#401-#500
The 1,000 Greatest Horror Films: #401-#500
401. (-8) Oculus
Mike Flanagan
AKA:
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
Genres: Supernatural Horror, Psychological Horror, Mystery, Psychological Thriller, Body Horror
402. (-1) Ich seh, Ich seh
Severin Fiala & Veronika Franz
AKA: Goodnight Mommy
2014 / Austria / 99m / Col / Psychological | IMDb
Susanne Wuest, Lukas Schwarz, Elias Schwarz, Hans Escher, Elfriede Schatz, Karl Purker, Georg Deliovsky, Christian Steindl, Christian Schatz, Erwin Schmalzbauer
“Standing in opposition to the overplayed, action-orientated, blood curdling, visceral gorefest synonymous with horror, Goodnight Mommy employs similar psychological tactics found in film noir and the gothic by arousing the same cultural moods of paranoia and mistrust, which have resulted from a disruption to a seemingly, civilized ideal. Unfolding in an achingly, laborious manner, the trudging, sedate pace plays on audience’s anticipatory senses by teasing out the narrative to the point of complete exasperation, the prickly tension designed to unnerve and infuriate, rather than thrill and titillate. The film’s exquisite style, captured through a palpably unsettling lens, becomes all the more disquieting, as slow, dark tracking shots and throbbing, pregnant silences, tear down the illusions of familial normality, to put the depraved, the sinister and the corrupt, firmly in the spotlight.” – FilmIreland
Genres: Psychological Horror, Psychological Drama, Sadistic Horror, Mystery, Family Drama
403. (-9) 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:
404. (+53) Alien³
David Fincher
AKA: Alien 3
1992 / USA / 114m / Col / Science Fiction | IMDb
Sigourney Weaver, Charles S. Dutton, Charles Dance, Paul McGann, Brian Glover, Ralph Brown, Danny Webb, Christopher John Fields, Holt McCallany, Lance Henriksen
“Fincher’s early exterior landscape of Fury 161 has an apocalyptic gorgeousness that’s in tune with the pessimism of his story, which replicates many elements of Alien and Aliens (more the former than the latter) while seeming intent on killing the series off. The much-ballyhooed revelation about Ripley’s physical condition struck many in ’92 as unforgivably mean but, in retrospect, it plays like the natural evolution of the franchise’s running birth-mother-child subtexts, downbeat thematic threads well-suited to Fincher’s gloomy, cynical Christ-like conclusion.” – Nick Schager, Lessons of Darkness
Genres:
405. (+70) Phantom of the Paradise
Brian De Palma
AKA:
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:
406. (-11) Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
Scott Glosserman
AKA:
2006 / USA / 92m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
Nathan Baesel, Angela Goethals, Robert Englund, Scott Wilson, Zelda Rubinstein, Bridgett Newton, Kate Miner, Ben Pace, Britain Spellings, Hart Turner
“Once Vernon gets into character and stalks his prey, he’s a force to be reckoned with, and no one will stand in his way. The last act plays out how we suspect, but we’re left wondering if it will play as Leslie hopes or in a completely different manner. You can pretend to know what’s coming, but you don’t know shit. Either way, we’re left with one final satisfaction; Glosserman has given us a surefire horror classic, and I couldn’t be happier. And for the love of god, stick around after the credits. As a hardcore fan of the slasher genre, “Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon” is a wet dream of a slasher re-construction that sets itself apart from every other slasher film ever made. Compared to this, “Scream” is pure child’s play, a wannabe that states the obvious. “Behind the Mask” is a pure horror film masterpiece, and slasher fans would be best to acknowledge it.” – Felix Vasquez Jr., Cinema Crazed
Genres: Mockumentary, Slasher, Satire, Black Comedy, Postmodernism, Mumblecore
407. (-15) 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:
408. (-12) Sien lui yau wan
Siu-Tung Ching
AKA: A Chinese Ghost Story
1987 / Hong Kong / 98m / Col / Comedy | IMDb
Leslie Cheung, Joey Wang, Ma Wu, Wai Lam, Siu-Ming Lau, Zhilun Xue, Jing Wong, David Wu, Ha Huang, Yau Cheung Yeung
“Truly a classic, and a film any fan of Hong Kong cinema needs to have seen. Its energy is boundless but never overwhelming or out of control. It does not depend on its special effects or wild choreography and instead remains faithful to the central romance even when the most insane stuff is happening and Wu Ma is being attacked by a giant tongue. Joey Wong may have glided elegantly off into retirement, but for a whole generation of film fans, and hopefully for generations yet to come, the image of her sitting amid the silks streaming across an otherworldly pavilion remains one of the great, iconic images from the heyday of the Hong Kong New Wave.” – Keith Allison, Teleport City
Genres:
409. (+4) Duel
Steven Spielberg
AKA:
1971 / USA / 90m / Col / Thriller | IMDb
Dennis Weaver, Jacqueline Scott, Eddie Firestone, Lou Frizzell, Gene Dynarski, Lucille Benson, Tim Herbert, Charles Seel, Shirley O’Hara, Alexander Lockwood
“‘Duel’ might almost have been a silent film, because it expresses so much through action and so little through the words that are here. Mr. Weaver is David Mann, the film’s only real character, and he’s given a few internal monologues that only awkwardly express Mann’s anxiety… These and a few whimsical conversations from a call-in radio show are really all the character development the movie provides, and they’re much weaker than the ingenious visual effects. Mr. Spielberg wasn’t purely a special-effects director in those days, and he isn’t one now, but the people in ‘Duel’ seem particularly remote… The vehicles are the real stars” – Janet Maslin, New York Times
Genres:
410. (+7) Christine
John Carpenter
AKA:
1983 / USA / 110m / Col / Monster | IMDb
Keith Gordon, John Stockwell, Alexandra Paul, Robert Prosky, Harry Dean Stanton, Christine Belford, Roberts Blossom, William Ostrander, David Spielberg
“Technology running amok and turning against humans is one of Stephen King’s favourite topics for creating suspense stories, but Christine also works as a metaphor for the destructive impact of the automobile age. Christine succeeds in effortlessly transforming the staid and cerebral Arnie to a self-obsessed anti-social maniac, and destroys all his relationships, in other words a direct if exaggerated parallel to the impact of the auto industry on overall societal behaviour.” – The Ace Black Blog
Genres:
411. (-7) Jeepers Creepers
Victor Salva
AKA:
2001 / USA / 90m / Col / Monster | IMDb
Gina Philips, Justin Long, Jonathan Breck, Patricia Belcher, Brandon Smith, Eileen Brennan, Peggy Sheffield, Jeffrey William Evans, Patrick Cherry, Jon Beshara
“Throughout, Salva’s skill as a director keeps the movie afloat, helping to propel us through some of the dodgier narrative stumbles (the “let’s go back to the obvious death trap for no reason other than to facilitate a horror film!” moment, or a weird, stretched-out, yet excellently tense confrontation with a crazy cat-lady played, distractingly, by Eileen Brennan), and making the best moments sing. Every inch of the sequence inside the pipe is carried off brilliantly, and not just Darry’s half: as Trish stands guard outside, there’s a truly breathtaking false scare that uses an out-of-focus depth of field in a profoundly clever, subtle manner; as indeed, the film consistently makes outstanding use of hiding details in corners of the frame where, because of composition or focus, we don’t necessarily expect to look.” – Tim Brayton, Antagony & Ecstasy
Genres: Supernatural Horror, Road Movie, Slasher, Hixploitation, Southern Gothic
412. (-10) Jigoku
Nobuo Nakagawa
AKA: The Sinners of Hell
1960 / Japan / 101m / Col / Splatter | IMDb
Shigeru Amachi, Utako Mitsuya, Yôichi Numata, Hiroshi Hayashi, Jun ôtomo, Akiko Yamashita, Kiyoko Tsuji, Fumiko Miyata, Akira Nakamura, Kimie Tokudaiji
“Jigoku is a beautiful film. Its play with lighting effects, colour gels and jarring camera angles makes everything – both on earth and below – seem an off-kilter nightmare, while the soundtrack of jazz, wood percussion and theremin only adds to the sense of disorientation. Realism this is not, but Nakagawa is nonetheless concerned with depicting a society that has lost its moral balance, at a time when memories of war-time horror were still fresh in the Japanese mind, while post-war modernisation was engendering its own anxieties about over-permissiveness and the dissipation of traditional values.” – Anton Bitel, Eye For Film
Genres:
413. (-1) Race with the Devil
Jack Starrett
AKA:
1975 / USA / 88m / Col / Thriller | IMDb
Peter Fonda, Warren Oates, Loretta Swit, Lara Parker, R.G. Armstrong, Clay Tanner, Carol Blodgett, Phil Hoover, Ricci Ware, Paul A. Partain
“What sets “Race with the Devil” apart from all the others of its ilk is that Starrett takes his time in developing the ensuing carnage between the cult and our helpless victims and takes a route very similar to “Duel” where no matter how far they run, their nightmares catch up with them. This leaves us with some truly memorable and freakish incidents involving the hanging of a cat and a slithery intruder that shrinks their world more and more as the time rolls on. They’re not sure who they can trust and that makes this more of a mystery since most of the cult remains faceless and without remorse. They’re truly vile villains who can be just about anyone they desire and they chase our foursome through county after county attempting to silence them. “Race with the Devil” is something out of the mind psychedelic storytellers since it’s such a tense and urgent piece of filmmaking with a talented cast who make us believe we’re being sucked in as they are.” – Felix Vasquez Jr., Cinema Crazed
Genres:
414. (-14) Threads
Mick Jackson
AKA:
1984 / UK / 112m / Col / Natural Horror | IMDb
Karen Meagher, Reece Dinsdale, David Brierly, Rita May, Nicholas Lane, Jane Hazlegrove, Henry Moxon, June Broughton, Sylvia Stoker, Harry Beety
“Threads is perhaps the strongest anti-nuclear film ever made, the closest thing available to a documentary on post-apocalyptic life. The film takes its title from the concept that all life on earth is interconnected as if by invisible “threads.” The ultimate message of the film is that nuclear war is not simply an issue for politicians to debate, or for just the major nuclear powers. The threat of nuclear war affects all individuals equally and, as such, each individual is responsible for doing something about it. Even in the post-Cold War world of today, it is difficult to imagine anyone viewing Threads and not walking away from the film with that massive burden in the forefront of their minds.” – David Carter, Not Coming to a Theater Near You
Genres: Post-Apocalyptic, Disaster, Drama, War, Docudrama, Survival, Dystopian, Political Drama, Psychological Horror
415. (+13) The Curse of the Cat People
Gunther von Fritsch & Robert Wise
AKA:
1944 / USA / 70m / BW / Fantasy | IMDb
Simone Simon, Kent Smith, Jane Randolph, Ann Carter, Eve March, Julia Dean, Elizabeth Russell, Erford Gage, Sir Lancelot
“Though very different in purpose and tone to Cat People, Val Lewton’s ‘sequel’ is far more closely tied to its predecessor than is commonly believed. For one thing, all the main characters remain very much the same as they were in the earlier film, to which there are many specific references; for another, both films concern the way that guilt, fear and fantasy can arise from isolation and misunderstanding. In this case, it’s a small girl, lonely and repeatedly scolded by her parents and shunned by her friends for indulging in day-dreaming; when she populates her solitary world with the ghost of her father’s dead first wife (Simon, heroine of Cat People), her imagination (or is it?) gets her into serious trouble. Far from being a horror film, it’s a touching, perceptive and lyrical film about childhood, psychologically astute and occasionally disturbing as it focuses entirely on the child’s-eye view of a sad, cruel world.” – Geoff Andrews, Time Out
Genres:
416. (+29) Ghostwatch
Lesley Manning
AKA:
1992 / UK / 91m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Michael Parkinson, Sarah Greene, Mike Smith, Craig Charles, Gillian Bevan, Brid Brennan, Michelle Wesson, Cherise Wesson, Chris Miller, Mike Aiton
“Set up as a live broadcast, in the same manner that so many ghost hunting shows are now, the movie was actually banned from being broadcast again, because of negative reaction from audiences. Like Orson Welles had done with War of the Worlds, director Lesley Manning and writer Stephen Volk did with Ghostwatch. People believed this was happening, and the film was even said to have caused PTSD in children. It’s not hard to see why. The film is still incredibly frightening, bolstered by the way the evil ghost, Pipes, randomly appears in very quick shots, and how the presenters in the show played themselves. It feels quite real, and obviously had a tremendous impact.” – Will Brownridge, The Film Reel
Genres:
417. (-12) Brain Damage
Frank Henenlotter
AKA:
1988 / USA / 84m / Col / Body Horror | IMDb
Rick Hearst, Gordon MacDonald, Jennifer Lowry, Theo Barnes, Lucille Saint-Peter, Vicki Darnell, Joseph Gonzalez, Bradlee Rhodes, Michael Bishop, Beverly Bonner
“From its depiction of the initial orgasmic rush that launches its user into a life bent around being steeped in a state of euphoria where problems are forgotten, to the sudden meteoric plummet that follows once the high is wears thin. In his usual brilliant insight, Henenlotter creatively portrays to viewers how addiction winds up taking its toll not only on users, but those closest to them, as well. Despite the laughable oddity of the seductor, Aylmer, ‘Brain Damage’ manages to tell it to us straight with a dark, horrifying, even often comical story in the realm of fantasy-horror providing a truly masterful message film about the dangers of drug use and the nature of addiction.” – The Trash Cinema Collective
Genres:
418. (-10) The Stuff
Larry Cohen
AKA:
1985 / USA / 87m / Col / Comedy | IMDb
Michael Moriarty, Andrea Marcovicci, Garrett Morris, Paul Sorvino, Scott Bloom, Danny Aiello, Patrick O’Neal, James Dixon, Alexander Scourby, Russell Nype
“The Stuff should be an awful film, it should cause anger and upset for wasting your time with an inconsequential plot and terrible characters. Liking a film because “it’s so bad it’s good” has become such an irritating ironic pastime these days, but it’s hard to knock when a film like The Stuff shuffles into view. It’s like the mad friend of a friend who shows up at your party, sicks up on the cat, knocks over the telly and wanders off. It’s stupid, badly put together, and often infuriating, but yet – somehow – oddly engaging and, well, entertaining.” – That Film Guy
Genres: Satire, Science Fiction, Horror Comedy, Body Horror, Black Comedy
419. (-12) Quatermass and the Pit
Roy Ward Baker
AKA: Five Million Years to Earth
1967 / UK / 97m / Col / Science Fiction | IMDb
James Donald, Andrew Keir, Barbara Shelley, Julian Glover, Duncan Lamont, Bryan Marshall, Peter Copley, Edwin Richfield, Grant Taylor, Maurice Good
“Skillfully directed by Roy Ward Baker, Quatermass is resplendent with suspense, action and melodrama that never verge too far into the realms of camp. Despite seeming dated and unintentionally funny to contemporary audiences, the film remains valid and actually is one of the more thought provoking of science fiction horror films out there. By turning the typical sci fi film plot on its head, Quatermass is actually unpredictable and poses intelligent questions that help give it a sense of realism that can obviously not be found in the bulk of Hammer’s work (I mean, however great the films are, we all know that Dracula and Frankenstein’s monster aren’t actually real!). Although the prospect of alien invasion is often considered implausible, Quatermass certainly makes a compelling case for the plausibility of a past invasion that never came into fruition. Aside from this, it’s quite simply a very enjoyable film!” – Stuart Cummins, What Culture
Genres:
420. (-10) Cabin Fever
Eli Roth
AKA:
2002 / USA / 93m / Col / Body Horror | IMDb
Rider Strong, Jordan Ladd, James DeBello, Cerina Vincent, Joey Kern, Arie Verveen, Robert Harris, Hal Courtney, Matthew Helms, Richard Boone
“Cabin Fever establishes its terror alert early on — contamination! eek! — and treats it lightly while taking it seriously. The comedy here is not the reflexive sort, wherein the characters have all seen this movie before. It comes out of the realistic reactions a group of none-too-bright underclassmen might have when faced with blood-spewing doom. Filled with gratuitous gore (at one point, an entire jeep drips with the stuff) and sex (a comely female character muses that she should be grabbing the nearest guy and having a last bout of we-who-are-about-to-die-have-sex activity; cut to her jumping the bones of the nearest grateful guy), the film is solidly of a subgenre I over-reference, but it fits: the beer-and-pizza flick.” – Rob Gonsalves, eFilmCritic
Genres: Splatter, Body Horror, Epidemic, Horror Comedy, Horror, Black Comedy, Hixploitation, Natural Horror, Parody, Satire
421. (+25) Spalovac mrtvol
Juraj Herz
AKA: Cremator
1969 / Czechia / 95m / Col / Drama | IMDb
Rudolf Hrusínský, Vlasta Chramostová, Jana Stehnová, Milos Vognic, Zora Bozinová, Ilja Prachar, Eduard Kohout, Jirí Menzel, Míla Myslíková, Vladimír Mensík
“Herz’s direction has an expressionist feel, shot in black and white with a striking use of shadow and marked gothic sensibility. The film is very much seen through Kopfrkingl’s eyes, and as such, the city is given the look of a tomb, with the crematorium resembling the grand temple of death which he imagines it to be. This does mean that the proceedings do at times slip into the realm of the surreal, though this is skilfully done and works well as a method of illustrating both the character and the country’s decent into madness, giving the atmosphere that of an inescapable nightmare. “The Cremator” is a unique example of modern gothic cinema, being both fantastic and grimly realistic.” – James Mudge, Beyond Hollywood
Genres: Czechoslovak New Wave, Drama, Psychological Horror, Black Comedy, Satire, Political Drama, Surrealism, Gothic, Family Drama
422. (-1) Ready or Not
Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett
AKA:
2019 / USA / 95m / Col / Thriller | IMDb
Samara Weaving, Adam Brody, Henry Czerny, Andie MacDowell, Melanie Scrofano, Kristian Bruun, Elyse Levesque, Nicky Guadagni, John Ralston, Liam MacDonald
“At times, you may have to suspend your disbelief, but the joy of Ready or Not is its willingness to be outlandish without compromise. Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett create a harmonious blend of genres that can too often feel at odds with one another: the elements of horror become the catalyst for comedic relief and vice versa. Weaving comes alive as a hilarious and deeply macabre play on the “final girl” archetype, and it’s nothing short of cathartic to cheer her on and echo the rage that quickly consumes and empowers her.” – Cody Corrall, Chicago Reader
Genres: Thriller, Black Comedy, Death Game, Satire, Splatter, Horror, Low Fantasy, Horror Comedy
423. (-12) Burnt Offerings
Dan Curtis
AKA:
1976 / USA / 116m / Col / Supernatural | 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:
424. (+64) Urban Legend
Jamie Blanks
AKA: Mixed Culture
1998 / USA / 99m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
Jared Leto, Alicia Witt, Rebecca Gayheart, Michael Rosenbaum, Loretta Devine, Joshua Jackson, Tara Reid, John Neville, Julian Richings, Robert Englund
“The notion of a new horror film devoted to urban legends is somewhat redundant, given that horror films routinely mine urban legends and arguably represent them. Urban Legend, a first feature directed by 26-year-old Australian Jamie Blanks, places the modern-day folktale at the center of what might otherwise be yet another Scream offshoot… As horror movies and first directing efforts go, Urban Legend offers decent suspense and a few genuine jolts; it has a kind of loud, insistent charm, which eventually grinds down. James Chressanthis’ wide-screen cinematography is attractive and assured, but Silvio Horta’s screenplay scarcely breaks new ground, content instead with serving up stock characters in familiar settings.” – Ed Kelleher, Film Journal International
Genres:
425. (+16) The Invisible Man
Leigh Whannell
AKA:
2020 / USA / 124m / Col / Psychological | IMDb
Elisabeth Moss, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Harriet Dyer, Aldis Hodge, Storm Reid, Michael Dorman, Benedict Hardie, Renee Lim, Brian Meegan, Nick Kici
“Taking a page out of Whannell’s previous feature, 2018’s Upgrade, The Invisible Man is full of lean and economical choices. Like its suspenseful opening scene, the film speaks volumes with its absences and omissions, perhaps even more so than what’s portrayed on screen. Whannell and cinematographer Stefan Duscio are particularly adept at weaponizing negative space and silence – empty chairs, vacant hallways, and quiet lulls instill a deeply frightening paranoia, sold even further by a powerhouse performance from Elisabeth Moss. As Cecilia, Moss sells a palpable fear not of an invisible monster, but of the all-too-real specter of domestic abuse.” – Jeffrey Zhang, Strange Harbors
Genres: Psychological Thriller, Horror, Science Fiction, Mystery, Psychological Horror, Slasher, Home Invasion
426. (-12) Under the Shadow
Babak Anvari
AKA:
2016 / Iran / 84m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Narges Rashidi, Avin Manshadi, Bobby Naderi, Arash Marandi, Aram Ghasemy, Soussan Farrokhnia, Ray Haratian, Hamid Djavadan, Behi Djanati Atai, Bijan Daneshmand
“Those cracks in the ceiling are hiding a lot more than dry rot in “Under the Shadow,” a satisfyingly tense and atmospheric thriller set in a haunted Tehran apartment during the terrifying final days of the Iran-Iraq War. Slyly merging a familiar but effective genre exercise with a grim allegory of female oppression, Babak Anvari’s resourceful writing-directing debut grounds its premise in something at once vaguely political and ineluctably sinister; imagine an Asghar Farhadi remake of “The Babadook” and you’re halfway there… In its harrowing final moments, “Under the Shadow” reveals itself as a horror story rooted in the dreams and pathologies that mothers pass down to their daughters, and the defiant gestures it may take for cycles of persecution to be broken.” – Justin Chang, Variety
Genres: Supernatural Horror, Drama, Haunted House, War, Psychological Horror, Family Drama, Period Drama
427. (+42) Talk to Me
Danny Philippou & Michael Philippou
AKA:
2022 / Australia / 95m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Ari McCarthy, Hamish Phillips, Kit Erhart-Bruce, Sarah Brokensha, Jayden Davison, Sunny Johnson, Sophie Wilde, Marcus Johnson, Kidaan Zelleke, James Oliver
“The crepuscular palette of It Comes at Night meets the teen-friendly curses of Ringu and the cackling demonic infestations of The Evil Dead in this sprightly debut feature from Australian twins Danny and Michael Philippou. A sharp blend of psychological reality (bereavement, guilt), potent topicality (addiction, dependency) and phantasmagorial invention (a gateway to the beyond) create an intelligently entertaining chiller that packs a crowd-pleasing wallop without succumbing to quiet, quiet, LOUD jump-scare cliches.” – Mark Kermode, The Guardian
Genres: Supernatural Horror, Psychological Horror, Teen Movie, Psychological Thriller, Body Horror
428. (+4) The Last Man on Earth
Ubaldo Ragona & Sidney Salkow
AKA: Naked Terror
1964 / USA / 86m / Col / Vampire | IMDb
Vincent Price, Franca Bettoia, Emma Danieli, Giacomo Rossi-Stuart, Umberto Raho, Christi Courtland, Antonio Corevi, Ettore Ribotta
“Human ugliness is more than skin-deep here, and Morgan’s ultimate foes aren’t the undead but rather a group of infected-but-treated men and women who consider him an enemy—ironic, considering they’re the only ones left with the capacity for reason and communication. Morgan’s solitude was bad enough when it was thought that his was the last mind capable of such things, and the revelation of these semi-humans’ intent to dispose of him further amplifies it. The Last Man on Earth is indeed about both life and death, creation and destruction, and the fact that each facet is as grim and uninviting as the next is its most chilling statement on the way things once were and the way they might one day become.” – Michael Nordine, Not Coming to a Theater Near You
Genres: Post-Apocalyptic, Vampire, Horror, Zombie, Epidemic, Disaster, Survival
429. (-14) Eden Lake
James Watkins
AKA:
2008 / UK / 91m / Col / Thriller | IMDb
Kelly Reilly, Michael Fassbender, Tara Ellis, Jack O’Connell, Finn Atkins, Jumayn Hunter, Thomas Turgoose, James Burrows, Tom Gill, Lorraine Bruce
“Though nightmarish and visceral, it’s the most intelligent horror film to have been made by a British director since Jack Clayton’s The Innocents in 1960. And it fulfils the two purposes of horror: it involves you emotionally and it’s frightening… It’s a thoroughly credible set-up and the process of escalation whereby Jenny and Steve alienate, then anger these feral youths until they’re ready to stab, torture and even burn them to death is worryingly authentic. Unlike most horror films, in which the heroes steer themselves into danger by their own stupidity, Jenny and Steve behave with complete plausibility and a tragically unrequited sense of kindness and social responsibility.” – Chris Tookey, The Daily Mail
Genres: Thriller, Sadistic Horror, Drama, Crime, Survival
430. (-14) Mystery of the Wax Museum
Michael Curtiz
AKA:
1933 / USA / 77m / BW / Mystery | IMDb
Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray, Glenda Farrell, Frank McHugh, Allen Vincent, Gavin Gordon, Edwin Maxwell, Holmes Herbert, Claude King, Arthur Edmund Carewe
“Compared to other horror movies of the same vintage, the thing one primarily notices about Mystery of the Wax Museum is that it doesn’t spare anything: right from the images of wax models melting in a grotesque parody of human decay and rotten, near the very start of the film, the filmmakers pile on images that are more concerned with scoring fast knockouts than sidling around behind us to be creepy and subdued. Mystery of the Wax Museum has many wonderful characteristics, but not subtlety. The camerawork is often heavily artificial and exaggerated, a clear and rather exciting attempt to bring the discordant angles and geometry of Germany Expressionism into the by-necessity well-lit interiors and florid colors of red-green Technicolor. Farrell’s performance, which I find absolutely captivating, has all the grace and insinuation of a machine gun nest.” – Tim Brayton, Antagony & Ecstasy
Genres:
431. (-13) The Shout
Jerzy Skolimowski
AKA:
1978 / UK / 86m / Col / Psychological | IMDb
Alan Bates, Susannah York, John Hurt, Robert Stephens, Tim Curry, Julian Hough, Carol Drinkwater, John Rees, Jim Broadbent, Susan Wooldridge
“Bates’s brilliant performance certainly makes his character all the more enigmatic; his delivery and steely glances bring a charismatic strength to Crossley’s weirdness. The sound used is as present and important as another main character; every effect is surreal and distorted from the call of a peacock to the intense sound of Crossley’s shout – turn the volume right up when you watch. The flash forwards, quick cuts and flashbacks also serve to keep the audience guessing about what is really going on, embarking on a tense, mysterious and sometimes confusing narrative where we’re never really sure who is lying to who.” – Beth Squires, Screen Jabber
Genres:
432. (-13) The Hunchback of Notre Dame
William Dieterle
AKA:
1939 / USA / 117m / BW / Drama | IMDb
Charles Laughton, Cedric Hardwicke, Thomas Mitchell, Maureen O’Hara, Edmond O’Brien, Alan Marshal, Walter Hampden, Harry Davenport, Katharine Alexander
“The first thing that is noticed right off the bat, at least in relation to the Disney version of the story, is that this film is much more dramatic, serious and dark than Disney’s, which makes sense. The nature of the beast that is Quasimodo is much more terrifying and the job the filmmakers do on Charles Laughton is spectacular. The make up and everything else that went into making Laughton look like the hunchback is true movie magic. In addition, Laughton gives a good performance in the role. There isn’t a whole lot to do with the character except look a bit forlorn and misunderstood, but when given the chance he does a good job.” – Adam Kuhn, Corndog Chats
Genres:
433. (-6) The Lodger
John Brahm
AKA:
1944 / USA / 84m / BW / Thriller | IMDb
Merle Oberon, George Sanders, Laird Cregar, Cedric Hardwicke, Sara Allgood, Aubrey Mather, Queenie Leonard, Doris Lloyd, David Clyde, Helena Pickard
“If “The Lodger” was designed to chill the spine—as indeed it must have been, considering all the mayhem Mr. Cregar is called upon to commit as the mysterious, psychopathic pathologist of the title—then something is wrong with the picture. But, if it was intended as a sly travesty on the melodramatic technique of ponderously piling suspicion upon suspicion (and wrapping the whole in a cloak of brooding photographic effects), then “The Lodger” is eminently successful.” – The New York Times
Genres:
434. (+18) Hocus Pocus
Kenny Ortega
AKA:
1993 / USA / 96m / Col / Comedy | IMDb
Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Najimy, Omri Katz, Thora Birch, Vinessa Shaw, Jodie-Amy Rivera, Larry Bagby, Tobias Jelinek, Stephanie Faracy
“Like many movies about sorcery – The Witches of Eastwick comes to mind – Hocus Pocus does not always make a great deal of sense, yet it makes for a great deal of fun. Midler’s fans might be disappointed that she doesn’t have a whole lot to do beyond puckering her kewpie-doll lips and flouncing onto her broom. But the witches have an amusing, Three-Stooges rapport, with a lot of bonking, slapping and cursing (of the witch rather than the profane variety) that make them particularly satisfying villains. Director Ortega successfully fuses their slapstick onto a teen adventure that, by the way, encourages moody big brothers to watch out for their pesky kid sisters – and vice versa.” – Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer
Genres: Family, Comedy, Low Fantasy, Halloween, Horror Comedy, Folk Horror, Teen Movie, Zombie
435. (-11) I corpi presentano tracce di violenza carnale
Sergio Martino
AKA: Torso
1973 / Italy / 89m / Col / Giallo | IMDb
Suzy Kendall, Tina Aumont, Luc Merenda, John Richardson, Roberto Bisacco, Ernesto Colli, Angela Covello, Carla Brait, Conchita Airoldi, Patrizia Adiutori
“So overloaded with red herrings that even Scandinavians would find it excessive, Torso is not the most complicated of whodunits. About an hour into the narrative, the identity of our villain is nothing more than a process of elimination. In essence, take whoever’s left alive, subdivide out the possible motives, and make with the Holmesian deductions. The answer, sadly, will seem pretty obvious. That doesn’t mean Martino can’t have a little frisky fun getting to the conclusion. If you like Me Decade ladies unclothed and submission, this movie is your ticket to titillation. Female mammaries are featured so often that they almost become a plot point. Similarly, Martino does his slasher genre best to handle every death from the killer’s bloody perspective. As the knife blade threatens another topless honey, it’s all so gratuitous and sleazy.” – Bill Gibron, Pop Matters
Genres:
436. (+1) Messiah of Evil
Willard Huyck & Gloria Katz
AKA: Messiah of Evil
1973 / USA / 90m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Michael Greer, Marianna Hill, Joy Bang, Anitra Ford, Royal Dano, Elisha Cook Jr., Charles Dierkop, Bennie Robinson, Morgan Fisher, Emma Truckman
“”Messiah of Evil” is the kind of movie that’s made from its flaws as much as its strengths. The incoherence of the screenplay is actually a prime example of great horror storytelling. On the surface, it pretends to explain all, but the “explanation” only succeeds in raising more questions. A great horror film leaves giant holes in the screen for us to project our own fears and does not reassure us in the end that all is well. At its most basic level, a good horror story is about uncertainty, and “Messiah of Evil” is one of the most uncertain movies ever made.” – Brian Holcomb, Beyond Hollywood
Genres:
437. (-15) Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
John S. Robertson
AKA:
1920 / USA / 49m / BW / Science Fiction | IMDb
John Barrymore, Brandon Hurst, Martha Mansfield, Charles Lane, Cecil Clovelly, Nita Naldi, Louis Wolheim
“John S. Robertson’s vision is not boggled down by repetition or clichés, and he breaks from the shackles of Stevenson’s immortal story in every detail. The scenes preceding the transformation have a light and delicate touch to them, but it is the dank and menacing scenes afterwards that seem to grab our attention the most. Most of the characters, during the transformation, are seen walking around in damp alleys, in which the light of a lamppost is the only relief from the shadows. One might even call these scenes early examples of the 1940s film noir. “Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde” is not just a movie about unleashing our dark sides, but controlling them.” – David Keyes, Cinemaphile
Genres:
438. (-18) The Terminator
James Cameron
AKA:
1984 / USA / 107m / Col / Science Fiction | IMDb
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn, Linda Hamilton, Paul Winfield, Lance Henriksen, Rick Rossovich, Bess Motta, Earl Boen, Dick Miller, Shawn Schepps
“As an action film, The Terminator remains a surprisingly meditative work, its concentrated visceral bursts not unlike punctuation marks among something more brooding, even prayerful… It’s one of the most hopeful films ever made, and its one that we can yet take much from. Knowing what she does of the future, Sarah driving off into the coming storm in the films final shot is a profound acceptance of unimaginable responsibility, but the film argues further that every life is meaningful, even vital, in the final equation. Even on the eve of self-destruction, mankind is still worth saving, and the most complex machine can yet fall to the simplest.” – Rob Humanick, Slant Magazine
Genres:
439. (-14) Deranged
Jeff Gillen & Alan Ormsby
AKA: Deranged: Confessions of a Necrophile
1974 / USA / 84m / Col / Crime | IMDb
Roberts Blossom, Cosette Lee, Leslie Carlson, Robert Warner, Marcia Diamond, Brian Smeagle, Arlene Gillen, Robert McHeady, Marian Waldman, Jack Mather
“Deranged belongs alongside other cult black comic horror curios like Motel Hell and two films namechecked in Arrow’s publicity blurb, Carnival of Souls and The Honeymoon Killers. The viewer is constantly surprised by jarring turns of tone and sharp juxtapositions of wild humour with tough, uncompromising imagery. While some ideas work better than others, at least this film has them in abundance; with many low budget films from the 60s and 70s, necessity really was the mother of invention, and mavericks with talent and an eye for horror’s sense of wonder could let their imaginations rip. The final sequence lingers long in the memory and delivers the enduring image from the Ed Gein case. According to the blurb, “…this is one of American horror cinema’s great one-offs, an eerie, genuinely unsettling but also darkly comic experience,” and this reviewer can’t disagree with that.” – John Costello, This is Horror
Genres:
440. (-17) The Vampire Lovers
Roy Ward Baker
AKA:
1970 / UK / 91m / Col / Vampire | IMDb
Ingrid Pitt, George Cole, Kate O’Mara, Peter Cushing, Ferdy Mayne, Douglas Wilmer, Madeline Smith, Dawn Addams, Jon Finch, Pippa Steel
“What really makes this a good film, however, is the treatment of the supernatural presence. Whereas all of Hammer’s previous vampire movies were about very physical creatures, the fresh type of vampire presented here has a far eerier ambience and gives the sense of a ghostly otherworldliness that helps the picture immensely. These are beings who command through their minds and their sexual charisma, and only rarely through physical strength. At times they vanish like specters, at times they – maybe – turn into cats. It’s a wholly different take on the vampire, and one that achieves the combination of allurement and fearsomeness which most vampire tales strive for but fail to reach.” – Anton Mistlake, Mistlake’s Blog
Genres:
441. (-7) Ugetsu monogatari
Kenji Mizoguchi
AKA: Ugetsu
1953 / Japan / 96m / BW / Fantasy | 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: Jidaigeki, Low Fantasy, Kaidan, War, Kaidan, Tragedy, Melodrama
442. (-6) House of 1000 Corpses
Rob Zombie
AKA:
2003 / USA / 89m / Col / Splatter | IMDb
Bill Moseley, William Bassett, Karen Black, Erin Daniels, Matthew McGrory, Judith Drake, Dennis Fimple, Chris Hardwick, Walton Goggins, Sid Haig
“The movie has absolutely no interest whatsoever in sanitized horror. Rob Zombie wallows quite comfortably in squalor, doling out mutilation, gore, sweaty close-ups, bad teeth, bad skin, fetid-looking clutter everywhere. Even the four college students — two male, two female, by the book — whose agony provides most of the fuel for the plot motor are not empty UPN/WB clones. Zombie has made a conscious and, yes, loving throwback to nuclear-family geek shows like Chainsaw, Mother’s Day, and Wes Craven’s The Hills Have Eyes. If it doesn’t sound original, well, it isn’t. Zombie never designed this to be the new fresh thing in horror; he simply wants to blow away all the shiny teen crap that passes for horror nowadays and cover the audience in grime, spit, intestines.” – Rob Gonsalves, eFilmCritic
Genres: Sadistic Horror, Hixploitation, Black Comedy, Halloween, Horror Comedy, Splatter, Satire
443. (-12) Hei tai yang 731
Tun Fei Mou
AKA: Men Behind the Sun
1988 / Hong Kong / 105m / Col / War | IMDb
Jianxin Chen, Hsu Gou, Linjie Hao, Haizhe Jin, Tie Long Jin, Yuanrong Jin, Bolin Li, Pengyu Liu, Xuhui Liu, Zhaohua Mei
“In spite of the relentless death, mutilation and suffering, Men Behind The Sun is actually a very watchable, extremely well-made film. The cinematography is superb with lots of moody, effective lighting, great framing and excellent use of long lenses. The production design is very good – some scenes have thousands of soldiers in uniform. The locations and sets are above what you might expect from a film such as this. The actors all give good performances – especially the ‘evil’ Japanese top brass. And the special effects vary from very good to gruesomely outstanding. The sum of the parts, in this case, definitely do equal more than the whole. Men Behind The Sun may be ‘propaganda’ in the eyes of some; completely true in the eyes of others; but to us it is controversial film-making par excellence. The kind of film that will never be made again – a true sick, chunk-blowing classic.” – The Chelsea Ripper, Sick-Films
Genres:
444. (+54) Idle Hands
Rodman Flender
AKA:
1999 / USA / 92m / Col / Comedy | IMDb
Devon Sawa, Seth Green, Elden Henson, Jessica Alba, Vivica A. Fox, Christopher Hart, Jack Noseworthy, Katie Wright, Sean Whalen, Nicholas Sadler
“”Idle Hands” is a delirious, no-holds-barred attempt at creating a slasher movie with lots of campy and outrageous humor. While some of it fails (including the whole subplot dealing with Mick and Pnub, who return from the grave), much of it really is funny, and I couldn’t help but be reminded of the so-bad-they’re-great ’80s horror flicks that this film obviously gets its inspiration from. Back in those days, there were very few redeeming qualities, just gory killing after gory killing, intermingled with a helpful dosage of gratuitous nudity.” – Dustin Putman, The Movie Boy
Genres:
445. (-7) Intruder
Scott Spiegel
AKA:
1989 / USA / 83m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
Elizabeth Cox, Renée Estevez, Dan Hicks, David Byrnes, Sam Raimi, Eugene Robert Glazer, Billy Marti, Burr Steers, Craig Stark, Ted Raimi
“While Intruder follows much of the slasher film formula, it truly stands out from the ilk of that time for many reasons, the first being Speigel’s amazing style. As one of the guys behind the first two Evil Dead movies, Director and co-writer Scott Speilgel brings that same kinetic look to this movie. There are some crazy angles and snake-like movements, including some of the most innovative POVs, you’ve ever seen. Ever wonder what it would be like to see the POV of a bucket, telephone, or floor? Well, you’ll see it here. Add in the tight and ingenious editing and you have a movie that is technically superior to many of the stalk and slash that were out at that point in time. Speigel knows how to build up the tension. Intruder takes it’s time setting up the place, situation, and, more or less, the characters. The climax is pretty exciting and highly suspenseful.” – Giovanni Deldio, Best Horror Movies
Genres:
446. (-17) Frenzy
Alfred Hitchcock
AKA:
1972 / UK / 116m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
Jon Finch, Alec McCowen, Barry Foster, Billie Whitelaw, Anna Massey, Barbara Leigh-Hunt, Bernard Cribbins, Vivien Merchant, Michael Bates, Jean Marsh
“Frenzy is hardly a whodunit mystery. The audience discovers the identity of the true murderer within the first half hour of the film, so the focus turns to Blaney and the “wrong man” motif. Hitchcock wisely makes the antagonist the more likable of the two leading men though the serial killer story-line no longer has the punch it once enjoyed. The new freedom and increasing violence of filmmaking during the times allowed many filmmakers to indulge in much greater graphic storytelling. While many of Hitchcock’s films had themes of murder and diabolic evils, he employed a designed restraint that forced the viewer to use their imagination. A simple “less is more” philosophy.” – Terrence J. Brady, Teako 170
Genres:
447. (+11) The Autopsy of Jane Doe
André Øvredal
AKA:
2016 / USA / 86m / Col / Mystery | IMDb
Brian Cox, Emile Hirsch, Ophelia Lovibond, Michael McElhatton, Olwen Catherine Kelly, Jane Perry, Parker Sawyers, Mary Duddy, Mark Phoenix, Sydney
“Integrating elements of body horror, Agatha Christie and, least interestingly, contemporary horror films, Autopsy has both a cheeky simplicity (the production design of the morgue is at once devilishly eerie and cleanly pragmatic) and Carpenter-inspired formalism: Øvredal lingers on things like hallways and blood dripping down a funnel while familiarizing us with the spaces in the underground morgue. Less a subversion of genre conventions than a relatively effective repackaging of them, The Autopsy of Jane Doe is made up of established pieces that it repositions in a manner ranging from the obvious to the dexterous.” – Josh Cabrita, Cinema Scope
Genres: Supernatural Horror, Mystery, Body Horror, Chamber Film, Police Procedural, Family Drama
448. (-15) Frightmare
Pete Walker
AKA: Cover Up
1974 / UK / 88m / Col / Thriller | IMDb
Rupert Davies, Sheila Keith, Deborah Fairfax, Paul Greenwood, Kim Butcher, Fiona Curzon, John Yule, Trisha Mortimer, Victoria Fairbrother, Edward Kalinski
“”Frightmare” is perhaps [Pete Walker’s] most admired production, if only because it caused quite a stir during its initial theatrical release, upsetting critics at the time with its X-rated vision of cannibalism and murder, while offering a provocative condemnation of criminal rehabilitation services. In 2014, it’s difficult to understand why such a fuss was raised, with the genre now exposing every perversion and evil known to man, but what remains under the aged layers of condemnation is a crafty chiller, wonderfully performed and executed with a refreshing grimness. “Frightmare” has its share of ugliness, but it’s also considered work from Walker, who isn’t merely out to sicken, but haunt his audience with this effective picture.” – Brian Orndorf, Blu-ray.com
Genres: Cannibal, Thriller, Splatter, Black Comedy
449. (-19) Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives
Tom McLoughlin
AKA:
1986 / USA / 86m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
Thom Mathews, Jennifer Cooke, David Kagen, Renée Jones, Kerry Noonan, Darcy DeMoss, Tom Fridley, Alan Blumenfeld, Matthew Faison, Ann Ryerson
“The previous FRIDAY films were one-note affairs; this time out, a slightly new tune is being played (this is literally the case: composer Henry Manfredini’s familiar theme music is augmented with a couple songs performed by Alice Cooper (including “He’s Back: The Man Behind the Mask”). Whatever its weaknesses, JASON LIVES is a reasonably fun attempt at remaking the franchise into an old-fashioned monster movie, and fans of Frankenstein, the Mummy, and other creatures of the walking dead may find it appealing.” – Steve Biodrowski, Cinefantastique
Genres:
450. (-10) Jisatsu sâkuru
Shion Sono
AKA: Suicide Club
2001 / Japan / 99m / Col / Thriller | IMDb
Ryo Ishibashi, Masatoshi Nagase, Mai Hosho, Tamao Satô, Takashi Nomura, Rolly, Joshua, Masato Tsujioka, Kôsuke Hamamoto, Kei Nagase
“As frustrating as Suicide Club may be, there is no denying that it does succeed in hooking viewers with its highly original concept. The film manages to establish a sense of creeping dread; the anticipation of what lurks around each corner proves far more terrifying than the cheap scare tactics employed in other films. Ryo Ishibashi exudes a sense of decency and commitment to his mission—qualities that have a definite payoff later in the film. As Kuroda, Ishibashi gives the viewers a solid protagonist they can latch onto during the dark journey ahead. The lack of clear answers will frustrate many (this reviewer included) but what Suicide Club attempts to say and do, coupled with its success in executing some of those goals, makes the film worth recommending. And even with its baffling conclusion, there’s at least one lesson to be gleaned from Suicide Club: J-Pop may be hazardous to your health.” – Calvin McMillin, Love HK Film
Genres:
451. (-16) Trouble Every Day
Claire Denis
AKA:
2001 / France / 101m / Col / Drama | IMDb
Vincent Gallo, Tricia Vessey, Béatrice Dalle, Alex Descas, Florence Loiret Caille, Nicolas Duvauchelle, Raphaël Neal, José Garcia, Hélène Lapiower, Marilu Marini
“Denis’s films have always been shot through with a current of menace just waiting to be made explicit: it’s present in their off-balance close-ups, faintly unstable camera moves, obsessive attention to the texture of hair, clothes, and skin, and habit of letting the camera slide caressingly around actors’ bodies when they’re at their least self-conscious and most exposed. Where other Denis films seem to circle and drift around indecisively, Trouble Every Day itches with a kind of nervous forward momentum. It’s an extended come-on, full of teases and hints and come-hither gestures, finally climaxing — in every way — with two scenes of gruesome sexual violence.” – Max Nelson, Film Comment Magazine
Genres: Cannibal, Drama, New French Extremity, Psychological Drama, Erotic Thriller
452. (+27) Mimic
Guillermo del Toro
AKA:
1997 / USA / 105m / Col / Science Fiction | IMDb
Mira Sorvino, Jeremy Northam, Alexander Goodwin, Giancarlo Giannini, Charles S. Dutton, Josh Brolin, Alix Koromzay, F. Murray Abraham, James Costa, Javon Barnwell
“Told in the darkly dreamy style of a particularly grim fairy tale, the creepy, beautifully designed Mimic embraces the clichs of the big-bug story-scientific hubris and the inevitable revenge of nature-and makes them seem, if not fresh, then certainly as robustly vital as the oversized vermin that stalk its pervasive shadows. Mimic also has an unusually high yuck factor, involving all manner of sticky, slippery, squishy things, but to call it a gross-out movie would be, well, grossly inaccurate. Making his U.S. debut, Mexican director Guillermo Del Toro (Cronos) rejects the adrenaline-charged, roller-coaster ride approach that drives so many recent thrillers in favor of constructing a densely imagined nightmare of damp streets and nightmare alleys.” – Maitland McDonagh, Film Journal
Genres:
453. (-3) The War of the Worlds
Byron Haskin
AKA:
1953 / USA / 85m / BW / Science Fiction | IMDb
Gene Barry, Ann Robinson, Les Tremayne, Robert Cornthwaite, Sandro Giglio, Lewis Martin, Houseley Stevenson Jr., Paul Frees, William Phipps, Vernon Rich
“The special effects were state-of-the-art for the time, and they remain impressive today. If a few wires are visible to discerning eyes, at least the images are interesting in design and colorful in execution; something about the smooth, sleek look of the Martian hovercraft make them fascinating to watch, even if their miniature origins are sometimes apparent. Although subsequent films (such as INDEPENDENCE DAY) would outdo WAR OF THE WORLDS in terms of depicting mass destruction, this film retains its classic status thanks to the dramatic conviction with which it portrays its characters helplessly fighting against an unstoppable enemy bent on driving humanity into extinction.” – Steve Biodrowski, Hollywood Gothique
Genres:
454. (-11) Tales from the Hood
Rusty Cundieff
AKA:
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:
455. (+28) The Tingler
William Castle
AKA:
1959 / USA / 82m / BW / Science Fiction | IMDb
Vincent Price, Judith Evelyn, Darryl Hickman, Patricia Cutts, Pamela Lincoln, Philip Coolidge
“”Be afraid. Be very afraid. And when you are afraid, for Heaven’s sake don’t hesitate to scream.” The Tingler is famous as one of the first ever audience participation cinema experiences. Chapin (Vincent Price) happens to have dedicated years of his life to studying fear, which he suspects is caused by a parasite attached to the human spine. Now he may have the opportunity to capture a live specimen – but, all moral concerns aside (every character here is quick to forsake them), can he really control it?… Opening the door for endless experiments in making more out of the cinema experience, The Tingler is one of the most important genre films of its time, and it has enough humour to remain endearing to this day. ” – Jennie Kermode, Eye for film
Genres: Horror, Science Fiction, Body Horror
456. (-17) Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed
Terence Fisher
AKA:
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:
457. (+5) Bride of Chucky
Ronny Yu
AKA:
1998 / USA / 89m / Col / 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
458. (-11) Dracula
John Badham
AKA:
1979 / USA / 109m / Col / Vampire | IMDb
Frank Langella, Laurence Olivier, Donald Pleasence, Kate Nelligan, Trevor Eve, Jan Francis, Janine Duvitski, Tony Haygarth, Teddy Turner, Sylvester McCoy
“This film is not a standard horror film, though there are some horrific moments. It plays up the notion that Dracula is a sensual, smoldering, sexual creature rather than an animal with no soul. In that respect, Frank Langella (who played the role on stage) plays it up to the hilt and delivers – using his body language and his fluid lines with the mark of a real actor. He is a tall, charismatic and towering presence and brings Dracula alive with more relish and attitude than most others who have attempted the role.” – Jerry Saravia, Jerry Saravia on Cinema
Genres:
459. (-17) La chute de la maison Usher
Jean Epstein
AKA: The Fall of the House of Usher
1928 / France / 63m / BW / Gothic | IMDb
Jean Debucourt, Marguerite Gance, Charles Lamy, Fournez-Goffard, Luc Dartagnan, Abel Gance, Halma, Pierre Hot, Pierre Kefer
“What was theoretical in Epstein’s The Three-Sided Mirror is here freer, more lucid and ethereal, and from its first image of a visitor with busy fingers wading through a tangle of trees and branches to the final orgy of poetic destruction, the director intensely considers the push-pull relationship between life and art—the precarious soul-suck between the two and the chaos their battle risks. When Debucourt’s Usher looks at his painting, he is both staring at the visage of his elusive wife’s representation and the audience itself. Epstein treats celluloid not unlike Usher’s canvas—a delicate, fragile thing to draw on (slow or fast, sometimes twice, thrice, four times over)—and to look at the screen of this film is to witness a portal into a complex, heretofore unknown dimension of cinematic representation.” – Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine
Genres:
460. (-4) Annihilation
Alex Garland
AKA:
2018 / UK / 115m / Col / Science Fiction | IMDb
Natalie Portman, Benedict Wong, Sonoya Mizuno, David Gyasi, Oscar Isaac, John Schwab, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, Tuva Novotny, Tessa Thompson
“”Annihilation” is an exercise in maintaining tone and keeping the action of the piece relatable enough so that it doesn’t spin off into something easily dismissible. Cinematographer Rob Hardy, who also shot “Ex Machina,” works with Garland to use the natural world as effectively as the pair used those sleek lines and reflections of the lab in their previous film. And the sound design, especially in the climax, is spectacular, keeping us disoriented and frightened with atonal noises that almost sound like they’re turning in on themselves. Most of all, the artistic success of “Annihilation” comes down to the way Garland metes out information visually. He’ll often show us one thing and then subvert it with the next image, which is an ambitious but perfect way to tell a story about duality and corruption.” – Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com
Genres: Science Fiction, Mystery, Psychological Thriller, Cosmic Horror, Body Horror, Natural Horror, Psychological Horror, Psychological Drama, Extraterrestrial
461. (-12) The Innkeepers
Ti West
AKA:
2011 / USA / 101m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Sara Paxton, Pat Healy, Alison Bartlett, Jake Ryan, Kelly McGillis, Lena Dunham, Brenda Cooney, George Riddle, John Speredakos, Sean Reid
“The suspense built up in this story is real. I wasn’t on the edge of my seat but there was a knot in my stomach as I wondered what was going to happen next. From a creepy basement visit with the ghost to a scene where the aging actress warns Claire about the spirit world, this movie is slow but tantalizing. “I’m just here for one last bit of nostalgia,” the hotel’s final visitor says, a nod to why the film works so well. It’s a nostalgic film that should remind viewers of what suspense really feels like. Suspense isn’t watching a man getting hacked into pieces. It’s watching a woman realize that she’s in too deep when she starts asking too many questions about paranormal activity. And that what “The Innkeepers” delivers.” – John Hanlon, Big Hollywood
Genres: Haunted House, Comedy, Horror Comedy
462. (+6) Yeogo goedam
Ki-hyeong Park
AKA: Whispering Corridors
1998 / South Korea / 105m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Kang-hee Choi, Gyu-ri Kim, Min-jung Kim, Roe-ha Kim, Yu-seok Kim, Mi-yeon Lee, Yong-nyeo Lee, Jin-hie Park, Yong-soo Park, Yi Shin
“Whispering Corridors shows through these characters that the fixation on performance and competitiveness between students, amplified by their teachers—while with the intent of pushing them all to get better grades to get into better universities—still drives social wedges between them, dehumanizing them by turning students into nothing more than numbers to be compared. Which is a pretty nuanced criticism to make for a horror film, especially since it’s pointing at the broader system of test-score-based education and not just high school. In fact, it seems that the ghostly haunting of Jin-ju is actually secondary to the psychological horror that the girls go through in school.” – refresh_daemon, Drama Beans
Genres:
463. (+3) Isle of the Dead
Mark Robson
AKA:
1945 / USA / 71m / BW / Mystery | IMDb
Boris Karloff, Ellen Drew, Marc Cramer, Katherine Emery, Helene Thimig, Alan Napier, Jason Robards Sr., Ernst Deutsch
“Lewton’s signature, of course, was atmospheric spookiness, not shocks. A couple of good jumps aside, his movies have endured because of his remarkable talent in fusing the eerie with the melancholy. But whether it was by design or pressure from Gross, Isle of the Dead offers both the unsettling and the truly startling as it reaches its climax. The fear of being buried alive gets its ultimate expression here. At first that fear is played out in indelibly understated creepiness — the camera slowly moving in on a closed casket, wrapped in the shadows of tree branches swaying in the wind. And then… a noise. It builds from there when Thea slowly walks through the same area later. Obscured by heavy darkness and aided by a strikingly modern use of flash frames, a figure appears so fleetingly you are not sure you’ve seen her at first. But then she makes her presence definitively known. Taken together, these scenes rank among the most bone-chilling moments from any era of horror cinema.” – Joel Wicklund, Classic-Horror
Genres:
464. (+14) The Stepford Wives
Bryan Forbes
AKA:
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:
465. (-1) Body Snatchers
Abel Ferrara
AKA:
1993 / USA / 87m / Col / Science Fiction | IMDb
Terry Kinney, Meg Tilly, Gabrielle Anwar, Reilly Murphy, Billy Wirth, Christine Elise, R. Lee Ermey, Kathleen Doyle, Forest Whitaker, G. Elvis Phillips
“On the assumption that the audience already knows the premise, Body Snatchers doesn’t explain the alien invasion, it simply shows it with gloopily effective special effects. Ferrara, in a rare medium-budget excursion, shows he can make a smooth-looking, well paced film, while his acute ear for character tensions deftly captures the untidy human emotions that the pods live without. The writing and acting are way above average for a sci-fi quickie: note how a “truth” game between Anwar and soldier hero Billy Wirth sets up resonances that pay off throughout the film.” – Kim Newman, Empire Online
Genres:
466. (-18) Straw Dogs
Sam Peckinpah
AKA:
1971 / USA / 113m / Col / Psychological | IMDb
Dustin Hoffman, Susan George, Peter Vaughan, T.P. McKenna, Del Henney, Jim Norton, Donald Webster, Ken Hutchison, Len Jones, Sally Thomsett
“Straw Dogs frustrates and compels not because it tells us easy things like “violence lurks in the hearts of men” (which it does), but because it ultimately refuses to make any absolute value judgments about such a statement. Peckinpah clearly believed that humans are inherently violent beings—he said as much in interview after interview. Yet, he was also a committed liberal democrat and humanist who detested the violence and scandal of the world around him. Thus, like its depictions of violence, the film’s stand on David’s descent into destruction to protect what’s his is, in the end, ambiguous.” – James Kendrick, Q Network Film Desk
Genres:
467. (-23) The Walking Dead
Michael Curtiz
AKA:
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:
468. (-13) Ghost Story
John Irvin
AKA:
1981 / USA / 110m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Fred Astaire, Melvyn Douglas, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., John Houseman, Craig Wasson, Patricia Neal, Alice Krige, Jacqueline Brookes, Miguel Fernandes, Lance Holcomb
“Ghost Story plays its horror cards in all suits, from classical atmospheric chills (and as a note to Irvin’s love for detail, watch how the wind doesn’t begin to blow in the graveyard until Houseman says, “And the wind began to blow”) to Dick Smith’s excellent zombie make-up. It’s not gory, really, but some scenes, such as a body falling from a high-rise, shattering through a glass roof, and landing with a thud next to a pool, are more brutal than usual–Irvin graphically captures the tragedy and weight of the fall in a way that splattered body parts simply couldn’t do. The film’s real strength, though, lies in its ability to create ghostly thrills via deep characters who have a reason to be scared. And that, combined with all the other unique, superb elements, make this a must see for any genre fans or any serious fan of film.” – Brandt Sponseller, Classic-Horror
Genres:
469. (-16) Hush
Mike Flanagan
AKA:
2016 / USA / 81m / Col / Thriller | IMDb
Kate Siegel, John Gallagher Jr., Michael Trucco, Samantha Sloyan, Emma Graves
“Beautiful in its narrative simplicity, observant in its human complexity, and vital in its stylistic precision, “Hush” is the kind of nerve-shredding thriller which lays waste to its viewers’ fingernails while leaving said audience literally perched on the edge of their seats. There are no needless subplots on hand to muddy the waters or lugubrious tangents to slow the pacing. Director Mike Flanagan is laser-focused on what he has set out to do, and achieve, and he does it magnificently.” – Dustin Putnam, TheFrightFile
Genres: Home Invasion, Horror, Chamber Film, Psychological Thriller, Slasher
470. (-7) Blade
Stephen Norrington
AKA:
1998 / USA / 120m / Col / Vampire | IMDb
Wesley Snipes, Stephen Dorff, Kris Kristofferson, N’Bushe Wright, Donal Logue, Udo Kier, Arly Jover, Traci Lords, Kevin Patrick Walls, Tim Guinee
“[Blade] is a movie that relishes high visual style. It uses the extreme camera angles, the bizarre costumes and sets, the exaggerated shadows, the confident cutting between long shots and extreme closeups. It slams ahead in pure visceral imagery… Wesley Snipes understands the material from the inside out and makes an effective Blade because he knows that the key ingredient in any interesting superhero is not omnipotence, but vulnerability… By embodying those feelings, Snipes as Blade gives the movie that edge of emotion without which it would simply be special effects.” – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Genres:
471. (+2) Bone Tomahawk
S. Craig Zahler
AKA:
2015 / USA / 132m / Col / Western | IMDb
Kurt Russell, Patrick Wilson, Matthew Fox, Richard Jenkins, Lili Simmons, Evan Jonigkeit, David Arquette, Fred Melamed, Sid Haig, Maestro Harrell
“There’s an elegance to Bone Tomahawk that doesn’t let up even when it veers into cult-movie territory. Zahler is a patient director, willing to let scenes unfold, with tension developing organically. He uses music sparingly; the early scenes in town are almost unnaturally quiet, with the moody, minimalist score (credited to Jeff Herriot and Zahler himself) only kicking in once the search party strikes out for the territory. As the men become more and more desperate, the camera comes in closer and closer. But even the final act is devoid of the kind of unhinged stylistic hysteria that can take over films that upend genre. You could even say that’s what makes it so disturbing — the director’s unflinching eye reveals both character and violence.” – Bilge Ebiri, Vulture
Genres: Revisionist Western, Cannibal, Weird West, Splatter
472. (-1) Son of Dracula
Robert Siodmak
AKA:
1943 / USA / 80m / BW / Vampire | IMDb
Robert Paige, Louise Allbritton, Evelyn Ankers, Frank Craven, J. Edward Bromberg, Samuel S. Hinds, Adeline De Walt Reynolds, Pat Moriarity, Etta McDaniel, George Irving
“If you can cope with the dated ideologies, and big lug, Lon Chaney Jr, looking more out of place than a priest in a day care center, you’ll find much to celebrate in SON OF DRACULA. All that priceless Universal atmosphere is here in spades. The soundtrack, the Gothic splendor, the hot ladies and the cold, dark shadows…all here. It’s a forgotten, roughly hewn gem, but its one worth seeking out for lovers of ‘ye olde horror’. The atmosphere is palpable, the plot is unique and the strange change of setting from olde world England/Transylvania, to the deep south, is a refreshing one. Give SON OF DRACULA a little of your time, and you may be pleasantly surprised. And besides, if you don’t watch it, Lon Chaney will eat you!” – Kyle Scott, The Horror Hotel
Genres:
473. (-22) Murders in the Rue Morgue
Robert Florey
AKA:
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:
474. (-20) Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte
Robert Aldrich
AKA: What Ever Happened to Cousin Charlotte?
1964 / USA / 133m / BW / Psychological | IMDb
Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Joseph Cotten, Agnes Moorehead, Cecil Kellaway, Victor Buono, Mary Astor, Wesley Addy, William Campbell, Bruce Dern
“Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte is a finely executed psychological thriller/horror film. There is a surprising amount of gore and swearing for a picture of this time and that works in its favor. It lends a realistic quality to a film that could otherwise be a little ridiculous. It’s well paced and offers no end of surprises. The ending haunts you long after it’s over and makes you recalculate everything you just saw.” – Doug Heller, Next Projection
Genres:
475. (+27) Vuelven
Issa López
AKA: Tigers Are Not Afraid
2017 / Mexico / 83m / Col / Psychological | IMDb
Paola Lara, Juan Ramón López, Hanssel Casillas, Rodrigo Cortes, Ianis Guerrero, Tenoch Huerta
“Opening with silent statistics for the missing and dead in Mexico, paired with a teacher instructing her class to write a fairy tale, there’s no denying what López wants to say here. Like her producing-partner-to-be, López uses genre elements to frame a real, devastating story, this one being about children who learn to fend for themselves in a world that has abandoned them. The themes inherent in this narrative are often bleak, but like the best fairy tales, there is triumph as well. Beyond sociological truth, López infuses her narrative with acceptance and solidarity, friendship and comfort in the face of death. The abstract symbols serve the story, but its core rests in the small, intimate moments, which build to a finale that’s both thrilling and deeply emotional. López is a voice that should make us pause, one whose certainty and passion seem essential in a world that often lacks both.” – Ben Larned, Daily Dead
Genres:
476. (0) Wolf
Mike Nichols
AKA:
1994 / USA / 125m / Col / Werewolf | IMDb
Jack Nicholson, Michelle Pfeiffer, James Spader, Kate Nelligan, Richard Jenkins, Christopher Plummer, Eileen Atkins, David Hyde Pierce, Om Puri, Ron Rifkin
“In the business world Stewart is something of a bizarre jellyfish, but in full lycanthropic form, he is something of a surreal and absolutely menacing evil that Spader makes his own. “Wolf” is an underrated horror gem, one that works as social commentary and horror cinema, and it’s a great piece of nineties filmmaking. Filled with an understated intellect and using the werewolf movie formula as a commentary for aging and the battle of the males in a society obsessed with power and dominance, Mike Nichols “Wolf” is one of our favorites of the genre, and a guaranteed good time for anyone looking for a different kind of horror film.” – Felix Vasquez Jr., Cinema Crazed
Genres:
477. (+9) Creep
Patrick Brice
AKA:
2014 / USA / 77m / Col / Found Footage | IMDb
Patrick Brice, Mark Duplass
“More or less a two-hander for co-stars Patrick Brice and indie-cinema multihyphenate Mark Duplass, who reportedly improvised from a jointly written bare-bones outline under Brice’s direction… Right from the start, “Creep” primes viewers to suspect that nothing is what it seems. Indeed, even before Aaron actually begins shooting Josef’s monologues, he comes across as dangerously naive, if not downright clueless, simply by agreeing to spend a long day alone with a much-too-ingratiating stranger in and around a cabin in a remote mountain town. Sure enough, there’s an entirely predictable revelation of deception around the midway point. But then something else happens, followed by some other, far more unexpected things.” – Joe Leydon, Variety
Genres: Found Footage Horror, Psychological Horror, Mumblecore, Black Comedy, Psychological Thriller, Cringe Comedy
478. (-18) Shadow of the Vampire
E. Elias Merhige
AKA:
2000 / UK / 92m / Col / Vampire | IMDb
John Malkovich, Willem Dafoe, Udo Kier, Cary Elwes, Catherine McCormack, Eddie Izzard, Aden Gillett, Nicholas Elliott, Ronan Vibert, Sophie Langevin
“The movie does an uncanny job of re-creating the visual feel of Murnau’s film. There are shots that look the way moldy basements smell. This material doesn’t lend itself to subtlety, and Malkovich and Dafoe chew their lines like characters who know they are always being observed (some directors do more acting on their sets than the actors do)… Vampires for some reason are funny as well as frightening. Maybe that’s because the conditions of their lives are so absurd. Some of novelist Anne Rice’s vampires have a fairly entertaining time of it, but someone like Schreck seems doomed to spend eternity in psychic and physical horror.” – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Genres: Vampire, Gothic Horror, Alternate History, Period Drama, Biopic, Black Comedy, Horror Comedy
479. (new) Bring Her Back
Danny Philippou & Michael Philippou
AKA:
2025 / Australia / 104m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Danny Philippou, Michael Philippou, Bill Hinzman, Billy Barratt, Sally Hawkins, Mischa Heywood, Jonah Wren Phillips, Stephen Phillips, Sally-Anne Upton, Sora Wong
“What saves Bring Her Back from collapsing under its own cruelty is the Philippous’ perverse fidelity to the physical. This is a masterclass in staging the indignities of the body. Blood is a sticky, congealing mess, while drool clings to lips and piss stains fabric. The sound design doubles down on these corporeal violations with bones protesting, knives worrying their way through flesh, and teeth detonating like porcelain. These effects owe nothing to the slick sadism of torture porn and everything to the clammy tactility of J-horror. They infest you, crawling under your skin with the intent to stay there.” – Ayaan Paul Chowdhury, The Hindu
Genres: Supernatural Horror, Psychological Horror, Family Drama, Body Horror, Psychological Drama, Psychological Thriller, Splatter, Mystery
480. (-21) 10 Cloverfield Lane
Dan Trachtenberg
AKA:
2016 / USA / 103m / Col / Thriller | IMDb
John Goodman, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Gallagher Jr., Douglas M. Griffin, Suzanne Cryer, Bradley Cooper, Sumalee Montano, Frank Mottek
“Long before 10 Cloverfield Lane gets to the issue of whether or not there are monsters above ground, it’s evident that Howard is monster enough below it: a figure of frustrated, resentful masculinity (he alleges, offhand, that his ex-wife turned his daughter against him) finally crowned with the authority he feels has long been denied him. While the original Cloverfield deliberately positioned its cast of twentysomethings to be dwarfed by a largescale disaster, 10 Cloverfield Lane is rewardingly claustrophobic, keeping its focus tight on the characters and their cramped space while whatever disasters there are loom outside the bunker.” – Allison Willmore, Buzzfeed News
Genres: Thriller, Post-Apocalyptic, Mystery, Chamber Film, Psychological Thriller, Alien Invasion, Psychological Drama, Survival, Science Fiction, Drama
481. (0) Return of the Living Dead III
Brian Yuzna
AKA: Return of the Living Dead Part III
1993 / USA / 97m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Kent McCord, James T. Callahan, Sarah Douglas, Melinda Clarke, Abigail Lenz, J. Trevor Edmond, Jill Andre, Michael Decker, Billy Kane, Mike Moroff
“While it isn’t as gleefully excessive as the previous year’s Dead Alive, Return of the Living Dead III is an incredible display of body horror and splatter. Yuzna’s always been a sort of poor-man’s Cronenberg, but he’s hit some incredible highs during his career, with this being one of them. Not content to merely create nondescript, shambling zombies, Yuzna embraces the franchise’s legacy of unique designs. Tarman might be absent, but he’s not completely missed, as Yuzna conjures up a fun array of creatures, including one that has an elongated spine after his head is almost severed from its body. The accompanying eviscerations, impalements, and, (of course) brai(iiiiii)n eating are messy and gooey, so it’s a great practical effects showcase.” – Brett Gallman, Oh, The Horror
Genres:
482. (+7) What Lies Beneath
Robert Zemeckis
AKA:
2000 / USA / 130m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Michelle Pfeiffer, Katharine Towne, Miranda Otto, James Remar, Harrison Ford, Victoria Bidewell, Diana Scarwid, Dennison Samaroo, Jennifer Tung, Eliott Goretsky
“A slick cross between a Hitchcock movie (two in particular, but to identify them would give away too much) and Stir of Echoes, What Lies Beneath is a supernatural thriller whose plot struggles to hold water. It’s the sort of thriller where the twists and surprises are decided first, and then the writers hang the story around those twists as best they can… What Lies Beneath works – to the extent that it works – because of Robert Zemeckis… Zemeckis is synonymous with slick, but he does have an impressive record of making the most out of material even when it’s weak. He gets an audience to care about what’s going on in a story rather than think about what’s wrong with the story. He knows how to entertain.” – Carlo Cavagna, AboutFilm.com
Genres:
483. (+42) The Substance
Coralie Fargeat
AKA:
2024 / USA / 141m / Col / Body Horror | IMDb
Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, Dennis Quaid, Edward Hamilton-Clark, Gore Abrams, Oscar Lesage, Christian Erickson, Robin Greer, Tom Morton, Hugo Diego Garcia
“The broad strokes in which Hollywood is painted may give the feeling that we’ve all been here before but trust me, we haven’t. Benjamin Kracun’s vibrant cinematography captures the surface sheen of Los Angeles perfectly and the aesthetic jars beautifully with the spilled blood and guts on display. High spec, cutting edge apartments are redecorated with fluids of all types. Even the grimy back streets conceal shiny rooms for those in the know. The Substance, while making serious points about how women in the public eye are built up and torn down on a depressingly regular basis, revels in its ridiculousness and the final sequence cranks up the fantasy dial to eleven as our star heads to present a prestigious New Year’s Eve programme and makes an entrance which is tragic, darkly hilarious and astonishingly gross, culminating in a parting shot which brings us full circle and finally allowing a moment to take in the assault to the senses.” – Darren Gaskell, Love Horror
Genres:
![[Rec]²](http://theyshootzombies.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/rec22009.jpg)
484. (-19) [Rec]²
Jaume Balagueró & Paco Plaza
AKA:
2009 / Spain / 85m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Jonathan D. Mellor, Óscar Zafra, Ariel Casas, Alejandro Casaseca, Pablo Rosso, Rafa Parra, Pep Molina, Andrea Ros, Àlex Batllori, Pau Poch
“The story being depicted elaborates on the original scenario and is endlessly intriguing. We only got a taste of the virus’ demonic nature in the original and here, that concept is expanded in a frightening manner. This is no longer the story of crazed infected humans running around biting each other’s faces off; it’s a terrifying tale of deadly people being influenced by a demonic source… Balagueró and Plaza really know what they’re doing. The continuation of their story is what keeps you intrigued, but it’s the eeriness and constant need to be prepared for what’s lurking around the corner that makes this film downright as horrifying as it is relentless. REC 2 it isn’t as good as its predecessor, but only finds itself a notch below, making it an enjoyable and honorable sequel” – Perri Nemiroff, CinemaBlend
Genres: Zombie, Found Footage Horror, Supernatural Horror, Body Horror, Action
485. (-3) The Witches
Nicolas Roeg
AKA:
1990 / UK / 91m / Col / Fantasy | IMDb
Anjelica Huston, Mai Zetterling, Jasen Fisher, Rowan Atkinson, Bill Paterson, Brenda Blethyn, Charlie Potter, Jane Horrocks, Anne Lambton, Sukie Smith
“Based on Roald Dahl’s 1983 children’s fantasy, executive produced by Henson and directed by Nicolas Roeg, it’s the kind of literate, imaginative children’s fantasy we see too rarely… Forgetting the new, questionably “upbeat” ending, Roeg and Scott have served Dahl well, embellished him intelligently… But what [Roeg has] also done is put disturbing flesh on Dahl’s fancies, visualize the witches with such revolting detail, and the mouse-eye view with such horrific vividness, that the movie takes on an unnerving pulse and threat. The setting becomes overwhelming, the evil palpable; Dahl’s book with its light, ironic tone, candy-coated the fear.” – Michael Wilmington, Los Angeles Times
Genres:
486. (+141) Deep Blue Sea
Renny Harlin
AKA:
1999 / USA / 105m / Col / Natural Horror | IMDb
Thomas Jane, Saffron Burrows, Samuel L. Jackson, Jacqueline McKenzie, Michael Rapaport, Stellan Skarsgård, LL Cool J, Aida Turturro, Cristos, Daniel Rey
“”Deep Blue Sea” takes all the action cliches and introduces three big sharks to demolish them. Call it silly. Call it obvious — there’s nothing more obvious than a shark attack. But this is one of the few big-fish horror films that still has the power to surprise. Any one of a dozen movies out there shows actors chewing the scenery. “Deep Blue Sea” shows the scenery chewing the actors, and not just nibbling. In one particularly delightful shot, a shark starts chomping on a man, and another shark comes over and munches on him too… Jackson is the only marquee name, but the cast lacks for nothing in talent and appeal.” – Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
Genres:
487. (-20) Starry Eyes
Kevin Kolsch & Dennis Widmyer
AKA:
2014 / USA / 98m / Col / Psychological | IMDb
Alex Essoe, Amanda Fuller, Noah Segan, Fabianne Therese, Shane Coffey, Natalie Castillo, Pat Healy, Nick Simmons, Maria Olsen, Marc Senter
“A savage allegory about the sacrificial, soul-crushing price of fame and recognition in a town notoriously guilty for building up its talent only to tear them down, the perfectly titled “Starry Eyes” spares no one. Shooting on location in Los Angeles… writer-directors Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer paint a despairing but, from certain angles, accurate portrait of Hollywood’s grim underbelly. Beyond the sunshine and palm trees is an imminent danger that nears, each callback Sarah receives taking her closer to the part and further from her identity… Soaked in viscera and complemented by composer Jonathan Snipes’ phenomenally foreboding old-school, synth-heavy music score, the powerful finished product announces Kolsch and Widmyer as filmmaking forces to watch and remember.” – Dustin Putman, TheFrightFile.com
Genres: Psychological Horror, Body Horror, Supernatural Horror, Satire, Splatter
488. (-27) Spring
Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead
AKA:
2014 / USA / 109m / Col / Romance | IMDb
Lou Taylor Pucci, Nadia Hilker, Vanessa Bednar, Shane Brady, Francesco Carnelutti, Vinny Curran, Augie Duke, Jeremy Gardner, Some Other Guy, Holly Hawkins
“Just as we fall for their characters falling for each other, Benson’s metaphorically resonate script providing their space to emote is matched visually by Moorhead’s cinematography. Whether static aerials showing rotting corpses with snakes slithering through them, the shallow depth of field focusing on exactly what he wants us to see (showcasing Louise’s delicate balance between life and death with budding and withering flowers animated along her path), or a magnificent long take of Hilker following Pucci as he works his frustration out through the winding cobblestone alleyways of Apulia, the sense of place becomes a character in itself. Add the in-close cropping of creature effects and you get a genre film unencumbered by genre aesthetic. So if you’re someone who believes horror is mood, gore, and little else, Spring proves its validity as legitimate cinematic art.” – Jared Morbarak, The Film Stage
Genres: Romance, Low Fantasy, Body Horror, Cosmic Horror, Black Comedy
489. (-19) V/H/S
Various
AKA:
2012 / USA / 116m / Col / Anthology | IMDb
Calvin Reeder, Lane Hughes, Kentucker Audley, Adam Wingard, Frank Stack, Sarah Byrne, Melissa Boatright, Simon Barrett, Andrew Droz Palermo, Hannah Fierman
“Remarkably, given the premise, only one of the five short segments that make up V/H/S is an outright failure. The others — from such US indie darlings as House Of The Devil director Ti West, mumblecore luminary Joe Swanberg and fledgling YouTube collective Radio Silence — share an experimental bent, a knack for well-timed twists and they don’t pander to the squeamish. It puts these spooky miniatures head and shoulders above the bulk of this year’s featurelength horror fare… Forever chasing scares both cerebral and visceral, the filmmakers leave little space for cynicism and plenty for admiration — an invaluable accomplishment in a film form that’s so susceptible to weak spots.” – Charlie Lyne, Little White Lies
Genres: Anthology Film, Found Footage Horror, Supernatural Horror, Haunted House, Slasher, Splatter, Body Horror, Screenlife, Halloween, Digital Horror, Mystery, Analog Horror
490. (-18) Let Me In
Matt Reeves
AKA:
2010 / USA / 116m / Col / Vampire | IMDb
Kodi Smit-McPhee, Chloë Grace Moretz, Richard Jenkins, Cara Buono, Elias Koteas, Sasha Barrese, Dylan Kenin, Chris Browning, Ritchie Coster, Dylan Minnette
“In transliterating a foreign-language horror hit into an Anglophone movie it doesn’t follow [shot-for-shot]… though it does lift many scenes verbatim… If anything, this is a grimmer reading: as per Lindqvist, Abby genuinely feels for Owen, but the film suggests – via a photo-strip showing that she has been with her current protector since he was Owen’s age – that the vampire is going through another iteration of a relationship she has had before and will have again… Let Me In isn’t as rich or daring as Let the Right One In and seldom improves on it – but it plays better as a horror film, more concentrated in its focus on the creepy and shocking aspects of its unusual love story.” – Kim Newman, Sight and Sound
Genres: Vampire, Drama, Romance, Horror, Coming-of-Age
491. (-17) Crimson Peak
Guillermo del Toro
AKA:
2015 / USA / 119m / Col / Gothic | IMDb
Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain, Tom Hiddleston, Charlie Hunnam, Jim Beaver, Burn Gorman, Leslie Hope, Doug Jones, Jonathan Hyde, Bruce Gray
“To absorb the extraordinary details, colors, shapes and situations that are rife with layered danger is to witness this director’s fierce commitment to his own vision of what life could, or should, be. Del Toro’s latest, “Crimson Peak,” is a case in point. Set in the early 20th century, the action takes place almost entirely in the confines of a dark, decaying, sprawling manor house in northern England called Allerdale Hall. The hall sits atop a mine of red clay that brings about all kinds of building stress: red liquid oozing from walls, thick red water clogging the pipes and trickling down faucets, as if the whole place is in a permanent state of menstrual seizure… But del Toro has always trafficked in very expensive, well curated yuck. And as a result, “Crimson Peak” is all sexy gothic decor mixed with dungeon-like discomfort.” – Kaori Shoji, Japan Times
Genres: Gothic Horror, Haunted House, Gothic, Mystery, Romance, Period Drama, Dark Fantasy, Thriller
492. (-15) Dance of the Vampires
Roman Polanski
AKA: The Fearless Vampire Killers
1967 / USA / 108m / Col / Vampire | IMDb
Jack MacGowran, Roman Polanski, Alfie Bass, Jessie Robins, Sharon Tate, Ferdy Mayne, Iain Quarrier, Terry Downes, Fiona Lewis, Ronald Lacey
“An almost-forgotten but mainly delightful entry in the Roman Polanski filmography, this is a beautifully-designed, subtly subversive parody of the 1960s Hammer films. Best remembered for the gag in which Jewish vampire Alfie Bass laughs off a peasant girl’s brandished crucifix, this is a rare spoof that works less for its laugh-out-loud moments than for a delicate, genteel rearrangement of the clichés of genre. Polanski himself is the earnest disciple of a mad old vampire hunter (Jack MacGowan) who sets out to destroy the coven of dignified Count Von Krolock (Freddy Mayne), but our sympathies wander from the supposed heroes to the fey, irritating, elegant vampires.” – Kim Newman, Empire
Genres:
493. (+38) Les raisins de la mort
Jean Rollin
AKA: The Grapes of Death
1978 / France / 85m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Marie-Georges Pascal, Félix Marten, Serge Marquand, Mirella Rancelot, Patrice Valota, Patricia Cartier, Michel Herval, Brigitte Lahaie, Paul Bisciglia, Olivier Rollin
“If you appreciate Rollin’s gothic, sexually provocative films, you should love this, his most suspenseful and accessible production ever. Even if you aren’t a Rollin fan, you may like this. The apocalyptic story moves along at a much faster clip than the ordinary Rollin sex-vampire art film, and like “Night” it features an ending that doesn’t sell out. It’s also one of Rollins’ most chillingly beautiful films: He makes incredibly effective use of ancient French buildings. Seeing an army of Romero-esque ogres (one carrying a severed head) shuffling around them at night is wonderfully chilling.” – Lucius Gore, eSplatter
Genres:
494. (+49) Vampires
John Carpenter
AKA:
1998 / USA / 108m / Col / Vampire | IMDb
James Woods, Daniel Baldwin, Sheryl Lee, Thomas Ian Griffith, Maximilian Schell, Tim Guinee, Mark Boone Junior, Gregory Sierra, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa
“All the while Carpenter does his best with the pretty bad script from Dan Jakoby who fills the movie with forced cheesy dialogue often spouted by Woods whose one-liners tends to fall flat on their backs, not to mention the plot has almost zero exposition in to the origins of the black cross and its functions. Regardless, Carpenter does create a very entertaining film around the almost hackneyed script and answers fan’s questions about his dabbling in to the vampire genre with pure popcorn fare and does like he does it best, with style. All in all, Carpenter does a good job with this stylish and scary vampire movie, giving us a great leading hero and a great villain.” – Felix Vasquez Jr., Cinema Crazed
Genres:
495. (-15) Los sin nombre
Jaume Balagueró
AKA: The Nameless
1999 / Spain / 102m / Col / Mystery | IMDb
Emma Vilarasau, Karra Elejalde, Tristán Ulloa, Toni Sevilla, Brendan Price, Jordi Dauder, Núria Cano, Isabel Ampudia, Carles Punyet, Aleix Puiggalí
“Rather than bombard viewers with shocking scares, Jaume Balaguero’s multi-award-winning feature debut builds up an overwhelming and oppressive sense of dread with plenty of suspense thrown in. As the characters’ fear grows, so does yours… There are a few plot weaknesses – many questions go unanswered – but The Nameless gets it right in so many other areas it is easy to forgive. Albert Carreras and Xavi Giménez’s cinematography is stunning and creates pit-of-your-stomach dread from the off. There is very little colour in the film – the world is icy blue and grey aside from the old home movies Claudia pores over… Balaguero sets out to define evil – and he manages it in truly graphic yet glorious style.” – Leanne McGrath, Eye for Film
Genres:
496. (+1) Mandy
Panos Cosmatos
AKA:
2018 / USA / 121m / Col / Action | IMDb
Nicolas Cage, Andrea Riseborough, Linus Roache, Ned Dennehy, Olwen Fouéré, Richard Brake, Bill Duke, Line Pillet, Clément Baronnet, Alexis Julemont
“One could catalog all the awesome things in “Mandy” — the dueling chainsaws, the Cheddar Goblin, the nightmarishly enveloping score by the late Jóhann Jóhannson, Nicolas Cage at his screaming-in-his-tighty-whities best — without quite penetrating the awesomeness of “Mandy.” Suffice to say that Panos Cosmatos’ metal-to-the-max revenge thriller is more than just the sum of its deranged set pieces, choice as they are: Its slow-drip blend of hardcore pulp and demonic fantasy has a patience and all-consuming conviction that simply cannot be faked. Pulverizing though it may be, “Mandy” isn’t an assault; it’s an immersion, and one that demands the attention of a big screen.” – Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times
Genres: Vigilante, Horror, Splatter, Surrealism, Cosmic Horror
497. (-10) The Woman in Black
James Watkins
AKA:
2012 / UK / 95m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Emma Shorey, Molly Harmon, Ellisa Walker-Reid, Sophie Stuckey, Daniel Radcliffe, Misha Handley, Jessica Raine, Roger Allam, Lucy May Barker, Indira Ainger
“Director James Watkins expertly uses shadows and empty spaces to create a percolating sense of dread, and he waits until the last possible moment before allowing his audience the catharsis of a shock… there’s barely a glimpse of anything scary in this film, but that’s precisely what makes it so terrifying. Neither the 1989 televised adaptation nor the enduringly popular stage play are entirely faithful to Hill’s novel, and this latest version takes the plot down some cobweb-strewn corridors of its own, but its marriage of gothic fiction and gothic fashion feels entirely right for our times. Like all of the best ghost stories, The Woman In Black is only enriched in the retelling.” – Robbie Collin, Daily Telegraph
Genres: Gothic Horror, Haunted House, Mystery
498. (+32) Un chien andalou
Luis Buñuel
AKA: An Andalusian Dog
1929 / France / 16m / BW / Experimental | IMDb
Simone Mareuil, Pierre Batcheff
“Not only was ‘Un Chien Andalou’ Buñuel’s first film, but also his first collaboration with Salvador Dali (with whom he worked again a year later on L’Âge d’Or). His stated intention was ‘to admit no idea, no image for which there might be rational, psychological or cultural explanation’ – and even if some of the film’s bourgeoisie-baiting and psycho-sexual imagery is far from opaque, Buñuel has created an enigmatic and uncanny stream of (sub)consciousness which continues even today to exert its influence on the dark imaginings of both cinemagoers and cinema itself. For, apart from showing filmmakers just how dreams can be realised on celluloid, ‘Un Chien Andalou’ is arguably the reason that we all dream in black and white. – Movie Gazette
Genres: Surrealist Movement, Experimental, Dada, Horror
499. (+53) Kamera wo tomeruna!
Shin’ichirô Ueda
AKA: One Cut of the Dead
2017 / Japan / 96m / Col / Comedy | IMDb
Takayuki Hamatsu, Yuzuki Akiyama, Harumi Shuhama, Kazuaki Nagaya, Hiroshi Ichihara, Mao, Sakina Asamori, Takuya Fujimura, Ayana Gôda, Manabu Hosoi
“ONE CUT OF THE DEAD is as much fun as any movie in memory while it’s playing out, and as a bonus, it elicits a different kind of admiration when it’s over. Thinking back, you realize what an insane logistical challenge it must have been for Ueda and co. to pull this off, and are amazed at how natural and easy they make it look. Similarly, everyone in the cast gives their parts their all (Hamatsu’s multifaceted turn is especially memorable, as is Harumi Shuhama, as a makeup artist who undergoes a transformation of her own), and yet their performances seem even more impressive upon reflection on the circumstances in which they were delivered. ONE CUT OF THE DEAD is such a marvelously good time, and made with such clockwork precision, that after you’ve seen it, it’s hard to decide whether to watch it again or seek out a documentary on how it was made.” – Michael Gingold, Rue Morgue
Genres:
500. (new) Den stygge stesøsteren
Emilie Blichfeldt
AKA:
2025 / Norway / 109m / Col / Body Horror | IMDb
Lea Myren, Ane Dahl Torp, Thea Sofie Loch Næss, Flo Fagerli, Isac Calmroth, Malte Gårdinger, Ralph Carlsson, Cecilia Forss, Katarzyna Herman, Adam Lundgren
“You’ll walk away from The Ugly Stepsister remembering how you hopefully managed to keep it down during the handful of not-for-the-squeamish sequences – especially the impressively vile climax – and less for Blichfeldt’s well-considered, sharp-eye formalist filmmaking. Imagine all the intricate costumes and lushly dressed sets of a period piece, but filtered through an icky mauve color palette – I think the official hue is “nausea” – and imbued with the fetishy sensibilities of David Cronenberg and giallo masters like Lucio Fulci and Dario Argento. It’s an impressive amalgamation of influences, shrewdly applying a fresh coat of bloody mucus to an overly familiar fairy tale.” – John Serba, Decider
Genres: Body Horror, Fairy Tale, Psychological Drama, Dark Fantasy, Black Comedy, Satire, Period Drama