Summery for October to December 2020

Drawing plans together for the last three months of 2020, I had originally structured October to be a return of Halloween 31 for 31, themed with the idea of covering thirty one films for each day based on a film from thirty one countries. Truthfully, my plan had had to be changed somewhat as, in the grander scheme of more priority, my intentions for the last three months of 2020 is to clear through the back catalogues and To-Watch piles, entering 2021 with a clear slate, which takes priority over this initial plan and means horror films will be regardless of their country of origins.

Thankfully, this will include an eclectic selection nonetheless, and especially without a bias to know, big budget films as always. And, realising my original plan can go beyond thirty one countries, including the foggy area of international co-productions, and that countries like Germany due to 20th century history have existed in multiple forms, I can free this plan out and continue it to as long as I can sustain and locate the titles. It allows for another plan, now for a couple of months the Night of a Thousand Horror (Movies) posts have returned, to get over the two hundred mark in reviews.

There will at least be thirty one reviews in October. Maybe more as, depending on practicality, there could be days with more than one review, one in the morning and one in the evening, of tangential material to television work being reviewed, all suitable for the season if even not horror.

November and December will collect together and finish off as much of my unused notes as possible, finally clearing the cobwebs. They will be planned and worked on ahead of time even if by a month. They will also be an eclectic mix, all to tie up as many loose ends not only for this blog, but 1000 Anime too, and even tidying up the blogs' presentation respectably. As much of this, to pull back the curtain, is a form of therapy, overcoming stress and anxiety at this point in my life with a greater focus on goals to improve my mental health, by refocusing and re-sharpening my interests to relieving these. Clearing the excess too, for both blogs, is a necessary anyway for this task, to relieve myself of time consuming materials and literal physical piles blocking a clear slate. It will allow DVDs left gathering dust to finally be seen, materials to be cleared out, and a sense of a new page being turned.

This will include some heavy hitters being covered as well, alongside my interest in eclectic obscurities and returning to old writing, not only possible re-posts but also very old material from before this blog to be returned to and rewriting, rewatching the films and hoping my writing style has improved considerably since I did not know have to space out text in paragraphs.

This is all written, in autumn 2020 before the leaves turn yellows to reds, with knowledge of how 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic has completed changed the world in terms of public mentality, both for positive enlightenment as much as unfortunately exposing its complacency, making the issue worse with a lot of anxiety for us all. If one person is helped through this ongoing scenario still by reading my writing, merely one, I have done something virtuous.

For me as well, I am thinking of how when the pandemic lockdown measures had ended¹ and cinemas started to open again, the pleasure of just being in a cinema, regardless of the film, would be experienced with a new found insight. At the time of writing this, sadly, the United States are still suffering the pandemic, and lockdowns are threatening to return again in other countries. And to a much lesser extent, the same problems as before for me with the theatrical experience are still there - lack of choice, lack of access, and for the more older films being shown now, you however now have less films being shown at practical times as a person who uses publish transport.

In spite of this, that sentiment has encouraged me to have an occasional, if potential indulgent, experiment in other forms of writings. Less film reviews, more diary entries taking this idea, but extending this as a regular cineaste thinking about what the moving image, not just cinema, mean to me in terms of access, how they are presented and what they are.

The first, as a non-horror piece in October, will be arriving soon. I hope you enjoy it.

 

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1) Sadly in the United Kingdom, despite them being eased back into September 2020, the threat of them coming back harshly still hangs over when this post was published.