Hallow-vent 2020
We love Halloween here at DreamCage. We also love interactive clicky stuff, so we've thought of a way to combine the two and give you a fun countdown to Halloween. David Ames explains more...
It’s that time of year again: the birds are chirping, the leaves are falling, there’s a chill in the air, and there’s a pandemic raging. All of these elements come together to make a fantastic holiday season, full of candy, and popcorn, and gory, bloody, creepy films that cause existential crises and fits of catatonia.
This year I am looking at a subgenre of horror that, although it is centralized to a continent, is very diverse in subject matter and approach: Asian horror. I LOVE Asian horror. It may be that the original Ringu played an important part in my young life, causing me to be both fascinated and horrified by this type of horror.
While I was used to American horror movies, particularly slasher franchises like Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Friday the 13th, I was not prepared for the sheer amount of difference between American and Asian approaches to horror. While most of what I had seen of American horror dealt with blood, gore, murder, and a substantial amount of nudity and sexual content (my 12-14-year-old self was always appreciative), Asian horror was much more subtle and disturbing.
Maybe it was the newness and disconnection of the culture. Maybe it was the language barrier. Maybe it was the seeming focus on folklore that wasn’t present in the west’s presentation (at least from my limited experience), but from the moment I saw Ringu, I was hooked.
This year I wanted to approach Asian horror that was not as famous as those I had seen previously and so I chose movies that I had never seen, or even heard of for the most part. There is only one film on the list that I was familiar with beforehand, and I hadn’t watched that since high school.
So sit back, relax, and enjoy the strange mix of subtlety, disturbing imagery, and slow-burn that is this year’s Hallowvent calendar.
Click on today's date number to read the latest Hallow-vent entry. You can find 2016's Hallow-vent Calendar HERE, 2017's HERE, 2018's HERE and 2019's HERE
List of Films
Day 2 - Shutter
Day 3 - The Bridge Curse
Day 4 - 23:59
Day 5 - The 3rd Eye
Day 6 - Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum
Day 7 - Kuntilanak
Day 8 - Blood: The Last Vampire
Day 9 - Carved: The Slit-Mouthed Woman
Day 10 - Macabre
Day 11 - The Red Shoes
Day 8 - Blood: The Last Vampire
Day 9 - Carved: The Slit-Mouthed Woman
Day 10 - Macabre
Day 11 - The Red Shoes
Day 12 - Phone
Day 13 - Audition
Day 14 - The Wailing
Day 15 - Eerie
Day 16 - Noroi: The Curse
Day 17 - Dark Water
Day 18 - The Garden of Sinners: Overlooking ViewDay 19 - Cure
Day 20 - Flu
Day 21 - Possessed
Day 22 - Suicide Club
Day 23 - The Mimic
Day 24 - Hansel and GretelDay 25 - May the Devil Take You
Day 26 - The Ghost
Day 27 - Dumplings
Day 28 - The Silenced
Day 29 - Reincarnation
Day 30 - A Tale of Two Sisters
Day 31 - Thirst
