We’re nearly halfway through the month, and October 31st is steadily creeping up on us! Hopefully, you’ve been able to partake in some Halloween season events of your own, whether that be buying and hanging decorations, attending a local “scare house”, or even just indulging on horror films either at screenings or at home on your couch. Whatever gets you in the spirit!

If you’ve been following the series so far, hopefully you’ve enjoyed it! Maybe a few folks have even added some of the films that have been covered to their own “watch list”. As many of the more obsessive horror fans tend to watch these films all year, I often wonder just how they go about picking what they watch during the Halloween season. I know it’s never a quick process for myself. 

Dementia Von Grimm returns to the Halloween Horrors series today to tell us how and why a recent film has found its way on her watch list. Dementia is a vet of four previous Halloween Horrors series, first joining us back in 2016. However, I’ve known her for much longer than that and always welcome the perspective that she brings to this series. 

You can find Dementia as one of the hosts of The Original Spooky Guide, a vidcast where she and her co-hosts discuss upcoming Florida conventions (with a heavy focus on Spooky Empire) and events, horror film and television, and other random spooky shit. You can tell her that “Sancho” sent you.

 

When we talk about horror and Halloween, more often than not we’re talking about nostalgia. Trick or treating, or family traditions, or fond memories of movies we discovered that excited us with fear. Halloween is like Christmas for us weird horror fans.

It’s usual for us to settle in on Halloween night, and while the “normals” are out at bars with their Spirit Halloween costumes, we’re likely getting comfortable with our favorite Halloween horror film.

Filmmakers often try to appeal to the Halloween loving kid in all of us and, more often than not, that pandering does not equal a “Halloween classic”. I’ve found in recent years that around Halloween, I much prefer to seek out new horror that embraces originality; or on the other side of the spectrum, is reminiscent of the things we fell in love with about horror. It’s the latter that we will be talking about tonight.

As particular as I can be about newer horror, I do try my best to keep an open mind. Admittedly, it gets tougher as the years go on. In recent years, we’ve seen the success of some incredible new writers and directors. In that regard, Ti West has quickly become a favorite of mine, whose work I eagerly anticipate.

My first exposure to Ti West was 2009’s The House of the Devil. It’s one of the few films where I didn’t like it upon first viewing, but on subsequent rewatches, I started to completely love it to the point of calling his work “genius”. After that, I watched The Sacrament; a Jonestown faux-documentary that quickly grew to be a film I laud. Then, The Innkeepers and You’re Next both followed with praise from me.

So, it was no surprise that when X came to town, it was a film that I actually went to the theater for. While a friend called it “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but with boobs”, to me it was a champion. As with much of West’s work, it’s done in the style of that era, but, in my opinion, tastefully, and not in the usually cheap and lazy knockoff way.

So, it’s done in much of that 70s’ “grindhouse” feel, but with fantastic cinematography, characters that actors like Mia Goth and Jenna Ortega make relatable and even likeable, and a soundtrack that pairs with it like a fine wine… and whatever goes best with a fine wine.

The thing that X does most triumphantly, however, is that for the avid horror fan, it’s a complete love letter. Not-so-subtle Easter Eggs throughout for movies like Psycho, Jaws, Braindead, The Shining, Alligator, and more help to elevate X to more than just a mere rip-off. The film is also a nod to fellow horror fans who love this genre just as much.

And, let’s face it… boobs.

When the end title card popped up and Robert Palmer’s “Bad Case of Loving You” kicks in, I’m not ashamed to say that I actually applauded. I probably looked silly as I was one of five people in the theater, but I didn’t care. It deserved it.

I, of course, now own the movie, and it’s definitely the kind of film you want on in the background of your Halloween party; or, if you’re like me, you cuddle up with the candy that you stole from your kids, light the candles, and get snuggly and intimate with X, the love letter from Ti West.