That October wind howls in and scours the leaves from the trees, leaving them to crinkle beneath the sneakers of sweet-toothed kids hiding their faces from the shine of the autumn moon with masks terrible and hilarious. Unfurl the black and orange livery of the season; my favorite. Halloween is creeping up like a black cat, arched back, pumpkin yellow eyes, yowling in the dark.

Each year I spend every day in October with a horror movie I haven’t previously seen, any era, any subgenre. 31 flavors of ghoulish delights (hopefully). Off we go.

#1 – In A Violent Nature – Youngsters in the woods take a locket from a ruined firewatch tower and unwittingly resurrect a Jason Voorhees-like undead slasher who proceeds to stalk and brutalize them. So a while back Stephen King tweeted that he would like to write a Friday The 13th movie from the POV of Jason (even though there are sections of Simon Hawke’s novelizations that already do this). This inspired me to write the F13 pastiche I had been plotting in my head for a number of years because why not? The makers of this movie took King’s notion a little too literally. The camera and thus the audience physically follow the killer over his shoulder as he stalks his victims, including the plodding, prolonged foot travel between kills. It’s not bad though. There are some neat little bits, like when the killer is distracted by a toy truck on a keychain, finds his signature mask, and the much lauded unique killing of a yoga practitioner. The lack of functional peripheral vision and spatial awareness of the victims really strains credulity. The final scene, which you expect to pay homage to the first Friday the 13th just goes absolutely nowhere. It was fine, but I doubt I’d watch it again.

#2 – Oddity – When a psychiatric admin’s wife is murdered at their isolated keep home by one of his escaped patients, her blind antique dealer twin sister comes asking questions and bearing a weird gift. Tight, effectively written Irish ghost story is a little bit predictable but fun and satisfying nonetheless, in the way a familiar tale told well around a campfire or a candlelight delights the imagination.