Thoughts On Horror

Oasis of Fear (Umberto Lenzi, 1971)

Oasis of Fear (1971): A young couple on the run from the police after being caught selling pornography stay with a woman on her own in a big house. The woman plots against them. Quite a tense affair that only reveals its hand quite late on. A bit different to most gialli too.

Dark City (Alex Proyas, 1998)

Dark City (1998): A chap wakes up with no memory and the body of a dead woman. He wanders around a strange city controlled by bald men trying to find answers. Wonderfully unique with amazing production design and an incessant score. Excellent film that has aged like fine wine.

28 Weeks Later (Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, 2007)

28 Weeks Later (2007): An American led military force is trying to rebuild society in Britain after the outbreak is believed to be contained. The antics of one family mean it isn’t. Contrived but excellent set pieces, a great cast and a very bleak outlook make for a good sequel.

Gretel & Hansel (Osgood Perkins, 2020)

Gretel & Hansel (2020): A girl and her younger brother, having been banished by their mother, take refuge with a witch. Shit gets weird. The dialogue slows it down a bit but visually stunning retelling of the fable with a feminist slant. Not perfect but very interesting.

The Mad Executioners (Edwin Zbonek, 1963)

The Mad Executioners (1963): A group of hooded vigilante types are catching criminals, trying them and executing them before the police can catch them. The police are also hunting a separate serial killer. Good film that presents a moral conundrum as well as being a fun mystery.

The Strangler of Blackmoor Castle (Harald Reinl, 1963)

The Strangler of Blackmoor Castle (1963): Just before being knighted, a rich guy is threatened by a masked man who wants some diamonds from him. There’s a scramble to get the diamonds. Really good mystery and obviously an influence on later gialli. Quite eccentric too, especially the score.

The Snorkel (Guy Green, 1958)

The Snorkel (1958): A bloke murders his wife and makes it look like suicide. His stepdaughter suspects him so he goes after her. Not many surprises but quite suspenseful and quite a clever murderer.

Never Take Sweets from a Stranger (Cyril Frankel, 1960)

Never Take Sweets from a Stranger (1960): After two young girls are made to dance naked for an old man, the parents of one of the girls press charges. The old man is powerful though. Not well received at the time due to the subject matter, which is a shame as it’s a good film.

The Ghoul (Gareth Tunley, 2016)

The Ghoul (2016): After a weird double murder, a detective investigates a pair of psychiatrists interested in the occult. Too twisty for its own good and becomes less clear as it goes on. Works better as a non narrative nightmare than a mystery, with shades of Lost Highway.

Escape Room: Tournament of Champions (Adam Robitel, 2021)

Escape Room: Tournament of Champions (2021): Folk who have survived previous escape rooms made by the Minos Corporation are tricked into another one. Lacks a bit of the novelty of the first one although still impressively designed traps. The ending is a bit of a mess though.

Escape Room (Adam Robitel, 2019)

Escape Room (2019): A bunch of people are invited to a mysterious escape room experience. They all have something in common and the rooms are deadly. Very cool rooms and plays on a legitimate fear of these damn things. Owes a lot to older films but still a good ride itself.

The Exorcist III: Legion (William Peter Blatty, 1990)

The Exorcist III: Legion (1990): An alternate cut, and supposedly the director’s preferred film. Mainly a battle of wits between the Gemini killer and Detective Kinderman, with less of Father Carras. A better film than the theatrical cut too in my opinion.

The Exorcist III (William Peter Blatty, 1990)

The Exorcist III (1990): The detective involved in the original exorcism is investigating a series of murders that seemed to be linked to it. A victim of studio interference but I do like this one. Has a few genuinely scary moments and a good story. Another version exists of it.

Exorcist II: The Heretic (John Boorman, 1977)

Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977): Regan is attending some sort of hypnosis therapy after her experience of being possessed by a demon. A priest is sent to visit her. Absolutely atrocious film. Never gets close to being scary and is laughably bad in places. Makes very little sense.

The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973)

The Exorcist (1973): A young girl is possessed. An old priest and a young priest try and sort it out. Exceptionally well made and acted, and has a rather logical approach, making it horrifying rather than terrifying. So much so that it was effectively banned in Britain for years.

The Fourth Kind (Olatunde Osunsanmi, 2009)

The Fourth Kind (2009): A psychiatrist tells her side of the story about alien abductions in a small town in Alaska. Told in a really odd way, with actors recreating supposedly found footage. Gets a bit tedious but an interesting method.

Rogue (Greg McLean, 2007)

Rogue (2007): A group of tourists on a boat tour on an Australian river are attacked by a huge crocodile. They try to survive after their boat is sunk. Not particularly original but very well made, and only glimpses of the crocodile keep it menacing. Good cast too. Decent film.

Hitch Hike to Hell (Irvin Berwick, 1977)

Hitch Hike to Hell (1977): A dry cleaning delivery driver picks up women in his van. If he finds out they’re runaways he loses it and murders them. Gets a bit repetitive although stays interesting as the police close in on the killer. The guy in the lead role is pretty good.

Bubba Ho-Tep (Don Coscarelli, 2002)

Bubba Ho-Tep (2002): Elvis Presley (who’s still alive) teams up with JFK (also alive, and black) to fight off a mummy stealing the souls of folks in a retirement home. Wonderfully bizarre. Not full of jokes but the concept alone is consistently funny and the monster is cool too.

Death Game (Peter S. Traynor, 1977)

Death Game (1977): Two young women turn up at the house of a chap whilst his family are away. They seduce and then torture him. Not much in terms of plot but a couple of unhinged performances make it quite striking. Pretty unpredictable as it seems like it was mostly improvised.

Puppet Master: Axis Termination (Charles Band, 2017)

Puppet Master: Axis Termination (2017): A soldier works with a group of psychics and the puppets fighting a gang of Nazis with special powers and their puppets. Very silly and very cheap looking. The whole Nazi things is getting a bit tired by this point. Not great.

Shaun of the Dead (Edgar Wright, 2004)

Shaun of the Dead (2004): A chap is dumped by his girlfriend because he lacks ambition. When a zombie apocalypse breaks out he tries to protect her and their friends by hiding out in a pub. Very funny and brilliantly edited. An absolute classic.

Riddick (David Twohy, 2013)

Riddick (2013): After being dumped on a strange planet by the Necromongers, Riddick activates a distress beacon that brings two groups of bounty hunters. Goes back to the tone of Pitch Black, so a marked improvement over the previous installment. Decent cast too.

Dawn of the Dead (Zack Snyder, 2004)

Dawn of the Dead (2004): After society suddenly falls apart due to a zombie outbreak, a group of people try to survive in an empty shopping mall. Can’t beat the original but an excellent remake nonetheless. Amazing opening and a relentless pace. Also has a much bleaker ending.

Spring Lakes (Ranjeet S. Marwa, 2023)

Spring Lakes (2023): A chap is asked by his estranged mother to find his missing sister. She is supposedly in a spooky forest type place. The mother is part of a cult though. A few good ideas but also some terrible performances and long stretches of badly written conversations. Mostly dreadful.

The Soul of a Monster (Will Jason, 1944)

The Soul of a Monster (1944): The wife of a well known surgeon makes a plea for his life to be spared as he lays dying. A mysterious woman turns up and saves him, but he turns evil. Pretty good film with an unusual villain. Kind of bottles the ending but probably had to back then

Cry of the Werewolf (Henry Levin, 1944)

Cry of the Werewolf (1944): A chap running a small museum is murdered by a werewolf woman as he was about to reveal her ancestry to the world. The dead man’s son investigates. A bit convoluted and has a poor transformation scene (just a dog) but short enough to stay enjoyable.

He Never Left (James Morris, 2023)

He Never Left (2023): Years after a masked killer made a name for himself before disappearing, a felon on the run hides out in a motel in the same area. He hears mysterious noises from another room. A slasher that’s fairly light on action but well acted and has a twist of sorts at the end.

From Beyond (Stuart Gordon, 1986)

From Beyond (1986): Two scientists build a machine that helps them see past normal reality. One loses his head (literally) and the other helps a psychiatrist with her investigation. Some brilliant practical effects in a madcap Lovecraft adaptation. A gloriously fun body horror.

R Point (Su-Chang Kong, 2004)

R Point (2004): During the Vietnam War, a group of Korean soldiers are sent to rescue a missing platoon. They are doomed from the moment they arrive. Consistently eerie although a bit vague about what the threat is. Has a great ending though.