(1987)
Dir - Renny Harlin
Filmed on location at the former Wyoming State Penitentiary and featuring several actual inmates as extras, Renny Harlin's Prison would seem like it has an air of authenticity to it if not for the fact that it is about the ghost of a revenge-seeking electric chair prisoner who is murdering people via poltergeist means. The abandoned setting is ideal for what is essentially a haunted house movie in jail and for a Charles Band production, it has a serious tone that is surprisingly effective. There are a number of nifty and violent set pieces that are on par with the best and schlockiest of them from the era. The recognizable cast is headed by Viggo Mortensen in one of his first leading roles along with Lane Smith, Tommy Lister, Chelsea Field, and a barely noticeable appearance by Kane Hodder, sans the hokey mask.
Filmed on location at the former Wyoming State Penitentiary and featuring several actual inmates as extras, Renny Harlin's Prison would seem like it has an air of authenticity to it if not for the fact that it is about the ghost of a revenge-seeking electric chair prisoner who is murdering people via poltergeist means. The abandoned setting is ideal for what is essentially a haunted house movie in jail and for a Charles Band production, it has a serious tone that is surprisingly effective. There are a number of nifty and violent set pieces that are on par with the best and schlockiest of them from the era. The recognizable cast is headed by Viggo Mortensen in one of his first leading roles along with Lane Smith, Tommy Lister, Chelsea Field, and a barely noticeable appearance by Kane Hodder, sans the hokey mask.
(1995)
Dir Wes Craven
An odd thing happened with Vampire in Brooklyn; a horror project spearheaded by star Eddie Murphy as a chance to venture legitimately into an untapped genre for him. At the same time, his chosen collaborator Wes Craven jumped at the chance to work with such a comedic heavyweight and therefor set about venturing into his own untapped genre, meaning comedy. The results are not entirely successful, but several things still work. For one, Murphy easily delivers the goods in a more serious be it still deliberately campy role than usual, plus his on screen chemistry with Angela Bassett is unmistakable. Most of the humor actually falls on the shoulders of Kardeem Hardison and John Witherspoon, with Murphy making a solid turn as a diabolical and romantically-inclined bloodsucker. Then for his part behind the lens, Craven's penchant for overt tone-ruining schlock is toned down, which allows his strengths for gory set pieces to properly excel.
(1978)
Dir - Richard Attenborough
In between directing the award winning A Bridge Too Far and Gandhi, Richard Attenborough adapted William Goldman's novel Magic, with Goldman penning the screenplay as well. Featuring top-notch performances from Ann-Margret, Burgess Meredith, and Anthony Hopkins as a mentally disturbed magician/ventriloquist, it is a quirky yet disturbing portrayal of emotional instability. The creepy dummy motif has been used in the horror genre countless times over the decades and the dynamic between Corky and Fats, (Hopkins providing the voice for the latter as well), is gradually played less and less for laughs, giving way to several memorable and unsettling moments.
Dir - Richard Attenborough
In between directing the award winning A Bridge Too Far and Gandhi, Richard Attenborough adapted William Goldman's novel Magic, with Goldman penning the screenplay as well. Featuring top-notch performances from Ann-Margret, Burgess Meredith, and Anthony Hopkins as a mentally disturbed magician/ventriloquist, it is a quirky yet disturbing portrayal of emotional instability. The creepy dummy motif has been used in the horror genre countless times over the decades and the dynamic between Corky and Fats, (Hopkins providing the voice for the latter as well), is gradually played less and less for laughs, giving way to several memorable and unsettling moments.
(2015)
Dir - Karyn Kusama
For her follow-up to Jennifer's Body that bares no relation to it, filmmaker Karyn Kusama turns the concept of hopeless grief into something horrific. The Invitation's script by Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi, (who also produce), takes seemingly beneficial New Age philosophy and makes it chilling through the eyes of a protagonist that is overwrought with guilt-ridden anxiety. It plays this psychological card almost exclusively, disturbingly showing how mere perception, (fueled further by politeness and a universal desire to recapture happier times), can detrimentally cloud one's judgement. Kusama's tone is largely humorless and even when the characters seem to be cordially amusing themselves, the level of unease remains persistent throughout the slow-boil presentation.
Dir - Karyn Kusama
For her follow-up to Jennifer's Body that bares no relation to it, filmmaker Karyn Kusama turns the concept of hopeless grief into something horrific. The Invitation's script by Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi, (who also produce), takes seemingly beneficial New Age philosophy and makes it chilling through the eyes of a protagonist that is overwrought with guilt-ridden anxiety. It plays this psychological card almost exclusively, disturbingly showing how mere perception, (fueled further by politeness and a universal desire to recapture happier times), can detrimentally cloud one's judgement. Kusama's tone is largely humorless and even when the characters seem to be cordially amusing themselves, the level of unease remains persistent throughout the slow-boil presentation.
(1936)
Dir - Tod Browning
A typically bizarre later work from eclectic filmmaker Tod Browning, The Devil-Doll was his penultimate effort from behind the lens. An adaptation of Abraham Merritt's 1932 novel Burn Witch Burn!, the quirky premise finds a falsely accused man getting revenge against his wrongdoers by means of a mad scientist scheme that turns people into doll-sized murderers who are at the mercy of their owner's will. The special effects are understandably primitive, yet also efficient for the time and there are a number of nifty moments involving the puppet people sneaking around while following orders. Perhaps the most unusual plot point of all though is Lionel Barrymore in the sympathetic yet still villainous lead, who spends almost the entire movie in drag as an old shrill-voiced woman.
(2017)
Dir - Jeremy Dyson/Andy Nyman
Adapting their own stage play of the same name, Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman's Ghost Stories is a messy, funny, and occasionally chilling Amicus anthology throwback done on a more ambitious scale. The wrap-around tale involving Nyman trying to debunk a series of supernatural stories told to him by their survivors goes off the rails at the end, but the three vignettes before that are inventive to a point. A night watchmen trying to get through his late shift at a closed and cartoonishly creepy asylum, a teenager going for a joyride from hell, and Martin Freeman dealing with an unwanted poltergeist, (Is there any other kind?), all have their share of unfortunate jump scares, but they still make for an amusing collection that elevates this above merely being a derivative homage.
(1941)
Dir - George Waggner
Though heavier on talking than action, (plus hinging its premise on a laughably nonsensical scheme for Lionel Atwill's mad scientist to embark on), Universal's Man-Made Monster is noteworthy as the first creature feature with Lon Chaney Jr. in the lead. Originally to star Boris Karloff and Béla Lugosi before the similarly themed The Invisible Ray and The Walking Dead were simultaneously released in 1936, the project was put on hold until Universal decided to shoot it quickly and on the cheap as a B-feature. Clocking in at less than an hour, the melodramatic performances, soft focus photography, and glowing special effects have a Golden Age charm to them, but Chaney elevates the material as a slight variation of the type of character that would make him a household name for awhile, being a gentle giant of sorts who is propelled into wrong-doing by sinister forces that are beyond his control.
(2008)
Dir - Bruce McDonald
Bruce McDonald's adaptation of Tony Burgess' novel Pontypool Changes Everything, (here simplified to just Pontypool), is a frustrating experience, though part of its charm lies in how inventive the mayhem is. Premise wise, it is a doozy and though there are illusions to zombie outbreak scenarios, the details are bizarre and unique. For the first two acts, McDonald sets up and then delivers some bone-chilling dread and the three person cast give excellently grounded performances that make it hit that much harder. It is when Hrant Alianak's Dr. Mendez character shows up that things start to go off the rails in an more head-scratching than terrifying sense. While the tone shift is disappointing and it all crescendos in a comical fashion, it certainly gets points for originality as well as for having some of the most creepy moments in any Canadian horror film.
(2022)
Dir - Kevin Kopacka
An exercise in style over substance, Austrian/Sri Lankan filmmaker Kevin Kopacka's sophomore effort Dawn Breaks Behind the Eyes gleefully indulges in a retro Euro-horror aesthetic while weaving a twisted tale about male and female couple dynamics that may involve ghosts or something. Broken up into two halves, the 180 degree narrative break will throw first-time viewers off and such a rug-pull helps solidify the movie's chaotic nature. Self-financed by Kopacka and shot entirely at a German castle, the film is stylistically brash, utilizing late 60s/early 70s titles, some prog and folk songs dashed about the soundtrack, plenty of slow motion, a deliberately off-putting editing, and a color scheme that bounces between earthiness and Mario Bava worship. Whatever the story is saying may get clouded in the sensory-overloaded presentation, but its indulgences are plenty engaging.
(2012)
Dir - Neil Jordan
A feminist and thematic cousin to his own Interview with the Vampire adaption, Neil Jordan's Byzantium takes another blood-sucking novel and brings it to the screen with likewise well-crafted results. Part of this could be due to his working with the author of the source material again and Moira Buffini crafts a heady script based off of her novel. Some of the undead mythos are singular here, (they become immortal via a hidden cave on an island and can walk around freely in the day time), but the overarching theme of justifying one's methods of literally living off of the lives of others is a common one for vampire fiction. It is also one that is given more layers as Saoirse Ronan only feeds on the elderly who are ready to pass on and her mother Gemma Arterton remains a prostitute that does away with the loathsome, all while an ancient and chauvinistic clan hunts them down for existing by their own rules.
(2009)
Dir - Christopher Smith
Writer/director Christopher Smith's third and to-date best film Triangle is a modern day re-imagining of the "Sisyphus" fable from Greek mythology and it is a purposely head-trippy one at that. Examining the idea of what a struggling single mother would do to get one more chance at saving her son after a mysterious perspective shift has given her such determination, it is a heavy watch with no funny bits sprinkled in to lighten the mood. Instead, Smith utilizes his Twilight Zone premise in a dark and perplexing manner that mostly hinges on Melissa George's top-notch performance. The movie never leaves her perspective, following a linear path even if the deserted ocean liner that she encounters exists in a universe where timelines disastrously stack on top of each other.
(1936)
Dir - Lambert Hillyer
Hollywood Golden Age horror icons Boris Karloff and Béla Lugosi appeared in eight films together and their third paring in The Invisible Ray is technically a step down from their first two The Black Cat and The Raven, but it still has some quirky charm as well as both actors in fine form. The project was thrown together quickly after a proposed Bluebeard movie was abandoned, getting a last minute director switch with Lambert Hillyer stepping in for Stuart Walker and then running over budget in the process. Behind the scenes issues aside, Universal was still a well-oiled machine enough to churn out a slick B-picture and the story here about a radiation ray that makes Karloff glow, murder whoever he touches, and go insane in the process delivers the macabre goods.
(1976)
Dir - Peter Sykes
Hammer Film's second and last Dennis Wheatley adaptation To the Devil...A Daughter was a movie wrought with problems. The once famed production company was in its death throes both financially and with the filmgoing public as years of re-hashed Gothic horror works fell out of fashion with the up and coming crop of intelligent and boundary-pushing genre films being made elsewhere. Partly in answer to this, the movie was a contemporary-set co-production with West Germany and it stylistically bares little resemblance to Hammer's previous output. The script was being re-written as it was being shot, American lead Richard Widmark was dismissive during shooting, the ending is anti-climactic, Wheatley was so appalled by the end result that he refused to let Hammer ever adapt any of his novels again, and Natassja Kinski appears nude while only being fourteen at the time. On the plus side though, it has a fantastic score from Paul Glass, Christopher Lee is outstandingly creepy as an evil priest, and Peter Sykes' cruising direction is appropriately engrossing.
(2016)
Dir - Ali Abbasi
An ambiguous debut from Iranian-Swedish filmmaker Ali Abbasi, Shelley is in many ways an "anti-horror movie" that fends off many standard tropes while still maintaining a persistently unsettling vibe. Wisely, nothing from a psychological or supernatural standpoint is made explicitly clear, but this does not seem aimlessly frustrating and is instead refreshing and challenging. In exploring the trauma of losing or becoming separated from one's child, (each in this setting being just as affecting), there is a sense of empathy manifested in spite of the character's disturbing behavior. Haunting music and frightening nightmare sequences enhance the atmosphere while never coming off as genre-pandering and the story's troubling aspects progress at a gradual rate. It all shows an admirable level of restraint both narratively and stylistically on Abbasi's part.
(1980)
Dir - Jean Rollin
Shot in ten days, written in one, and all on a budget secured for pornographic movies of the day, Jean Rollin's La Nuit des Traquées, (The Night of the Hunted), was a commercially failed experiment that is nevertheless a clear representation of the filmmaker's ethereal and minimalist style. It does not entirely fit into the horror genre even by Rollin's esoteric standards, but the story of a bizarre virus that leaves its victims increasingly devoid of memories or anything more than the most rudimentary of brain functions is presented as a conspiratorial mystery with vegetable-like performances, several violent murders, and a sort of aching despair permeating throughout. Filmed in and around vacant skyscrapers, it is also dystopian in feel, presenting more of a somber type of quasi-zombie apocalypse than any that we have seen before.
Shot in ten days, written in one, and all on a budget secured for pornographic movies of the day, Jean Rollin's La Nuit des Traquées, (The Night of the Hunted), was a commercially failed experiment that is nevertheless a clear representation of the filmmaker's ethereal and minimalist style. It does not entirely fit into the horror genre even by Rollin's esoteric standards, but the story of a bizarre virus that leaves its victims increasingly devoid of memories or anything more than the most rudimentary of brain functions is presented as a conspiratorial mystery with vegetable-like performances, several violent murders, and a sort of aching despair permeating throughout. Filmed in and around vacant skyscrapers, it is also dystopian in feel, presenting more of a somber type of quasi-zombie apocalypse than any that we have seen before.
(1969)
Dir - Yasuzo Masumura
Just ridiculous enough to underplay its disturbed nature, writer/director Yasuzo Masumura's Blind Beast is an erotic thriller that takes the concept of Stockholm syndrome to a deranged place. The writings of Edogawa Rampo have served as the inspiration for numerous cinematic works over the decades and this adaptation of his Moju novel sees a blind sculptor and his emotionally co-dependent mother abducting a nude model who eventually succumbs to the madness of her situation in the unhealthiest manner possible. Nearly the entire movie takes place in a large, bizarre studio where each wall is adorned by multitudes of clay-molded body parts and the entire center of it features two giant-sized female torsos, which is probably enough to make any captured woman loose her marbles.
(2000)
Dir - F.A. Brabec
Czech cinematographer/director F.A. Brabec's interpretation of Karel Jaromír Erben's ballad collection Kytice, (Wild Flowers), is an inciting art film with dark fairy tale aspects in tow. An anthology movie featuring seven segments, all of them are told in rhyme from the direct words of Erben's source material and the whole thing plays out like a long-form spoken word musical. There are vampires, zombies, witches, and mer-people and though Brabec utilizes some Gothic atmosphere occasionally as all of the stories are set in an undisclosed period time frame, the presentation is whimsical and poetic. It is visually exemplary, gracefully flowing through each tale in a barrage of colors and beautiful landscapes, as well as gloomy sound and imagery when appropriate.
Dir - F.A. Brabec
Czech cinematographer/director F.A. Brabec's interpretation of Karel Jaromír Erben's ballad collection Kytice, (Wild Flowers), is an inciting art film with dark fairy tale aspects in tow. An anthology movie featuring seven segments, all of them are told in rhyme from the direct words of Erben's source material and the whole thing plays out like a long-form spoken word musical. There are vampires, zombies, witches, and mer-people and though Brabec utilizes some Gothic atmosphere occasionally as all of the stories are set in an undisclosed period time frame, the presentation is whimsical and poetic. It is visually exemplary, gracefully flowing through each tale in a barrage of colors and beautiful landscapes, as well as gloomy sound and imagery when appropriate.
(2010)
Dir - Darren Aronofsky
Darren Aronofsky was no stranger to psychological trippiness when he made his Swan Lake/Roman Polanski "Apartment Trilogy" hybrid Black Swan, but even with intimate handheld camera work in tow, it still comes off as a bombastic and tongue-in-cheek bit of camp horror, especially considering that it was his follow up to the no-nonsense The Wrestler. Ten years in the making and featuring a fully committed performance from Natalie Portman, (who herself trained for over a year just to nail the ballet authenticity as much as possible), it lays on the metaphoric encompassing of performance and character to a feverish level that remains stylish without being necessarily profound. Paranoia, perfectionism, rebelliousness, mind-breaking stress, and a little bit of lesbianism thrown in to steam everything up, it has just enough to efficiently savor.
(2003)
Dir - Kim Jee-woon
Writer/director Kim Jee-woon's A Tale of Two Sisters takes a stab at the Korean folktale "Janghwa Hongryeon jeon", one that has been adapted cinematically a number of times going all the way back to the silent era. Jee-woon naturally takes creative license with the source material, updating it as well as changing the title sister's names, and the results fit right into modern day horror aesthetics without being detrimentally bombarded with them. Cinematographer and frequent Jee-woon collaborator Lee Mo-gae do exceptional work, beautifully creating unease out of the isolated yet spacious setting. While the narrative may over-extend itself in the third act, it is still an effective mood piece, wonderfully shot and performed with plenty of significantly freaky moments along the way.
(2020)
Dir - Dir - Maximiliano Contenti
A giallo/80s video nasty throwback by Uruguayan filmmaker Maximiliano Contenti, The Last Matinee is better than it has any reason to be. Set entirely at a movie theater that is showing Ricardo Islas' also-throwback Frankenstein: Day of the Beast while Islas himself plays an eyeball gouging, collecting, and eating maniac, Benjamín Silva's cinematography channels all of the vibrant colors and nifty camera angles that it can. Contenti wisely mixes some modern sensibilities and technical advantages with old school call-backs and a synth score, plus the movie is hilariously digesting in parts since that is what the kids pay to see after all. It severs as a fitting homage to a more innocent and ridiculous time when horror movies had asinine plots, no subtext, and where simply meant to stylishly appall people.
(1968)
Dir - Elio Petri
The semi-giallo A Quiet Place in the Country is a more pretentiously ambitious psychological entry into the genre than most. Co-writer/director Elio Petri based it off of Oliver Onion's novel The Beckoning Fair One and Django himself Franco Nero plus real life partner Vanessa Redgrave head the cast, both of whom had begun a long-standing relationship during the previous year's Camelot. The story here may not amount to more than just Nero's character gradually going insane for an hour and forty-five minutes, but the style is complex with disorienting editing that bounces between what may or may not be happening inside of his troubled psyche. There is also a particularly memorable seance scene for what it is worth.
(1994)
Dir - Mike Nichols
In the wake of Bram Stoker's Dracula from Francis Ford Coppola, major studios were once again clamoring for updated reworkings of classic movie monsters and 1994's Wolf was director Mike Nichols's take on the Hollywood lycanthrope. Fusing office politics and infidelity with a werewolf bite that awakens the aggressive id in an otherwise passive book publisher, it is a wonderful metaphor to explore where Jack Nicholson's carnal, alpha instincts come at a vicious price. The makeup effects are subdued for such a film, but the unreliance on animatronics or disguising prosthetics allow for both Nicholson and the always unsettling James Spader to remain recognizable during their beastly duking-it-out session, which in this case is not a bad thing.
(1955)
Dir - Joseph M. Newman/Jack Arnold
Though Joseph M. Newman would go on to direct episodes of The Twilight Zone and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, This Island Earth stands as his only science fiction film. Universal's best B-unit director of the time Jack Arnold was brought on board to re-shoot the final set piece on the alien planet Metaluna though, so he deserves a significant amount of credit since the last moments of the movie are the most visually inciting and dramatically suspenseful. Based on Raymond F. Jones' 1952 novel of the same name, it features a benevolent extraterrestrial race who is desperately forced to kidnap and even lobotomize human scientists due to the obliteration of their home planet, giving the story some wonderful gray area to play around in. The iconic, bug-eyed, massive-brained alien monsters do not show up until the last fifteen minutes and are ultimately pathetic, but they still make a memorable impression along with great miniature and matte painting work.
(1959)
Dir - Terence Fisher
Hammer was steadily cranking out their unique brand of Technicolor horror films near the turn of the decade and The Man Who Could Cheat Death was the second of three from 1959 to be directed by Terence Fisher. Peter Cushing was initially on board for the lead, but he dropped out near the eleventh hour due to exhaustion. German actor Anton Diffring instead stepped in and he gives an appropriately melodramatic performance that is full of intense mannerisms which are more on the side of camp than Cushing would have likely delivered. Christopher Lee is understated in a supporting role as a level headed surgeon, plus scream queen Hazel Court made a rare topless appearance that was apparently screened in Europe yet has since been lost. The story itself was an adaptation of the play The Man in Half Moon Street and offers a fun tweak on the mad scientist playing god angle, plus Diffring eerie green make-up turns him into a memorable screen monster.
(2012)
Dir - John Criss
Predating micro-budget found footage proprietors like Turner Clay and Tom Fanslau by a few years, John Criss decided to shoot a minimalist and unsettling entry into the genre for what looks like zero dollars. With Leaving D.C., Criss covers all of his tracks, portraying a harmless average Joe schlub who is medicated, anti-social, and part of an OCD support group that decides to take the leap and move out into the middle of nowhere, "leaving" the Washing D.C. that he had previously spent most of his life in. The supernatural occurrences remain unexplained and the ending is particularly abrupt which may frustrate some viewers, but Criss makes no blunders in his presentation, showcasing a lonely man with his own anxieties who is just trying to logically deal with the who knows what that is happening right outside of his bedroom window every night.
(1995)
Dir - Ernest Dickerson
The first of two theatrically released tie-ins to the HBO series, Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight essentially uses the same framework as the show, with the Danny Elfman-scored title intro and bookending Crypt Keeper segments, except that the story itself is not based on any EC comics material and is stretched to full-length. Partially a silly action movie with Billy Zane being a particularly hammy spawn of hell and William Sadler as the bad-ass, leather jacked-clad soldier of god, it has boobs, blood, and wickedly over the top practical effects that are delivered at a swift pace by director Ernest Dickerson. Plus Dick Miller being tempted by a barrage of naked women and then turning into a green-eyed demon zombie is always appreciated.
(2021)
Dir - Lee Haven Jones
Welsh-langue horror movies are hardly a dime a dozen, yet this is not the only trait that makes Lee Haven Jones full-length debut The Feast unique. Unapologetically arthouse in its drawn-out set-up and vague bizarreness that frustrates as much as it intrigues, there is a tangible enough undercurrent to the strange and gradually nasty proceedings where Mother Nature, (or some sort of pagan deity representation of Mother Nature), is not to be fucked with. The posh family that we spend over ninety-minutes with never becomes overbearingly unpleasant, though they each have their own eccentric, superficial, self-absorbed, pretentious, arrogant, and destructive quirks to bring them awfully close. Jones maintains a permeating sense of dread as to what is in store for them though, so that when such vengeance is finally served, it feels more disturbing than righteous and presents an equally icky and fresh, "greed equals the loss of one's soul" motif.
(1977)
Dir - David Cronenberg
For his second proper horror effort Rabid, David Cronenberg scored adult film star Marilyn Chambers for his take on a kind of zombie outbreak film. Once again writing and directing a story about an infections mutation that makes people unnaturally dangerous and aggressive, it still manages to be a different beast from his previous and exemplary effort Shivers. The story meanders and does not land its finish, but Chamber's zoned-out performance works with the down-played tone. The film also has a number of nasty moments for genre buffs and Cronenberg's theme of the human body turning on itself in a doomed fashion is once again solidly realized and would of course be further developed numerous times throughout his career.
(1990)
Dir - Alain Robak
Violent and darkly comedic, French filmmaker Alain Robak's Baby Blood is a messy, low budget take on the parasitic alien invasion film and one that has an oddly feminist slant. Virtually every male that Emmanuelle Escourrou's Yanka meets wants to have sex with her and she seems to come from a unwholesome life of being brutalized by men anyway, long before a goblin-voiced extraterrestrial fetus with an insatiable thirst for blood begins to grow inside of her. The concept is more funny on paper than it comes off as on screen, but it also has an almost Frank Henenlotter type charm to it whereas plenty of gruesome murders and a tragic character arc are treated just over the top enough to be amusing.
Dir - Alain Robak
Violent and darkly comedic, French filmmaker Alain Robak's Baby Blood is a messy, low budget take on the parasitic alien invasion film and one that has an oddly feminist slant. Virtually every male that Emmanuelle Escourrou's Yanka meets wants to have sex with her and she seems to come from a unwholesome life of being brutalized by men anyway, long before a goblin-voiced extraterrestrial fetus with an insatiable thirst for blood begins to grow inside of her. The concept is more funny on paper than it comes off as on screen, but it also has an almost Frank Henenlotter type charm to it whereas plenty of gruesome murders and a tragic character arc are treated just over the top enough to be amusing.
(2006)
Dir - Takishi Shimizu
While Takishi Shimizu's American sequel to his own remake of his own original Japanese film, (which also got a series of sequels), is a mess in many crucial areas, there is a certain popcorn-munching creep factor to The Grudge 2 that rides a line of both ridiculousness and sincerity. Shimizu continues the gimmick of having multiple story lines told out of sequence, yet the tone is menacing the whole way through. Horror window dressing first and foremost, there are a number of moments present that are hair-raising if one is to ignore a barrage of lazy genre tropes and unfocused plotting that borders on aimless. Characters venture into laughably creepy settings without turning any lights on, Edison Chen's mouth-breathing/bro-journalist performances is horrendous, Amber Tamblyn's story arc is underwritten, and more unforgiving mileage is gotten out of the wide-eyed, twitchy, raven-haired, blue-skinned ghost children than should be acceptable. Still, terrifying, over the top sound effects and relentless supernatural set pieces make this a silly, "guilty pleasure" that acts as an almost parody of J-horror cliches while simultaneously delivering them at a pummeling rate.
(2015)
Dir - Marcin Wrona
A humorous yet haunted retelling of the Jewish dybbuk legend, Marcin Wrona's Demon was the director's final film as he committed suicide during its promotion. Though things derail comically in its "wedding from hell" scenario, Wrona balances such moments with a story that has a sorrowful momentum. It is spooky without stylistically adhering to hardly any typical horror movie motifs and the supernatural occurrences therein shine a light on Polish/Jewish societal dynamics. Just as the central bride and groom character, (played tormentingly by Itay Tiran and Agnieszka Zulewska, respectfully), are at the cusp of starting their new life together, a spirit from a bygone era that has been replaced longs to return to what once was. In effect, it is as much a touching meditation on nostalgia as it is a troubling possession tale.
Dir - Marcin Wrona
A humorous yet haunted retelling of the Jewish dybbuk legend, Marcin Wrona's Demon was the director's final film as he committed suicide during its promotion. Though things derail comically in its "wedding from hell" scenario, Wrona balances such moments with a story that has a sorrowful momentum. It is spooky without stylistically adhering to hardly any typical horror movie motifs and the supernatural occurrences therein shine a light on Polish/Jewish societal dynamics. Just as the central bride and groom character, (played tormentingly by Itay Tiran and Agnieszka Zulewska, respectfully), are at the cusp of starting their new life together, a spirit from a bygone era that has been replaced longs to return to what once was. In effect, it is as much a touching meditation on nostalgia as it is a troubling possession tale.
(1973)
Dir - Antony Balch
The second of only two full-lengths from writer/director Antony Balch, Horror Hospital is a less oddball improvement over his exploitation anthology debut Secrets of Sex, but it still maintains its share of quirkiness. Any movie with a Rolls-Royce equipped with a beheading blade and a burn victim mad scientist who turns young adults into electric-lobotomized zombies because why not surely fits within the realm of weird. More campy than explicitly comedic, the tone is in line with some of Vincent Price's British films of the period, though it does not bother with atmospheric spookiness. Instead, it keeps its tongue in cheek the entire ride while delivering full frontal nudity and select moments of violence. Michael Gough was always a welcome edition to genre fare going back to the early Hammer days and he is delightfully smug and sinister here. This also serves as the final film role for dwarf actor Skip Martin who steels the show as Gough's abused servant with a heart of gold.
(1962)
Dir - Roger Corman
Significant as the only entry in American International Pictures' Edgar Allan Poe cycle not to feature Vincent Price, Ray Milland successfully enough steps in for The Premature Burial. Director Roger Corman initially wanted to work outside of AIP for his third film in the series, (hence Price's uninvolvement as he was under contract with them), though the production company ended up in the distribution seat anyway. Having Milland in the lead proved a mixed blessing of sorts as the movie once again centers on an eccentric protagonist that is consumed with macabre thoughts, but things may have come off as even more redundant with Price on board doing that same shtick yet again. Though the "twists" are foreseeable and the locale switches away from a crumbling castle, the set design and cinematography are still top notch and there is plenty of cobwebs, fog, and morbidly chilling moments to go around.
Dir - Brandon Cronenberg
The full-length debut Antiviral from Brandon Cronenberg follows closely to the famed body horror work of his famous father, presenting a disturbed alternate reality where celebrity worship has reached literally sickening proportions. Cronenberg's inspiration came from his own fever dreams and perceptions of the "physicality of illness" and fusing this with a scenario where famous people are obsessed over to such a degree that their cells and any infection that passes through their bodies is both coveted and marketed, it creates a unique concept to draw from. The tone is appropriately sterile and Caleb Landry Jones delivers arguably his creepiest performance yet, (which says a lot), as the perpetually sick antagonist who is caught up in the disease race.
The full-length debut Antiviral from Brandon Cronenberg follows closely to the famed body horror work of his famous father, presenting a disturbed alternate reality where celebrity worship has reached literally sickening proportions. Cronenberg's inspiration came from his own fever dreams and perceptions of the "physicality of illness" and fusing this with a scenario where famous people are obsessed over to such a degree that their cells and any infection that passes through their bodies is both coveted and marketed, it creates a unique concept to draw from. The tone is appropriately sterile and Caleb Landry Jones delivers arguably his creepiest performance yet, (which says a lot), as the perpetually sick antagonist who is caught up in the disease race.
(2013)
Dir - Alejandro Hidalgo
A huge financial success in its native Venezuela, The House at the End of Time boasts an ambitious and sentimental premise, yet delivers its twists better than most. The debut from writer/director/producer Alejandro Hidalgo, it adheres to some horror genre pandering, (jump scares, formulaic visual aesthetics), but unlike most films that seem to present supernatural occurrences in an arbitrary fashion, those here sufficiently reveal themselves throughout the entire third act which is a non-stop barrage of time shifting rug pulls. Wonderfully acted, former Miss Venezuela World Ruddy Rodríguez especially delivers under convincingly aged makeup and the emotional payoff of the material is a refreshing tweak to the usual by numbers spook show.
Dir - Alejandro Hidalgo
A huge financial success in its native Venezuela, The House at the End of Time boasts an ambitious and sentimental premise, yet delivers its twists better than most. The debut from writer/director/producer Alejandro Hidalgo, it adheres to some horror genre pandering, (jump scares, formulaic visual aesthetics), but unlike most films that seem to present supernatural occurrences in an arbitrary fashion, those here sufficiently reveal themselves throughout the entire third act which is a non-stop barrage of time shifting rug pulls. Wonderfully acted, former Miss Venezuela World Ruddy Rodríguez especially delivers under convincingly aged makeup and the emotional payoff of the material is a refreshing tweak to the usual by numbers spook show.
(1989)
Dir - Chris Walas
Though not a game-changing homerun the way that David Cronenberg's previous remake was, The Fly 2 is still a rarely solid sequel that easily could have and should have been much worse. The production was troubled with various script rewrites, but while the story retreads a similar dynamic with Eric Stoltz and Daphne Zuniga as the doomed couple, it is unique enough in other respects. The aforementioned leads have a likeable chemistry even if pretty much every other character is villainous in a one-note and borderline ridiculous fashion. Being directed by special effects artist Chris Walas though, (in his behind the lens debut), it goes for broke with the gore, delivering some fantastically gruesome death sequences in the final act that rank as some of the decade's best.
(1926)
Dir - Teinosuke Kinugasa
A Japanese counterpart to Robert Wiene's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Dziga Vertov's Man with a Movie Camera, (released three years earlier than the latter no less), A Page of Madness is a rare surviving work in experimental horror from the country. Set in an insane asylum with no intertitles to help the narrative along, it was made by the avant-garde literary group Shinkankakuha and is a fascinating barrage of innovative cinematic tactics for its day. A montage of overlapping and bizarre imagery, flashbacks, and cinematic metaphors, it indirectly tells the tale of a man who takes a clandestine job as a janitor at a mental ward to keep an eye on his wife who had gone mad after trying to kill herself and her child some years earlier. Following the story is tricky, but director Teinosuke Kinugasa and cinematographers Kōhei Sugiyama and Eiji Tsuburaya maintain a fascinating and fluid stream of images that range from deranged, to beautiful, to perplexing, to frightening.
(1976)
Dir - Krsto Papić
A sort of Croatian Invasion of the Body Snatchers, filmmaker Krsto Papić's The Rat Savior is an adaptation of Soviet author Alexander Grin's novel Pacolovac, in which a poor writer uncovers a secrete society of rats who have infiltrated society in the guise of humans. Set during an economic collapse where work is unavailable and many people are reduced to selling their possessions in the streets to uninterested costumers, the rat people get together in a once luxurious, now abandoned building and gorge themselves on cheese and wine while having decadent bourgeois parties. The makeup effects are primitive yet effectively startling and the story is just strange enough to have an almost tragic fairy tale charm to it that carries an appropriately unearthly mood.
(1957)
Dir - Roger Corman
Out of all of the frugally budgeted sci-fi films that Roger Corman directed in his most prolific period, Not of this Earth is the least laughably goofy and therefor the most genuinely produced. It has the usual element of an alien disguised in human form, except said life form is also telepathic, can melt people's brains with his pupil-less eyes, talks in an over-enunciating vernacular, and has a wacky blood disease that leads to borderline vampiric activity. Ridiculous on paper of course, but Corman's presentation is tight, the characters are likeable, and Paul Birch delivers an appropriately unnatural and emotionless performance as the desperate extraterrestrial that is trying to save his doomed planet.
(1999)
Dir - Shinya Tsukamoto
Set during the tail end of Japan's Mejii era, Gemini is a rare period piece for cyberpunk horror pioneer Shinya Tsukamoto, though it still dabbles into his fascination with the grotesque and avant-garde. A loose adaptation of Edogawa Rampo's story "Sōseiji: Aru Shikeiin ga Kyōkaishi ni Uchiaketa Hanashi", it has some stark and eerie atmosphere early on before a major narrative shift occurs, at which point the movie becomes more of a psychological study of two characters representing different sides of the same coin. In a dual role, Masahiro Motoki purposely blends the two, each of whom are proven to be capable of both class prejudge and ultimately, violence. Tsukamoto is mostly restrained in his approach here, though he does let loose with some of his trademark frantic editing and even an industrial metal soundtrack cue during one scene.
(1990)
Dir - Adam Simon
Dusting off a decades old script by Charles Beaumont, producer Julie Corman set into production Brain Dead with director Adam Simon making his debut behind the lens and updating the story for modern times. A rare on-screen pairing of the Bills Paxton and Pullman, the former is more reserved than usual as a yuppy businessman and the latter spends the entirety of the second and third acts in a ceaselessly topsy-turvy nightmare state where he becomes infinitely lost in personality obscurity. As a wacky head-trip, Simon maintains a frantic pace where nothing settles into normalcy, keeping the audience on as much of a confused edge as Pullman's neurosurgeon is. Several moments are hilarious and gore fans get enough squishy brain surgery scenes to indulge in as well.
Dir - Adam Simon
Dusting off a decades old script by Charles Beaumont, producer Julie Corman set into production Brain Dead with director Adam Simon making his debut behind the lens and updating the story for modern times. A rare on-screen pairing of the Bills Paxton and Pullman, the former is more reserved than usual as a yuppy businessman and the latter spends the entirety of the second and third acts in a ceaselessly topsy-turvy nightmare state where he becomes infinitely lost in personality obscurity. As a wacky head-trip, Simon maintains a frantic pace where nothing settles into normalcy, keeping the audience on as much of a confused edge as Pullman's neurosurgeon is. Several moments are hilarious and gore fans get enough squishy brain surgery scenes to indulge in as well.
(2017)
Dir - Zak Hilditch
One of the better Stephen King adaptations to emerge in recent times, 1922 is based off of the novella of the same name which was published in 2010's Full Dark, No Stars collection. The first American full-length from Australian director Zak Hilditch, it manages to take a straight-forward approach to the material while avoiding several common and modern horror tropes while simultaneously letting others prove effective without being pandering. It is refreshing that it does not indulge in many supernatural set pieces to begin with, instead focusing on the brooding, doomed, matter-of-fact psyche of Thomas Jane's stubborn and morally broken farmer. Jane is excellent here, clenching his teeth with a thick Nebraska drawl and appearing as if his emotions are painfully repressed at all times. Mike Patton's score is conventional, yet it does a great service in maintaining a forlorn mood. Brutal and hopeless as a cautionary tale where a man's evil deeds reap their due, it is heavy in all of the right ways.
Dir - Zak Hilditch
One of the better Stephen King adaptations to emerge in recent times, 1922 is based off of the novella of the same name which was published in 2010's Full Dark, No Stars collection. The first American full-length from Australian director Zak Hilditch, it manages to take a straight-forward approach to the material while avoiding several common and modern horror tropes while simultaneously letting others prove effective without being pandering. It is refreshing that it does not indulge in many supernatural set pieces to begin with, instead focusing on the brooding, doomed, matter-of-fact psyche of Thomas Jane's stubborn and morally broken farmer. Jane is excellent here, clenching his teeth with a thick Nebraska drawl and appearing as if his emotions are painfully repressed at all times. Mike Patton's score is conventional, yet it does a great service in maintaining a forlorn mood. Brutal and hopeless as a cautionary tale where a man's evil deeds reap their due, it is heavy in all of the right ways.
(2013)
Dir - Raul Garcia
While the world hardly needs another Edgar Allan Poe anthology movie, (least of all one that is made up of some of the author's most known and previously filmed works), the animated collection Extraordinary Tales from Raul Garcia exceeds expectations. Despite the consistent digital smoothness, each segment is done in a singular style from each other yet all adhere to the proper level of doom and gloom that lies paramount to Poe's writings. Best of all though, the movie is headed by an all-star cast of narrators. Christopher Lee does "The Fall of the House of Usher", an old radio excerpt of Béla Lugosi doing "The Tell-Tale Heart" is used, Julian Sands performs "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar", Guillermo del Toro" does "The Pit and the Pendulum", and Roger Corman briefly provides the voice of Prince Prospero in "The Masque of the Red Death".
(1993)
Dir - John Carpenter/Tobe Hooper
Though Showtime's Body Bags ended up being a stand-alone anthology film instead of a jumping off point for their own answer to HBO's hugely popular Tales from the Crypt series as was originally intended, it is still a fun one for John Carpenter and Tobe Hooper fans. The former himself hams it up as the Coroner; the wise-cracking Crypt Keeper stand-in who introduces each segment. Carpenter also directs the opening, straight ahead slasher "The Gas Station" and the much weirder "Hair", with Hooper's closing "The Eye" likewise having a strange premise and delivering some squeamish moments. Plenty of beloved genre favorites appear such as David Warner, Sam Raimi, Deborah Harry, Wes Craven, David Naughton, and Roger Corman, with some surprise turns from Mark Hamill, Stacy Keach, Tom Arnold, and Robert Carradine as well.
456. LUNACY
(2005)
Dir - Jan Švankmajer
The primarily live action Lunacy from stop motion animator Jan Švankmajer begins with the filmmaker himself providing an introduction that specifies the inspiration of Edgar Allan Poe and the Marquis de Sade, as well as the fact that this is a horror movie and "not art". It is an appropriate jumping off point since what follows is a darkly comedic riff on the ole "lunatics taking over the asylum" gag, regularly interjected by raw meat performing various bizarre acts. Švankmajer seems to be having fun with the very concept of madness, throwing doubt over every scenario and presenting us with not a solitary character who is remotely on any side of "normal". There are plenty of macabre and blasphemous bits scattered around as well, plus Jan Tříska turns in a wonderfully batshit performance as the self-proclaimed Marquis.
455. TAG
(2015)
Dir - Sion Sono
Filmmaker Sion Sono delivers another ultra-violent head trip with Tag; his adaptation of Yusuke Yamada's novel Riaru Onigokko. A wonderfully absurd opening scene only sets the stage for a continual stream of them, as Reina Triendl runs, runs, and runs some more with the help of her friends through a disturbed dreamscape where impending doom is right on their heels. The fact that her actual character keeps changing into other actors eventually makes as much "sense" as anything else going on, but despite the film's relentless surrealism, there is an underlining theme of feminist empowerment where "doing something unexpected" can cause an infinite ripple effect where a woman may gain some semblance of control over the oppressive forces that zone in on her. A haunting shoegazing score by the instrumental band Mono and some hilariously bad CGI gore both add stylistic ingredients to an already indulgently strange work that is difficult if not futile to keep up with by design.
454. ALL THE MOONS
(2020)
Dir - Igor Legarreta
Though it tackles the same metaphoric angle or immortal isolation and loneliness that many vampire stories have, Igor Legarreta's sophomore full-length All the Moons serves as a beautiful and haunting coming-of-age story that takes place over many years. Beginning at the end of the Third Carlist War and wrapping up at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, the story exclusively lingers in the outskirts of the filmmaker's home country where hardships, death, and superstition reign unchecked. Haizea Carneros's frequently orphaned protagonist is a tragic figure in every sense of the word, who leaves one rough existence for another while remaining in a lifeless limbo after succumbing to a woman's "kiss", only to fend for herself and to see the world pass her by. It is regularly heartbreaking, tenderly shot, and ultimately uplifting in its closing moments, cinimatically offering one of the most sobering and flashless depictions of the undead that has ever been captured on screen.
453. SAMURAI REINCARNATION
(1981)
Dir - Kinji Fukasaku
One of the few fantasy films on the prolific resume of director Kinji Fukasaku, Samurai Reincarnation is a borderline epic adaptation of Futaro Yamada's novel Makai Tensho. It has an interesting historical angle where a Christian warrior in Japan's Edo period embarks on the Shimabara Rebellion against the Shogun. The fictionalized details here being that he renounces god, becomes a devil, and supernaturally resurrects a ragtag group of others that have their own personal vendettas to settle. The two hour running time covers a good amount of ground, giving each villainous character ample opportunity to reap their vengeance in violent and unsettling ways. No less than three sword-fighting showdowns take place in the finale, two of them back to back in a fire-engulfed fortress no less.
452. NIGHTMARE
(1964)
Dir - Freddie Francis
Cinematographer Freddie Francis' second directorial effort for Hammer Films was the ultra moody and twist-heavy thriller Nightmare. This and the previous year's Paranoiac were collaborations between Francis and screenwriter Jimmy Sangster, both Hammer regulars with the former also serving as producer here. It is a solid combination of an intricate and clever script that is given an effectively atmospheric presentation as Francis stages several virtually silent and ultra tense moments. Many similar stories have been told involving long-winded schemes to drive people insane, (usually against women and to obtain some sort of financial gain), but Sangster successfully one-ups the formula in the third act which turns the tides for a elongated and increasingly maddening series of events.
451. MISERY
(1990)
Dir - Rob Reiner
Rob Reiner might not seem the logical filmmaker to adapt a Stephen King novel, yet his lone horror movie Misery ended up being one of the strongest and most popular adaptations of the author's work. Famous for Kathy Bates' award winning, diabolical performance, James Caan also delivers the goods in an against type role that finds him helplessly bed-ridden throughout almost the entire film. Bates is certainly batty enough to induce some dark humor chuckles from the audience, yet the movie primarily keeps things on the disturbing end of the spectrum, particularly manifested in the infamous leg smashing scene which is not for the squeamish. Reiner takes a few Hitchcock cues with several suspense-laden set pieces, plus the finale kicks up the bloody mayhem in a satisfying and over-the-top manner.
Though Showtime's Body Bags ended up being a stand-alone anthology film instead of a jumping off point for their own answer to HBO's hugely popular Tales from the Crypt series as was originally intended, it is still a fun one for John Carpenter and Tobe Hooper fans. The former himself hams it up as the Coroner; the wise-cracking Crypt Keeper stand-in who introduces each segment. Carpenter also directs the opening, straight ahead slasher "The Gas Station" and the much weirder "Hair", with Hooper's closing "The Eye" likewise having a strange premise and delivering some squeamish moments. Plenty of beloved genre favorites appear such as David Warner, Sam Raimi, Deborah Harry, Wes Craven, David Naughton, and Roger Corman, with some surprise turns from Mark Hamill, Stacy Keach, Tom Arnold, and Robert Carradine as well.
(2005)
Dir - Jan Švankmajer
The primarily live action Lunacy from stop motion animator Jan Švankmajer begins with the filmmaker himself providing an introduction that specifies the inspiration of Edgar Allan Poe and the Marquis de Sade, as well as the fact that this is a horror movie and "not art". It is an appropriate jumping off point since what follows is a darkly comedic riff on the ole "lunatics taking over the asylum" gag, regularly interjected by raw meat performing various bizarre acts. Švankmajer seems to be having fun with the very concept of madness, throwing doubt over every scenario and presenting us with not a solitary character who is remotely on any side of "normal". There are plenty of macabre and blasphemous bits scattered around as well, plus Jan Tříska turns in a wonderfully batshit performance as the self-proclaimed Marquis.
(2015)
Dir - Sion Sono
Filmmaker Sion Sono delivers another ultra-violent head trip with Tag; his adaptation of Yusuke Yamada's novel Riaru Onigokko. A wonderfully absurd opening scene only sets the stage for a continual stream of them, as Reina Triendl runs, runs, and runs some more with the help of her friends through a disturbed dreamscape where impending doom is right on their heels. The fact that her actual character keeps changing into other actors eventually makes as much "sense" as anything else going on, but despite the film's relentless surrealism, there is an underlining theme of feminist empowerment where "doing something unexpected" can cause an infinite ripple effect where a woman may gain some semblance of control over the oppressive forces that zone in on her. A haunting shoegazing score by the instrumental band Mono and some hilariously bad CGI gore both add stylistic ingredients to an already indulgently strange work that is difficult if not futile to keep up with by design.
(2020)
Dir - Igor Legarreta
Though it tackles the same metaphoric angle or immortal isolation and loneliness that many vampire stories have, Igor Legarreta's sophomore full-length All the Moons serves as a beautiful and haunting coming-of-age story that takes place over many years. Beginning at the end of the Third Carlist War and wrapping up at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, the story exclusively lingers in the outskirts of the filmmaker's home country where hardships, death, and superstition reign unchecked. Haizea Carneros's frequently orphaned protagonist is a tragic figure in every sense of the word, who leaves one rough existence for another while remaining in a lifeless limbo after succumbing to a woman's "kiss", only to fend for herself and to see the world pass her by. It is regularly heartbreaking, tenderly shot, and ultimately uplifting in its closing moments, cinimatically offering one of the most sobering and flashless depictions of the undead that has ever been captured on screen.
(1981)
Dir - Kinji Fukasaku
One of the few fantasy films on the prolific resume of director Kinji Fukasaku, Samurai Reincarnation is a borderline epic adaptation of Futaro Yamada's novel Makai Tensho. It has an interesting historical angle where a Christian warrior in Japan's Edo period embarks on the Shimabara Rebellion against the Shogun. The fictionalized details here being that he renounces god, becomes a devil, and supernaturally resurrects a ragtag group of others that have their own personal vendettas to settle. The two hour running time covers a good amount of ground, giving each villainous character ample opportunity to reap their vengeance in violent and unsettling ways. No less than three sword-fighting showdowns take place in the finale, two of them back to back in a fire-engulfed fortress no less.
(1964)
Dir - Freddie Francis
Cinematographer Freddie Francis' second directorial effort for Hammer Films was the ultra moody and twist-heavy thriller Nightmare. This and the previous year's Paranoiac were collaborations between Francis and screenwriter Jimmy Sangster, both Hammer regulars with the former also serving as producer here. It is a solid combination of an intricate and clever script that is given an effectively atmospheric presentation as Francis stages several virtually silent and ultra tense moments. Many similar stories have been told involving long-winded schemes to drive people insane, (usually against women and to obtain some sort of financial gain), but Sangster successfully one-ups the formula in the third act which turns the tides for a elongated and increasingly maddening series of events.
(1990)
Dir - Rob Reiner
Rob Reiner might not seem the logical filmmaker to adapt a Stephen King novel, yet his lone horror movie Misery ended up being one of the strongest and most popular adaptations of the author's work. Famous for Kathy Bates' award winning, diabolical performance, James Caan also delivers the goods in an against type role that finds him helplessly bed-ridden throughout almost the entire film. Bates is certainly batty enough to induce some dark humor chuckles from the audience, yet the movie primarily keeps things on the disturbing end of the spectrum, particularly manifested in the infamous leg smashing scene which is not for the squeamish. Reiner takes a few Hitchcock cues with several suspense-laden set pieces, plus the finale kicks up the bloody mayhem in a satisfying and over-the-top manner.
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