#401-#500
The 1,000 Greatest Horror Films: #401-#500
401. (-80) Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter
Joseph Zito
1984 / USA / 91m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
Kimberly Beck, Peter Barton, Corey Feldman, Erich Anderson, Crispin Glover, Clyde Hayes, Barbara Howard, Lawrence Monoson, Joan Freeman, Judie Aronson
“The difference with this film is what sets it apart from most of the series: It’s dark and extremely brutal. The first three tried to be serious but had moments of lightness and even in the midst of the bloody attacks you could either flinch or laugh at what you were watching. Part 4 is vicious and cruel. Rather than showcasing stupendous new special effects techniques, the murder scenes are just people getting gorily butchered. Some characters might be asking for it, but at times even I was wincing (and I’ve sat through more horror films than I would ever care to count).” – Kyle, Mutant Reviewers
Genres:
402. (+266) The Children
Tom Shankland
2008 / UK / 84m / Col / Thriller | IMDb
Eva Birthistle, Stephen Campbell Moore, Jeremy Sheffield, Rachel Shelley, Hannah Tointon, Rafiella Brooks, Jake Hathaway, William Howes, Eva Sayer
“For parents, the film will play on their personal fears and insecurities. Some parents (non-horror fans and insecure parents) will likely be appalled by the idea of children killing their parents, and vice versa (likely the reason why the film didn’t see a theatrical release). Others will simply enjoy the scary good ride – which is a brilliant byproduct of our own fears driven by pandemic paranoia. Director Tom Shankland skillfully crafts intensity through mostly non-scary images. With the help of his equally talented editor (Tim Murrell), Shankland intercuts several horrifying moments, juxtaposed with an energetic, pitch-perfect score from Stephen Hilton. And with such quick, focused intensity at play, seemingly innocent images like pinwheels and coffee mugs, or shots of children playing, drive fear into the hearts of his audience.” – R. L. Shaffer, IGN DVD
Genres: Horror, Thriller, Christmas, Slasher, Science Fiction, Epidemic, Evil Children
403. (new) El espanto surge de la tumba
Carlos Aured
AKA: Horror Rises from the Tomb
1973 / Spain / 95m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Paul Naschy, Emma Cohen, Víctor Alcázar, Helga Liné, Cristina Suriani, Betsabé Ruiz, Luis Ciges, Julio Peña, María José Cantudo, Juan Cazalilla
“HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB is an entertaining late-night mishmash made up of the kind of thrills that make Paul Naschy’s films what they are. In its strongest version, it’s packed pretty well with gore, sexuality and nudity… Nothing groundbreaking genre-wise (a sacred religious emblem is used to fight off the evil doers, a visit from the walking dead is strictly inspired by George Romero, etc.), but this has Naschy (in multiple roles, no less!) at his best, bloody gut-extracting effects that pre-date Tom Savini’s by years, and more beautiful woman on display (in various states of undress) than you could possibly ask for.” – George R. Reis, DVD Drive-In
Genres:
404. (+229) Bubba Ho-Tep
Don Coscarelli
2002 / USA / 92m / Col / Comedy | IMDb
Bruce Campbell, Ossie Davis, Ella Joyce, Heidi Marnhout, Bob Ivy, Edith Jefferson, Larry Pennell, Reggie Bannister, Daniel Roebuck, Daniel Schweiger
“Campbell could have been born to play Elvis – he completely nails both the voice and the mannerisms, even under a hefty amount of old age make-up. It’s a superb performance – if there were any justice, Campbell would get an Oscar nomination. Davis is equally good and the pair make a great screen couple – their friendship is genuinely touching… Bubba Ho-Tep isn’t quite the full-on schlock-fest you might be expecting – in fact, it’s relatively short on action, and the actual showdown, though funny, is rather anti-climactic. Instead, the film emerges as a surprisingly moving story about death, dignity and doing what needs to be done. (Noting, in the process, that anything’s better than meeting your maker while on the toilet).” – Matthew Turner, ViewLondon
Genres:
405. (+190) Street Trash
J. Michael Muro
1987 / USA / 91m / Col / Splatter | IMDb
Mike Lackey, Bill Chepil, Vic Noto, Mark Sferrazza, Jane Arakawa, Nicole Potter, Pat Ryan, Clarenze Jarmon, Bernard Perlman, Miriam Zucker
“Awful business aside, “Street Trash” is a fantastically directed picture, enjoying fluid camera movement and textured locations, with crisp, smartly framed cinematography that makes the minimal budget look like the production spent millions of dollars. Muro has a terrific eye for the dark delights of the movie, and his visual sense is masterfully boosted by extraordinary achievements in set design and make-up effects, with the melt scenes unforgettable. It’s unnerving how polished “Street Trash” is, once again disturbing expectations with a virile cinematic appearance.” – Brian Orndorf, Blu-Ray.com
Genres:
406. (-63) Frankenstein Created Woman
Terence Fisher
AKA: Frankenstein Made Woman
1967 / UK / 86m / Col / Monster | IMDb
Peter Cushing, Susan Denberg, Thorley Walters, Robert Morris, Duncan Lamont, Peter Blythe, Barry Warren, Derek Fowlds, Alan MacNaughton, Peter Madden
“Of course, it still works as straight-up Gothic horror, albeit on a level less horrifying (and frankly, less Gothic), than some of the earlier Hammer works. Cinematographer Arthur Grant, working in one of Hammer’s A-list horror franchises for the the first time, was not as accustomed to the murky blacks and hushed shadows that had marked the form to that point; and Fisher didn’t seem inclined to emphasise the story’s Expressionist possibilities either. The result is a clean, even bright mise en scène – it is the most daylight-heavy of all Hammer’s Frankenstein films – that is less scary than it is troubling: troubling that Frankenstein should be such a stone-cold villain and yet be so engaging and charming that we can’t help but like the bastard.” – Tim Brayton, Antagony & Ecstasy
Genres:
407. (-27) Flesh for Frankenstein
Paul Morrissey
AKA: Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein
1973 / USA / 95m / Col / Monster | IMDb
Joe Dallesandro, Monique van Vooren, Udo Kier, Arno Juerging, Dalila Di Lazzaro, Srdjan Zelenovic, Nicoletta Elmi, Marco Liofredi, Liù Bosisio, Fiorella Masselli
“Disgusting? Yes. Obscene? Oh, certainly. Likely to deprave and corrupt? Paul Morrissey absolutely hopes so. And above all else, wildly fucking funny. The genius of the film lies not in the director’s willingness to “go there” with every depraved idea that crops into his head, but to go there with a song in his heart and a big smile on his face. If I had to come up with one adjective to describe Flesh for Frankenstein, it would probably be “silly”. Or maybe, “goofy”. But surely not sick, violent, over-the-top, any of those other things – for if it is indeed a wicked, wicked film, it is all in the service of its gloriously self-indulgent camp attitude.” – Tim Brayton, Antagony & Ecstasy
Genres:
408. (+220) Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight
Ernest R. Dickerson
AKA: Demon Keeper
1995 / USA / 92m / Col / Black Comedy | IMDb
John Kassir, Billy Zane, William Sadler, Jada Pinkett Smith, Brenda Bakke, CCH Pounder, Dick Miller, Thomas Haden Church, John Schuck, Gary Farmer
“Take equal parts Night of the Living Dead and Aliens. Mix thoroughly with generous doses of sick humour and state-of-the-art gore. Toss in one shot of kinky sex and a few dozen naked breasts. Flavour with a thrashy metal soundtrack. Colour with a garish, comic book–style palette. Cook it all up and you’ll get something resembling Demon Knight, the first of three feature-length horror flicks to be presented under the Tales from the Crypt banner. You’ll also have 90 minutes’ worth of twisted, haywire, mind-warping fun, with action and visual shocks aplenty.” – Steve Newton, Ear of Newt
Genres:
409. (-43) The Hidden
Jack Sholder
1987 / USA / 97m / Col / Science Fiction | IMDb
Kyle MacLachlan, Michael Nouri, Claudia Christian, Clarence Felder, Clu Gulager, Ed O’Ross, William Boyett, Richard Brooks, Larry Cedar, Katherine Cannon
“With a fantastic blend of wit and horror, The Hidden is a surprisingly overlooked flick from the ‘80s that would have gone well paired with They Live or some of Fred Dekker’s past films. There’s an absurdity to the whole thing that makes the film laughable; but then again, The Hidden might be seen in a more morbid light by our post-9/11 audiences, especially when it comes to the multiple scenes of aimless violence the alien commits. Even decades later, the film remains relatable, despite the obvious tale of fiction it presents.” – Ryne Barber, Horror News
Genres:
410. (-56) Twins of Evil
John Hough
AKA: The Gemini Twins
1971 / UK / 87m / Col / Vampire | IMDb
Peter Cushing, Dennis Price, Mary Collinson, Madeleine Collinson, Isobel Black, Kathleen Byron, Damien Thomas, David Warbeck, Harvey Hall, Alex Scott
“The joy of Twins is in the zip. Not a moment is wasted on uncessary dialogue or character development; not a frame is lacking in blood or flesh… The movie represents a moment of change in British society. Hammer in the 1960s was puritan: evil was evil and good always triumphed over it. In the 1970s it began to absorb some of the cultural trend towards relativism. So when the movie opens the bad guy is someone who would once have been regarded as the good guy – the witch hunter… You might say that Twins is a mess. Its plot is daft, the actors seem to be playing out private melodramas and the message is convoluted. But the result is actually something that feels incredibly alive.” – Tim Stanley, The Telegraph
Genres:
411. (-48) The Beast Within
Philippe Mora
1982 / USA / 98m / Col / Werewolf | IMDb
Ronny Cox, Bibi Besch, Paul Clemens, Don Gordon, R.G. Armstrong, Katherine Moffat, L.Q. Jones, Logan Ramsey, John Dennis Johnston, Ron Soble
“While at times excessively slow-moving and ultimately over-thinking the building of its mystery a little too hard, overall THE BEAST WITHIN is a smart, effective film about all-too-human evil, especially the sort one finds in extremely small, close-knit communities where blood ties are stronger then the rule of law, manifesting itself as a superhuman evil, while at the same time providing an excellent twist on the werewolf theme that was popular in horror in the early 1980s and a deliciously visceral take on the old canard about “the sins of the father.”” – Bill Adcock, Radiation-Scarred Reviews
Genres:
412. (-66) Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Victor Fleming
1941 / USA / 113m / BW / Science Fiction | IMDb
Spencer Tracy, Ingrid Bergman, Lana Turner, Donald Crisp, Ian Hunter, Barton MacLane, C. Aubrey Smith, Peter Godfrey, Sara Allgood, Frederick Worlock
“This 1941 version of the film does not have a very good reputation, and while it certainly is flawed it just as certainly doesn’t deserve as bad a rap as it has been given over the years. Yes, it somewhat pales in comparison with the 1932 version, which could take advantage of the leniency of the pre-Code years to emphasize the sexual aspects of the story; something the 1941 version was not at liberty to do. And yes, MGM may not have been the studio to tackle this story, being more interested in gloss and glamour than in the dirty depths that the story needs to examine. But given these drawbacks, “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” actually ends up being a pretty engaging variation on the tale.” – Michael Mapél, MichaelMapél.com
Genres:
413. (+200) Willard
Daniel Mann
1971 / USA / 95m / Col / Natural Horror | IMDb
Bruce Davison, Sondra Locke, Elsa Lanchester, Michael Dante, Jody Gilbert, William Hansen, John Myhers, J. Pat O’Malley, Joan Shawlee, Almira Sessions
“Despite it’s reputation as simply a horror film about a creepy guy who loves rats (a reputation confirmed by the forgettable Crispin Glover remake), Willard is actually much more than that. It’s a complex and sympathetic character study and for a few misfits in the audience, it gave us a protagonist we could finally identify with and a film that helped define our later lives. It was Willard and not Catcher in the Rye, where we finally came to recognize our own alienation.” – Jim Knipfel, Den of Geek
Genres:
414. (-42) Seconds
John Frankenheimer
1966 / USA / 106m / BW / Science Fiction | IMDb
Rock Hudson, Salome Jens, John Randolph, Will Geer, Jeff Corey, Richard Anderson, Murray Hamilton, Karl Swenson, Khigh Dhiegh, Frances Reid
“Frankenheimer and his cinematographer James Wong Howe (who justifiably won the Oscar) are operating in full baroque mode from the shadowy, off-kilter crowd scenes in Grand Central. Wong’s canted, expressionist angles and lusciously dark and pinprick-sharp depth of focus become even more overpowering in the film’s third act, as Arthur is kicked back into the company’s infernal machinery. He failed to remake himself as an all-new kind of American and so is now meant for the scrap heap like every other worn-out cog in the machine. Within a few years, the capitalist and consumerist critique that Seconds put to such thrilling use would be more commonplace in a film industry desperate for counter-cultural cachet. But unlike many of those rebel statements against the mainstream, Frankenheimer’s film understood that there were no easy answers to Arthur’s kind of despair.” – Chris Barsanti, PopMatters
Genres:
415. (-63) Murders in the Rue Morgue
Robert Florey
1932 / USA / 61m / BW / Mystery | IMDb
Sidney Fox, Bela Lugosi, Leon Ames, Bert Roach, Betty Ross Clarke, Brandon Hurst, D’Arcy Corrigan, Noble Johnson, Arlene Francis
“It’s silly and frivolous and absolutely deserves to be laughed right off the screen, but for one tremendous achievement: it is one of the best-looking horror films of the ’30s, full stop. It was shot by Karl Freund, who I’m increasingly sure could save anything: if the rumors are true, he’s the only reason Dracula exists as a functional object, and between The Mummy and Mad Love, he directed two of the most excitingly atmospheric films in the first wave of Universal horror. And good God, but does he ever bring the most flamboyant Expressionist zeal to Murders in the Rue Morgue, using sharp delineations of light to hammer home moments of terror and the uncanny, and he and Florey combined for some really amazing camera placements that present a sense of depth and shape to the rather generic Parisian settings that blazes miles past anything in the stagey Dracula.” – Tim Brayton, Antagony & Ecstasy
Genres:
416. (+255) Open Water
Chris Kentis
2003 / USA / 79m / Col / Natural Horror | IMDb
Blanchard Ryan, Daniel Travis, Saul Stein, Michael E. Williamson, Cristina Zenato, John Charles
“Chris Kentis, who wrote, directed, edited, and shot the film (with his wife, Laura Lau), is working with prime pulp material—but he doesn’t have a pulp sensibility. I mean this as a compliment. Shot on digital video and micro-budgeted, Open Water is terrifying precisely because it doesn’t go in for cheesy shock tactics and special effects. (Those sharks are real.) Strictly speaking, it’s not even in the shark-attack genre—it’s more like a black comedy about how things can go horribly wrong on vacation. You think you’re safe, and the next thing you know you’re lost at sea and something’s nibbling your gams. That’s an apt metaphor for a lot more than scuba diving.” – Peter Rainer, New York Magazine
Genres:
417. (+313) Fiend Without a Face
Arthur Crabtree
1958 / UK / 75m / BW / Science Fiction | IMDb
Marshall Thompson, Kynaston Reeves, Kim Parker, Stanley Maxted, Terry Kilburn, James Dyrenforth, Robert MacKenzie, Peter Madden, Gil Winfield, Michael Balfour
“Director Arthur Crabtree kept the formulaic story moving forward and the mood grimly earnest. His straight-ahead style serves the material without ruffles or flourishes, although his pacing is too leisurely through the first half. But when the monsters show at the climax, that’s when the oh-boy starts. They’re brought to life via Harryhausen-style stop-motion animation that’s better than you might expect while still maintaining a pleasurable cheese factor. Naturally, expect to whistle past gaps in plot logic (where’s all that light coming from in that sealed windowless crypt? Is dynamiting the control room to a nuclear reactor ever really a good idea?), which should be all part of the fun.” – Mark Bourne, DVD Journal
Genres:
418. (-45) Bakjwi
Chan-wook Park
AKA: Thirst
2009 / South Korea / 135m / Col / Vampire | IMDb
Kang-ho Song, Ok-bin Kim, Hae-suk Kim, Ha-kyun Shin, In-hwan Park, Dal-su Oh, Young-chang Song, Mercedes Cabral, Eriq Ebouaney, Hee-jin Choi
“Throughout very audible kissing and slurpy blood-drinking, the film proves to be scary, remarkably moving, and startlingly evocative. And like most Park films, it doesn’t end when the audience expects it to. The final section of the film transforms the characters and retains their humanity, even amid their most frenzied embrace of their obsessions. Park’s film is an ingenious look at a sleepy topic, proving that the vampire movie hasn’t lost its verve, but that most directors making them have. Place a filmmaker like Park behind the camera and suddenly the genre awakens from its slumber, digs itself from out of its own grave, and emerges ready to feed from the ideas of a great director.” – Brian Eggert, Deep Focus Review
Genres: Vampire, Drama, Romance, Black Comedy, Erotic Thriller, Psychological Thriller, Horror Comedy
419. (-44) 1408
Mikael Håfström
2007 / USA / 104m / Col / Haunted House | IMDb
John Cusack, Paul Birchard, Margot Leicester, Walter Lewis, Eric Meyers, David Nicholson, Holly Hayes, Alexandra Silber, Johann Urb, Andrew Lee Potts
“Whatever its weaknesses, 1408 holds you captive. The film may seem like a one-room version of THE SHINING, condensed and tight rather than big and sprawling like the Kubrick movie, but Hafstrom does an impressive job of keeping its limited space visually interesting for feature length, and when all else fails the story succeeds on the strength of Cusack’s performance. The actor is allowed to give a virtual one-man show, ranging from funny to fearful, alternating between broad physical action (when the character explodes in rage against the room’s asault on him) with quieter interludes of angst and despair. Forcing the audience to experience his terror with an almost first-hand immediacy, Cusack runs the emotional gamut, delivering a performance as layered and complex as any of the 2007s Oscar nominees. Thanks in large part to his efforts, 1408 comes close to being a character study rather than a horror film – WILD STRAWBERRIES, with ghosts. Unlike too many movies that aspire to more than mere horror, this one achieves its goal without neglecting the fear factor.” – Steve Biodrowski, ESplatter
Genres:
420. (-30) Quella villa accanto al cimitero
Lucio Fulci
AKA: The House by the Cemetery
1981 / Italy / 86m / Col / Splatter | IMDb
Catriona MacColl, Paolo Malco, Ania Pieroni, Giovanni Frezza, Silvia Collatina, Dagmar Lassander, Giovanni De Nava, Daniela Doria, Gianpaolo Saccarola, Carlo De Mejo
“A “video nasty,” THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY brings the blood in a big way, thanks to Fulci’s special effects muse Giannetto De Rossi. There are painstakingly long decapitations, stabbings, throat-removals and more throughout the film, all presented with disgusting Eurohorror depth and detail. Even though not the most horrific of Fulci’s career, THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY is by no means for the weak at heart, especially those adverse to creepy, crawly insects. Above all else THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY is a damn fine Fulci film, and a good launching point for those who want to get into European Horror and giallo. Good gore, fantastic atmosphere and heartfelt performances are on display, all topped off with the standard, bleak Fulci ending.” – Ken W. Hanley, Fangoria
Genres:
421. (+231) Cat People
Paul Schrader
1982 / USA / 118m / Col / Thriller | IMDb
Nastassja Kinski, Malcolm McDowell, John Heard, Annette O’Toole, Ruby Dee, Ed Begley Jr., Scott Paulin, Frankie Faison, Ron Diamond, Lynn Lowry
“Cat People contains long, seemingly endless stretches where little happens. It has many horror-movie cornerstones, but it’s paced like an art movie: slow, deliberate, and with pronounced emphasis on mood and tone over action. The film is punctuated by brief intervals of explicit, unusually effective gore, but it works best as a mood piece. Moroder’s icy electronic score adds to the aura of sex, violence, and mystery surrounding the film, but it would flatline without the remarkable performances of Kinski and McDowell, whose menacing otherworldliness has seldom been so deftly employed.” – Nathan Rabin, The Dissolve
Genres:
422. (+270) Mais ne nous délivrez pas du mal
Joël Séria
AKA: Don’t Deliver Us from Evil
1971 / France / 102m / Col / Drama | IMDb
Jeanne Goupil, Catherine Wagener, Bernard Dhéran, Gérard Darrieu, Marc Dudicourt, Michel Robin, Véronique Silver, Jean-Pierre Helbert, Nicole Mérouze
“Never released in the USA and “banned” for blasphemy, this potent dose of pretty poison presents a wonderfully deceiving package. The story of two teenage convent girls who “dedicate ourselves to Satan” could have been some dippy horror movie — a T&A fest with demons and multiple slayings and loads of sex. It could have been one of those ’70s horror films that make you run for the shower directly upon watching because even your soul feels soiled. But that’s not what Don’t Deliver Us From Evil is attempting. Really about the obsessive nature of female friendship, of girls suffering a tedious, square world filled with hypocrisy and becoming hopped up by literature and the forbidden and hellfire and all the stuff that’s so intense when you’re 15, the movie is a fiendish paean to the freaky bad girl — girls who, when staring into that bland void would rather, quite literally, burn out than fade away.” – Kim Morgan, Sunset Gun
Genres:
423. (-45) Calvaire
Fabrice Du Welz
AKA: The Ordeal
2004 / Belgium / 88m / Col / Psychological | IMDb
Laurent Lucas, Brigitte Lahaie, Gigi Coursigny, Jean-Luc Couchard, Jackie Berroyer, Philippe Nahon, Philippe Grand’Henry, Jo Prestia, Marc Lefebvre, Alfred David
“It helps to find the very dark, dark humor in “Calvaire,” a grueling, disgusting and quite effective horror film from Belgium. Part “Psycho,” part “Deliverance” and all creepy, it is simultaneously off-putting and absorbing… What sells this movie is the realistic attention to detail and the bravura direction of Fabrice Du Welz, who draws a gut-wrenching performance from Lucas, who cries, squeals and screams with the best of them… this feels different and fresh. At the very least, it gets under your fingernails.” – G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle
Genres:
424. (-73) I vampiri
Riccardo Freda & Mario Bava
AKA: Lust of the Vampire
1957 / Italy / 66m / BW / Vampire | IMDb
Gianna Maria Canale, Carlo D’Angelo, Dario Michaelis, Wandisa Guida, Angelo Galassi, Renato Tontini, Charles Fawcett, Gisella Mancinotti, Miranda Campa, Antoine Balpêtré
“But the most important link between I vampiri and the films to follow isn’t narrative at all, but the fact that it’s breathtakingly beautiful. Bava’s later career as a greatly influential and important director has tended to obscure the reality that he was one of his country’s all-time greatest cinematographers, and the uses he and Freda find for the CinemaScope frame is positively miraculous. There’s hardly a single composition that isn’t packed within an inch of its life with evocative imagery, and even such banal things as a conversation taking place in a two-shot are framed to have depth and layers far beyond the basic need to have two people chatting. The lighting in the film is equally inspired: growing ever darker from the start of the film to the end, but so gradually you can hardly tell, with the noir-inflected shadows growing longer with the greatest subtlety.” – Tim Brayton, Antagony & Ecstasy
Genres:
425. (-54) L’orribile segreto del Dr. Hichcock
Riccardo Freda
AKA: The Horrible Dr. Hichcock
1962 / Italy / 88m / Col / Gothic | IMDb
Barbara Steele, Robert Flemyng, Silvano Tranquilli, Maria Teresa Vianello, Harriet Medin, Al Christianson, Evar Simpson, Nat Harley, Neil Robinson
“Raptus, the alternative title of Riccardo Freda’s L’Orribile segreto del dottor Hichcock (The Horrible Secret of Dr Hichcock, Italy, 1962) is certainly apt, as its effect on individuals attracted to the macabre is not unlike a rapture or delirium of cinematic pleasure. The atmospheric visuals of Riccardo Freda’s masterpiece of sexual alienation and necrophilia stands without precedent in the Golden Age of Italian Horror that virtually seized the Roman film industry from 1956 to 1966. With more than a nod to the literary influences of Ann Radcliffe and the 19th Century that informed them, L’Orribile segreto del dottor Hichcock is a catalogue of Victorian repressions regarding desire and death, the marriage bed and the grave.” – David Del Valle, Kinoeye
Genres:
426. (-44) The Mothman Prophecies
Mark Pellington
2002 / USA / 119m / Col / Psychological | IMDb
Richard Gere, David Eigenberg, Bob Tracey, Ron Emanuel, Debra Messing, Tom Stoviak, Yvonne Erickson, Scott Nunnally, Harris Mackenzie, Will Patton
““The Mothman Prophecies,” delves into numerous sightings that occurred in Point Pleasant in the 1960s. But director Mark (“Arlington Road”) Pellington’s stylishly eerie movie would be just as effective without this knowledge. Using shadows and strikingly designed sounds, he skillfully creates an atmosphere of otherworldly, invisible menace. Gere and Linney, both solid, dance around the edges of a romance. Alan Bates contributes a juicy cameo as a spooked-out scientist. Pellington knows, as did the 1940s master of horror Val Lewton, that what you don’t see can raise far more goose bumps than what you do.” – David Ansen, Newsweek
Genres:
427. (-51) Danza macabra
Antonio Margheriti
AKA: Castle of Blood
1964 / Italy / 87m / Col / Gothic | IMDb
Barbara Steele, Georges Rivière, Margrete Robsahm, Arturo Dominici, Silvano Tranquilli, Sylvia Sorrente, Giovanni Cianfriglia, John Peters, Merry Powers
“One of Barbara Steele’s most impressive vehicles, and one of the cornerstones of the classic Euro Horror Renaissance (1956-66), Castle of Blood is perhaps the best film by the erratic, prolific Antonio Margheriti. A very nifty ghost turn involving a perpetual cycle of sex and murder among a quintet of libidinous ghosts, the story brings in vampiric ideas as well. Edgar Allan Poe makes an appearance as a character, which is all well considering that the story attribution to him is a complete falsification.” – Glenn Erickson, DVDTalk
Genres:
428. (-59) Trolljegeren
André Øvredal
AKA: The Troll Hunter
2010 / Norway / 103m / Col / Found Footage | IMDb
Otto Jespersen, Glenn Erland Tosterud, Johanna Mørck, Tomas Alf Larsen, Urmila Berg-Domaas, Hans Morten Hansen, Robert Stoltenberg, Knut Nærum, Eirik Bech
“With this Bizarro-World trek through the fjords, fields and mountaintops of wintry Norway, Andre Ovredal joins a select group of European filmmakers who have clearly paid attention to Hollywood’s lessons – particularly in the class on creature-features old and new – without negating their own specific cultural sensibility… Some plot turns don’t entirely hold water in the exciting climactic stretch, and the agitated hand-held visuals can grow wearying. But this is nonetheless an original and highly assured fusion of B-movie lore and fairy-tale terror. The premise may be absurd but the filmmaker and his able cast show unwavering commitment to the story’s elaborate mythology.” – David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
Genres: Giant Monster, Mockumentary, Found Footage Horror, Black Comedy, Low Fantasy, Folk Horror
429. (-59) Scream and Scream Again
Gordon Hessler
AKA: Screamer
1970 / UK / 95m / Col / Science Fiction | IMDb
Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Judy Huxtable, Alfred Marks, Michael Gothard, Anthony Newlands, Peter Sallis, David Lodge, Uta Levka
“It doesn’t really matter that much of it is nonsense, since it moves at a brisk pace and there are all those grand performances. The music is rather interesting, from the funky opening theme to the generic chase music, to the Amen Corner’s extended jams in the Busted Pot, to the climax where the variety of tunes come together with a bewildering swiftness (the triply scene with Kontratz walking through a series of TV screens is very well done). If stoned plot development and structure are not an impediment , the Scream and Scream again is worthy of the highest accolades.” – Wendell McKay, The Shrieking Sixties: British Horror Films 1960 – 1969
Genres:
430. (-43) Alucarda, la hija de las tinieblas
Juan López Moctezuma
AKA: Alucarda
1977 / Mexico / 78m / Col / Gothic | IMDb
Claudio Brook, David Silva, Tina Romero, Susana Kamini, Lili Garza, Tina French, Birgitta Segerskog, Adriana Roel, Antonia Guerrero, Martin LaSalle
“Alucarda is delirious, never once faltering or running out of steam, a frenzied assault on the viewer with the filmmaker constantly staying one step ahead to ensure each new scene becomes a revelation of fabulous obscenity. Story and coherence is just thrown out in favour of intensity, naked flesh and a generous helping of bodily fluids to just ooze things along. If this isn’t doing it for you, I really don’t know what will, but if there is one thing I can be certain of, Alcuarda is not for the faint of heart. If, on the other hand, you really get your kicks from seeing content that goes against the moral grain to deliver something fiendishly fruity, this film is essential viewing.” – Kat Ellinger, The Gore Splattered Corner
Genres:
431. (-57) Wrong Turn
Rob Schmidt
2003 / USA / 84m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
Desmond Harrington, Eliza Dushku, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Jeremy Sisto, Kevin Zegers, Lindy Booth, Julian Richings, Garry Robbins, Ted Clark, Yvonne Gaudry
“This horror flick about young campers stalked and slaughtered by gruesome backwoods barbarians is a fairly decent crossbreeding of Friday the 13th and Deliverance. Despite the typical hunky-guys/babes-in-tank-tops Hollywood cast, Wrong Turn is gritty and uncompromising, and it includes several suspenseful and shocking moments. Unlike Deliverance, though, it’s not consistently believable enough to make you think seriously about cancelling that next trip into the forest… If screenwriter Alan B. McElroy had found more plausible ways to put his characters in danger, Wrong Turn could have been a real doozy of a fright flick. But it’s still chilling enough to please fans of nature-set nasties like The Hills Have Eyes.” – Steve Newton, Georgia Straight
Genres:
432. (-47) Lisa e il diavolo
Mario Bava
AKA: Lisa and the Devil
1973 / Italy / 95m / Col / Gothic | IMDb
Telly Savalas, Elke Sommer, Sylva Koscina, Alessio Orano, Gabriele Tinti, Eduardo Fajardo, Alida Valli, Franz von Treuberg, Kathy Leone, Espartaco Santoni
“”Lisa and the Devil” is a mesmerizing, singularly one-of-a-kind experience. The story, driven by an artistic eye for stunning imagery and quixotic cinematography by Cecilio Paniagua, is spellbinding to watch unfold. Deliberate pacing is mixed with striking mise en scene compositions and floating camerawork that also incorporates low angles, representing Lisa’s foreign landscape crushing down upon her, and a number of startlingly effective zoom-ins—a calling-card of Mario Bava’s work.” – Dustin Putnam, The Movie Boy
Genres:
433. (-44) Linkeroever
Pieter Van Hees
AKA: Left Bank
2008 / Belgium / 102m / Col / Mystery | IMDb
Eline Kuppens, Matthias Schoenaerts, Sien Eggers, Marilou Mermans, Frank Vercruyssen, Robbie Cleiren, Ruth Becquart, Tinneke Boonen, Sara De Bosschere
“A bizarre blend of urban drama, erotic thriller and occult mystery set in Antwerp… This modern horror tries to recreate the chills that were so brilliantly achieved by Roman Polanski in both Rosemary’s Baby and The Tenant, and by Robin Hardy in The Wicker Man; as well as the weirdness that made Lars von Trier’s The Kingdom a masterpiece of the genre. Technically the film is well crafted, with creative camerawork, moody photography (that perfectly captures the urban decay of this part of northern Europe) and sombre scoring. There are moments of pure scariness, like the strange physical manifestations that Marie suffers in the course of her journey – including icky secretions and thick hairs growing out of non-healing wounds… While it’s no masterpiece, and the film begs a better ending, Left Bank is a skilful exercise in atmospherics.” – Peter Fuller, Movie Talk
Genres:
434. (-74) The Walking Dead
Michael Curtiz
1936 / USA / 66m / BW / Zombie | IMDb
Boris Karloff, Ricardo Cortez, Edmund Gwenn, Marguerite Churchill, Warren Hull, Barton MacLane, Henry O’Neill, Joe King, Addison Richards, Paul Harvey
“Warner Brothers zaps Boris Karloff back to life with a plot device torn from the headlines so he can exact vengeance on a group of racketeers… The Film Daily reported that for The Walking Dead’s premiere at the New York Strand the lobby display was comprised of several still photos of the Lindbergh Heart scene from the movie, accompanied by real newspaper clippings triumphing the actual invention… The Walking Dead is run-of-the-mill gangster stuff with a horror twist but an exemplary performance by Boris Karloff, who always gave heart and soul to his work, that boosts its status in both genres. It’s a must for Karloff fans and will be enjoyed by those who love both the Universal monsters and Warner Brothers gangsters.” – Cliff Aliperti, Immortal Ephemera
Genres:
435. (-52) Stake Land
Jim Mickle
2010 / USA / 98m / Col / Vampire | IMDb
Connor Paolo, Gregory Jones, Traci Hovel, Nick Damici, James Godwin, Tim House, Marianne Hagan, Stuart Rudin, Adam Scarimbolo, Vonia Arslanian
“Making the most of a modest budget, director and co-writer Mickle profitably focuses on establishing character and the film’s overall haunted tone rather than simply conjuring gratuitous mayhem. An effective economy of style and the faded color scheme admirably suit this stripped-down aesthetic. The lead performances are solid, despite somewhat generic characterizations, and all-importantly, the vampires’ acting, makeup and costuming are persuasive, even if they appear nearly as dim-witted as a typical zombie. Stake Land’s trenchant worldview, both dystopian and completely rational, shows more affinity with the likes of The Road, 28 Days Later and Night of the Living Dead than it does with movies inclined to romanticize or demonize vampires. The message that America, with all of its social ills and conflicts, is a nation devouring itself seems particularly appropriate as budget battles and culture wars rage on unabated.” – Justin Lowe, The Hollywood Reporter
Genres:
436. (+279) Psychomania
Don Sharp
AKA: The Death Wheelers
1973 / UK / 85m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Nicky Henson, Mary Larkin, Ann Michelle, Roy Holder, Denis Gilmore, Miles Greenwood, Peter Whitting, Rocky Taylor, Robert Hardy, Patrick Holt
“It remains an iconic, idiosyncratic anomaly in a creepshow category overrun by reanimated bodies and rotting monsters. Sure, fright fans like their zombies hobbled and hungry, patrolling the countryside for available brains. All the members of The Living Dead want to do is cause trouble and “blow some squares’ minds”. While it may have been intended as nothing more than double feature filler, a 90 minute companion piece to something more substantial, it actually wound up doing what few horror films can – it set itself apart from the rest of the paranormal pack. Cinematic scares are often predictable at best. While it avoids many of the basic bone rattling moves, Psychomania is still one memorable fright flick.” – Bill Gibron, Pop Matters
Genres:
437. (new) Der Student von Prag
Henrik Galeen
AKA: The Man Who Cheated Life
1926 / Germany / 110m / BW / Drama | IMDb
Conrad Veidt, Elizza La Porta, Fritz Alberti, Agnes Esterhazy, Ferdinand von Alten, Werner Krauss, Erich Kober, Max Maximilian
“Superior [to the 1913] version, thanks to some moody direction by Henrik Galeen (who was involved in either a writing or directorial capacities in an astonishing number of German horror movies, such as both versions of THE GOLEM, WAXWORKS, ALRAUNE and NOSFERATU) and a fine, powerful performance from Conrad Veidt, who may actually have been the finest horror actor of the silents and is here reunited with his CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI co-star Werner Krauss… there’s a real power in the growing horror of the story, and the final sequences in which Veidt is stalked by himself are absolutely chilling. In a sense, there’s no other horror movie out there quite like this one” – Dave Sindelar, Fantastic Movie Musings and Ramblings
Genres:
438. (-50) Humanoids from the Deep
Barbara Peeters
AKA: Humanoids of the Deep
1980 / USA / 80m / Col / Exploitation | IMDb
Doug McClure, Ann Turkel, Vic Morrow, Cindy Weintraub, Anthony Pena, Denise Galik, Lynn Theel, Meegan King, Breck Costin, Hoke Howell
“It’s this sort of attention to detail that makes Humanoids from the Deep an effective monster movie. Sure, it’s silly and exploitative, but it’s also a hoot to watch, particularly for gorehounds, Corman fans and cult enthusiasts. This isn’t a film built for most mainstream audiences – it’s simply too audacious, too nasty, and too off-the-wall to be accepted as A-level entertainment. But, in an era where movies like Alien and Halloween were filling theaters with teen fans hungry for more, Humanoids delivers in bloody spades. And years later, in continues to impress.” – R.L. Shaffer, IGN
Genres:
439. (+289) House of Dark Shadows
Dan Curtis
1970 / USA / 97m / Col / Vampire | IMDb
Jonathan Frid, Grayson Hall, Kathryn Leigh Scott, Roger Davis, Nancy Barrett, John Karlen, Thayer David, Louis Edmonds, Don Briscoe, David Henesy
“The soap opera Dark Shadows was Curtis’ baby and it ran on ABC from 1966-1971 hitting the peak of its popularity with the release of this film in 1970. While the show had many long running storylines and even storylines in different eras, Curtis decided that the film version was going to tell the Barnabas vampire tale alone. Audiences were a bit shocked by how much harsher the film version of the show was, with a Barnabas that was much less sympathetic and violence that was, well, violent. With a tightly focused vampire story, Curtis produced a film which has the feel of a classic Hammer film… The film is aided immeasurably in this regard by its location photography in upstate New York and Connecticut.” – Brian Holcomb, Kinetofilm
Genres:
440. (-46) Il mulino delle donne di pietra
Giorgio Ferroni
AKA: Mill of the Stone Women
1960 / Italy / 96m / Col / Gothic | IMDb
Pierre Brice, Scilla Gabel, Wolfgang Preiss, Dany Carrel, Herbert A.E. Böhme, Liana Orfei, Marco Guglielmi, Olga Solbelli, Alberto Archetti
“These aforementioned artistic elements work in layers to create the films overall sense of mood with Hans’s hallucination sequence being a primary example. After receiving a sedative from Dr. Bohlem, Hans begins to stumble from one room to the next, putting the mill’s bizarre architecture on full display. Pavoni, in turn, fills these rooms with shadows and occasional flashes of red or blue light which adds to the chilling atmosphere. Underlying this is Innocenzi’s score which uses its central motif to build tension, and piercing high pitched arrangements to punctuate terror, as Hans begins to unravel the mystery of the Mill through a series of spectral visions. In these scenes, like many others throughout the film, the combination of visuals and sound allow the film to take on a dreamlike quality that is both ominous as well as frightening.” – Bruce Jordan, Classic-Horror
Genres:
441. (-57) La residencia
Narciso Ibáñez Serrador
AKA: The House That Screamed
1969 / Spain / 99m / Col / Psychological | IMDb
Lilli Palmer, Cristina Galbó, John Moulder-Brown, Maribel Martín, Mary Maude, Cándida Losada, Pauline Challoner, Tomás Blanco, Víctor Israel, Teresa Hurtado
“Gore hounds may find the long excursions into character development rather disappointing and it’s true that the maniac killer is not the key point in the plot for the entire ninety-nine minutes. But with that said, when he does strike, the slaughters are excellently conveyed and the film’s approachable characters and Samson-like-in-strength performances make this something of a cinematic treat. It’s nice to see a movie where every shot has been painstakingly planned to perfection and the net-result is a visual masterpiece that excels from start to finish.” – Luisito Joaquin Gonzalez, A Slash Above
Genres:
442. (-56) Scary Movie
Keenen Ivory Wayans
2000 / USA / 88m / Col / Comedy | IMDb
Carmen Electra, Dave Sheridan, Frank B. Moore, Giacomo Baessato, Kyle Graham, Leanne Santos, Mark McConchie, Karen Kruper, Anna Faris, Jon Abrahams
“A raucous, satirical attack on slasher movies, teenage horror movies and “The Matrix.” I saw the movie, I laughed, I took notes, and now I am at a loss to write the review. All of the usual critical categories and strategies collapse in the face of a film like this… The bottom line in reviewing a movie like this is, does it work? Is it funny? Yes, it is. Not funny with the shocking impact of “Airplane!,” which had the advantage of breaking new ground. But also not a tired wheeze like some of the lesser and later Leslie Nielsen films. To get your money’s worth, you need to be familiar with the various teenage horror franchises, and if you are, “Scary Movie” delivers the goods.” – Roger Ebert, rogerebert.com
Genres:
443. (-66) The Hills Have Eyes
Alexandre Aja
2006 / USA / 107m / Col / Cannibal | IMDb
Aaron Stanford, Kathleen Quinlan, Vinessa Shaw, Emilie de Ravin, Dan Byrd, Tom Bower, Billy Drago, Robert Joy, Ted Levine, Desmond Askew
“The remake to “The Hills Have Eyes” (Wes Craven who has his hand firmly placed in the cookie jar as producer) still isn’t a perfect film, but for what it gives us in its ninety minute run time, is a true definition of a horror movie. Aja knows how to make a horror movie that’s realistic, bold, and provides all the bloodhounds with a satisfactory amount of gore. This remake of “Hills” is superior not only because it provides us with the amount of violence that’s been missing from horror for years, but basically because it has more focus on the survival aspects. There’s more tension, more urgency, more dread, and less camp. Aja’s new film has a sort of eeriness to it from the very beginning as we’re introduced to this family taking a crossroad journey for their vacation (you know how the usual story goes).” – Felix Vasquez Jr., Cinema Crazed
Genres: Horror, Hixploitation, Survival, Splatter, Slasher, Cannibal, Sadistic Horror, Road Movie, Family Drama
444. (-47) Gritos en la noche
Jesús Franco
AKA: The Awful Dr. Orlof
1962 / Spain / 90m / Col / Thriller | IMDb
Conrado San Martín, Diana Lorys, Howard Vernon, Perla Cristal, María Silva, Ricardo Valle, Mara Laso, Venancio Muro, Félix Dafauce, Faustino Cornejo
“The audio elements of Orlof complement the visuals, combining efforts to keep the audience on their toes. The dizzy musical score by José Pagán and Antonio Ramírez Ángel… Actually, I misspeak – “music” is far too nice a word for the cacophony of percussion and bizarre arrangements that permeate Orlof’s soundscape. Pagán and Ángel’s work is more of a thrumming wakeup call to the senses, a bucket of cold water tossed down the ear. The camerawork and the soundtrack combine to form a general aesthetic of “screw aesthetics,” infusing Orlof with a manic, exhilarating energy that enlivens and rejuvenates the clichés in the script.” – Nate Yapp, Classic-Horror
Genres:
445. (-111) Night of the Comet
Thom Eberhardt
1984 / USA / 95m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Robert Beltran, Catherine Mary Stewart, Kelli Maroney, Sharon Farrell, Mary Woronov, Geoffrey Lewis, Peter Fox, John Achorn, Michael Bowen, Devon Ericson
“The easiest way to describe a popcorn flick like Night of the Comet would be to call it a mash up between George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead (1978) and John Hughes’ The Breakfast Club (1985). The wacky offbeat sensibility of Night of the Comet is a joy to behold. For genre fans, it’s easy to fall in love with a farcical 80s sci-fi horror movie with zombies. It’s the whimsical warmth of Thom Eberhardt’s direction that gives this movie its heart. It’s obvious he’s a genuine fan of B-movies. Like other cult classic B-movies there is more to Night of the Comet than its wacky sense of humour. It contains genuine terror. An electric piece of cult cinema, Night of the Comet is a classic! ” – Curtis Owen, My reviewer
Genres:
446. (-47) Night of the Demons
Kevin Tenney
AKA: Halloween Party
1988 / USA / 90m / Col / Haunted House | IMDb
Hal Havins, Allison Barron, Alvin Alexis, Harold Ayer, Billy Gallo, Cathy Podewell, Karen Ericson, Lance Fenton, Donnie Jeffcoat, Linnea Quigley
“”Night of the Demons” doesn’t have anything of importance to say and offers no deep messages. Instead, it’s got violence, sex, nudity and a good-humored script. There are all different types of genre films, and this one was purely made to entertain. Its technical and creative ingenuity is but a plus on the scorecard, and its wraparound sequence, involving a grouchy old man who has the tables turned on him when he slips razorblades in the trick-or-treaters’ apples, is a bewitchingly grim capper. “Night of the Demons” isn’t free of flaws, but it is practically dripping with the blood, sweat and tears of those who set out to make a genuinely good party movie, and did exactly that.” – Dustin Putnam, The Movie Boy
Genres:
447. (+341) Wendigo
Larry Fessenden
2001 / USA / 91m / Col / Monster | IMDb
Patricia Clarkson, Jake Weber, Erik Per Sullivan, John Speredakos, Christopher Wynkoop, Lloyd Oxendine, Brian Delate, Daniel Sherman, Jennifer Wiltsie
“Writer/director Larry Fessenden throws everything including the kitchen sink into the visuals. “Wendigo” is a very good-looking film, even if a brief sequence using handheld cameras early on gets to be a bit tedious. The movie, despite being a slow and laborious character study, still manages to move well. Fessenden proves that he was paying attention in film school when the professors were talking about motifs and themes, and as a result the film’s visualization is swarming with secondary and third meanings — that is, if one cares to pick them out. Don’t go into “Wendigo” expecting a horror movie. Despite the title, the film is more about man’s interaction, and lack thereof, with one another than it is about a mythical beast. The film is never scary, but rather shocking in its nonchalant attitude toward human nature and violence.” – Nix, Beyond Hollywood
Genres:
448. (+259) Phantom of the Paradise
Brian De Palma
1974 / USA / 92m / Col / Musical | IMDb
William Finley, Paul Williams, Jessica Harper, Gerrit Graham, George Memmoli, Archie Hahn, Jeffrey Comanor, Peter Elbling, Colin Cameron, David Garland
“If you take the film at face value, then it’s this incredibly fun and surreal retelling of classic stories like The Phantom of the Opera and The Picture of Dorian Grey with fantastic music and a wild 1970’s feel. If you look a little bit deeper, you’ll realize what makes Phantom of the Paradise all the more terrifying when it comes to monopolizing music and movie charts and how this obsession with an individual’s depravity of morals could ultimately lead to in our society.” – The Wolfman Cometh
Genres:
449. (-70) The Tomb of Ligeia
Roger Corman
AKA: Last Tomb of Ligeia
1964 / UK / 81m / Col / Gothic | IMDb
Vincent Price, Elizabeth Shepherd, John Westbrook, Derek Francis, Oliver Johnston, Richard Vernon, Frank Thornton, Ronald Adam, Denis Gilmore, Penelope Lee
“Of all the Corman/Poe films, Tomb of Ligea has stood the test of time most successfully, although a case can also be made for Masque of the Red Death. The standard elements of the other films in the series, the malignant and presumably dead wife, the tormented widower overwrought with melancholy, and the threatened innocent, are certainly present, but Corman plays Tomb of Ligea straight. This is likely due to the script by Robert Towne, whose characters are believably complex and compelling. Price is remarkably restrained as a romantic lead, given his over-the-top portrayals in the other Poe films, and Elizabeth Shepherd manages to strike exactly the right note in her role as Lady Rowena.” – Bud Simons, Austin Chronicle
Genres:
450. (+286) The Signal
David Bruckner & Dan Bush & Jacob Gentry
2007 / USA / 103m / Col / Science Fiction | IMDb
Anessa Ramsey, Sahr Ngaujah, AJ Bowen, Matthew Stanton, Suehyla El-Attar, Justin Welborn, Cheri Christian, Scott Poythress, Christopher Thomas, Lindsey Garrett
“An outright horror film that nonetheless veers on occasion into surreal black comedy, The Signal… takes Marshall McLuhan’s famous statement “the medium is the message” to extremes not explored since David Cronenberg’s seminal, frighteningly prescient Videodrome in 1983… The Signal is a shuddery critique of the ultrapervasive influence of big (and little) media on humanity and the paranoia engendered by its sheer invasiveness. It’s also a snarky stab at the desensitizing aspects of everything… Both apocalyptic and suitably vague, The Signal’s only serious weakness comes from some borderline histrionic performances; then again, it’s tough to call hysteria anything other than a sane response to a world gone mad.” – Marc Savlov, Austin Chronicle
Genres:
451. (-45) Frontière(s)
Xavier Gens
AKA: Frontier(s)
2007 / France / 108m / Col / Splatter | IMDb
Karina Testa, Samuel Le Bihan, Estelle Lefébure, Aurélien Wiik, David Saracino, Chems Dahmani, Maud Forget, Amélie Daure, Rosine Favey, Adel Bencherif
“There’s enough blood in the unrated French horror film “Frontier(s)” to satiate even the most ravenous gore hounds. The real surprise here is that this creepy, contemporary gross-out also has some ideas, visual and otherwise, wedged among its sanguineous drips, swaying meat hooks and whirring table saw. Much like other recent French-language horror films (“High Tension,” “Calvaire,” “Inside”), this one owes a debt to the modern American slasher flick, the original “Texas Chain Saw Massacre,” among many others, though “Frontier(s)” adds an amusingly glib and timely political twist to its wholesale carnage… “Frontier(s)” finally works because its shivers are as plausible as they are outrageous.” – Manohla Dargis, The New York Times
Genres:
452. (+312) The Day of the Triffids
Steve Sekely
AKA: Invasion of the Triffids
1963 / UK / 93m / Col / Science Fiction | IMDb
Howard Keel, Nicole Maurey, Janette Scott, Kieron Moore, Mervyn Johns, Ewan Roberts, Alison Leggatt, Geoffrey Matthews, Janina Faye, Gilgi Hauser
“The Day of the Triffids depicts a world-wide meteor storm, a train wreck, a plane crash, military bases aflame, vast metropolitan centers devoid of life (in scenes that seem to forecast images in films such as Day of the Dead [1985] and 28 Days Later [2002]) and also makes the threat of walking. man-eating plants palpable…and by the climax, totally believable. That’s no small accomplishment, and the sense you get watching this film is that everybody – from director and actors to the special effects artists – truly committed to the project. They stretched their miniscule budget as far as it could possibly go, deploying ingenuity to fill the gaps.” – John Kenneth Muir, Reflections on Cult Movies and Classic TV
Genres:
453. (-49) Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed
Terence Fisher
1969 / UK / 98m / Col / Monster | IMDb
Peter Cushing, Veronica Carlson, Freddie Jones, Simon Ward, Thorley Walters, Maxine Audley, George Pravda, Geoffrey Bayldon, Colette O’Neil, Frank Middlemass
“Cushing’s coldly articulate and seemingly alien Baron Frankenstein is matched perfectly with the film’s minimalist (for Hammer) set design, depicting as it does an England struggling under the environmental weight of lunatic asylums and abandoned estates. This sense of a crumbling landscape is perversely reflected in Frankenstein’s drive to experiment and lacerate bodies in the name of a modernist religion of progress. Adding to the film’s appeal is a compellingly exhausted and desperate performance by Freddie Jones as Frankenstein’s all too human monster. There is a swift yet sophisticated precision to Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, a concentrated ferocity and subtle unification of narrative, image and theme that is indicative of the very height of Cushing and Fisher’s working relationship.” – Joshua Vasquez, Slant Magazine
Genres:
454. (-43) The Dunwich Horror
Daniel Haller
1970 / UK / 90m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Sandra Dee, Dean Stockwell, Ed Begley, Lloyd Bochner, Sam Jaffe, Joanne Moore Jordan, Donna Baccala, Talia Shire, Michael Fox, Jason Wingreen
“One of the first appearances of the Necronomicon on the big screen was director Daniel Haller’s 1970 creep-fest The Dunwich Horror… even though the script takes a few liberties with Lovecraft’s original story, it is a surreal mix of a supernatural occult thriller and an alien monster movie. Because it was adapted from a short story and expanded into a feature length movie (by L.A. Confidential screenwriter Curtis Hanson and Lock Up scribe Henry Rosenbaum), the story does drag a bit in places, but the plot moves in a way that makes sense towards a classic B-movie climax, and the characters, although stereotypical, are well written enough to carry the scenes in which action is light.” – James Jay Edwards, FilmFracture
Genres:
455. (-36) Friday the 13th Part 2
Steve Miner
1981 / USA / 87m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
Amy Steel, John Furey, Adrienne King, Kirsten Baker, Stuart Charno, Warrington Gillette, Walt Gorney, Marta Kober, Tom McBride, Bill Randolph
“Friday the 13th Part 2 is every bit as crude, senseless, and blunt as they accuse it of being, and it’s not surprising that discerning filmgoers with higher aspirations than the slasher genre offers would find it somewhat unnerving to be in a roomful of kids who seem to revel in make-believe bloodlust. Friday the 13th Part 2 cannot be defended intellectually, yet, the film’s very simplicity and directness gives it a kind of folkloric power, albeit power that works only if you give yourself over to it. If you do, it not only allows you to find a queasy sense of pleasure in being unashamedly goosed and grossed out, but also to ignore just how utterly nonsensical the film’s ending actually is.” – James Kendrick, Q Network Film Desk
Genres:
456. (+321) The Burrowers
J.T. Petty
2008 / USA / 96m / Col / Western | IMDb
Clancy Brown, David Busse, William Mapother, Jocelin Donahue, Alexandra Edmo, Brighid Fleming, Karl Geary, Christopher Hagen, Doug Hutchison, Galen Hutchison
“An atmospheric, slightly loopy mix of western lore and monster movie shocks – best described as The Searchers meets The Thing… Though shot on a measly US$7million budget, The Burrowers recreates the early West and envisions pure evil with an A-grade attention to detail. As a throwback to the great B-movies of years gone by, it echoes the middle America-vs-monster movie Tremors (1990), the astronauts-vs-monster movie Alien (1979) and the lost campers-vs-monster movie Prophecy (1979). Like those films, The Burrowers is a choice example of this paranoid, claustrophobic, tummy-tightening genre.” – Simon Foster, Screen-Space
Genres:
457. (+341) The Prophecy
Gregory Widen
1995 / USA / 98m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Christopher Walken, Elias Koteas, Virginia Madsen, Eric Stoltz, Viggo Mortensen, Amanda Plummer, Moriah ‘Shining Dove’ Snyder, Adam Goldberg, Steve Hytner, J.C. Quinn
“Yes, this is Walken’s show, but you have to give credit to Elias Koteas, Eric Stoltz and Virginia Madsen for doing a fantastic job, and also to a very young Viggo Mortensen as Lucifer himself. The Prophecy is a superb horror, which has a great story, some decent shocks and a nice level of gore which is not too much. The only thing that really lets it down is some of the effects are a bit crap, but hey, it would seem the director put most of his effort into creating a great story and getting the best from his actors, which he has done to brilliant effect.” – Matt Wavish, Horror Cult Films
Genres:
458. (-62) Burnt Offerings
Dan Curtis
1976 / USA / 116m / Col / Haunted House | IMDb
Karen Black, Oliver Reed, Burgess Meredith, Eileen Heckart, Lee Montgomery, Dub Taylor, Bette Davis, Joseph Riley, Todd Turquand, Orin Cannon
“On its release, I was happy to find Burnt Offerings to be a serious-minded, slavishly faithful adaptation of the book (with the exception of a more cinematic, crowd-pleasing ending) that avoided the usual post-Exorcist bombast and instead concentrated on mood and atmosphere. It’s one of those rare films that can give you a good, solid scare when you watch it alone, yet provide plenty of unintentional laughs when you watch it with friends. Contemporary audiences are likely to find the film predictable, slow, over-reliant on tried-and-true clichés (there should be a moratorium on rainstorms in haunted house movies), and hampered by the kind of empty ambiguity that often signals poor storytelling; but it’s those who saw Burnt Offerings when they were very young (the film was rated PG) or before The Shining and the Amityville series drove the genre into redundancy, that today recall the film with the most fondness..” – Ken Anderson, Le Cinema Dreams
Genres:
459. (-58) The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Jim Sharman
1975 / USA / 100m / Col / Musical | IMDb
Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick, Richard O’Brien, Patricia Quinn, Nell Campbell, Jonathan Adams, Peter Hinwood, Meat Loaf, Charles Gray
“There had never been – and, since its release, never has been – a movie like The Rocky Horror Picture Show. In terms of both the successfully over-the-top mixture of horror, camp, rock’n’roll, science fiction, sexual transgression, and purposefully bad B-movie dialogue within the film itself and the even more over-the-top behavior it has inspired in audiences during midnight screenings for decades, it is absolutely unique in the annals of cinema… it has not only become the ultimate cult object, but has been selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the USA National Film Registry for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”” – James Kendrick, Q Network Film Desk
Genres:
460. (-53) Bride of Chucky
Ronny Yu
1998 / USA / 89m / Col / Black Comedy | IMDb
Jennifer Tilly, Brad Dourif, Katherine Heigl, Nick Stabile, Alexis Arquette, Gordon Michael Woolvett, John Ritter, Lawrence Dane, Michael Louis Johnson
“After the squalor that was Child’s Play 3, Mancini and newly anointed director Ronny Yu (who would later helm Freddy vs. Jason) resuscitated the series with Bride of Chucky, a new breed of killer doll movie that dropped any pretense of horror and went running toward comedy and satire. Some hail it as hilarious; others find it more intolerable than Child’s Play 3. And frankly, this is about as much of a to each his own series shift as you might imagine… Tilly is a godsend (although some detractors have deemed her, not Child’s Play 3, the real series killer), Dourif is a blast, and the lunacy of it all piles up and piles up until it literally spills into the unholy union of Chucky and Tiffany, announcing Mancini’s willingness to take the franchise anywhere.” – Kenneth Brown, Blu-ray.com
Genres: Black Comedy, Supernatural Horror, Horror Comedy, Slasher, Romance, Road Movie, Puppetry, Gross-Out Comedy, Evil Doll
461. (-35) La sindrome di Stendhal
Dario Argento
AKA: The Stendhal Syndrome
1996 / Italy / 120m / Col / Psychological | IMDb
Asia Argento, Thomas Kretschmann, Marco Leonardi, Luigi Diberti, Paolo Bonacelli, Julien Lambroschini, John Quentin, Franco Diogene, Lucia Stara, Sonia Topazio
“Dario Argento’s The Stendhal Syndrome from 1996 is among one of his finest gothic/slash/occult/slash/horror and gore films and the first [Italian] film to use CGI. In this film his own daughter Asia Argento takes the blows, as opposed to his former partner Dario Niccolodi… Dario Argento tries to make a connection, as in all of his films, to the irresistible pull of the supernatural that captivates people and makes them prisoner despite premonitions of danger or perhaps because of them. At least as spectators we know that the danger is out there but when it’s going to hit is an unknown… a compelling film that doesn’t get vulgar or cheap, but stays in some kind of respectable depravity.” – Moira Sullivan, Movie Magazine International
Genres:
462. (+312) Red White & Blue
Simon Rumley
2010 / USA / 104m / Col / Psychological | IMDb
Amanda Fuller, Marc Senter, Jon Michael Davis, Nick Holden, Patrick Crovo, Mary Mathews, Noah Taylor, Julian Haddad, Ernest James, Jenny Gravenstein
“Restraint pays dividends for British writer/director Simon Rumley in this devastating and demanding revenge tragedy set in Austin, Texas. A low-budget tale of broken lives and misguided retribution, Rumley’s slow-burner is driven by superbly nuanced performances, with Amanda Fuller’s emotionally scarred nymphomaniac gradually forming a relationship with a mysterious Iraq War veteran… When the brutality finally explodes, Rumley continues to focus on reactions rather than action, the harrowing events hitting harder by being kept predominantly off-screen.” – Sloan Freer, Radio Times
Genres:
463. (+321) Demon Seed
Donald Cammell
AKA: Proteus Generation
1977 / USA / 94m / Col / Science Fiction | IMDb
Julie Christie, Fritz Weaver, Gerrit Graham, Berry Kroeger, Lisa Lu, Larry J. Blake, John O’Leary, Alfred Dennis, Davis Roberts, Patricia Wilson
“Ultimately, this is the film’s greatest strength—that while he seems to hybridize Kubrick, Polanski, and Keaton in an initially obvious manner, Cammell eventually combines these influences into an idiosyncratic and oddly equivocal morality tale. Demon Seed recasts HAL as the ultimate, network bugaboo, revisits Rosemary’s insemination for its biological, and not its occult, unpleasantness, and re-erects an electric house that is not fraught with faulty, schlemiel-baiting technology, but is instead menacingly and incontrovertibly perfect. In this way, it is a great help that Cammell’s film (due in no small part to the Dean Koontz novel upon which it was based) remains quite relevant, and far more so now than when originally released.” – Leo Goldsmith, Not Coming To a Theater Near You
Genres:
464. (+394) Tales from the Hood
Rusty Cundieff
1995 / USA / 98m / Col / Anthology | IMDb
Clarence Williams III, Joe Torry, De’aundre Bonds, Samuel Monroe Jr., Wings Hauser, Tom Wright, Anthony Griffith, Michael Massee, Duane Whitaker, David Alan Grier
“All four of the stories differ in tone – some are darkly comic, others outright gruesome – yet they share a thoughtful quality. Each one addresses some kind of relevant issue: racist cops, domestic violence, people who inexcusably cling to the ideals of the Jim Crow South, and black-on-black killings. What happens in them is appropriately eerie. More vitally, they give you something to think about. Despite having been released 22 years ago, none of the tales have lost their sting. They hold on to their urgency, making every bit as much of an impact now as they did then.” – Mike McGranaghan, Aisle Seat
Genres:
465. (-62) Non si sevizia un paperino
Lucio Fulci
AKA: Don’t Torture a Duckling
1972 / Italy / 105m / Col / Giallo | IMDb
Florinda Bolkan, Barbara Bouchet, Tomas Milian, Irene Papas, Marc Porel, Georges Wilson, Antonello Campodifiori, Ugo D’Alessio, Virgilio Gazzolo, Vito Passeri
“The signature Fulci bit is also the devastating culmination of the film’s autopsy of corrupt patriarchy, a bravura episode of pitiless, protracted violence against Bolkan’s lupine “witch,” chains, pipes, torn flesh scored outrageously to radio channel-surfing and capped with a sendup of Il Bidone. An oversized crucifix hangs in the woods, although Fulci remains utterly distrustful of church piety, small-town virtue and even childhood innocence – what Bouchet and Milian ultimately unearth isn’t the solution to a mystery, but the awareness of Fulci’s horror erupting as vividly and messily from bucolic vistas as from decomposing zombies.” – Fernando F. Croce, CinePassion
Genres:
466. (+341) I Sell the Dead
Glenn McQuaid
2008 / USA / 85m / Col / Comedy | IMDb
Dominic Monaghan, Larry Fessenden, Angus Scrimm, Ron Perlman, Brenda Cooney, John Speredakos, Daniel Manche, Eileen Colgan, James Godwin, Joel Garland
“Filled with grisly sound effects and Gaelic wit, I Sell the Dead may be more slapstick than horror, but McQuaid leaves the film’s genuinely chilling moments — like a shrouded corpse slowly unfurling behind Willie’s back — room to breathe. The director grew up in Ireland, watching Hammer horror movies and idolizing Peter Cushing, and Dead’s fondness for dry ice and spooky graveyards smoothly evokes an earlier, more innocent era of gruesome entertainments. Its wit and style, however, are thoroughly modern, as is a hilarious ending that leaves the sequel door wide open. And why not? Whether downing pints or unearthing aliens, Arthur and Willie are a buddy act we could stand to see again.” – Jeannette Catsoulis, NPR
Genres:
467. (+385) Les revenants
Robin Campillo
AKA: They Came Back
2004 / France / 102m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Géraldine Pailhas, Jonathan Zaccaï, Frédéric Pierrot, Victor Garrivier, Catherine Samie, Djemel Barek, Marie Matheron, Saady Delas, Guy Herbert, Catherine Salvini
“The film remains mysterious throughout its complete running time, though nothing much is actually happening. We follow the lives of the three characters as they try to cope with what is happening to them. There aren’t any big revelations or mind-shattering explanations, but the finale is satisfactory and keeps a layer of mystery hanging over the film. Les Revenants is a nifty take on the zombie genre, drawing lots of atmosphere from its score and introducing some very interesting themes. It’s a definite recommendation for those looking for something a little different.” – Niels Matthijs, ScreenAnarchy
Genres:
468. (-66) Mil gritos tiene la noche
Juan Piquer Simón
AKA: Pieces
1982 / USA / 85m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
Christopher George, Lynda Day George, Frank Braña, Edmund Purdom, Ian Sera, Paul L. Smith, Jack Taylor, Gérard Tichy, May Heatherly, Hilda Fuchs
“Throughout the course of the narrative we’re given absurd red herrings, hammy acting, and bad dubbing all set to the tune of pure nihilistic gore and grue that involves the shadowy figure mutilating these women in the most horrific ways imaginable and stealing parts of their bodies. The mystery leads us down many roads and suspects where Simon plays with the audiences perceptions and allows them a guess or two with tricky camera shots and slight of hand, but by the time the climax rolls around it’s clear he’s just given up and is intent on making the most out of this insane scenario while making his stamp on the horror genre living in cult infamy. “Pieces” is such a fun little blood soaked gem, you’ll be surprised if you don’t see it again immediately after to catch its little nuances.” – Felix Vasquez Jr., Cinema Crazed
Genres:
469. (-54) When a Stranger Calls
Fred Walton
1979 / USA / 97m / Col / Thriller | IMDb
Carol Kane, Rutanya Alda, Carmen Argenziano, Kirsten Larkin, William Boyett, Charles Durning, Ron O’Neal, Heetu, Rachel Roberts, Tony Beckley
“The ultimately slow-moving film is book-ended by some truly classic horror movie moments, but if you’re expecting a teen-slasher, you’re better off call-waiting for the remake. When A Stranger Calls is dated — no *69 back then, nothing but pencils and erasers to do your homework with — but that’s in large part what makes it work so well as a “What would you do?” psychological thriller.” – Staci Layne Wilson, Horror.com
Genres:
470. (-40) Hangover Square
John Brahm
1945 / USA / 77m / BW / Film Noir | IMDb
Laird Cregar, Linda Darnell, George Sanders, Glenn Langan, Faye Marlowe, Alan Napier
“To accompany some fine acting, Brahm especially flexed his directorial muscles here, with some very stylish set-ups. The opening murder is startlingly shot partly with subjective camera, and he utilises a range of closeups, swooping camera moves and camera effects to work up a sense of delirium… its histrionics and hyperbole create a texture of tragic madness that perfectly compliments Cregar’s haunted playing… The real shame of it would be that there would be no more Cregar performances: still in his twenties, he was dead by the time this was released.” – Graeme Clark, The Spinning Image
Genres:
471. (-66) They Live
John Carpenter
1988 / USA / 94m / Col / Science Fiction | IMDb
Roddy Piper, Keith David, Meg Foster, George ‘Buck’ Flower, Peter Jason, Raymond St. Jacques, Jason Robards III, John Lawrence, Susan Barnes, Sy Richardson
“It’s an effective ploy, forcing us to confront certain basic facts about the state of the world around us without sounding preachy, and it articulates a decidedly working-class anger in response to social iniquity without sounding self-righteous. And it does all of this while retaining the surface appeal of its B-movie origins, frequently (and entertainingly) indulging in the seductive spectacle of ghouls and guns in combat—though always with ulterior motives.” – Calum Marsh, Slant Magazine
Genres:
472. (-50) Razorback
Russell Mulcahy
1984 / Australia / 95m / Col / Natural Horror | IMDb
Gregory Harrison, Arkie Whiteley, Bill Kerr, Chris Haywood, David Argue, Judy Morris, John Howard, John Ewart, Don Smith, Mervyn Drake
“Mulcahy also takes a page out of Spielberg’s playbook by keeping his monster on the edge of the frame, empowering the beast with a near-mythic quality, and it doesn’t hurt that when we are given a good look at the titular terror, the results are impressively authentic (courtesy of designer Bob McCarron). The slaughterhouse finale, with its crackling sparks and grime-covered machinery, delivers the final reel shocks and splatter we deserve without compromising any of the well-grounded work that has gone before.” – Horror 101 with Dr. AC
Genres:
473. (-59) The Stepford Wives
Bryan Forbes
1975 / USA / 115m / Col / Science Fiction | IMDb
Katharine Ross, Paula Prentiss, Peter Masterson, Nanette Newman, Tina Louise, Carol Eve Rossen, William Prince, Carole Mallory, Toni Reid, Judith Baldwin
“The Stepford wives are, in fact, not women; they are bloodless, soulless robots, created by the men in Stepford to replace their presumably intelligent and enterprising wives who might see more to life than getting the upstairs floor to a glistening shine and having sex whenever their husbands desire it. Much is made of the fact that the women in Stepford had once belonged to a popular feminist group, which shows that, prior to their replacement, they had been independent thinkers. This is one of the keys to the film and the understanding that it does not look down on women… The robots are simply a twisted male fantasy of the ultimate woman: sexy, submissive, and mentally vacant. That this fantasy is pathetic in the extreme says much about the film’s view of the male animal and his capacity for feeling and imagination.” – James Kendrick, Q Network Film Desk
Genres:
474. (-65) Ugetsu monogatari
Kenji Mizoguchi
AKA: Ugetsu
1953 / Japan / 96m / BW / Jidaigeki | IMDb
Machiko Kyô, Mitsuko Mito, Kinuyo Tanaka, Masayuki Mori, Eitarô Ozawa, Sugisaku Aoyama, Mitsusaburô Ramon, Ryôsuke Kagawa, Kichijirô Ueda, Shôzô Nanbu
“Like a painter determined to catch one vista in canvas after canvas, Mizoguchi considers how the price of indulging men’s desires is often the suffering of women. This is done in individual shots (e.g. the highway robbers in the background gorging themselves on food the victimized Miyagi was carrying) as well as in the film as a whole. On another level the film can be read as paralleling the plight of post-WWII Japan. Either way, the film’s subtle mix of realism and fantasy (consider a tracking shot with a near-invisible dissolve which “impossibly” links a sensual bath with a picnic) makes for challenging viewing. Working within Japanese genre conventions which seek to validate traditional values, Mizoguchi also considers their inherent contradictions. Look carefully at the pan and tracking shot as the errant Genjuro thinks he’s returning to home and hearth near the end and you will witness a great moment in the history of cinema as both art and social commentary.” – TV Guide’s Movie Guide
Genres:
475. (+431) Tras el cristal
Agustí Villaronga
AKA: In a Glass Cage
1986 / Spain / 110m / Col / Psychological | IMDb
Günter Meisner, David Sust, Marisa Paredes, Gisèle Echevarría, Imma Colomer, Josuè Guasch, David Cuspinera, Ricardo Carcelero, Alberto Manzano
“Like the film’s characters, we find ourselves party to scenarios involving the most extraordinary fetishisation of suffering and death, horrors which invoke a troubling combination of impressions: they are sensual, grotesque, dreamlike, oddly beautiful, almost pornographic, usually painful to witness. But however horrifying the experience, Tras el cristal is bound to make for rewarding viewing. It is profoundly disturbing, potently evocative and easily one of the most lyrical nightmares ever concocted.” – Chris Gallant, Kino Eye
Genres:
476. (-34) Le notti del terrore
Andrea Bianchi
AKA: Burial Ground: The Nights of Terror
1981 / Italy / 85m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Karin Well, Gianluigi Chirizzi, Simone Mattioli, Antonella Antinori, Roberto Caporali, Peter Bark, Claudio Zucchet, Anna Valente, Raimondo Barbieri, Mariangela Giordano
“Sure, the plot is paper (or should I say slasher) thin, but the direction is competently done. It’s not as artistic or well done as a Fulci film, but there’s a very guerilla, hand-held style that captures the mayhem effectively. Veterans of Italian cinema will notice a lot of other staples here, like the use of long, drawn-out takes, dramatic zooms, and weird voice dubbing. If you’re not use to Italian horror, the dubbing will throw you off at first, but believe me, this film doesn’t come close to offering the weirdest in that respect (anyone that remembers Bob from House by the Cemetery can attest to that). Once you get used to it, however, it really becomes part of the charm. You also get some signature, upbeat music that’s almost a staple of these Italian films; the horror music cues, however, sound like 60s stock music that further contributes to the bizarre Night of the Living Dead vibe.” – Brett Gallman, Oh, The Horror
Genres:
477. (+410) Nekromantik
Jörg Buttgereit
1987 / Germany / 75m / Col / Exploitation | IMDb
Bernd Daktari Lorenz, Beatrice Manowski, Harald Lundt, Colloseo Schulzendorf, Henri Boeck, Clemens Schwender, Jörg Buttgereit, Holger Suhr, Volker Hauptvogel
“Watching Nekromantik felt like being an accomplice to a crime. Guilty by association. The film has the same transgressive, sub-cultural feel as amateur porn or extremist political broadcast. Engineered purposefully to shock and challenge notions of taste and conformity, Buttgereit’s film feels political in itself. A provocation from the fringes to remind us the world is a volatile place, filled with unpleasant things. To deny the dark half of both our nature and all nature is to put oneself to sleep. Buttgereit’s film wakes you up, not with breakfast but with a direct, sharp slap.” – Peter Cox, The Lost Highway Hotel
Genres:
478. (-60) Long Weekend
Colin Eggleston
1978 / Australia / 97m / Col / Natural Horror | IMDb
John Hargreaves, Briony Behets, Mike McEwen, Roy Day, Michael Aitkens, Sue Kiss von Soly
“Under Eggleston’s moody direction, even the most minute of sounds is over-amplified to explosive volume and the voyeuristic camerawork tends to be from the ground up, as though from the point-of-view of lurking critters – so that the wilderness locations, for all their natural beauty, seem to brim with the tension of unbearable foreboding. Neither Hargreaves, nor Behets, shrink from the narcissistic unpleasantness of their characters, in what are bravely unflattering performances. Best of all is the ending, which, though shockingly abrupt, is, within the film’s elaborate nexus of motifs, totally, perfectly right, only to be topped by a final, fern-laden image that is haunting enough to do Andrei Tarkovsky proud.” – Anton Bitel, Eye For Film
Genres:
479. (-55) The House That Dripped Blood
Peter Duffell
1971 / UK / 102m / Col / Anthology | IMDb
Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Nyree Dawn Porter, Denholm Elliott, Jon Pertwee, Joanna Dunham, Joss Ackland, John Bennett, Chloe Franks, Tom Adams
“Although the film was made for the general public, the more serious horror fan will have a blast with the film’s story lines as they supply several subtle (and not so subtle) winks to the genre. Within these four tales are several visual references to dark literature (such as The Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, and Montague Summers’ The Vampire: His Kith and Kin), mention of the Universal films Frankenstein, The Phantom of the Opera, and Dracula, as well as narratives revolving around genre artists such as actors and writers. The fourth installment (“The Cloak”) is of particular interest to fans as it shows the behind the scenes details of making a low budget feature. These delicate nods to the film’s perceived audience are done with tongue planted firmly in cheek which adds a touch of wit and humor to a picture that was otherwise designed to frighten.” – Bruce Jordan, Classic-Horror
Genres:
480. (-59) Batoru rowaiaru
Kinji Fukasaku
AKA: Battle Royale
2000 / Japan / 114m / Col / Splatter | IMDb
Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda, Tarô Yamamoto, Takeshi Kitano, Chiaki Kuriyama, Sôsuke Takaoka, Takashi Tsukamoto, Yukihiro Kotani, Eri Ishikawa, Sayaka Kamiya
“A few twists and turns keep the formula from becoming repetitive, and Fukasaku brings enough compassion to the deserving to keep the grizzly deaths from numbing our moral sensitivities. A sharp sense of humor assists him: aimed towards insight and ridicule rather than the nihilistic glee to which it might have succumbed. It chills us even as we snicker, and the resulting mayhem ultimately reads as a condemnation of our own violent tendencies rather than a tacit celebration. The underlying messages combine with sharp filmmaking for a gloriously entertaining ride, provided you have a taste for dark material and don’t mind the occasional poke in the ribs. Battle Royale completely engages us without losing track of its anti-violence message, a tricky balance that has sent many lesser productions spinning into hypocrisy.” – Rob Vaux, Mania
Genres:
481. (-46) Doctor X
Michael Curtiz
1932 / USA / 76m / BW / Mystery | IMDb
Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray, Lee Tracy, Preston Foster, John Wray, Harry Beresford, Arthur Edmund Carewe, Leila Bennett, Robert Warwick, George Rosener
“The film’s a comedy for most of its running time, but that melts away for the most part as the last act reveals the criminal mastermind. We’re treated to a lengthy sequence showing how the villain transforms himself by means of ‘synthetic flesh’, which he hauntingly repeats as he rubs goo over his face. Director Michael Curtiz delves into dreamlike imagery for this sequence, and lets the killer’s body modification glow in unearthly oranges and with horrifying delight. The sequence has been called ‘Cronnenberg-esque’ by many, and its hard to deny that the film sees scientific attempts to modify and supplement the body as the path to a new, grotesque species of madmen. Don’t be fooled, though, for about 60 minutes of the film’s 77 minute run time, this film is a rather dark tinged comedy. Lee Tracy’s pratfalls, double takes, and backbiting witticisms are on full display.” – Danny Reid, Pre-Code
Genres:
482. (-59) Dr Jekyll & Sister Hyde
Roy Ward Baker
1971 / UK / 97m / Col / Gothic | IMDb
Ralph Bates, Martine Beswick, Gerald Sim, Lewis Fiander, Susan Brodrick, Dorothy Alison, Ivor Dean, Philip Madoc, Irene Bradshaw, Neil Wilson
“The overall atmosphere is a pitch-perfect evocation of period London, complete with dark, foggy alleyways, street merchants bawling out their slogans, men in top hats and women in flouncy dresses. Then, of course, there’s Jekyll’s laboratory full of Mysterious Equipment, Mrs. Hyde’s signature blood-red outfits, bawdy beer halls, stained-glass windows casting splashes of color – lots and lots of nice sets and costumes and cool stuff. Not to be ignored, either, is the amazing similarity between Martine Beswick’s and Ralph Bates’ facial features, apparently a complete coincidence discovered only after the film had been cast. She really does look quite a lot like a beautiful female version of him, which adds a good deal of authenticity to the transformation sequences, accomplished solely through skillful trick photography.” – Deneb T. Hall, Mutant Reviewers
Genres:
483. (-54) Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter
Brian Clemens
AKA: Vampire Castle
1974 / UK / 91m / Col / Vampire | IMDb
Horst Janson, John Carson, Shane Briant, Caroline Munro, John Cater, Lois Daine, Ian Hendry, Wanda Ventham, William Hobbs, Brian Tully
“By the time the 1970s had rolled around, British production studio Hammer Films… seemed to represent that last bastion of clear demarcation in horror films as to what represented good and what represented evil. In the late ’60s and early ’70s, moral ambiguity was the trampoline most horror films bounced their terror off of, and Hammer’s unique brand of Neanderthal ethics were looking more and more like relics… At any rate, and putting reactionary readings of horror fads aside, writer-director Brian Clemens’s Kronos (though Clemens wrote hundreds of scripts, this was his sole helming gig) is still a fascinating blend of swashbuckling Renaissance Fair heroics and an un-traditional peek at the Vampire myth” – Eric Henderson, Slant Magazine
Genres:
484. (-34) The Town That Dreaded Sundown
Charles B. Pierce
1976 / USA / 90m / Col / Crime | IMDb
Ben Johnson, Andrew Prine, Dawn Wells, Jimmy Clem, Jim Citty, Charles B. Pierce, Robert Aquino, Cindy Butler, Christine Ellsworth, Earl E. Smith
“By the conclusion of “The Town That Dreaded Sundown”, a brief confrontation between the authorities and the killer occurs, but nothing comes of it, the “Phantom” mysteriously vanishing afterwards as if into thin air. In the closing moments, the viewer is left to ponder not only the whereabouts of the culprit, but the effect that such inconceivable crimes can have on a community. “The Town That Dreaded Sundown” leaves one with such striking moments of stark, raw terror that it puts many less serious horror films to shame. After all, these crimes actually happened, and just the thought of that is petrifying.” – Dustin Putnam, The Movie Boy
Genres:
485. (+456) I Drink Your Blood
David E. Durston
1970 / USA / 83m / Col / Exploitation | IMDb
Bhaskar Roy Chowdhury, Jadin Wong, Rhonda Fultz, George Patterson, Riley Mills, John Damon, Elizabeth Marner-Brooks, Richard Bowler, Tyde Kierney, Iris Brooks
“Energetic, sloppy and entirely watchable (especially if you’re sitting down with bong and/or beer), David Durston’s I Drink Your Blood is true-blue camp all the way. Plus it’s vicious, violent, and frequently fall-down funny. Clearly created with a grindhouse-style audience in mind, IDYB doesn’t worry too much about the quality of what’s onscreen, but the quantity of outrageous shit it can pull off before the end credits hit the scene. Frankly you haven’t lived until you’ve seen a gang of Satanist hippies massacre a house full of rats before chowing down on rabid dogmeat and flying into a mega-murderous rage. Before it’s all over, I Drink Your Blood has turned into a decidedly stupider version of Romero’s original Night of the Living Dead, but the thing whizzes along like a really bad hit of acid. And while it’s highly unlikely to ever be considered a “good film” (by any definition of the phrase), there’s little denying that I Drink Your Blood delivers on its promise of wild, weird and frequently wacky material.” – Scott Weinberg, DVD Talk
Genres:
486. (-55) Il rosso segno della follia
Mario Bava
AKA: Blood Brides
1970 / Italy / 88m / Col / Giallo | IMDb
Stephen Forsyth, Dagmar Lassander, Laura Betti, Jesús Puente, Femi Benussi, Antonia Mas, Luciano Pigozzi, Gérard Tichy, Verónica Llimera, Pasquale Fortunato
“Forsyth’s over the top performance, Bava’s impeccable direction, and the fantastic art design of the film combine to create a fun giallo to rival the best of the genre. While this film may not be the most original of his works, Hatchet for the Honeymoon certainly is one to check out. The pacing is very sprightly, and this makes for a great night’s viewing. There’s not too much gore, most of the violence is implied rather than splattered across the screen, but there’s enough to keep horror fans happy and placate the thriller fans who dig the occasional gruesome tableau.” – J. Hurtado, Twitchfilm
Genres:
487. (-59) Motel Hell
Kevin Connor
1980 / USA / 101m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
Rory Calhoun, Paul Linke, Nancy Parsons, Nina Axelrod, Wolfman Jack, Elaine Joyce, Dick Curtis, Monique St. Pierre, Rosanne Katon, E. Hampton Beagle
“The whole concept of cannibalism is appropriately icky here. The sight of innocent people buried like heads of lettuce in a garden feels creepy, while the much-beloved finale – involving a chainsaw-wielding Farmer Vincent wearing a pig’s head – achieves an aura of genuine dementedness. Meanwhile, as sick as some of the story’s events are, you often can’t help but laugh at them. Motel Hell goes just far enough over the top to avoid being offensive. There’s a tongue-in-cheek spirit to the movie (in addition to an admirable restraint when it comes to gore) that is, dare I say, kind of charming.” – Mike McGranaghan, The Aisle Seat
Genres:
488. (-51) The Devil-Doll
Tod Browning
AKA: The Witch of Timbuctoo
1936 / USA / 78m / BW / Science Fiction | IMDb
Lionel Barrymore, Maureen O’Sullivan, Frank Lawton, Rafaela Ottiano, Robert Greig, Lucy Beaumont, Henry B. Walthall, Grace Ford, Pedro de Cordoba, Arthur Hohl
“It’s no classic like Freaks, but it’s distinctly fun, with appropriately melodramatic performances by a delightful cast. The secret “toy” factory in the toyshop is minimalist for conveying weird scientific equipment but it’s a nice set even so, & the FX for shrunken animals & people are likewise kept simple but very appealing. So if you’re in the “mood” for experiencing & appreciating period horror it’s authentically scary stuff. A viewer who can’t quite relate to it in the spirit of its era will yet enjoy it, but probably find it a mite comical, which is still enjoyable.” – Paghat the Ratgirl, Weird Wild Realm
Genres:
489. (+444) Requiem for a Dream
Darren Aronofsky
2000 / USA / 102m / Col / Drama | IMDb
Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Marlon Wayans, Christopher McDonald, Louise Lasser, Marcia Jean Kurtz, Janet Sarno, Suzanne Shepherd, Joanne Gordon
“Director Darren Aronofsky, fortunately, is addicted to images. He has put together a phantasmagoria of self-destructive obsession that is so visually astounding it becomes its own saving grace. Otherwise, we might not be able to bear it… Feverish hallucinatory moments and shocking “prequel” flashes of a character’s imagination are only the beginning of Aronofsky’s visual repertory. He finds a way to make a scream of despair visible. Other screams will make the screen rattle. He splits the screen, horizontally and vertically, and – addictively – repeats flashing close-ups of pill-popping, snorting and shooting up. The dreamy effects of the drugs circle upward. Their less-dreamy effects make refrigerators throb, and the screen distorts. The camera moves relentlessly across an apartment as the figure within frantically jumps and darts.” – Bob Graham, San Francisco Chronicle
Genres:
490. (+491) The Nanny
Seth Holt
1965 / UK / 91m / Col / Thriller | IMDb
Bette Davis, Wendy Craig, Jill Bennett, James Villiers, William Dix, Pamela Franklin, Jack Watling, Maurice Denham, Alfred Burke, Harry Fowler
“THE NANNY is a bit of an oddity, even amongst the rest of the studio’s Hitchcock/Clouzot output: most of the horror is implied rather than supplied (not that that’s a bad thing- it did Jacques Tourneur proud until the producers got their hands on him) and most of the suspense, save for one or two visual sections, is actually executed through conversation rather than action. Furthermore, whilst it may have a central (juvenile) male protagonist, who in turn has a close female ally, it has absolutely no hero or heroine. Rather, it relies on the simultaneous subtlety and immenseness of Bette Davis’ performance (OK, and Pamela Franklin’s legs) to carry the viewer through.” – Drewe Shimon, Brit Movie
Genres:
491. (+337) Ms .45
Abel Ferrara
AKA: Angel of Vengeance
1981 / Spain / 80m / Col / Rape and Revenge | IMDb
Zoë Lund, Bogey, Albert Sinkys, Darlene Stuto, Helen McGara, Nike Zachmanoglou, Abel Ferrara, Peter Yellen, Editta Sherman, Vincent Gruppi
“Ms. 45 wasn’t well received upon its release; it wasn’t quite right for its time, probably because it was so much of its time. But it has a wild, rangy energy, like an exploding star cluster. And if the violence perpetrated by its vengeful heroine is a turn-on — that, after all, is what makes exploitation tick — Ferrara shows a great deal of tenderness for her as well. Thana may not be able to speak, but she sure knows how to make herself heard… The sexual politics of Ms. 45 are blunt and easy to read, and the picture is riotously cathartic. The basics are all there: the foul-mouthed men who deserve the wrath of Thana’s handy pressing tool; the schoolgirl turned vixen who slinks out into the night in search of her prey.” – Stephanie Zacharek, Village Voice
Genres:
492. (-53) Dracula’s Daughter
Lambert Hillyer
AKA: Daughter of Dracula
1936 / USA / 71m / BW / Vampire | IMDb
Otto Kruger, Gloria Holden, Marguerite Churchill, Edward Van Sloan, Gilbert Emery, Irving Pichel, Halliwell Hobbes, Billy Bevan, Nan Grey, Hedda Hopper
“What we got instead was a snappy, first-rate (if lower-tier) A picture that had only one real drawback: No big name horror star, which is almost certainly why it has tended to be undervalued. In every other respect, it’s a pretty terrific horror picture with the best hero (Otto Kruger) and heroine (Marguerite Churchill) of any classic horror. In fact, their roles—written in something of the style of a screwball comedy by Garrett Fort—pointed in a new, more adult direction for the genre. (How that would have played out will never be known, since this was the end of the line for the original Universal horror era.) It also had an impressive Countess Dracula in Gloria Holden, and a super-creepy henchman for her in Irvin Pichel. Throw in stylish, fast-paced direction from Lambert Hillyer (who had proven himself adept at the genre with The Invisible Ray earlier that year) and a top-notch musical score from Heinz Roemheld, and you have a horror movie to remember.” – Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress
Genres:
493. (-55) It Came from Outer Space
Jack Arnold
1953 / USA / 81m / BW / Science Fiction | IMDb
Richard Carlson, Barbara Rush, Charles Drake, Joe Sawyer, Russell Johnson
“It Came from Outer Space stands out from the 50’s alien-invasion-movie crowd in so many ways that it’s difficult to keep track of them all. For one thing, there’s the portrayal of the aliens themselves. These spacefarers are a far cry from the Martians of War of the Worlds or Invaders from Mars, but they are equally far from the stern but benevolent Klaatu of The Day the Earth Stood Still. Of all the movie aliens of the time, I believe these are the most plausibly portrayed, the ones whose actions and motivations most closely resemble what one would expect from intelligent organisms in their position. They are neither villainous conquerors led by a diabolical megalomaniac (think Earth vs. the Flying Saucers) nor beatific missionaries of interstellar peace. They are reasonable beings who have gotten themselves into trouble, and who are willing to do whatever they have to in order to get out of it again. If that means treating the natives a bit roughly, so be it.” – Scott Ashlin, 1000 Misspent Hours
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494. (-53) Kurutta ippêji
Teinosuke Kinugasa
AKA: A Page of Madness
1926 / Japan / 70m / BW / Surrealism | IMDb
Masuo Inoue, Ayako Iijima, Yoshie Nakagawa, Hiroshi Nemoto, Misao Seki, Minoru Takase, Eiko Minami, Kyosuke Takamatsu, Tetsu Tsuboi, Shintarô Takiguchi
“A stunning invocation of the world as viewed by the mentally ill, within minutes, as the rapid montage of the opening storm sequences dissolves into the surrealistic fantasy of the sailor’s wife dressed in an exotic costume dancing in front of an art-deco inspired backdrop featuring a large spinning ball flanked by ornate fountains, A Page of Madness bowls you over with a barrage of startling images utilising every technique known to filmmakers of the time. Even now, Kinugasa’s film seems as fresh as a daisy and when seen on the big screen, as eye-popping an experience as anything you’re likely to see released nowadays.” – Jasper Sharp, Midnight Eye
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495. (-29) La novia ensangrentada
Vicente Aranda
AKA: The Blood Spattered Bride
1972 / Spain / 100m / Col / Vampire | IMDb
Simón Andreu, Maribel Martín, Alexandra Bastedo, Dean Selmier, Ángel Lombarte, Montserrat Julió, Maria-Rosa Rodriguez
“Like DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS and Jean Rollin’s erotic vampire thrillers of the same period, Vincent Aranda’s BLOOD SPATTERED BRIDE contains nudity and gore amidst the usual gothic European surroundings. However, this film does not wallow in endless softcore lesbian lovemaking scenes, but rather exploits the kinship between the two female antagonists with stylized class… Although sluggish in pacing, the film still succeeds and is a favorite amongst Euro horror buffs. Most of the meat is in the third act, but the discovery of the vampire Mircalla – buried in the beach sand, breathing through a snorkel and having her bare breasts dug out – is unforgettable.” – George R. Reis, DVD Drive-In
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496. (-51) Trilogy of Terror
Dan Curtis
1975 / USA / 72m / Col / Anthology | IMDb
Karen Black, Robert Burton, John Karlen, George Gaynes, Jim Storm, Gregory Harrison, Kathryn Reynolds, Tracy Curtis, Orin Cannon
“Short and to the point (the three stories are told in a scant seventy-two minutes), Trilogy of Terror wastes little time on clumsy exposition or subsidiary characters. Throughout the trilogy, Karen Black gets ample opportunity to demonstrate her range. Her four roles over the three episodes (in the middle entry, she plays twins) see her play prim and passionate, twins and terrified. It’s a real showcase for the actress, who is asked to carry the entire film. Her performance is to credit for most of the tension that the first two tales manage. In many scenes, she’s the only person on screen, whether she is having a phone conversation with an off-screen character or merely talking to herself at length. The slightly demented demeanor that Black brings to all of her roles pays major dividends here, whether she is playing a creepy seductress, engaging in a deadly mind game, or ensuring us, with a look of complete fear in her eyes, that the doll that is stalking her is truly alive.” – Jeremy Heilman, MovieMartyr
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497. (-45) Young Frankenstein
Mel Brooks
1974 / USA / 106m / Col / Comedy | IMDb
Gene Wilder, Peter Boyle, Marty Feldman, Madeline Kahn, Cloris Leachman, Teri Garr, Kenneth Mars, Richard Haydn, Liam Dunn, Danny Goldman
“It’s a silly, zizzy picture — a farce-parody of Hollywood’s mad-scientist—trying-to-be-God pictures, with Wilder as the old Baron Frankenstein’s grandson, an American professor of neurology, who takes a trip to the family castle in Transylvania. Peter Boyle is the Frankenstein monster, and Madeline Kahn is the professor’s plastic-woman fiancée, who becomes the monster’s bride. It isn’t a dialogue comedy; it’s visceral and lower. It’s what used to be called a crazy comedy, and there hasn’t been this kind of craziness on the screen in years. It’s a film to go to when your rhythm is slowed down and you’re too tired to think… You can go to see it when you can barely keep your eyes open, and come out feeling relaxed and recharged.” – Pauline Kael, New Yorker
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498. (-51) Oculus
Mike Flanagan
2013 / USA / 104m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Karen Gillan, Brenton Thwaites, Katee Sackhoff, Rory Cochrane, Annalise Basso, Garrett Ryan, James Lafferty, Miguel Sandoval, Kate Siegel, Scott Graham
“In many ways, Oculus feels like the best J-horror remake not based on an existing film (apart from being based on Flanagan’s own short films). There’s a pervasive sense of tragedy throughout, as the details of Kaylie and Tim’s tragic past are slowly fed to us through flashbacks and hallucinations, calling to mind the disorientation of The Grudge and the mournful quality of Dark Water… Flanagan delivers plenty of horrible little shocks courtesy of the mirror’s ability to delude and misdirect, with a couple of moments that will have you putting your hands over your eyes, but Oculus is refreshingly light on cheap jump scares… By rooting its clever narrative structure in a tragic story, Flanagan has created a horror that pulls on the heartstrings as often as it grabs you by the throat, helped every step of the way by an excellent cast.” – Jonathan Hatfull, SciFiNow
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499. (-27) I Know What You Did Last Summer
Jim Gillespie
1997 / USA / 101m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, Freddie Prinze Jr., Bridgette Wilson-Sampras, Anne Heche, Johnny Galecki, Muse Watson, Stuart Greer, J. Don Ferguson
“Laying its claim to succeed ‘Scream’ as a high-grossing, blood-drenched date-night crowd-pleaser… Once again, the screenwriter is Kevin Williamson, working from a novel by Lois Duncan about four teen-agers haunted by a secret: their decision to dispose of the body hit by their BMW… Though it flies in the face of credibility and becomes downright silly by its end, ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ knows its way around the rules of the popular horror-film genre: the prefiguring ghost story around the campfire, the teen-age sex that insures murder, the spooky killer, plenty of steamy shower rooms and crab vats, pop-up bodies, references to other films and television and an ending that sets the gurney for as many sequels as the public can stomach.” – Lawrence Van Gelder, New York Times
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500. (-43) The Ninth Gate
Roman Polanski
1999 / France / 133m / Col / Mystery | IMDb
Johnny Depp, Frank Langella, Lena Olin, Emmanuelle Seigner, Barbara Jefford, Jack Taylor, José López Rodero, Tony Amoni, James Russo, Willy Holt
“The film is a very engaging (and appreciably dark) film noir throwback that just happens to have something to do with the occult. Call it a noir thriller mystery drama if you like – it’s still a pretty solid flick… As usual, Depp is the man. Here he’s playing a slightly sleazy and definitely opportunistic little man, but damn if Depp doesn’t find that root of gnarled humanity and brings it right to the fore… Sometimes dry, sometimes wacky, but surprisingly compelling throughout, The Ninth Gate falls firmly in the middle of Polanski’s eclectic filmography. It sure isn’t as good as The Tenant or Rosemary’s Baby — but it definitely isn’t Pirates, either.” – Scott Weinberg, DVDTalk.com
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