month is almost over even though it barely has started.

Sonia: My biggest quirk probably isn’t that unusual. I spent waaaay too much time debating what to watch, switching from streamer to streamer before I finally end up watching one of Scary Movie Month regulars, like The Love Witch, a Halloween movie, or a Vincent Price movie (usually The Masque of the Red Death or The House on Haunted Hill).

This is why I like a theme. It makes it easier for me to narrow down my choices. But I get what you’re saying. It sucks when watching a movie feels like homework.

I have some 2026 horror to catch up on, too. I need to see Backrooms and Hokum. Also, I want to rewatch Obsession, a movie I loved the first time. I have a feeling it will hit harder with a second viewing. I’ve also got my eyes on the new releases Resident Evil and The Other Mommy.

I’m jealous of that Aliens screening. That’s one of my favorites, but another one of my favorites is screening in San Francisco: Poltergeist in 35mm. I can’t resist an opportunity to see it on a big screen with a crowd.

My favorite thing about Scary Movie Month is reading everyone’s 7-word reviews. It goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway), the F This Movie community is pretty hilarious. It’s also a great place to get some movie recs.

By the way, I like to imagine that you and Patrick will watch Hannibal together, and you’ll just do your Mason Verger impression the entire time. If you do that, can I Zoom in? I just want to listen. You won’t even know I’m there.

What’s your favorite part of Scary Movie Month, Adam?

Adam: That’s a tough one. One of the peaks for me is the morning of the Music Box of Horrors marathon. There’s a lot of fun anticipation there. Or really anytime I go to see an 11:30am weekend matinee of a horror movie at that theater during October, because it means afterwards I can go to some nearby horror collectible stores/coffee shops and/or the bars that turn themselves into haunted houses over by Wrigley Field, which is within walking distance of the Music Box.

Another standout is when Patrick and I record our F This Movie commentary track with Mike to kick off Scary Movie Month (we always get Pizza Hut beforehand and it’s like peak silliness all night) and when Patrick and I record our Scary Movie Month podcast and go over our month-to-date Scary Movie Month watching/7-word reviews, etc.

I try to pepper the month with a lot of Halloween season activity (e.g. seasonal farmers markets etc.) so I’m keeping the spirit alive since it’s such an endorphin booster. I also kinda love Halloween night, but not because of Halloween (by the 31st I’m usually ready to wind down and move on), but because I start to get really excited for November and December especially. Q4 is my favorite time of year with Scary Movie Month kicking off the Holiday season.

I’m also looking forward to watching the Fat Albert Halloween Special, which I found on DVD for $8 at a resale shop. Should I admit that? Is Fat Albert also canceled, or just Bill Cosby?

This reminds me. Until now, I completely forgot I have to start decorating for Halloween/Scary Movie Month soon!

Question for you…since I love love love your ‘working at a movie theater’ stories…do you have any memorable October/horror movie experiences from when you worked at a theater?

I remember when I worked at Blockbuster that The Blair Witch Project came out on VHS around Halloween and we got all of these other tapes for a bonus feature-type documentary called Sticks & Stones, which was on the shelf next to Blair Witch in hopes people would rent both. After Halloween, no one really rented either, especially Sticks & Stones. By the next year, we got a memo to not return the extra copies of Sticks & Stones we couldn’t sell off (as previously viewed tapes) but to…destroy them??? That night after work me and my fellow coworkers were like “Uh, should we hit them? Unfurl the tape?” We eventually just started chucking them onto the roof of the building. The location is now a T-Mobile. I wonder if VHS copies of Sticks & Stones are still up there, having braved 27 years of Chicago winters.

Sonia: I like to think that someone who works at T-Mobile climbed up on the roof and upon discovering those tapes they decided not to jump. You saved lives, Adam!

Obviously, a lot of horror movies come out in October. This meant that every October customers would ask me if a specific movie was scary, and it would go something like this:

Customer: “Is Halloween 5 scary?”
Me: “Well, it’s a horror movie, so, umm, yeah.”
Customer: “Do you think I could handle it?”
Me: “I don’t know you, but, umm, no?”

And scene.

My theater had Leprechaun 2, and almost no one bought a ticket for the entire week. *cue Mark Jones voice* The movie had a short run. When the projectionist was breaking down the film (meaning the projectionist unspools the giant reel of film onto smaller reels for transport), he noticed that two of the reels were in the wrong order! The few people who did see it, didn’t even notice. My coworkers thought it was hilarious, but I was bummed for those Leprechaun fans. They didn’t see the movie as director Rodman Flender intended.

Thanks for talking about Scary Movie Month with me, Adam.

Now it’s your turn, dear readers. What are your Scary Movie Month plans? How do you decide what to watch?