The much-anticipated (if you move in circles that anticipate such things) fourth Critical Role campaign started this month, with a quartet of ‘overture’ episodes that set the scene for a different-feeling but hopefully-epic new adventure — or set of adventures, with three groups in play. It felt like watching the start of something like The Wire or Game of Thrones, in the best possible way. If you’ve ever been curious but never started, it’s a great time to dive in… so long as you can find 18 hours a month for it, that is.

Despite all of that (including staying up overnight twice to watch episodes as they premiered), I still found time for enough films to keep my Challenge on track. Indeed, I head into November the furthest ahead I’ve ever been in the new-style Challenge era…

#81 The Tough Ones (1976) — Genre #7
#82 The Woman in Cabin 10 (2025) — New Film #10
#83 Bride of Frankenstein (1935) — Rewatch #9
#84 Crime Hunter: Bullets of Rage (1989) — Failure #10
#85 Slap the Monster on Page One (1972) — Genre #8
#86 Tenebrae (1982) — WDYMYHS #10
#87 Häxan (1922) — Blindspot #10

• I watched ten feature films I’d never seen before in October.
• That’s the sixth month this year to land on exactly ten new films, but the first since May.
• Six of them counted towards my 100 Films in a Year Challenge, along with one rewatch.
• This month’s Blindspot and WDYMYHS films — silent witchcraft documentary Häxan and Dario Argento giallo Tenebrae, respectively — were ones I’ve been saving most of the year to watch around Halloween. They didn’t make the lists for that reason, but it was a fortunate side effect. In the end, my schedule meant I watched them as a double-bill on the night itself — kinda perfect, really
• I’ve also been saving Midsommar for the same reason. At one point I was aiming to watch all three in the run-up to Halloween, sacrificing the intended ‘one per month’ structure for seasonal appropriateness; but then I realised that, with Halloween falling on a Friday, the first weekend of November is also Halloween-y — so I could both watch one a month, as intended, and watch them all at Halloween. Now I just need to make sure I actually do that today or tomorrow…
• From last month’s “failures” I watched Crime Hunter: Bullets of Rage.

Favourite Film of the Month
Widely regarded as one of Dario Argento’s best, Tenebrae mostly lives up to that hype. I’m not convinced the plot entirely hangs together, but the sheer abundance of gorgeous style is enough to carry it.

Least Favourite Film of the Month
While I didn’t outright dislike it, The Woman in Cabin 10 is a by-the-numbers holiday-paperback of a thriller.

2025 races toward its conclusion! There are 13 films remaining to complete my Challenge, which should feel surmountable (the end felt comfortable last year, and I had 15 left at this point), but so much of this year has raced by, and the state of my calendar makes it feel like Christmas is the day after tomorrow… Well, I can but try.