The Horrors Persist

Chay / 31 / Lover of all things horror On a quest to watch every horror movie ever made, documenting my adventures here

[horror-huntress]

About Me:

Hey all, I’m Chay! I’ve been lurking around tumblr for the last 15 years, and you may know me already from some of my other blogs (which I will mention towards the bottom of this post)

I’m on a quest to watch every horror movie ever made. This will certainly take my entire life to try to complete, and I very well may die trying, but what a life well spent. All I’ve ever wanted to do with my life is live every day steeped in horror, and this is a good stepping stone to making that dream a reality

I have a tendency to ramble, so I’ll put the rest of my nonsense under a cut. In any case, welcome to the blog, please join me on my journey into the unknown!

Alright so here’s a little more about me:

I was raised on horror, and grew up watching horror movies/shows with my dad. Some of my earliest memories are of watching Tales From The Crypt with him during late nights, something we did every week for several years when I was coming up

My dad’s philosophy was that I needed to be acutely aware that there really are evil people in this world, and they really will try to hurt you if given the chance. Watching horror was meant to be a lesson in many ways, pointing out common mistakes people can make when afraid, and showing how killers might operate when chasing a victim. And the lessons sank in early on, we have a fond memory of watching a Scream movie when I was around 3-4 and yelling at Sydney to “shoot him in the face” instead of the chest because Ghostface might be wearing a bulletproof vest (my dad is extremely proud of this memory, and tells it gleefully to others, as I do now)

But obviously horror is not exactly meant to be realistic, it’s meant to be fun and give us a thrill. And so I became more desensitized to fear, instead finding great joy in interacting with horror media. Movies and shows were always fun, and I could enjoy them with my dad as a way for us to bond, but that love extended to books and games as well. I devoured collections of scary stories, and begged my parents to get me Luigi’s Mansion the moment it came out for the GameCube

As I’ve grown older I haven’t really had the chance to play as many games as I’d have liked (horror or otherwise), but I’ve kept up reading horror. In fact, I read that genre almost exclusively nowadays. Maybe I can do book reviews here too, if anyone is interested in this idea

Anyway, I’ve always had the thought that I’d love to watch every horror movie ever made, even when I was younger. As a kid/teen I didn’t realize just how vast the genre really was, and I assumed it went back to the 1950’s, maybe a bit earlier, when movies were starting to become a bigger phenomena in America. I’ve learned that I was very wrong about that, and the first horror movie actually came out in 1896 (Le Manoir du Diable or The Haunted Castle/The House of the Devil; unfortunately I have not yet been able to watch this movie). In any case, I’ve always wanted to see where the roots of horror rested, and what gave us fans the things we have today

I’ve watched plenty of documentary shows about “the greatest horror movies of all time”, and the guests on those shows had so much knowledge of the extensive horror library. It gave me a sense of joy to see the love poured into the genre, but also a sense of longing because I hadn’t seen all of the movies discussed/referenced

When the documentary movie series Into The Darkness came out on Shudder my dad and I watched all of them as soon as they were put out for streaming. My dad had memories of many of the movies discussed, since the series was taking an introspective look at every horror movie that premiered during the 1980s, but I found that my knowledge was far limited in comparison to how many movies had actually come out at that time. I resolved then that I wanted to watch every 80s horror movie I could find, as this seemed a somewhat easier feat considering how many were already on Shudder and other streaming services. This has turned out not to be the easy feat I expected, but still I figured why not just expand the scope and go back to my original goal to watch every horror movie ever. Go big or go home, right?

After some research, and some lists that many claim are not truly and fully complete, I found that there seems to be at least 50,000 horror movies in the world, with some estimates reaching as high as 100,000. Now I’m no fool, I know that even if I watch a movie every single day it wouldn’t be possible to watch that many in my lifetime. And you know, I’m totally okay with that. Even if I don’t make it through the entire catalogue of horror, I’ll still have been able to spend my whole life enjoying it, and in the end isn’t that what we should be doing with our lives? Finding something we love and chasing after it, filling our existence with the joy it brings us? Besides, maybe I’ll get lucky enough to be super rich someday, and then I won’t have to work a real job and can spend my days watching a ton more horror movies and working down this list even faster

So that’s me, and that’s my goal in life. All I aim to do here is keep track of what I’ve watched so far, and my thoughts on those movies. I encourage you to join me in this endeavor, comment on my posts and share your thoughts, send messages and DMs to discuss things more in depth, or just give me more suggestions for things to watch. Tell me your favorite horror movies, the ones you think every horror fan just has to watch someday, the ones you think completely define or redefine the genre. I’m happy to talk to anyone so long as you’re respectful and polite. Don’t be an asshole or a bully, don’t judge or shame me (or anyone else) for things I like/don’t like, and let’s all just live our lives in peace and joy. You can disagree with my reviews, and in fact I encourage disagreement so that I can see others’ opinions and form a discussion about these movies, but there’s a kind way to do that

To wrap this up, I’ll plug my other blogs, because why not

Personal blog: insanechayne

Sexual/Mature content blog: finelyfatty (I also have a backup under finelyfattysecondary just in case tumblr nukes the original one)

Keep it creepy, my spookables! 🤘🏻

[dat-soldier]

“I'll love you forever,

I'll like you for always,

As long as I'm living,

my baby you'll be.”

[true-king-of-monsters]

First of all this is a really bitchin piece you drew.

And second, HOW FUCKIN DARE YOU

[unsterbliche--geliebte]

[knifepartyart]

Est. 2020

[lesstalkmoreillustration]

Morgaen Muñoz ON TUMBLR

BLACK THUMB

[horror-huntress]

Tales From The Crypt (1989-1996)

Season 2, Episode 10: The Ventriloquist’s Dummy

Where: Shudder

Synopsis: Ventriloquist finds his idol and learns his secret

Overall rating: 10/10

*My personal review contains spoilers for the show, which is why it’s been put under a cut. Please use your discretion in reading this review, and understand that this is NOT spoiler free*

My thoughts: This has always been one of my favorite episodes, one I’ve remembered vividly since childhood, and one I’d consider a TFTC classic. The acting is great, the flow moves along very well, and the twist is so unexpected that in a way it becomes hilarious.

Billy is so earnest in wanting to be a ventriloquist, a childhood dream that he’s practiced hard to achieve, but unfortunately falls short when it comes to the actual show. And really he could be great/funny if he could get better timing down on the jokes, and differentiate the dummy’s voice a bit better. But even with him not being very good, his eagerness and effort are commendable.

Mr. Ingels makes for a perfectly cranky old man, reclusive and shitty to anyone who tries to come by, but there’s still a bit of softness to him. He seems like a genuinely good guy, but has had much tragedy befall him which has made him jaded and bitter.

I do love that the plot starts to set you up for a more cliche ending, let us believe that Mr. Ingels was the villain the whole time and had killed that showgirl 20 years prior. Then when the actual twist comes in we’re pretty much completely thrown off guard. And the twist is amazing too, because who thinks of the deformed conjoined twin being stuck to Ingels hand? Really the ventriloquist shtick was perfect for them, easy to hide Morty in the dummy costume and no real work needs to be done on either part to try and throw their voice or anything else too tough. It’s so off the wall as to become completely brilliant.

Morty is a terrifying little creature too, a wonder of special effects makeup and animatronics. The disgustingly bulging eyes and weird little rat hands are quite disturbing, and the squeaky little voice works perfectly for the character. Really it’s incredible he’d be able to move and run so easily on just his little hands considering he’d never had to use them for that purpose before, but he’s a fast little fucker. So of course the only logical option to try and kill him is to shove him in a meat grinder, which makes for a unique kill that you’d really never see anywhere else.

And then the double twist that truly makes this a TFTC classic, kinda silly and kinda scary and completely nonsensical but at the same time makes perfect sense. Morty forming himself to Billy’s hand so that they’d be connected forever and stuck together, and now Billy is cursed with this little creature for too damn long. This is why we always wear gloves when touching someone else that we’re not close to/familiar with. Healthcare 101, always wear gloves! And they would have come in handy here for sure.

Anyway, this is an episode I can watch again and again, and one I’d recommend to anyone getting into this show.

[littlewickedthings]

Sammy Ruiz

[horror-huntress]

Tales From The Crypt (1989-1996)

Season 2, Episode 9: Four-Sided Triangle

Where: Shudder

Synopsis: Forced farm laborer taken advantage of after a head injury (**I mean not quite accurate…**)

Overall rating: 7/10

*My personal review contains spoilers for the show, which is why it’s been put under a cut. Please use your discretion in reading this review, and understand that this is NOT spoiler free*

My thoughts: I’ve always enjoyed this one, even if it is a little cringy at times. The story feels fluid and the ending is predictable in a good way, where you’re glad for the comeuppance. Though the only thing about this one that’s creepy is George being such an old gross pervert. But therein lies the justified ending.

I don’t really understand why George and Luisa were such assholes to Mary Jo. There are conversations where it seems like she’s not the first “helper” they’ve had around the farm, so I’d imagine they’ve treated everyone poorly that’s worked for them, but it still doesn’t make much sense. Had they been nicer then Mary Jo probably would have been willing to help out around the farm and house without much fuss. And they should have been paying her for her time there.

I imagine that Luisa being disabled made her more bitter and upset with the world, and with the young helpers they’d been getting around the farm. Possibly she’d always been horrible, it certainly seems that way, but at the same time knowing your husband is looking at the other women and thinks you’re less than others would probably piss anyone off. I don’t think Luisa had always been disabled when she and George had first gotten together and started running the farm, since she speaks like someone who’s done farm work for several years, so one has to wonder if it was some kind of accident that put her in a brace and cane. So how long had that been her life? How long had George been ogling the other young women? How many had come through on their farm before Mary Jo?

None of that matters much, but they’re things I think about when watching this episode. I wonder what made Luisa so bitter and if George is the cause by looking at other women, or if he thinks it’s justified because his wife turned bitter.

Anyway, I do also wonder if Mary Jo really had some kind of hallucination from her head injury to make her think the scarecrow actually was alive, or if she just used hitting her head to her advantage. The ending with her running off into the night saying that she’s finally free would suggest some kind of manipulation on her part, though I don’t know how she could have predicted George would try to pretend to be the scarecrow and get himself killed. Or maybe she assumed that he’d try something like that since he was such a perverted creep.

In any case, he did try that, and he did get killed. Fitting that Luisa was the one to stab him to death with the pitchfork, even unknowingly. Certainly she deserved to give the death blow since her husband was such a prick. It’s certainly deserved since we all know he would have tried to use the scarecrow thing to his own advantage and assault Mary Jo (had she really been hallucinating and thinking the scarecrow actually was real).

But I do appreciate that Mary Jo got to kill Luisa too. Luisa isn’t blameless here, and she was abusive to Mary Jo without reason or cause, so she deserved her fate too.

All in all, an enjoyable episode. Wouldn’t necessarily watch it over and over like I have with some other episodes, but a couple times is still worth it.

[ducissatenebrarum]

“Human Skeleton,” by James Ward, ca 1810. Medium: graphite, brown ink, brown and gray wash.

[darkpagesworld]

[therhodestohappiness]

[demonbimbo-nsfw-deactivated2024]

[excitementshewrote]

[jokerlives]

[horror-huntress]

Tales From The Crypt (1989-1996)

Season 2, Episode 8: For Cryin’ Out Loud

Where: Shudder

Synopsis: Marty plans to steal, but his banker blackmails him (**Insert the “I guess” meme here**)

Overall rating: 7/10

*My personal review contains spoilers for the show, which is why it’s been put under a cut. Please use your discretion in reading this review, and understand that this is NOT spoiler free*

My thoughts: This is a fun one, has that silly tongue-in-cheek nature that TFTC is often known for. Marty throws a benefit concert for charity but in reality is embezzling all the money for himself to go out of the country, which feels like standard cliche crime story stuff. But then he grows an inner voice conscience and that’s where things take a turn.

I appreciate the idea of the voice of reason being in his head and popping up out of nowhere, never see that in media unless it’s just like an angel on the shoulder. But we all supposedly have a conscience, and that’s what makes this one fun. Especially with it just screaming at him in his head and making him act weird, to the point others are noticing. The acting with this is great, because Marty really does look like he’s struggling with his sanity pretty much the whole time.

And the ending bit with the pencil being stabbed in his ear is great makeup work, but also very cringey. Can’t imagine doing something like that to myself, which is part of why it gives me the creeps. No wonder everyone is staring at him when he’s not only acting crazy but also has this pencil sticking out of the side of his head.

It’s also fun that by the time he’s about to be put to death he’s pretty much excited for it, since he’s had to hear this voice constantly for months probably. That gives it some humor while also still being a fitting twisted ending

All in all, this is one I’ve always really enjoyed. Definitely gotta watch this one many times

[thewindowofthesummerhouse]

Xue Jiye -  薛继业

[horror-huntress]

The Queen of Black Magic (2020)

*This is an Indonesian movie, and I watched it with subtitles*

Watch date: June 5, 2026

Where: Shudder

Overall rating: 7/10

Synopsis: A middle-class family travels into rural Indonesia to visit the terminally ill director of the orphanage where the father was raised as a child. Sinister events soon befall them.

**TRIGGER WARNINGS: Discussions of implied CSA (non-graphic and non-descriptive), lots of bug stuff**

*My personal review contains spoilers for the movie, which is why it’s been put under a cut. Please use your discretion in reading this review, and understand that this is NOT spoiler free*

My thoughts: This movie was much better than I was expecting. I’d seen a trailer on a Facebook reel with someone talking about some of what they’d seen, and it looked pretty interesting, and I’m glad I got the chance to see it

The special effects/makeup work in this were very well done, definitely some very gross things throughout that made even me cringe at them. Especially all the bug stuff. I’m not afraid of insects but I still don’t want them anywhere near me, and certainly not in my mouth or crawling under my skin. That’s a very effective tool in getting me a bit freaked out during movies.

I appreciate that the villain in this is entirely evil, and rationalizes what she’s doing in horrible ways. She’s willing to kill innocent children because “isn’t it better than living in this place?” I love a movie that’s realistic, because truly evil people don’t stop with a child or with innocence, they do what they want and kill who they feel like. It’s important to show that sometimes, I think.

Which also I must say that there was fantastic acting throughout, and especially with the kids. The little boy playing Haqi did such a great job and I hope he has a long career in acting (if that’s what he wants).

And the ending is extremely satisfying. The corrupt old pedophile who ran the orphanage is locked in to burn to death with the “witch”. That’s a chef’s kiss, satisfying to the max ending right there. Some people deserve the worst possible comeuppance they can receive, and facing fire is often considered to be one of the most horrible ways to day. I almost clapped for that ending honestly.

I will say that at first this movie feels a bit slow and slightly choppy, like finding its footing in the story it’s trying to tell. But after about 20-30 minutes it really starts picking up by a lot, and then it’s something of a wild ride right to the ending. I often have trouble with slow starts, but this one did well and kept me engaged the whole time.

Definitely worth the watch!