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
2016 / USA / 120m / Col / Witchcraft | IMDb
Samantha Robinson, Gian Keys, Laura Waddell, Jeffrey Vincent Parise, Jared Sanford, Robert Seeley, Jennifer Ingrum, Randy Evans, Clive Ashborn, Lily Holleman
“LA film-maker Anna Biller achieves an ecstasy of artificiality in this amazing retro fantasy horror, delivered with absolute conviction. It’s designed, produced, written, directed and generally auteured by Biller herself, and lit and photographed by M David Mullen – apparently without digital fabrication. The Love Witch goes beyond camp, beyond pastiche; it ignites the pulpy surfaces of its tale and produces a smoke of bad-dream sexiness and scariness. It’s a B-movie with A-grade potency. But you have to stay with it, you have to understand its absolute seriousness before getting the comedy and the satire of the transactional politics in sex.” – Peter Bradshaw, Guardian
2014 / USA / 93m / Col / Found Footage | IMDb
Perdita Weeks, Ben Feldman, Edwin Hodge, François Civil, Marion Lambert, Ali Marhyar, Cosme Castro, Hamid Djavadan, Théo Cholbi, Emy Lévy
“This is a tidy little horror film heavy on mood, light on gore, and bursting with a refreshing originality of story line. Fans of alchemy will find much to reward them here, including the true meaning of vitriol. Fans of the Lovecraftian school of weirdness will also find much to enjoy. Plus, there’s a dash of Dante, and a hint of Templars that make the mix of hubris and guilt that much more piquant… AS ABOVE SO BELOW gifts us with a lively history lesson on the catacombs of Paris, the history and practice of alchemy, and some nifty insights into ancient engineering practices even as it makes our pulses races. It’s a fun flick that is clever, surprising, and satisfyingly well-executed.” – Andrea Chase, Killer Movie Reviews
1962 / Mexico / 75m / Col / Witchcraft | IMDb
Rosa Arenas, Armando Calvo, Isabela Corona, Dina de Marco, Carlos Nieto, Alfredo Wally Barrón
“The general mood and the visual style of “The Witch’s Mirror” is probably influenced by the old Universal horror-films and legendary tales by the ones like Edgar Allan Poe, and its gothic-mood has many similarities to the films by Mario Bava from the same era. The very imaginative and clever visual tricks in the film are not necessarily that hard to achieve and are occasionally dated, but they do work very well for the movie and for the black & white cinematography. Flowers are withered for no reason, the piano is playing the favourite tune of the late Elena by itself, the wind is blowing and the mood is restless and spooky. Some optical tricks (like superimposing) are surprisingly good, and filmmakers have used their best imagination to create the illusion with the mirror, the essential object in the film. The movie has almost as much fantasy elements as it has horror, and together they create a pretty effective little flick.” – Jari Kovalainen, DVD Compare
1958 / UK / 75m / BW / Science Fiction | IMDb
Marshall Thompson, Kynaston Reeves, Kim Parker, Stanley Maxted, Terry Kilburn, James Dyrenforth, Robert MacKenzie, Peter Madden, Gil Winfield, Michael Balfour
“Director Arthur Crabtree kept the formulaic story moving forward and the mood grimly earnest. His straight-ahead style serves the material without ruffles or flourishes, although his pacing is too leisurely through the first half. But when the monsters show at the climax, that’s when the oh-boy starts. They’re brought to life via Harryhausen-style stop-motion animation that’s better than you might expect while still maintaining a pleasurable cheese factor. Naturally, expect to whistle past gaps in plot logic (where’s all that light coming from in that sealed windowless crypt? Is dynamiting the control room to a nuclear reactor ever really a good idea?), which should be all part of the fun.” – Mark Bourne, DVD Journal
2013 / USA / 80m / Col / Found Footage | IMDb
Alexie Gilmore, Peter Jason, Bryce Johnson, Tom Yamarone
“There is a lot more to admire about WILLOW CREEK, including the fact that for the first part of the film it also basically works as a fun documentary about real-life Bigfoot fan culture. Goldthwait also clearly believes in the maxim that “less is more,” and WILLOW CREEK is over in under 80 minutes. If anything, this feels something like an over-correction from “found footage” films that go on for too long. With its funny, engaging characters, deep roots in Bigfoot mythology, effective sound design and convincing “home movie” style, WILLOW CREEK proves that with the right approach, even a “found footage” movie can be great.” – Jason Coffman, Daily Grindhouse
1982 / UK / 91m / Col / Psychological | IMDb
Kathryn Harrold, Zeljko Ivanek, Shirley Knight, Paul Freeman, Sean Hewitt, Harry Ditson, Olivier Pierre, Tracy Harper, Al Matthews, Marsha A. Hunt
“If there’s anything that The Sender can score high points with, it’s atmosphere and the always present feel of horror. It’s not a normal film where horror dimensions are added in here and there. The Sender will forever remind you that this is a horror-thriller through well represented mental disorderly personalities and John Doe’s constant gloomy attitude to what only he knows.” – Josh G., Oh, The Horror
1993 / USA / 87m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
John D. LeMay, Kari Keegan, Kane Hodder, Steven Williams, Steven Culp, Erin Gray, Rusty Schwimmer, Richard Gant, Leslie Jordan, Billy Green Bush
“Many faithful Friday advocates refer to this as the series’ lowest ebb and hold New Line contemptible for slaughtering their beloved franchise. On one hand they have a point. It’s unfocused, often inane, and disrespectful to its roots which could be viewed as unforgivable. Despite numerous failings and such a distinct departure from vintage Friday values, it still forms a decent double-bill with Freddy vs. Jason if you’re that way inclined… Taken on its own merits, Jason Goes To Hell is one of the easier Fridays to revisit. It’s not big, certainly not clever, and not particularly respectful of its once great heritage, but it’s 91 minutes of passable fare” – Richard Charles Stevens, Rivers of Grue
2011 / USA / 87m / Col / Mystery | IMDb
Katie Parker, Courtney Bell, Dave Levine, Morgan Peter Brown, Justin Gordon, James Flanagan, Scott Graham, Doug Jones, Ian Gregory, Connie Ventress
“Director Flanagan is a man who almost seems aware of what he is capable of doing and what he simply can not do on-screen and it shows in what is a very artistically self-aware indie gem that works as an enduring yet complex character study and a truly harrowing horror film. “Absentia” provides so many layers of subtle characterization, gentle exposition, and gripping back story that affords just enough depth for our protagonists to earn our sympathy without seeming as if we’re being manipulated in to caring for them. And that’s thanks to the absolutely mesmerizing performances from the entire cast, all of whom bear a strong importance to the end result of Mike Flanagan’s horror film that is utterly reliant on competent performances from a cast who has to sell not only the sheer terror of this situation that grows more and more maddening with each waking hour, but in the logical sense of loss and grief at the notion that they’re losing the battle to a force of evil they can barely comprehend let alone battle.” – Felix Vasquez Jr., Cinema Crazed
2024 / USA / 127m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Naomi Scott, Rosemarie DeWitt, Lukas Gage, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Peter Jacobson, Ray Nicholson, Dylan Gelula, Raúl Castillo, Kyle Gallner, Drew Barrymore
“As someone who found the first film solid yet ultimately familiar in its influences, Smile 2 makes for one of the year’s biggest horror surprises. Scott delivers a career-defining performance, tackling so many layers to her character and with seemingly effortless ease. The scale is grander, and the scares are far more visceral and violent. But Finn’s mounting confidence and ingenuity are what’s most exciting; this filmmaker has only honed his scare-crafting chops to the sharpest of edges and is having a blast doing it. It makes for a satisfying thrill ride of jaw-dropping horror and unrelenting dread; a perfect Halloween treat for those in need of a good scare — or twenty.” – Meagan Navarro, Bloody Disgusting
2022 / USA / 103m / Col / Psychological | IMDb
Mia Goth, David Corenswet, Tandi Wright, Matthew Sunderland, Emma Jenkins-Purro, Alistair Sewell, Amelia Reid, Gabe McDonnell, Lauren Stewart, Todd Rippon
“Pearl is notable for its bright colours, its bold emotions, its commitment to atmosphere and style and character, but it’s Goth that makes it remarkable. It could’ve been a low-rent prequel, the sort of thing you’d expect as a special feature on a DVD release, but instead, West and Goth have made an honest-to-God drama. It’s not seamless. It’s not a perfect pastiche. It’s a little slow, even by West’s standards. But damn if it isn’t something artful in a genre that’s so often as commercial as they come.” – Aren Bergstrom, 3 Brothers Film
Genres: Psychological Horror, Family Drama, Southern Gothic, Slasher, Period Drama, Melodrama, Black Comedy
1991 / Hong Kong / 91m / Col / Martial Arts | IMDb
Siu-Wong Fan, Mei Sheng Fan, Ka-Kui Ho, Yukari ôshima, Chi-leung Chan, Tetsurô Tanba, Gloria Yip, Philip Kwok, Bill Lung Biu, Yiu-Sing Cheung
“A martial arts film like no other, with characters’ fists not just making full contact with their opponents’ bodies, but actually going through them. When one person in ‘The Story of Ricky’ threatens to turn another ‘into mincemeat’ or to cut them ‘into little pieces’, their words are meant all too literally… Based on a popular Japanese manga, and released in 1991, ‘The Story of Ricky’ has the honour of being the first totally sex-free Hong Kong film to receive a Category 3 rating (equivalent to the 18 certificate here). Apart from ‘Ichi the Killer’, it is the only live-action film ever to capture the anarchic, excessive, highly stylised violence of manga… a truly visceral film that will leave you feeling battered and bruised, but strangely liberated nonetheless.” – Anton Bitel, Movie Gazette
1938 / France / 104m / BW / War | IMDb
Victor Francen, Line Noro, Marie Lou, Jean-Max, Paul Amiot, Jean-Louis Barrault, Marcel Delaître, Renée Devillers, Romuald Joubé, André Nox
“This is a powerful film that leaves quite an impression. Gance told the French government that the film could be used as a recruiting tool, so they allowed him to film at the front (he captured part of the Battle of St. Mihiel) and the footage was used in the movie. He was also able to use soldiers on leave as extras in the climactic scene where the dead come back to life. Most of the men used in this scene were in the army and were tragically killed weeks later. Still, they had seen battle in the trenches of France and you can tell by the looks on their faces that they weren’t acting so much as reacting to what they had experienced.” – John Sinnott, DVD Talk
1911 / Italy / 71m / BW / Fantasy | IMDb
Salvatore Papa, Arturo Pirovano, Giuseppe de Liguoro, Pier Delle Vigne, Augusto Milla, Attilio Motta, Emilise Beretta
“Italy’s first feature-length film… [it] reportedly took in more than $2 million at the U.S. box office, and proved audiences worldwide were willing to sit through a long-form film in one shot. What may have helped keep audiences attentive was Dante’s story and risqué material that’s still quite provocative: this first film version of The Divine Comedy features partial nudity and magnificently surreal images which undoubtedly influenced future filmmakers with its vivid mise-en-scene. The film’s legendary production phase includes a nearly 3 year period, a large cast and meticulous sets, and clever optical effects which may seem charming but are quite innovative.” – Mark R. Hasan, KQEK.com
Genres: Fantasy, Horror, Trick Film, Religious Film, Surrealism
2016 / USA / 81m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Teresa Palmer, Gabriel Bateman, Alexander DiPersia, Billy Burke, Maria Bello, Alicia Vela-Bailey, Andi Osho, Rolando Boyce, Maria Russell, Elizabeth Pan
“Lights Out is a completely “by the numbers” scare fest that could have gone the way of any number of popcorn time-killers that we see come and go, if they get release at all. This efficient 81 minute gem however, had the great good fortune of Sandburg’s surprisingly fresh use of almost every horror trope, risking a “been there, seen that” reaction from even casual fans of the genre. The expertise of Wan’s touch as Producer, combined with Sandburg’s unapologetic pull all the stops out delivery of a rudimentary story amounts to so very much more than that.” – Daniel McDonald, Addicted to Horror Movies
2014 / USA / 102m / Col / Black Comedy | IMDb
Michael Parks, Justin Long, Genesis Rodriguez, Haley Joel Osment, Johnny Depp, Harley Morenstein, Ralph Garman, Jennifer Schwalbach Smith, Harley Quinn Smith, Lily-Rose Melody Depp
“The first two-thirds of Tusk is arguably the best film Kevin Smith has both written or directed. The dialogue feels more natural and distinctly menacing, he commands the camera like an auteur, and the performances from all involved are especially strong for this genre… If you are looking for an absurd yet original horror-comedy, Tusk mostly fills this void. The performances are all top-notch and, even though the last act spirals out of control a bit, the story is consistently engaging throughout. While this might not be Kevin Smith’s best work, it is by far the strongest direction from his storied career and all of the words I could muster would still not do the film’s story justice. Tusk demands to be seen to be believed.” – Aaron Peterson, The Hollywood Outsider
2013 / UK / 90m / Col / Historical Drama | IMDb
Julian Barratt, Peter Ferdinando, Richard Glover, Ryan Pope, Reece Shearsmith, Michael Smiley, Sara Dee
“With A Field In England Wheatley and his regular writing partner (and wife) Amy Jump aren’t just outside the box – they’ve erupted way out of the storage depot… Before long we have runestones, magic-mushroom visions, much talk of alchemy and stolen manuscripts; there’s a black mirror that becomes an earth-engulfing planet and a man who’s shot dead, resurrected and killed again. All shot in moody, portentous black-and-white widescreen, bleak and beautiful, while Jim Williams’ nervy, percussive score deepens the sense of nameless foreboding. Does it work? For the most part, yes; though at times you may feel you’re being fed obscurity for obscurity’s sake… But one thing’s for sure: bracingly bold and (surely) inimitable, A Field In England is like no other movie you’ve ever seen.” – Phillip Kemp, Total Film
2016 / Canada / 90m / Col / Body Horror | IMDb
Aaron Poole, Kenneth Welsh, Daniel Fathers, Kathleen Munroe, Ellen Wong, Mik Byskov, Art Hindle, Stephanie Belding, James Millington, Evan Stern
“This throwback to John Carpenter/Clive Barker horror films is completely insane, horribly acted, and totally great for anybody who likes their horror served up with a side of cheese… the style of the movie, which features schlocky special effects, and both over- and under- acting, makes the whole mess work in an effective horror revival sort of way. If you hate horror films full of blood and puss where skinless doctors are bellowing devilish incantations, this one isn’t for you. If you are a fan of the recent Stranger Things and the Carpenter fare of old, this one will satisfy you.” – Bob Grimm, Reno News and Review
1988 / USA / 88m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
Donald Pleasence, Ellie Cornell, Danielle Harris, George P. Wilbur, Michael Pataki, Beau Starr, Kathleen Kinmont, Sasha Jenson, Gene Ross, Carmen Filpi
“Director Little manages to evoke some sense of tension every so often, with Loomis’ attempts to warn police about Myers re-entering Haddonfield, while Jamie and Rachel become victim to Michael’s murderous rampage. Once again under Akkad’s presence, Michael becomes another routine masked slasher who has a knack for doling out some painful murders, and “The Return” is changes its narrative mid-way from a stalk and slash to a suspenseful mission involving Rachel’s efforts to keep Jamie alive. While it’s definitely not the best of the series, it’s an entertaining slasher film with a very good final scene that stands out among the other titles in the series.” – Felix Vasquez Jr., Cinema Crazed
2000 / USA / 109m / Col / Science Fiction | IMDb
Vin Diesel, Radha Mitchell, Cole Hauser, Keith David, Lewis Fitz-Gerald, Claudia Black, Rhiana Griffith, John Moore, Simon Burke, Les Chantery
“Weirdly cool, coolly weird, assembled with throwaway flair from cast-off sci-fi-thriller pistons and gears… Pitch Black is so jaunty, so limber, and so visually self-assured that art peeks through where crap has traditionally made its home… Rarely has the unknown looked so grubby and yet so beautiful; rarely have crash landings felt so visceral. Besides, the movie’s outlaw aesthetics liberate relatively unknown actors to make the most out of characters sketchier than guests on the Enterprise.” – Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
1996 / USA / 92m / Col / Black Comedy | IMDb
Corbin Bernsen, Linda Hoffman, Michael Stadvec, Ken Foree, Tony Noakes, Molly Hagan, Patty Toy, Jan Hoag, Virginya Keehne, Earl Boen
“The film also has truly disturbing gore effects, the majority of which is a type that isn’t often seen in horror, mouth trauma. One of this film’s trademarks is a camera shot in which it appears the camera is inside the mouth looking at Feinstone’s work or is attached to the tool he’s using. You are right there, up close and personal, when he pulls a tooth, cuts the gums, cuts into the tongue, rips out teeth, or tries to rip a jaw open. Feinstone’s murderous mayhem, though, isn’t exclusive to oral injuries as he dispatches other people using such tactics as strangling, stabbing, and blunt force trauma to the head. The overall result is a series of truly grisly dental procedures and violent acts that are more than enough to put the viewer on edge.” – James Lasome, Best Horror Movies
2014 / Canada / 89m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
Minnie Driver, Meat Loaf, Allie MacDonald, Douglas Smith, Kent Nolan, Brandon Uranowitz, Ephraim Ellis, Melanie Leishman, Thomas Alderson, James McGowan
“Funny, bloody and graced with an original musical score, this send up of the slasher genre is like Hairspray fused with Friday the 13th and TV’s Glee. The talented cast certainly get into the groove with their kooky characters, while the gore on offer might be a turn off for some (as its not strictly played for laughs). Horror fans will get a chuckle out of the film references (some very obscure), while Meat Loaf fans will get a thrill from seeing the Bat Out of the Hell legend bellow out a couple of witty toons.” – Peter Fuller, What’s on TV
1983 / Hong Kong / 105m / Col / Martial Arts | IMDb
Somjai Boomsong, Tien-Chu Chin, Phillip Ko, You-hsing Lai, Wai Lam, Hak Shun Leung, Chih Tai Lin, Xiaoyen Lin, Chun Liu, Han-yuan Ma
“The Boxer’s Omen is a hell of an experience and it should really be right up there with the likes of Evil Dead 2, Hausu, Phantasm, Suspiria, and anything Jodorowsky made, but it’s still relatively obscure. Director Kuei Chih-Hung’s filmography is made up mostly of crime-thrillers, but his 70s/80s work consists of sick horrors like brutal Snakesploitation shocker The Killer Snakes (1975), Corpse Mania (1981) and Bewitched (1981), which I was surprised to find that The Boxer’s Omen was actually a sequel to. There is a strong visual flair throughout the movie, especially during the more magical scenes that enhance the surrealism and make you believe in what you’re seeing — even if what you’re seeing is clearly a cheap rubber spider biting into somebody’s face.” – Chris Purdie, Mondo Exploito
2017 / UK / 92m / Col / Musical | IMDb
Ella Hunt, Malcolm Cumming, Sarah Swire, Christopher Leveaux, Ben Wiggins, Marli Siu, Mark Benton, Paul Kaye, Ella Jarvis, Calum Cormack
“The playful spirit of “Anna and the Apocalypse” extends to its cinematography, where it swings wildly from colorful spaces like the Christmas show stage to the greyest shade of grim outside during the zombie invasion. Those visual contrasts amp up the already odd coupling of death, destruction, high kicks and high notes. In a saner movie, those two different color palettes may have looked too jarring but it works in the movie to play up the chaos—much of which takes place off-screen or in quick doctored shots of the town. What the movie lacks in budget, it makes up with spunk.” – Monica Castillo, RogerEbert.com
1987 / USA / 97m / Col / Science Fiction | IMDb
Kyle MacLachlan, Michael Nouri, Claudia Christian, Clarence Felder, Clu Gulager, Ed O’Ross, William Boyett, Richard Brooks, Larry Cedar, Katherine Cannon
“With a fantastic blend of wit and horror, The Hidden is a surprisingly overlooked flick from the ‘80s that would have gone well paired with They Live or some of Fred Dekker’s past films. There’s an absurdity to the whole thing that makes the film laughable; but then again, The Hidden might be seen in a more morbid light by our post-9/11 audiences, especially when it comes to the multiple scenes of aimless violence the alien commits. Even decades later, the film remains relatable, despite the obvious tale of fiction it presents.” – Ryne Barber, Horror News
1994 / USA / 91m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Reggie Bannister, A. Michael Baldwin, Bill Thornbury, Gloria Lynne Henry, Kevin Connors, Cindy Ambuehl, John Davis Chandler, Brooks Gardner, Angus Scrimm, Irene Roseen
“Being a bizarre blend of such all over the place tones and incongruous concepts is par for the course when it comes to “Phantasm.” And here’s the thing about being three movies deep into the series: By this point, you either “get” the “Phantasm” films, or you don’t. Not in a logic or narrative sense, mind you. No one “gets” that, not even creator Don Coscarelli, who can’t seem to keep his own continuity consistent from one scene to the next. Rather, revisiting these misfit characters and their weird world carries a magnetic appeal that can be difficult to articulate to anyone outside its influence, no matter if the movie is mediocre.” – Ian Sedensky, Culture Crypt
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
1983 / USA / 13m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Michael Jackson, Ola Ray, Vincent Price, Hanala Sagal
“MTV played mostly music videos in [their] early days, but no one had yet considered the possibility of merging filmmaking and music in the way that Jackson envisioned. With co-producer Jones, Jackson enlisted John Landis… to direct what many believe remains the greatest music video ever. The video would run 14 minutes, essentially a miniature feature film that cost $800,000 to make — an astonishing figure at the time… You watched it for the brilliant music. Kids danced in front of their televisions when Mom and Dad weren’t looking, trying to capture even a fraction of Jackson’s grace and power. And through it all was that heart-stopping plot.” – Mike Celizic, TODAY Entertainment
1997 / USA / 89m / Col / Natural Horror | IMDb
Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Jon Voight, Eric Stoltz, Jonathan Hyde, Owen Wilson, Kari Wuhrer, Vincent Castellanos, Danny Trejo, Frank Welker
“To watch “Anaconda” is to get the impression that there is only one snake in the entire rain forest and that it’s been waiting its whole life for a chance to devour Eric Stoltz, Jennifer Lopez and Ice Cube. The three play the leaders of the expedition, who are traveling with their crew by barge, looking for the lost tribe. But those actors are mere window dressing for the main attraction of “Anaconda,” Jon Voight, who does to the scenery what the snake does to the supporting players. He plays Sarone, a Paraguayan snake trapper who’s rescued by the crew. Voight gets ethnic in a shameless way reminiscent of Al Pacino in “Scarface.” He turns the corners of his mouth down so far that it’s impossible to tell if he’s smiling or sneering… He is the movie’s all-purpose embodiment of mystery and destruction, and as such he provides some of the most deliriously absurd moments in the picture.” – Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
1964 / USA / 94m / Col / Home Invasion | IMDb
Olivia de Havilland, James Caan, Jennifer Billingsley, Rafael Campos, William Swan, Jeff Corey, Ann Sothern
“Usually lumped with the other ‘hag horror’ films after What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? by virtue of the presence of golden-age screen star Olivia de Havilland, Lady in a Cage is actually an upscale version of marginal movies like The Sadist – realistic accounts of everyday atrocious crimes in the modern world. Tricked up with blatant criticisms of contemporary society, Luther Davis and Walter Grauman’s film can’t escape an essential sickness: Like its low-grade drive-in competition, it is first and foremost an exercise in sordid exploitation.” – Glenn Erickson, DVDTalk
1991 / France / 99m / Col / Black Comedy | IMDb
Pascal Benezech, Dominique Pinon, Marie-Laure Dougnac, Jean-Claude Dreyfus, Karin Viard, Ticky Holgado, Anne-Marie Pisani, Boban Janevski, Mikael Todde, Edith Ker
“Set to the cadence and meanderings of a truly odd household of inmates/tenants, Delicatessen cunningly unfolds a futuristic domain of perverse gadgets and their owners who, in turn, run amok in a macabre and highly melancholy manner. Brutal machinery and fragile humanity are forever at odds, with love and devotion the only chance for survival. But can the cannibal elite of the tenement repel the attack of the subversive troglodytes? The juxtaposition of themes becomes increasingly delirious… Sure to be heralded as a masterpiece of vision and not merely a cult film, Delicatessen is so laden with humor and madness, brutality and tenderness, viewers will be left dumbstruck by the sheer style of the adventure alone.” – Roger Hurlburt, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
1989 / Australia / 96m / Col / Thriller | IMDb
Nicole Kidman, Sam Neill, Billy Zane, Rod Mullinar, Joshua Tilden, George Shevtsov, Michael Long, Lisa Collins, Paula Hudson-Brinkley, Sharon Cook
“There are elements here of an Arthur Conan Doyle short story, in which travellers stumble upon evidence of weird and terrible deeds in strange, exotic locations. Fear mounts as mystery thickens. The unknown, the unthinkable, creates a terror far worse than living reality… Phillip Noyce directs a tense thriller from the skeleton of old ideas. He is helped by Zane’s menacing performance and solid, imaginative acting from Kidman in her first starring role. John appears determined, resourceful and, as is so often the case with Neill, a little starched.” – Angus Wolfe Murray, EyeForFilm
2023 / USA / 106m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
Patrick Dempsey, Ty Olsson, Gina Gershon, Lynne Griffin, Karen Cliche, Nell Verlaque, Rick Hoffman, Derek McGrath, Katherine Trowell, Jalen Thomas Brooks
“A couple of kills feature spilled entrails, a shopping cart scalping, severed body parts, and someone salted, seasoned and roasted in an industrial oven. Other than that last one, nothing gets too over-the-top outrageous, although the tone includes several other splashes of dark comedy, such as one victim being unable to swipe open her phone due to blood smearing the screen or have it recognize her mangled face, as reminders that “Thanksgiving” isn’t meant to be gulped down with strict seriousness. It’s more of a fast food “cheat meal” for fear fans who want something flavorful that’s not necessarily nutritious.” – Ian Sedensky, Culture Crypt
Genres: Slasher, Teen Movie, Satire, Splatter, Black Comedy, Horror Comedy, Whodunit
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
1994 / USA / 93m / BW / Vampire | IMDb
Elina Löwensohn, Nic Ratner, Karl Geary, Peter Fonda, Martin Donovan, Jack Lotz, Galaxy Craze, David Lynch, Isabel Gillies, José Zúñiga
“Almereyda uses New York clubs as the backdrop for this vampire saga — a stroke of genius — much the way Jean Cocteau did when, in “Orphee,” he set the myth of Orpheus among a group of squabbling Left Bank poets — as a means of giving a classic story a sharp, contemporary edge. Almereyda shares some of Cocteau’s sense of film as a magic plaything. Shot in hallucinatory black-and-white by Jim Denault — who also works the Pixelvision camera used in some sequences — the film has an atmosphere that fluctuates between languid and hysterical. Visually, it’s a thrilling movie, gorgeously, hypnotically textured. Images fly in from all over—a snippet of Bela Lugosi’s Rorschach eyebrows, a few frames of a ravishing peasant girl, a grainy long shot of a skulking, caped figure — as if Almereyda had found a way of patching directly into the collective pop id.” – Hal Hinson, Washington Post
1986 / USA / 77m / Col / Science Fiction | IMDb
Kelli Maroney, Tony O’Dell, Russell Todd, Karrie Emerson, Barbara Crampton, Nick Segal, John Terlesky, Suzee Slater, Paul Bartel, Mary Woronov
“So even if Chopping Mall has horrible characters played by almost uniformly poor actors; it’s still made with a seriousness of purpose and a focus missing in most of its competition. The killbots themselves are a tiny miracle of low-budget production and design, legitimately menacing all the more because they don’t seem to be off in some sci-fi wonderland, and because the puppeteers (and Wynorski, who provided their deep monotone, weirdly amusing voices) put so much little touches into their movements, giving these featureless, emotionless machines more legitimate personality than any of the humans involved. It is a ridiculous film that is above ridicule, and a film that manages to gather up seemingly every current in 1980s genre cinema into one nimble package, in short, and despite a somewhat too-long Final Girl sequence, it does this all without ever dragging. It does not talk down to us, or assume that we are idiots – it knows that it is goofy, but it does not therefore mock itself or ask to be mocked.” – Tim Brayton, Antagony & Ecstasy
2002 / USA / 119m / Col / Psychological | IMDb
Richard Gere, David Eigenberg, Bob Tracey, Ron Emanuel, Debra Messing, Tom Stoviak, Yvonne Erickson, Scott Nunnally, Harris Mackenzie, Will Patton
“”The Mothman Prophecies,” delves into numerous sightings that occurred in Point Pleasant in the 1960s. But director Mark (“Arlington Road”) Pellington’s stylishly eerie movie would be just as effective without this knowledge. Using shadows and strikingly designed sounds, he skillfully creates an atmosphere of otherworldly, invisible menace. Gere and Linney, both solid, dance around the edges of a romance. Alan Bates contributes a juicy cameo as a spooked-out scientist. Pellington knows, as did the 1940s master of horror Val Lewton, that what you don’t see can raise far more goose bumps than what you do.” – David Ansen, Newsweek
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
1991 / USA / 90m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
Justin Whalin, Perrey Reeves, Jeremy Sylvers, Travis Fine, Dean Jacobson, Brad Dourif, Peter Haskell, Dakin Matthews, Andrew Robinson, Burke Byrnes
“More than ever, the kills are played for a laugh at the sound of Chucky cackling. This one is much closer in tone to the sequel than to the original because the doll is fully shown and lit. He can still pull a shiver, but he’s getting harder to take seriously… If you accept to trade chills for fun, cheese and one-liners, Child’s Play 3 might meet most of your expectations. Sure, it’s the laziest in the trilogy, takes a couple of shortcuts when it needs to move its characters from one place to another, and the finale is implausibly rushed, but as long as you suspend disbelief, you should enjoy yourself. If animatronics don’t do it, the body count will.” – Steve Hutchison, Tales of Terror
Genres: Slasher, Supernatural Horror, Black Comedy, Puppetry, Evil Doll
2011 / Spain / 92m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Alexis Díaz de Villegas, Jorge Molina, Andros Perugorría, Andrea Duro, Jazz Vilá, Eliecer Ramírez, Blanca Rosa Blanco, Susana Pous, Antonio Dechent, Eslinda Núñez
“Cuba’s first zombie flick gives a twist of rum-soaked lime and shuffle-stepped tango to the social satire of George A Romero’s Dawn of the Dead, while also observing the post-modern metacinematic savvy of Edgar Wright’s Shaun of the Dead. For when Brugués is not using the revenant deceased as a prism through which to affectionately lampoon half a century of Cuban history, he is either pastiching everything from the shark-on-zombie action of Lucio Fulci’s Zombie Flesh Eaters to the priest who likes to ‘kick ass for the Lord’ in Peter Jackson’s Braindead, or having his characters pose such daftly crucial genre questions as why, when it comes to the post-millennial living dead, ‘some are fast and some are slow.'” – Anton Bitel, Little White Lies
1989 / USA / 101m / Col / Black Comedy | IMDb
Tom Hanks, Bruce Dern, Carrie Fisher, Rick Ducommun, Corey Feldman, Wendy Schaal, Henry Gibson, Brother Theodore, Courtney Gains, Gale Gordon
“The ‘Burbs may look, feel and seem like a simple movie, and the outset of things it is. It relies on out-of-the-box comedy methods like pratfalls and wacky dialogue delivery to help Dana Olsen’s well-conceived script, but it succeeds on the most basic level of taking ordinary people and putting them in an extra-ordinary situation. Just like a genre classic like Ghostbusters, The ‘Burbs is is laugh-out-loud hilarious because you can see something of yourself and the life around you in this series of very bizarre events.” – Luke Owen, Flickering Myth
1994 / USA / 96m / Col / Science Fiction | IMDb
Edward Furlong, Frank Langella, T. Ryder Smith, Amy Hargreaves, James Marsh, Victor Ertmanis, David Hemblen, Vlasta Vrana, Domenico Fiore, Claire Riley
“Brainscan is an interesting and engaging film because it takes the violent images so often present in the games, movies, and music popular with teenagers today and uses them to create a moral dilemma for Michael when his violent fantasies start to become reality. Like many of his peers, Michael does not have much of a support system in the outside world, and he is devastated when his inner world becomes a gothic nightmare. Edward Furlong gives a powerful performance as Michael, providing the complexity necessary for his role to work. Sometimes he has the steely-eyed look of a serial killer as he goes through the grisly paces of the Brainscan game or defends his interest in horror movies to his school principal. On the other hand, he shows the vulnerability of a lonely teenager, awkward in social situations with girls which causes him to escape into a world of vicarious sexual desire, embarrassed by his deformity and slight lisp, horrified by what is happening to him, and retreating into his fantasy world of media when unwilling to deal with the real world.” – Chucks Connection
2014 / Ireland / 92m / Col / Psychological | IMDb
Antonia Campbell-Hughes, Rupert Evans, Steve Oram, Kelly Byrne, Hannah Hoekstra, Calum Heath, Maura Foley, Carl Shaaban, Anneke Blok, Serena Brabazon
“The Canal is a classic ghost story, one that burns slow but with might. It requires extreme patients but offers some extremely unsettling rewards. Kavanagh delivers haunting imagery mixed with stunning camerawork. As Evans’ character loses his mind, he’s being haunted by a “shadow” of an old man, one who appears in chilling nightmares and in the background of footage. Kavanagh’s film relies heavily on the atmosphere and mood to create suspense, and the constant bizarre imagery and tremendous sound design help deliver in spades. And while The Canal is brooding, it will test the patients of some viewers, and could really use a more impactful finale. Still, it’s refreshing to see a filmmaker show such restraint and put together such an old-school genre haunter.” – Brad Miska, Bloody Disgusting
2012 / UK / 118m / Col / Vampire | IMDb
Saoirse Ronan, Barry Cassin, Gemma Arterton, David Heap, Warren Brown, Ruby Snape, Thure Lindhardt, Jenny Kavanagh, Glenn Doherty, Edyta Budnik
“Nearly 20 years after Interview with the Vampire, director Neil Jordan returns to the land of the living dead with Byzantium, the tale of a mother-daughter vampire duo whose 200-year history is threatened when their existence comes to light. Though much surer in tone than its predecessor, this is not quite as far from the Tom Cruise-Brad Pitt, big-budget razzle-dazzle as it would appear on the surface. While certainly made on a much smaller scale, Byzantium shares the earlier movie’s gorgeous look, signature Jordan lyrical touches and the material again focuses on the brooding nature of its central characte… this is a romantic, sensual, bloody good time of a movie for sophisticated adults.” – Richard Knight, Windy City Times
1942 / USA / 67m / BW / Monster | IMDb
Lon Chaney Jr., Cedric Hardwicke, Ralph Bellamy, Lionel Atwill, Bela Lugosi, Evelyn Ankers, Janet Ann Gallow, Barton Yarborough, Doris Lloyd, Leyland Hodgson
“Overall Ghost of Frankenstein is a better movie than if often gets credited for. While this might be the weakest of the series (ignoring the crossover movies) it’s still a pretty good movie with solid characters and solid acting. While Lon Chaney isn’t anywhere near the level of Karloff as the Monster, Chaney still delivers an excellent take on the Monster and with a strong cast Ghost of Frankenstein is a fun B-Movie and while it may not reach the epic of heights of past Frankenstein films it does provide a fun time.” – Last Road Reviews
1971 / Italy / 104m / Col / Giallo | IMDb
Michael Brandon, Mimsy Farmer, Jean-Pierre Marielle, Bud Spencer, Aldo Bufi Landi, Calisto Calisti, Marisa Fabbri, Oreste Lionello, Fabrizio Moroni, Corrado Olmi
“The little-seen Four Flies on Grey Velvet is perhaps most remarkable for it’s unusual spiritual underpinnings and Dario Argento’s deft attention for sexual signifiers. The title of this third and final film in Argento’s “animal trilogy” is as egregious as the weird science that literalizes the eye as a photographic camera… If Argento’s signature use of a black-gloved killer is noticeably absent, this is compensated by the presence of [Michael] Brandon himself, whose striking features recall those of the giallo director’s. There isn’t much to Four Flies on Grey Velvet besides pent-up rage though much of the film’s sexual frenzy prefigures themes from Deep Red.” – Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine
2013 / Israel / 110m / Col / Thriller | IMDb
Lior Ashkenazi, Rotem Keinan, Tzahi Grad, Doval’e Glickman, Menashe Noy, Dvir Benedek, Kais Nashif, Nati Kluger, Ami Weinberg, Guy Adler
“With a revenge drama core exploded from a theme of torture, “Big Bad Wolves” finds ways to walk a careful line by avoiding exploitation and exhibiting control. Less thoughtful efforts would be more graphic with the violence, and might opt to depict the murdered child centerpiece as a bloodied corpse without its head. “Big Bad Wolves” puts the camera elsewhere. Showing a trail of gummy worms ending in pulled down panties is less direct, yet more psychologically effective at evoking horror in as demure a manner as is cinematically possible. The movie demonstrates restraint when needed, humor when wanted, and stunning imagery constantly. Above all, it delivers gripping action, divisive personalities, and memorable setpieces.” – Ian Sedensky, Culture Crypt
1932 / USA / 68m / BW / Adventure | IMDb
Boris Karloff, Lewis Stone, Karen Morley, Charles Starrett, Myrna Loy, Jean Hersholt, Lawrence Grant, David Torrence
“The Mask Of Fu Manchu is a typical MGM production, with a headlining star, a name supporting cast, and lavish production values… There is a tendency these days to think of “back then” as a more innocent time; but even a brief examination of the films of the pre-Production Code era should be enough to dispel that misguided notion. The few years between the coming of sound and the crackdown in censorship from 1934 onwards saw the release of numerous films featuring a quite staggering degree of cruelty and perversion… Where The Mask Of Fu Manchu is likely to blindside modern audiences is in the explicit sexual sadism of Fu Manchu’s daughter, Fah Lo See.” – Liz Kingsley, And You Call Yourself a Scientist!?
2009 / Ireland / 90m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Aidan Gillen, Eva Birthistle, Timothy Spall, Ella Connolly, Ruth McCabe, Brian Gleeson, Amelia Crowley, Dan Gordon, Tommy McArdle, John McArdle
“Wake Wood is the latest evidence that new-model Hammer is harking back to a less atrocity-driven style of horror, built on an accumulation of creepy atmosphere rather than the systematic subjection of disposable teenagers to gruesome ordeals – though there’s no shortage of splatter here… [Keating] directs with a merciful lack of such modern horror tropes as herky-jerky editing and overemphatic score – the soundtrack here leans towards a peculiar pagan-like percussion, echoing the equally peculiar village ritual of banging sticks together. In fact, it’s the oddness of the rituals that provides the film with its most original aspects, combining elements of blood, earth and fire with the caesarean process” – Anne Billson, The Arts Desk
2011 / UK / 112m / Col / Drama | IMDb
Tilda Swinton, John C. Reilly, Ezra Miller, Jasper Newell, Rock Duer, Ashley Gerasimovich, Siobhan Fallon, Alex Manette, Kenneth Franklin, Leslie Lyles
“Tilda Swinton is the support of this film, offering a complicated look at a woman in trouble who has no idea how to deal with the problems life has dealt her. She rarely does the best thing for herself, her family and her community, but these choices are realistic. And that’s part of what’s so terrifying. The most chilling aspect of this film is how dangerous the world can be for anyone, even in the safest environments we can imagine. Even if you do everything right, tragedy can strike and do irrefutable harm to you and your loved ones. And there’s often no one to blame for this. It’s not an easy film to watch, but it’s a significant one. It will challenge your thoughts on family and humanity, and to keep ourselves vigilant, those thoughts should be challenged periodically.” – Kevin Carr, 7M Pictures
1997 / USA / 110m / Col / Monster | IMDb
Penelope Ann Miller, Tom Sizemore, Linda Hunt, James Whitmore, Clayton Rohner, Chi Muoi Lo, Thomas Ryan, Robert Lesser, Diane Robin, Lewis Van Bergen
“On paper The Relic probably reads like the kind of movie that would be made for the Syfy channel nowadays, but with a budget rumoured to be around the forty million dollar mark this was far from a B-grade cheapie, and director Peter Hyams used Hollywood’s fat cheque books to produce a slick, atmospheric and entertaining creature feature… Some twelve years after it was released The Relic isn’t fondly remembered by too many, which is a shame as it is a reasonably smart and well acted movie that doesn’t skimp on the essentials like creature action and gore and mixes its straighter faced drama with cheesy monster mayhem and genuinely atmospheric suspense sequences almost perfectly.” – Craig Villinger, Digital Retribution
2023 / USA / 93m / Col / Science Fiction | IMDb
Kaitlyn Dever, Elizabeth Kaluev, Zack Duhame, Lauren L. Murray, Geraldine Singer, Dane Rhodes, Daniel Rigamer, Evangeline Rose, Dari Lynn Griffin, Gabrielle Bordlee
“No One Will Save You is ninety minutes of pure creative, suspenseful, and creepy fun. Duffield keeps audiences on their toes and at the edge of their seats as he pivots around expectations and delivers something terrifyingly original. The visuals, score, and sound design work together in a masterful way to keep the momentum and the intensity high. Dever’s performance outshines everything and deserves to be rewarded in every way possible. In a world of films with bloated runtimes and dialogue to match, Duffield does the exact opposite and it has paid off.” – Ashley Saunders, Ashley & Company
Genres: Alien Invasion, Horror, Thriller, Science Fiction, Home Invasion, Psychological Drama
1933 / UK / 77m / BW / Mystery | IMDb
Boris Karloff, Cedric Hardwicke, Ernest Thesiger, Dorothy Hyson, Anthony Bushell, Kathleen Harrison, Harold Huth, D.A. Clarke-Smith, Ralph Richardson
“It is perhaps a happy series of accidents that led to the results here, but whatever the case, the film is richly melodramatic horror — with marvelous performances, a witty script, atmospheric direction and a surprising number of effective shocks — including a final scene for Karloff that may well be the grimmest and most startling moment in classic horror.” – Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress
1999 / USA / 103m / Col / Psychological | IMDb
Patricia Arquette, Gabriel Byrne, Jonathan Pryce, Nia Long, Thomas Kopache, Rade Serbedzija, Enrico Colantoni, Dick Latessa, Portia de Rossi, Patrick Muldoon
“Stigmata is a collection of moments that speak to the rapture of religion. Not Catholicism, but the cult of personality and perhaps the cult of film as well. It’s a voyeur’s shrine–the pictures we keep of beautiful people and profound images that don’t tie into any throughline save for some feeling of engagement with the universe of the self… deeply felt and faux-profound at once and, like all great Theater of the Absurd, able to highlight the extra-textual consequence of that tension. It’s a film of its time, more explicable as a marker of a digital moment and part of a contemporary sociological conversation; it works best freed from the responsibility to make literal sense.” – Walter Chaw, Film Freak Central
1913 / Germany / 85m / BW / Supernatural | IMDb
Paul Wegener, John Gottowt, Grete Berger, Lyda Salmonova, Lothar Körner, Fritz Weidemann, Hanns Heinz Ewers, Alexander Moissi
“One of the earliest films to leverage the camera, and film technology more generally, as means of expression in their own right (as opposed to ‘passive’ recording devices), The Student of Prague indicated a radical shift in the conception of the cinematic medium. The film brought to the screen a central motif of nineteenth-century fantastic literature, namely the figuration of the uncanny doppelganger as the embodiment of anxieties associated with the disintegration of a unified ‘self’ in a rapidly modernising world. In representing fears of psychic and social fragmentation and relating them to filmic reproduction, The Student of Prague scrutinises the uncertain status of modern subjectivity and acknowledges the cinematic medium as part of that very predicament.” – Katharina Loew, German Cinema: A Critical Filmography to 1945
2012 / Ireland / 84m / Col / Psychological | IMDb
Aneurin Barnard, James Cosmo, Wunmi Mosaku, Ian Hanmore, Amy Shiels, Ingrid Craigie, Pete Murphy, Jake Wilson, Chris Hegarty, Sandra McFadden
“Director Ciaran Foy – who found himself housebound following an attack – has constructed a lean and mean horror set in a shattered city that is both all-too-recognisable as broken Britain while also feeling totally alien. Barnard impresses as the shellshocked Tommy, crippled by his condition, yet drawing the strength from his unconditional love for his daughter to confront his barely human nemeses. Until the final reel, when there’s a half-hearted explanation for the feral delinquents, their presence is chillingly evoked, from sinister reflections in kettles and car doors to a solid menace distorted by frosted glass.” – Tim Evans, Sky Movies
1925 / USA / 86m / BW / Mystery | IMDb
Lon Chaney, Gertrude Olmstead, Hallam Cooley, Johnny Arthur, Charles Sellon, Walter James, Knute Erickson, George Austin, Edward McWade, Ethel Wales
“The Monster is the precursor for the tongue-in-cheek old-dark-house-with-malevolent-horror-star-as-host movie… The Monster is an oddity in the way it uses star Chaney. Chaney’s body of work goes a considerable distance in debunking his reputation as a “horror” actor. The few horror films Chaney appeared in are more aptly described as bizarre, densely psychological melodramas. The Monster, however, could serve as a prototype for a genre celebrity in a B-movie parody… The Monster is not great cinema, its not the best West, best Chaney, or best Old Dark House movie (James Whale would deliver that seven years later), but it is silent pulp and, in the right mindset, it can take you back to the days of milk duds and acne.” – Alfred Eaker, 366 Weird Movies
1971 / UK / 136m / Col / Science Fiction | IMDb
Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Michael Bates, Warren Clarke, John Clive, Adrienne Corri, Carl Duering, Paul Farrell, Clive Francis, Michael Gover
“”A Clockwork Orange” is about the rise and fall and rise of Alex in a world that is only slightly less dreadful than he is… Yet Kubrick has chosen to fashion this as the most elegantly stylized, most classically balanced movie he has ever made–and not, I think, by accident… It seems to me that by describing horror with such elegance and beauty, Kubrick has created a very disorienting but human comedy, not warm and lovable, but a terrible sum-up of where the world is at. With all of man’s potential for divinity through love, through his art and his music, this is what it has somehow boiled down to: a civil population terrorized by hoodlums, disconnected porno art, quick solutions to social problems, with the only “hope” for the future in the vicious Alex.” – Vincent Canby, New York Times
2006 / New Zealand / 87m / Col / Comedy | IMDb
Nathan Meister, Peter Feeney, Danielle Mason, Tammy Davis, Oliver Driver, Tandi Wright, Glenis Levestam, Nick Blake, Matthew Chamberlain, Nick Fenton
“Jonathan King’s Black Sheep, from New Zealand, has no doubt about the style of movie it is attempting to make: trash gothic. It duly makes it. A deadly chemical escapes from a South Island animal lab and turns sheep sociopathic. Never mind the silence of the lambs. Listen out for the bloodthirsty baa-ing of the man-eating ovines. The special effects are of the kind you could do at home with a bottle of ketchup and leg of mutton. The scream-ridden soundtrack is often drowned out by audience laughter. It is all good, camp fun.” – Nigel Andrews, Financial Times
1988 / USA / 113m / Col / Natural Horror | IMDb
Jason Beghe, John Pankow, Kate McNeil, Joyce Van Patten, Christine Forrest, Stephen Root, Stanley Tucci, Boo, Janine Turner, William Newman
“Horror fans have seen these things before, but to Romero’s credit where many filmmakers would use this story as a launching pad for gory set pieces and offer up a symphony of murder at the monkey’s hand, here the emphasis is more on the psychological aspect of things. As Allan breaks down we get inside his head a bit thanks to the genuinely strong performance from Jason Beghe. We don’t always like him but the movie is calculating enough to ensure that we do always understand him. This makes the more macabre scenes in which the murders do take place considerably more suspenseful than they would be had they just been simple gore films. As Allan’s anger grows and he starts to crack, the film does grow in intensity thanks to the character development that came before it starting to pay off in interesting ways.” – Ian Jane, DVDTalk
2005 / USA / 95m / Col / Comedy | IMDb
Balthazar Getty, Henry Rollins, Navi Rawat, Judah Friedlander, Josh Zuckerman, Jason Mewes, Jenny Wade, Krista Allen, Clu Gulager, Anthony ‘Treach’ Criss
“We’re introduced to our buffet of victims in unique style, as each cast member is presented with accompanying text giving their nickname (“Hero,” “Grandma,” “Bozo”), occupation, and life expectancy. Such an obvious goof on horror movie cliché nets some laughs, but might lead you to think you’re in for another excruciating post-modern genre wankfest. Such concern is unwarranted, happily, and the audience finds out rather quickly that everything presented in the first five minutes was a diversion, and absolutely no character is safe… This is a superior horror film. It hits hard and fast, letting up only to inject some black humor and amp up the tension again before coming back for more. “Feast” is nasty, brutish, and short, just like Hobbes said all horror flicks should be.” – Pete Vonder Haar, Film Threat
1970 / Italy / 88m / Col / Giallo | IMDb
Stephen Forsyth, Dagmar Lassander, Laura Betti, Jesús Puente, Femi Benussi, Antonia Mas, Luciano Pigozzi, Gérard Tichy, Verónica Llimera, Pasquale Fortunato
“Forsyth’s over the top performance, Bava’s impeccable direction, and the fantastic art design of the film combine to create a fun giallo to rival the best of the genre. While this film may not be the most original of his works, Hatchet for the Honeymoon certainly is one to check out. The pacing is very sprightly, and this makes for a great night’s viewing. There’s not too much gore, most of the violence is implied rather than splattered across the screen, but there’s enough to keep horror fans happy and placate the thriller fans who dig the occasional gruesome tableau.” – J. Hurtado, Twitchfilm
2012 / USA / 99m / Col / Comedy | IMDb
Chase Williamson, Rob Mayes, Paul Giamatti, Clancy Brown, Glynn Turman, Doug Jones, Daniel Roebuck, Fabianne Therese, Jonny Weston, Jimmy Wong
“The narrative’s constant tonal shifts do become numbing after a while and the final act is frustratingly formulaic, but when John Dies At The End fires all cylinders, it is a spectacular rush. Director Don Coscarelli (Bubba Ho-Tep, Phantasm) knows exactly how to pitch this type of story, cleverly balancing a novel mix of drug comedy, gory body horror, and OTT sci-fi. At its best the picture resembles a cross between Joss Whedon’s Buffy and Ghostbusters as directed by Terry Gilliam. At its worst, the film is a noisy, unintelligible mess. Occasionally it is both of those things at once. It’s the type of movie where a man’s moustache leaps off his face and flies around the room for no explainable reason. If you can’t embrace the weird then you will have some trouble.” – Richard Haridy, Quik Flix
1987 / USA / 92m / Col / Anthology | IMDb
Domenick John, Tom Savini, George Kennedy, Philip Dore, Kaltey Napoleon, Maltby Napoleon, Tyrone Tonto, Dorothy Lamour, Frank Salsedo, Holt McCallany
“The stories in “Creepshow 2” improve upon each other, and they’re all pretty good. “Old Chief Wood’nhead” and “The Raft” deliver the twists and carnage anticipated while still being dramatically cohesive, but it is “The Hitchhiker” that runs off with the glory. Fiendishly horrifying and hilariously acerbic, this third offering features one classic line and hair-raising situation after the next. – Dustin Putnam, The Movie Boy
2017 / USA / 98m / Col / Black Comedy | IMDb
Brianna Hildebrand, Alexandra Shipp, Jack Quaid, Kevin Durand, Timothy V. Murphy, Katie Stottlemire, Nicky Whelan, Elise Neal, Craig Robinson, Andy Bethea
“Although it’s largely a total shit-kicker of a satire on the 21st-century teenage dream of internet stardom, the reason MacIntyre’s movie really excels is down to his foundations. Underneath this all is a film about friendship and psychopathy – the two un-moveable core ideals of the teen and slasher genres in a nutshell. The rest is all stitched in over the top, diluted with enough playful horror in-jokes and whip-smart humour to keep you laughing all the way through to the finale. And if MacIntyre’s bang-on genre chops weren’t already enough to keep the dream alive, he’s supported by two of the finest female performances in recent genre history too.” – Ben Robins, HeyUGuys
1979 / USA / 102m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Talia Shire, Robert Foxworth, Armand Assante, Richard Dysart, Victoria Racimo, George Clutesi, Tom McFadden, Evans Evans, Burke Byrnes, Mia Bendixsen
“Prophecy is a widely respected monster movie amongst those that were around during its age. Although quite forgotten about and left behind since then, Prophecy was a gritty, violent, and deadly film that packed a death punch with very vivid, nightmarish special effects (as rubber as they were). Heads are bitten off and faces shredded beyond recognition as the local residents of a mountainside forest are eaten alive by a towering and deformed, bloodthirsty and vengeful bear… Realistic, dramatically acted, and supported with graphic violence, Prophecy is not easily forgotten – forging a professional horror film from the 70’s that holds its own and stands towering amidst the sub-genre from which it spawned.” – John Marrone, Bloody Disgusting
2004 / UK / 85m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
Vas Blackwood, Ken Campbell, Kathryn Gilfeather, Franka Potente, Grant Ibbs, Joe Anderson, Jeremy Sheffield, Sean De Vrind, Ian Duncan, Debora Weston
“”Creep” is a very atmospheric film, both in its early depiction of instantly recognisable London life, and its latter scenes of dark, oppressive tunnels that seem to have been influenced by the “Resident Evil” series of videogames. There are a good number of genuine scares, and the whole film has a claustrophobic feel which the director exploits to the full with uncomfortable moments, often involving the legions of rats which the creep seems to command. Similarly, in terms of blood, the film will certainly satisfy fans, with a good amount of splatter, and a couple of genuinely foul scenes that are sure to raise a shudder.” – James Mudge, Beyond Hollywood
2010 / Mexico / 90m / Col / Drama | IMDb
Francisco Barreiro, Adrián Aguirre, Miriam Balderas, Carmen Beato, Alan Chávez, Juan Carlos Colombo, Paulina Gaitan, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Miguel Ángel Hoppe, Raúl Kennedy
“Once under way, We Are What We Are is a long journey through an urban miasma to the end of a dark and bloody night, a modernist score adding to the anxiety around the invariably messy kills. This is a movie in which mise-en-scène trumps the suspense. Played out in shadowy streets, dilapidated overhead highways, grime-encrusted underpasses, and fetid clubs, We Are What We Are seems an organic product of Mexico City’s teeming sprawl. (There’s a hint of Buñuel’s Los Olvidados in its life-feeding-on-life Darwinian struggle.) The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls—or rather tonelessly chanted on a rattling train in a sequence providing the movie’s appropriately off-key lyrical interlude” – J. Hoberman, The Village Voice
1993 / USA / 109m / Col / Science Fiction | IMDb
D.B. Sweeney, Robert Patrick, Craig Sheffer, Peter Berg, Henry Thomas, Bradley Gregg, Noble Willingham, Kathleen Wilhoite, James Garner, Georgia Emelin
“What’s strange about Fire in the Sky is that it’s based on a true story. That’s what the makers of this movie want us to believe, anyway. On Nov. 5, 1975, in northeastern Arizona, Travis Walton was abducted by aliens. In the small fragment that he remembers of the five days and six hours that he was missing, he saw humanoids perform experiments on him… The movie is intentionally like a dramatized documentary. The producers want us to share their belief in Walton’s story. To make the story appear more believable, they use the real names of the loggers, shy away from fancy special effects that would distract the audience from the plot (the UFO looks like two pie-pans taped together, like Walton said it did), and, besides James Garner, don’t use any celebrity actors.” – John Jacobs, The Tech (MIT)
1993 / USA / 96m / Col / Anthology | IMDb
Jeffrey Combs, Tony Azito, Juan Fernández, Brian Yuzna, Bruce Payne, Belinda Bauer, Richard Lynch, Maria Ford, Peter Jasienski, Denice D. Lewis
“Anthologies must be difficult to create because there aren’t a lot of great ones out there. Necronomicon is a rare anthology that delivers the scares, gore, and Lovecraftian shenanigans in near-flawless fashion. It’s quite the accomplishment and one that I’m surprised isn’t placed on a similar pedestal as Re-animator and From Beyond. Brian Yuzna and Christophe Gans are such a perfect duo here with Shûsuke Kaneko completing the triad… In Necronomicon, the team have elevated the effectiveness of Lovecraft due to the fact that the short stories are given a chance to be just that; short.” – Matthew Caldwell, The Dark Spectrum
1973 / USA / 88m / Col / Science Fiction | IMDb
Yul Brynner, Richard Benjamin, James Brolin, Norman Bartold, Alan Oppenheimer, Victoria Shaw, Dick Van Patten, Linda Gaye Scott, Steve Franken, Michael T. Mikler
“In the 1970’s, writers were still being inspired by the technology of the Disneyland theme park attractions… The machines start breaking down in a pattern that spreads like a disease, thus predicting the computer virus, but calling it a “central mechanism psychosis”. Of course, this plot device was recycled for Jurassic Park… The long final act with the unstoppable robot with infra-red vision anticipates elements of The Terminator, Predator (right down to a crucial plot point), even the robo-vision of Robocop. In fact, the American Cinematographer articles about Westworld… point out that the gunslinger’s electronic viewpoint was the first [film] sequence to use actual computer imaging” – Mark Hodgson, Black Hole DVD Reviews
2008 / USA / 101m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Shiloh Fernandez, Noah Segan, Candice Accola, Eric Podnar, Jenny Spain, Andrew DiPalma, Nolan Gerard Funk, Michael Bowen, David Alan Graf, Susan Marie Keller
“A good deal of the effect of “Deadgirl” rests on the atmospheric widescreen cinematography by Harris Charalambouse, which belies what must have been an extremely low budget (the long tracking shots in which the camera prowls the underground tunnels beneath the asylum are honestly gripping), and Phillip Blackford’s editing, which isn’t afraid to take things slowly, though in the action moments it’s appropriately swift and abrupt. Effects-wise, the picture is hardly state-of-the-art, and in fact the level of gore is pretty modest compared to the avalanche of blood and innards that fans of torture-porn are accustomed to. The fact that it’s relatively subdued by modern standards may, in fact, limit the movie’s popularity among the gross-out crowd, at the same time that its storyline turns off more mainstream viewers. That would be too bad, because “Deadgirl” is, despite some weaknesses, a surprisingly effective character study dressed up as a grisly horror movie.” – Frank Swietek, One Guy’s Opinion
2015 / UK / 97m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Joseph Mawle, Bojana Novakovic, Michael McElhatton, Michael Smiley, Gary Lydon, Wren Hardy, Stuart Graham, Conor Craig Stephens, Joss Wyre, Charlotte Williams
“Being a cautionary tale about deforestation, The Hallow doubles as a horror-tinged allegory about the monstrous struggles of parenting and keeping a child alive. As a pure scare picture of the literal monster variety, it has a couple of jolts, one involving a tense attack on Clare in the attic, and goopy scenes involving a parasitic black fungus and the human eye are quite squirm-inducing, but director Corin Hardy really excels in building a measured sense of impending doom before unleashing his woodsy beasties. If the film spins its wheels a tad in the middle, The Hallow is still moody and sinister where it counts.” – Jeremy Kibler, Diabolique Magazine
1989 / Australia / 102m / Col / Psychological | IMDb
Rebecca Smart, Nicholas Eadie, Victoria Longley, Mary-Anne Fahey, Margaret Ricketts, Alexander Hutchinson, Adrian Mitchell, Callie Gray, Martin Sharman, Clair Couttie
“Calling Celia a macabre fairy tale isn’t quite accurate since the film isn’t overtly heightened; instead, it operates on a plane somewhere between history, reality, and the stuff of nightmares. Some might even take issue with considering it a horror movie since its more fantastical horror elements (the visions of the dead grandmother and the Hobya creatures) serve as metaphorical trimming for the film’s more grim horrors. Celia is a remarkably assured debut for writer/director Turner, who has only directed three features since; that’s quite a shame since Celia would seemingly hail the arrival of a truly distinctive, daring voice from Down Under. Unlike many Aussie genre offerings, Celia isn’t defined by the Ozploitation aesthetic, as it’s silky, evocative, and moody.” – Brett Gallman, Oh, the Horror!
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
1991 / USA / 88m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
Jeff Fahey, Lindsay Duncan, Kim Delaney, Zakes Mokae, Brad Dourif, John Walsh, Paul Ben-Victor, Peter Murnik, Nathaniel Moreau, Sarah Campbell
“One of the things about Body Parts that makes it so different from other horror films of the early nineties is its killer action sequences. Of course, there are tense and suspenseful moments in the film, but while other movies toil away in the undercurrent of dread that they work so hard to create, Body Parts leans on the gas with bar fights, car wrecks, and footraces. The whole film culminates in one of the most awesome car chases ever committed to film… Dikker’s score won him the 1992 Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films Saturn Award for Best Music, and the award is well-deserved” – James Jay Edwards, FilmFracture
1960 / Italy / 96m / Col / Gothic | IMDb
Pierre Brice, Scilla Gabel, Wolfgang Preiss, Dany Carrel, Herbert A.E. Böhme, Liana Orfei, Marco Guglielmi, Olga Solbelli, Alberto Archetti
“These aforementioned artistic elements work in layers to create the films overall sense of mood with Hans’s hallucination sequence being a primary example. After receiving a sedative from Dr. Bohlem, Hans begins to stumble from one room to the next, putting the mill’s bizarre architecture on full display. Pavoni, in turn, fills these rooms with shadows and occasional flashes of red or blue light which adds to the chilling atmosphere. Underlying this is Innocenzi’s score which uses its central motif to build tension, and piercing high pitched arrangements to punctuate terror, as Hans begins to unravel the mystery of the Mill through a series of spectral visions. In these scenes, like many others throughout the film, the combination of visuals and sound allow the film to take on a dreamlike quality that is both ominous as well as frightening.” – Bruce Jordan, Classic-Horror
2012 / Canada / 108m / Col / Body Horror | IMDb
Caleb Landry Jones, Sarah Gadon, Lisa Berry, Douglas Smith, Nenna Abuwa, Donna Goodhand, Adam Bogen, Salvatore Antonio, Matt Watts, Dawn Greenhalgh
“If David Cronenberg is the king of body horror, Brandon would be the king of body parts. Almost the entire film is shot in an uncomfortable close-up. Shots of hands, eyes, arms, and stomachs all fill the screen. It’s as if the film is invading your personal space, like it’s the virus trying to get inside of the audience, and it works very well. Not only is it visually disturbing at times, but you begin to feel uncomfortable with it seeming to be so close. Imagine trying to have the most interesting two hour conversation of your life with someone who stands inches away from you. You wouldn’t dare leave for fear of missing something important, but you squirm the entire time.” – Will Brownridge, The Film Reel
2009 / USA / 90m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
William Prael, Diane Ayala Goldner, Juan Fernández, Josh Stewart, Michael Reilly Burke, Andrea Roth, Karley Scott Collins, Madeline Zima, Haley Pullos
“Writer/director Dunstan, emerging from the ‘creative’ team behind a bevy of the Saw films, takes this relatively simple conceit and milks it for maximum chills. That said, much of the film’s gut-level effectiveness comes from his staging of some truly hideous moments; scenes involving fish-hooks, cockroaches, Alsatian guard dogs and bear traps go pretty close to crossing the line, as does the involvement of pre-teen actress Collins, who is party to several particularly heinous acts. (And cat owners…trust me, avoid at all costs) […] Collaborators on the film all seem at the top of their game – the film benefits from atmospheric, dreamlike lighting; Jerome Dillon’s music nods to electro-soundtrack maestros, Tangerine Dream; and restrained, precise editing, especially of scenes shot in slow-motion, adds to the overall ‘waking-nightmare’ impact.” – Simon Foster, Screen-Space
2003 / Japan / 112m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Ko Shibasaki, Shin’ichi Tsutsumi, Kazue Fukiishi, Anna Nagata, Atsushi Ida, Mariko Tsutsui, Kumiko Imai, Keiko Tomita, Kayoko Fujii, Yoshiko Noda
“At this point it’s easy to believe that the film has got itself bogged down in a mire of cliché, with no idea of where to go with its momentum. But then it pulls it all back with a series of added twists, and it eventually becomes clear that this is a different kind of beast altogether. The story keeps changing up on you until the very end, and I’m sure that when I watch this a second time I’ll spot a fair few things I missed on the first viewing. This is a good (if not quite excellent) film that cloaks its eccentricity in the hackneyed vocabulary of mainstream horror, with occasionally startling results.” – Ian Shone, Horror News
1983 / Netherlands / 95m / Col / Thriller | IMDb
Huub Stapel, Willeke van Ammelrooy, Josine van Dalsum, Liz Snoyink, Wiske Sterringa, Huib Broos, Pieter Lutz, Johan Hobo, Dick Scheffer, Matthias Maat
“Okay, so the fact that this film was made with one hundred percent sincerity is beautiful to me. It’s an absolutely ludicrous plot that is treated with complete seriousness on every level. The acting, editing, photography and effects are all top-notch for sure and who knows, maybe this wonderful little piece of Dutch exploitation trash will make you think twice and take the stairs next time.” – Michael Monterastelli, CHUD.com
2011 / USA / 86m / Col / Home Invasion | IMDb
Elizabeth Olsen, Adam Trese, Eric Sheffer Stevens, Julia Taylor Ross, Adam Barnett, Haley Murphy
“Co-directors Chris Kentis and Laura Lau, who were previously responsible for the low-fi video thriller Open Water (2004), stick close to La casa muda, the 2010 Uruguayan film they are remaking, including its gimmick of making the entire film appear to be a single, unbroken shot. Kentis and Lau display a real knack for how to milk goosey tension and a few genuine scares out of manipulating our perspective and without relying too heavily on musical accompaniment (they judiciously avoid slamming on the instruments when something suddenly appears in the frame). The single-take aesthetic eliminates one of the horror genre’s best (and most abused) tricks—the shock cut—but it creates a relentless vibe that more than makes up for it.” – James Kendrick, Q Network
2014 / USA / 86m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
Addison Timlin, Veronica Cartwright, Anthony Anderson, Travis Tope, Joshua Leonard, Andy Abele, Gary Cole, Edward Herrmann, Ed Lauter, Arabella Field
“Getting rid of the documentary style of the original and replacing the newscaster type narration voice over with a game Addison Timlin, THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN is a definite departure. The creatively shot flick can occasionally feel like overkill, yet it is refreshing to see a director try and liven up a slasher flick such as this. While the original was a more serious and thought provoking experience, this is a stylish and occasionally brutal true crime inspired feature. The impressive array of character actors adds a credibility factor to this horror show, and it all comes off far better than it could have.” – JimmyO, JoBlo
2018 / UK / 118m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Sidse Babett Knudsen, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Julian Barratt, Steve Oram, Jaygann Ayeh, Zsolt Páll, Richard Bremmer, Deborah Griffin, Fatma Mohamed, Susanna Cappellaro
“That aesthetic, of cheaply printed, hyper-saturated fashion catalogs, permeates every frame of In Fabric. Seemingly set at an indeterminate point in 1970s London (or, perhaps, a London in which the 1970s never ended), the film’s production design is an expertly curated assemblage of thrift store chic, all chunky plastic and shag in deep reds, greens, and wood tones. The world is recognizably our own, but the locations, costumes, and (especially) the dialogue are exaggerated just enough to be completely alien– yet subtle enough that you may do a double-take.” – Oscar Goff, Boston Hassle
1975 / Italy / 94m / Col / Rape and Revenge | IMDb
Flavio Bucci, Macha Méril, Gianfranco De Grassi, Enrico Maria Salerno, Marina Berti, Franco Fabrizi, Irene Miracle, Laura D’Angelo
“It’s easy to see why American distributors tried to associate it with the original Last House because it essentially plays out like a follow up with the exact same premise, with only the setting being different. That really isn’t how the film should ultimately be defined, though. It’s certainly derivative, but it also does a few things differently, mostly in the way of presentation. This film doesn’t take the raw, voyeuristic approach of Craven’s film; instead, it’s a much more stylish and moody piece that’s actually quite atmospheric at times. It’s a bit listless for the first half hour, but once night falls, the film becomes genuinely creepy and eerie. There’s a sort of bleakness that the film is able to capture, both in the train and outside of it, as even the landscapes seem desolate and lifeless.” – Brett Gallman, Oh, the Horror!
1981 / USA / 81m / Col / Science Fiction | IMDb
Edward Albert, Erin Moran, Ray Walston, Bernard Behrens, Zalman King, Robert Englund, Taaffe O’Connell, Sid Haig, Grace Zabriskie, Jack Blessing
“A crazy mish-mash of elements borrowed from the sci-fi blockbusters of years past (right down to Ray Walston as a Corman-styled Yoda) with a twist out of Forbidden Planet and Solaris (hand it to Corman to rip off high art and pulp cinema with equal vigor). But the budget-minded art direction (courtesy of a young production designer by the name of James Cameron) and special effects are engaging enough on their own thanks to the invention and creativity of hungry young filmmakers meeting the challenge… This is exploitation nirvana, weird and outrageous and silly and strangely compelling, delivering everything it promises without actually coming up with a coherent story” – Sean Axmaker, Parallax View
1961 / USA / 89m / Col / Gothic | IMDb
Ronald Lewis, Audrey Dalton, Guy Rolfe, Oskar Homolka, Vladimir Sokoloff, Erika Peters, Lorna Hanson
“While there is plenty of lurid subject matter throughout Mr. Sardonicus, the film would be nothing without its sinister gothic atmosphere, something that makes the film a perfect fit for a chilly October evening. There are castles hidden by twisted trees, graveyards nestled inside dead gardens, heavy shadows cast over the characters, and thick sheets of fog that hang heavy in the air and coil around like ghostly specters. Castle’s finishing touch is the rotten corpse that leers out from its open grave, a visual jolt that hits the viewer like a strong cup of coffee. There is no doubt that the people over at Hammer Studios were most likely smiling over what Castle achieved here. This atmosphere gives Mr. Sardonicus plenty of personality and on its own, it is enough to give the viewer goosebumps, but the make-up effects really make this picture a macabre affair.” – Steve Habrat, Anti-Film School
1932 / USA / 76m / BW / Mystery | IMDb
Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray, Lee Tracy, Preston Foster, John Wray, Harry Beresford, Arthur Edmund Carewe, Leila Bennett, Robert Warwick, George Rosener
“The film’s a comedy for most of its running time, but that melts away for the most part as the last act reveals the criminal mastermind. We’re treated to a lengthy sequence showing how the villain transforms himself by means of ‘synthetic flesh’, which he hauntingly repeats as he rubs goo over his face. Director Michael Curtiz delves into dreamlike imagery for this sequence, and lets the killer’s body modification glow in unearthly oranges and with horrifying delight. The sequence has been called ‘Cronnenberg-esque’ by many, and its hard to deny that the film sees scientific attempts to modify and supplement the body as the path to a new, grotesque species of madmen. Don’t be fooled, though, for about 60 minutes of the film’s 77 minute run time, this film is a rather dark tinged comedy. Lee Tracy’s pratfalls, double takes, and backbiting witticisms are on full display.” – Danny Reid, Pre-Code
1991 / USA / 91m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
Jill Schoelen, Tom Villard, Dee Wallace, Derek Rydall, Malcolm Danare, Elliott Hurst, Ivette Soler, Freddie Simpson, Kelly Jo Minter, Karen Lorre
“Reggae, a Zaza score, a Vincent Price-ish villain with shades of Freddy Krueger, the film is a mish-mash of several different influences and makes for quite a unique film. It may not be the scariest or goriest movie that you could choose to watch during a festive October evening, but wearing it’s love of horror films of the past on its sleeve, I can’t help but recommend it. It’s a lot like mixing a bag of M&Ms into your warm buttery popcorn. Sure, it doesn’t completely fit, but somehow makes for a delicious taste uniquely its own.” – Wes R., Oh, The Horror
1966 / Spain / 86m / BW / Science Fiction | IMDb
Estella Blain, Mabel Karr, Howard Vernon, Fernando Montes, Marcelo Arroita-Jáuregui, Cris Huerta, Alberto Bourbón, Lucía Prado, Guy Mairesse
“Many viewers will be coerced into pinching themselves to remember this is a Franco film. Beautifully shot in stunning black-and-white, Franco beautifully composes each shot into a tableau of light and shadow, creating an eerie atmosphere throughout the feature. This is a stunningly beautiful film, filled with luscious outdoor sequences and great suspense setpieces (the capture of Nadia in an abandoned theater is one of Franco’s best)… As with many Franco films, jazz is an important element. Not only is the film’s soundtrack made up primarily of catchy little jazz ditties and horn-driven melodies, the film’s climax is an experimental jazz piece laid onto film: frenetic, wild, and outrageous.” – Casey Scott, DVD Drive-In
1988 / USA / 97m / Col / Fantasy | IMDb
James Le Gros, Reggie Bannister, Angus Scrimm, Paula Irvine, Samantha Phillips, Kenneth Tigar, Ruth C. Engel, Mark Anthony Major, Rubin Kushner, Stacey Travis
“Angus Scrimm is a valuable asset, too. As the Tall Man, he’s deeply menacing. The perpetually grimacing Scrimm looms over the other actors, speaking his dialogue in a booming, quiver-inducing voice. And then there are those glorious orbs, which inflict gruesome damage upon helpless victims. Their sheer unlikeliness as instruments of death makes them sinister, while the film devises ingeniously nasty things for them to do. Phantasm II’s special effects team does magnificent work showing the ghastly results of a ball attack. Phantasm II has plenty of these moments, and that’s what makes it fun, in spite of a half-baked plot. There’s even a subtle sense of humor displayed; a briefly-seen bag of cremated ashes lists the them as being the body of “Mr. Sam Raimi,” a nod to the director of The Evil Dead. I don’t know whether you could accurately call Phantasm II “good” or not, but as a gore-filled piece of ’80s horror with a premise unlike any other in the genre, it’s completely enjoyable.” – Mike McGranaghan, The Aisle Seat
2023 / USA / 122m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
Courteney Cox, Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding, Skeet Ulrich, Roger Jackson, Dermot Mulroney, Jack Champion, Josh Segarra
“Having the film take place in New York also helps expand on the world of Scream while also keeping the heart and soul of the iconic killer intact. These new locations does help create some fun ways for the characters to interact with Ghostface. The set pieces in this installment would give anyone some anxiety, leaving little room to breathe after each scene. The film even draws so much from the franchise’s history to build on its character-driven story. Even the kills feel a lot gorier than previous entries, which makes it seem like no one is safe from Ghostface.” – Mufsin Mahbub, All Ages of Geek
Genres: Slasher, Thriller, Satire, Whodunit, Halloween, Postmodernism, Horror Comedy
1989 / USA / 109m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
Michael Murphy, Peter Berg, Mitch Pileggi, Sam Scarber, Camille Cooper, Ted Raimi, Keith Anthony-Lubow-Bellamy, Heather Langenkamp, Virginia Morris, John Tesh
“With its freewheeling mixture of gore, surrealism and Freud, it will do almost anything to grab attention. The basic gimmick of the story is that the killer, via black magic, can remain immortal in spirit by repeatedly electrocuting himself with television sets. Through electrical contact, he can also enter the bodies of others and turn them into hissing fiends. The only way to stop him is to turn off the power. If the movie’s metaphors are as obvious and as portentous as the heavy metal music that punctuates the action, ‘Shocker’ at least has the feel of a movie that was fun to make. Just when you think that every trick has been thrown in but the kitchen sink, it goes in too, along with stove and the refrigerator.” – Stephen Holden, New York Times
2020 / Canada / 95m / Col / Comedy | IMDb
Nita-Josée Hanna, Owen Myre, Matthew Ninaber, Steven Vlahos, Adam Brooks, Alexis Kara Hancey, Kristen MacCulloch, Anna Tierney, Roxine Latoya Plummer, Alex Chung
“An ode to its ’80s inspirations, PG: Psycho Goreman is packed with practical effects. Its titular terror and all of his otherworldly enemies are creatures carved from foam and clay, costumed in a clash of fantasy, sci-fi, and Power Rangers looks. The violence that PG performs on thieving humans and far-out foes results in severed limbs, bouncing decapitations, and buckets of blood. So yeah, the “PG” in the title is a joke in itself. This movie is not remotely kid-friendly, gleefully overstuffed with curse words, violence, and jolting punchlines. Then for good measure, Kostanski chucks in a musical montage starring Mimi’s pint-sized misanthropy.” – Kristy Puchko, Pajiba
Genres: Black Comedy, Science Fiction, Parody, Horror Comedy, Splatter, Cosmic Horror, Extraterrestrial, Body Horror
2018 / USA / 90m / Col / Psychological | IMDb
Allison Williams, Steven Weber, Alaina Huffman, Logan Browning, Christina Jastrzembska, Glynis Davies, Doralynn Mui, Winnie Hung, Stephen Chang, Graeme Duffy
“One thing that can be said about the film, however, is that it delivers a blast of nutty grindhouse thrills. Even though it’s set in the sniffly austere world of uppercrust art snobs, the movie has no problem banging around in 42nd street gutters. There’s an utterly gratuitous sex scene, gratuitous fogged-out full frontal nudity, and even more gratuitous splashes of gore. Everything looks chic and refined, yet there’s a nasty current of cartoon viciousness coursing through its veins.” – Johnny Donaldson, Slant Magazine
2021 / Taiwan / 99m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Berant Zhu, Regina Lei, Ying-Ru Chen, Tzu-Chiang Wang, Emerson Tsai, Wei-Hua Lan, Ralf Chiu, Chi-Min Chou, Lue-Keng Huang, Ark Zheng
“Despite the fact that Jabbaz brings extreme terror with a surprisingly insightful topical twist, “The Sadness” is truly at its best when it’s embracing its gory nature and going haywire with geysers of thick, syrupy blood. Wisely foregoing the path more traveled by most filmmakers who prefer using digital effects, this blood-spattered beauty opts for mainly practical, resulting in some truly grimacing and over-the-top gratuity that plays sensationally on a big screen surrounded by giddy gorehounds.” – Kalyn Corrigan, SlashFilm
1991 / Italy / 112m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Kelly Curtis, Herbert Lom, Mariangela Giordano, Michel Adatte, Carla Cassola, Angelika Maria Boeck, Giovanni Lombardo Radice, Niels Gullov, Tomas Arana
“As much as I usually champion self-indulgence, I have to say that The Sect’s high standing in Argento and Soavi’s oeuvre seems to have more to do with the restraint they show in all respects. As I mentioned, the oil painting-like visuals never take over and the cinematographic techniques aren’t just techniques; they’re storytelling aids. In the same vein, the Goblin-like score doesn’t sound like you accidentally left an early-70s Pink Floyd disc blasting on the stereo while you try to watch a movie-instead it’s understated and always perfect. The gore doesn’t seem intended only to earn a prominent placement in Fangoria-it always serves some other purpose. The surrealness isn’t an excuse for the lack of a coherent script. Etc. Best of all, perhaps, The Sect has the properties that many horror fans think define the genre-it’s creepy and scary.” – Brandt Sponseller, Classic-Horror
1972 / Italy / 107m / Col / Giallo | IMDb
Fabio Testi, Cristina Galbó, Karin Baal, Joachim Fuchsberger, Günther Stoll, Claudia Butenuth, Camille Keaton, Maria Monti, Giancarlo Badessi, Pilar Castel
“The film is full of little ironies, and it is able to alight on moments that seem inconsequential because of an incredibly patient and careful method of storytelling. The precise narrative is complimented by the beautiful and meticulous widescreen cinematography of Aristide Massaccesi; rarely has the frame been used to such excellent effect in a gialli. Another touch of pure class is the score by Ennio Morricone which is one of his most memorable. What Have You Done to Solange? is an unforgettable and poignant film, it is a quietly devastating examination of lost innocence.” – Shaun Anderson, The Celluloid Highway
1975 / USA / 86m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Ernest Borgnine, Eddie Albert, Ida Lupino, William Shatner, Keenan Wynn, Tom Skerritt, Joan Prather, Woody Chambliss, John Travolta, Claudio Brook
“The best part about this silly little film is the cast. Where else can you get Ernest Bornine, Tom Skerritt, Eddie Albert, John Travolta, Ida Lupino and William fuckin’ Shatner in the same movie? Hell you even get John Travolta in his first film role (don’t blink or you’ll miss him and if you don’t you might not recognize him thanks to hideous makeup covering his face giving him the appearance of a masked Michael Myers). Surprisingly all these actors also take the silly film seriously (even to the point of over-acting) which only serves in anteing up the hilarity.” – Eric Reifschneider, Blood Brothers
1962 / Italy / 88m / Col / Gothic | IMDb
Barbara Steele, Robert Flemyng, Silvano Tranquilli, Maria Teresa Vianello, Harriet Medin, Al Christianson, Evar Simpson, Nat Harley, Neil Robinson
“Raptus, the alternative title of Riccardo Freda’s L’Orribile segreto del dottor Hichcock (The Horrible Secret of Dr Hichcock, Italy, 1962) is certainly apt, as its effect on individuals attracted to the macabre is not unlike a rapture or delirium of cinematic pleasure. The atmospheric visuals of Riccardo Freda’s masterpiece of sexual alienation and necrophilia stands without precedent in the Golden Age of Italian Horror that virtually seized the Roman film industry from 1956 to 1966. With more than a nod to the literary influences of Ann Radcliffe and the 19th Century that informed them, L’Orribile segreto del dottor Hichcock is a catalogue of Victorian repressions regarding desire and death, the marriage bed and the grave.” – David Del Valle, Kinoeye