Not Coming to a Theater Near You

Inasmuch as it is characterized by its iconic monsters, aesthetic violence, or fits of anxious suspense, the horror genre is known for its longevity and proliferation. It is in acknowledgement of these traits that we present our eighth annual survey of the horror genre.

31 Days of Horror heretofore numbers over two-hundred films, and yet our archive is far from comprehensive and bears numerous omissions. As such, our growing archive of horror reviews shouldn’t be regarded as an attempt at canonization, but rather one to discern the breadth and variety of one of our favorite genres in an exploratory fashion. This year, as is our custom, we will attempt to incrementally emphasize these two traits.

Volume VIII of 31 Days of Horror ranges over seventy years and contains many films that will not be found in the “Horror” partition of a video store. (And many of them, although classified as horror, would more rightfully be labeled as comedies.) In addition to the random array of reviews that has become this feature’s primary characteristic, this year we will be featuring two sidebars to be published each week: Frightening Firsts, a look at respected directors whose careers debuted with a horror movie, and Mexican Horror. As always, we promise scare chords, second deaths, and pools of blood beyond the suspected capacity of the human body.

By Rumsey Taylor, Cullen Gallagher, Victoria Large, Megan Weireter, Matt Bailey, Leo Goldsmith, Thomas Scalzo, David Carter, Matthew Derby, Jonathan Foltz, Glenn Heath Jr., Michael Nordine, Bernardo Rondeau, and Daniel Loria   ©2011 NotComing.com