902. (+63) The Love Witch

Anna Biller

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

904. (new) El espejo de la bruja

Chano Urueta

AKA: The Witch’s Mirror

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

906. (new) Willow Creek

Bobcat Goldthwait

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

908. (+9) Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday

Adam Marcus

AKA: Friday the 13th IX

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

910. (new) Smile 2

Parker Finn

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

912. (-163) Lik wong

Ngai Choi Lam

AKA: Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky

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

914. (-744) L’Inferno

Francesco Bertolini & Adolfo Padovan & Giuseppe de Liguoro

AKA: Dante’s Inferno

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

916. (new) Tusk

Kevin Smith

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

918. (+66) The Void

Jeremy Gillespie & Steven Kostanski

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

920. (+33) Pitch Black

David Twohy

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

922. (new) Stage Fright

Jerome Sable

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

924. (new) Anna and the Apocalypse

John McPhail

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

926. (new) Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead

Don Coscarelli

AKA: Phantasm: Lord of the Dead

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

928. (new) Michael Jackson: Thriller

John Landis

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

930. (-221) Lady in a Cage

Walter Grauman

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

932. (-390) Dead Calm

Phillip Noyce

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

934. (-423) 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

936. (-4) Chopping Mall

Jim Wynorski

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

938. (-361) 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

940. (-228) Juan de los muertos

Alejandro Brugués

AKA: Juan of the Dead

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

942. (new) Brainscan

John Flynn

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

944. (-106) Byzantium

Neil Jordan

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

946. (-35) 4 mosche di velluto grigio

Dario Argento

AKA: Four Flies on Grey Velvet

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

948. (new) The Mask of Fu Manchu

Charles Brabin

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!?

950. (-114) We Need to Talk About Kevin

Lynne Ramsay

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

952. (new) No One Will Save You

Brian Duffield

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

954. (+20) Stigmata

Rupert Wainwright

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

956. (new) Citadel

Ciaran Foy

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

958. (-422) A Clockwork Orange

Stanley Kubrick

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

960. (-118) Monkey Shines

George A. Romero

AKA: Ella

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

962. (-476) Il rosso segno della follia

Mario Bava

AKA: Blood Brides

1970 / Italy / 88m / Col / Giallo | IMDb
Stephen Forsyth, Dagmar Lassander, Laura Betti, Jesús Puente, Femi Benussi, Antonia Mas, Luciano Pigozzi, Gérard Tichy, Verónica Llimera, Pasquale Fortunato

“Forsyth’s over the top performance, Bava’s impeccable direction, and the fantastic art design of the film combine to create a fun giallo to rival the best of the genre. While this film may not be the most original of his works, Hatchet for the Honeymoon certainly is one to check out. The pacing is very sprightly, and this makes for a great night’s viewing. There’s not too much gore, most of the violence is implied rather than splattered across the screen, but there’s enough to keep horror fans happy and placate the thriller fans who dig the occasional gruesome tableau.” – J. Hurtado, Twitchfilm

964. (-160) Creepshow 2

Michael Gornick

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

966. (new) Prophecy

John Frankenheimer

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

968. (new) Somos lo que hay

Jorge Michel Grau

AKA: We Are What We Are

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

970. (new) Necronomicon

Christophe Gans & Shûsuke Kaneko & Brian Yuzna

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

972. (-145) Deadgirl

Marcel Sarmiento & Gadi Harel

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

974. (new) Celia

Ann Turner

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!

976. (-168) Body Parts

Eric Red

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