![After placing second in their respective LDEs at the Capital District contest in early November, freshman Jesus Jaramillo-Gallegos and freshman Wyatt Pickett will compete at the Area XII LDE contest in Georgetown on Nov. 23. Jaramillo-Gallegos is competing in Greenhand Spanish Creed Speaking, while Pickett’s LDE is Greenhand Creed Speaking. “Honestly, [I’m excited for] just traveling around, maybe meeting more people,” Jaramillo-Gallegos said. “And [I’m] nervous about probably just not being able to define my weak areas. I feel like I did decent for my first time ever doing this. I just think it’s fun.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Navy-and-Yellow-Simple-Group-Project-Presentation-1200x675.png)
![Holding up T-wolves, the tour group poses for a picture in the Chinese classroom. Sophomore Lydia Ou, junior Phu Trung and senior Yushan Pan gave a tour to Taiwanese diplomat Andrea Yang on Nov. 8. “I was so excited when I heard I would get to give the tour because it’s a big deal,” Ou said. “She’s from the US embassy for Taiwan, so she’s really important. I’m so privileged [to get this opportunity] and I’m so excited.” Photo by Skyler King](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Main-Taiwan.jpg)
![Sitting at a desk past the rows of books laid out for the Book Fair, senior Kimberley Walters assists people in purchasing books and finding titles. The Book Fair is taking place Dec. 16 through Dec. 20, and is an annual event during which students and faculty have the opportunity to go and purchase books and other trinkets in the library. Kimberley said she encourages all to go to the Book Fair, even if they think they don’t like to read. “If you make reading something that is fun for you and you find the things that you like to read, it will never be a chore,” Walters said. “So [the Book Fair is] a good opportunity to find something that will respark your want to read [like] when you were a child and you went to the book fair and you loved the ‘I survived’ books. Maybe you'll find your ‘I survived’ books of your high school experience, and it'll re-spark that kind of love for reading that may have died out.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Addie-L-47-1200x800.jpg)
![Smiling at the camera, sophomore Olivia Mahlmeister and seniors Samantha Jameson, Adhit Eswaramoorthi and Justin Khadavi celebrate completing first chamber in the Congress Meet. All four students advanced to the final chamber. “Out of the 20 kids in the final chamber, we had a seventh, ninth, 11th and 13th, and they took the top four to move on to state,” AP US History and Debate teacher Josh Marsh said. “[Even though] we didn't make state this year, all four of them moving on [and] placing is phenomenal.” Photo courtesy of Josh Marsh](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/2024-Regional-Congress-Team.jpg)
![Standing in front of a small audience, senior Kimberley Walters shares a social criticism poem titled “Pity the Nation” by Lawrence Felinghetti. Every month, sponsored by the poetry club, the library hosts a poetry reading. “I never thought I would be interested in [poetry readings] because I’m not the biggest poetry fan,” Walters said. “I think poetry is a very succinct way to express feelings and get a story across. Whereas lots of books have a span of a whole story, but it’s put in a lot of words. The power of poetry is that you can be so succinct within, and there’s a lot of power within the words that are used.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KIM-1200x800.jpg)
![Smiling at the camera, Author Ehigbor Okosun, members of Page Turners, and other students reflect on the author's visit. “I thought the visit was great,” Senior Amia De Leon said. “It was interesting talking to her and [getting to know] her process and her thoughts and books in general. But I think the reason it went well [was that] people got to ask questions. I'm glad that she said so much in response to the questions and it wasn't just one and done. [The author’s responses] felt very articulate.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Sebastian-5-1200x800.jpg)
![Holding the Grand Nationals trophies, drum majors Helashi Wijayawardhana, Abigail Pettey and Eddy Kim pose for a photo. The BOA Grand Nationals competition took place in Indianapolis on Nov. 14-17. “My favorite thing was just looking back at the field, and I was like, ‘Oh, crap. I know all of their names, I know who all of them are’,” Wijayawardahana said. “It's just insane to me that I was able to make so many connections. [Being a drum major] taught me how to build relationships with people who I’m not really that similar to, and how to juggle a ton of things all together.”
Photo courtesy of CPHS Band SmugMug](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/AJC.GrandNatsFinals-169-1200x801.jpg)
![Delicately placing the string to form the shape of a cornucopia, seniors Haley Burton and Avery Nelson create the November arrangement for the Flower of the Month Club. This club is led by Advanced Floral Design Students and provides a monthly arrangement to community members who subscribe to receive them. “I think flower of the month club is a really impactful way to show your loved ones ‘hey I really care about you,’ or even if they’re just for yourself, they’re a little pick-me-up throughout the month that [say] ‘I’m doing ok, and these flowers make my day a little bit brighter,” Nelson said. “I like giving people flowers because people value the flowers more and they value themselves more.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Ava-Holmes-3-edit.jpg)
![Standing in front of the field at a freshman football game, cheerleader freshman Jacob Gaudreau along with teammate freshman Bella Gibson pose for a photo during halftime of game. “[Cheer has] definitely given me a much more outgoing personality,” Gaudreau said. “I used to be very introverted, so it's definitely made me more extroverted towards people.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Ingrid-204-1200x800.jpg)
![Holding a wooden pizza toy, senior Taylor Peterson plays with small children in Bucaramanga, Colombia. During the summer, Peterson traveled to Colombia to help build an elementary school that only had two classrooms but five or six grades with one teacher. “We add[ed] two more classrooms,” Peterson said. “It’s kind of hard when you have two or three grades in one classroom and you only have one teacher. It’s very hard to actually get some beneficial learning. [The extra classrooms will give the students] a better quality of education because they’ll actually have a place specific for their learning.” Photo by Taylor Peterson](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Taylor-P.png)
![Sucking in a breath of air, freshman Lily Pope competes in the 200 yard individual medley. On Oct. 25, the swim team competed in the AISD Swim Invitational. Overall, the girls team took second place and the boys team came in eleventh. “My favorite stroke is butterfly because I do the best in that stroke,” Pope said. “I feel like [butterfly] can test how [your ability] to convince yourself to keep going. The hardest part of swimming is convincing yourself to stay strong and keep pushing during a hard race [when] everything is tired.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/POPE-1200x804.jpg)
![Swinging with his arm extended, senior Nolan Park hits the ball smoothly over the net and to the opponent’s side. Park is one of four varsity tennis captains and helped the team win district championships. “Winning district champs was a pretty awesome feeling,” Park said. “We had lost to Liberty Hill a couple of weeks before, but when we played them [again], we came out and really took care of business. We took them out and it was just a really awesome night.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Kassidy-419.jpg)
It’s that time of year again, my personal favorite time of the year, Halloween. There are a lot of reasons why I love Halloween, the costumes, the parties, the razor blades in my apples, the community aspect; it’s all wonderful. But more than all, I love the movies. Over the past three years, my tolerance for horror has grown exponentially. If I had seen “Hereditary” the year it came out, I would have cried like a child, but I’ve become fascinated with horror, to the point that it may be my favorite movie genre ever. I love finding niche short films and watching Hollywood classics, and I want to share that joy. So, here are seven great, and six not-so-great horror movies you can watch this Halloween season. None of these are in a particular order, but some are better than others, and for your reading pleasure, before each review I’ve added either a quote from the movie, a one-liner or a pun related to the movie.
- “Unedited Footage of a Bear” by Alan Resnick
Length: 11 minutes
How to watch: Youtube
“One time I took some ibuprofen and ended up chucking a Winnebago at my neighbor’s house, so I understand the woman’s pain in this film.”
“Unedited Footage of a Bear” by Alan Resnick is one of the most creative and well-executed horror short films I have ever seen in my entire life. What starts out as an innocent video gets interrupted by an over-the-counter medication infomercial, which slowly turns into a terrifying story about addiction, abuse, and losing your sense of self. While only being a short 11 minutes, there is no doubt that all ideas shown were used to the fullest potential. Beyond the film, you can find yourself going down a rabbit hole by going to the website mentioned in the film and looking at behind-the-scenes footage. If you are in the mood for a short but horrifying story, this is the film for you.
- “This House Has People In It” by Alan Resnick
Length: 12 minutes
How to watch: Youtube
“This short was so good, it had me floored the whole time.”
This is the weirdest film on the list, and that’s because it is HEAVILY experimental. By itself, the film takes place in a concise, yet very confusing, 12-minute time frame, and this is shown through the house’s security cameras. But much like the last short, this story is larger than what meets the eye. Hours of footage, websites, and text make this story infinitely more interesting. This ARG from Adult Swim is one of the coolest pieces of horror media I have ever seen. It may not be as violent or gory, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t depressing, unsettling, and at times, horrifying. At face value, it is about a family facing a tragic event in 12 minutes.
- “Cube” by Vincenzo Natali
Length: 90 minutes
How to watch: Youtube, Amazon
“Turned off halfway due to the lack of triangles. This is erasure.”
“Cube” is like if “Saw” and “Final Destination” met in geometry class. With such a simple premise, and seemingly simple set, an extravagant story unfolds as five regular people are trapped together, with death lurking for them at every corner. But unlike Saw, the horror isn’t within the traps, it’s within the people. This movie was truly ahead of its time and is a marvel in creating unrealistic characters having very realistic emotions. The film isn’t supposed to be a 1-1 representation of us as a society, but rather what happens in dire situations.
- “The Truman Show” by Peter Weir
Length: 103 minutes
How to watch: Amazon
“Good afternoon, good evening, and good night.”
Some say that this isn’t a horror movie, but those people are dead wrong. “The Truman Show” isn’t just a horror movie, but also a tragedy disguised as a comedy, with one of the most bone-chilling endings to ever exist in cinema. There are no words to describe how great Jim Carrey is in this film, but I wish there were. This takes the feeling of thinking you are being watched to a whole new level. By the way, you should check outside your window. Run. Run. Run.
- “Nope” by Jordan Peele
Length: 130 minutes
How to watch: Amazon, Apple TV
“This cured my God complex, thanks, Jordan!”
There is a reason this made it in my top three horror movies of all time, it’s very, very, good. My boss said this movie was pretentious, so I have now put my two weeks’ notice in. This movie is extremely experimental, weird, engaging, and my boss is insane for not understanding the complexity of Jordan Peele. It can be hard to follow at times, and the symbolism can be hard to pick up on, but I will always come back to this movie just to find something interesting that I missed my first watch-through. Everything is so well written, well shot, and has one of the coolest horror villains to ever exist. At its core, it’s a story about greed, regret, and narcissism.
- “Midsommar” by Ari Aster
Length: 147 minutes
How to watch: Amazon, Apple TV
“This movie was unbearably fantastic.”
This movie made me cry, scream, shiver and all other scary emotions. This movie left me scared for days and I still don’t know how to recover from it. While not being the number one pick, this movie is objectively the scariest movie on this list. Being seemingly stranded in the middle of nowhere, with a cult constantly keeping an eye on you, has to be my literal worst nightmare. The dynamic between the two main characters really shows how dysfunctional their relationship is, and how they both need to come to terms with it. However, by the end of the movie, it’s too late.
- “Get Out” by Jordan Peele
Length: 104 minutes
How to watch: Hulu, Peacock, Amazon
“This movie makes me want to vote for Obama a third time.”
This is not just my favorite horror movie of all time, this is my favorite MOVIE of all time. I don’t think that you could make this movie any better because it is pure perfection. The writing, the acting, the effects, and the overall quality of the film is incredible. Each moment of the movie feels eerie and unsettling, filled with some of the most horrifying moments I have ever seen. Each moment slowly makes you more and more uncomfortable as the characters slowly drop their facade and you learn more about the family, the house, and what these people want. While not as gory or bloody as some of the others on this list, the tone and concept is what sends shivers down your spine. I cannot recommend this movie enough and I wish I could go into more detail, but this article has a whole other half. If you catch me in the hallway, I would be more than happy to drop everything and talk about this movie.
Now that we are out of the way with all that artistic, wonderful, ethereal nonsense, let’s get into that garbage!
- “Cube 2: Hypercube” by Andrzej Sekula
Length: 94 minutes
How to watch: Amazon
“Cubes are less scary to me now.”
“Cube 2: Hypercube” is of course the sequel to “Cube.” But this sequel completely takes everything about what made the first movie good and throws it all away. The mystery behind what the cube is, the great character interaction, and the overall aesthetic of the movie are completely gone. In the first “Cube,” there was a way to get out, color-coded rooms, math and puzzles, but this replaces it all with a “Sci-Fi” white room that never seems to change. Basically, don’t watch this movie if you want to have fun.
- “The Call” by Brad Anderson
Length: 94 minutes
How to watch: Amazon
“AITA for going out of my jurisdiction as a police dispatcher because of a mistake I made two years ago?”
I found this movie through a TikTok movie clips account, and this movie is THE main reason I don’t trust those accounts. The first two acts are pretty decent, as every moment feels tense and quick, but the third act feels like an ending of a generic prime-time television series that follows a group of police officers your mother found on the Freeform channel. The actor does a pretty good job at playing a creep, as there were multiple times I felt uncomfortable while he stared down the barrel of the camera. However, this does not excuse the writing of the character, as he seems to get away with almost every murder he commits. Most of these kills are played off like it’s “American Psycho,” but if “American Psycho” got rid of the satire and if the question of “was any of it was real” was eliminated from the movie. This man makes the most incomprehensible choices in a matter of milliseconds. This movie is probably the “best” of the bad movies, but that doesn’t mean it was enjoyable overall.
- “The VelociPastor” by Brandon Steere
Length: 75 minutes
How to watch: Youtube, Amazon
“They used a T-rex costume for the entire movie.”
From this point on, all of these movies are in a ‘so bad it’s good’ category, but do be warned that these are still horrible. “The VelociPastor” is exactly what it sounds like. A pastor goes through a Peter Parker-esk story, where both of his parents die and he gets the power to turn into a velociraptor. This movie was made as a joke, but I’m still putting it on the list because it was too silly not to.
- “Twisted Pair” by Neil Breen
Length: 89 minutes
How to watch: Youtube
“Programmable. Virtual. Reality. The corrupt version…”
If you have ever wondered what a Sci-Fi action horror movie would be like if it was on a budget of 7000 dollars, I have the movie for you. Since 2007, Neil Breen has been directing, editing, producing, and acting in all of his films. And if you aren’t picking up on these hints, Neil Breen’s movies are bad. This movie is almost unwatchable, but it is gut-bustlingly hilarious with its “amazing” special effects. Give this one a watch and turn your brain off, it’s worth it.
- “American Psycho II: All American Girl” by Morgan J. Freeman
Length: 88 minutes
How to watch: Apple TV
“I just killed the world’s greatest serial killer, I couldn’t wait to grow up!”
No, not that Morgan Freeman, this is a different guy. If you liked “American Psycho,” you should know that this movie was not meant to be a sequel to “American Psycho.” In fact, nothing about the movie is mentioned outside of the first three minutes. It disregards everything the first film sets up, and goes from a satire on Wall Street and businessmen into a movie about a snarky teen who is just good at killing people. If this was a parody of the first movie, it would have been brilliant satire. But we don’t live in that world, we live in this world.
- “Troll 2” by Claudio Fragasso
Length: 95 minutes
How to watch: Apple TV
“They’re eating her! And then they’re going to eat me! OH MY GOOOOD”
Before I start this review, I want to let you know that this movie does not mention a troll a single time. This movie is about a much scarier creature, goblins. For those who don’t know, this is claimed by many to be the worst movie ever made. Now yes, “The Room” and “Birdemic: Shock and Terror” are horrible, but this movie is one of the funniest things I have ever seen, and I promise, that you will feel exactly the same. Much like “American Psycho 2,” this movie was meant to be its own film, until the studio decided to make it a tie-in sequel, with nothing relating to the original. The acting is one of the worst things I have ever seen, with some of the worst dialogue I have ever heard. I wholeheartedly mean it when I say that this movie is the BEST bad movie of all time, and is a must-watch cinematic dumpster fire. There is also an amazing documentary about the movie that the main character made for the 20th anniversary, and it is a perfect “where are they now” type reunion.
Well, folks, that is the end of this list! Even though half of the movies on this list are terrible, I would be lying if I didn’t say I had fun watching them. Please, give all of these movies a watch, especially “Troll 2.” Being the worst doesn’t mean it’s unwatchable. That role goes to “Cube 2: Hypercube.” That movie doesn’t deserve any praise. Happy Halloween and I hope to do another list like this in the future!
