Some Horror films

20Oct20

Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb (1971)

Lots of Hammer Horror films could be on here (high concept, good actors, really British) but this is the one that I watch repeatedly. The film is a procedural detective story in many ways, slowly analyzing artifacts while we know what is happening but are totally fascinated by the odd cosmic presentation of the theme of reincarnation. Based on Bram Stoker’s The Jewel  of Seven Stars.

Let’s Scare Jessica to Death (1971)

Extended slow and quiet creepiness which falls in the territory of potential gaslighting as well as suggesting multiple sub-genres (haunted house, vampire) that don’t quite fit which is not a confusion but adds to the general sense of eeriness.

Don’t Look Now (1973)

Worth it for the editing alone. More of a thriller than a horror film on the face of it but the temporal weirdness, sisters who talk to the dead, and the ending would seem to push it into the horror genre. Based on a story by Daphne de Maurier.

Cemetery Man (1994)

I’m not generally a fan of horror comedies but this film is too weird and amazing. A British/French/Italian mix, it focuses on a graveyard keeper who has to constantly kill and rebury the dead but when his lover dies things get weird…a proper philosophical zombie movie based on the book Dellamorte Dellamore.

Martin (1976)

Before Byzantium or Only Lovers Left Alive, George Romero (of Night of the Living Dead Fame) made an either slimmer version of the vampire film. As a film where an awkward teenager who can’t fit it convinces himself he is a vampire to justify his behavior, it invokes a great mix of creepiness and unwanted pity.

Black Christmas (1974)

The case is often made that Black Christmas the title of first slasher (though some try to point back to Peeping Tom) but it definitely beats Haloween’s claim to the title. Incredibly effective first person shots and a strangely compelling lack of murderous justification.

The Devils (1971)

A priest is called to investigate a convent and things get weird real quick….psychadelic exorcism orgy

The Loved Ones (2009)

The only horror film favorite that really teeters into ‘torture porn’ territory but since so much of the focus is on the killer princess (pictured above) this falls by the way side. The incredibly creepy performances and simplicity of the film makes it memorable.

Carnival of Souls (1962)

Beautiful strange dream like horror.

The Wickerman (1973)

The most famous example of ‘folk horror’ (muted tones, strange customs, isolated locations very British). A police offer thinks Christianity will protect him…

Please Don’t Deliver Us From Evil (1970)

Very difficult to find but amazing film where two young girls in the countryside jointly marry satan and then ruin everyone’s lives.

Splinter (2008)

Fungal zombie horror with a locked room kind of setting. Worth it just for the creature effects.

Kill List (2011)

Genre-blending horror that goes that mixes crime thriller, drama, and folk horror. My favorite horror film of the 2000s

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