I’ve completed the 100 Horror Movies challenge in less than 92 days, which means October is all about re-watching my comfort films. My goal was to try and watch fewer US-made films since I’m in the UK, and expand on the decades and global films I’m able to access. I’ve still ended up with a lot of US films, but I’ve tried to go for classics, new-to-me by directors I already enjoy, and a mix of indie films and ‘big’ films I haven’t seen.
It’s too hard to pick my favourites this year. I’ve enjoyed the majority of films I’ve seen and I can’t decide what the best ones are. I can more easily say which I enjoyed the least, since there were so few of them that I didn’t really enjoy.
Ask me about any that tickle your fancy.
Countries by A-Z
- Argentina
- Australia
- Austria
- Belarus
- Brazil
- Canada
- China
- Czechia
- Denmark
- Egypt
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- India
- Indonesia
- Ireland
- Italy
- Japan
- Mexico
- Philippines
- Russia
- Senegal
- Serbia
- South Africa
- South Korea
- Spain
- Sweden
- Turkey
- United Kingdom
- United States of America
Disclaimer/Explanation
I didn’t have a set number of countries in mind for this when I started watching, but maybe next year I’ll try to beat this number! I debated putting Iceland in as well, but Fanga/Belle (2023) dir. Max Gold is a US production, even though it was filmed in Iceland with an Icelandic cast. The fact her name is Belle, and not an Icelandic name, and the story is not an Icelandic story, makes me think it shouldn’t count.
I know The Wind (1986) is also a US production, but this had a Greek director and was also filmed in Greece, so this does count as a ‘Greek’ film to me. It (and Blood Tide) are often listed as ‘Greek’ films. But as Blood Tide didn’t have a Greek director, and the main cast are US Americans (including James Earl Jones), I haven’t put that one under Greece officially either, just a made a note on it.
Unsurprisingly, the USA still has a lot of the films I watched included in its list; 26 of my 100 films were made in the US, so just over a quarter. Next time I’m going to try and make a point of watching films by non-cis men, queer, and BIPOC directors if I’m choosing films from the USA. This year it was a bit ad hoc as usual, with just a bit more thought given to the range of countries.
Argentinian Films
Muere, monstruo, muere/Murder Me, Monster (2008) dir. Alejandro Fadel: A rural police officer investigates the bizarre case of a headless woman’s body. The prime suspect blames the crime on the appearance of a legendary monster.
Australian Films
Lake Mungo (2008) dir. Joel Anderson: After 16-year-old Alice Palmer drowns in a local dam, her family experiences a series of strange, inexplicable events centered in and around their home. Unsettled, the Palmers seek the help of psychic and parapsychologist, who discovers that Alice led a secret, double life. At Lake Mungo, Alice’s secret past emerges.
Carnifex (2022) dir. Sean Lahiff: An aspiring documentarian and two conservationists who venture into the Outback to record the animals displaced by bushfires where they discover a terrifying new species.
Austrian Films
Hagazussa (2017) dir. Lukas Feigelfeld: In the 15th century, a young goatherd living alone in a mountain hut feels a dark presence in the woods.
The Dark (2018) dir. Justin P. Lange: A murderous, flesh-eating undead young girl haunting the remote stretch of woods where she was murdered decades earlier, discovers a kidnapped and abused boy hiding in the trunk of one of her victim’s cars. Her decision to let the boy live throws her aggressively solitary existence into upheaval, and ultimately forces her to re-examine just how much of her humanity her murderer was able to destroy.
Des Teufels Bad/The Devil’s Bath (2024) dirs. Severin Fiala, Veronika Franz: 18th century Austria. Villages surrounded by deep forests. A woman is sentenced to death after killing a baby. Agnes is marrying her loved one and candidly prepares herself for a spouse life. Soon after, her head and heart start to feel heavy. Day after day, she is increasingly trapped in a murky and lonely path leading to evil thoughts. Maybe not just thoughts…
Belarusian Films
Soviet/USSR
Дикая охота короля Стаха/Savage Hunt of King Stakh (1979) dir. Valeriy Rubinchik: A mystical drama based on a story by V. Korotkevich. The film is set in out-of-the-way Belarusian woodlands at the end of the 19th century. A young ethnographer, Andrej Bielarecki, comes here to research local folk legends…
Brazilian Films
À Meia Noite Levarei Sua Alma/At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul (1965) dir. José Mojica Marins: Zé do Caixão is an undertaker in a small Brazilian town, searching for the perfect woman to bear him a superior child. Unable to conceive with his wife, he kills her and sets out to find someone else. The first in the “Coffin Joe” trilogy of films.
Canadian Films
Poor Agnes (2017) dir. Navin Ramaswaran: Ambitious, cunning, and narcissistic, Agnes is a serial killer, hiding in plain sight within a rural town while defining her own systems of sport and romance.
Chinese Films
Cantonese
殭屍先生/Mr. Vampire (1985) dir. Ricky Lau: The planned reburial of a village elder goes awry as the corpse resurrects into a hopping, bloodthirsty vampire, threatening mankind. Therefore, a Taoist Priest and his two disciples attempt to stop the terror.
Czech Films
Czech New Wave/Soviet/USSR
Morgiana (1972) dir. Juraj Herz: Jealous of her vapidly “good” sister’s popularity, poisonous Viktoria doses pretty Klara’s tea with a slow-acting fatal substance. As the latter grows hysterically weak, the former finds success increasingly compromised by guilt, blackmail, and the pesky need to kill others lest she be exposed.
Czechia/Slovakia
Svetlonoc/Nightsiren (2022) dir. Tereza Nvotová: A mysterious woman returns to her mountain village home to confront her painful past. As she tries to uncover the long-buried truth, the local villagers accuse her of witchcraft and murder.
Danish Films
Natten har øjne/Attachment (2022) dir. Gabriel Bier Gislason: Maja, a Danish actress past her prime, falls in love with Leah, a young Jewish academic from London. Leah suffers a mysterious seizure, and Maja returns with her to London. There, she meets Leah’s mother, an overbearing woman who could hold dark secrets.
Egyptian Films
أنياب/Anyab/Fangs (1981) dir. Mohamed Shebl: The Egyptian remake of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, but instead of it being transgressively queer, it’s anti-capitalist and takes shots at 1980s Egyptian society. When Ali and Mona’s car breaks down en route to a party, the couple seek the nearest house to make an emergency call, only to find that they’ve arrived at the home of the revered Count Dracula. (Watch it with English subtitles on archive.org)
Filipino Films
Tiyank/Goblin (1988) dirs. Lore Reyes, Peque Gallaga: Julie begins to suspect that an abandoned baby she takes in may be a demon in disguise.
Aurora (2018) dir. Yam Laranas: The passenger ship Aurora mysteriously collides into the rocky sea threatening an entire island. A young woman and her sister must both survive by finding the missing dead for a bounty.
See also: Raging Grace (2023) dir. Paris Zarcilla, which is under UK films.
French Films
Cold Skin (2017) dir. Xavier Gens: A young man who arrives at a remote island finds himself trapped in a battle for his life.
Kandisha (2020) dirs. Julien Maury, Alexandre Bustillo: One summer evening, three childhood friends invoke the spirit of Kandisha, a vengeful creature from a Moroccan legend. The game quickly turns into a nightmare when their loved ones begin to disappear. <My least favourite of the films I watched: the French Candyman which I didn’t think handled anti-Arab racism or Islamophobia in France particularly well>
German Films
Faust – Eine deutsche Volkssage/Faust (1926) dir. F. W. Murnau: God and Satan war over earth; to settle things, they wager on the soul of Faust, a learned and prayerful alchemist.
Hexen bis aufs Blut gequält/Mark of the Devil (1970) dirs. Michael Armstrong, Adrian Hoven: In 1700s Austria, a witch-hunter’s apprentice has doubts about the righteousness of witch-hunting when he witnesses the brutality, the injustice, the falsehood, the torture and the arbitrary killing that go with the job.
Laurin (1989) dir. Robert Sigl: In a small port town at the end of the 19th century children are disappearing. A mysterious man in black who stalks the town may be Death itself. And nine-year-old Laurin is suffering terrifying dreams and hallucinations of a man carrying a sack and frightened children calling for help from behind closed windows.
Greek Films
The Wind (1986) dir. Nico Mastorakis: Mystery writer Sian Anderson leaves her boyfriend John for three weeks of intense writing in the isolated Greek town of Monemvasia. Upon her arrival in the ancient, deserted, walled-in fortress, she is met by Elias Appleby, the round eccentric landlord who guides her through mysterious underground passageways to the house where she will work. He warns her to stay inside at night because of the killer winds that arrive after dark.
Μέδουσα/Medusa (1998) dir. George Lazopoulos: In this wry retelling of the ancient Medusa myth, strange, clothed statues of men are appearing all over Greece. Only Perseus, a leader of a gang of modern Athenian thieves, with a strange childhood, holds the answer to the mystery–and it has something to do with beautiful, long-haired women in black. One night his group breaks into the house of one such creature. Watch on YouTube here (Eng subs).
See also: Blood Tide (1982) dir. Richard Jefferies, in UK Films
Indian Films
Hindi
काली खुहि/Kaali Khuhi (2020) dir. Terrie Samundra: When a restless spirit curses a Punjab village that has a history of female infanticide, the town’s fate lies in the hands of a 10-year old girl, Shivangi.
शैतान/Shaitaan (2024) dir. Vikas Bahl: Kabir and his family’s fun weekend retreat takes terrifying turn when an intruder takes over the control of the body of his teenage daughter, putting her at the mercy of his increasingly sinister orders.
Tamil
சிண்ட்ரெல்லா/Cinderella (2021) dir. Vinoo Venketesh: Akira and her band as they go into the dense forest to research on the sounds of nature. Akira celebrates her birthday there with her band mates and receives a gift of a beautiful Cinderella gown. But when she wears the gown, her behavior starts to change, as if she has been possessed.
Telugu
విరూపాక్ష/Virupaksha (2023) dir. Karthik Varma Dandu: Set in a village named Rudravanam in 1990’s, Surya along with his mother, visit there after a long time. Suddenly a series of mysterious deaths occur due to an unknown person’s occult practice and whole village is scared. Will Surya find the person causing the deaths and save the village?
Indonesian Films
Sebelum Iblis Menjemput/May The Devil Take You (2018) dir. Timo Tjahjanto: Hoping to find answers to her estranged father’s mysterious illness, a young woman visits his old villa and uncovers a horrifying truth from the past.
Ratu Ilmu Hitam/The Queen of Black Magic (2019) dir. Kimo Stamboel: Families were terrorized at the orphanage. Someone wants them dead, apparently with black magic that is very deadly. She has a grudge and she was also born because of the sins of the orphans who formed her into the queen of black magic.
Sebelum Iblis Menjemput: Ayat 2/May The Devil Take You Too (2020) dir. Timo Tjahjanto: Two years after escaping from demonic terror, a young woman is still haunted by unnatural vision. The dangers that await her and her friends are increasingly threatening.
Perempuan Tanah Jahanam/Impetigore (2020) dir. Joko Anwar: A woman inherits a house in her ancestral village, but she’s unaware that members of the community have been trying to locate and kill her to remove the curse that has plagued them for years.
KKN di Desa Penari/KKN, Curse of the Dancing Village (2022) dir. Awi Suryadi: Six students were terrorized by a mysterious dancer while running a community service program in a remote village. Apparently, one of them violates the most fatal rule in the village.
Kisah Tanah Jawa: Pocong Gundul (2023) dir. Awi Suryadi: Hao has retrocognitive ability, an ability to see past events. With his ability, Hao helps Sari, a vocational school student, who was kidnapped by ‘Pocong Gundul’ – a evil pocong figure with a bald head. Together with his best friend Rida, Hao manages to save Sari, but Hao’s actions ignites anger from the Pocong Gundul.
Kuyang: Sekutu Iblis Yang Selalu Mengintai/Kuyang (2024) dir. Yongki Ongestu: Bimo has to face the reality, a creature allied with the devil is targeting his wife and future child.
Badarawuhi di Desa Penari/Dancing Village: The Curse Begins (2024) dir. Kimo Stamboel: Mila must return a mystical bracelet to the “Dancing Village,” unaware that Badarawuhi – a mysterious, mythical being who rules the village – awaits her.
Ronggeng Kematian/Dance of Death (2024) dir. Verdi Solaiman: College students who are doing KKN in a village with a ronggeng dancer named Sulastri. What’s really going on?
Irish Films
Unwelcome (2022) dir. Jon Wright: Londoners Maya and Jamie escape their urban nightmare to the tranquility of rural Ireland only to discover malevolent, murderous goblins lurking in the gnarled, ancient wood at the foot of their new garden. When heavily pregnant Maya’s relationship with a local family turns sour, who – or what – will come to her rescue and to what extremes will she go to protect her unborn child?
All You Need Is Death (2023) dir. Paul Duane: A young couple who collect rare folk ballads discover the dark side of love when they surreptitiously record and translate an ancient, taboo folk song from the deep, forgotten past.
Italian Films
Horror/The Blancheville Monster (1963) dir. Alberto De Martino: The beautiful young daughter of a crazed count fears that she will fall victim to the family curse – to be sacrificed to fulfill an ancient family legend.
La vendetta di Lady Morgan/Lady Morgan’s Vengeance (1965) dir. Massimo Pupillo: A young woman is psychologically manipulated and tortured by her treacherous husband while her lost fiancé is missing, presumed dead, and only the ghosts of the castle can tell the tale.
Tutti i colori del buio/All The Colours of the Dark (1972) dir. Sergio Martino: After a car accident that caused the loss of her baby, Jane experiences an increasing amount of nightmares that shake her to her core. After seeking professional help, her haunting visions turn into an even more frightening reality, one full of black magic, blood orgies, and murder.
I corpi presentano tracce di violenza carnale/Torso (1973) dir. Sergio Martino: A masked serial killer with psychosexual issues strangles female coeds with scarves before dismembering them. When a wealthy student identifies one of the scarves and thinks she has a lead on a suspect, she becomes the killer’s next target, retreating to her family’s remote cliffside villa with three of her girlfriends.
Black Cat: Gatto nero/Black Cat (1981) dir. Lucio Fulci: Townspeople of a small English village begin to die in a series of horrible accidents, and a Scotland Yard inspector arrives to investigate a mysterious local medium who records conversations with the dead.
Japanese Films
怪談/Kwaidan (1964) dir. Masaki Kobayashi: Taking its title from an archaic Japanese word meaning “ghost story,” this anthology adapts four folk tales. A penniless samurai marries for money with tragic results. A man stranded in a blizzard is saved by Yuki the Snow Maiden, but his rescue comes at a cost. Blind musician Hoichi is forced to perform for an audience of ghosts. An author relates the story of a samurai who sees another warrior’s reflection in his teacup.
Door (1988) dir. Banmei Takahashi: A housewife, Yasuko lives in an urban high-rise apartment with her husband Satoru and her son Takuto. Annoyed by spam calls and door-to-door salesmen, Yasuko slams the door on a salesman’s finger when he tries to squeeze a flyer through chained door. He leaves but the next day, her nightmare starts.
地獄の警備員/The Guard From Underground (1992) Kiyoshi Kurosawa: A former sumo wrestler, now working as a security guard, goes on a murderous rampage.
Korean Films
장화, 홍련/A Tale of Two Sisters (2003) dir. Kim Jee-woon: A recently released patient from a mental institution returns home with her sister, only to face disturbing events between her stepmother and the ghosts haunting their house – all of which are connected to a dark past in the family’s history.
물괴/Monstrum (2018) dir. Huh Jong-ho: Ancient Korea, 1506. The tyrannical King Yeonsan-gun of Joseon is overthrown by his half-brother Jung-jong, whose reign begins with a blood bath. Over the years, traitors plot against him, sinking the kingdom into chaos. In 1528, frightened rumors come to royal palace, regarding a mysterious creature, known as Monstrum by the peasants.
Mexican Films
La Llorona (1933) dir. Ramón Peón: Llorona is a figure unique to Mexican folklore – the wailing spirit of a woman who lost or killed her child and now returns to seek revenge and haunt the living. With its framing story and flashback structure, this film sets forth a couple of variations of the story.
La mansión de la locura/The Mansion of Madness (1973) dir. Juan López Moctezuma: The inmates of an insane asylum take over the institution, imprison the doctors and staff, and then put into play their own ideas of how the place should be run. (Based on Edgar Allan Poe’s The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Feather.)
Vuelven/Tigers Are Not Afraid (2017) dir. Issa López: A dark fairy tale about a gang of five children trying to survive the horrific violence of the cartels and the ghosts created every day by the drug war.
Russian Films
Soviet/USSR
Вий/Viy (1967) dirs. Georgi Kropachyov, Konstantin Ershov: A young priest is ordered to preside over the wake of a witch in the church of a remote village. This means spending three nights alone with the corpse with only his faith to protect him.
Senegalese Films
Saloum (2021) dir. Jean Luc Herbulot: Three mercenaries extracting a druglord out of Guinea-Bissau are forced to hide in the mystical region of Saloum, Senegal.
See also: Nanny (2022) dir. Nikyatu Jusu in USA films.
Serbian Films
Лептирица/Leptirica (1973) dir. Đorđe Kadijević: A young man wants to marry the beautiful daughter of a landowner who refuses to allow the marriage. To prove his worth, the young man becomes a miller in a vampire-infested local mill.
South African Films
Blood Tokoloshe (2013) dir. Jordan Harland: Strange attacks plague the township’s women, leaving the town leaders at a loss to defend them. At the same time Mthnuzi, a shrewd businessman, is becoming wealthier and more popular with the ladies – something is amiss.
The Tokoloshe (2018) dir. Jerome Pikwane: Busi, a young destitute woman with dangerously repressed emotions, lands a job as a cleaner at a rundown hospital in the heart of Johannesburg. Desperate for the money so she can bring her younger sister to Johannesburg, she must cope despite the predatory and corrupt hospital manager. When Busi discovers an abandoned young girl in the hospital, who believes she is tormented by a supernatural force, Busi must face her own demons from her past in order to save the child from the abusive monster that pursues them both relentlessly.
8/The Soul Collector (2019) dir. Harold Hölscher: An old man, fated to collect souls for eternity, seeks atonement after trading his daughter’s soul.
Mlungu Wam/Good Madam (2021) dir. Jenna Cato Bass: In post-apartheid South Africa, Tsidi, a single mother, is forced to move in with her own estranged mother Mavis, a live-in domestic worker caring obsessively for her catatonic white ‘Madam’. And as Tsidi tries to heal her family, a sinister spectre begins to stir.
Spanish Films
La mansión de la niebla/Murder Mansion (1972) dir. Francisco Lara Polop: A group of travelers, stranded at an isolated, fog-bound mansion, are beset upon by the living dead from the adjoining cemetery.
Swedish Films
Körkarlen/The Phantom Carriage (1921) dir. Victor Sjöström: An alcoholic, abusive ne’er-do-well is shown the error of his ways through a legend that dooms the last person to die on New Year’s Eve before the clock strikes twelve to take the reins of Death’s chariot and work tirelessly collecting fresh souls for the next year.
Turkish Films
Drakula İstanbul’da/Dracula in Istanbul (1953) dir. Mehmet Muhtar: Azmi is a lawyer from Istanbul. Drakula of Romania has assumed a new title. Azmi travels to Romania for legal matters. He is warned of Drakula but Azmi is a strong believer of goodness. This Turkish-made film sticks fairly close to the original plot of Bram Stoker’s novel.
Hüddam (2015) dir. Utku Uçar: Can and his mother Derya live an ordinary country life. But after a while his mother starts to exhibit strange behavior. Intrigued by Derya’s enigmatic behavior Can begins to wonder about his mother’s childhood.
Cin Tepesi/Haunted Hill (2018) dirs. Furkan Düzen, Fatih Hasanoglu: Fatih and Furkan are two young men investigating paranormal events for social media. They went to a region called as “Haunted Hill” in a small Turkish village. They’ve obtained real jinn images there. But their cameras weren’t good enough. So they decided to get help from a professional team and go back to the “Haunted Hill”.
United Kingdom Films
X The Unknown (1956) dir. Leslie Norman: Army radiation experiments awaken a subterranean monster from a fissure that feeds on energy and proceeds to terrorise a remote Scottish village. An American research scientist at a nearby nuclear plant joins with a British investigator to discover why the victims were radioactively burned and why, shortly thereafter, a series of radiation-related incidents are occurring in an ever-growing straight line away from the fissure.
The Kiss of the Vampire (1963) dir. Don Sharp: Honeymooning in Bavaria, a young couple becomes stranded and is forced to stay the night in the area. Doctor Ravna, owner of the impressive chateau that sits imposingly above the village, invites them to dinner that evening. Their association with Ravna and his charming, beautiful family is to prove disastrous.
Nightmare (1964) dir. Freddie Francis: A young student is haunted by recurring dreams of her mother murdering her father, but her nightmare is just beginning as she tries to prove to her loved ones that she is not insane.
Blood Tide (1982) dir. Richard Jeffries: An adventurer hunting for treasure in Greece accidentally frees a monster that forces local villagers to sacrifice virgins.
Born of Fire (1987) dir. Jamil Dehlavi: For reasons unknown, a flautist and an astronomer find themselves drawn to one another. But, when the flautist stumbles upon a secret regarding his late father, the two wind up in a celestial duel against the ancient Master Flautist for earth’s future. Turkish-UK made film.
The Gathering (2002) dir. Brian Gilbert: Cassie Grant (Christina Ricci) is a young girl from the United States who is wandering through England on foot. On her way to Ashby Wake Cassie is hit by a car. The driver of the car, Mrs Marion Kirkman (Kerry Fox), immediately calls an ambulance. During an examination at the local hospital the doctor comes to the conclusion that Cassie only has some scratches and not even a concussion, but Cassie has lost her memory due to the accident. She only knows her name and mother country, but she does not know which town she comes from, who her family is and why she is in England.
Ghosts of Darkness (2017) dir. David Ryan Keith: Two paranormal investigators are unexpectedly thrown together in the hope of solving a 100 year mystery. Locked for three nights in a house with a dark and unsettling past, the two investigators must put their differences to one side and work together. They soon discover the myths and stories are nothing compared to what actually resides within the eerie walls of Richwood Manor. Scepticism and showmanship are soon put to one side when the two investigators realise there is more at stake than just their professional reputation. For once they have stumbled onto the real thing, but this time it’s their own lives at stake.
Men (2022) dir. Alex Garland: In the aftermath of a personal tragedy, Harper retreats alone to the beautiful English countryside, hoping to find a place to heal. But someone — or something — from the surrounding woods appears to be stalking her, and what begins as simmering dread becomes a fully-formed nightmare, inhabited by her darkest memories and fears.
Little Bone Lodge (2023) dir. Matthias Hoene: During a stormy night in the Scottish Highlands, two criminal brothers on the run seek refuge in a desolate farmhouse. But after taking the resident family captive, they find the house holds even darker secrets of its own.
Raging Grace (2023) dir. Paris Zarcilla: An undocumented Filipina immigrant lands a job as a careworker for a seemingly terminal old man, securing a better life for her and her daughter. But a dark discovery threatens to destroy everything she’s strived for and holds dear.
A Song From The Dark (2023) dir. Ogodinife Okpue: Ashionye, a reluctant Nigerian Shaman living in the south of England, who has been hired by an old family friend, Isioma Williams, to investigate and expel a malevolent spirit that has been tormenting her family after the death of her estranged husband, Magnus. To the chagrin of her demon hunting partner, Marv Taylor, Ashionye reluctantly accepts the job as a way to repay an old debt she owes Isioma. As Ashionye digs deeper into Isioma’s family situation, she finds herself standing against a familiar force that brought about her trauma since childhood.
United States of America Films
The Old Dark House (1932) dir. James Whale: In a remote region of Wales, five travelers beset by a relentless storm find shelter in an old mansion.
The Ghost Walks (1934) dir. Frank R. Strayer: A ghostly and deadly dinner party, which at first turns out to be an elaborate staging of a new play for the benefit of a Broadway producer, becomes a true mystery when the players start to go missing.
Son of Ingagi (1940) dir. Richard C. Kahn: A newlywed couple is visited by a strange old woman who harbors a secret about the young girl’s father. [Cinematic history: first Hollywood Horror with an all-Back cast and Black screenwriter]
The Screaming Skull (1958) dir. Alex Nicol: Newlyweds Eric and Jenni Whitlock retire to his desolate mansion, where Eric’s first wife Marianne died from a mysterious freak accident. Jenni, who has a history of mental illness, begins to see strange things including a mysterious skull, which may or may not be a product of her imagination.
The Bat (1959) dir. Crane Wilbur: Mystery writer Cornelia Van Gorder has rented a country house called “The Oaks”, which not long ago was the scene of some murders committed by a strange and violent criminal known as “The Bat”. Meanwhile, the house’s owner, bank president John Fleming, has recently embezzled one million dollars in securities and has hidden the proceeds in the house, but is killed before he can retrieve it.
The Little Shop of Horrors (1960) dir. Roger Corman: Seymour works in a skid row florist shop and is in love with his beautiful co-worker, Audrey. He creates a new plant that not only talks but cannot survive without human flesh and blood.
Eyes of Fire (1983) dir. Avery Crounse: In 1750, an adulterous preacher is ejected from a small British colony with his motley crew of followers, who make their way downriver to establish a new settlement of their own beyond the western frontier.
Dr. Caligari (1989) dir. Stephen Sayadian: Mrs. Van Houten has shown signs of losing touch with reality, and her husband discusses possible treatment with Dr. Caligari, who says Mrs. Van Houten has a disease of the libido.
Black Rainbow (1989) dir. Mike Hodges: Martha Travis is a medium who makes contact with spirits “on the other side” and connects them with their loved ones still alive, in public performances. Trouble begins when she gives a message to Mary Kuron from her husband, Tom. But Tom isn’t dead… yet. And Martha not only knows he will die, she also knows who killed him. And the murderer knows she knows…
Crash (1996) dir. David Cronenberg: After getting into a serious car accident, a TV director discovers an underground sub-culture of scarred, omnisexual car-crash victims, and he begins to use car accidents and the raw sexual energy they produce to try to rejuvenate his sex life with his wife.
The Frighteners (1996) dir. Peter Jackson: Once an architect, Frank Bannister now passes himself off as an exorcist of evil spirits. To bolster his facade, he claims his “special” gift is the result of a car accident that killed his wife. But what he does not count on is more people dying in the small town where he lives. As he tries to piece together the supernatural mystery of these killings, he falls in love with the wife of one of the victims and deals with a crazy FBI agent.
Cropsey (2009) dirs. Joshua Zeman, Barbara Brancaccio: Realizing the urban legend of their youth has actually come true, two filmmakers delve into the mystery surrounding five missing children and the real-life boogeyman linked to their disappearances.
The Thing (2011) dir. Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.: When paleontologist Kate Lloyd travels to an isolated outpost in Antarctica for the expedition of a lifetime, she joins an international team that unearths a remarkable discovery. Their elation quickly turns to fear as they realize that their experiment has freed a mysterious being from its frozen prison. Paranoia spreads like an epidemic as a creature that can mimic anything it touches will pit human against human as it tries to survive and flourish in this spine-tingling thriller.
Shadows on the Wall (2014) dir. Benjamin Carland: A modern day sci-fi about Palmer Marshall, a struggling engineering student that’s flailing through his personal life, classes, and career. Palmer is on the cusp of a potentially huge discovery and he devotes every waking moment to the challenging, and often fruitless, pursuit of creating something that might change the world. But Palmer soon learns that the road to success is long and fraught with failure. Despite crippling anxiety and personality disorders, Palmer perseveres and creates the one – the dream machine that he’ll be remembered for.
Exhume (2016) dir. Scott Poiley: Based on true events, Patrick and his wife Karen Connor are hired by the state to exhume bodies resting under a closed down reform school known for the sadistic torture and murder of young boys in the early 1900’s. During this horrific excavation they are met with unnatural forces causing them to question their sanity and will to live.
Truth or Dare (2018) dir. Jeff Wadlow: A harmless game of “Truth or Dare” among friends turns deadly when someone—or something—begins to punish those who tell a lie—or refuse the dare.
The Wind (2018) dir. Emma Tammi: Lizzy is a tough, resourceful frontierswoman settling a remote stretch of land on the 19th-century American frontier. Isolated from civilization in a desolate wilderness where the wind never stops howling, she begins to sense a sinister presence that seems to be borne of the land itself, and when a newlywed couple arrive at a nearby homestead, their presence amplifies Lizzy’s fears, setting into motion a shocking chain of events.
Nanny (2022) dir. Nikyatu Jusu: Aisha, a Senegalese immigrant who takes a job as a nanny for a wealthy white family in New York City, finds herself consumed by unsettling visions and a growing rage.
The Outwaters (2022) dir. Robbie Banfitch: Deep in the Mojave desert, under a scorching blood-red sun, four travelers have set up camp to make art. One fateful night, the group is thrust into a feverish tornado of flayed flesh and mind-boggling monstrosities, the likes of which mere humans simply cannot fathom.
H. P. Lovecraft’s Witch House (2022) dir. Bobby Easley: Graduate student Alice Gilman is running from an abusive past. She seeks refuge in the infamous Hannah house; a historic home with an ominous past. Determined to prove the possibility of alternate dimensions, she unknowingly unlocks a gateway to unimaginable horror. Based on the H.P. Lovecraft’s short story The Dreams in the Witch House.
Pearl (2022) dir. Ti West: Trapped on her family’s isolated farm, Pearl must tend to her ailing father under the bitter and overbearing watch of her devout mother. Lusting for a glamorous life like she’s seen in the movies, Pearl’s ambitions, temptations, and repressions collide.
Belle/Fanga (2023) dir. Max Gold: Belle works on the family farm and cares for her father after he falls severely ill. Desperate to save him, she journeys in search of a mythical rose believed to be a cure. She must surrender herself as a prisoner to a vicious beast as payment for the rose. Battling the beast’s spell and the two toxic relationships in her life, Belle’s true journey is only just beginning. Made in Iceland with Icelandic cast
Longlegs (2024) dir. Osgood Perkins: In pursuit of a serial killer, an FBI agent uncovers a series of occult clues that she must solve to end his terrifying killing spree.
Hell Hole (2024) dirs. John Adams, Toby Poser: Far away, in the desolate Serbian wilderness, a U.S.-led fracking crew uncover a dormant monster gestating inside a centuries-old French soldier. Now awakened and exposed in its most dangerously fragile state, it tears through the men on the grounds in search of a new womb.
The Deliverance (2024) dir. Lee Daniels: Ebony Jackson, a struggling single mother fighting her personal demons, moves her family into a new home for a fresh start. But when strange occurrences inside the home raise the suspicions of Child Protective Services and threaten to tear the family apart, Ebony soon finds herself locked in a battle for her life and the souls of her children.
Shadows of Bigfoot (2024) dir. Brendan Rudnicki: In the shadowy confines of Blackwood Forest, filmmakers exploring Bigfoot myths face their worst fears when a vengeful monster emerges, turning their project into a chilling fight for survival.
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