Halloween 2025: The Film-of-the-Week Horror Odyssey

My plunge into the best of what horror offers continues.

Find the full list of movies here:

https://avidavr.wordpress.com/halloween-2025-the-film-of-the-week-horror-odyssey/

In October 2024, I went overboard and tried to watch as many horror movies as possible. The final count was 47 — a number that feels almost absurd looking back. This year I’m taking a different approach.

For October 2025, I’ll be watching 16 horror films I’ve never seen, and I’ll write about each one. Every pick will be guided by a theme-of-the-week. First I’ll write what I know about the film (and what I expect it to be), then I’ll follow up with my review.

The themes are:

1. Find a horror movie that may actually scare me


2. Find a classic vintage horror movie


3. The horror movie everyone will watch for Halloween 2025


4. The one I can’t believe I haven’t seen


5. The rising star horror with the most buzz right now


6. The one everybody loves


7. The biggest modern-day midnight horror


8. The best reviewed


9. The one I wish I saw when I was a kid


10. The one everyone knew about (except me)

11. A modern classic (two slots)


12. A horror movie from a favorite director


13. The horror movie EVERYONE has seen


14. A classic horror movie I should really have an opinion on


15. The horror movie I am most missing


16. Save for last: The biggest modern-day midnight horror (Mandy)

I’m not committing to an itinerary — part of the fun will be curating as I go, seeing what feels right after each week’s film.

The Goals

1. Cause Fear. Can horror movies still scare me? Can they still scare anyone?


2. Fill the gaps. My horror knowledge is diverse, but limited. I want to meet every type of horror watcher where they are.


3. Celebrate variety. Horror is not one thing. I want to experience surprises and shifts in tone, style, and culture.

4. Find new personal classics. Some of my favorite discoveries in recent years — The Wailing, One Cut of the Dead, Strange Darling, Diabolique — came from projects like this. I hope to walk away with one or two more that I can recommend wholeheartedly, not just as horror, but as great cinema.


Let’s see what surfaces this October.