I’m sure I don’t need to say that this has been a bizarre hellweek for just about anyone reading this. For this to happen so soon after the glory of Spooktober is regrettable but we’ll be getting back to our regular review schedule next week and examining some hopefully good things to come out of 2020. Before then I’ll do this quick ‘Best Of’ list for all the movies I covered for Spooktober, so if you don’t want to read through 31 reviews of movies, just check this to see what won each category and what was the Runner-Up!

Week 1: Clowns!

Winner: The Last Circus

Hot damn was this a great movie! Such a fun and clever satire that goes lots of weird, gross, and violent places while maintaining a story-book feeling to it. Even if this isn’t pure horror like some of the other movies on this list, there is more than enough here to satisfy any horror fan looking for gore, violence, and bad times.

Runner-Up: We All Scream For Ice Cream

A well-crafted throwback to Stephen King-esque stories, this takes a bizarre and goofy premise and manages to take it seriously enough for it to work as real horror. There are some flaws here and there but there’s a classic feel to this that makes it hard to be too upset about anything that isn’t perfect.

Week 2: Possessions!

Winner: The Last Exorcism

If you don’t know by now, I will admit this here, I am a huge sucker for found footage movies. There are many poorly made movies in this category but when they hit they hit hard, and The Last Exorcism embodies everything great about found footage movies. Good realistic characters, slow descent into nightmares, and an ending that stays with you. A great example proving that not every exorcism movie has to just copy The Exorcist.

Runner-Up: Prom Night II: Hello Mary-Lou

Deciding this one was pretty tricky because I liked almost every other movie this week, but I’m a sucker for weird 80s movies so Prom Night II took it. Full of bizarre visuals, decent characters, and some surprising humor, Prom Night II has just enough low-budget charm to make it an interesting relic of a bygone age, even if it is a bit dated.

Week 3: Horror-Comedies

Winner: What We Do In The Shadows

It is nearly impossible to overstate how intensely funny this movie is. There’s so much love for horror here, and vampire movies specifically, that shines through every moment of What We Do In The Shadows that I can’t even think about this movie without smiling. Sure, the horror elements do take a back seat most of the time, but when I’m laughing this much I don’t really care.

Additional Winner: Hausu

I can’t even call Hausu a runner-up, I love it just as much as What We Do In The Shadows but for completely different reasons. Hausu breaks every cinematic rule and I absolutely adore it, the combination of horror and comedy has not been done more perfectly before or since Hausu and, love it or hate it, Hausu needs to be seen to be believed. It definitely isn’t funnier than What We Do In The Shadows, but it blends horror and comedy better so I can’t really give this victory to either movie. They both win. They are both the best.

Runner-Up: Tremors

Tremors is a fun and excessively clever throwback to the absurd creature-features of the past and I can’t not mention it here. Yes, I am breaking the 1 winner and 1 Runner-Up rule for this week. These movies are all that good.

Week 4: Black or Queer Horror

Winner: Sugar Hill

A high-energy macabre tale of vengeance, Sugar Hill manages to avoid many of the pitfalls that other revenge stories fall into while delivering a cool heroine with a unique method of getting back at the people who wronged her. A lot of great N’awlins flavor here and some wonderful hammy performances to lighten things up. 

Runner-Up: The Hunger

Ultra-stylish vampire tale that approaches familiar concepts in a novel way, The Hunger is really cool. It has a fantastic opening sequence and is bolstered by excellent performances all around, with the usual scene-stealing bits belonging to David Bowie. Flounders a bit in the plot department, but worth seeing for the visuals alone.

Week 5: Modern Slashers

Winner: Dream Home

This movie is sick in all the right ways. Combining depressingly real satire with shocking violence, Dream Home manages to succeed at nearly everything it sets out to do. Utilizing a non-linear narrative and an atypical lead, Dream Home stands out from the array of copycat slasher films and delivers something special and disgusting.

Runner-Up: The Collector

Unlike Dream Home, The Collector clearly piggybacks off the success of the Saw franchise, but offers a simple storyline unburdened by pretensions of depth. Yes, it is dumb. Yes, it is very far-fetched. But the simple things that The Collector manages to get right, having a good lead, having interesting and brutal deaths, having a quick pace, keep it entertaining and worthwhile.

Thank you for joining me as I listed off the best of this year’s Spooktober! I was considering ranking the best of each week but I don’t think that’s necessary. All the winners are quality films and they’re different enough that comparing them wouldn’t be necessarily meaningful. All that’s left to do now is to start getting ready for next year’s Spooktober, which will hopefully happen during a year where everything isn’t a total nightmare.