31 Days of Horror Starter Guide | 2025 Edition

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Spooky season greetings and salutations everyone and welcome to another bonus episode of Elective brought to you by the faculty and staff of Hackerslash University. Now it is I, your Hackerslash University slasher in chief, and that's also the friendly neighborhood slasher enthusiast, Chris. And today I'm joined by our esteemed Dean of the Damned, Jill.

SPEAKER_01 0:24

This isn't some high school cafeteria. This is the end of the world.

SPEAKER_00 0:28

As we continue through the spooky season, we at Hackerslash University want to equip you with all the tips, tricks, and skills that you're gonna need to make the most out of the season. Now, this is one of many bonus episodes we're offering for free for all season long to our listeners. And today's lesson will actually challenge all of us to dabble in some research, some strategic planning, really exercise our critical thinking skills and try new things. We want to be open to new experiences because this week, class is in session on foundations of the 31 day watch list.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

Yes, students, this is what we have been working for all year, all month, all September of Hackerslash University. It is the 31 Days of Horror lineup. We've been talking about it since August, and it is finally, finally, finally the time for us to set our intentions, make our goals, and press play on some pretty awesome movies for October.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

This is a really big deal, Chell. And honestly, to our listeners, I think you all need to just pause for a moment and reflect because Chell has done a boatload of work and put in a lot of love and effort into curating this month's calendar. And it is honestly just such a feat. But not only to like curate a calendar and come up with some themes, which we'll talk about here in a bit, but to also have such a level of intentionality and making recommendations and then also curating and collecting recommendations from the rest of a host. Chell, I think what you have done truly is the vision of what HackerSlash has always wanted to be. So I just I can't thank you enough.

SPEAKER_01 2:01

Thank you so much, Chris. I mean, obviously, it's such a labor of love. It's something I always kind of enjoyed doing with my friends, kind of solo. But it when I kind of shared it a couple of years ago, people really embraced it and it kind of just became a tradition in Hacker Slash. So thank you to everyone who the last couple of years have really said, heck yeah, I want to do the themes and giving great recommendations. So you guys are all what made it really part of the Hacker Slash tradition.

SPEAKER_00 2:30

Oh yeah. And I mean, really just to dig in here, Chel, what was part of the like the Genesis or how did this get started for you personally as you then brought it into Hacker Slash?

SPEAKER_01 2:40

Yeah, so I am the type of creative person who I need walls to ricochet my ideas off of. I need guidelines, I need lines to color within or without of. So coming up with themes, especially when I was still kind of a baby horror fan, it was a good way for me to challenge myself of not just watching the same old movies every year, really pushing myself to find those areas I wasn't familiar with. And definitely a lot of times I would get feedback on themes from some of my other friends who were deeper in the horror sphere and kind of again pushing me to kind of expand my horizons. I will admit there were a couple times there were themes on there that I put on that I personally would not put on again. I'm not a Giallo fan. I tried it one year, not for me. This year, Giallo is not on the list. It has not been on the list since I think probably the first year I've done it. But don't you worry, listeners, we have a whole slew of various themes for you guys to really dig deep into and interpret in your own way. I mean, some of the some of the ones on there that I always like throwing in there are like gateway horror, which always asks a couple questions each year because gateway horror can be a couple different ways, and neither way is wrong.

SPEAKER_00 3:59

Yeah, let's be clear though, we're not talking about gatekeeping horror. We're not doing that. No. That nonsense.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

No, we don't do that around here. No, no.

SPEAKER_00 4:06

Yeah, one of my favorite things to actually look at, we had a listener pop into our Discord and ask the question of like, let's make sure we're all in agreement. So, what is gateway horror? And there's so many different ways to interpret that. One person is talking about, you know, movies that are not necessarily horror but are horror adjacent that kind of get you into there. Some of the folks look about like the classics that really start the relationships. I think Drew threw in there has to be at least one gate. I think it's fucking hilarious. But I really am looking forward to seeing how creative people get. And I actually found myself as I was curating something that we're going to discuss in a bit, which is our tracker. I was thinking back, okay, what episodes of Hackerslash could like fit in this area creatively? And I kind of held back for some, but okay, for example, the Lost Boys, would you consider that a gay horror movie, Chal?

SPEAKER_01 4:54

It's definitely homoerotic. I I would venture to guess there are some people out there who maybe had an awakening or really considered their sexuality because of the Lost Boys. I would support it. Absolutely. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:06

And my whole thing was like, okay, do I just get like into like really meta Hayes Co's definition of what this what this is, even if it isn't explicit? Then I was thinking, like, okay, what about not necessarily not necessarily traditionally LGBTQ plus movies, but maybe ones that are made by or star talent, who is of the community. So there's things like that. And then the other thing I was thinking about is like, okay, 1980s. What about movies that are modern but set in the 80s?

SPEAKER_01 5:34

All of it, all of it goes, especially on some of those, like you talked about Chris with LGPTQ, the gateway horror. Really, any of those, I love hearing stories, especially with something like Gateway Horror. Like, hey, this was my gateway, this was my entree into the wide world of horror. I know I've talked about how Scooby-Doo was that for me. For others, it was Beetlejuice or Adam's family. So we want that. So on those days, if there's a particular movie that really resonates with you and why you picked it, go ahead and share that in the Discord or on social media. Cause yeah, we really want, we really want this to be a personalized experience and we want to hear your side of it. This is a very Socratic approach to uh 31 Days of Horror, and we want you to be a part of that.

SPEAKER_00 6:23

100%. This is a place where all are welcome and we welcome your experiences and your perspectives. So this is not a time we're gonna poo-poo on each other's lists or movie picks or anything like that. We want to get excited about it right along with you. And Cho, obviously, we have a couple different places that we can find the calendar. We have it on our social media, so we have it posted on our Instagram. We also have it posted and pinned in Discord. We're gonna make sure it's on our website in addition to that. But one of the things that I would love to just highlight are some of the things that you're most excited about with how you approached picking the themes for each day.

SPEAKER_01 6:55

So there are some on there that have been there since the beginning. Uh, Stephen King, I'm a big King fan, so he's always day one for me. October 1st is always Stephen King day. I think he has such a nice way of getting you into the spooky mood, spooky vibes. And again, you can go either way. You can go absolutely batshit crazy with maximum overdrive, or you can get really deep and darken with it chapter one and two. So it's a good way to kind of choose your own adventure from the start and kind of set the tone however you want to set that. One new thing we did this year that I'm very excited about and everyone's really excited about are the host days that we're gonna be doing this year.

SPEAKER_00 7:34

Yeah. Tell us more about that.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

In addition to all of these themes, we are making sure to spotlight our, you know, our beloved hackerslash hosts, our faculty and staff of Hackerslash University. So they're each getting their own day to be featured during 31 Days of Horror. So on October 6th, you can celebrate Binks Day by watching some ghost and paranormal movies. And on any of these days, we have Sean on 1960s or older day on the 8th, Mac is Space Day on the 15th. Chris, we have you on the 8th anniversary of Hacker Slash on the 13th. And of course, we'll be doing some slashers.

SPEAKER_00 8:13

Hell yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:14

Yes. And then even some uh behind the scenes favorites. I will be having my own uh demonic day on the 20th. We are having Paris, our Scream Queen, for the 22nd, and then rounding out the final week with Nathan and some found footage and Vero with some zombie movies to really just close it all out. So on those days, you know, keep an eye out on our social medias, on our Discords to see the host maybe hanging out a little bit, offering their own recommendations, and just, you know, an opportunity for us all to just have one big, you know, month-long Halloween horror party.

SPEAKER_00 8:52

It is gonna be such a blast and such a party, and I'm so excited to jump into it. Now, there are a few things to keep in mind with how to best approach the 31 Days of Horror watch list, right? We have tips, we have strategies, there's a bit of a playbook. But for those of you who maybe want to track your progress, and maybe you're not a huge fan of Letterboxd, or fuck it, maybe you are, and you just want to see something a little bit more tailored to the hackerslash community, we've got something special for you right here. I'm actually going to start sharing my screen. If you're watching a video of this episode, you're going to actually now see our 2025 watch list tracker. And show what this actually does is allow you to do a few different things. One to get a feel for every single theme and get a little bit more inspiration. Sometimes you read these titles or these themes and you instantly know what you want to do. And others you're like, oh gosh, I gotta think about this. And then you gotta think about what other movies qualify as this. Folks, we have done, and as actually, we just wrapped recording on our 412th episode of Hacker Slash. I promise you, we have something for every single day on this calendar. And here's what we're actually gonna find out now. So if you're following along with me, you're gonna have a spot to put in your name. And let's start with today's date. Let's pretend this is October 1st. So when we do this, it's gonna automatically jump to the theme for that specific day. Of course, day one, Stephen King, start with the king. We get an introduction and an overview of A, a little bit of how that theme is connected to Hackerslash, but also B, just a little bit of inspiration. And from there, you can say, Would you like a recommendation? Okay, no thanks I got it covered. You can then fill in what movies you have and what you're doing. The other option here, you can say, Absolutely, let's hear it. So, within this, you're gonna get a list of Stephen King adaptations that we've actually covered on the show. And some of these are like really big throwbacks, which is hilarious to kind of look back on the history. I forgot we did Pet Cemetery. Pet Cemetery was an episode we did in 2019 before Mac was even on the show, and he listened to that episode and then came back to me at work with thoughts on that episode. And that was before he started, it was like a couple months before he started. So it was a nice little walk down Emory Lane to see this.

SPEAKER_01 11:08

I love this. This is beautiful so far. And yeah, absolutely with the list. I know I have a few on my list, you know, movies that I haven't quite listened, watched yet that so I haven't really listened to the podcast episode, especially some of the backlogs. So this is a really great way to just distill that down.

SPEAKER_00 11:25

Let's say you pick one out, and let's say I'm gonna go Salem's Lot. I'll do 2024 because there's so many different versions at Salem's Lot. Have you seen it before? Okay. You can optionally put in some more notes here. Now, the great thing about this is you're gonna be able to really assess and kind of dive into this as much as you want or hold back as much as you want as well. Anytime you see a little asterisk next to the question, that means it's required. If you don't see that asterisk, this is optional to you. You don't have to fill it out. It's just a little something fun for flavor and helps you kind of go through the experience that we go through when preparing for all of our episodes. So we'll go through this. Yeah, I've read the book, but I haven't seen any other adaptation. Okay, so we have that. I know what I'm thinking going into it. Have I finished watching it? In progress, we'll come back to this when we're done. If not, we'll hit watched. And from here, you can choose a rating. Let's say I slash it. Again, optionally, you can add your thoughts. Do you want to fill out a full hackerslash review? Hell yeah. You then get to go in and pick and choose which of these questions you really want to engage and fill out. You can rate the gore score. This was a six for me. Maybe it was a two for you, right? It's all subjective. You get to really channel your inner Sean. Then you also get to go optionally box by box and really think about, again, the kind of lines of thinking that we go through as we're reviewing and reflecting on these movies. But let's say I hit next, boom, you survived day one of 31. Gets you a little recap, shows you where you're going. And maybe, Chell, like you mentioned earlier, you know the Stephen King adaptations. You've seen these before, but maybe you haven't actually listened to the episodes. Well, I'm very excited to show you that at the end of each page, you're going to get a collection on our website of all relevant episodes that we've covered that pertain to that day's theme.

SPEAKER_01 13:20

Chris, I can only imagine this was a Herculean effort on y'all's part, and that is fantastic. I applaud you. That is next level detail right there.

SPEAKER_00 13:30

So excited for this. I just had to match your energy, Jell. You've been out here cooking with this 31 Days of Horror Tracker. I had to meet you halfway on the effort. You inspired me, so thank you. Now, a couple things to note our archive on the website only goes back to a certain point before we had B-sides, before we had a bunch of other things happening. It's kind of like with our original cast. You can access those episodes and more through our Patreon. So, A, most of them you'll be able to see. I believe dating back to episode 52 is available on our Patreon. And if not, then all those prior episodes are actually released through the crypt, which you'll get to enjoy more of as a patron.

SPEAKER_01 14:08

Yes. And shout out to Nathan for the crypt and unearthing a lot of those original texts.

SPEAKER_00 14:13

It's pretty significant. Now, a couple things here. You may notice that as I went back in my browser, it retained my history. A couple things just to know here. You're gonna submit the survey at the end of the month. So if you open this up on your mobile device or on your computer, etc., as long as you don't clear your browser history or don't clear your cache, et cetera, this should maintain its progress as long as you go. If not, hey, I'm sorry, we're working through. This is a version one, and I think it's it's pretty healthy for a version one. But this is also only part of the equation. When you submit this at the end of the month, we're gonna actually tally up some information like how many people did like a first watch of a movie, how many hacks, how many slashes, etc. We'll try to like identify some common trends, how many people picked the monkey because they hadn't seen it yet. There's a lot to dig in there. And then we'll share some recaps in November when we think about how our spooky season went.

SPEAKER_01 15:09

I love it. I'm so excited to get some of that sweet, sweet data and see what you guys are watching. I mean, we'll be talking about it, but to kind of come together at the end of the month and be able to say, like, holy crap, look at all of these, all of these insights and all of these movies that our hackerslash university, you know, watch during this time period. I am so excited to see what comes out of that.

SPEAKER_00 15:32

I'm really excited too. And as you go on to the next day, again, it'll take you right to the next day in sequence. And it's also gonna include any pro tips that we may have. So, for example, on this one for anthologies, watch one, two segments if you're short on time. They still count. So it's gonna also kind of give you some curated sage wisdom in really honestly, a lot of this coming from Chell and a lot of the tips that you've given the community over the years on how you can really make the most out of this time and still find it to be a success, even if you don't have as much time to dedicate to it as much as you would want to.

SPEAKER_01 16:05

Yes, I love that. I love it, love it, love it. And just the little bits of encouragement just to keep going. And you know, it reminds you to kind of check in each day. 31 days of horror. We're all here for the same thing. So this is a really great way to kind of just be able to stop at the end of the day and reflect on that.

SPEAKER_00 16:22

Again, the bigger part of this, right, is just that community and that connection that you find with each other. So, yes, the tracker is here. That's gonna be to frame your thoughts and really to collect the scope of your history over the month, but the fun is in the conversation, the fun is in connecting, the fun is in you jumping into the Discord in our 31 days chat and saying, How many of you are watching X movie today, or how many of you are picking something that we've covered on the podcast, etc. I would love to see how much of our back catalog people rediscover because of listening to an episode that they found through the 31 days watch list, right? Like that would be really, really cool.

SPEAKER_01 16:59

Yes, we'll we'll definitely have to pull the Google Analytics on those, especially if you watch it through the website. So if anyone, if you ever want to give us like a little shout out through the website, it's always a great way because we can see that on the back end of Google Analytics. So, you know, if if you're watching the monkey or listening to the monkey episode, you know, we can kind of track that and kind of see, you know, which one which of our uh old podcasts are also getting a little bit of love this season. So we'd love for you guys to to do that.

SPEAKER_00 17:25

Please drop a comment on there, drop in wherever we want to know what you got going on. Now, I mentioned that in our tracker we're gonna have some pro tips, but you don't have to wait to climb to every single day to find a pro tip. Shell, you have done a phenomenal job curating recommendations and thinking about what is the essential like starter guide, right? How do you get started with 31 Days of Horror? And I think it's it's a good practice just to recap the folks on some of the big hits.

SPEAKER_01 17:52

It is a marathon, not a sprint, folks. I'm going to out the gate. This is 31 Days of Horror, and how you start and how you finish are both equally important. So yeah, definitely, definitely be mindful of that throughout. One of the one of the best things, and again, we've been doing this all month long. We've been putting recommendations in the chat, but our first tip is steal from the pros, man. Steal from the ones who've been doing it, steal from the experts.

SPEAKER_00 18:21

Nothing says it's a recipe for success as much as taking from someone who's already done it successfully, right? So there's that option. We have a lot of recommendations. A, you've walked the walk, you've talked the talk, you've survived the 31 Days of Horror Shell. And we have a lot of folks in our community who have as well. So great folks to connect with. Then also B being able to just take that list of options that you've gotten from each of these hosts, great move.

SPEAKER_01 18:47

They had some great options on there. Again, their own interpretations of those. Yeah, especially on even if even you already have something for Binks Day, a lot of Binks' recommendations can be applied elsewhere in the month. So, and yeah, there are some people in there that know, you know, what they're talking about. We've got perfect organism in there with the with the creature features. We've got Professor of Perspiration, we've got Drew in there. All of them have these really great wealths of knowledge. And yeah, they are more than happy to give you some recommendations.

SPEAKER_00 19:20

Now, another part of this, Chell, is also to just make sure that you're taking it at the right speed. Listen, I am someone who Navy Corps values, honor, courage, commitment. I'd be fucking committing to a bit like nobody's business. But also, you have to manage the amount of time that you have and the intake that you have. And you really got to make sure that you're doing this in a way that feels good for you, schedule-wise.

SPEAKER_01 19:43

Yeah, you really need to pace yourself. Really be intentional. And I was even really intentional with the way I set up the themes this year to make sure that we weren't doing two like really intense themes back to back, kind of giving, you know, opportunities maybe on Sundays, something a little bit lighter or something that to kind of give you to take, you know, take a little bit off your chest. So yeah, racking up some of the groatiest, toughest watches back to back on a schedule. I've done it before. When I was still kind of a baby horror fan, you know, you just you say you say F it and you just load it up. You watch six found footage movies until you get vertigo, and sometimes there are years where yeah, it was it was October 24th, 25th, and I'm just like, nah, man, I can't do it. You you you kind of run out of season.

SPEAKER_00 20:36

Yeah, thank you for you know really taking one for the team, Chell, and dying for our sins.

SPEAKER_01 20:40

Do as I say, not as I do.

SPEAKER_00 20:42

Thank you for really putting in the effort there to learn the lessons. Now, something else that I think is really interesting, especially because we have so much coming up this year with Welcome to Dairy, you have highlighted that TV shows count.

SPEAKER_01 20:55

I will emphasize it again. TV shows count. It could be episodes, a Halloween episode of a TV show. It could be a spooky show like American Horror Story. That counts, man. That is some good horror watching, some good storytelling. So yeah, and there may be days where you're kind of in a pinch. I've got a few days where I have events in the evenings where it's like, hmm, I don't know if I'm gonna be able to commit to a two-hour movie after an event. Totally cool, totally fine. Pop on an episode and yeah, and count it. Honestly, I'd love to see how creative people can get with that.

SPEAKER_00 21:31

Something right off the dome, right here, right now, LGBTQ day or gateway horror. Let's get a Halloween episode, one of the many from Pretty Little Liars. There it is. Oh my gosh, Pretty Little Liars Summer School. Their episodes are named after horror movies, and it's very like tied into those things. It's it's fucking great. It's great.

SPEAKER_01 21:51

Yes. And I know American Horror Story actually has an anthology series. American Horror Stories, it's an hour or it's 45 minutes. Minutes all encapsulated into one, so it's a great way to again get your spooky dose for the day. Uh, what with not having to feel like oh you gotta watch a whole whole movie?

SPEAKER_00 22:11

Now here's a question. I'm gonna pose a scenario to you, Chell. We know that with Halloween Horror Nights being what it is and Terrifier being what it is, Arthur Clown walking around the park. I know that there's so many people that have never seen Terrifier who are gonna think he's a funny, silly, goofy guy and try to watch these movies this October. So what happens, Chell? What happens when someone is partaking in Terrifier for the first time and you get the infamous hot dog slice with a hacksaw and it's just too much for them? What should you do?

SPEAKER_01 22:42

Well, I'm gonna encourage anyone who's in that situation to look at their TV remote or their laptop, and you're gonna find the button on there that says pause and you're going to click it. You're gonna take a deep breath and you're gonna ask yourself, is it worth me spending the rest of this time muddling through this movie or do I want to turn it off? If the answer is B, you're going to click the home button on your remote, you're gonna click the little X button in the corner of your laptop, and you're going to turn it off. 31 Days of Horror is too sacred. Life is too short to watch movies or just force ourselves to watch things that we are not into.

SPEAKER_00 23:23

Yeah. It's just not like this is a time for joy. This is our spookiest season. This is a time for reverence. Have fun. And if this doesn't spark joy for you, fuck it. Kick it to the curb. Listen, I still want to see some hacks on the easy. Don't get me wrong. I don't want to spill a tea on Strangers Chapter 2. But if that was my home invasion movie, I'd be saying some shit about it, right? But but don't let it ruin your day.

SPEAKER_01 23:48

No, definitely. And definitely balance that. Yeah, if it's a hack and you're having fun with it, obviously keep watching it. But yeah, if it's a terrifier and your stomach's turning and you're kind of thinking, like negotiating with yourself how you're gonna get through this movie, just turn it off. Heck, even go ahead. Like, I mean, no one will tell. If you want to keep that secret to you, that's fine. If you want to put that in the 31 days, say, hey guys, I tried this today. Really wasn't for me. That is gonna be met with the same level of enthusiasm and understanding and conversation. But yeah, totally okay to turn it off. I've done it, we've all done it. Life's too short to watch movies that we don't. 100%.

SPEAKER_00 24:24

And I think that actually takes us very nicely to the last pro tip that you have, which is just to have fun.

SPEAKER_01 24:30

Have fun. This is a fun time of year. It's what we look forward to all year. We've been hyping it up. It's gotta be fun. You you can't put pressure on it. There's no scoreboard. Yes, we're getting data, but there's no scoreboard. There's no prize for who watches the most or who has the most hacks or slashes.

SPEAKER_00 24:48

There's no judgment.

SPEAKER_01 24:49

There's no judgment. It is all for fun.

SPEAKER_00 24:52

We love a safe space, you know? And in the words of Nicole Kidman, we come to this place for magic. We don't come for judgment. We don't come for harsh nonsense. We just want to have a blast watching horror movies all month long with you. And Cho, you actually wrote a blog piece about this last year had a spooky season. Oh my gosh. What a timeless classic, honestly. We're getting great mileage out of that.

SPEAKER_01 25:16

Yes, we are. That was one of my first things that I wrote for a Hacker Slash last year. So we'll definitely share it in the in the comments, in the notes of this show. But yeah, all this and more, a little bit more expansion on some suggestions to really make the most of your 31 days. And again, just those reminders. It's supposed to be fun. Turn it off. It's not it's not supposed to be a slog. It's not supposed to be work. It is us being able to just revel in everything that we love about horror movies and you know, leading up to the to the Halloween day. So it's it's about joy, it's about celebration. If you start putting pressure on it, step back a little bit and maybe think of you know resetting and how you can come back to that fun.

SPEAKER_00 25:57

And I think that's really the biggest thing to take away here. It's gonna be so much fun, and you have resources along the way. One, you're gonna have that blog post linked in the episode description for this particular episode. So you're gonna have that to look forward to. We're also gonna link the video version of this episode just so you make sure you can see that clip of how what the watch list looks like, really just thinking about how to navigate this and maybe have some other questions. You're also going to have the actual tracker itself linked into this episode. And last but not least, the direct discussion for 31 Days of Horror, where you can join in on the fun and really be with our people. And I cannot wait to see you there. This is our fucking Super Bowl, baby. It's gonna be a blast.

SPEAKER_01 26:42

This is our time.

SPEAKER_00 26:43

This is our house for our people. And for now, there you have it, folks. It's time to put pen to paper or fingertips to keyboard, whatever you're into, and really start building your watch list.

SPEAKER_01 26:54

And be sure to join us in the Discord to talk about your 31 days of horror watch list and start swapping recommendations to curate the perfect playlist.

SPEAKER_00 27:03

And for now, students, class is dismissed.