One of the great joys of the Halloween season (or as the normals call it, October) is the glorious abundance of Horror/Sci-Fi films available on TV and streaming services.

Now gather round, youngsters, because I’m about to tell you about how hard we had it when back in the day.  Nowadays you can either stream, rent, or buy pretty much any movie you want at any time. When I was a kid, all we had was the basic four channels. Only FOUR!  And people didn’t OWN movies then; if there was a movie that you wanted to see after its theatrical run, your only option was to obsessively scan the TV listings and hope for a miracle.

Some of us were fortunate enough to live in a town that had a locally produced Saturday-night late-show along the lines of SCTV’s “Monster Chiller Horror Theatre.” Here in Pittsburgh, we had our beloved Chiller Theatre with late lamented horror icon Bill “Chilly Billy” Cardille. Chiller (for those of us on a first-name basis) remained a venerable local institution for over 20 years until Saturday Night Live and the video cassette player led to its eventual demise.

In those days, I longed for October to begin because it meant Horror and Sci-Fi films would break free from their Saturday-night shackles and air on other days of the week – sometimes even multiple times per week! And Chiller Theatre’s all-night Halloween weekend marathon was a mandatory sleepover party event for me and my friends.

With the ease of purchasing films online combined with the abundance of choices on rental, streaming, and video-on-demand, it’s now possible to spend every night in October (or any other time, really) watching countless scary movies. With October features like TCM Classic Horror, AMC Fearfest, and SyFy 31 Days of Halloween, now is a good time to catch up on some of those timeless old classics, revisit your favorites, and just immerse yourself in the chills, excitement, and fun of Peak Halloween.

So here’s the deal – I’m calling it Maledicta’s 31 Fright Nights Challenge. (Sadly, it’s the best I could come up with. I’m open for suggestions for a better name next year!) Every night in October, I’ll watch a different horror film. I’ll try to mix up the subgenres as much as I can – one night I’ll screen a vampire movie, the next night could be zombies, then perhaps witches… Aliens are fair game, as are serial killers, assorted monsters, and psychopathic children. I will certainly throw in a few of my all-time favorites because it’s my website, and I can 😉 Then the following day, I’ll post a short review complete with Snack Report.

Now here’s where you come in… I challenge you to do the same. Pick a different horror film every night in October, watch, and share your choices with me at maledicta@Halloween-Lifestyle.com.

At the end of the month, we’ll tabulate the films that were most watched along with the most unique and unexpected entries, and we’ll post our findings in November.