Films I Watched: November 2019

* means a first time watch.

Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (2001)
The Midnight Hour (1985)
The Slumber Party Massacre (1982)
The Hunger (1983)
Night Life (1989)*
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
The Vineyard (1989)*
Iron Man (2008)
Beyond Evil (1980)*
Thor (2011)
Iron Man 2 (2010)
The Avengers (2012)
Doctor Sleep (2019)*
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
Iron Man Three (2013)
Thor: The Dark World (2013)
Missing Link (2019)*
Unmasked Part 25 (1988)*
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982)
Addams Family Values (1993)
The Ruins (2008)*
The Sound of Music (1965)
The Music Man (1962)
Blood Rage (1987)
Jim Henson's Turkey Hollow (2015)*
Blue Velvet (1986)
White Christmas (1954)
Berserker (1987)*
The Holiday (2006)
To All a Goodnight (1980)

Films I Watched: October 2019

* means a first time watch.

The Body Snatcher (1945)*
Hocus Pocus (1993)
WolfCop (2014)
The Uninvited (1944)
13 Ghosts (1960)*
The Tingler (1959)
Psycho (1960)
Blade II (2002)
My Best Friend Is a Vampire (1987)
Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989)
The Haunting of Morella (1990)*
Scream of Fear (1961)
Once Bitten (1985)
Pet Sematary (2019)*
The Ritual (2017)*
The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966)
The Halloween Tree (1993)
Hack-O-Lantern (1988)
Cat People (1942)
Halloween (2018)
Bewitched (2005)
Halloween: Resurrection (2002)
Freaky Farley (2007)
Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998)
Halloween II (1981)

Films I Watched: September 2019

* means a First Time Watch.

Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat (1989)*
House on Haunted Hill (1959)
A Bay of Blood (1971)
The Cat o' Nine Tails (1971)
The World's End (2013)*
The Vampire Lovers (1970)*
ParaNorman (2012)
Coraline (2009)
Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)
Friday the 13th Part III (1982)
Pieces (1982)
Horror on Snape Island (1972)
Sleepy Hollow (1999)
3 from Hell (2019)*
Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween (2018)*
Haunt (2019)*
Greta (2018)*
The Beast Must Die (1974)*
Lurking Fear (1994)*
The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973)*
We Have Always Lived in the Castle (2018)*
Burying the Ex (2014)*

The Moviethon Vlog #39 - Horror Movie Reference Revenge

My Horror Shelfie #10

Films I Watched: August 2019

Rabid (1977)
Castle in the Sky (1986)
Fellini - Satyricon (1969)
Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019)*
Veerana (1988)*
Spider Baby or, the Maddest Story Ever Told (1967)
Stripped to Kill (1987)*
The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!? (1964)
Purani Haveli (1989)*
Man-Thing (2005)*
House at the End of the Street (2012)
I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House (2016)
Idle Hands (1999)
Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Glass (2019)*
Practical Magic (1998)
Super 8 (2011)*
The Ninth Gate (1999)
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019)*
Down a Dark Hall (2018)*
The Wyvern Mystery (2000)*
Crooked House (2017)*
Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
Escape from New York (1981)
Escape from L.A. (1996)
Halloweentown (1998)
Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge (2001)
Halloween II (2009)
Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers (1988)
Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland (1989)
The Worst Witch (1986)
Trick 'r Treat (2007)

The Moviethon Vlog #38 - My Horror Comic Books (Part 1)

My Horror Shelfie #9

It's true, the new episode of My Horror Shelfie is finally up! After 10 months and a ridiculous amount of weight gain (thanks, thyroid!), I finally was in the mood to get back into being in front of the camera. The real issue of course is computers. Seriously though, I hate video editing so much. I want to go back to VHS tape to tape editing but mailing you guys a tape every time an episode is finally finished is prohibitively expensive. As a little added bonus, I put all of the background music I've made for the Shelfie series up on Bandcamp. Give it a listen!

Oh and here's episode #8, in case you missed it:

Films I Watched: July 2019

* means a First Time Watch.

Overlord (2018)*
Pieces (1982)
The NeverEnding Story (1984)
License to Drive (1988)*
Midsommar (2019)*
Urban Legend (1998)
Scream 2 (1997)
Spider-Man: Far from Home (2019)*
Wishing Stairs (2003)*
Voice (2005)*
Dark Shadows (2012)
Funny Face (1957)*
Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)
Shazam! (2019)*
Noises Off... (1992)
The Dark Power (1985)*
Fullmetal Alchemist (2017)*
The Addams Family (1991)
Black Christmas (2006)
Christmas Evil (1980)
Absurd (1981)
Hellboy (2019)*
Witching and Bitching (2013)*
The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh (1971)
Little Witches (1996)*

Films I Watched: June 2019

* means a First Time Watch.

Re-Animator (1985)
Hocus Pocus (1993)
Halloween (1978)
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)
Johnny Be Good (1988)*
Pump Up the Volume (1990)
Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)
Star Trek Beyond (2016)
Angst (1983)*
Die, Monster, Die! (1965)
Cold Skin (2017)*
A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989)
Persuasion (1995)
Grease (1978)
Grease 2 (1982)
Kidnap Syndicate (1975)*
The Girl Who Knew Too Much AKA Evil Eye (1963)
Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971)
Pacific Rim (2013)
The Gorgon (1964)
The Lost Boys (1987)
Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)*
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
Saint Bernard (2013)*
Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)*
The Hobbit (1977)
The Lord of the Rings (1978)
Earth Girls Are Easy (1988)
Tragedy Girls (2017)*
Haunting Inside (2019)*
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)*
Iron Man (2008)
Spirited Away (2001)
Akira (1988)
The Castle of Cagliostro (1979)
Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer (1984)
Graduation Day (1981)
Princess Mononoke (1997)
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)

Films I Watched: May 2019

Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)
Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
Encounters in the Deep (1979)*
Sasquatch: The Legend of Bigfoot (1976)*
Microwave Massacre (1983)*
Ghostkeeper (1981)*
Bad Times at the El Royale (2018)*
Bad Moon (1996)*
Nightmaster (1987)*
Manhunter (1986)
The Being (1983)*
Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)*
Five Dolls for an August Moon (1970)
Avengers: Endgame (2019)*
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)
Death Warmed Up (1984)
Prospect (2018)*
The Carpenter (1988)*
Knights of Badassdom (2013)*
Dredd (2012)
The Dungeonmaster (1984)*
The Brainiac (1962)*
Death by Invitation (1971)*
Nightmare Sisters (1988)*
Zombies of Mora Tau (1957)*
Picasso Trigger (1988)*
Disconnected (1984)*
The Velvet Vampire (1971)*
The Super Inframan (1975)*
Blood Song (1982)*
Frankenhooker (1990)*
Dorian Gray (1970)*
Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003)*
Frozen Scream (1975)*
Cellar Dweller (1988)*
The Attic (1980)*
The Favourite (2018)*

Films I Watched: April 2019

* means a First Time Watch.

April Fool's Day (1986)
WXIII: Patlabor the Movie 3 (2002)
The Transformers: The Movie (1986)
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018)*
The Black Sleep (1956)*
Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999)
976-Evil II (1991)*
Drive Me Crazy (1999)
Heartbeeps (1981)
Assassination Nation (2018)*
House Of Witchcraft (1989)
Spasmo (1974)
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)*
The Black Dahlia (2006) The Guard from Underground AKA Jigoku no keibîn (1992)
Batman Begins (2005)
The Dark Knight (2008)
Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994)
Life (2017)*
The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Zombie High (1987)*
The Boogey Man (1980)
Phenomena (1985)
Venom (2018)*
Incredibles 2 (2018)*
Serial Mom (1994)
C.H.U.D. (1984)
Ghoulies (1984)
Web of the Spider AKA Nella stretta morsa del ragno (1971)*
Maniac (2012)*
Antropophagus (1980)
Absurd (1981)

Happy Rebirthing Ceremony To CinSom!

Ten years ago today, I was really annoyed with Wordpress or whatever and decided to jump ship. I saw what Blogger had to offer and fired this badboy up. The name Cinema Somnambulist was one of the potential names of my website before I settled on Doomed Moviethon. So here we are, 800+ blogginz AKA bloggoids later and I'm still going. I've met a lot of cool people through this blog and I've become extremely famous.

This entire paragraph will make all of my fellow bloggers out there roll their eyes (or maybe this whole blog is just an embarrassment). But the best thing about the heyday of the blog is that I felt compelled to have something new ready to post every week and sometimes every day. This meant that I had to keep churning out content which meant I was constantly practicing writing about movies. I don't think I got any better at writing but it became easier for me to work quickly. Wanting to churn out hundreds of movie reviews on my site was one thing but developing an informal, personal )though probably not at all unique) style that's way more fun to write in is quite another.

Two huge takeaways from this beautiful format are my theme months The Invasian [sic] and Franco Friday [super sic]. The Invasian was amazing because I needed more Asian horror, cult films, and classic anime in my life. And Franco Friday forced me to confront the intimidating body of work of the one and the only, Jess Franco. I've also been exploring films that were released in the year of my birth. Gosh, I'm old!

At some point, I decided that I wanted to hold all of this work in my own two hands. You can pick up a computer but they're pretty heavy, bro. I've learned that books are often lighter than your standard desktop computer. So I took my favorite posts from this very blog, kind of edited them, and put them in this book right here.

In the last few years, working on books and the podcast has meant that the blog suffers from my distracted attention. But I'll keep this thing going because these AOL/Time Warner bots won't feed themselves. I'd like to thank each and all of you readers and subscribers for checking in on me from time to time. And huge props to my fellow blogging buddies. Y'all are some seriously inspiring duders.

Films I Watched: March 2019

* means a First Time Watch.

Prom Night II (1987)
Splatter University (1984)
Cam (2018)*
He's Out There (2018)*
Ju-on: The Grudge (2002)
Ju-On: The Grudge 2 (2003)
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
The Return of the Exorcist (1975)
Strip Nude for Your Killer (1975)
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)
Demon Seed (1977)
Strange Behavior (1981)
Next of Kin (1982)
Fatal Frames (1996)
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016)
The Avengers (2012)
Rock 'n' Roll High School (1979)*
Invaders from Mars (1986)
Captain Marvel (2019)*
Event Horizon (1997)
Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988)*
Us (2019)*
A Bay of Blood (1971)
El hombre y el monstruo (1959)*
Aquaman (2018)*

Films I Watched: February 2019

* means a First Time Watch.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985)
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)
Ghost Stories (2017)*
Count Yorga, Vampire (1970)
The Return of Count Yorga (1971)*
Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural (1973)*
Rampage (2018)*
Rock & Rule (1983)
The Punisher (1989)
Scream (1996)
Polar (2019)*
Velvet Buzzsaw (2019)*
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
Encounter with the Unknown (1972)*
Heathers (1988)
Alita: Battle Angel (2019)*
Cherry Falls (2000)
Breadcrumb Trail (2014)
Vampires (1998)
Christine (1983)
Robot Carnival (1987)
Ready Player One (2018)*
The House of Witchcraft (1989)*
The Hell's Gate (1989)*
Valentine (2001)
House of Lost Souls (1989)*
The Ogre AKA Demons III: The Ogre (1989)
Werewolf in a Girls' Dormitory (1961)

Demons III: The Ogre (1989) - Just A Look

Films I Watched: January 2019

* means a first time watch.

The House on Sorority Row (1983)
Urban Legends: Final Cut (2000)
The Vagrant (1992)*
The Astounding She-Monster (1957)*
FleshEater (1988)*
Rebecca (1940)*
My Super Psycho Sweet 16 (2009)*
Mandy (2018)*
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (2012)
Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)*
Easy A (2010)
Shadow of the Wraith AKA Ikisudama(2001)
Legend (1985)
Isola: Tajuu jinkaku shôjo (2000)
The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. (1953)*
Popcorn (1991)
Death by Metal (2018)*
Talisman (1998)*
Devil Fish AKA Monster Shark (1984)*
The Day of the Jackal (1973)
Pray for Death (1985)*
Night Moves (1975)*
Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
Horror Rises from the Tomb (1973)
Horror Express (1972)
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Bright Young Things (2003)

"Laurie Strode" Music Video

Here's the music video for GYROJETS' wildly popular hit song "Laurie Strode". We had a blast making this. Hope you dig it!

Favorite First Time Watches Of 2018

Here comes another one of those "bleh 2018 sucked bleh" posts but I think I can turn it around before the end. I had to take a certain medication that made me a little nuts after a certain medical condition that had been making me a little nuts because -you get the idea. I also kind of had to learn to stop taking myself so seriously. Apparently, my self deprecating humor wasn't enough! Hopefully, I'm nicer now. Whatever. Then both of my cats who've been in my wife LeEtta's and my lives for the last 15 years croaked, pretty much one right after the other. Some other stupid shit probably happened but wasn't bad enough to be memorable so that's cool, I guess.

I got to spend an evening out with my buddy Sam (the drummer from our band GYROJETS) at one of them there newfangled "concert halls" or "venues" I think they're called. We braved the freezing cold Tampa night to see my favorite band, Tera Melos. It was my first time seeing them because let's face it, I rarely leave the house. And I got to meet guitarist Nick Reinhart (pictured above), one of my favorite humans who's ever touched a guitar on Earth.

So what was I talking about? Movies! Yes, those things. Getting to check out that divisive Suspiria remake with LeEtta and our friends Markky and Kari (of The Prople) was a cinema-going highlight but seeing Slumber Party Massacre at the legendary Tampa Theatre takes home the gold medal. While it wasn't a first time watch by any means, it was at that screening where LeEtta and I got to meet Debra De Liso and Joseph Alan Johnson (pictured above) in person. Just an incredible night all around! Hopefully, I'll have more experiences like these in the new year. 2018 was the year of me meeting relatively famous people. How many did I meet the year before? Zero. And the year before that? None. And the year before that!? I'll just stop right there. There's some awesome to balance out the bad. I told you there was a twist.

After recording all of the films I watched this year, I've discovered that I watch a lot of Marvel movies. Good gawd! But I nearly topped 400 films watched this year. The grand total came out to 398 films with 140 of those being first time watches. That's pretty impressive when you add in all of the dang TV I also ingested into my eyeballs. Things got balanced out thanks to the aforementioned unfortunate (but somewhat hilarious) health problems that forced me to stay very close to my recliner a lot. Like a lot a lot. Was it worth it? My brain says no but my face says yes. I don't know how that works. However, my gall bladder -which is now resting in a medical waste landfill- absolutely agrees.

And now, without further ado, here are my favorite first time watches of the year with a buttload of runners-up in no particular order.

Starstruck (1982) - Where has Starstruck been all my life?! This Australian new wave musical is pretty fantastic.

The Devonsville Terror (1983) - I kept rewatching The Boogeyman (1980) and not checking out this little gem from Ulli Lommel. Shame on me!

Der Samurai (2014) - Holy shit, y'all. Put this in your queue. I needed weird and wonderful and Der Samurai is definitely all that (and full frontal male nudity).

Les affamés AKA Ravenous (2017) - The trailer for this one creeped me out so I gave it a look. Typical infected quasi-zombie film that goes bucking fonkers!

I Married a Witch (1942) - I'm embarrassed to say it but I don't think I'd ever seen a Veronica Lake film before. This was a great place to start.

Hell Fest (2018) - I was shocked when I found out that this one didn't do well in theaters. It was a perfect appetizer for the new Halloween.

Halloween (2018) - Speak of the devil. I took my wife to this on our 13th anniversary and we had a blast. I can't wait to watch this again.

Night of the Demons 2 (1994) - I waited way too long to check this out. Needless to say, I friggin' LOVED it. Essential 90s goodness.

The Duke of Burgundy (2014) - This film completely blew me away. If you're a fan of Jess Franco, give this a look immediately.

Cast a Deadly Spell (1991) - I knew this Lovecraftian noir comedy existed but it took my wife remembering it to bring it into my life. Perfect.

Suspiria (2018) - Last but not least, the remake nobody wanted. This is the weirdest thing I've seen in a major theater chain. Captivating and insane.

And here are the wonderful and totally worth mentioning runners-up:

The Shape of Water (2017)
The Pit (1981)
Girl Asleep (2015)
Hereditary (2018)
Dragonslayer (1981)
Magic Christmas Tree (1964)
Initiation: Silent Night, Deadly Night 4 (1990)
Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker (1991)
The Dark (1979)
Miami Connection (1987)
Annihilation (2018)
Emma, puertas oscuras (1974)

Films I Watched: December 2018

* means a First Time Watch.

The Duke of Burgundy (2014)*
White Christmas (1954)
Terry Pratchett's Hogfather (2006)
Sleepwalkers (1992)
Constantine: City of Demons (2018)*
Better Watch Out (2016)*
Magic Christmas Tree (1964)*
Santa Claus (1959)
Hands of Steel (1986)*
Thunder Squad AKA Wild Team (1985)*
The Holiday (2006)
Initiation: Silent Night, Deadly Night 4 (1990)*
Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker (1991)*
Nutcracker Fantasy (1979)
Batman Returns (1992)
Deadpool 2 (2018)*
Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)
The Ref (1994)
Krampus (2015)
The Legend of Hell House (1973)
Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out! (1989)
The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017)*
Mixed Nuts (1994)*
Silent Night, Bloody Night (1972)
Elf (2003)
Silent Night (2012)
Black Christmas (1974)
Don't Open Till Christmas (1984)
White Christmas (1954)
Center Stage (2000)
Noises Off... (1992)
Robocop (1987)
Automata (2014)*
Madhouse (1974)
The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue (1974)
Jack Frost (1997)*
Bloody New Year (1987)
New Year's Evil (1980)
Terror Train (1980)