A hearty welcome to you all! This is the first of ten contests I will be hosting each day until it is goddamn HORRORTHOOOOOOOOON! Yes! I just decided tonight to cheerlead the fuck out of this bitch because I freaking love Horrorthon.If you're confused, scroll down to my previous post. I'm hijacking the caption contest and sticking it on hiatus until after Horrorthon. We've got business to attend to. Awesome business. Wicked fun business. Horrorthon business.
(Business first, contest to follow)
It's been a pokey blog year for all of us, and it's been for the usual reason; despite how it looks, we actually have lives. The Venerable Council of Blog Geezers (JPX and Johnny Sweatpants and myself) have been discussing some tweaks to the contest that might help with the inevitable, slow burnout that often marks the holiday season on the blog. Time to open the discussion.
Here are the rules of Horrorthon as they exist now:
-- Watch horror movies between midnight on September 30th and midnight on October 31st, with a grace period for the movie you started on Halloween night that didn't end at midnight.
-- Post reviews of your movies on Horrorthon to get them counted
-- Maximum of two reviews posted daily
-- Winner is the one who watches the most movies
Here's the rule we're thinking of adding (finally, for real): a hard deadline on reviews. Dragging the review stage on into December just doesn't make sense. It's like writing thankyou notes for Christmas presents towards the end of January. JPX was pushing for mid-November, I was pushing for after Thanksgiving, but I'm starting to think getting it all done earlier will be better.
Assuming the last day of the deadline should be a Sunday that leaves either November 13th or 20th. Maybe the long term deadline rule should become the second or third Sunday in November. Or Tuesday, I don't know. I want to hear your thoughts on this one.
Here's the more fun part!
Horrorthon is at heart a quantity-based contest, and indeed I look forward to the day many years hence when I win that title again. (And I've heard a rumor that Catfreeek's friend Abduscias watches more movies than Cat -- some Clash of the Titans action for the top spot could be cool.) This year, to go along with our tidy schedule, we're going to add some other categories of appreciation that everyone should vote on. Here are the categories so far thunk up:
Straight-up Most Movies Watched (obviously we don't vote on this one)
All-Around Favorite review
Funniest review
Best So Bad It's Good review
Best Discovery
Best Screenshot
Funniest comment
We'll do a "Vote now!" post and everyone will throw in, and we count up the winners and they get the same absolutely nothing that we've doled out for years. And bragging rights.
I really want to hear your thoughts on this one -- any other winning categories we can kick in there?
AND NOW THE CONTEST
The Countdown to Horrorthon Contest rules are very simple. If you enter, you win. Deadline for all contests is the very second that Horrorthon starts. I will be checking back on the earlier days' stuff. Since this is a countdown, I'll be starting with Contest Number Ten.
Contest Number Ten: Best Ofs
I can't be sure, but it looks like not a single one of us did our Best Ofs for 2010. To me, that's the saddest part of the contest just fading to a stop. Wrap-ups are fun! So go to the Horrorthon Score Blog and look at your listings from last year, and to the best of your memory stick the following into a comment:
All-Around Favorite Movie
Best Hidden Gem Movie
Worst Movie
Best So Bad It's Good Movie
Most Disturbing Movie
Goriest Movie
Scariest Movie
Best Looking Monster
Hottest Hottie
Most Memorable Death
Most Avoidable Death
You don't have to do them all in one comment, but you can. You don't even have to do them all. Movies that you didn't get around to reviewing are fair game. And please chime in on the discussion above, whether you get to making a list or not.
Now GO!
HORRORTHON!
9 comments:
I will start:
All-Around Favorite Movie: House of the Devil
Best Hidden Gem Movie: The Old Dark House
Worst Movie: And Now the Screaming Starts!
Best So Bad It's Good Movie: Reptilicus
Most Disturbing Movie: The Reflecting Skin
Goriest Movie: Galaxy of Terror
Scariest Movie: House of the Devil
Best Looking Monster: The critter woman from Splice
Hottest Hottie: Samantha from House of the Devil
Most Memorable Death: Death by ice-skating, sickle-toting hag in Curtains
Most Avoidable Death: Anyone who was killed by Killdozer, especially that one guy who just sat there
All-Around Favorite Movie: Burning Bright
Best Hidden Gem Movie: Deadgirl
Worst Movie: My Soul to Take
Best So Bad It's Good Movie: Killdozer
Most Disturbing Movie: Tie: Deadgirl and Human Centipede (First Sequence)
Goriest Movie: Piranha 3D (2010)
Scariest Movie: Paranormal Activity 2
Best Looking Monster: The Wolf Man (2010)
Hottest Hottie: Christina Ricci walking around completely naked for most of After.Life
Most Memorable Death: Woman getting sliced in half without realizing it in Piranha 3D (2010)
Most Avoidable Death: Every death in Killdozer
I love the new rules! I think the 3rd Sunday in November is a good cut off point. I think Most Obscure Film should be added to the awards and an award to the film that was most watched by our bloggers, since we seem to have one of those every year, like "Trick or Treat" last year.
On a personal note, I am making a run for quality, not quantity this year. Although, I do have quite the stockpile in my Netflix queue, so don't count me out yet.
Excellent post, Octo! I’m pleased that you took the reins on this one. Over the years a clear pattern has emerged with the “contest”. During the first 2 weeks of October people start out like marathon runners. During this time reviews are posted throughout the day and at times it’s difficult to keep up with them. By week 3 fatigues begins to set in and the reviews slow down considerably. By week 4 many look at the contest numbers and seem to give up altogether. The “council” has been discussing this recently and concluded that there have been two problems, ending the contest and the quantity nature of the contest.
As Octo noted, we want to create a firm “end” date for reviews. What has happened over the past few years is that we never seem to actually end the contest and therefore there is little payoff for the “winner”. This year we would like to designate a specific day for “final submissions”. Octo has proposed Thanksgiving weekend while I feel that a sooner end date might make more sense given that people become embroiled in holiday stuff by that time.
Most of you guys know the history of this silly contest, which has always been a “who can watch the most movies” thing. I love the spirit of that idea however it has become clear that for some this means that it is impossible to “win” because of crazy schedules. For example, I only write reviews when I’m at work ( I know, I know). There are still approximately 20 movies that I never wrote up my reviews for last year. In the past we assumed that the individual handicaps made the contest more interesting however I think it engenders an “I give up” attitude as the numbers begin to pour in.
I love the idea of having different categories beyond quantity. As Octo noted, I look forward to the Catfreeek/ Abduscias showdown. There is no doubt in my mind that it is going to come down to those two. Given that we collectively watch hundreds of movies in October (approximately 285 last year!), it only makes sense that we broaden the scope of the contest. We all put a tremendous amount of work into this silliness so why not recognize all the effort? I like the categories suggested by Octo.
Wow, this turned into a very long post about a whole lot of nonsense. But then, that’s the spirit of Horrothon, right?
All-Around Favorite Movie: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
Best Hidden Gem Movie: Coffin Joe: At Midnight I'll Take YourSoul
Worst Movie: Live Freaky Die Freaky
Best So Bad It's Good Movie: Coffin Joe: Awakening of the Beast
Most Disturbing Movie: Dead Girl/Antichrist/Taxidermia (I couldn't decide, they are all disturbing for different reasons)
Goriest Movie: Pig Hunt
Scariest Movie: Sauna
Best Looking Monster: Pandorum
Hottest Hottie: Girly
Most Memorable Death: The Virgin Spring
Most Avoidable Death: The Reeds
All-Around Favorite Movie: The Walking Dead (1936) And by the way, I absolutely lovety-loved season 1 of the 2010 TV series of the same name.
Best Horror Movie of 2010: Piranha 3D
Hidden Gem: Tales From the Crypt (1972)
Worst Movie: The Video Dead
Best So Bad It's Good Movie: Neon Maniacs
Most Disturbing Movie: Antichrist
Goriest Movie: Dead Alive
Scariest Movie: Antichrist
Best Looking Monster: The Neon Maniacs (ensemble cast)
Most Memorable Death: the finale of Taxidermia
I'm all for the November 20 deadline. Here are my picks from last year...
All-Around Favorite Movie: Dorian Gray
Best Hidden Gem Movie: Dorian Gray
Worst Movie: My Soul to Take
Best So Bad It's Good Movie:Night of the Demons (2010)
Most Disturbing Movie: American Psycho
Goriest Movie: Frozen
Scariest Movie: Seventh Moon
Best Looking Monster:
Hottest Hottie: Christian Bale (admiring himself in the mirror during...) American Psycho
Most Memorable Death: none come to mind
Most Avoidable Death: Pick any from Saw 3D.
Trevor I'm happy to see someone else listing My Soul to Take as their worst pick from last year - god that was bad. You warned us, I didn't listen.
Okay, well i totally did this already. and as soon as brent can fashion a picture of octo in a dunce cap, i'm re-posting it with said picture of octo right at the top...
All-Around Favorite Movie: Black Sheep
Best Hidden Gem Movie: House of the Devil (?)
Worst Movie: Zombie Strippers
Best So Bad It's Good Movie: Reptilicus (i originally said Night of the Creeps, but the intent of that movie is to be SBiG, so it doesn't really count as "bad")
Most Disturbing Movie: Cannibal Holocaust
Goriest Movie: Dead Snow
Scariest Movie: The Children
Best Looking Monster: The Human Centipede
Hottest Hottie: Danielle Harris in Halloween
Most Memorable Death: Head ripped in half in Dead Snow
Most Avoidable Death: Any of the three leads in Frozen. Take your damn skis off first and then you can use them to throw towards someone when they happen by. one ski hitting the top of a snowcat, everyone goes home alive.
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