The Beyond (1981, original title: E Tu Vivrai Nel Terrore ‒ L’Aldilà, also known as Seven Doors of Death)
The Bogey Man (1980, also known as The Boogeyman)
Blood Feast (1963)
Bloody Moon (1981, original title: Die Säge des Todes)
The Beyond is Lucio Fulci, enough said. The Bogey Man is a supernatural slasher with a few strange ideas. Blood Feast, “the first splatter film”, is a dodgy weird old classic. Bloody Moon is slow and uneventful.
Absurd (1981, aka: Rosso Sangue, Anthropophagus 2, Zombie 6: Monster Hunter, Horrible, The Grim Reaper 2)
Antropophagus (1980, aka: Antropophagus: The Beast, The Grim Reaper)
Axe (1974)
A Bay of Blood (1971, aka: Ecologia del delitto/ Ecology of Crime, Reazione a catena/ Chain Reaction, Carnage, Twitch of the Death Nerve, Blood Bath)
All Italian films except Axe (US). Antropophagus definitely has the best music/soundtrack. A Bay of Blood is obviously the best of these four films over all, a Mario Bava classic. Absurd is a fairly standard slasher, Axe is similar.
#31 – He Never Died
He Never Died is a 2015 Canadian/American horror comedy film… stars Henry Rollins as an immortal, cannibalistic loner who has withdrawn from society to protect both himself and others. Wikipedia
Jack’s in a rut. Depression and severe anti-social behavior has whittled down his existence to sleeping and watching television. He spends his days in a diner, playing church bingo and sleeping. When some hired thugs show up Jack’s life is stirred up and the question of his existence comes to light. IMDB
Strange film. Oddly funny, oddly dark. 3 stars.
Bonus – She Never Died (2019)
This 2019 “sequel” is basically a riff on the original story wise.
The movie is intended as a follow up sister sequel to Krawczyk’s 2015 movie He Never Died, which starred Henry Rollins, and is set within the same universe. Krawczyk had initially intended the 2015 film to be expanded into a miniseries and follow-up film, but repurposed the script into She Never Died after the endeavor was cancelled. Wikipedia
This, like the original, was also good, it did feel a bit more like an extended episode 1 of a TV series, and ends in a way that is open for a sequel at least. 3 stars again.
#29 – Toolbox Murders (2004)
Toolbox Murders is a 2004 American slasher film directed by Tobe Hooper… It is a remake of the 1978 film The Toolbox Murders and was produced by the same people behind the original. The film is centered on the occupants of an apartment who are stalked and murdered by a masked killer. Wikipedia
Its a moderate slasher film with too much character development. There’s some interesting gore effects. It is OK.
2 stars.
#30 – The Toolbox Murders (1978)
The Toolbox Murders is a 1978 American slasher film. It follows a series of violent murders centered around a Los Angeles apartment complex, followed by the kidnapping and disappearance of a teenage girl who resides there. Wikipedia
As above but made in 1978, far less character development, poorer acting. Stars Cameron Mitchell which is a bonus. 2 stars.
#28 – The Entity (1982)
The Entity is a 1982 American supernatural horror film directed by Sidney J. Furie, and written by Frank De Felitta, who adapted his 1978 novel of the same name. The film stars Barbara Hershey as a single mother in Los Angeles who is raped and tormented by an invisible assailant. Wikipedia
A really good film. Its played straight and dry and that is effective. Has an Exorcist feel due to its straightness and then a Poltergeist kind of vibe toward the end. It gets pretty crazy. 3 stars.
#26 – Ghost Story of Yotsuya (1959)
The ghost of a samurai’s wife takes revenge on her husband.
This classic Japanese horror movie directed by Nobuo Nakagawa is based on an 18th-century masterpiece written by Nanboku Tsuruya. It is about a woman who haunts her husband after she dies a miserable death.
I had to get this version off archives.org because it wasn’t available elsewhere. It’s pretty slow, and very much a slow psychological horror, not much gets going until the last 1/4 or so.
2 stars. May deserve more on a re-watch…
#27 – Feeders 2: Slay Bells (1998)
Two photographers travelling through Pennsylvania pick up a couple of women, then stumble across little grey aliens who land their flying saucer in the woods and start hunting and eating humans.
This sucks. Yes I know its meant to be low budget and etc…and It does that amazingly. 2 stars, congrats its fucking awful, you did it, but it deserves 1 because it really does also suck.
#24 – Winterbeast (1991)
In a wintery kind of town somewhere, people are being killed off by possessed totem poles.
B-grade acting with crazy claymation monsters, awesome stuff. This looks like it was filmed in the early 80’s not ’91. Kind of confusing story, wishy-washy acting and dialogue, weird characters. You’re only going to ever watch this is for the monsters, but this is a very strange film all round.
2.5 stars mainly for the claymation.
#25 – Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat (1989)
A 1989 Horror-Comedy staring Bruce Campbell. What the hell is this, I’ve never heard of it and have no idea when or why I downloaded it.
Reclusive vampires lounge in a lonely American town. They wear sun cream to protect themselves. A descendant of Van Helsing arrives with hilarious consequences.
What a very strange, very 80’s film. 2.5 stars
#22 – Friday 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986)
Part 6 of the franchise.
Tommy Jarvis goes to the graveyard to get rid of Jason Voorhees’ body once and for all, but inadvertently brings him back to life instead. The newly revived killer once again seeks revenge, and Tommy may be the only one who can defeat him. IMDB
In contrast to the series’ other entries, which had to be edited for violence in order to avoid an “X” rating, the film’s producers requested that McLoughlin add more gore, violence, and murders to the film. Wikipedia
Pretty enjoyable, but also still pretty standard. 2.5 stars.
#23 – Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)
Radio DJ Vanita ‘Stretch’ Brock’s open request night is plagued by the annoying phone pranking of two road tripping, party-hard, hoodlums, but things take a disturbing turn when the hoodlums meet their demise at the hands of familiar chainsaw wielding maniacs. With the entire gruesome ordeal recorded on tape, Stretch seeks out the help of a former Texas Marshall who’s on a personal quest of vengeance against this family of cannibals. While at first he turns her down, he eventually decides to use her tape to his advantage, asking her to air it during her request block- effectively baiting the cannibals to the radio station where he’ll personally deal with them. IMDB
Eh,it was OK, I guess. For some reason they re-create the dinner table scene, which obviously doesn’t work near as well, and at the end the main victim does the chainsaw dance that ends the original movie. Starts with potential but devolves. 2 stars.
#20 – Messiah of Evil
Messiah of Evil is a US 1973 supernatural horror film.
A young woman goes searching for her missing artist father. Her journey takes her to a strange Californian seaside town governed by a mysterious cult.
Directors Huyck and Katz are the husband-and-wife team who would subsequently direct Howard the Duck, as well as produce screenplays for American Graffiti and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Wikipedia
This feels a lot more like Italian horror/giallo films (Dario Argento particularly), even a little bit Hammer. Its a confusing story, but that’s made up for in other ways. The strange townsfolk and their rituals is kind of Lovecraftian. Surreal scenes and lighting, bizarre, peculiar characters.
Night of the Living Dead via Argento and H.P. Lovecraft?
I really liked this. 3 stars!
#21 – Hagazussa (2017)
Hagazussa: A Heathen’s Curse (German: Hagazussa, an Old High German term for “Witch”) is a 2017 German/Austrian horror film in four acts: : “Shadows”, “Horn”, “Blood” and “Fire. See the Wikipedia article for more detail.
Paranoia & Superstition in 15th Century Europe.
Obviously it would be easy to compare to The Witch. This is more atmospheric and ambient viewing for the most, with many moments of ancient superstition, there is very minimal dialogue. From just over half way onward it gets weird, then kind of brutal. I didn’t dislike this, its good for many reasons, a film where you just have to sit and let it happen. I’d like to give it 3, I’m going to give it 3, but it just needed something? Yet more of anything would have made it worse? Maybe just remove all of the other characters?
#18 – The Shout (1979)
Crossley (Alan Bates), a mysterious travelling man invades the lives of a young couple, Rachel and Anthony Fielding (Susannah York and John Hurt). Anthony is a composer, who experiments with sound effects and various electronic sources in his secluded Devon studio. The couple provides hospitality to Crossley but his intentions are gradually revealed as more sinister. He claims he has learned from an Aboriginal shaman how to produce a “terror shout” that can kill anyone who hears it unprotected. Wikipedia
This is a weird ABC late night classic, I remember catching parts of it as a kid and being weirded out and kinda scared as well. The film is rather slow, very BBC, but also strange and enjoyable. 3 stars.
#19 – White of the Eye (1987)
White of their Eye is a 1987 British/US Thriller about a guy with very special hearing abilities.
In a wealthy and isolated desert community, a sound expert is targeted as the prime suspect of a series of brutal murders of local suburban housewives who were attacked and mutilated in their homes. As he desperately tries to prove his innocence, his young wife starts to uncover mysteries of her own… IMDB
Very big on sound, the soundtrack, scene music. The visuals and setting scenes, big wide shots, great close ups. The characters, the town, its good. Its very good. Its a cop drama, Then….Holy shit. The last 1/3 is… This is, its uh fucked up. It gets nasty, dark. Holy shit. Then some resolution?
3.5 stars, this film is uh great. Weird as shit, confusing, disturbing, but holy hell, its an enjoyable mess of a film.
