501. (-57) The Hound of the Baskervilles

Terence Fisher

1959 / UK / 87m / Col / Mystery | IMDb
Peter Cushing, André Morell, Christopher Lee, Marla Landi, David Oxley, Francis De Wolff, Miles Malleson, Ewen Solon, John Le Mesurier, Helen Goss

“Fisher, at the peak of his career, used Conan Doyle’s plot to establish a stylish dialectic between Holmes’ nominally rational Victorian milieu and the dark, fabulous cruelty behind the Baskerville legend. This opposition is expressed within the first ten minutes, when he moves from the ‘legend’ with its strong connotations of the Hellfire Club (the nobleman tormenting a young girl with demonic satisfaction) to the rational eccentricities of Baker Street. Holmes is indeed the perfect Fisher hero, the Renaissance scholar with strong mystical undertones, and Cushing gives one of his very best performances, ably supported by Morell (who does not make the usual mistake of overplaying Watson). Lee is in equally good form as the Baskerville heir, and Jack Asher’s muted Technicolor photography is superb.” – Derek Adams, Time Out

Genres:

503. (-55) Beetle Juice

Tim Burton

1988 / USA / 92m / Col / Fantasy | IMDb
Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Annie McEnroe, Maurice Page, Hugo Stanger, Michael Keaton, Rachel Mittelman, Catherine O’Hara, J. Jay Saunders, Mark Ettlinger

“”Beetlejuice” is an extraspectral experience, a wonderfully wacko look at the hereafter’s relationship with the here and now. It’s a cartoon view of the afterlife landscape, where the living haunt the dead and death’s no escape from life’s little irritants – like waiting rooms and elevator music. Tim Burton, the Disney animator who directed “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure,” is the mind behind this stylish screwball blend of Capraesque fantasy, Marx Brothers anarchy and horror parody. And Michael Keaton is the juice that makes it go. He’s a stand-up zombie as the revolting free-lance bio-exorcist hired to help Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin, playing the Maitlands, a couple of flummoxed young newly deads… It’s strong on lines and situations, but absolutely, happily preposterous. And the moral is a fairy-tale bromide played for laughs: You can’t escape your problems.” – Rita Kempley, Washington Post

Genres: Fantasy, Comedy, Haunted House, Horror Comedy, Gothic, Black Comedy, Stop-Motion, Absurdist Comedy, Gothic Horror, Body Horror, Family Drama

505. (-49) 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

Genres:

507. (-48) 30 Days of Night

David Slade

2007 / USA / 113m / Col / Vampire | IMDb
Josh Hartnett, Melissa George, Danny Huston, Ben Foster, Mark Boone Junior, Mark Rendall, Amber Sainsbury, Manu Bennett, Megan Franich, Joel Tobeck

“Like “28 Days Later,” this is a film in awe of its creations, eager to unleash them into a world that lacks the glitz and polish of a supernatural thriller and focused in the intent to expand their visage into one of remarkable believability. There are moments here when we are not just staring back at movie villains or even watching on with misplaced hope at the antics of a cluster of desperate survivors. If a good horror picture means to transport us into the fabric of its bleak narrative and imprison us there, then here is one of those rare movies that penetrates the membrane separating all those disposable “gotcha” scarefests from genuinely engrossing supernatural thrillers, and finds a resonating chord.” – David Keyes, Cinemaphile

Genres:

509. (-60) Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives

Tom McLoughlin

1986 / USA / 86m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
Thom Mathews, Jennifer Cooke, David Kagen, Renée Jones, Kerry Noonan, Darcy DeMoss, Tom Fridley, Alan Blumenfeld, Matthew Faison, Ann Ryerson

“The previous FRIDAY films were one-note affairs; this time out, a slightly new tune is being played (this is literally the case: composer Henry Manfredini’s familiar theme music is augmented with a couple songs performed by Alice Cooper (including “He’s Back: The Man Behind the Mask”). Whatever its weaknesses, JASON LIVES is a reasonably fun attempt at remaking the franchise into an old-fashioned monster movie, and fans of Frankenstein, the Mummy, and other creatures of the walking dead may find it appealing.” – Steve Biodrowski, Cinefantastique

Genres:

511. (+363) Grindhouse

Robert Rodriguez & Quentin Tarantino et al.

2007 / USA / 191m / Col / Anthology | IMDb
Kurt Russell, Zoë Bell, Rosario Dawson, Vanessa Ferlito, Sydney Tamiia Poitier, Tracie Thoms, Rose McGowan, Jordan Ladd, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Quentin Tarantino

“An exuberant double feature by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, evokes the exploitation flicks that used to play, several decades ago, in moldering theaters with flypaper floors. Thus a go-go dancer’s leg goes missing during a zombie attack, and the action is occasionally interrupted by title cards that proclaim “Missing Reel.” (That touch is more affectionate than factual, since projectionists and sleazy distributors of the slasher/horror genre didn’t brag about such omissions.) Little else seems to be missing from this work of wild-eyed archaeology – not the slime or drool, spurting blood, throbbing engines, screeching tires or jeopardized women. Yet value has been added as well – the most thrilling car chase ever committed to film, a sequence that also shows, by cutting to the psychosexual chase, why fans embraced the tawdry genre in the first place.” – Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal

Genres:

513. (-33) Inland Empire

David Lynch

2006 / USA / 180m / Col / Surrealism | IMDb
Laura Dern, Jeremy Irons, Justin Theroux, Karolina Gruszka, Jan Hencz, Krzysztof Majchrzak, Grace Zabriskie, Ian Abercrombie, Karen Baird, Bellina Logan

“Because watching movies is a bizarre business, and a movie creates its own world, in some ways more persuasively cogent and real than the reality surrounding it, Lynch positions himself in the no man’s land between these two realities and furnishes it with a landscape and topography all his own… It is mad and chaotic and exasperating and often makes no sense: but actually not quite as confusing as has been reported. Even the most garbled of moments fit approximately into the vague scheme of things, and those that don’t – those worrying rabbits – are, I guess, just part of the collateral damage occasioned by Lynch’s assault on the ordinary world. How boring the cinema would be without David Lynch, and for a long, long moment, how dull reality always seems after a Lynch movie has finished.” – Peter Bradshaw, Guardian

Genres: Surrealism, Psychological Horror, Mystery, Psychological Thriller, Experimental, Postmodernism, Psychological Drama, Hyperlink Cinema, Postmodernism, Analog Horror, Supernatural Horror

515. (-46) 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

Genres:

517. (-59) La casa dalle finestre che ridono

Pupi Avati

AKA: The House of the Laughing Windows

1976 / Italy / 110m / Col / Giallo | IMDb
Lino Capolicchio, Francesca Marciano, Gianni Cavina, Giulio Pizzirani, Bob Tonelli, Vanna Busoni, Pietro Brambilla, Ferdinando Orlandi, Andrea Matteuzzi

“What is… haunting, is the number of questions, especially concerning the different villagers’ behaviours and motivations, that The House With Laughing Windows leaves entirely unresolved. For the film is not only about a particularly unspeakable series of crimes, but about the way a closed community’s code of silence can spread complicity and guilt far beyond the original wrongdoers. So while The House With Laughing Windows is certainly a gripping murder mystery, it is also an intelligent allegory… of post-war Italy’s struggles to emerge from the Fascist outrages of its recent past.” – Anton Bitel, Eye for Film

Genres:

519. (-55) Funny Games

Michael Haneke

2007 / USA / 111m / Col / Home Invasion | IMDb
Naomi Watts, Tim Roth, Michael Pitt, Brady Corbet, Devon Gearhart, Boyd Gaines, Siobhan Fallon, Robert LuPone, Susi Haneke, Linda Moran

“This transposed Funny Games registers more strongly than the original as a film about privileged white people… Next to their Austrian equivalents, Corbet and Pitt seem less outwardly presentable, more outlandish and fey… While both iterations of Funny Games are schematic to a fault, their anti-illusionism opens up a Pandora’s box of unanswered questions. Haneke scolds us for our bloodlust, yet leaves us wondering how the suffering of a fictional character can carry any weight at all. As onscreen narrators employed to articulate these puzzles, Peter and Paul could be cousins to the Joker in The Dark Knight or Javier Bardem’s smiling assassin in No Country For Old Men.” – Jake Wilson, The Age

Genres:

521. (-32) Curtains

Richard Ciupka

1983 / Canada / 89m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
John Vernon, Samantha Eggar, Linda Thorson, Anne Ditchburn, Lynne Griffin, Sandee Currie, Lesleh Donaldson, Deborah Burgess, Michael Wincott, Maury Chaykin

“In lieu of a straightforward plot pitting dopey teens against a psychopath picking them off one at a time, “Curtains” has an entirely adult cast and a layered narrative that embraces its eccentricities. The central goal is not to merely slice through the ensemble—though this does happen, as well—but to explore the seedier cutthroat politics of moviemaking and the desperation that often comes when reality does not match up to one’s aspirations. Beyond that, the film features a truly disconcerting killer cloaked in an old hag’s mask, and a round-up of outstanding horror setpieces, two in particular saturated with an eerie mood and theatrical ingenuity.” – Dustin Putnam, The Movie Boy

Genres:

523. (-53) Damien: Omen II

Don Taylor

1978 / USA / 107m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
William Holden, Lee Grant, Jonathan Scott-Taylor, Robert Foxworth, Nicholas Pryor, Lew Ayres, Sylvia Sidney, Lance Henriksen, Elizabeth Shepherd, Lucas Donat

“While demonic undertones continually propel this film series forward, Damien, The Omen II never ceases to give away actual intentions and methods until the right moment, and in doing so, delivers thought provoking chills in the process. While consistently hoping good prevails over evil, it becomes increasingly clear that this will not be the case, and the overall premise can be biblically frightening.” – Thomas Scopel, Horror News

Genres:

525. (-46) Lord of Illusions

Clive Barker

1995 / USA / 109m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Scott Bakula, Kevin J. O’Connor, Joseph Latimore, Sheila Tousey, Susan Traylor, Ashley Tesoro, Michael Angelo Stuno, Barbara Patrick, J. Trevor Edmond, Wayne Grace

“With Lord of Illusions, Barker was beyond establishing himself as one of the genre’s most exciting directors; however, it does offer proof that he had no intention on resting on any sort of laurels. It’s just as sharp of a departure from Nightbreed as that film was from Hellraiser. Seeking to infuse his supernaturally-tinged narratives with a neo-noir style (much like Alan Parker did in Angel Heart), Barker presides over a twisty, snaking narrative that becomes increasingly convoluted as secrets are divulged and intertwined with sexual trysts. Lord of Illusions has enough twists, turns, and sultriness expected of any film noir, not to mention the aesthetic: this is a grimy, low-key pot-boiler draped in shadows and sweat—it just so happens to also feature enough eviscerated corpses to fill up a slasher film.” – Brett Gallman, Oh, The Horror

Genres:

527. (-53) Dead End

Jean-Baptiste Andrea & Fabrice Canepa

2003 / USA / 85m / Col / Psychological | IMDb
Ray Wise, Lin Shaye, Mick Cain, Alexandra Holden, Billy Asher Rosenfeld, Amber Smith, Karen S. Gregan, Sharon Madden, Steve Valentine, Jimmie F. Skaggs

“Jean-Baptiste Andrea and Fabrice Canepa’s Grimm fable is hardly blessed with originality, its road trip to hell device being a staple of everything from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre to the recent Wrong Turn. Moreover, those with even a passing acquaintance with the genre will guess how the movie pans out long before it reaches its abrupt and rather unsatisfying conclusion. Where it scores is in its canny exploration of family dynamics and a jet-black gallows humour that will have you tittering into your popcorn… while there’s ultimately less to Dead End than meets the eye, it remains an ingenious exercise in nerve-shredding tension that makes a virtue of its limited means.” – Neil Smith, BBC

Genres:

529. (-42) Tales of Terror

Roger Corman

1962 / USA / 89m / Col / Anthology | IMDb
Vincent Price, Maggie Pierce, Leona Gage, Peter Lorre, Joyce Jameson, Basil Rathbone, Debra Paget, David Frankham, Lennie Weinrib, Wally Campo

“Tales of Terror is ultimately an effective piece of horror precisely because it has no pretensions; it truly is simply a set of spooky tales, which is precisely what Poe excelled in. Unlike many horror anthologies, there’s no true frame story here. Instead, each tale is introduced by a short monologue from Price that’s centered around Poe’s favorite theme: death. Each segment represents a different phase of death: what happens after, before, and at the moment of death, respectively. It’s an interesting way to tie together the film just enough so that isn’t just a completely random set of tales.” – Brett Gallman, Oh, the Horror

Genres:

531. (-43) Vinyan

Fabrice Du Welz

2008 / France / 96m / Col / Mystery | IMDb
Emmanuelle Béart, Rufus Sewell, Petch Osathanugrah, Julie Dreyfus, Amporn Pankratok, Josse De Pauw, Omm, Apisit Opasaimlikit, Kurlab Lay, Matt Ryder

“There’s a lot that’s questionable about Vinyan if you take it too literally. Would anyone go on such a perilous trip with so little preparation? And isn’t it a bit dodgy that all of the non-white foreigners are either gun-toting sleazebags or painted savages? But from those title credits onwards, the film boots you too far out of your comfort zone to let you do much questioning… To the chagrin of horror fans, no doubt, the film never takes away its protagonists’ options, instead allowing them to continue on an odyssey that’s weirdly beautiful, even if it isn’t what you’d call a relaxing holiday… It’s both a devastating drama about a loving couple’s grief, and a demonstration of how intense cinema can be.” – Nicholas Barber, The Independent

Genres:

533. (-41) Fido

Andrew Currie

2006 / Canada / 93m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
David Kaye, Jan Skorzewski, Kevin Tyell, Andy Parkin, Lynn Pendleton, Gary Slater, Taylor Petri, Glenn Richards, Raphael Kepinski, Carl-James Kalbfleisch

“[The] set-up sounds like an amusing premise for a mild little low-budget spoof, but FIDO is much more than that: it’s a full-blown social satire with zombies at its center. Equal part LASSIE, old TV sit-coms, and 1950s movie melodramas, the film pokes fun at contemporay society in the tradition of the old TWILIGHT ZONE series – by hiding its commentary in another time, another place. It’s not very scary; it’s not even always hysterically funny. But its satire is always sharp as steel, cutting through the facade of happy, everyday “normality” with almost as sting as David Lynch’s BLUE VELVET.” – Steve Biodrowski, Cinefantastique

Genres:

535. (new) Le pacte des loups

Christophe Gans

AKA: Brotherhood of the Wolf

2001 / France / 142m / Col / Werewolf | IMDb
Samuel Le Bihan, Vincent Cassel, Émilie Dequenne, Monica Bellucci, Jérémie Renier, Mark Dacascos, Jean Yanne, Jean-François Stévenin, Jacques Perrin, Johan Leysen

“Christophe Gans’ “Brotherhood of the Wolf” takes a colossal leap at that opportunity, melding all sorts of different genres, visual styles, scripting techniques, plot gimmicks, characterizations and story arcs like it were collecting souvenirs on a tourist’s excursion through the northern hemisphere. What’s quite remarkable about the result, at least other than the basic effort to use every element it can in 140 minutes, is how well the movie is made without seeming overly worked or lazy in the process. This isn’t a product that requires time to adapt to all the techniques tossed into the court, either, because it masters a balanced pattern almost as swiftly as the characters sail through their dialogue. It’s a stylish, smart, edgy, exciting and profoundly involving trek though familiar folklore, often better than the masses have been told and even more appealing after repeat viewings.” – David Keyes, Cinemaphile

Genres:

537. (-40) Red State

Kevin Smith

2011 / USA / 88m / Col / Thriller | IMDb
Michael Angarano, Deborah Aquila, Nicholas Braun, Ronnie Connell, Kaylee DeFer, Joey Figueroa, Kyle Gallner, Anna Gunn, Matt Jones, John Lacy

“It’s casually referred to as a ‘horror movie’, but that’s not quite right. In fact, Red State feels a bit like a movie grappling with an identity crisis: it’s not gruesome enough to qualify as horror, just as it’s neither exclusively funny enough to be comedy nor ‘action-y’ enough to tempt the Michael Bay crowd, yet it has more than enough of each to remain both gripping and entertaining throughout… Overall, Red State delivers a captivating story unlike most of what finds its way to screens these days. It’s a tense, unnerving, infuriating and even amusing film that pulls no punches when it comes to Smith’s passionate sentiments regarding all things sex, religion and politics.” – Tom Glasson, Concrete Playground

Genres:

539. (-40) Straw Dogs

Sam Peckinpah

1971 / USA / 113m / Col / Psychological | IMDb
Dustin Hoffman, Susan George, Peter Vaughan, T.P. McKenna, Del Henney, Jim Norton, Donald Webster, Ken Hutchison, Len Jones, Sally Thomsett

“Straw Dogs frustrates and compels not because it tells us easy things like “violence lurks in the hearts of men” (which it does), but because it ultimately refuses to make any absolute value judgments about such a statement. Peckinpah clearly believed that humans are inherently violent beings—he said as much in interview after interview. Yet, he was also a committed liberal democrat and humanist who detested the violence and scandal of the world around him. Thus, like its depictions of violence, the film’s stand on David’s descent into destruction to protect what’s his is, in the end, ambiguous.” – James Kendrick, Q Network Film Desk

Genres:

541. (-50) 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

Genres:

543. (-45) Taste of Fear

Seth Holt

AKA: Scream of Fear

1961 / UK / 81m / Col / Thriller | IMDb
Susan Strasberg, Ronald Lewis, Ann Todd, Christopher Lee, John Serret, Leonard Sachs, Anne Blake, Fred Johnson

“The best writer doesn’t get far without a great director, and Seth Holt proved to be up to the task. In these ages of computerized technology and “jump out at you scares,” the method of “slowly graduating creepiness” has all but been lost. But while modern techniques get tired very quickly (especially to us true horror fans), primal fear never gets old. And this is what Taste of Fear taps into. The scenes where the corpses appear are absolutely crap-inducing, mostly because Holt takes his sweet time in drawing you into the scene, slowly but relentlessly building the suspense. It’s the primordial Hitchcock formula at its finest, and for this reason, Taste of Fear is far more effective than most of its modern counterparts. “Jump out at you scares” have their time and place, but they are quick shots of adrenaline and moments later you are back to normal. But a director who can keep your adrenaline pumping for long stretches at a time will, by default, be much more intriguing.” – Jenn Dlugos, Classic-Horror

Genres:

545. (new) Blade II

Guillermo del Toro

2002 / USA / 117m / Col / Vampire | IMDb
Wesley Snipes, Kris Kristofferson, Ron Perlman, Leonor Varela, Norman Reedus, Thomas Kretschmann, Luke Goss, Matt Schulze, Danny John-Jules, Donnie Yen

“Director Guillermo del Toro effortlessly switches gears from these sequences to quiet explorations of dark, brooding settings typical of the horror genre and back again. The horror scenes have genuine tension to them, and del Toro is always aware of the grotesque nature of the material. He’s not afraid to showcase pools of blood, dismemberment, characters sliced in half, vampires dissolving, and, of course, Reaper dissections. The story is pure comic book, which essentially means that it should be ignored to enjoy the strengths of the film. Eventually, though, the storyline delves into some mythology similar to another famous horror story, and there’s actually something a bit insightful about these scenes. Along with the more disturbing elements, the film has the feel of a graphic novel. Scenes are dark, dreary, and atmospheric. The performances, led by Wesley Snipes’ complete immersion into the fun of his role, are pure camp—just right for this material.” – Mark Dujsik, Mark Reviews Movies

Genres:

547. (-21) La piel que habito

Pedro Almodóvar

AKA: The Skin I Live In

2011 / Spain / 120m / Col / Psychological | IMDb
Antonio Banderas, Elena Anaya, Marisa Paredes, Jan Cornet, Roberto Álamo, Eduard Fernández, José Luis Gómez, Blanca Suárez, Susi Sánchez, Bárbara Lennie

“Everything made by Pedro Almodóvar seems to have been developed from the outside in: surfaces yield psychology, decor becomes depth, kitsch proves porous, a parade of pop props dimpled with wells of violently conflicted feelings and frustrated lusts. Seen through this lens, The Skin I Live In, based on Thierry Jonquet’s 1995 novel Tarantula, can be read as a work of perfect unity between its filmmaker’s MO and its fabulous premise… An uneasy forecast of looming advances in posthuman sciences, an extravagant extrapolation of Eyes Without a Face, and a fresh opportunity for Almodóvar to fix his unapologetically (queer) male gaze on more immaculate female flesh, The Skin I Live In embodies a rather studied sort of perversion that nonetheless resonates with Almodóvar’s evolving concerns in interesting ways.” – José Teodoro, Film Comment Magazine

Genres:

549. (-25) Gokseong

Hong-jin Na

AKA: The Wailing

2016 / South Korea / 156m / Col / Mystery | IMDb
Do-won Kwak, Jung-min Hwang, Jun Kunimura, Woo-hee Chun, Hwan-hee Kim, Jin Heo, So-yeon Jang, Han-Cheol Jo, Chang-gyu Kil, Do-Yoon Kim

“A tense blend of genres, The Wailing succeeds at combining a mood of deep unease with visceral gore, buddy cop comedy, and a hallucinogenic mix of horror tropes, and in this sense the film becomes a unique creation of its own, setting its terrible events against the gorgeous landscapes and mountains of South Korea. And although overlong and not without flaws, there is enough in The Wailing to warrant a viewing, and the subtle force of the film confirms Na Hong-jin’s reputation as a director to be reckoned with.” – Pamela Jahn, Electric Sheep

Genres: Mystery, Supernatural Horror, K-Horror, Thriller, Police Procedural, K-Horror, Folk Horror, Black Comedy

551. (-50) Tôkaidô Yotsuya kaidan

Nobuo Nakagawa

AKA: The Ghost of Yotsuya

1959 / Japan / 76m / Col / Jidaigeki | IMDb
Shigeru Amachi, Noriko Kitazawa, Katsuko Wakasugi, Shuntarô Emi, Ryûzaburô Nakamura, Junko Ikeuchi, Jun ôtomo, Hiroshi Hayashi, Shinjirô Asano, Arata Shibata

“Along with the masterful camerawork, the film’s lighting and music play an integral role in selling the dreadful feeling that permeates the entire film. The final moments are scored with traditional Japanese music that grows in driving intensity with the images on-screen, culminating in a stunning, powerful ending that perfectly caps off the film. The violence is surprisingly graphic and still very effective, over fifty years after release. No US film would have ever gotten away with the stuff they do in this film, and as such it feels like a more recent film than 1959. The violence is nothing compared with later films of course, but given the time, it’s incredible. The Ghost of Yotsuya is an amazing, haunting, wonderful horror film that fans of the genre should definitely not miss. It is proof that horror films can be artful and grotesque simultaneously.” – Will Kouf, Silver Emulsion

Genres:

553. (-57) Esta Noite Encarnarei no Teu Cadáver

José Mojica Marins

AKA: This Night I Will Possess Your Corpse

1967 / Brazil / 108m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
José Mojica Marins, Tina Wohlers, Nadia Freitas, Antonio Fracari, Jose Lobo, Esmeralda Ruchel, Paula Ramos, Tania Mendonça, Arlete Brazolin, Geraldo Bueno

“The film is forcing a wonderful polarization, titillation tinged with terror. The film is unabashedly enticing you with these shots of womanly body parts, and then does its best to disgust be perverting those images with grotesque creatures and the like. Other sequences, such as sex paired with snake attack, provide more of this same dichotomy. But there is more to the visuals than boobs and bile. These shots are well constructed, the lighting is always stark, giving good contrast and keeps the details of the film clear. We are not seeing some shoddily produced horror film, this is a lovingly crafted work.” – Timothy J. Rush, Classic-Horror

Genres:

555. (-102) Cape Fear

Martin Scorsese

1991 / USA / 128m / Col / Thriller | IMDb
Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange, Juliette Lewis, Joe Don Baker, Robert Mitchum, Gregory Peck, Martin Balsam, Illeana Douglas, Fred Dalton Thompson

“As originally directed by J. Lee Thompson, “Cape Fear” pitted the wholesome Bowdens against the unsavory Max, a convicted rapist intent on exacting revenge against Sam, who years earlier had testified against Max at his trial. Despite the sexy insolence of Robert Mitchum’s performance, that film’s struggle was essentially a one-note one between good and evil. Mr. Scorsese, not being prone to such oversimplifications, has done his best to muddy the waters… he has invested the Bowdens (now played by Nick Nolte and Jessica Lange) with a history of marital infidelity, turned their daughter into a rebellious nymphet, altered the circumstances of the rape trial and given Max’s vengeance a biblical dimension.” – Janet Maslin, New York Times

Genres:

557. (-63) Murders in the Zoo

A. Edward Sutherland

1933 / USA / 62m / BW / Crime | IMDb
Charles Ruggles, Lionel Atwill, Gail Patrick, Randolph Scott, John Lodge, Kathleen Burke, Harry Beresford

“Murders in the Zoo is by no means a flawless horror-comedy film, bumping around between two tones with impunity and with nowhere near the grace or atmosphere as the amiable Doctor X from a few reviews back. However, Atwill and Burke make the movie’s moments of horror truly memorable set pieces and demonstrate how true human predators can operate outside cages. The rest, thankfully, will fade.” – Danny Reid, Pre-Code

Genres:

559. (-42) What We Do in the Shadows

Jemaine Clement & Taika Waititi

2014 / New Zealand / 86m / Col / Vampire | IMDb
Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi, Jonathan Brugh, Cori Gonzalez-Macuer, Stuart Rutherford, Ben Fransham, Rhys Darby, Jackie van Beek, Elena Stejko, Jason Hoyte

“Fans of Clement and Waititi’s previous work know the kind of humour to expect: bone-dry, beautifully observed and deeply silly. There’s a brilliantly funny sequence in which the three speaking vamps furiously debate the washing up rota, the importance of virgin blood is floridly discussed, while a dinner party sequence in which potential victims are confronted with re-enacted Lost Boys sequences is beautifully done… Clement in particular is clearly having a brilliant time, as it soon becomes apparent that the lascivious Vlad’s best years are behind him, while Waititi slays with his portrayal of the sweetly heartbroken Viago. In short, the most important thing to know about What We Do In The Shadows is that it’s laugh-out-loud hilarious” – Jonathan Hatfull, SciFiNow

Genres: Mockumentary, Vampire, Black Comedy, Horror Comedy, Werewolf, Parody, Buddy, Splatter

561. (new) La morte vivante

Jean Rollin

AKA: The Living Dead Girl

1982 / France / 86m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Marina Pierro, Françoise Blanchard, Mike Marshall, Carina Barone, Fanny Magier, Patricia Besnard-Rousseau, Jean Berel, Jean-Pierre Bouyxou, Véronique Carpentier

“Language aside, Francoise Blanchard dedicates herself to the part of Catherine so completely, that the story works. You’re not scared of Catherine; you’re scared for her – disturbed by the concept of being self-aware enough to realize that you’re dead and that there may be no escape from a life of feeding on other humans. It’s rich material for a horror film, and this is one Rollin movie that’s a more satisfying genre effort than what we’re used to from the director. Typically, Rollin’s films combine gothic horror visuals with avant garde arthouse sensibilities. Living Dead Girl is a more straight-forward, dedicated horror effort – more thoroughly plotted, more exciting, more gruesome, and more unsettling than Rollin’s typical vampire work, while still feeling unmistakably like a Rollin film.” – John Gholson, Horror’s Not Dead

Genres:

563. (-112) 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

Genres:

565. (-55) I Bury the Living

Albert Band

1958 / USA / 77m / BW / Thriller | IMDb
Richard Boone, Theodore Bikel, Peggy Maurer, Howard Smith, Herbert Anderson, Robert Osterloh

“I Bury the Living is an inexpensive, stark picture, but it succeeds through its dark style and its unbending, relentless pursuit of the oddly imaginative, yet simple premise. The entire action of the movie takes place in only a few rooms and in a small portion of the cemetery. This combined with the fact that the majority of the scenes of tension take place in the small, dingy caretaker’s office intensify the picture’s claustrophobic, paranoid, almost surreal edge.” – Josh Hickman, Film Threat

Genres:

567. (-37) House of Wax

Jaume Collet-Serra

2005 / USA / 108m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
Elisha Cuthbert, Chad Michael Murray, Brian Van Holt, Paris Hilton, Jared Padalecki, Jon Abrahams, Robert Ri’chard, Dragicia Debert, Thomas Adamson, Murray Smith

“House of Wax seemingly exists solely for visceral response, and even hardened horror genre buffs will find some things to squirm about here. The process of turning a victim into a wax figure is thoroughly disturbing, and the prolonged death sequences will leave some audience members screaming for mercy. This is one of the more gruesome horror offerings in recent years, and unapologetically so. Just the way it should be.” – Bill Clark, From The Balcony

Genres:

569. (-102) Don’t Breathe

Fede Alvarez

2016 / USA / 88m / Col / Home Invasion | IMDb
Stephen Lang, Jane Levy, Dylan Minnette, Daniel Zovatto, Emma Bercovici, Franciska Töröcsik, Christian Zagia, Katia Bokor, Sergej Onopko, Olivia Gillies

“The key highlight of director Fede Alvarez’s movie is innovation. There’s a segment in the movie shot in pitch darkness with grey night vision and that has the potential to be the most frightening 10 minutes of your life. Even the build up on the sequence where the gang breaks in to the house at night is just nerve-wracking. You can easily compare Don’t Breathe to thriller horror classics like Psycho, Old Boy and Vertigo. The tension here is so authentic and gripping this film can impress even those with nerves of steel. Forget those CGI-driven ghost soap operas that pretend to be horror movies. This film, its dark basement environments and its superlative camera and sound work is like a real life nightmare unfolding on the big screen.” – Rachit Gupta, Filmfare

Genres: Home Invasion, Horror, Heist Film

571. (-44) 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

Genres:

573. (-58) 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

Genres:

575. (-73) La frusta e il corpo

Mario Bava

AKA: The Whip and the Body

1963 / Italy / 91m / Col / Gothic | IMDb
Daliah Lavi, Christopher Lee, Tony Kendall, Ida Galli, Harriet Medin, Gustavo De Nardo, Luciano Pigozzi, Jacques Herlin

“Widely considered the father of the Italian giallo genre, Mario Bava has influenced the likes of modern-day giallo directors Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci, as well as Martin Scorsese, David Lynch, Guillermo del Toro and, most especially, Quentin Tarantino. The Whip and the Body is a gothic horror fantasy that finds Bava at the peak of his visual prowess. Though the giallo genre is often known for its reliance on graphic violence, Bava’s film is noticeably tame. What with its captivating lighting schemes, ghostly death sequences and lurid compositions (passageways are downright vaginal), it’s no wonder that Bava’s fetishistic film has attained cult status.” – Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine

Genres:

577. (-68) The Haunted Palace

Roger Corman

AKA: The Haunted Village

1963 / USA / 87m / Col / Gothic | IMDb
Vincent Price, Debra Paget, Lon Chaney Jr., Frank Maxwell, Leo Gordon, Elisha Cook Jr., John Dierkes, Milton Parsons, Cathie Merchant, Guy Wilkerson

“Though slightly toned down when compared to Corman’s gussied up Poe films, The Haunted Palace is stylistically in the same ballpark, to be sure. The baroque sets and theatrical lighting compliment the outsized performances nicely. Vincent Price, who starred in most of Corman’s films of the era, is the clear standout among this stalwart cast, chewing scenery and oozing menace in a double role. He is complimented nicely by fellow horror icon Lon Chaney Jr., who maximizes the effect of his small part as Price’s creepy caretaker. Given their presence in a story that also includes summoned monsters, mutant townsfolk, and a burning at the stake, it’s easy to get a little spooked by The Haunted Palace.” – Jeremy Heilman, Movie Martyr

Genres:

579. (new) La main du diable

Maurice Tourneur

AKA: Carnival of Sinners

1943 / France / 78m / BW / Drama | IMDb
Pierre Fresnay, Josseline Gaël, Noël Roquevert, Guillaume de Sax, Palau, Pierre Larquey, André Gabriello, Antoine Balpêtré, Marcelle Rexiane, André Varennes

“What makes La Main du diable such a particularly dark and disturbing film is the genuine sensation of terror that comes through the performances, especially that of its lead actor, Pierre Fresnay. In the opening and closing segments of the film, Fresnay appears like a man possessed, a man who genuinely believes he has the Devil on his back and knows that he is about to lose the one thing dearest to him, his soul. […] The expressionistic set design and lighting work to create a mood of unrelenting oppression and lurking demonic menace, which is at its most intense in the chilling opening sequence and dramatic denouement.” – James Travers, Films de France

Genres:

581. (-39) Scream 3

Wes Craven

2000 / USA / 116m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
Liev Schreiber, Beth Toussaint, Roger Jackson, Kelly Rutherford, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Julie Janney, Richmond Arquette, Patrick Dempsey, Lynn McRee

“Whereas any old second sequel to a slasher franchise would be more than showing its age by now, “Scream 3” is that rare case in which it is not merely here to cash in on the big bucks, but was all along planned as a trilogy. One could possibly question if this is actually true, or just an excuse by the filmmakers once the original struck pay-dirt, but “Scream 3” does a fabulous job of wrapping things up and filling in the missing pieces, all the while delivering what fans have grown accustomed to: scares, snappy dialogue, believable characters, and some sort of unique spin on the otherwise cliched formula. While “Scream 2” was the most straightforward of the series, in terms of its violence and occasionally messy plot developments, “Scream 3,” like its 1996 precursor, is a multilayered funhouse of chills that does a more than sufficient job of keeping the surprising twists coming.” – Dustin Putnam, The Movie Boy

Genres:

583. (-10) The Queen of Spades

Thorold Dickinson

1949 / UK / 95m / BW / Gothic | IMDb
Anton Walbrook, Edith Evans, Yvonne Mitchell, Ronald Howard, Mary Jerrold, Anthony Dawson, Miles Malleson, Michael Medwin, Athene Seyler, Ivor Barnard

“Between the pair of them, and with Dickinson’s drive to exacerbate the melodramatic, feverish atmosphere, they make a virtue out of the small budget and limited sets, using mirrors, shadows, candelabra, religious icons and period paraphernalia to encrust the Countess’s palace and its myriad doorways, passages and rooms. The Countess’s boudoir and the ornate Russian church used in the heartstopping funeral sequence of the film are brilliant examples of their craft and they emphasise the film’s squeezing in and expansion of space, from claustrophobia to agoraphobia.”- Frank Collins, Cathode Ray Tube

Genres:

585. (-67) 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

Genres:

587. (-65) 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

Genres:

589. (-24) Little Shop of Horrors

Frank Oz

1986 / USA / 94m / Col / Musical | IMDb
Levi Stubbs, Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene, Vincent Gardenia, Steve Martin, Tichina Arnold, Michelle Weeks, Tisha Campbell-Martin, James Belushi, John Candy

“Shot in vivid colour and interspersed with some terrific songs, this is a formulaic story but a hell of a ride. It benefits from pitch-perfect performances all round and a great villain in the form of the ever more elaborate plant. This is a film which the whole family can enjoy, but little ones may hide their eyes towards the end, when the plant resorts to violence. More graphic but without the darkness of the original, it’s a tale whose power is in the telling. After seeing it, you won’t look at your flowerbeds the same way again.” – Jennie Kermode, Eye For Film

Genres:

591. (-41) Mother’s Day

Charles Kaufman

1980 / USA / 91m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
Nancy Hendrickson, Deborah Luce, Tiana Pierce, Frederick Coffin, Michael McCleery, Beatrice Pons, Robert Collins, Peter Fox, Marsella Davidson, Kevin Lowe

“”Mother’s Day” is gritty and grimy—a bath may be in order after watching it—but it is not without merit. Whether viewed as a stark horror pic, a wildly offbeat comedy, a female-empowerment saga, or a cutting depiction of consumerist society gone woefully wrong, the film has something to offer all but those with weak stomachs. The socko surprise ending—let’s just say it involves Mother’s deranged, forest-prowling sister Queenie—is the perfect capper on a relic of the 1980s slasher craze that still, oddly enough, feels awfully relevant.” – Dustin Putnam, The Movie Boy

Genres:

593. (-50) Son of Dracula

Robert Siodmak

1943 / USA / 80m / BW / Vampire | IMDb
Robert Paige, Louise Allbritton, Evelyn Ankers, Frank Craven, J. Edward Bromberg, Samuel S. Hinds, Adeline De Walt Reynolds, Pat Moriarity, Etta McDaniel, George Irving

“If you can cope with the dated ideologies, and big lug, Lon Chaney Jr, looking more out of place than a priest in a day care center, you’ll find much to celebrate in SON OF DRACULA. All that priceless Universal atmosphere is here in spades. The soundtrack, the Gothic splendor, the hot ladies and the cold, dark shadows…all here. It’s a forgotten, roughly hewn gem, but its one worth seeking out for lovers of ‘ye olde horror’. The atmosphere is palpable, the plot is unique and the strange change of setting from olde world England/Transylvania, to the deep south, is a refreshing one. Give SON OF DRACULA a little of your time, and you may be pleasantly surprised. And besides, if you don’t watch it, Lon Chaney will eat you!” – Kyle Scott, The Horror Hotel

Genres:

595. (-27) Tesis

Alejandro Amenábar

AKA: Thesis

1996 / Spain / 125m / Col / Thriller | IMDb
Ana Torrent, Fele Martínez, Eduardo Noriega, Xabier Elorriaga, Miguel Picazo, Nieves Herranz, Rosa Campillo, Paco Hernández, Rosa Ávila, Teresa Castanedo

“In spite of its subject matter, Tesis is not a gore film. At a number of points throughout the film, it appears that Amenabar is about to show the audience some particularly grisly sight, only for the camera to pull away just at the last moment; Amenabar, instead, preferring to focus on Angela’s reaction to what she is seeing. Angela insists that she is only interested in violent movies from a purely academic standpoint and that she considers what she is seeing to be disgusting, yet she is every bit as fascinated by it as Chema. In Tesis, Angela serves as a proxy for the viewer. Anyone who wants to watch a film like this to begin with, must have a certain desire to see violent imagery and in the final scene, Amenabar takes his audience to task for having such a desire.” – Genevieve Hayes, Murder and Angst

Genres:

597. (-53) Silent Night, Deadly Night

Charles E. Sellier Jr.

1984 / USA / 79m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
Lilyan Chauvin, Gilmer McCormick, Toni Nero, Robert Brian Wilson, Britt Leach, Nancy Borgenicht, H.E.D. Redford, Danny Wagner, Linnea Quigley, Leo Geter

“Silent Night, Deadly Night is a really decent slasher movie that is more than just a “tab-a into slot-b” horror. It delves deep into the mind of our protagonist and it raises interesting questions about nature vs. nurture and how this can effect the mind of someone who is already troubled. Billy may be doing the killings, but the true villain of the film is Mother Superior who shows no compassion for Billy’s troubled past. Watching his parents get murdered by a guy dressed as Santa was certainly the catalyst for Billy’s troubled childhood, but it is Mother Superior’s teachings that he’s dishing out – just on a more violent scale. Because of this, Silent Night, Deadly Night is a lot different to the slasher movies that were out at the time as it focused more on the psyche of its killer as opposed to just putting a guy in a mask and giving him killing implements.” – Luke Owen, Luke Writes Stuff

Genres: Slasher, Christmas, Psychological Horror, Exploitation, Psychological Thriller

599. (-53) Frozen

Adam Green

2010 / USA / 93m / Col / Natural Horror | IMDb
Emma Bell, Shawn Ashmore, Kevin Zegers, Ed Ackerman, Rileah Vanderbilt, Kane Hodder, Adam Johnson, Chris York, Peder Melhuse

“Adam Green’s fun 2006 horror film ‘Hatchet’ revelled in the art of self-aware pastiche, but it is in his second major work that he has found a legitimately great concept out of which to wring more nuanced thrills… If anything, Green suggests here that is likely a much better director than a writer; especially exciting is an overhead shot of the lift as a wolf darts by in the distance. The lean nature of the narrative dictates that the small things count, and as such, Green chooses to focus on them – frostbite scabs, the barely-threaded bolts on the ski-lift, and the frayed steel wires holding them precariously in place – to chilling effect.” – Shaun Munro, What Culture

Genres: