Greetings once again, my ghoulies!

It’s closing in on the Halloween season once again, which means that it will soon be time for another round of Horror And Sons’ annual Halloween Horrors contributor series. What started in 2015 as a way for a few of us to reminisce about the films that reminded us of the Halloween season has since blossomed into our site’s largest event each year!

As this is now the 5th year of the series, and as many of the contributors tend to be those that have contributed in past years, I’ve decided to dismiss with the celebratory bullcrap and just get right to this year’s rules and theme!

But first, for any folks that may just be discovering this series….

Horror And Sons’ Halloween Horrors series is the one time of the year when we open up our website for reviews and articles written by you, the reader! Even if you have never heard of our website before now, you are still welcome to join. In fact, the series is open to contributors from other websites, Facebook pages, podcasts, etc. as well!

The “goal” is to feature a new article each day of October, each focusing on a different horror film, and each written by a different contributor. We have yet to reach that goal, but have seen the number of contributors grow each year. Hopefully, with your help, we will be able to achieve that goal this year! 26 spots will be available in the series, with 5 more already filled by the 5 fine folks who have been with us for all 4 of the previous years’ series. Well, 4 fine folks and me.

So, if you want to join us for a month-long celebration of horror films that you love (and probably a few that you hate), please feel free to contact us and let us know that you want to be a part of Halloween Horrors 2019!

And now the unveiling of the theme for Halloween Horrors 2019!

That title may sound a little vague. And there is good reason for that. That’s because it is vague! Vague as f*ck!! In fact, it’s quite meaningless as this year’s series will have NOTHING to do with theme. Nope. This year it’s all about the rules.

Contributors for Halloween Horrors 2019 will be assigned a random letter of the alphabet. The topic that they choose to write about MUST begin with that letter! Acceptable topics include ANY horror film or Halloween-themed film. Some sci-fi will be accepted. Please contact us to see if your choice would be accepted before you start writing. NO FAN FICTION, NERDS!!

To makes the odds a little fairer for potential contributors, we have instituted a “Second Chance” rule. If a potential contributor is unhappy with the letter assigned to them, they may request a new letter. However, if the contributor takes this new letter, they are stuck with this new letter and may not use the letter that was first offered. All “Second Chance” requests MUST be made within 48 hours of being assigned your first letter.

And now let’s get to the “real” rules that govern each and every Halloween Horrors series, shall we?

HALLOWEEN HORROR 2019 RULES AND GUIDELINES

Most importantly, DO NOT ATTEMPT to enter this series without first having read the rules. Most everything you should need to know is listed below!

CLAIMS

*You will be allowed to “claim” your spot in this year’s series starting Monday, August 19th at 5pm EST/2pm PST. To claim your spot, contact us at horrorandsons@yahoo and use “Halloween Horrors 2019” as the subject line. Just say that you’d like to contribute a piece to the series and I will contact you with your assigned letter.

*Claims will ONLY be accepted by email. Any claims made before the start time or by other means of communication will be discarded and those people will need to email us again.

*Upon receiving their assigned letter, potential contributors will have 48 hours to advise us of the film they would like to cover or to request a new letter. Upon receiving a “Second Request” letter, potential contributors will then have 24 hours to contact us with a topic or potentially face elimination from the series.

*No one will be forced to take the letters Q, X, or Y. However, you are welcome to volunteer for any of those letters at any time if you wish.

*Contributors will be contacted in the order that their email was received. Claims will also be accepted in the order received. First come, first served.

NO REPEATS

*As we are not attempting to cover every letter of the alphabet, some letters may be given to multiple contributors. However, as with previous years of this series, once a topic has been claimed, NO ONE else may write about that topic. For example, if a contributor who has been assigned the letter “E” chooses to write about Evil Dead, no other contributor may write about that movie. HOWEVER, both Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness would still be available.

POSTING SCHEDULE

*The posting schedule for the series will be posted on our Facebook page shortly before the start of the series on October 1st. The posting schedule is made by me at my discretion, but you may contact me to request a specific date for your piece to post. Requests may be rejected, but it doesn’t hurt to ask.

If all 31 spots are filled (and all reviews received by contributors), I will take the October 31st/Halloween slot myself as it usually tends to be the least read day of the event. If any spots are unfilled, there will be days with no new articles/reviews posting.

COMMUNITY EVENT

We here at Horror And Sons are always honored by the support that this series receives from not only the contributors, but also from the readers. We truly do love the idea of bringing people together to celebrate horror and the Halloween season. However, we do ask that all contributors abide by the following obligations in order to be accepted for the series.

*Upon acceptance to the series, contributors are asked to share the series on social media in order for their friends and families to also follow along, and possibly join in if they so wish. That said, we aren’t going to force you. Jerk.

*However, contributors from other outlets are REQUIRED to share the series at least ONCE on their social media outlets BEFORE the claims deadline (which will be announced at a later date). Why would you not want to tell your audience about something that you are involved in and that they can also be a part of?

*We do also hope that you will share at least one of the articles submitted by the other contributors in the series. Let’s give all the contributors their due respect. Once again, contributors from other outlets will be REQUIRED to share at least one article submitted by another contributor during the series’ run.

NO DEADBEATS

*If I have learned one thing running this series, it’s that at least one contributor will bitch out. Simply put, if you do not have any intention of finishing your article/review or do no think it will be finished by the deadline, DO NOT ENTER. Do not take a spot from someone else and, just as important, don’t waste my time.

*All submissions MUST be received by 11:59EST/8:59 PST on Friday September 27th. There will be NO extensions and no exceptions made. A deadline is a deadline.

*I reserve the right to disqualify anyone from the series at anytime for any reason. That said, I’m generally not doing this unless provoked.

GENERAL RULES

*All submitted pieces MUST be 600 words minimum. You can make your article/review as long as you like, but please try to keep it under 3000 words. No one wants to read that shit.

*While you can write whatever you’d like about your topic, try to keep the article in the Halloween spirit, if possible. Try to think outside the box and make your piece unique and interesting. Any asshole can write a boring ol’ movie review. I do it every week.

*I do ask that you provide your own pics for your articles, but can provide those if needed. That said, if I am the one that provides the pics, don’t bitch about them afterwards. I don’t want to hear it. If you do send in your own, please use larger pics and specify where you want them placed in the article or I will be forced to use my own discretion.

*Once again, I will be providing intros to all of the submitted articles. If this is your first time contributing, please tell us a little about yourself or I will be forced to just make shit up about you. Contributors from other outlets are asked to provide links in order to help us promote them.

*If you have any questions, please contact us at horrorandsons@yahoo.com

Well, that’s it! Let’s get those ideas going and let spread the word to those that you think may be interested in joining. Thank you all in advance and Happy Halloween!