Aside: Inaugural Cinefessions Summer Screams Challenge

[Update: I've added the thirty challenge items below.]
[Update 14 June: A little behind in updating the list. I'll be out of town until Monday with a little time off afterwards, and some movies lined up specifically for this challenge.]
[Update 26 June: I've started adding my films. Can Sunset Boulevard be considered horror?]

My email box has been unusually busy these past two weeks, and though I normally check my email regularly I've fallen behind due to that age-old excuse "I've just been too busy." I opened my mail a half hour ago to find a hundred new messages. Before my ego could blossom I saw that ninety of these bolded messages were alerts to a silly forum I've recently joined (and just spent me ten minutes figuring out how to shut down those annoying auto-emails).

Among the more interesting epistles was one by Psymin from over at Cinefessions: Confessions of a Cinefile, inviting me to a horror/scif- movie challenge for June. I was sincerely touched to have been considered for this event over the often impersonal world of the internet. (Sadly, many emails I receive are along the lines of "Please visit my blog" or "I'll follow you if you follow me!" This wreaks havoc on the ego; is this why I am being "followed"? Is being followed not the same as being read? Why is this following even important? It's just as nonsensical as Facebook's "Like" feature. But I digress.)

Even though I won't have too much time to watch too many films, and even though the first week of June has already passed us by, I've decided to take up that challenge despite my reliable prediction of a comfortable last-place finish. I'll skip the Weekly Themes part of the challenge since I won't have time for it, but will see if I can be creative with any other topic. So far all I've been able to watch in June is three episodes of Harper's Island (though I have season two of Rod Serling's Night Gallery and some The 4400 waiting in the wings).

(I'm also intimidated by Branden's already expansive list; how can anyone have that much free time?)

For now I'll begin my list in this post which I'll update as I watch (if I become more active than expected I'll create a separate page).

The 2012 Summer Screams Challenge List:

Harper's Island: Episode 11
Harper's Island: Episode 12
Harper's Island: Episode 13
The 4400: "Wake-Up Call" (Episode 2.1)
The 4400: "Voices Carry" (Episode 2.2)
The 4400: "Weight of the World" (Episode 2.3)
The 4400: "Suffer the Children" (Episode 2.4)
The 4400: "As Fate Would Have It" (Episode 2.5)
The 4400: "Life Interrupted" (Episode 2.6)
The 4400: "Carrier" (Episode 2.7)
The 4400: "Rebirth" (Episode 2.8)
Nosferatu (1922)
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
Murder Party (2007)
Djinns (2011)
A Horrible Way to Die (2010)


Watch a sci-fi or horror film from each specific sub-genre:
X Comedic Horror (Murder Party, 2007)
— Comedic Sci-Fi (Film, Year)
— Cyberpunk Film (Film, Year)
— Dystopian Film (Film, Year)
— Giallo Film (Film, Year)
X Psychological Horror (Sunset Boulevard, 1950)
— Space Opera (Film, Year)
X Splatter Film (A Horrible Way to Die, 2010)
— Supernatural Horror/Ghost Film (Film, Year)
— Time Travel Film (Film, Year)
Watch a sci-fi or horror film that falls into each of the following years:
X 1900 – 1939 (Nosferatu, 1922)
— 1940 – 1959 (Film, Year)
— 1960 – 1979 (Film, Year)
X 1980 – 1999 (Soldier, 1998)
X 2000 – 2012 (Captain America: The First Avenger, 2011)
Watch a sci-fi or horror film that fits into the following categories:
— Watch a Documentary (Film, Year)
— Watch a Film Based on a Novel (Film, Year)
— Watch a Film Based on a Video Game (Film, Year)
— Watch a Film that Appears on the Video Nasties List (Film, Year)
— Watch a Film that Contains an Evil Animal (Film, Year)
— Watch a Film that Contains an Evil Child (Film, Year)
— Watch a Film that Contains an Evil Doll/Puppet (Film, Year)
— Watch a Film that is Currently in the Criterion Collection (Film, Year)
— Watch a Film that is “Not Rated” or “Unrated” (Film, Year)
— Watch a Film that is Rated “X” or “NC-17” (Film, Year)
— Watch a Film that was Nominated for an Academy Award (Film, Year)
X Watch a Foreign Film with Subtitles (Djinns, 2011)
— Watch an Animated Film (Film, Year)
—Watch an Anthology Film (Film, Year)
— Watch a Remake or a Reboot (Film, Year)


[If only we were doing this in July during the awesome Fantasia festival here in Montreal.]