- The Canal (2014) dir. Ivan Kavanagh, written by Ivan Kavanagh. A UK/Ireland collaboration. This had a good premise. Domestic violence horror that makes the perpetrator sympathetic, and uses vaginal birth as a body horror shock moment. I’m a bit over that. It’s a good creepy story, but I had some issues with it, so it’s not a highlight. A man who suspects his wife is cheating on him begins having nightmarish visions of an evil presence that he believes inhabits his house.
{UK/Ireland}
- Koko-Di Koko-Da (2019) dir. Johannes Nyholm, written by Johannes Nyholm. A Danish-Swedish collab, which is a wild ride of trauma pouring out of a bereaved couple after the death of their little daughter. Surrealist time loop in the woods. As a couple goes on a trip to find their way back to each other, a sideshow artist and his shady entourage emerge from the woods, terrorizing them, luring them deeper into a maelstrom of psychological terror and humiliating slapstick.
{Sweden}
- The Innocents (1961) dir. Jack Clayton, written by William Archibald and Truman Capote. The classic tale of child abuse trauma in an isolated country house. Another The Turn of the Screw adaptation, and this one is an influential classic film version in its own right. In a mid-19th century Essex country house, a young governess for two children becomes convinced that the house and grounds are haunted by ghosts and that the children are being possessed.
{UK}
- Ghost Story (1974) dir. Stephen Weeks, written by Philip Norman, Stephen Weeks, and Rosemary Sutcliff . I really enjoyed this one. It has sibcest, well-observed class dynamics, and some great little moments. McFadyn’s Charleston was beautiful. Several old college friends converge at a mansion, ostensibly for a pleasant reunion. Larry Dann, the most easygoing of the bunch, comes to the conclusion that all is not well in the old dark house. For one thing, he’s run across several people whom he’s never met. For another, they all seem to be of a different time and place.
{UK}
- ミンナのウタ/Sana (2023) dir. Takashi Shimizu, written by Rumi Kakuta and Takashi Shimizu. Japanese ghost girl who likes killing kittens gets freaky with some pop stars in this creepy tale from Shimizu, director of Tomie: Rebirth and a whole load of Ju-On films. I really liked the ending. I need to rewatch this when I’m not distracted by waiting for a package that then gets delivered to my neighbour with a nice pic of their front door. Added to my Music Horror list. Takashi Shimizu’s newest film is about a mysterious cassette tape containing a melody. People who hear this melody gradually begin to hum it themselves and become involved in a mysterious incident. What is the mystery behind this melody?
{Japan}
- The Devil’s Rock (2011) dir. Paul Campion, written by Paul Campion, Paul Finch, and Brett Ihaka. What a ride. I love how tight the cast is – the drama, the tension, the sexy devil lady. Set in the Channel Islands on the eve of D-Day, two Kiwi commandos, sent to destroy German gun emplacements to distract Hitler’s forces away from Normandy, discover a Nazi occult plot to unleash demonic forces to win the war.
{Aotearoa/New Zealand}
- Amsterdamned (1988) dir. Dick Maas, written by Dick Maas. After watching Sint/Saint dir. Dick Maas, I should have been prepared. This was much better. And also, a fun 1980s Dutch giallo! An aquatic menace! High speed canal boat chases! Plus: ECO HORROR. I really liked it. A mysterious diver hiding in Amsterdam’s canal system embarks on a rampage of gruesome murders, terrifying city officials and leaving few clues for the city’s best detective, who doesn’t suspect that both his new girlfriend and twelve-year-old daughter may be closer than he is to finding the killer.
{The Netherlands}
- Tiger Stripes (2023) dir. Amanda Nell Eu, written by Amanda Nell Eu . This is Eu’s first feature film. In her work, she explores the female body and identity within the cultural context of Southeast Asia, and Tiger Stripes is an exploration of puberty and transformative rage in a Malaysian school girl as she finds herself changing in strange ways. A carefree student at an all-girls school shows unusual symptoms when she begins puberty, forcing her to grapple with a mysterious and visceral power.
{Malaysia}
- Rabbit Trap (2025) dir. Bryn Chainey, written by Bryn Chainey. Chainey is a British-Australian director, and this is a UK-USA collab, but I’m putting it under UK as it’s set in Wales, and has British actors, etc. It’s a really interesting one about the connection between the natural world, music, and magic, so Wales is the perfect place for that. I loved the connection between the Tylwyth Teg and water, which is preserved very subtly in the film, fairy rings, and all sorts of lovely call backs to folklore. When a musician and her husband move to a remote house in Wales, the music they make disturbs local ancient folk magic, bringing a nameless child to their door who is intent on infiltrating their lives.
{UK}
- The Shuttered Room (1967) dir. David Greene, written by D.B. Ledrov and Nat Tanchuck, from an original story/stories by H.P. Lovecraft and August Derleth. Yeah, I’m sorry guys, but Cobweb (2023) did this whole thing much better. It’s a UK production filmed in Norfolk, with Oliver Reed playing a small town thug, and everyone pretending they are off the coast of New England. Accents vary. In a small island off the American coast, the Whateleys live in an old mill where a mysterious bloody being creates an atmosphere of horror. After her parents get killed by lightning, young Susannah is sent to New York by her aunt Agatha, who wants her to avoid the family curse. Years later Susannah, now married, persuades her husband to spend a holiday in the abandoned mill. Once on the island, Susannah and Mike soon find themselves exposed to the hostility of a gang of thugs led by Ethan, Susannah’s brutal cousin.
{UK}
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