October Ritual 2020 Post Mortem

Ahh time for the roundup on the October Ritual. Here is what was watched.

1. Drive Thru (2007) - Body Count: 16
2. 30 Days of Night (2007) - Body Count: 67
3. Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead (1994) - Body Count: 15
4. Bride of Re-animator (1990) - Body Count: 10
5. Tomie Unlimited (2011)* - Body Count: 11
6. Behind the Mask: Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006) - Body Count: 11
7. Night of the Living Dead (1968) - Body Count: 8
8. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986) - Body Count: 8
9. Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avengers IV (2000) - Body Count: 47
10. The VelociPastor (2017)* - Body Count: 7
11. Bubba the Redneck Werewolf (2014)* - Body Count: 18
12. Circus Kane (2017) - Body Count: 9
13. Maniac (1980) - Body Count: 8
14. Bloodrayne (2005) - Body Count: 102
15. Fright Night (1985) - Body Count: 7
16. Night of the Demon (1980)* - Body Count: 11
17. Night of the Demons (1988) - Body Count: 14
18. Return of the Living Dead 3 (1993) - Body Count: 22
19. Book of Blood (2009)* - Body Count: 4
20. The Midnight Meat Train (2008) - Body Count: 11
21. Dread (2009)* - Body Count: 4
22. Lord of Illusion (1995) - Body Count: 32
23. Hellbound: Hellraiser 2 (1988) - Body Count: 27
24. Candyman 3: Day of the Dead (1999)* - Body Count: 16
25. Motel Hell (1980) - Body Count: 6
26. Creepshow 2 (1987) - Body Count: 17
27. The House That Dripped Blood (1971) - Body Count: 10
28. Mausoleum (1983) - Body Count: 7
29. The Ice Cream Truck (2017) - Body Count: 5
30. All Hallows' Eve (2013) - Body Count: 10
31. All Hallows' Eve 2 (2015)* - Body Count: 16

Originally, I was aiming for a lot more movies. However, I was laid up for 12 days unable to even sit, let alone watch movies with people. As such, we had a tight crunch near the end (as we only ran 14 days), which led to The Precipice Grindhouse's 1st 2 Quadruple Features. But here are the screening totals.

Single Film = 1

Double Features = 8

Triple Features = 2

Quadruple Features = 2

There were eight 1st time films for me personally, and one of them truly shook me to the core (Dread).

Looking at Decades, the 80s just barely edged out 00s and 10s.

1 film from the 60s

1 film from the 70s

9 films from the 80s

5 films from the 90s

8 films from the 00s

7 films from the 10s

I do apologize for not keeping track of the body counts, amount of genitals shown, amputations, gallons of blood, ect. Maybe next year's edition I'll keep track.

Now I must prepare for Season 2. Yes, I know, not counting the October Ritual as a season is insane, but it does have it's own format versus the seasons. We will return in mid-November (exact date TBD) for more as we delve into a 10 week trip of 20 films. The good, the bad, and the guilty pleasures of Horror on Amazon Prime will be explored.

Until then, we are all on the Precipice.

(* denotes 1st time viewing)

Edit:
I have added the body count for each film.

The Ritual Begins (October 1, 2020)

October 1st. Fall is in the air. The leaves are turning. The Precipice Grindhouse is set to reopen, and ritual is about to begin.

During the October Ritual, I will be posting weekly updates with the films we have watched and our current count. As explained in a previous entry, I will be running AT LEAST 31 films for the month. And much like Season 1, some of my planned picks are currently unavailable. But the month is young, so some things may change.

Tonight will be our 1st film of the ritual, a Black Comedy American Slasher from 2007, Drive Thru.

The ritual will commence at 10pm EDT/7pm PDT on Twitch. See you there #PrecipiceCoterie.

Coming Soon - The October Ritual

Good evening, my friends. Hopefully, you haven't missed me terribly. I wanted to touch base with you all briefly as we lead up to our big October event, which I am dubbing The October Ritual.

Why am I calling it TOR? This dates back to some I started back in 2007. At that time, Netflix was a DVD delivering service, and I decided to go with the highest tier plan. I loaded my list with anything horror, and for the month of October I watched 1 a night, for 31 films. 2008 saw a return of this where I bumped it to 2 a night, for 62 films. 2009, that was where everything changed. Everything I watched in October was horror, averaging 4 films a night. I had to scrape many barrels to fill that outrageous year. The tradition continued year after year, usually doing 60+ films every October. A day in October doesn't feel complete without some kind of Horror being viewed.

Now that you have the backstory (if you can call it that), you know that Twitch has afforded me a way to share movies with Prime members. So I decided around week 3 of Season 1, that I would bring this tradition to Twitch and the Precipice Grindhouse.

For the Month of October, I will be running AT LEAST 31 horror films. Until I get a list of whats available that month, I can not commit to any specific titles. The range of horror will vary though, and anything we watched in Season 1 will be excluded. Expect big franchises, low budget gems, literal garbage, etc. So I guess I'm saying, "Expect the unexpected."

Now because of prior commitments, we will be running only 26 confirmed days. One of which will be Halloween, itself. So we will have some double and possible triple features to make up for the lost days. I do hope you join us for this journey.

It also comes to my attention that many communities have a hashtag or something"fam". I am not opposed to this, for you are all my Coterie, specifically, the Precipice Coterie.

Keep an eye on my social media as I do have a surprise planned. Sleep easy, Coterie.

-TE

Season 1

Starting on July 3rd, I kicked off The Precipice Grindhouse (TPG) on Twitch. Committing to running 20 Horror Films in 10 Weeks, each week with its own theme. Here is that journey, and as I type this we are heading into our Season Finale.

Week 1: Takeover
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
The Stuff (1985)

Week 2: Clowns
Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988)
The Funhouse Massacre (2015)

Week 3: Ice Cream Men
Ice Cream Man (1995)
Phantasm (1979)

Week 4: Camping
Sleepaway Camp 2 (1988)
Sleepaway Camp 3 (1989)

Week 5: 1976
The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976)
Alice, Sweet Alice (1976)

Week 6: Haunts
The Houses October Built (2014)
The Houses October Built 2 (2017)

Week 7: Clive Barker
Hellraiser (1986)
Nightbreed (1990)

Week 8: 1986
Chopping Mall (1986)
Neon Maniacs (1986)

Week 9: Slasher
Deep Red (1975)
Final Exam (1981)

Week 10: Birbs
Beaks: The Movie (1987)
Birdemic (2011)

What is next? Well, we will be returning October 1st for a month long Horrorfest. We will be running at least 31 films during the month. Stay tuned for more details. 

Welcome to the Precipice Grindhouse

If you had told me 3 months ago, that I would be fulfilling a dream of being a film host (on Twitch, no less), I would have called you a liar. Since I was little, I always had a fascination with film. Low budget, no budget, huge budget. It didn't matter. I watched whatever I could, using it to grow my own personal tastes. That openness to see someone tell a story (sometimes lack there of) exposed me to the good, and a lot of the bad. It shaped me, molded me, made me who I am.

That is why, when I was given an opportunity to share some of these movies with people, I jumped at the opportunity. Now, to be clear, watching movies with people is nothing new. You do it every time you would step into a theater, go to a drive-in, have a slumber party, etc. But with the advent of streaming platforms, it made it easier. There have been services and browser plug-ins that have allowed you to synchronize, or even share, video with others. Two examples of this are Rabbit (for sharing) and Showgoer (for synchronizing). And I'll admit, I have used those (and other ones) in the past to watch with people, usually with a voice chat going on so we could laugh, joke, etc. during the movie or show.

Enter Amazon, who back in 2014 purchased Twitch. This was a weird move at the time, but we learned to accept it. Over the years, Amazon as integrated some of its services into Twitch, namely Prime. This was a game changer for a lot of those who used the platform. It gave you some perks just for linking your Amazon Prime account to Twitch, and it still does.

But something interesting occurred April 2020. For Prime Members in the US, they could join "Watch Parties" on Twitch with a limited catalog. The following month, they made the entire Prime Video catalog available for these Watch Parties. The next month, they rolled it out worldwide. Hosting a "Watch Party" slowly being rolled out worldwide.

For anyone that knows me from Twitch, they know that the last 2 years have been rough for me. I dealt with a lot of personal and professional issues, as well as being burned out from 6 days a week 8-12 hr streams for 3 years. I would pop up for a stream occasionally, and something felt off. The passion was gone. Until, it wasn't. You see, in times of crisis, people need an escape. Even if it was for an hour, they needed to forget about the hellscape reality we are currently in. That rekindled the passion I had for entertaining, for providing an escape. I could have played it safe and just done what I always had before, just play games, make bad jokes, and try to make people feel welcome. From March 2020 until May 2020, that is what I tried. Then I remembered running movies for friends. Just hanging out and experiencing something, for them it was usually their first time. The feeling of introducing people to something new was exhilarating. Due to me running usually 2-3 films when I did this, I called it The Grindhouse. A homage to the old theaters of the 70s and 80s that were known for doing double and triple features, usually low budget films that were just pumped out. And what better escape is there then watching a movie? Considering the "branding" I use on Twitch, it quickly became The Precipice Grindhouse. I also tended to focus more on Horror than any other genre.

I will not forget running a "test" that turned into a 10 week season, and the joy I have sharing these films (no matter how good or bad) with people. It started with just 2 films, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) and The Stuff (1985). And I thought, "Hey, what if I ran 2 Horror Movies every week with a connecting theme?" And that is how it all started.

Hopefully you weren't bored through this welcome and back story to what TPG is all about.

- TE