31 DAYS OF DREW - DAY 27: BEETLEJUICE

Every horrorhound's favorite month is upon us, and to celebrate, I'll be dishing out a personal pick from the genre for every day in October. Some will be obvious and rather unoriginal (sorry that I like movies other people like), while some will be a little more oddball and off-the-wall. Some may even challenge your idea of what constitutes a "horror" movie. Regardless, I hope you enjoy the month with some good movies, even if they aren't ones I recommend!

Today's Pick: Beetlejuice (1998)

Before getting swallowed into remakes and pre-packaged properties like Alice in Wonderland, Tim Burton was a very special voice when it came to ghoulish filmmaking. And besides his crowning artistic achievement (that'd be Ed Wood), I don't think there's any argument that Beetlejuice is his best film (Edward Scissorhands takes a very respectable third place). It showcases his signature style while not becoming overpoweringly distracting, and the material seems tailor-made for Burton's childish love of the macabre.

31 DAYS OF DREW - DAY 25: THE ADDAMS FAMILY and ADDAMS FAMILY VALUES

Every horrorhound's favorite month is upon us, and to celebrate, I'll be dishing out a personal pick from the genre for every day in October. Some will be obvious and rather unoriginal (sorry that I like movies other people like), while some will be a little more oddball and off-the-wall. Some may even challenge your idea of what constitutes a "horror" movie. Regardless, I hope you enjoy the month with some good movies, even if they aren't ones I recommend!

Today's Pick: The Addams Family (1991) & Addams Family Values (1993)

Because I am incapable of making decisions, I couldn't choose between one of the two original Addams Family films for this spot on the list, so I decided to include them both? Why? Because both of them exhibit a wonderful sense of gallows humor and morbid fun that deserves to be seen. Is one better than the other? Maybe. But, these are still two movies that make for great companion pieces, and should be viewed as such.

31 DAYS OF DREW - DAY 24: INTRUDER

Every horrorhound's favorite month is upon us, and to celebrate, I'll be dishing out a personal pick from the genre for every day in October. Some will be obvious and rather unoriginal (sorry that I like movies other people like), while some will be a little more oddball and off-the-wall. Some may even challenge your idea of what constitutes a "horror" movie. Regardless, I hope you enjoy the month with some good movies, even if they aren't ones I recommend!

Today's Pick: Intruder (1989)

So, here's what some might consider the more straightforward version of yesterday's pick. It's a slasher with a small cast of characters, a mysterious villain and some very memorable kills. But, there's a lot that separates Intruder from most of its peers. Not only is it from the same group of artists who brought the world the most ferociously original horror movie of its time, The Evil Dead, but it also features the very first gore effects by the now established masters of the craft, Robert Kurtzman, Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger, better known as K.N.B. EFX.

31 DAYS OF DREW - DAY 23: CLUB DREAD

Every horrorhound's favorite month is upon us, and to celebrate, I'll be dishing out a personal pick from the genre for every day in October. Some will be obvious and rather unoriginal (sorry that I like movies other people like), while some will be a little more oddball and off-the-wall. Some may even challenge your idea of what constitutes a "horror" movie. Regardless, I hope you enjoy the month with some good movies, even if they aren't ones I recommend!

Today's Pick: Club Dread (2004)

Now, I know what some of you must be thinking right now: "The guys that made Super Troopers and Beerfest never made a horror movie!" Well, you'd be half-right. While Club Dread is never really going for the scares, it still follows the slasher template extremely closely, but decides to play the material for laughs instead of screams. While some would jump at the chance to call it a "spoof", it really isn't. It's actually one of the better slasher films made in the last few years and it just happens to be incredibly funny as well.

31 DAYS OF DREW - DAY 22: THE MONSTER SQUAD

Every horrorhound's favorite month is upon us, and to celebrate, I'll be dishing out a personal pick from the genre for every day in October. Some will be obvious and rather unoriginal (sorry that I like movies other people like), while some will be a little more oddball and off-the-wall. Some may even challenge your idea of what constitutes a "horror" movie. Regardless, I hope you enjoy the month with some good movies, even if they aren't ones I recommend!

Today's Pick: The Monster Squad (1987)

It's always hard to consider how to get kids into horror films. On one hand, you don't want to sugarcoat things and have them watch some milquetoast kiddie fodder (I'm looking at you, Halloweentown), but you don't want to traumatize them right out of the gate with The Exorcist or anything. The Monster Squad manages to land perfectly in the middle of being kid-friendly but not in a demeaning way. There's still blood and bad words, but not in such a degree that kids probably aren't already aware of by the time they see the film. It doesn't hurt that the movie is lots of fun, but never at the expense of the monsters (except for one classic moment).

31 DAYS OF DREW - DAY 21: JEEPERS CREEPERS

Every horrorhound's favorite month is upon us, and to celebrate, I'll be dishing out a personal pick from the genre for every day in October. Some will be obvious and rather unoriginal (sorry that I like movies other people like), while some will be a little more oddball and off-the-wall. Some may even challenge your idea of what constitutes a "horror" movie. Regardless, I hope you enjoy the month with some good movies, even if they aren't ones I recommend!

Today's Pick: Jeepers Creepers (2001)

At one point in cinematic history, the monster movie was America's number one horror export. The legacy of the Universal monsters is undeniable, but as our sensibilities changed, so did our monsters. Dracula and The Wolf Man gave way to giant insects and invaders from space, who gave way to the supernatural horrors of The Omen, The Exorcist and Rosemary's Baby. Eventually, we'd reached a point in our culture where real human monsters (like Hannibal Lecter or Michael Rooker's Henry) began to captivate and repulse us. That's why Jeepers Creepers feels so special. It was an original idea that sought to create a brand new creature for us to ponder over, and really felt like a return to the monster movies of yesteryear.

31 DAYS OF DREW - DAY 20: WAXWORK

Every horrorhound's favorite month is upon us, and to celebrate, I'll be dishing out a personal pick from the genre for every day in October. Some will be obvious and rather unoriginal (sorry that I like movies other people like), while some will be a little more oddball and off-the-wall. Some may even challenge your idea of what constitutes a "horror" movie. Regardless, I hope you enjoy the month with some good movies, even if they aren't ones I recommend!

Today's Pick: Waxwork (1988)

Each decade of American cinema has a fairly overarching tone that can be ascribed to it, and if I had to boil the 1980's down to one, it would be "kooky." There's a bubbly goofiness that infects most of the films from that era, and none may be kookier than Waxwork, a melting pot of monster mayhem that feels like it's trying to inject madcap silliness into every aspect of itself.

31 DAYS OF DREW - DAY 19: THEATRE OF BLOOD

Every horrorhound's favorite month is upon us, and to celebrate, I'll be dishing out a personal pick from the genre for every day in October. Some will be obvious and rather unoriginal (sorry that I like movies other people like), while some will be a little more oddball and off-the-wall. Some may even challenge your idea of what constitutes a "horror" movie. Regardless, I hope you enjoy the month with some good movies, even if they aren't ones I recommend!

Today's Pick: Theatre of Blood (1973)

As horror genre laureate Brian Collins has said on his Horror Movie A Day blog, "If you go all October without watching a Vincent Price movie, you're doing something wrong." The man is an absolute legend, but more importantly, he's an icon that seems to relish any bit of ghoulish fun he can inject into a project, making the majority of his filmography perfect for the Halloween season. Picking just one of his films was tough, but I think I was able to do it. Theatre of Blood manages to mesh together lots of elements that make a Price film great: a gleefully macabre sensibility, theatrical brilliance and, in the end, a genuinely poignant story and character.

31 DAYS OF DREW - DAY 18: CARRIE

Every horrorhound's favorite month is upon us, and to celebrate, I'll be dishing out a personal pick from the genre for every day in October. Some will be obvious and rather unoriginal (sorry that I like movies other people like), while some will be a little more oddball and off-the-wall. Some may even challenge your idea of what constitutes a "horror" movie. Regardless, I hope you enjoy the month with some good movies, even if they aren't ones I recommend!

Today's Pick: Carrie (1976)

As of this writing, I haven't seen the new version of Carrie (out today!), directed by the truly talented Kimberly Peirce. I can't speak of its merits or faults, but even if it does wind up being a good or even great film, I can assure you that it will never reach the kind of status that the original 1976 adaptation by Brian DePalma has. Not only is DePalma's film one of the best American horror films ever made, it's also one of the best films to come out of the last great Hollywood renaissance of the 1970's. While Carrie 2013 might be a great film, it won't be a true classic like the initial version.

31 DAYS OF DREW - DAY 17: THE CABIN IN THE WOODS

Every horrorhound's favorite month is upon us, and to celebrate, I'll be dishing out a personal pick from the genre for every day in October. Some will be obvious and rather unoriginal (sorry that I like movies other people like), while some will be a little more oddball and off-the-wall. Some may even challenge your idea of what constitutes a "horror" movie. Regardless, I hope you enjoy the month with some good movies, even if they aren't ones I recommend!

Today's Pick: The Cabin in the Woods (2012)

Continuing the trend of meta movies from yesterday's pick, I felt compelled to include this modern classic in my list of recommendations. Full of fanatic emotion and a kitchen sink approach, The Cabin in the Woods manages to both extol and castigate the horror genre in the same breath. But, more importantly, it reinforces the necessity of scary tales in our culture and gives their importance the heaviest weight possible.

31 DAYS OF DREW - DAY 16: BEHIND THE MASK: THE RISE OF LESLIE VERNON

Every horrorhound's favorite month is upon us, and to celebrate, I'll be dishing out a personal pick from the genre for every day in October. Some will be obvious and rather unoriginal (sorry that I like movies other people like), while some will be a little more oddball and off-the-wall. Some may even challenge your idea of what constitutes a "horror" movie. Regardless, I hope you enjoy the month with some good movies, even if they aren't ones I recommend!

Today's Pick: Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006)

As the years go by, I find myself disliking Wes Craven's Scream more and more. It's a decent slasher/whodunit picture, but its lasting legacy has been its commentary on the genre it inhabits. It's that commentary that has grown sour for me. While it acknowledges and parodies the conventions of the horror film, it never bothers to delve into the "why" of the conventions. They exist because they are supposed to exist and that's all there is to it. It doesn't help that there's a snobby attitude to the way the film dissects all the trappings of horror movies. Behind the Mask is the film Scream ought to be: a charmingly funny but completely earnest examination of slasher films and why they follow the formulas they do.

31 DAYS OF DREW - DAY 15: GHOSTWATCH

Every horrorhound's favorite month is upon us, and to celebrate, I'll be dishing out a personal pick from the genre for every day in October. Some will be obvious and rather unoriginal (sorry that I like movies other people like), while some will be a little more oddball and off-the-wall. Some may even challenge your idea of what constitutes a "horror" movie. Regardless, I hope you enjoy the month with some good movies, even if they aren't ones I recommend!

Today's Pick: Ghostwatch (1992)

Thanks to being a cable-free household, I avoid being inundated with so-called "reality" television every day. I despise the format, as it offers nothing truly compelling while trying to pass itself off as documenting real events and real emotions. The level of fiction that goes into modern "reality" television muddies the creative enjoyment I wish to experience. However, that deceptive reality is exactly what made Ghostwatch such a memorable and effective experience when it originally aired on the BBC back in 1992. People thought it was a real program, and that made the events that took place far more terrifying.

31 DAYS OF DREW - DAY 14: HOUSE

Every horrorhound's favorite month is upon us, and to celebrate, I'll be dishing out a personal pick from the genre for every day in October. Some will be obvious and rather unoriginal (sorry that I like movies other people like), while some will be a little more oddball and off-the-wall. Some may even challenge your idea of what constitutes a "horror" movie. Regardless, I hope you enjoy the month with some good movies, even if they aren't ones I recommend!

Today's Pick: House (1977)

I love the Japanese. Their brazen weirdness has given birth to a culture that is deeply entrenched in bizarre artistic expression. But, sometimes even the Japanese exceed the boundaries of their own strangeness and create something so otherworldly that it nearly defies description. Such is Nobuhiko Obayashi's House (or Hausu to help differentiate it from the 1986 horror/comedy of the same name), a fever dream horror/fantasy that has to be one of the closest attempts at actually capturing the cartoonish and hallucinatory nature of a child's nightmares. That's probably helped by the fact that Obayashi's pre-teen daughter has a story credit on the film. I'll say it again: I love the Japanese.

31 DAYS OF DREW - DAY 13: JASON LIVES: FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VI

Every horrorhound's favorite month is upon us, and to celebrate, I'll be dishing out a personal pick from the genre for every day in October. Some will be obvious and rather unoriginal (sorry that I like movies other people like), while some will be a little more oddball and off-the-wall. Some may even challenge your idea of what constitutes a "horror" movie. Regardless, I hope you enjoy the month with some good movies, even if they aren't ones I recommend!

Today's Pick: Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI (1986)

Even though it's not a Friday, I felt compelled to dedicate the 13th day of 31 Days of Drew to the man who made hockey masks synonymous with slaughtered teenagers: Jason Voorhees. For a while, I debated using this space to make my argument for Friday the 13 Part V: A New Beginning (ignore the fake Jason aspect and it's a great sequel and a good entry in the franchise!), but then I realized that if you're going to watch only one Jason movie this month, Part VI is the only contender.

31 DAYS OF DREW - DAY 12: HOLLOW MAN

Every horrorhound's favorite month is upon us, and to celebrate, I'll be dishing out a personal pick from the genre for every day in October. Some will be obvious and rather unoriginal (sorry that I like movies other people like), while some will be a little more oddball and off-the-wall. Some may even challenge your idea of what constitutes a "horror" movie. Regardless, I hope you enjoy the month with some good movies, even if they aren't ones I recommend!

Today's Pick: Hollow Man (2000)

When the seventies hit, there was a great industry-wide shift happening in the movie business: take B-movie premises and treat them like A-list prestige pictures. It's exactly what happened at Universal during the thirties, and that gave us the first big wave of monster classics. This led to a whole bevy of cinematic treasures, including The Exorcist, Jaws, and Alien. The downside to this was that excellent B-movies began to look shoddy by comparison. That's why I can't help but love Hollow Man. It's not only an inventive "remake" of Universal's own The Invisible Man, it's also a film that's totally aware of its B-movie pedigree and doesn't even try to class itself up. Instead, it just attempts to be the best B-movie it can be, and it works like gangbusters.

31 DAYS OF DREW - DAY 11: NIGHTBREED

Every horrorhound's favorite month is upon us, and to celebrate, I'll be dishing out a personal pick from the genre for every day in October. Some will be obvious and rather unoriginal (sorry that I like movies other people like), while some will be a little more oddball and off-the-wall. Some may even challenge your idea of what constitutes a "horror" movie. Regardless, I hope you enjoy the month with some good movies, even if they aren't ones I recommend!

Today's Pick: Nightbreed (1990)

Horror and fantasy are some of the hardest genres to sell to the public, especially if the property isn't an established entity. Blending the genres together makes things even harder, but that's what visionary writer/director Clive Barker attempted to do with Nightbreed, an adaptation of his own novella, "Cabal." It's too bad that the people in charge of marketing Nightbreed didn't know what to do with it, because there's a very unique and artistic flare to this film that is fairly uncommon in the horror genre.

31 DAYS OF DREW - DAY 10: CREEPSHOW

Every horrorhound's favorite month is upon us, and to celebrate, I'll be dishing out a personal pick from the genre for every day in October. Some will be obvious and rather unoriginal (sorry that I like movies other people like), while some will be a little more oddball and off-the-wall. Some may even challenge your idea of what constitutes a "horror" movie. Regardless, I hope you enjoy the month with some good movies, even if they aren't ones I recommend!

Today's Pick: Creepshow (1982)

Before Batman, Dick Tracy, Sin City, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and other attempts at cinematically capturing the comic book aesthetic existed, there was Creepshow: a masterful interpretation of the classic EC horror comics that ran during the 1950's. Not only did they attempt (and succeed) to bring the tone of the comics to the screen, but also the vivid visual component that was a hallmark of the publication. The best part about this adaptation was that it was being handled by three titans of the genre who all were raised on the comics themselves: George Romero would be directing, Stephen King would be writing the script, and Tom Savini would handle the effects. It's the kind of rare alignment of talent and timing that can only produce a masterpiece, and Creepshow is definitely that.

31 DAYS OF DREW - DAY 9: TOURIST TRAP

Every horrorhound's favorite month is upon us, and to celebrate, I'll be dishing out a personal pick from the genre for every day in October. Some will be obvious and rather unoriginal (sorry that I like movies other people like), while some will be a little more oddball and off-the-wall. Some may even challenge your idea of what constitutes a "horror" movie. Regardless, I hope you enjoy the month with some good movies, even if they aren't ones I recommend!

Today's Pick: Tourist Trap (1979)

The 1970's was a fantastic era for American cinema all around, and the horror genre was no exception. The B-movie went A-list with Steven Spielberg's Jaws, our religious fears were mined with both The Exorcist and The Omen, and another mythical figure took his place in the hall of hallowed monsters in... well, we'll save that for another entry. But, hiding underneath all these mainstream successes are lots of mini-masterpieces waiting to be appreciated by a new generation. One of those happens to be Tourist Trap, an exercise in atmosphere and outright creepiness.

31 DAYS OF DREW - DAY 8: THE FRIGHTENERS

Every horrorhound's favorite month is upon us, and to celebrate, I'll be dishing out a personal pick from the genre for every day in October. Some will be obvious and rather unoriginal (sorry that I like movies other people like), while some will be a little more oddball and off-the-wall. Some may even challenge your idea of what constitutes a "horror" movie. Regardless, I hope you enjoy the month with some good movies, even if they aren't ones I recommend!

Today's Pick: The Frighteners (1996)

Before defining the fantasy film forever with his interpretation of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy, Peter Jackson was a pioneer in the horror-comedy genre, crafting trashy classics such as Bad Taste and Dead Alive a.k.a. Braindead. When his chance to hit the States came, he gave us a movie that perfectly captured the feeling of walking through a haunted house attraction: a bit of unease mixed with moments of shock, but all in the name of good fun and lots of laughter. That film is The Frighteners, and I adore every ectoplasmic second of it.

31 DAYS OF DREW - DAY 7: SOCIETY

Every horrorhound's favorite month is upon us, and to celebrate, I'll be dishing out a personal pick from the genre for every day in October. Some will be obvious and rather unoriginal (sorry that I like movies other people like), while some will be a little more oddball and off-the-wall. Some may even challenge your idea of what constitutes a "horror" movie. Regardless, I hope you enjoy the month with some good movies, even if they aren't ones I recommend!

Today's Pick: Society (1989)

If there's one thing I unabashedly love about genre films from the 80's, it's the abundance of off-the-wall practical effects that became so commonplace that you expected them in almost every horror film. Some films could even get away with being terrible but remain watchable as long as they splurged on the effects budget (a perfect example of this would be 1986's Spookies). Society certainly isn't terrible, but it also isn't spectacular when it comes to its narrative. However, its effects are so insane and extravagant that they more than make up for any other flaws the film has.

31 DAYS OF DREW - DAY 6: PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE

Every horrorhound's favorite month is upon us, and to celebrate, I'll be dishing out a personal pick from the genre for every day in October. Some will be obvious and rather unoriginal (sorry that I like movies other people like), while some will be a little more oddball and off-the-wall. Some may even challenge your idea of what constitutes a "horror" movie. Regardless, I hope you enjoy the month with some good movies, even if they aren't ones I recommend!

Today's Pick: Phantom of the Paradise (1974)

Horror movies and music seem to make good companions when they (rarely) join forces. Everybody is aware of the cult infamy The Rocky Horror Picture Show, but while the music, performances and B-movie homages in that film are great, the actual story and plotting of the film is noticeably lackluster. Luckily, there's a fantastic alternative to be had in Brian DePalma's secret masterpiece, Phantom of the Paradise, which not only features all the positives I listed for Rocky Horror, but has an excellent story that draws inspiration from two of horror's most classic tales: The Phantom of the Opera and Faust.

31 DAYS OF DREW - DAY 5: TREMORS

Every horrorhound's favorite month is upon us, and to celebrate, I'll be dishing out a personal pick from the genre for every day in October. Some will be obvious and rather unoriginal (sorry that I like movies other people like), while some will be a little more oddball and off-the-wall. Some may even challenge your idea of what constitutes a "horror" movie. Regardless, I hope you enjoy the month with some good movies, even if they aren't ones I recommend!

Today's Pick: Tremors (1990)

Everybody loves a good monster movie, especially when the tone of the film is fun and light-hearted. Tremors might just be one of the pinnacles of this particular sub-genre. It's got a great cast, a simple set-up and features one of cinema's most inventive and plain ol' awesome creatures.

31 DAYS OF DREW - DAY 4: RESOLUTION

Every horrorhound's favorite month is upon us, and to celebrate, I'll be dishing out a personal pick from the genre for every day in October. Some will be obvious and rather unoriginal (sorry that I like movies other people like), while some will be a little more oddball and off-the-wall. Some may even challenge your idea of what constitutes a "horror" movie. Regardless, I hope you enjoy the month with some good movies, even if they aren't ones I recommend!

Today's Pick: Resolution (2012)

If there is a common criticism a majority of horror movies suffer from, it's that the characters often take a backseat to the plot or concept. Some horror movies can support themselves this way (see yesterday's pick), but most don't have the imagination, momentum or sheer insanity to do so. Resolution recognizes this and turns the expectation around 180 degrees. It's a movie that is solely about the characters, and it utilizes the idea of stories as something far more mysterious and ultimately terrifying.

31 DAYS OF DREW - DAY 3: LAID TO REST

Every horrorhound's favorite month is upon us, and to celebrate, I'll be dishing out a personal pick from the genre for every day in October. Some will be obvious and rather unoriginal (sorry that I like movies other people like), while some will be a little more oddball and off-the-wall. Some may even challenge your idea of what constitutes a "horror" movie. Regardless, I hope you enjoy the month with some good movies, even if they aren't ones I recommend!

Today's Pick: Laid to Rest (2009)

Being a horror fan means learning to manage your expectations. The majority of horror cinema is either derivative, shoddily made, or worst of all, boring. However, horror fans are able to accept certain flaws in a film if other aspects strongly shine through. Laid to Rest is a textbook example of this. The movie is nowhere near perfect, but the things it does right are so right that it makes up for most of its weaker elements. And if there's one thing it deftly succeeds at, it's feeding the viewer's juvenile bloodlust.

31 DAYS OF DREW - DAY 2: NIGHT OF THE HUNTER

Every horrorhound's favorite month is upon us, and to celebrate, I'll be dishing out a personal pick from the genre for every day in October. Some will be obvious and rather unoriginal (sorry that I like movies other people like), while some will be a little more oddball and off-the-wall. Some may even challenge your idea of what constitutes a "horror" movie. Regardless, I hope you enjoy the month with some good movies, even if they aren't ones I recommend!

Today's Pick: The Night of the Hunter (1955)

The Halloween season is the perfect time for a fresh audience to glance back into the yesteryears of cinema and discover some classic chillers. While the Universal monster cycle of the 30's, 40's and even into the 50's should be mandatory viewing, there is a subsection of older horror films (usually given the shame-distancing sub-genre title of "psychological thriller") dealing with human monsters that shouldn't be ignored. Some great examples would be 1962's Cape Fear (remade in better-than-average fashion by Martin Scorsese in 1991), 1959's variation on the famous Leopold-Loeb murder case, Compulsion, or Alfred Hitchcock's golden standard, Psycho. One of the best of this breed has to be The Night of the Hunter, the solo directing effort of Charles Laughton, who played one of fiction's greatest monsters, Quasimodo, in the stellar 1939 production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

31 DAYS OF DREW - DAY 1: HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER

Every horrorhound's favorite month is upon us, and to celebrate, I'll be dishing out a personal pick from the genre for every day in October. Some will be obvious and rather unoriginal (sorry that I like movies other people like), while some will be a little more oddball and off-the-wall. Some may even challenge your idea of what constitutes a "horror" movie. Regardless, I hope you enjoy the month with some good movies, even if they aren't ones I recommend!

Today's Pick: High Plains Drifter (1973)

To start this (hopefully) annual series off, I thought I had to come out of the gate swinging, in regards to a film that seems a bit out there in its relation to the Halloween season. High Plains Drifter seemed perfect because no one would suspect a seemingly stereotypical Clint Eastwood western of being one of the most eerie flicks out there. Don't believe me? Let's do some convincing.