#501-#600
The 1,000 Greatest Horror Films: #501-#600
501. (+169) House of Frankenstein
Erle C. Kenton
1944 / USA / 71m / BW / Monster | IMDb
Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr., J. Carrol Naish, John Carradine, Anne Gwynne, Peter Coe, Lionel Atwill, George Zucco, Elena Verdugo, Sig Ruman
“House of Frankenstein may be one of the weaker entries in Universal’s horror series, but this doesn’t prevent it from being fun. Even when the screenwriters were happy merely to regurgitate old ideas and reinforce the famous cliches, there is still some magic to be found in that eerie black-and-white Gothic fantasy world that Universal created for us. The plots may be as well-worn as the floor coverings at Hampton Court Palace, the later films may have been made for the most cynical of motives, but who can fail to take delight in the sight of the old horror icons as they emerge from their shadowy cobwebbed lairs to chill and thrill us?” – James Travers, Films de France
502. (+313) 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
503. (new) February
Oz Perkins
AKA: The Blackcoat’s Daughter
2015 / Canada / 93m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Emma Roberts, Kiernan Shipka, Lauren Holly, Lucy Boynton, James Remar, Emma Holzer, Peter J. Gray, Tori Barban, Veronica Cormier, Douglas Kidd
“There are evils in this movie that linger in shadow and puppeteer the movements of certain characters within it. The slow-burn dread in this film was accompanied by some of the slowest walking I have ever seen, and it worked. It worked so well, in fact, that I found myself squirming in my seat as the elongated dread lingered and pulsed… Both the scene and the narrative itself simmer to the sound of silence and build to strings, drones, and other malicious sonorous instruments of torture. The consequence of the play between the evocative quiet and acrimonious sound… left me feeling suspended in the anticipation of something dreadful in the shadows.” – Laura Birnbaum, Film Inquiry
504. (+110) Something Wicked This Way Comes
Jack Clayton
1983 / USA / 95m / Col / Fantasy | IMDb
Jason Robards, Jonathan Pryce, Diane Ladd, Royal Dano, Vidal Peterson, Shawn Carson, Mary Grace Canfield, Richard Davalos, Jake Dengel, Jack Dodson
“In the end, “Wicked” likely proved too edgy and existential for what was ostensibly meant as a slightly more dangerous Disney film. But it does what all of Bradbury’s greatest works do — shine a harsh light on the consequences of choices, the inevitability of aging, and the true cost of shame, greed, vanity, anxiety and other very human fears… Bradbury spikes a rarely tapped vein of paternal dread here, and uses it as a powerful, lyrical entry point to pit Charles against Mr. Dark. Theirs is an inclement battle of ideals rather than one of physical violence. Furthermore, the stakes are perfectly high for a father who feels powerless to protect his son but must summon the strength to save the boy from the devil himself” – Nick Rogers, Suite101.com
505. (-113) The Grudge
Takashi Shimizu
2004 / USA / 91m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jason Behr, William Mapother, Clea DuVall, KaDee Strickland, Grace Zabriskie, Bill Pullman, Rosa Blasi, Ted Raimi, Ryo Ishibashi
“For the American émigrés that populate ‘The Grudge’ are portrayed as struggling with the basics of Japanese language, confused even by the products on a Japanese supermarket shelf, and generally lost and out of place and it is a mutually uncomprehending relationship between an American and a Japanese which turns out to have engendered the curse at the heart of the film. Shimizu, it seems, is not only exploiting this cultural clash to amplify his characters’ alienation, hopelessness, and terror, but also to comment wryly on the bizarre love affair between America and Japan which makes a film like this possible. It is as though the original ‘Ju-on’ had been merged with Lost in Translation, and the result is an intelligent reflection on Hollywood’s flawed attempts to recreate Oriental horror in its own image as well as a great scare or three for the uninitiated West.” – Anton Bitel, Movie Gazette
506. (+308) We Are What We Are
Jim Mickle
2013 / USA / 105m / Col / Drama | IMDb
Kassie Wesley DePaiva, Laurent Rejto, Julia Garner, Ambyr Childers, Jack Gore, Bill Sage, Kelly McGillis, Wyatt Russell, Michael Parks, Annemarie Lawless
“”We Are What We Are” is mostly not terrifying, offers almost nothing in the way of traditional horror-movie shocks and jolts, and does not get bloody until the last 20 minutes or so. (At which point, whoo-boy.) It’s a sinister, wistful and even sad portrait of one family that has followed the insanity and bloodthirstiness of American history into a dark corridor with no exit. There’s a hint of Terrence Malick (or David Lowery, of “Ain’t Them Bodies Saints”) in the often-gorgeous photography of Ryan Samul, and a hint of Shakespearean grandeur in Sage’s portrayal of a dignified and honorable American father infused with an ideology of madness. I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen an exploitation film played so effectively as human tragedy.” – Andrew O’Hehir, Salon
507. (+222) Suspiria
Luca Guadagnino
2018 / Italy / 152m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Dakota Johnson, Tilda Swinton, Doris Hick, Malgorzata Bela, Chloë Grace Moretz, Angela Winkler, Vanda Capriolo, Alek Wek, Jessica Batut, Elena Fokina
“Guadagnino fashions his own menagerie of nightmares, some of which would feel right at home in Argento’s own phantasmagoria: shots of girls creeping down halls, discovering secret passageways and other gruesome findings. Rather than recreate the original’s iconic murder sequences, he crafts his own indelible sequences of brutality, leaning on horrific imagery, Thom Yorke’s haunting (and, again, comparatively restrained) score, and an array of impressively diabolical gore effects. One girl’s body unnaturally contorts against itself, falling victim to the witches’ curse, leaving her in a lifeless, mangled heap; other victims aren’t so lucky, as they’re left rot in the school’s hidden passageways, their skin seemingly flayed off. Horrific, scattered bursts are but preludes to the blood-soaked crescendo, where exploding heads play like staccato grace notes of a twisted concerto.” – Brett Gallman, Oh, The Horror!
508. (+180) V/H/S/2
Various
2013 / USA / 96m / Col / Anthology | IMDb
Lawrence Michael Levine, Kelsy Abbott, L.C. Holt, Simon Barrett, Mindy Robinson, Mónica Sánchez Navarro, Adam Wingard, Hannah Hughes, John T. Woods, Corrie Lynn Fitzpatrick
“More tales of terror are unearthed from another pile of dusty old videos in this slick sequel to the 2012 horror anthology. Like the original, the top-and-tail story takes place in an “abandoned” house where, on this occasion, it’s two private investigators on a missing-persons case who come across the cassettes. But whereas the first film’s quintet of stories were of varying quality, the calibre of the four shorts here is consistently higher… the pick of the bunch is Safe Haven, co-directed by Timo Tjahjanto and The Raid’s Gareth Huw Evans, in which a film crew’s visit to the compound of an Indonesian cult turns decidedly nasty. The deceptively sedate beginning soon gives way to a cornucopia of artery-rupturing gruesomeness, which will assuredly have some viewers all a-splutter.” – Jeremy Aspinall, Radio Times
509. (+181) The Devil’s Advocate
Taylor Hackford
1997 / USA / 144m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Keanu Reeves, Al Pacino, Charlize Theron, Jeffrey Jones, Judith Ivey, Connie Nielsen, Craig T. Nelson, Tamara Tunie, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Debra Monk
“You don’t go into a movie called The Devil’s Advocate (Warner Bros.), starring Al Pacino and his gleaming teeth, expecting to see a finely calibrated portrait of evil. You go in expecting a brazenly hokey, in-your-face portrait of evil, and that, I’m happy to say, is just what you get. Directed by Taylor Hackford, The Devil’s Advocate is a schlock-religioso legal thriller — The Firm meets Angel Heart — and it’s at once silly, overwrought, and almost embarrassingly entertaining.” – Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
510. (+101) The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Marcus Nispel
2003 / USA / 98m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
Jessica Biel, Jonathan Tucker, Erica Leerhsen, Mike Vogel, Eric Balfour, Andrew Bryniarski, R. Lee Ermey, David Dorfman, Lauren German, Terrence Evans
“The main problem with the film is that it feels like a cynical repackaging of an already established classic. However, as remakes go, it’s very well made and decently acted and it never approaches ‘bad movie’ levels – even the script is pretty good… It is, however, much gorier than the original – the violence and pain on display here is worse than anything in Kill Bill. Legs get chainsawed off (chainsawn?), people get hung on meat-hooks (as in the original), people get chainsawed in the back, and so on – it’s pretty much non-stop terror from the moment the first one of them disappears and you’re more or less guaranteed to end up hiding behind your hands at some point.” – Matthew Turner, ViewLondon
511. (-196) Uzumaki
Higuchinsky
AKA: Spiral
2000 / Japan / 90m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Eriko Hatsune, Fhi Fan, Hinako Saeki, Eun-Kyung Shin, Keiko Takahashi, Ren Ohsugi, Denden, Masami Horiuchi, Tarô Suwa, Toru Tezuka
“Directed by Higichinsky, this freaky Japanese horror film uses all kinds of physical cinema techniques, such as shock cuts, flash cuts, dissolves, skip frames and superb digital effects in a constant effort to keep the film alive and spinning. Occasionally it employs a William Castle-like device of digitally swirling a small spot in the corner of the frame — and you may not even notice. Some scenes are so unbearably spooky that they give you that cold, clammy feeling and make your stomach drop out from under you, as if in a terrible nightmare. It’s one hell of a brilliant horror film with an original idea and style to spare.” – Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
512. (new) Gremlins 2: The New Batch
Joe Dante
1990 / USA / 106m / Col / Comedy | IMDb
Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, John Glover, Robert Prosky, Robert Picardo, Christopher Lee, Haviland Morris, Dick Miller, Jackie Joseph, Gedde Watanabe
“Let’s be honest – Gremlins 2: The New Batch is a pretty strange sequel to Gremlins. It’s like if Scream were a direct sequel to A Nightmare on Elm Street. Not to say that Gremlins 2 is a bad film, not by a long shot. Rather, it was a risky endeavor, and as the box office numbers show ($153 million for Gremlins vs. $41 million for Gremlins 2), the world wasn’t ready for a sequel as blatantly meta as Gremlins 2… a film that spins the potential franchise on its heels, focusing more on comedy and quirk than actual horror. While, on some levels, this is disappointing for those who loved the classy blend of freakish horror and bizarre comedy from the first outing, it does make for an interesting, and often very funny, sequel.” – R. L. Shaffer, IGN DVD
513. (+371) The Final Girls
Todd Strauss-Schulson
2015 / USA / 88m / Col / Comedy | IMDb
Taissa Farmiga, Malin Akerman, Alexander Ludwig, Nina Dobrev, Alia Shawkat, Thomas Middleditch, Adam DeVine, Angela Trimbur, Chloe Bridges, Tory N. Thompson
“”Final Girls” isn’t the first movie to show self-aware characters using their knowledge of horror films to plot an escape. Drew Goddard’s “Cabin in the Woods” and Wes Craven’s “Scream” mined that ground a while back. But give director Todd Strauss-Schulson some serious credit here. “Final Girls” still manages to use a quick wit and a few surprises to keep things interesting for the audience… The most surprising thing about “Final Girls” is how sweet it is. The subplot about Max and her mother leads to a number of tender scenes, and “Final Girls” has a genuine heart in the middle of all of its experimentation and social commentary. None of the characters are especially deep, but almost all of them are easier to cheer for than the cannon fodder of the “Friday the 13th” films.” – Josh Terry, Deseret News
514. (+376) Trick or Treat
Charles Martin Smith
1986 / USA / 98m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Marc Price, Tony Fields, Lisa Orgolini, Doug Savant, Elaine Joyce, Glen Morgan, Gene Simmons, Ozzy Osbourne, Elise Richards, Richard Pachorek
“[Trick or Treat] is about a deceased heavy-metal star who returns to wreak havoc at a small-town high school. The rock star is played most energetically by Tony Fields, who stomps through the film in studs and low-cut black leather, scaring everyone he sees. Ozzy Osbourne, who does this kind of thing in real life, appears in the film briefly (and none too convincingly) as a minister. ‘Trick or Treat’ was directed by Charles Martin Smith, who played the likable nerd in ‘American Graffiti’ and has given his own film something of a likable nerd quality. It’s genial, not too frightening and even rather sweet.” – Janet Maslin, New York Times
515. (+418) Snowtown
Justin Kurzel
2011 / Australia / 119m / Col / Crime | IMDb
Lucas Pittaway, Bob Adriaens, Louise Harris, Frank Cwiertniak, Matthew Howard, Marcus Howard, Anthony Groves, Richard Green, Aaron Viergever, Denis Davey
“It’s Australian director Justin Kurzel’s first feature, and on the basis of this, he’s not only remarkably assured at telling a story as economically as possible through images, but also knows how to conjure up an authentic sense of place — in this case, the working-class milieu of Adelaide, Australia’s northern suburbs—and come up with the right visual shorthand to vividly evoke mood and reveal character. Kurzel also seems to have a sure touch with actors, judging by the utterly natural performances he elicits from a mostly nonprofessional cast. All of this helps to make The Snowtown Murders an indubitably unnerving experience; as a horror film about an innocent teen who somehow becomes an accomplice to a band of serial killers, Kurzel’s film is grimly, viscerally effective.” – Kenji Fujishima, Slant Magazine
516. (+55) The Gate
Tibor Takács
1987 / USA / 85m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Stephen Dorff, Christa Denton, Louis Tripp, Kelly Rowan, Jennifer Irwin, Deborah Grover, Scot Denton, Ingrid Veninger, Sean Fagan, Linda Goranson
“The most memorable aspects of THE GATE are unquestionably the special FX work. For a film of its size and scale, no other film boasts such an incredible production design. In addition to stop-motion animation, director Tibor Takacs also incorporates miniature set designs with gigantic demonic beasts as well as tiny minions that each interact with the children in a series of incredible green-screening shots that seamlessly meld the range of characters on screen. Though it takes its time in creating a growing tension and suspense, the gate literally unleashes hell on earth once it has been fully unlocked. THE GATE is the perfect argument against the use of computerized imaging in film, and serves as one of the strongest examples of a low budget Horror film accomplishing a big budget look and feel through imaginative FX and a unique plot.” – Carl Manes, I Like Horror Movies
517. (+148) Phantom of the Opera
Arthur Lubin
1943 / USA / 92m / Col / Drama | IMDb
Nelson Eddy, Susanna Foster, Claude Rains, Edgar Barrier, Leo Carrillo, Jane Farrar, J. Edward Bromberg, Fritz Feld, Frank Puglia, Steven Geray
“Universal’s big, splashy Technicolor 1943 remake (made on the same set) of its 1925 hit Phantom of the Opera is often dimissed as “too much opera” and “too little Phantom.” There’s some truth in that, but it’s still a good — and certainly good-looking — thriller with its fair share of jolts. In its own way, this film added to the basics of the narrative by providing the Phantom with a backstory, which has found its way into many subsequent tellings of the tale.” – Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress
518. (+30) Invaders from Mars
William Cameron Menzies
1953 / USA / 78m / BW / Science Fiction | IMDb
Helena Carter, Arthur Franz, Jimmy Hunt, Leif Erickson, Hillary Brooke, Morris Ankrum, Max Wagner, William Phipps, Milburn Stone, Janine Perreau
“The popularity of the film can likely be accounted for by the (mostly) straightforward simplicity of the plot, but Invaders from Mars isn’t merely a pleasant pushover. Fairly original in its use of a child as the primary character in an adult world, the film successfully taps into the heightened fear we tend to experience in youth, with the inflating paranoia of the 1950s acting as something of an added pressure cooker. The use of vivid colors is fittingly surreal, while the large-scale presence of the invaders is grounded by distinctly personal loss, guaranteeing the ensuing nightmares of many a pre-adolescent for years to come.” – Rob Humanick, Suite101
519. (new) Il profumo della signora in nero
Francesco Barilli
AKA: The Perfume of the Lady in Black
1974 / Italy / 103m / Col / Giallo | IMDb
Mimsy Farmer, Maurizio Bonuglia, Aldo Valletti, Mario Scaccia, Jho Jhenkins, Nike Arrighi, Lara Wendel, Aleka Paizi, Renata Zamengo, Ugo Carboni
“Camera angles are too acute, making everything seem sinister; much of the blocking feels overtly staged and aritifical. It’s a beautifully lit and appointed world in the film, but the deeper we go, the more we feel that we can’t trust it or even know for sure what’s going on. And having that lack of certainty, following along with Sylvia as her grip on reality ebbs and flows, makes The Perfume of the Lady in Black one of the most tense, and delectably unfathomable Italian horror films ever made. It’s as pure as any cinematic depiction of descent into insanity that I’ve seen, and it surely ranks with the most successful.” – Tim Brayton, Antagony & Ecstasy
520. (new) Housebound
Gerard Johnstone
2014 / New Zealand / 107m / Col / Black Comedy | IMDb
Morgana O’Reilly, Rima Te Wiata, Glen-Paul Waru, Ross Harper, Cameron Rhodes, Ryan Lampp, Mick Innes, Bruce Hopkins, Wallace Chapman, Millen Baird
“It’s difficult to talk too much about Housebound without spoiling it. First-time writer-director Johnstone’s ingenious script consistently wrong-foots the audience and shifts from one subgenre to another without ever once losing its grip on the comedic elements. It’s creepy, tense and scary. The film’s greatest success is the relationship between Kylie and her mum. Their back and forth, complete with ancient resentments, is beautifully observed, and both O’Reilly and Te Wiata are absolutely spot-on as the bitter teen and the well-meaning mum respectively. It’s also worth mentioning Harper, who is a particularly deadpan delight as Graeme.” – Jonathan Hatfull, SciFiNow
521. (-80) La residencia
Narciso Ibáñez Serrador
AKA: The House That Screamed
1969 / Spain / 99m / Col / Psychological | IMDb
Lilli Palmer, Cristina Galbó, John Moulder-Brown, Maribel Martín, Mary Maude, Cándida Losada, Pauline Challoner, Tomás Blanco, Víctor Israel, Teresa Hurtado
“Gore hounds may find the long excursions into character development rather disappointing and it’s true that the maniac killer is not the key point in the plot for the entire ninety-nine minutes. But with that said, when he does strike, the slaughters are excellently conveyed and the film’s approachable characters and Samson-like-in-strength performances make this something of a cinematic treat. It’s nice to see a movie where every shot has been painstakingly planned to perfection and the net-result is a visual masterpiece that excels from start to finish.” – Luisito Joaquin Gonzalez, A Slash Above
522. (-141) Vampyres
José Ramón Larraz
AKA: Blood Hunger
1974 / UK / 87m / Col / Vampire | IMDb
Marianne Morris, Anulka Dziubinska, Murray Brown, Brian Deacon, Sally Faulkner, Michael Byrne, Karl Lanchbury, Margaret Heald, Gerald Case, Bessie Love
“As an actual work of evocative, erotic horror, Vampyres works surprisingly well. Much of the credit must go to director/writer (under a pseudonym) Jose Ramon Larraz. He creates a narrative filled with unexplained scenes, missing information and wildly suggestive sensuality that keeps the viewer tantalized and teased throughout the running time. He utilizes the incredibly moody settings and countryside of England to give his movie more than a modicum of menace. He then adds those red herrings and scenes of mysterious consequence to keep things unsettled and surprising. Match that with a couple of curvaceous creatures and the aforementioned torrents of red torment, and you’ve got a good little gothic terror on your hands.” – Bill Gibron, Pop Matters
523. (+15) The Last Wave
Peter Weir
1977 / Australia / 106m / Col / Psychological | IMDb
Richard Chamberlain, Olivia Hamnett, David Gulpilil, Frederick Parslow, Vivean Gray, Nandjiwarra Amagula, Walter Amagula, Roy Bara, Cedrick Lalara, Morris Lalara
“Peter Weir’s extraordinary film is a visually startling and totally engrossing meditation on the close connection between the mysteries of nature and the power of dreams. We have often been told of the importance of dreamtime in the religion of the American Indian. We have seen the same force at work in Carlos Castaneda’s trilogy about Don Juan. Now the theme emerges from the Australian aborigine culture. Yet can we live in the presence of a mystery that consistently baffles reason and challenges our consensual vision of reality? The Last Wave is another in a series of works urging us to attempt the descent into the unconscious. And it does so with an aesthetic sureness that is both salutary and stunning. Russell Boyd’s cinematography and Max Lemon’s editing are absolutely brilliant. They snare us in a web that interweaves everyday happenings with the inexplicable in a totally convincing way.” – Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality & Practice
524. (+49) Innocent Blood
John Landis
AKA: A French Vampire in America
1992 / USA / 112m / Col / Vampire | IMDb
Anne Parillaud, David Proval, Rocco Sisto, Chazz Palminteri, Anthony LaPaglia, Robert Loggia, Tony Sirico, Tony Lip, Kim Coates, Marshall Bell
“As the undead body count rises amidst lots of extremely messy gore effects, genre chills turn to urban thrills as contemporary vampire horror becomes ultra-violent action movie. French beauty Parillaud is superbly confident in her first Hollywood picture, conveying a languid sensuality with a melancholy edge befitting a character of… ‘indeterminate’ age. John Landis struggles to do for vampires what An American Werewolf In London did for lycanthropes, but the flaws of Innocent Blood are relatively minor when compared to most of today’s vampire films, and the director almost succeeds in finding the ideal balance of animalistic horror and aggressive comedy, with an element of modern fantasy romance thrown in.” – Ian Shutter, Nunayer Business
525. (new) The Substance
Coralie Fargeat
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
526. (-178) The Exorcism of Emily Rose
Scott Derrickson
2005 / USA / 119m / Col / Possession | IMDb
Laura Linney, Tom Wilkinson, Campbell Scott, Jennifer Carpenter, Colm Feore, Joshua Close, Kenneth Welsh, Duncan Fraser, JR Bourne, Mary Beth Hurt
“By giving us the facts as seen through the eyes of the various beholders, the film is asking us to be the jury that decides the case, and the information provided is very intentionally left open to interpretation. Rather than seeming wishy-washy and indecisve, this results in a film with a great deal of tension and suspense. Structuring the story as a courtroom drama increases the horror because it takes place in a believable context: whether you think Emily is ill or possessed, what happens to her is almost beyond endurance. Moreover, because the fate of the priest rests on the trial’s outcome, it’s clear that the horrific events in the story have dramatic consequences: what happens is part of a convincing story, not just a series of gratuitous special effects shocks.” – Steve Biodrowski, Cinefantastique
527. (new) Geung see sin sang
Ricky Lau
AKA: Mr. Vampire
1985 / Hong Kong / 96m / Col / Martial Arts | IMDb
Ching-Ying Lam, Siu-Ho Chin, Ricky Hui, Moon Lee, Billy Lau, Siu Fong Wong, Wah Yuen, Ha Huang, Anthony Chan, Ma Wu
“There’s nothing inherently scary about a vampire reduced to hopping around as if its legs were tied together, which is part of what makes the hopping-vampire sub-genre of Hong Kong films so entertaining… Never slowing down for long, Lau piles one comic and stunt-packed setpiece on top of another, blending horror, action, and humor, with an emphasis on the humor. (Still, anyone tuning in for kung-fu antics won’t be disappointed.) For viewers who think they’ve seen it all, or anyone wondering where Buffy The Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon came up with the notion of pairing martial arts and bloodsucking villains, Mr. Vampire is a must-see. Watching a hopping vampire may not be frightening, but there’s nothing else like it.” – Keith Phipps, The Onion A.V. Club
528. (new) Flatliners
Joel Schumacher
1990 / USA / 115m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Kiefer Sutherland, Julia Roberts, Kevin Bacon, William Baldwin, Oliver Platt, Kimberly Scott, Joshua Rudoy, Benjamin Mouton, Aeryk Egan, Kesha Reed
“There is no innocence in the world of ”Flatliners” – not in childhood memories, not in the motives of the medical students who push themselves beyond death and then return to life, not in the film’s borrowings from classic horror movies. And all of that is to the good. ”Flatliners” is a stylish, eerie psychological horror film laced with wit, a movie that thrives on its characters’ guilty secrets and succeeds on the strength of the director Joel Schumacher’s flair for just this sort of smart, unpretentious entertainment.” – Caryn James, The New York Times
529. (-300) Orlacs Hände
Robert Wiene
AKA: The Hands of Orlac
1924 / Austria / 92m / BW / Psychological | IMDb
Conrad Veidt, Alexandra Sorina, Fritz Kortner, Carmen Cartellieri, Fritz Strassny, Paul Askonas, Hans Homma
“The larger brush strokes of the narrative are eminently engrossing and chilling, focusing on Orlac’s mental anguish and on the gathering mystery of a regularly reappearing figure who may or may not be the dead Vasseur. There is more to the story than first meets the eye, and while I expect opinions about the film’s ending may vary quite a lot, it is not lacking in ingenuity. The Hands of Orlac is not about story, though, it’s about mood, a quality which it has in abundance. The situation is disconcerting enough in itself, but it’s brought home by Wiene’s breathtakingly sinister images, which reek of dark mystery and corpselike pallor. The sets, despite their verisimilitude, are just strange enough to insinuate their way into being yet another component in the frightening atmosphere, often looking as though rooms and alleyways are suspended in blackest space, isolated and terrifying to anyone who dares enter.” – Anton Mistlake, Mistlake’s Blog
Genres: German Expressionism, Psychological Horror, Mystery, Body Horror, Psychological Drama
530. (-303) Un chien andalou
Luis Buñuel
AKA: An Andalusian Dog
1929 / France / 16m / BW / Surrealism | 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
531. (new) 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
532. (-32) The Ninth Gate
Roman Polanski
1999 / France / 133m / Col / Mystery | IMDb
Johnny Depp, Frank Langella, Lena Olin, Emmanuelle Seigner, Barbara Jefford, Jack Taylor, José López Rodero, Tony Amoni, James Russo, Willy Holt
“The film is a very engaging (and appreciably dark) film noir throwback that just happens to have something to do with the occult. Call it a noir thriller mystery drama if you like – it’s still a pretty solid flick… As usual, Depp is the man. Here he’s playing a slightly sleazy and definitely opportunistic little man, but damn if Depp doesn’t find that root of gnarled humanity and brings it right to the fore… Sometimes dry, sometimes wacky, but surprisingly compelling throughout, The Ninth Gate falls firmly in the middle of Polanski’s eclectic filmography. It sure isn’t as good as The Tenant or Rosemary’s Baby — but it definitely isn’t Pirates, either.” – Scott Weinberg, DVDTalk.com
533. (+173) The Black Room
Roy William Neill
1935 / USA / 68m / BW / Gothic | IMDb
Boris Karloff, Marian Marsh, Robert Allen, Thurston Hall, Katherine DeMille, John Buckler, Henry Kolker, Colin Tapley, Torben Meyer
“This unassuming period thriller about fratricide, ancient familial prophecies, and lust for power remains an enjoyable treat for film fanatics, thanks primarily to the central performance by inimitable horror icon Boris Karloff. Karloff embodies the dual roles of both “good brother” (Anton) and “bad brother” (Gregor) with relish and nuance, immediately convincing us that they’re two different men — but his most impressive work comes once he’s playing Gregor-as-Anton, maintaining a simmering aura of calculated greed and sociopathic arrogance underneath a facade of noble charm. The screenplay is surprisingly tight and suspenseful — especially given that Anton is killed off fairly early — and the denouement offers a nifty resolution to the ancient prophecy. Atmospheric cinematography, creative direction, and appropriately baroque set designs add to the ambience of this compelling B-level flick.” – FilmFanatic
534. (+417) Patrick
Richard Franklin
1978 / Australia / 112m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Susan Penhaligon, Robert Helpmann, Rod Mullinar, Bruce Barry, Julia Blake, Helen Hemingway, María Mercedes, Walter Pym, Frank Wilson, Carole-Ann Aylett
“Director Richard Franklin (Psycho II) eventually lets Patrick’s powers go haywire, but the first half of the film combines sinister atmosphere-building with a justified faith that an immobile killer is still an ever-present threat. The spitting is a shock every time—and when Patrick starts getting some feeling back in his lower regions, that’s plenty creepy too—but there’s tension every time Kathie or another hospital worker blithely works the monitors or adjusts the sheets around him. He’s like a coiled rattlesnake ready to strike, and taking a cue from the Italians, Franklin focuses heavily on Thompson’s baby blues, sensing not only life behind his eyes, but a kind of chilling, crystal-ball omniscience.” – Scott Tobias, The Dissolve
535. (-100) Stake Land
Jim Mickle
2010 / USA / 98m / Col / Vampire | IMDb
Connor Paolo, Gregory Jones, Traci Hovel, Nick Damici, James Godwin, Tim House, Marianne Hagan, Stuart Rudin, Adam Scarimbolo, Vonia Arslanian
“Making the most of a modest budget, director and co-writer Mickle profitably focuses on establishing character and the film’s overall haunted tone rather than simply conjuring gratuitous mayhem. An effective economy of style and the faded color scheme admirably suit this stripped-down aesthetic. The lead performances are solid, despite somewhat generic characterizations, and all-importantly, the vampires’ acting, makeup and costuming are persuasive, even if they appear nearly as dim-witted as a typical zombie. Stake Land’s trenchant worldview, both dystopian and completely rational, shows more affinity with the likes of The Road, 28 Days Later and Night of the Living Dead than it does with movies inclined to romanticize or demonize vampires. The message that America, with all of its social ills and conflicts, is a nation devouring itself seems particularly appropriate as budget battles and culture wars rage on unabated.” – Justin Lowe, The Hollywood Reporter
536. (+245) Noroi
Kôji Shiraishi
AKA: Noroi: The Curse
2005 / Japan / 115m / Col / Found Footage | IMDb
Jin Muraki, Rio Kanno, Tomono Kuga, Marika Matsumoto, Angâruzu, Hiroshi Aramata, Yôko Chôsokabe, Dankan, Tomomi Eguchi, Gôkyû
“Noroi’s sense of realism may be unmatched in found-footage, and the journey of its idealistic, headstrong protagonist makes for gripping viewing; it’s the inseparable nature of the film’s form and content, however, that makes it a contender for one of the best horror films I’ve ever seen. Kobayashi’s film must feel real or else his journey would feel fake. If Noroi possessed the slightest suggestion of falsehood, the audience would have free reign to retreat to a comfortable spectator’s position, ready to let this fiction play out without any personal consequence. By convincing us of its veracity and giving us a protagonist whose drive for earth-shaking answers mirrors our own, Noroi directly interrogates our hunger for truth. In seeking truth, Noroi concludes, we become swallowed up by it. We’ve sought out Pandora’s box and wrest it open, and we deserve whatever comes out.” – Julian Singleton, Cinapse
537. (-22) The Ruins
Carter Smith
2008 / USA / 90m / Col / Natural Horror | IMDb
Jonathan Tucker, Jena Malone, Laura Ramsey, Shawn Ashmore, Joe Anderson, Sergio Calderón, Jesse Ramirez, Balder Moreno, Dimitri Baveas, Patricio Almeida Rodriguez
“Enjoyable, well made and genuinely creepy horror flick that transcends its ridiculous premise thanks to a strong script, some sure-handed direction and superb performances from a talented young cast… The script is excellent and director Carter Smith gets the tone exactly right, playing everything straight, despite the ridiculous premise, and orchestrating some genuinely creepy scenes. He also includes some impressively nasty gory moments that, crucially, derive naturally from the characters and situations rather than just looking to gross you out for the hell of it… In short, The Ruins is a worthy addition to the Tourism Is Bad genre that ensures that you’ll never look at a rustling vine quite the same way again.” – Matthew Turner, ViewLondon
538. (+30) Blue Sunshine
Jeff Lieberman
1977 / USA / 94m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Zalman King, Deborah Winters, Mark Goddard, Robert Walden, Charles Siebert, Ann Cooper, Ray Young, Alice Ghostley, Stefan Gierasch, Richard Crystal
“The fantastic thing about Blue Sunshine is that it’s not some grungy, low-wattage chiller hanging on numbing shock value to entertain the masses. Instead, Lieberman scripts up something displaying a little restraint, turning the wrath of bald madmen into a tasteful thriller of sorts, highlighting Jerry’s clumsy attempts at detecting and evading. The majority of the movie is devoted to the wanted man gathering critical clues, trying desperately to understand what’s behind the sudden rash of murderous behavior. The investigative aspects of Blue Sunshine are actually semi-compelling, resembling a crisp television production from the 1970s (even including a cameo by Alice Ghostley), keeping tensions brightly lit and emphatically performed. Not that the central mystery behind the drug makes a whole heap of sense, but the director sells the rising anxiety with confidence, pulling the viewer into this odd world of emotional outbursts and heated interrogation.” – Bloody Disgusting
539. (+83) The Fury
Brian De Palma
1978 / USA / 118m / Col / Thriller | IMDb
Kirk Douglas, John Cassavetes, Carrie Snodgress, Charles Durning, Amy Irving, Fiona Lewis, Andrew Stevens, Carol Eve Rossen, Rutanya Alda, Joyce Easton
“Despite its flaws, The Fury is a fascinating and unpredictable film, darker and more difficult than Carrie with a flashy, unexpected conclusion designed to shock and disorient. There are plenty of cartoonish and over the top moments, but they seem to work for the film, namely the outrageous ending where De Palma shows us a person exploding over and over again from a variety of angles. There is something comic book-like about The Fury and I can’t help but think of some of the darker X-Men story lines where characters struggle to live with their superhuman powers.” – Samm Deighan, Diabolique Magazine
540. (+362) Revenge
Coralie Fargeat
2017 / France / 108m / Col / Rape and Revenge | IMDb
Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz, Kevin Janssens, Vincent Colombe, Guillaume Bouchède
“Loud, brash, neon-colored and shot like a music video, the flick is unabashedly cool. Fargeat is not afraid of being slick or stylizing the action. Even the gallons of blood she utilizes are of the stickiest, gooiest, reddest variety. They cling to the actors’ bodies like latex skin-suits… Revenge is sexy, but the female gaze is steadily applied throughout. The rape itself is quick, and mostly off-screen — a deliberate departure. Male nudity is cleverly utilized; first, for power and strength, before Fargeat strips the veneer away and leaves her antagonist naked, injured and struggling to fight against her strong, marginally more clothed heroine.” – Joey Keogh, Vague Visages
541. (-57) The Town That Dreaded Sundown
Charles B. Pierce
1976 / USA / 90m / Col / Crime | IMDb
Ben Johnson, Andrew Prine, Dawn Wells, Jimmy Clem, Jim Citty, Charles B. Pierce, Robert Aquino, Cindy Butler, Christine Ellsworth, Earl E. Smith
“By the conclusion of “The Town That Dreaded Sundown”, a brief confrontation between the authorities and the killer occurs, but nothing comes of it, the “Phantom” mysteriously vanishing afterwards as if into thin air. In the closing moments, the viewer is left to ponder not only the whereabouts of the culprit, but the effect that such inconceivable crimes can have on a community. “The Town That Dreaded Sundown” leaves one with such striking moments of stark, raw terror that it puts many less serious horror films to shame. After all, these crimes actually happened, and just the thought of that is petrifying.” – Dustin Putnam, The Movie Boy
542. (new) We Are Still Here
Ted Geoghegan
2015 / USA / 84m / Col / Haunted House | IMDb
Barbara Crampton, Andrew Sensenig, Lisa Marie, Larry Fessenden, Monte Markham, Susan Gibney, Michael Patrick Nicholson, Kelsea Dakota, Guy Gane, Elissa Dowling
“Bored with shiny horror movies featuring perfect-looking, plastic-souled teens you care for not one jot? Then this throwback haunted house pic is for you. Not only does it feature middle-aged protagonists, genuine suspense and a creepy mythology, it boasts some of the best ghosts since The Devil’s Backbone… Then, just as you’re thinking We Are Still Here is akin to Ti West’s The House Of The Devil and The Innkeepers in its old-school, modulated menace, it takes a left-turn into balls-out bloodletting. Arteries spray, torsos spill, heads pop. It might have unbalanced the movie were it not an extension of the carefully seeded fun – far from being cruel and torture porn-y, this is Geoghegan now tapping the outré horrors of the ’80s. He splashes in plasma and viscera like a kid in a puddle, and his joy is infectious.” – Jamie Graham, Games Radar
543. (+438) Vampires
John Carpenter
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
544. (-3) April Fool’s Day
Fred Walton
1986 / USA / 89m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
Jay Baker, Pat Barlow, Lloyd Berry, Deborah Foreman, Deborah Goodrich, Tom Heaton, Mike Nomad, Ken Olandt, Griffin O’Neal, Leah Pinsent
“Lest it seem like “April Fool’s Day” is but a talky, introspective bore, the film does a solid job of intermixing the character work with a well-paced horror plot that grows creepier and more involving once the ensemble has been whittled down to only a few. The climax, wherein Kit and boyfriend Rob (Ken Olandt) piece together the dark secrets from Muffy’s past as they sense an immediate danger lurking around them, generates slick suspense, several indelible images (murdered baby dolls and eyes behind a painting spring to mind), and a whopper of a twist ending that lifts the picture above and beyond the typical, standard-issue slasher fare.” – Dustin Putnam, The Movie Boy
545. (new) The Sacrament
Ti West
2013 / USA / 99m / Col / Found Footage | IMDb
Joe Swanberg, Amy Seimetz, Kate Lyn Sheil, AJ Bowen, Gene Jones, Kentucker Audley, Shawn Parsons, Madison Absher, Derek Roberts, Donna Biscoe
“A clever and thoroughly chilling tale of group psychosis, Ti West’s thriller “The Sacrament” takes its inspiration (and many of its details) from the 1978 events at Jim Jones’ People’s Temple in Guyana… If you don’t know what happened at Jonestown, this film will shock you; if you do know, it brings an entirely different kind of horror — that creeping-up knowledge that something inevitable and awful is coming, and can’t be stopped. West’s found-footage structure doesn’t always entirely make sense, but it’s easy to forgive “The Sacrament” its flaws. The eerie quiet, near its end, is utterly haunting; a lost Eden, in the sunshine.” – Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times
546. (+260) Magic
Richard Attenborough
1978 / USA / 107m / Col / Psychological | IMDb
Anthony Hopkins, Ann-Margret, Burgess Meredith, Ed Lauter, E.J. André, Jerry Houser, David Ogden Stiers, Lillian Randolph, Joe Lowry, Bob Hackman
“Magic is an exceptional work of cinema that has much to offer to the viewer who is willing to indulge at different levels. Attenborough and Goldman conjure up a nightmarish world that grows creepier with every passing moment. Slowly but relentlessly, the viewer is sucked into the eerie world of endless uncertainties wherein he must come face to face with his deepest fears and innermost desires before being plunged into a psychological maelstrom of varied emotions. Magic is indeed magical! And it’s the dream-like director-actor pairing of two great English thespians, Richard Attenborough and Anthony Hopkins, which lifts the film above the other cinematic products of its kind.” – Murtaza Ali, A Potpourri of Vestiges
Genres: Psychological Thriller, Psychological Horror, Drama, Romance, Black Comedy, Evil Doll
547. (+196) Halloween H20: 20 Years Later
Steve Miner
1998 / USA / 86m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
Jamie Lee Curtis, Adam Arkin, Michelle Williams, Adam Hann-Byrd, Jodi Lyn O’Keefe, Janet Leigh, Josh Hartnett, LL Cool J, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Branden Williams
“Scream scripter Kevin Williamson, a true-blue Halloween fan, revitalized the moribund stalk-and-slash genre with clever dialogue, self-referential irony and a healthy respect for horror traditions. Although he’s not credited as a screenwriter on H20 (he’s listed up with the co-executive producers), Williamson’s hand is all over it, from the sharp in-jokes to the fact that the about-to-be-terrorized teens are watching Scream 2 on TV before the real screaming starts. And it’s a blast… Director Steve Miner, who cut his teeth on Friday the 13th sequels, does a more than respectable job, supplying the requisite false scares (including a very effective sequence involving a mother, her little girl, and a highway rest-stop bathroom) and keeping the whole business moving at a brisk clip.” – Marc Savlov, Austin Chronicle
548. (+15) The Woman
Lucky McKee
2011 / USA / 101m / Col / Splatter | IMDb
Pollyanna McIntosh, Brandon Gerald Fuller, Lauren Ashley Carter, Chris Krzykowski, Sean Bridgers, Angela Bettis, Marcia Bennett, Shyla Molhusen, Gordon Vincent, Zach Rand
“A harrowing and often darkly hilarious horror satire about family values, feminism, and the nature of violence from the twisted minds of Lucky McKee and Jack Ketchum. A true find at Sundance for all fans who love gore and the twisting of Americana… When most horror movies today are concerned about gory pay offs instead of character driven violence or death, McKee connects us to the family and their dramatic dynamic through a series of musically-cut vignettes that add a haunting layer to the underlying theme of American Dream traveling through the bowels of hell. While the main focus is on Chris and the woman, each one of the characters in the Cleek family give exceptional performances.” – Benji Carver, Film School Rejects
549. (new) The Taking
Adam Robitel
AKA: The Taking of Deborah Logan
2014 / USA / 90m / Col / Found Footage | IMDb
Jill Larson, Anne Ramsay, Michelle Ang, Ryan Cutrona, Anne Bedian, Brett Gentile, Jeremy DeCarlos, Tonya Bludsworth, Julianne Taylor, Jana Allen
“This is not your average devilish demon wreaking hellish havoc while looking for a human host cliché. A clever origin story accompanies Deborah’s mania and the supporting players in her life are woven into its fabric very well. One item to note is that snake-related mythology plays an important role. Anyone fearful of slithering shapes will have double the reasons to find the film’s imagery terrifying and its climactic scene uniquely disturbing. Something else deserving a mention is how the film’s characters are written to behave with rational thought. When inexplicable events and increasingly deadly circumstances reach an intolerable point, one member of the documentary-making trio says enough is enough and abruptly exits, never to be seen again.” – Ian Sedensky, Culture Crypt
550. (+51) Angustia
Bigas Luna
AKA: Anguish
1987 / Spain / 86m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
Zelda Rubinstein, Michael Lerner, Talia Paul, Àngel Jové, Clara Pastor, Isabel García Lorca, Nat Baker, Edward Ledden, Gustavo Gili, Antonio Regueiro
“With this film I get the feeling of having got two different film for the price one and the whole thing is definitely greater than the sum of it parts. I loved the over-the-top melodrama of The Mommy with its grisly eye horror, vengeful madwoman and deeply trippy hypnosis scenes but I also thought Anguish itself was nice tense thriller film too all framed nicely together to form a wry and entertaining examination of the relationship between the audience and the film. This film had me gripped me right up until the old man in the cloth cap got up and left the cinema.” – Peter Anderson, Nameless Horror
551. (+154) Berberian Sound Studio
Peter Strickland
2012 / UK / 92m / Col / Psychological | IMDb
Toby Jones, Cosimo Fusco, Antonio Mancino, Fatma Mohamed, Salvatore LI Causi, Chiara D’Anna, Tonia Sotiropoulou, Eugenia Caruso, Susanna Cappellaro, Guido Adorni
“Berberian Sound Studio has something of early Lynch and Polanski, and the nasty, secretive studio is a little like the tortured Mark Lewis’s screening room in Powell’s Peeping Tom, but that gives no real idea of how boldly individual this film is. In fact, it takes more inspiration from the world of electronic and synth creations and the heyday of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, and it is close in spirit to Kafka’s The Castle or to the Gothic literary tradition of Bram Stoker and Ann Radcliffe: a world of English innocents abroad in a sensual, mysterious landscape… With a face suggesting cherubic innocence, vulnerability and cruelty, Toby Jones gives the performance of his career, and Peter Strickland has emerged as a key British film-maker of his generation.” – Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
552. (+423) 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
553. (+310) Mother!
Darren Aronofsky
2017 / USA / 121m / Col / Psychological | IMDb
Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris, Michelle Pfeiffer, Brian Gleeson, Domhnall Gleeson, Jovan Adepo, Amanda Chiu, Patricia Summersett, Eric Davis
“mother! is more successful in how it goes about its concerns as opposed to what it’s about. This speaks to Aronofsky’s filmmaking in general, which is defined by its confrontational, oft-times discomforting qualities… But the virtuosity of his filmmaking, a kind of sensibility that combines cinema vérité with a distinct spiritual omnipresence, gives the auteur a distinct voice. He’s a filmmaker that is capable of projecting anxious gestures from the movement of his camera. The way he spirals around his characters suggests an apprehension that’s unspoken but felt… However uneasy or discomforting mother! may be thematically, Aronofsky’s formal bravura has reached an apex.” – Daniel Nava, Chicago Cinema Circuit
554. (-40) The Woman in Black
Herbert Wise
1989 / UK / 100m / Col / Haunted House | IMDb
Adrian Rawlins, Bernard Hepton, David Daker, Pauline Moran, David Ryall, Clare Holman, John Cater, John Franklyn-Robbins, Fiona Walker, William Simons
“With the phenomenal success of both the West End play and the recent Hammer Films adaptation, it’s easy to forget this earlier version of Susan Hill’s spine-chilling ghost story. Broadcast on the ITV network on Christmas Eve in 1989 The Woman in Black still manages to stir up a few scares in a slow-moving but effective yarn… Adrian Rawlins as Arthur Kidd is particularly sympathetic and you cannot help but feel for our handsome but haunted hero as he is mercilessly pursued by the terrifying spectre of the mysterious woman in black… there are enough twists and turns of the plot to leave an uneasy chill long after the credits have rolled.” – Richard Gladman, Classic Horror Campaign
555. (-105) The Signal
David Bruckner & Dan Bush & Jacob Gentry
2007 / USA / 103m / Col / Science Fiction | IMDb
Anessa Ramsey, Sahr Ngaujah, AJ Bowen, Matthew Stanton, Suehyla El-Attar, Justin Welborn, Cheri Christian, Scott Poythress, Christopher Thomas, Lindsey Garrett
“An outright horror film that nonetheless veers on occasion into surreal black comedy, The Signal… takes Marshall McLuhan’s famous statement “the medium is the message” to extremes not explored since David Cronenberg’s seminal, frighteningly prescient Videodrome in 1983… The Signal is a shuddery critique of the ultrapervasive influence of big (and little) media on humanity and the paranoia engendered by its sheer invasiveness. It’s also a snarky stab at the desensitizing aspects of everything… Both apocalyptic and suitably vague, The Signal’s only serious weakness comes from some borderline histrionic performances; then again, it’s tough to call hysteria anything other than a sane response to a world gone mad.” – Marc Savlov, Austin Chronicle
556. (new) Rebecca
Alfred Hitchcock
1940 / USA / 130m / BW / Mystery | IMDb
Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders, Judith Anderson, Nigel Bruce, Reginald Denny, C. Aubrey Smith, Gladys Cooper, Florence Bates, Melville Cooper
“[Rebecca] demanded a film treatment evocative of a menacing mood, fraught with all manner of hidden meaning, gaited to the pace of an executioner approaching the fatal block. That, as you need not be told, is Hitchcock’s meat and brandy… Through Mr. Hitchcock’s method, the film is first-personal too, so that its frail young heroine’s diffident blunders, her fears, her tears are silly only at first, and then are silly no longer, but torture us too. Rebecca’s ghost and the Bluebeard room in Manderley become very real horrors as Mr. Hitchcock and his players unfold their macabre tale, and the English countryside is demon-ridden for all the brightness of the sun through its trees and the Gothic serenity of its manor house.” – Frank S. Nugent, The New York Times
557. (+216) The Conjuring 2
James Wan
2016 / USA / 134m / Col / Haunted House | IMDb
Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Madison Wolfe, Frances O’Connor, Lauren Esposito, Benjamin Haigh, Patrick McAuley, Simon McBurney, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Simon Delaney
“In this Conjuring, the haunted-house tropes play second fiddle to something less graspable, even though there’s no question that a game of fright is in full, masterful swing. Cinematographer Don Burgess’ camera prowls and swoops, Bishara’s choral score sends shivers up the spine and Wan uses prolonged silence as well as sounds — creaking floorboards, a screeching backyard swing — to maximum unsettling effect. The director knows how to turn objects, from an antique zoetrope to a ringing telephone, into icons of free-floating evil or, in the case of a crucifix, into tools of redemption.” – Sheri Linden, Hollywood Reporter
558. (-305) Pánico en el Transiberiano
Eugenio Martín
AKA: Panic in the Trans-Siberian Train
1972 / UK / 84m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Alberto de Mendoza, Silvia Tortosa, Julio Peña, Ángel del Pozo, Telly Savalas, Helga Liné, Alice Reinheart, José Jaspe
“Full of quaint, old-timey racism—there are lots of conniving Chinamen—and 70’s style sexism—Wells’ assistant is smart “for a woman”—”Horror Express” is ridiculous and cheesy. The characters jump to wild conclusions with no proof or even clues, and everyone simply accepts the outlandish claims, because why the hell not? There are clunky metaphors, and the whole thing is a mishmash of zombie, monster, and religious horror with elements of science fictions. All of this adds up to a schlocky, tacky, raucously entertaining time that I thoroughly enjoyed this from beginning to end. “Horror Express” is a blast.” – Brent McKnight, Beyond Hollywood
559. (-160) Q
Larry Cohen
AKA: Serpent
1982 / USA / 93m / Col / Fantasy | IMDb
Michael Moriarty, Candy Clark, David Carradine, Richard Roundtree, James Dixon, Malachy McCourt, Fred J. Scollay, Peter Hock, Ron Cey, Mary Louise Weller
“Cohen gives Q the Jaws treatment for as long as possible, showing a shadow here and a neck there, but holding off on the whole creature until later. This limitation gives him plenty of opportunities for clever staging, like a death from above revealed through a sprinkle of blood rain on the people below, and wry dark comedy, like when Shepard shrugs off the question “Did you find the guy’s head yet?” with a nonchalant “It’ll turn up.” When Cohen finally relents and shows Q flapping around in all its glory, he doesn’t try to hide the effects to make them seem slicker than they are; all the attacks take place during the day, and while Q won’t give anyone nightmares, there’s a throwback charm to it that honors Japanese monster movies more authentically than an expensive Hollywood production ever could.” – Scott Tobias, The Dissolve
560. (-188) Quatermass 2
Val Guest
AKA: Enemy from Space
1957 / UK / 85m / BW / Science Fiction | IMDb
Brian Donlevy, John Longden, Sidney James, Bryan Forbes, William Franklyn, Vera Day, Charles Lloyd Pack, Tom Chatto, John Van Eyssen, Percy Herbert
“With no contrived plot twists or overly complex narrative it is an exemplar to film making basics, age old principles that can be as appreciated now as they were in 1959. While the cinematography experiments with a range of techniques, it is executed well and complements the movie beautifully. Due to excelling in its core elements, Quatermass 2 has aged exceptionally well. The acting, while stilted, is indicative of its time and curiously compliments the underlying sense of urgency, with Donlevy’s staccato delivery actually hastening the frenetic plot. Likewise the excellent use of implied horror doesn’t rely on the sort of effects that would traditionally date such a film. Only the finale exhibits any sort of overt fantasy and even this is handled flatteringly, distance and darkness mitigating the scene as if the director was aware of his limitations and conscious that time would frown on anything too explicit.” – Alex Barahona, That Film Guy
561. (-123) Humanoids from the Deep
Barbara Peeters
AKA: Humanoids of the Deep
1980 / USA / 80m / Col / Exploitation | IMDb
Doug McClure, Ann Turkel, Vic Morrow, Cindy Weintraub, Anthony Pena, Denise Galik, Lynn Theel, Meegan King, Breck Costin, Hoke Howell
“It’s this sort of attention to detail that makes Humanoids from the Deep an effective monster movie. Sure, it’s silly and exploitative, but it’s also a hoot to watch, particularly for gorehounds, Corman fans and cult enthusiasts. This isn’t a film built for most mainstream audiences – it’s simply too audacious, too nasty, and too off-the-wall to be accepted as A-level entertainment. But, in an era where movies like Alien and Halloween were filling theaters with teen fans hungry for more, Humanoids delivers in bloody spades. And years later, in continues to impress.” – R.L. Shaffer, IGN
562. (+267) Shiryô no wana
Toshiharu Ikeda
AKA: Evil Dead Trap
1988 / Japan / 102m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
Miyuki Ono, Aya Katsuragi, Hitomi Kobayashi, Eriko Nakagawa, Masahiko Abe, Hiroshi Shimizu, Kyôko Hashimoto, Yûko Maehara, Yûko Suwano, Mari Shimizu
“The plot of Evil Dead Trap moves at the speed of sound. Gone are the drawn out scenes of characters discussing their predicament. Who needs those when there are pretty eyeballs to puncture? This film definitely knows where its priorities are. It’s definitely not for the squeamish or for those looking for a cerebral experience. Like the films that influenced it, Evil Dead Trap is a rollercoaster ride of blood and mayhem, with characters becoming isolated and disposed of in various gruesome ways. Don’t let the film’s early predictability get you down—the surprise ending is well worth the wait.” – Ross Chen, Love HK Film
563. (-93) Hangover Square
John Brahm
1945 / USA / 77m / BW / Film Noir | IMDb
Laird Cregar, Linda Darnell, George Sanders, Glenn Langan, Faye Marlowe, Alan Napier
“To accompany some fine acting, Brahm especially flexed his directorial muscles here, with some very stylish set-ups. The opening murder is startlingly shot partly with subjective camera, and he utilises a range of closeups, swooping camera moves and camera effects to work up a sense of delirium… its histrionics and hyperbole create a texture of tragic madness that perfectly compliments Cregar’s haunted playing… The real shame of it would be that there would be no more Cregar performances: still in his twenties, he was dead by the time this was released.” – Graeme Clark, The Spinning Image
564. (-77) Motel Hell
Kevin Connor
1980 / USA / 101m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
Rory Calhoun, Paul Linke, Nancy Parsons, Nina Axelrod, Wolfman Jack, Elaine Joyce, Dick Curtis, Monique St. Pierre, Rosanne Katon, E. Hampton Beagle
“The whole concept of cannibalism is appropriately icky here. The sight of innocent people buried like heads of lettuce in a garden feels creepy, while the much-beloved finale – involving a chainsaw-wielding Farmer Vincent wearing a pig’s head – achieves an aura of genuine dementedness. Meanwhile, as sick as some of the story’s events are, you often can’t help but laugh at them. Motel Hell goes just far enough over the top to avoid being offensive. There’s a tongue-in-cheek spirit to the movie (in addition to an admirable restraint when it comes to gore) that is, dare I say, kind of charming.” – Mike McGranaghan, The Aisle Seat
565. (-284) The Raven
Lew Landers
1935 / USA / 61m / BW / Crime | IMDb
Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Lester Matthews, Irene Ware, Samuel S. Hinds, Spencer Charters, Inez Courtney, Ian Wolfe, Maidel Turner, Anne Darling
“In ‘The Raven’, Lugosi gives one of his very best performances – the image of his maniacally laughing face, looking down through a grate as a traumatized and newly disfigured Karloff is confronted by a series of mirrors is one of the most memorable of the era. His ice cold, simple declaration of “Yes. I like to torture,” is absolutely bone-chilling and despite a great and relatively understated showing by Karloff, it remains Lugosi’s show and the fact that he was given second-billing is something of a travesty. Thankfully Bela’s performance is so strong and has such impact that no mere credits will affect viewer’s perception of who the true star of this movie really is. All in all, while it may lack a marquee monster at its center, ‘The Raven’ is completely unmissable for any fan of classic horror.” – Michael Rose, Mysterious Universe
566. (new) The Eyes of My Mother
Nicolas Pesce
2016 / USA / 76m / BW / Psychological | IMDb
Diana Agostini, Olivia Bond, Will Brill, Joey Curtis-Green, Flora Diaz, Kika Magalhães, Paul Nazak, Clara Wong
“A striking palette of black and white cinematography from Zach Kuperstein recalls the scarred, destitute lives from the ruins of Arturo Ripstein’s filmography, a macabre yet uncharacteristically sound portrait of psychological unraveling. We all know the kind of potent degeneration to be fashioned on isolated farmhouses where dysfunctional children are paired with musings of surgical practices… [director Pesce] debuts a spectacularly gruesome calling card which may deconstruct the notion of the physical lens through which living beings observe the world, but seems to hint these particular organs are hardly inherent windows to the soul.” – Nicholas Bell, IONCINEMA.com
567. (-145) Mais ne nous délivrez pas du mal
Joël Séria
AKA: Don’t Deliver Us from Evil
1971 / France / 102m / Col / Drama | IMDb
Jeanne Goupil, Catherine Wagener, Bernard Dhéran, Gérard Darrieu, Marc Dudicourt, Michel Robin, Véronique Silver, Jean-Pierre Helbert, Nicole Mérouze
“Never released in the USA and “banned” for blasphemy, this potent dose of pretty poison presents a wonderfully deceiving package. The story of two teenage convent girls who “dedicate ourselves to Satan” could have been some dippy horror movie — a T&A fest with demons and multiple slayings and loads of sex. It could have been one of those ’70s horror films that make you run for the shower directly upon watching because even your soul feels soiled. But that’s not what Don’t Deliver Us From Evil is attempting. Really about the obsessive nature of female friendship, of girls suffering a tedious, square world filled with hypocrisy and becoming hopped up by literature and the forbidden and hellfire and all the stuff that’s so intense when you’re 15, the movie is a fiendish paean to the freaky bad girl — girls who, when staring into that bland void would rather, quite literally, burn out than fade away.” – Kim Morgan, Sunset Gun
568. (-77) Ms .45
Abel Ferrara
AKA: Angel of Vengeance
1981 / Spain / 80m / Col / Rape and Revenge | IMDb
Zoë Lund, Bogey, Albert Sinkys, Darlene Stuto, Helen McGara, Nike Zachmanoglou, Abel Ferrara, Peter Yellen, Editta Sherman, Vincent Gruppi
“Ms. 45 wasn’t well received upon its release; it wasn’t quite right for its time, probably because it was so much of its time. But it has a wild, rangy energy, like an exploding star cluster. And if the violence perpetrated by its vengeful heroine is a turn-on — that, after all, is what makes exploitation tick — Ferrara shows a great deal of tenderness for her as well. Thana may not be able to speak, but she sure knows how to make herself heard… The sexual politics of Ms. 45 are blunt and easy to read, and the picture is riotously cathartic. The basics are all there: the foul-mouthed men who deserve the wrath of Thana’s handy pressing tool; the schoolgirl turned vixen who slinks out into the night in search of her prey.” – Stephanie Zacharek, Village Voice
569. (+41) Srpski film
Srdjan Spasojevic
AKA: A Serbian Film
2010 / Serbia / 104m / Col / Exploitation | IMDb
Srdjan Todorovic, Sergej Trifunovic, Jelena Gavrilovic, Slobodan Bestic, Katarina Zutic, Luka Mijatovic, Ana Sakic, Lena Bogdanovic, Miodrag Krcmarik, Nenad Herakovic
“The escalating incidents of pedophilia, incest, and necrophilia that follow reflect a country traumatized by otherwise unspeakable acts of violence committed under the auspices of war. We witness the disgusting underbelly of a broken civilization where human values no longer exist. There are no degrees of separation from a communal psychosis that affects every citizen. By putting the narrative in a psycho-sexual-cinematic context Spasojević invites the viewer to compare his made-up pornography of death to the similar underlying nature of capitalism’s commercial cinema of the West and its attendant sponsors. In order to see the message of Srđan Spasojević daring work of filmic art you need only consider the capitalist aspect that makes it possible.” – Cole Smithey
570. (-119) Frontière(s)
Xavier Gens
AKA: Frontier(s)
2007 / France / 108m / Col / Splatter | IMDb
Karina Testa, Samuel Le Bihan, Estelle Lefébure, Aurélien Wiik, David Saracino, Chems Dahmani, Maud Forget, Amélie Daure, Rosine Favey, Adel Bencherif
“There’s enough blood in the unrated French horror film “Frontier(s)” to satiate even the most ravenous gore hounds. The real surprise here is that this creepy, contemporary gross-out also has some ideas, visual and otherwise, wedged among its sanguineous drips, swaying meat hooks and whirring table saw. Much like other recent French-language horror films (“High Tension,” “Calvaire,” “Inside”), this one owes a debt to the modern American slasher flick, the original “Texas Chain Saw Massacre,” among many others, though “Frontier(s)” adds an amusingly glib and timely political twist to its wholesale carnage… “Frontier(s)” finally works because its shivers are as plausible as they are outrageous.” – Manohla Dargis, The New York Times
571. (-21) The Wizard of Gore
Herschell Gordon Lewis
1970 / USA / 95m / Col / Splatter | IMDb
Ray Sager, Judy Cler, Wayne Ratay, Phil Laurenson, Jim Rau, Don Alexander, John Elliot, Karin Alexana, Jack Gilbreth, Corinne Kirkin
“In both its approach and execution, the original Wizard of Gore is a sleazy, surreal treat. It uses a shoestring narrative thread that allows Lewis to indulge in his ever increasing bits of brutality. The splatter set pieces are rather inventive, including a human hole punch and a tasty chainsaw attack. While the mystery of what’s happening to these young girls is part of the plot process, Wizard would rather spend the majority of its time watching Sager overact. A longtime associate of Lewis’, this on-set jack-of-all-trades in gray sprayed hair is pure ham as our perverted prestidigitator. His line delivery would be laughable if the actor wasn’t trying to take it all so sincerely. Together with the red stuff, the 1970 Wizard is some goofy, grotesque fun.” – Bill Gibron, Pop Matters
572. (+317) Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Fran Rubel Kuzui
1992 / USA / 86m / Col / Vampire | IMDb
Kristy Swanson, Donald Sutherland, Paul Reubens, Rutger Hauer, Luke Perry, Michele Abrams, Hilary Swank, Paris Vaughan, David Arquette, Randall Batinkoff
“Those who look for political import in prom-queen movies may be interested to note that Buffy (Kristy Swanson), the cheerleading, bubble-headed heroine of the blithe teen-age comedy “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” kicks and backflips her way to martial-arts mastery before the story is over. As for other things worth noticing, you may be too old to appreciate one of this film’s main selling points if you’re distracted by its efforts to enhance Luke Perry’s hair. Luckily, there are better reasons for watching “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” a slight, good-humored film that’s a lot more painless than might have been expected.” – Janet Maslin, The New York Times
573. (new) Cuando acecha la maldad
Demián Rugna
AKA: When Evil Lurks
2023 / Argentina / 99m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Ezequiel Rodríguez, Demián Salomón, Silvina Sabater, Luis Ziembrowski, Marcelo Michinaux, Emilio Vodanovich, Virginia Garófalo, Paula Rubinsztein, Lucrecia Nirón Talazac, Isabel Quinteros
“It places instances of graphic, shocking (and shockingly graphic) sudden violence right alongside moments that are singularly quiet and eerie, communicating wrongness with surprising restraint. It’s as content to put everything in our faces as it is to suggest and leave things off-camera, and the result can be a little disorienting, but not in a bad way. There’s a real absence of safety in this approach, and the rhythms of the film are such that those moments will absolutely catch you off-guard. It’s a film that has no interest in letting you catch your breath and that’s as much about its willingness to abandon predictability as the urgency of Pedro’s situation.” – Cliff Evans, A Lifetime in Dark Rooms
Genres: Supernatural Horror, Splatter, Body Horror, Family Drama, Folk Horror
574. (-207) The Revenge of Frankenstein
Terence Fisher
1958 / UK / 90m / Col / Monster | IMDb
Peter Cushing, Francis Matthews, Eunice Gayson, Michael Gwynn, John Welsh, Lionel Jeffries, Oscar Quitak, Richard Wordsworth, Charles Lloyd Pack, John Stuart
“Frankly, it’s about as close as Hammer ever came to an outright masterpiece: great mood combining with outstanding performances and writing, and at 89 minutes, the film understands the value of not screwing around. It is one of the great horror films, then and now, unerringly assembled by talented craftsmen who weren’t looking to redefine cinema, and didn’t; but in no small way, The Revenge of Frankenstein helped to set in stone the high standard of excellence that kept Hammer at the forefront of genre filmmaking for almost ten years; though Dracula probably did more to catapult the studio to financial acclaim, and it’s great all around, Revenge trumps it across the board.” – Tim Brayton, Antagony & Ecstasy
575. (+287) Valkoinen peura
Erik Blomberg
AKA: The White Reindeer
1952 / Finland / 74m / BW / Supernatural | IMDb
Mirjami Kuosmanen, Kalervo Nissilä, Åke Lindman, Jouni Tapiola, Arvo Lehesmaa
“When it comes to sex or death, The White Reindeer’s American and European contemporaries generally traipse in darkness; in this rare collaboration, a husband-and-wife team managed to make daylight more terrifying. By endowing its fairy tale gimmick with the fruits of documentary filmmaking, The White Reindeer neutralizes the usual kill-the-monster anxieties that loom over 50s gothic, instead giving grandeur and melancholy to its feminist subtext by burying it – as countless other stories must be buried – in the frozen wilderness.” – Steve MacFarlane, Not Coming
576. (+78) La belle et la bête
Jean Cocteau
AKA: Beauty and the Beast
1946 / France / 96m / BW / Fantasy | IMDb
Jean Marais, Josette Day, Mila Parély, Nane Germon, Michel Auclair, Raoul Marco, Marcel André, Janice Felty, John Kuether, Jacques Marbeuf
“Blissfully free of the PC feminist leanings of the animated version, this black-and-white fantasia revels instead in grandiose medieval settings and technical trickery. Marvellous surreal effects live on the mind’s eye long after the lights go up: the beast’s smoking paws; a living mantelpiece; the billowing white drapes as Belle is carried along a castle corridor, seemingly without moving her feet; and ethereal human arms brandishing candelabra. Cocteau uses wispy strands of lighting to magical effect and, to his credit, never attempts to fashion anything but a fairytale, inducing a childlike wonder rather than some cerebral reaction — the subtitles are of a limited nature. Even the warm comedy of the sleeping footmen in the farmyard and Belle’s spiteful sisters’ bickering still rings true. Years have not dulled the lustre of this classic, the impact of a big screen viewing is nothing short of astonishing.” – Louise Brealy, Empire
577. (new) The Baby
Ted Post
1973 / USA / 84m / Col / Psychological | IMDb
Anjanette Comer, Ruth Roman, Marianna Hill, Susanne Zenor, Tod Andrews, Michael Pataki, Beatrice Manley, Erin O’Reilly, Don Mallon, Joseph Bernard
“The Baby‘s climax is a Freudian nightmare come to life, a stifling flourish of hysterical slashing and wild-eyed insanity that is nothing short of startling. Again, there’s no humour to be found, particularly when Mrs. Wadsworth is captured and dragged outside for a worse fate than her helpless offspring’s, Gerald Fried’s doom-laden score perfectly capturing the endless void that our emotions inhabit. The film goes from creepy psychosexual thriller to all-out slasher in the blink of an eye, and a movie that refuses to adhere to the constraints of genre once again manages to flip the script in ways that are impossible to foresee.” – Edison Smith, VHS Revival
578. (+341) Images
Robert Altman
1972 / UK / 104m / Col / Psychological | IMDb
Susannah York, Rene Auberjonois, Marcel Bozzuffi, Hugh Millais, Cathryn Harrison, John Morley
“Altman’s direction is faultless; he ratchets up the tension, teasing details and weaving backstories into the narrative, whilst always keeping the audience on a knife edge. Vilmos Zsigmond’s cinematography is equally stunning, using the near-mythic Irish countryside to great effect and making the house a disorienting and labyrinthine prison for Cathryn. John Williams also delivers one of his most experimental scores although collaborator, Stomu Yamashta, may be the biggest influence on the Japanese influenced arrangements. Haunting, eerie, hallucinatory and exquisitely crafted; Images is a film that demands greater attention.” – Man With a Movie Blog
579. (-159) Quella villa accanto al cimitero
Lucio Fulci
AKA: The House by the Cemetery
1981 / Italy / 86m / Col / Splatter | IMDb
Catriona MacColl, Paolo Malco, Ania Pieroni, Giovanni Frezza, Silvia Collatina, Dagmar Lassander, Giovanni De Nava, Daniela Doria, Gianpaolo Saccarola, Carlo De Mejo
“A “video nasty,” THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY brings the blood in a big way, thanks to Fulci’s special effects muse Giannetto De Rossi. There are painstakingly long decapitations, stabbings, throat-removals and more throughout the film, all presented with disgusting Eurohorror depth and detail. Even though not the most horrific of Fulci’s career, THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY is by no means for the weak at heart, especially those adverse to creepy, crawly insects. Above all else THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY is a damn fine Fulci film, and a good launching point for those who want to get into European Horror and giallo. Good gore, fantastic atmosphere and heartfelt performances are on display, all topped off with the standard, bleak Fulci ending.” – Ken W. Hanley, Fangoria
580. (+334) Una lucertola con la pelle di donna
Lucio Fulci
AKA: A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin
1971 / Italy / 104m / Col / Giallo | IMDb
Florinda Bolkan, Stanley Baker, Jean Sorel, Silvia Monti, Alberto de Mendoza, Penny Brown, Mike Kennedy, Ely Galleani, George Rigaud, Ezio Marano
“By making the film grounded in physical actuality and more lingering, disgusting gore, Fulci and Kuveiller and the rest of the filmmakers were able to make the moments of drug or psychosis-induced fantasy pop that much more, and somehow, having just a little insanity ends up making the whole film feel more deranged than if it always occupied that heightened place. For as long as it works, A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin does as good a job of exploring what a mental breakdown might actually consist of as well as any giallo ever did, and given the genre’s huge enthusiasm for psychiatry, that’s one heck of an achievement.” – Tim Brayton, Antagony & Ecstasy
581. (-76) The Night Stalker
John Llewellyn Moxey
1972 / USA / 74m / Col / Vampire | IMDb
Darren McGavin, Carol Lynley, Simon Oakland, Ralph Meeker, Claude Akins, Charles McGraw, Kent Smith, Elisha Cook Jr., Stanley Adams, Larry Linville
“An exceedingly enjoyable vampire film and top-notch investigative horror film, in which the resolution of a mystery results in horror, I can’t recommend this film highly enough. Carl Kolchak is without a doubt my favorite horror hero and the sort of which I’d like to see more of; forget the quip-spitting wise-ass with a shotgun, give me the cautious wise-ass smart enough to piece together the puzzle and run screaming from the results long enough to grab a stake and mallet.” – Bill Adcock, Radiation-Scarred Reviews
582. (+5) Drácula
George Melford
1931 / USA / 104m / BW / Vampire | IMDb
Carlos Villarías, Lupita Tovar, Barry Norton, Pablo Álvarez Rubio, Eduardo Arozamena, José Soriano Viosca, Carmen Guerrero, Amelia Senisterra, Manuel Arbó
“Still, the Melford-Avalos Dracula is a big step up from the Browning version. Its substantially longer running time (more than 20 minutes in excess of the English version’s) allows for more and better character development, and provides the opportunity to plug up plot holes left gaping in its better-known counterpart. The directors’ firmer grasp of their medium shines through in every scene, resulting in a film that is livelier despite its greater length. The more competent cast rises to the occasion throughout, putting in performances with far greater depth of feeling than the English-speakers who played their roles on the same sets by day. With a more forceful actor in the all-important title role, this Dracula could really have been the classic Browning’s version is generally regarded to be.” – Scott Ashlin, 1000 Misspent Hours and Counting
583. (+187) The Crazies
George A. Romero
AKA: Code Name: Trixie
1973 / USA / 103m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Lane Carroll, Will MacMillan, Harold Wayne Jones, Lloyd Hollar, Lynn Lowry, Richard Liberty, Richard France, Harry Spillman, Will Disney, Edith Bell
“The underlying cynicism and despair about individual initiative and governmental intervention reflect the social insecurity of the period when The Crazies was released. The senseless prolongation of the war in Viet Nam and the decay of urban centers gnawed at the public mood, leading not to renewed social activism, but to the self-defeating narcissism that typified the latter years of the ‘70s. Romero’s horror films—like those of John Carpenter, Wes Craven, and David Cronenberg—illustrated a mood of entropy. The monsters these directors conjured may have been figments of their imagination, but they drew attention to very real horrors. And, at a time when SARS and terrorism exercises are daily news, the fabricated panic of The Crazies feels more than a little close to home.” – David Sanjek, Popmatters
584. (+342) Rear Window
Alfred Hitchcock
1954 / USA / 112m / Col / Thriller | IMDb
James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey, Thelma Ritter, Raymond Burr, Judith Evelyn, Ross Bagdasarian, Georgine Darcy, Sara Berner, Frank Cady
“It’s one of Alfred Hitchcock’s inspired audience-participation films: watching it, you feel titillated, horrified, and, ultimately, purged. The story is set mainly in a Greenwich Village apartment with a view into the rooms across the courtyard, but in Hitchcock’s hands this small space contains multitudes. Here, he pushed the subjective-camera technique—putting the audience into the minds of his characters—to new heights… It’s an astonishing visual and psychological coup. Hitchcock’s brilliant satire of cramped city life and his masterly evocation of urban voyeurism suddenly generate primal fear and profound insight.” – Michael Sragow, New Yorker
585. (+7) Dolls
Stuart Gordon
1987 / USA / 77m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Ian Patrick Williams, Carolyn Purdy-Gordon, Carrie Lorraine, Guy Rolfe, Hilary Mason, Bunty Bailey, Cassie Stuart, Stephen Lee
“What I got was a gory fairy tale about the importance of remaining a child at heart and loving and respecting the people around you – or else. Dolls is made on film, which I’ve always thought lends well to horror movies. It gives them a heavy, slightly scratchy look that adds to the intensity of their purpose. You just can’t get scared when things are all bubblegum pink and bright. It takes place somewhere in the country wilds of England (I think) which lends a bit of gentility to the haunted house-style setting. And with a kindly old English couple serving as host and hostess of creepy doll Hell, it really is a live action Grimm’s story waiting to happen.” – Melissa Voelker, Horror News
Genres: Supernatural Horror, Low Fantasy, Stop-Motion, Black Comedy, Puppet Animation, Horror Comedy, Low Fantasy, Evil Doll
586. (-46) Kingdom of the Spiders
John ‘Bud’ Cardos
1977 / USA / 97m / Col / Natural Horror | IMDb
William Shatner, Tiffany Bolling, Woody Strode, Lieux Dressler, David McLean, Natasha Ryan, Altovise Davis, Joe Ross, Marcy Lafferty, Adele Malis-Morey
“If you’ve come to Kingdom of the Spiders expecting Oscar-caliber material or high art, turn away now – this is a bona fide B-movie… Kingdom of the Spiders might not be the finest film ever made, but it’s a solid monster movie filled with jumps, bumps and spine-tingling jolts. The biggest highlight of this film is the spiders themselves. Spider trainer Jim Brockett did an amazing job creating a sense of invasion and threat, despite using such surprisingly timid creatures. The tarantulas are horrifying villains, creeping and crawling into our heroes’ safe house, just like zombies from a Romero picture, or a slasher like Michael Meyers from a horror film. They even cut the power in one scene.” – R.L. Shaffer, IGN UK
587. (+323) Maniac Cop
William Lustig
1988 / USA / 85m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
Tom Atkins, Bruce Campbell, Laurene Landon, Richard Roundtree, William Smith, Robert Z’Dar, Sheree North, Nina Arvesen, Nick Barbaro, Lou Bonacki
“Maniac Cop is quite action packed for a slasher and relies more on guns and explosions than than slow death, torment and suspense. Cordell’s victims meet brutal demises but the slash far outweighs the stalk with numerous victims getting nowhere near the expected 15 minutes of fame allocated by popular sayings. Viewers are even treated to a car chase which is also a valuable lesson in physics proving that cars go much faster when the back end is allowed to travel twice as far as the front in the eighties. There is so much to love about Maniac Cop despite it being in the genre of 80s trash horror. Lustig and Cohen’s styles meld together brilliantly, Campbell and Atkins never fail to entertain but most importantly there is not a hint of pretentiousness. The film knows exactly what it is and doesn’t try to be anything more.” – Pazuzu Iscariot, Horror Extreme
588. (-3) Two Thousand Maniacs!
Herschell Gordon Lewis
AKA: 2,000 Maniacs
1964 / USA / 83m / Col / Splatter | IMDb
Connie Mason, William Kerwin, Jeffrey Allen, Shelby Livingston, Ben Moore, Jerome Eden, Gary Bakeman, Mark Douglas, Linda Cochran, Yvonne Gilbert
“Maniacs is a gleefully absurd and vicious social satire (as well as something of a spoof of Brigadoon) in the guise of an intensely gory horror film. The rednecks of Pleasant Valley, Georgia are so hell-bent on killing the tourists they have lured to their town, yet they have so much fun doing it, that it is hard not to want them to succeed. The Yankees in the film are such drips anyway (and Connie Mason always makes a good girl-in-peril) that one begins to take delight in the inventive methods of demise the rednecks think up for them. After all, is this not the reason we watch films like this, to get a kick out people (literally) spilling their guts?” – Matt Bailey, Not Coming
589. (-132) The Prophecy
Gregory Widen
1995 / USA / 98m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Christopher Walken, Elias Koteas, Virginia Madsen, Eric Stoltz, Viggo Mortensen, Amanda Plummer, Moriah ‘Shining Dove’ Snyder, Adam Goldberg, Steve Hytner, J.C. Quinn
“Yes, this is Walken’s show, but you have to give credit to Elias Koteas, Eric Stoltz and Virginia Madsen for doing a fantastic job, and also to a very young Viggo Mortensen as Lucifer himself. The Prophecy is a superb horror, which has a great story, some decent shocks and a nice level of gore which is not too much. The only thing that really lets it down is some of the effects are a bit crap, but hey, it would seem the director put most of his effort into creating a great story and getting the best from his actors, which he has done to brilliant effect.” – Matt Wavish, Horror Cult Films
590. (+161) Sam gang 2
Fruit Chan & Takashi Miike & Chan-wook Park
AKA: Three… Extremes
2004 / Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea / 118m / Col / Anthology | IMDb
Bai Ling, Pauline Lau, Tony Leung Ka Fai, Meme Tian, Miriam Yeung Chin Wah, Sum-Yeung Wong, Kam-Mui Fung, Wai-Man Wu, Chak-Man Ho, Miki Yeung
“These short films collectively are an ambitious, well-conceived, beautifully presented example of what can be achieved when a director is allowed to present a completely original concept around a common theme, without censorship or meddling studio hands to muck things up. While most if not every frame presented shows an original and new spin on the term “horror”, these films present an elegance that surpasses one singular, often cheaply-perceived genre. Each director has his strength: for Fruit Chan, a strong narrative and a coherent and intriguing plotline; for Chan-Wook Park , a macabre new version of the classic guts and gore mystery; and for Takashi Miike, it’s a surprisingly sympathetic, subtle, and thoughtful philosophical work that is as heavy on the eyes as it is on the viewer’s emotions.” – Tyler Robbins, Snowblood Apple
591. (+154) Baby Blood
Alain Robak
AKA: The Evil Within
1990 / France / 82m / Col / Splatter | IMDb
Emmanuelle Escourrou, Christian Sinniger, Jean-François Gallotte, Roselyne Geslot, François Frappier, Thierry Le Portier, Rémy Roubakha, Eric Averlant, Alain Robak
“Although it is frequently found lacking in the depth department, BABY BLOOD makes up for its shallow storytelling with plenty of outrageous gore and sadistic black humor. Alain Robak is far more concerned with the film’s intense visual style and moody atmosphere than in trying to explain the origins behind the parasite and its host. The creature’s internal dialog creates a number of entertaining moments as Yanka reacts with sudden outbursts of laughter and rage. Robak’s kinetic camera work follows Yanka’s knife as she buries in to her victims at ramming speed, producing absurd amounts of blood that drench the entire set in the process.” – Carl Manes, I Like Horror Movies
592. (+345) Dementia
John Parker
1955 / USA / 56m / BW / Psychological | IMDb
Adrienne Barrett, Bruno VeSota, Ben Roseman, Richard Barron, Ed Hinkle, Lucille Rowland, Jebbie VeSota, Faith Parker, Gayne Sullivan, Shorty Rogers
“This mostly ‘silent’, black and white film opens with a high-angle, night-time shot of a neon-lit street, when, after being invited by the narrator to come with him, “into the tormented, haunted, half-lit night of the insane”, we are drawn slowly through an open window into a young lady’s bedroom, á la Orson Welles. On the bed lies the sleeping beauty squirming and clutching her bed-sheet tightly. Is she having a nightmare… or an erotic dream? Of this the audience is kept guessing, and from here on in, the tone is set for a private view into the young lady’s twisted and perverse psyche. After wakening from her dream-state, she takes a flick-knife from the drawer and ventures out onto the streets, where she encounters all forms of low-lives, debauchery and sexual depravity, all tied together by hallucination sequences that even have the viewer questioning ‘what is reality/ what is fantasy?’.” – Tony D’Ambra, Filmsnoir
593. (-191) The Children
Tom Shankland
2008 / UK / 84m / Col / Thriller | IMDb
Eva Birthistle, Stephen Campbell Moore, Jeremy Sheffield, Rachel Shelley, Hannah Tointon, Rafiella Brooks, Jake Hathaway, William Howes, Eva Sayer
“For parents, the film will play on their personal fears and insecurities. Some parents (non-horror fans and insecure parents) will likely be appalled by the idea of children killing their parents, and vice versa (likely the reason why the film didn’t see a theatrical release). Others will simply enjoy the scary good ride – which is a brilliant byproduct of our own fears driven by pandemic paranoia. Director Tom Shankland skillfully crafts intensity through mostly non-scary images. With the help of his equally talented editor (Tim Murrell), Shankland intercuts several horrifying moments, juxtaposed with an energetic, pitch-perfect score from Stephen Hilton. And with such quick, focused intensity at play, seemingly innocent images like pinwheels and coffee mugs, or shots of children playing, drive fear into the hearts of his audience.” – R. L. Shaffer, IGN DVD
Genres: Horror, Thriller, Christmas, Slasher, Science Fiction, Epidemic, Evil Children
594. (-184) Twins of Evil
John Hough
AKA: The Gemini Twins
1971 / UK / 87m / Col / Vampire | IMDb
Peter Cushing, Dennis Price, Mary Collinson, Madeleine Collinson, Isobel Black, Kathleen Byron, Damien Thomas, David Warbeck, Harvey Hall, Alex Scott
“The joy of Twins is in the zip. Not a moment is wasted on uncessary dialogue or character development; not a frame is lacking in blood or flesh… The movie represents a moment of change in British society. Hammer in the 1960s was puritan: evil was evil and good always triumphed over it. In the 1970s it began to absorb some of the cultural trend towards relativism. So when the movie opens the bad guy is someone who would once have been regarded as the good guy – the witch hunter… You might say that Twins is a mess. Its plot is daft, the actors seem to be playing out private melodramas and the message is convoluted. But the result is actually something that feels incredibly alive.” – Tim Stanley, The Telegraph
595. (-248) 28 Weeks Later
Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
2007 / UK / 100m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Robert Carlyle, Rose Byrne, Jeremy Renner, Harold Perrineau, Catherine McCormack, Idris Elba, Imogen Poots, Mackintosh Muggleton, Amanda Walker, Shahid Ahmed
“Coincidence or not, the visual aesthetic and energy of Fresnadillo’s film bears a striking resemblance to Cuarón’s — both use a pallette of dull and desaturated colors, as if the colors itself were weary of the worlds they’re inhabiting. Fresnadillo’s camerawork, like that in Children of Men, is jittery, so restless and panicky, in fact, that you think it might burst forth from the screen. It’s the director’s deft and sylish hand with this material that makes 28 Weeks such a refreshing jolt, plying a genre routinely deadened by sub-par slasher-fests. The exhilaration evident in the smartly-cut action sequences, the glances at pathos in the sequences of loss, betrayal, guilt, and abandonment underscore Fresnadillo’s considerable directorial powers; the man is taking his job seriously and at full-steam, never condescending to it.” – Jay Antani, Cinema Writer
Genres: Zombie, Horror, Dystopian, Epidemic, Thriller, Post-Apocalyptic, Action, Family Drama, Science Fiction, Survival
596. (-86) X
Roger Corman
AKA: X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes
1963 / USA / 79m / BW / Science Fiction | IMDb
Ray Milland, Diana Van der Vlis, Harold J. Stone, John Hoyt, Don Rickles
“There’s always a raw integrity in a Roger Corman film where parody and melodrama slip into moments of realism, an aesthetic contradiction of crude production values, outlaw characters and surrealist solutions. The Man With The X-Ray Eyes is just such a film, at times as bad and ludicrous as anything in the thrill genre, at others as brilliant and expressionist as an Antonioni of the same period. It’s pop art, the Pathecolor tonality and Spectorama effects anticipating the psychedelic genre, just like the renegade doctor and his quest for a higher level of consciousness.” – Lawrence Russell, Culture Court
597. (-199) Død snø
Tommy Wirkola
AKA: Dead Snow
2009 / Norway / 90m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Vegar Hoel, Stig Frode Henriksen, Charlotte Frogner, Lasse Valdal, Evy Kasseth Røsten, Jeppe Beck Laursen, Jenny Skavlan, Ane Dahl Torp, Bjørn Sundquist, ørjan Gamst
“I’m not going to bother here with the argument that tremendously over-the-top gore like this is or isn’t a wicked thing, or a guilty pleasure, or balls-out fun; when I’m watching a movie in which the filmmakers are plainly loving their gore as much as Tommy Wirkola plainly loves gore, that is what I am going to respond to. Dead Snow is a movie made with a childlike glee for the material, which translates into marvelously playful geysers of blood. It’s all so much fun, made with a minimal level of contempt for the characters that makes it far unlike so many American horror films, and for this reason the comedy in the film (which is a horror-comedy more than it is a horror film with comedy relief) actually works, better than the comedy works the vast majority of English-language horror. This is the sprightliest movie about mowing down revenants with a chainsaw that you are are ever likely to see.” – Tim Brayton, Antagony & Ecstasy
Genres: Zombie, Black Comedy, Splatter, Horror, Horror Comedy, Supernatural Horror, Nazisploitation
598. (-175) Calvaire
Fabrice Du Welz
AKA: The Ordeal
2004 / Belgium / 88m / Col / Psychological | IMDb
Laurent Lucas, Brigitte Lahaie, Gigi Coursigny, Jean-Luc Couchard, Jackie Berroyer, Philippe Nahon, Philippe Grand’Henry, Jo Prestia, Marc Lefebvre, Alfred David
“It helps to find the very dark, dark humor in “Calvaire,” a grueling, disgusting and quite effective horror film from Belgium. Part “Psycho,” part “Deliverance” and all creepy, it is simultaneously off-putting and absorbing… What sells this movie is the realistic attention to detail and the bravura direction of Fabrice Du Welz, who draws a gut-wrenching performance from Lucas, who cries, squeals and screams with the best of them… this feels different and fresh. At the very least, it gets under your fingernails.” – G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle
599. (new) Possessor
Brandon Cronenberg
2020 / Canada / 103m / Col / Science Fiction | IMDb
Gabrielle Graham, Hanneke Talbot, Matthew Garlick, Daniel Park, Andrea Riseborough, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Hrant Alianak, Rachael Crawford, Rossif Sutherland, Gage Graham-Arbuthnot
“There’s brutally visceral and punitively realistic gore galore on display here, but Cronenberg’s sophomore effort also deals in strikingly contemporary issues. Personal privacy and the paranoia arising from the dwindling availability of it via faceless, corporate data-scrapers, technology-enabled mind control and assassination in the pursuit of unknowable reasons by shadowy, pseudo-governmental organizations, and the erosion of personal identity and the accompanying mental decay all thread throughout the film like live wires throwing off giddily lethal sparks.” – Marc Savlov, The Austin Chronicle
600. (+207) La chiesa
Michele Soavi
AKA: The Church
1989 / Italy / 102m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Hugh Quarshie, Tomas Arana, Feodor Chaliapin Jr., Barbara Cupisti, Antonella Vitale, Giovanni Lombardo Radice, Asia Argento, Roberto Caruso, Roberto Corbiletto
“Only Michele Soavi has ever come close to matching the breathtaking awe of a hyper-stylized Argento set piece. Soavi and Argento are no strangers to perfunctory storytelling, but while a Soavi tableaux may be considerably less colorful than Argento’s stained glass cinema, the man possesses a singular attentiveness for the poetry of signs and symbols. Though sometimes referred to as Demons 3, La Chiesa (The Church) is too visually breathtaking to be treated as another entry in Lamberto Bava’s schlocky Demons series… Soavi’s horror is terrifyingly suggestive, so much so that its difficult to determine what is real and what is the product of subconscious sexual desire and altered consciousness. There’s plenty of schmaltz to go around but there is no denying the dreaminess of Soavi’s stream-of-conscious horror show.” – Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine