C. M. Rosens

The list is ordered by country (A-Z), and in the order I watched them within the country list. This year I’m also trying to keep track of how many women-directed/women-written films I’m watching! I’ll keep track using the Venus symbol next to the name. Queer films will have a rainbow: .

I’m not going out of my way to find women directors/writers or queer rep – I want to see how easy it is to find them organically/just happen across them, especially if I’m also diversifying my list with as many international films as I can find.

I’m fully expecting the results of this experiment to be: it is not easy to find women writers/directors or queer rep in horror if you’re not actively seeking them out, because the overwhelming majority of films are written and directed by men, and mostly cishet men. However: I’m also expecting to find them in unexpected places!

Australian Horror

• The Pack (2015) dir. Nick Robertson, written by Evan Randall Green. I genuinely found this a tense one because I can suspend disbelief for days, and I’m already running at peak anxiety as baseline, so I was on the edge of my seat for this family. An extra star goes for the dog actors. They were real dogs, having the time of their lives. I respect that sort of film making. Man’s best friend becomes his worst nightmare when a horde of bloodthirsty wild dogs descends upon a family’s farmhouse in a fang-bearing fight for survival.

Cambodian Horror

• The Hand (2025) dir. Mak Pichjuli, written by Ngoeuy Bunrath. This one is on Letterboxd but with the bare minimum of detail, so the link is to IMDb which has a summary of the film. This is a Khmer film with some really good moments. Really liked the hand-severing obsession of the ghost when she possessed multiple people. Bopha, a beautiful and talented dancer, is found dead in an eerie manner with one of her hands missing. Her death becomes the center of a chilling mystery, believed to be connected to a jilted lover. As strange events unfold around her death, including eerie ghostly sightings and inexplicable occurrences, Nara, a police officer, begins investigating. Mr. Chak, a wealthy man who collects ancient artifacts, unknowingly brings home a statue with Bopha’s missing hand trapped inside. After the statue is placed in his home, the haunting intensifies, and suspicions arise. As the haunting escalates, Nara must uncover the truth behind Bopha’s tragic death before it’s too late. But the truth may be more terrifying than anyone could imagine. Watched on YouTube.

Canadian Horror

• Rituals (1977) dir. Peter Carter, written by Ian Sutherland. A classic Canadian wilderness survival horror. I enjoyed the set up, and getting to know the doctors in question, the slow build up of the character dynamics and personalities, and then the descent into the unravelling and drama. Really liking the era of proto-slashers; A Bay of Blood (1971), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), and now this one (1977)… I feel like I’ve now seen a proto-slasher seminal trio. This one is a character-focused piece. Five doctors go camping in the remote woods of Northern Ontario. When their boots are stolen they begin to suspect they are being stalked. casual mention/description of an ex-boyfriend from one of the main characters – he is not defined by his queerness, and his sexuality is a non-issue with his friends & has no bearing on the plot or outcome.

• SG̲aawaay Ḵ’uuna/Edge of the Knife (2018) dirs. Helen Haig-Brown  and Gwaai Edenshaw, written by Gwaai Edenshaw, Jaalen Edenshaw, Graham Richard, and Leonie Sandercock. This is my first time hearing Inupiaq spoken, so that’s really cool. I loved the community-centred narrative, and the slice-of-life feel of the village and its dynamics. The Haida language was nearly extinct, was hearing this whole film from native speakers is a real privilege. This was incredibly visceral in places, especially the descent into madness and grief of Adiits’ii. Island of Haida Gwaii, northern Canada, 19th century. During a fishing gathering, Adiits’ii commits an unfortunate act. Tormented, he runs away to the wilderness as his mind embraces madness.

Chilean Horror

• Wekufe: El origen del mal/Wekufe: The Origin of Evil (2016) dir. Javier Attridge, written by Javier Attridge. Loved this, honestly. I really enjoyed the discussion of the folklore, and whose it was, where it came from, and the prevalence of its belief regardless. A student travels with her boyfriend to Chiloé, remote Patagonia island in southern Chile, to investigate the link that exists between the high number of sexual related crimes and the myths and legends that surround this mysterious place.

• La casa lobo/Wolf House (2018) dirs. Cristóbal León, Joaquín Cociña, written by Cristóbal León, Alejandra Moffat, and Joaquín Cociña. Framed as a propaganda film to promote The Colony (La Colonia Dignidad) founded by paedophile Paul Shafer, with former Nazis and trafficked children, this is a stopmotion animated nightmare of a girl who escapes, is chased by a wolf, and finds shelter in a strange house that changes and distorts along with the two little pigs she finds there. It’s a disturbing origin story for the colony which is also an amazing piece of art.

Chinese Horror

• 三更客栈/Midnight Inn (2024) dir. Chen Jiaolong, written by Cui Zouzhao. An anthology of strange and macabre tales with a framed narrative that is also a mystery, in Mandarin. Listed as horror on IMDb, but not on Letterboxd. The Midnight Inn, a place that operates around midnight, serving as both a mortuary and a rest stop, reopens after ten years, drawing in unexpected guests. Each one claims a strange connection to a corpse that’s been dead for years, giving rise to a complex weave of enigmas.

• 白雲齋怪話 /Baiyun Ghost House/Weird Stories of Baiyun Zhai (2025) dir. Li Zhiwen, written by Li Zhiwen. A fun horror-action plot, Taoist exorcisms and rituals, and lots going on! TW: domestic abuse. Rumour has it that calamity befalls anyone associated to the coffin shop called Baiyun Ghost House. First, Liu Mazi is killed by a water ghost in the well, and then the butcher is possessed by a ghost and his whole family is killed. As bizarre things happen one after another in the town, Mr. Ma, who wanders the mountains, decides that it is necessary to visit Baiyun Ghost House to exorcise evil.

Filipino Horror

• Nightshift (2020) dir. Yam Laranas, written by Yam Laranas. Part undead horror, part meditation on the nature of death and the afterlife. A lovely bit of Roman Catholic guilt and resurrection anxiety, as a suicidal nurse slowly unravels during a night shift that never ends. I love the framing of a person’s death as their own apocalypse. This is my second Laranas film! I watched Aurora for a previous challenge and very much enjoyed that. I’d like to see more by this director. A young woman is stuck in the morgue – on her first day – working as an assistant to a pathologist when the dead begin to manifest signs of resurrection.

• Posthouse (2025) dir. Nikolas Red, written by Nikolas Red, Kenneth Dagatan, Jericho Aguado. This is a good one. I liked Lilim, directed by Mikhail Red and written by Nikolas Red, and I loved In My Mother’s Skin directed and written by Kenneth Dagatan, so I was really intrigued by this film for its director and writers. It’s the first film directed by Nikolas Red that I’ve seen. An editor and his daughter work to restore a family heirloom — an old silent horror film — unaware that each frame inches them closer to a dark spirit.

Indian Horror

• भूत बंगला / Bhooth Bangla (2026) dir. Priyadarshan, written by Rohan Shankar, Priyadarshan, and Abhilash Nair. Hindi horror-comedy, 2hrs45min runtime, in two parts with a musical interlude. I wasn’t bored. The set up is also a fun drama with some romantic overtures, and then we get into the demon action. A man inherits a palace in rural Mangalpur and plans his sister’s wedding there, but strange supernatural events and panicked locals force him to investigate the property’s mysterious past.

• Junglemahal: The Awakening (2023) dir. Arunava Chowdhury, written by Arunava Chowdhury. I really wanted to like it, but it didn’t hold my attention well enough. The effects are not the best but also not the worst. It is interspersed with footage but it’s not a found footage film. Loosely based on real incidents in the monsoon of the mid-1980s during the uprising of Naxalites in eastern Ghat range. A group of travellers head through the deep forests to reach the rescue camps. A series of mysterious incidents starts taking place around them, as the place is not what it seems.

Italian Horror

• La settima tomba/The Seventh Grave (1965) dir. Garibaldi Serra Caracciolo, written by Alessandro Santini, Antonio Casale, and Garibaldi Serra Caracciolo. When the English title card appeared as “Old Scotland” at the start, I knew I was in for a treat with this Italian Gothic. Set in the 1800s, an American family travels to Scotland for the reading of Sir Reginald Thorne’s last will and testament—not expecting that the trip will lead them to black magic séances, mad doctors, escaped lepers, and giallo-style killings! Missing for a half-century, Garibaldi Serra Caracciolo’s THE SEVENTH GRAVE is a fascinating twist on THE CAT AND THE CANARY (1927 USA-made silent Horror, remade under that title in 1939 [USA] and 1978 [UK]) that ranks as one of the rarest and strangest Italian Gothic films ever made. Watched on YouTube.

• Il mostro dell’opera/The Monster of the Opera (1964) dir. Renato Polselli, written by Giuseppe Pellegrini, Ernesto Gastaldi, and Renato Polselli. If you love weird dream sequences, extended dance numbers, and jaded musical theatre performers winding each other up and getting off with each other, this is the one. There’s also a vampire. A theatre troupe’s young, energetic leader has secured an old theatre in which to produce his new production. The theatre’s elderly caretaker urges the group to leave at once. A vampire is awakened and discovers that one of the troupe is the reincarnation of the woman who he once loved. Watched on YouTube.

• Demonia (1990) dir. Lucio Fulci, written by Piero Regnoli and Lucio Fulci. Professor Malcolm Evans leads his archaeological expedition into the Valley of Temples in southeast Sicily. His companion and former student, Liza Harris, is looking forward to her very first dig. But Liza feels a strange sympathy with the valley and her recurring nightmares seem strongly tied to the nearby ruins. She is drawn to the remains of a 16th Century convent and its grisly legend of crucifixion. The local villagers rise to protect the entombed secrets of their ancestors, as Liza’s obsession with uncovering the truth takes her deeper into the forbidden ruins and further from sanity!

• Ecologia del delitto / A Bay of Blood (1971) dir. Mario Bava, written by Filippo Ottoni, Mario Bava, Giuseppe Zaccariello, and Gene Luotto, from a story by Gianfranco Barberi and Dardano Sacchetti. I cannot believe I’ve never seen this before. It’s a seminal work!! I have to say, the opening is a banger of a scene, and I do prefer the Italian title (trans. Ecology of Crime) to the English one. I love the insect vs squid-killing conversation. Such good dialogue in this. All the characters are shady, and it’s a real ’70s joy. An elderly heiress is killed by her husband who wants control of her fortunes. What ensues is an all-out murder spree as relatives and friends attempt to reduce the inheritance playing field, complicated by some teenagers who decide to camp out in a dilapidated building on the estate.

• La notte dei diavoli/The Night of the Devils (1972) dir. Giorgio Ferroni written by Eduardo Manzanos, Romano Migliorini, and Gianbattista Mussetto, based on the short story ‘The Vourdalak’ by Aleksey Tolstoy. I loved the recent French adaptation of this story, La Vourdalak (2023), and the 13min animated version from the series Red Iron Road. I haven’t seen this version, which sets it in the contemporary 1970s, but the English dub is atrocious. I couldn’t change it. The French subtitles were wildly different to what they were saying in the dub, and probably much closer to the actual lines (in Italian), so I switched to the original audio with French subtitles so I could read them, and auto-translated to English. In this adaptation of Tolstoy’s story the Wurdulak, a mentally ill patient known as Nicola flashes back to horrifying experiences that he encountered while driving through the country. Upon damaging his car, Nicola sets out for help, only to meet a mysterious family that lives in total fear of someone or something. This evil force slowly penetrates the household and thrusts each of its members into a frenzy of absolute terror.

• Non mi uccidere/Don’t Kill Me (2021) dir. Andrea De Sica, based on the book by Chiara Palazzolo , written for screen by Gianni Romoli, Antonio Le Fosse, Marco Raspanti, Andrea De Sica, Giacomo Mazzariol, Eleonora Trucchi , Romulo Emmanuel Salvador. Men ain’t shit, babe. This is a tragic romantic Italian horror film based on the Gothic Horror Mirta-Luna trilogy, in which Mirta comes back from the dead and discovers she has powers… and different needs. Her boyfriend, who got her killed in the first place, does not resurrect despite telling her that they would always be together and death could not part them… or has he? A very good-for-her ending. After Mirta dies of a drug overdose with her lover, she resuscitates alone and discovers she’s part of a violent world she never knew existed.

• Lycanthropus/Werewolf In A Girl’s Dormitory (1961) dir. Paolo Heusch, written by Ernesto Gastaldi. This is an interesting early Italian Gothic take on werewolves, and follows in the tradition of equating them with sexual assault (possibly popularised in the 20thC by Guy Endor’s 1933 novel, adapted several times for the screen). It’s also a blunt take on sexual politics, touching on double standards and other topics at the forefront of conversations around feminism in the early 1960s, and the female body as a site of male achievement and contestation. The new science teacher Dr. Julian Olcott with a mysterious past arrives in an institutional boarding school for troublemaker girls. Along the night, the intern Mary Smith, who is blackmailing another teacher – Sir Alfred Whiteman – with some love letters, is slaughtered by a werewolf. The detective in charge of the investigation attributes the crime to a wolf, while her mate Priscilla believes she was killed by Sir Alfred. On the next days, other deaths happen in the school, reducing the list of suspects.

Japanese Horror

• ８番出口/Exit 8 (2026) dir. Genki Kawamura, written by Kentaro Hirase and Genki Kawamura. Never-ending spaces creep me out, so I really had to fight my fears to watch this one!! This is so eerie, weird, and bizarre. The guy having asthma also was a good touch because it was really awful to hear him wheezing and not know if he would get out before his pump ran out. Also, I hate subways and being trapped underground, so this was just extra grim. Really well made. A man trapped in an endless sterile subway passageway sets out to find Exit 8. The rules of his quest are simple: do not overlook anything out of the ordinary. If you discover an anomaly, turn back immediately. If you don’t, carry on. Then leave from Exit 8. But even a single oversight will send him back to the beginning. Will he ever reach his goal and escape this infinite corridor?

Nigerian Horror

• Clout (2021) dir. Bobby Emmanuel Okoye, written by Bobby Emmanuel Okoye and Promise Okoli. No-budget found-footage horror. Suffers from shaky handheld cam in parts and a plot that’s not always cohesive, but they clearly enjoyed making it and give it 110%, so that’s a full extra star. Six friends embark on a journey to investigate the mysteries of the Ozalia Forest in Nigeria. Watch on YouTube.

• Sakobi: The Snake Girl (1998) dir. Zeb Ejiro, written by Zeb Ejiro and Ken Oghenejabor. A classic – this is Part 1 of 2, and I’m so invested, I want to know how Part 2 goes. A man wishes to be wealthy, so he gives up his only daughter as a sacrifice, flubs that part, then ends up divorcing his wife to marry a cobra-woman like a dick. Watch on YouTube.

• Araromire / The Figurine: Araromire (2009) dir. Kunle Afolayan, written by Kemi Adesoye. This one is a bit long for me. I didn’t know what to expect, but it’s more of a slice of life soap opera drama that goes slowly downhill with a twist at the end, and I’m into that. This one actually plays with the ideas in Obsession (not quite the same) – what happens when you realise you’re only the pregnant wife of the love of you life because he has an idol that made it so? Or is that even what’s happening at all? Two buddies and a girl, down on their luck, have their lives changed when one of them discovers a mysterious figurine in an abandoned shrine which, according to legend, bestows seven years of good luck. But no one told them about the next seven years… Watched on YouTube.

• Haunted (1998) dir. Chico Ejiro (can’t find writer information). This one wasn’t really for me, I liked the drama of it, and the dynamics, but the audio quality of the version I saw really spoiled it for me. I don’t think it’s a bad film – there’s a lot of nostalgia and love for this one, which I totally appreciate! Bobby, a man who has it all, is suddenly diagnosed with leukaemia and told he has only 3 months left to live. While he deals with this news, dark secrets become uncovered as several supernatural forces begin to appear in his life. Watched on YouTube.

• Igodo: The Land of the Living Dead (1999) dirs. Andy Amenechi and Don Pedro Obaseki, written by Don Pedro Obaseki and Kabat Esosa Egbon. I can see why this is a classic, and so highly regarded. The drama is up to 11 right out of the gate. It has a good storyline, and it’s got such a lot of passion and drama in it. I found it on YouTube split by disc. This tale that takes place in a village where people are dying randomly. The Igwe calls a meeting of the elders and the witch doctor. One elder has a story to tell: The story of Amadioha. The secrets of the story hold the key their misfortune. On YouTube: [Part 1][Part 2] – another version of Part 2, similar quality, is here.

Norwegian Horror

• Vikingulven/Viking Wolf (2022) dir. Stig Svendsen, written by Stig Svendsen and Espen Aukan. Espen Aukan is the writer of the Troll films, which I also really enjoy. I discovered this one while looking for she-wolves among the werewolf films for the Werewolf Women sub-series of blog posts. This one is a coming-of-rage story about a teen girl who moves from Oslo to a rural town after the death of her father. She’s adjusting to all the changes in her life, as well as her mum’s new husband, and witnesses a classmate being killed in the woods. She gets scratched, and starts changing. I actually really liked this, as it doesn’t do the ‘magical periods’ thing that some werewolf films do, and it focuses on the psychological element of Thale’s character. After witnessing a grotesque murder at a party in her new town, a teenager starts having strange visions and bizarre desires.

South Korean Horror

• 곤지암/Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum (2018) dir. Jung Bum-shik, written by Park Sang-min and Jung Bum-shik. It’s a pretty good use of the “found footage” genre, taking into live footage, and it plays with different ratios and frames on screen, so it feels more immersive. There are some good moments and a lot of young people screaming, and the ending is suitably bleak. The crew of a horror web series travels to an abandoned asylum for a live broadcast, but they encounter much more than expected as they move deeper inside the nightmarish old building.

• 경성학교: 사라진 소녀들/The Silenced (2015) dir. Lee Hae-young, written by Lee Hae-young and Lee Yong-ju. Set during the Japanese occupation of Korea, sinister goings-on are afoot at an all-girls boarding school. The violation of the girls is insidious, in the form of medical experiments to create supersoldiers, and there’s a good scene that shows what rewards await collaborators… A sickly girl Ju-ran transfers to a new sanitorium boarding school to regain health. But she discovers that students are disappearing and notices abnormal changes happening to her body. She suspects the school for what’s happening and tries to discover what secret is hidden.

Swedish Horror

• Draug (2018) dirs. Karin Engman , Klas Persson, written by Klas Persson. This should have been an easy 4 stars, but apparently I’m not into blue ladies looking like they stepped out of Ancient Aliens, and that’s on me. However – it was very funny in places, there was some great line delivery and I really enjoyed it. Also some really creepy moments. The scenery does a lot of the heavy-lifting in terms of atmosphere, and I really appreciated that. The cinematographer (also Klas Persson) knew how to use it. Very decent low budget indie folk horror. In the 11th century a missionary goes missing somewhere in the huge forests bordering the northern parts of Sweden. Among the rescue party chosen to find him is Nanna, a young woman on her first real mission and her first return to the part of the country where she was born. But what they will find deep inside those woods is something else entirely. Something dark. Something ancient. Something evil.

Turkish Horror

• Siccîn 8 (2025) dir. Alper Mestçi, written by Alper Mestçi. This franchise isn’t my favourite one, but I do enjoy it. I think I prefer the Dabbe films personally, but I really liked Siccin 3 and Siccin 2, and this one was domestic melodrama dialled up to 11. Lovely performance from Gönül Ürer as the grandmother. Fatih, who lives with his family in his mother Gönül’s house, cannot stand the pressure of his wife Berna and puts his beloved mother in a nursing home. However, the silence that descends on the house after this decision is a harbinger of an approaching storm rather than peace. The house is no longer under their control; a dark force has insidiously surrounded every corner. As the paranormal events become increasingly frightening, Fatih’s guilty conscience weighs heavily on his shoulders. Finally, he decides to bring his mother back from the nursing home. But it is no longer his mother who returns home…Every secret comes with a price. And secrets written in blood never go to the grave!

• Siccîn 7 (2024) dir. Alper Mestçi, written by Alper Mestçi. Meral (played by Funda Eskioğlu, whom you’ll also find in Dabbe 6) literally had ONE job. Admittedly the job was to bury a kid alive, but you need to stand by your commitments. Gönül Ürer once more plays the unsettling elderly woman, knocking the role out of the park. Orhan is back, played by Adnan Koç. I think the only ones he isn’t in are 1, 2, and 5? A woman intent on fulfilling the conditions of a ritual insinuates herself into a family home.

• Siccîn 5 (2018) dir. Alper Mestçi, written by Alper Mestçi. This one is a proper tangled family web of tragedy and deceit. Azra’s brother killed their father over a house sale and vanished 12 years ago, and Azra now lives with her mum, her sister-in-law, and her young niece Hale. Hale is a sickly albino girl possessed by djinn who are owed a sacrifice (Azra). Azra wants to marry Selim, and his friends with Selim’s sister Ebru. Selim starts seeing things, Ebru starts seeing things, all of the things are warnings for Selim not to marry Azra. Shit generally hits the fan. Hale’s father disappeared before she was born and was never seen again. Hale sees a nightmare of a terrible night; her father, whom she never saw, invites her to an old and uncanny home.

• Siccîn 6 (2019) dir. Alper Mestçi, written by Alper Mestçi. This is the one where Orhan (Adnan Koç) comes back into the series properly. He was in Siccîn 4 as well, but I can’t remember what he did in that (I’m guessing he helped them out somehow). It’s been years since I’ve seen that one! Gönül Ürer also appears as the late Hacer, mostly a photo of her but also as a ghost, but she gets to shine in later entries to the franchise. Also: haunted soup. A girl is haunted by an evil spirit in her family home. Several bad things begin to happen around her house and to her family members. An old character rises back and tries to save the family from their doomed fate.

• Ölü Kontesin Laneti/Curse of the Dead Countess (2025) dir. Ahmet Arpacı, written by Ahmet Arpacı. An indie film with very low budget. Three stars for effort, the singer, and the Evil Dead rip off plot. Also love that this one is a cursed amulet and not jinn possession! (As we know from Dabbe: Cin Çarpması, one in EVERY FIVE people are possessed by jinn). This is a rare Turkish horror movie that is not about that one person. Tutkum, a university student, is researching an old necklace for her thesis. Guided by her professor, she will visit another professor to hear about past events related to the necklace.

• Dabbe (2006) dir. Hasan Karacadağ, written by Hasan Karacadağ. It’s time to catch up on the full Dabbe franchise! I’ve seen 4+5 and they are really good, still my favourites so far. Hasan Karacadağ is a big loss to the film industry – he fell foul of the political environment due to social media comments made around the coup, which meant he had to leave Türkiye for Japan (apparently). This has some good use of found footage, but isn’t a found footage film. It’s a vehicle for some philosophy and theological pontificating, but ultimately it’s a pretty good horror. The horror also originates in the USA and is imported to Türkiye, where it causes the destruction of Turkish youth, and I think that’s an inherently geopolitical statement from Karacadağ about the dangers of US cultural-imperialism and its insidious nature. A cruel suicide wave spreads from the United States to a small Turkish town, where a man kills himself after spending time on the computer. His friends are still getting disturbing emails from him.

• Gudubet (Ölmek İstemiyorum) / Hideous Creature (I Don’t Want To Die) (2025) dir. Mehmet Tan, written by Yilmaz Suvaci. This film is on Letterboxd & logged there, but with it has the bare minimum of info, so I’ve linked to IMDb. It was a dark and stormy night, and Gran was found dead in her chair. Family rivalry and drama right off the bat. This is a Turkish slasher with a creepy girl and her doll, a killer on the loose on a dark and stormy night, and a dysfunctional family. Unfortunately, they give the game away too soon, but the twist is pretty good and nearly saves it. There is no plot description on Letterboxd or IMDb.

Uruguyan Horror

• Plenilunio/Fullmoon (1993) dir. Ricardo Islas, written by Ricardo Islas. Honestly, the teens in this act their hearts out. You can tell people enjoyed making this film. What great fight scenes, as well. They gave it everything. The werewolf’s lines go so hard. I also love that it was edited by the director later to avoid the werewolf costume ruining the vibes. Bloody crimes shake a little village. A bunch of teenagers discover the cause of these killings is a werewolf that has arrived to stay. Things turn real wild when the werewolf discovers them. Watched on YouTube (revamped version).

United Kingdom Horror

• The Cat and the Canary (1978) dir. Radley Metzger, written by Radley Metzger and John Willard. The opening sequence culminates in a shot of a cat strung up from a tree, and then the plot happens. This is based on the play version by John Willard. I really love this one, it’s such a British banger. Cyrus West is played by Wilfrid Hyde-White, a fabulous character actor of film, stage, and TV, who does a fantastic job. I laughed out loud all the way through his speech. Really enjoyable. I much prefer this one to the Italian Gothic version! I choose to read certain characters as gay, but that’s implicit so I hesitate to give the rainbow symbol. A group of potential heirs gather in a forbidding old house to learn which of them will inherit a fortune. Later, they learn that a flesh-rending maniac is loose.

• Tarry-Dan Tarry-Dan Scarey Old Spooky Man (1978) dir. John Reardon, written by Peter McDougall. I was really hesitant to watch this as I wasn’t sure which way it was going to go – I gave it a shot and I was really impressed. It’s a good bit of Cornish drama, with teen angst and the psychological unravelling of a boy convinced he’s some kind of mystical knight, obsessed with an old tramp whom the kids make fun of. He learns of a terrible burden his family line must bear, which he cannot outrun or avoid. This is a great one. It’s 47min, so it counts for the Challenge (films must have a minimum of 45min runtime). When he finds himself plagued with nightmares about a historic battle fought on the site of the village he lives in, delinquent Cornish teenager Jonah Grattan becomes obsessed with a potential link to a local homeless man.

• The Descent (2005) dir. Neil Marshall, written by Neil Marshall. I had this logged as “Watched” and fancied it after The Cave (2005). It became apparent that I had not, in fact, watched this film at all. I think I saw the opening few scenes and for some reason stopped there and never finished it. Watching it AFTER The Cave was the right choice. This is much better, it’s Neil Marshall at his peak, and it’s got a load of really gnarly survival moments before we even get to the monsters. I think it’s much higher stakes than The Cave, because it’s not state of the art equipment and flashy gear. This film is just a bunch of experienced cavers with standard gear and their psychological traumas deep underground, and that makes for a really compelling, tense narrative. Now I’ve actually seen it, I would def put this on the rewatch pile. After a personal tragedy, Sarah joins her friends on a caving expedition in the Appalachian Mountains. But when a rockfall traps them deep underground, their adventure turns into a nightmare. As they search for a way out, the group discovers they are not alone—lurking in the darkness are savage, cave-dwelling creatures. With rising tension and dwindling trust, the women must fight to survive against both the predators and each other.

• The Convent/Heretiks (2018) dir. Paul Hyett, written by Conal Palmer and Paul Hyett from a story by Gregory Blair. Paul Hyett directed one of my favourite werewolf films, Howl (2015), so I was really excited to come across this one. First off, we don’t have nuns butting in during the Witch Trials under the famously Protestant James VI of Scotland and I of England, because of the Reformation (under Henry VIII). We’re not letting that stand in the way. Aside from the faulty historical premise, which I’m choosing to believe is due to this being an Alternate Universe (AU) where the Reformation never happened, it’s a serviceable piece of Gothic supernatural drama with religious horror trappings. During the 17th century, a young woman is saved from execution and led to a priory to repent her sins but discovers a greater evil lies within.

• To Fire You Come at Last (2023) dir. Sean Hogan, written by Sean Hogan. This is 45min, so counts towards the Challenge. Watched as part of All The Haunts Be Ours Box Set Vol 2, (Severin Films). I really enjoyed the tight focus on the 4 men throughout, and the script made a good stab at sounding period-accurate. It was very much like watching a stage play in some respects. I could see this working really well as a theatre piece with minimalistic staging, or as an immersive piece of theatre. What I would have liked in the dialogue is more hints of the Squire’s sins, and I think the dialogue at times sacrificed clarity to style. I did like the chapters, and the way this was shot. In rural 17th-century England, a group of men gather to carry a coffin on the long walk to the local graveyard for burial. Much ancient folklore and superstition surround the pathway to the church, and several of the party are afraid to walk it after dark. Squire Marlow, the grieving father of the dead man, promises to double their wages if they agree to make the mysterious journey full of unexpected revelations.

• Robin Redbreast (1970) dir. James MacTaggart, written by John Bowen. I loved Bowen’s scripts for Ghost Stories for Christmas, so I was very curious about this one. It’s a classic for a reason. It reminded me a bit of Darklands (premise similarities) and Hammer Films’ The Witches (1966). After the break-up of a long-term relationship, urban sophisticate Norah seeks refuge in a remote house in the country.

• The Asphyx (1972) dir. Peter Newbrook, written by Brian Comport. An enjoyable take on Mary Shelley’s short story The Mortal Immortal meets Charles Maturin’s Melmoth the Wanderer, with a dash of the Russian folktale, The Soldier & Death. I don’t normally like doomed immortal stories but this was engaging and a really fun Gothic Horror, with a good family drama at the core… and an immortal guinea pig. Hugo is a brilliant turn-of-the-century scientist, loved and respected by his family and friends, admired by his colleagues. But he is a man quickly becoming obsessed with a curious and frightening question…What is the mysterious apparition found in the photographs of his dying subjects?

United States of America Horror

• Never Let Go (2024) dir. Alexandre Aja, written by Ryan Grassby and Kevin Coughlin. I really appreciated the psychological aspect of this one, and the ambiguity of the situation. The kids were superb actors, definitely both are stars to watch out for. As an evil takes over the world beyond their front doorstep, the only protection for a mother and her twin sons is their house and their family’s protective bond.

• Ready or Not 2: Here I Come (2026) dirs. Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett, written by Guy Busick and R. Christopher Murphy. Been saving this one for the challenge so I knew I had something I’d (hopefully) enjoy, and I love Samara Weaving, and I love the first Ready or Not. So I was up for it. I went in as cold as possible (I saw part of one trailer and no discourse), so it was a real new-to-me treat. Watched in a watch party. Moments after surviving an all-out attack from the Le Domas family, Grace discovers she’s reached the next level of the nightmarish game — and this time with her estranged sister Faith at her side. Grace has one chance to survive, keep her sister alive, and claim the High Seat of the Council that controls the world. Four rival families are hunting her for the throne, and whoever wins rules it all.

• They Will Kill You (2026) dir. Kirill Sokolov, written by Kirill Sokolov and Alex Litvak. Went in totally cold, had heard of the title but nothing else about it. This one is set in the USA but written and directed by a Russian filmmaker. It took me ages to recognise Tom Felton. It feels like part of the Ready or Not universe. A woman answers a help wanted ad to be a housekeeper in a mysterious New York City high-rise, unaware that she is entering a community that has seen a number of disappearances over the years and may be under the grip of a Satanic cult.

• Wer (2013) dir. William Brent Bell, written by William Brent Bell and Matthew Peterman. This has A.J. Cook from Criminal Minds (in which she played Special Agent Jennifer “JJ” Jareau), paired with the director of The Boy, which was a good piece of Gothic drama. I was really curious to see how this would play out in a werewolf film, and the result is really good. Also, this is listed as a Romanian film on Letterboxd, but I’m not sure it actually is? It’s set in France with a mix of actors – a lot of them are British. The accused werewolf and his parents are Romanian. A defense attorney begins to suspect that her client, who is charged with the murders of a vacationing family, might be more than meets the eye.

• The Cave (2005) dir. Bruce Hunt, written by Tegan West and Michael Steinberg. I watched this for Lena Headey. I never finished watching The Descent, but I get why that one was favoured over this. This is a USA-made film but it’s also in collaboration with Romania, Germany, and Denmark. I really liked the cave shots, I thought it had some good action moments, and the creature was a big amphibious monster that was pretty cool. I don’t really get the hate, to be honest. It’s fine. Not a five star watch either, but it’s a perfectly competent creature-feature for a night in. After a group of biologists discovers a huge network of unexplored caves in Romania and, believing it to be an undisturbed eco-system that has produced a new species, they hire the best American team of underwater cave explorers in the world. While exploring deeper into the underwater caves, a rockslide blocks their exit, and they soon discover a larger carnivorous creature has added them to its food chain.

• Lee Cronin’s The Mummy (2026) dir. Lee Cronin, written by Lee Cronin. This is an Irish director whose short film, Foxes, appeared on my Media Round-Up one month as a highlight, but I’ve been put off his film Vivarium for the way that can be read as an allegory of autism. I wasn’t sure about this one, and I certainly see the critique that it’s more about the spectacle of the effects over the lore. It was a BIG shock coming in from some fairly tame 1990s Nollywood and 1960s stuff to THIS. It took me a while to adjust! It’s also really funny in the way the effects are staged, there are definite beats in there that feel like punchlines. I can see why everyone is making the Evil Dead comparisons. I think, though, that it is a Mummy film. Curses are very Ancient Egypt; the Mummy as a disruptive, destructive force when brought into the modern world, and the curse is unleashed. This is very much in that spirit of Mummy films, I feel – but it also feels much more like a Western demon possession film, even though it has Egyptian actors and Arabic-speaking sections. I think this doesn’t hit the right notes for me as it’s not an Egyptian story, it’s a Western demon possession flick with body horror wrapped up in the packaging of an Egyptian story, and I find that less interesting.

• Bluebeard (1944) dir. Edgar G. Ulmer, written by Pierre Gendron. I did like this one as a background film, but not sure I’d rewatch it on purpose. It’s a fairly tame noir, set in Paris, with a bit of risqué-for-Forties-cinema goings-on, but essentially a fairly meh serial killer flick starring John Carradine. Young female models are being strangled. Will law enforcement be able to stop the crime wave before more women become victims?

Vietnamese Horror

• Đoạt Hồn/Hollow (2014) dir. Ham Tran, written by Ham Tran. I wasn’t expecting this to be a freaky lucky plant type horror, but here we are. Basically, if it doesn’t get an egg every day, bad stuff happens. But also, I really enjoyed the concept here, and way family is bound together. This is more the anxieties of a pregnant teen and first-time mum than it is a possessed child story. I loved the way the family are bound together, and how the mum, teen daughter, (and her unborn child) and 6yo little sister are at the core of it, mirroring and foiling one another. It reminded me a bit of the Doll franchise (Indonesian) where the secrets of the man in the family lead to some vengeful hauntings. A young girl falls into a river and drowns. When her body is found in a remote village along the river, her uncle arrives to claim her body, only to find that she is very much alive. But when she returns to her family, unexplainable occurrences lead them to believe she is possessed.