POPCORN, ROAST N VEGIES, CAVIAR: Three approaches to a Halloween Movie Night

Halloween is here again. No, I don't celebrate it, either, but the opportunity to get together with friends and watch some scary movies always appeals and if there's a designated date for that then it's this one. I've listed a few titles below but really this is all about the approach, knowing what you want and allowing for that to fly out the window (except for the last one). The night's for enjoyment, remembering there are all sorts of interpretations you can slug on to that term.

POPCORN

The line before this shot really is: "she's behind you."

This one's the most fun. It's also the hardest one to get right.

Large crowds are restless crowds.  You need fun food and easy drinks. But fun doesn't mean stupid. Don't rely on unintentional humour. You might like the idea of everyone chortling over Bela Lugosi overacting or a goofy effect from the 80s but, boy, does that shit get old fast. I personally think it's wasteful and insulting to your guests trying this on. (On the other hand, if you wanted your friends to star in a found-footage sci-horror movie of how robotic they sound as they start laughing at every line of dialogue and scene change get your DLSR out and shoot from the screen.)

No, you need to think design. The films of James Wan and those like him work best here. They are offered seriously and deliver all the scares you can eat. They offer no emotional engagement with the characters and only the most rudimentary narrative construction before the cattle prod effect kicks in and the jolts start happening every five or so minutes. You can't invest in them and their stories don't hold up and, out of context, they fail against classic horror cinema. But they are no more designed for critical analysis than sharks are designed for triathlons. You start them, shove in the popcorn, talk, yell, daydream about anything, gossip, and scream every five minutes.  Start with titles like The Conjuring, Insidious, Sinister, or Paranormal Activity (though the first one's pretty good) and pick anything from part one to infinity.

But just like the fun food on the coffee table too much of this gets bloating and sickly and you will need some relief now and then.

Unfriended: It's a gimmick and knows it and it cares not. A Skype party goes wrong and wronger still. There are real cultural issues here but they happen at the same time as you yell, along with the characters:"It's behind you!" Brilliant, dumb and fun all at once.

Rec: Short and gets pacy quickly. A found footage festival of infected zombies in a quarantined apartment block in Barcelona.Yes, the subtitles might be a drag for some but, really, they are only there for a few plot developments. It's not hard to get the point of this one.

Halloween: Huh? But isn't this a classic, why is it in this section? Because it was made to make people tense and scared and then provide relief at perfectly timed intervals. It's also the story of a girl finding her strength against a terrifying threat. And it's still effective.

Sean of the Dead: One of the few horror comedies that fulfils both genres.

The Host: Great pacy monster movie with more than a little social commentary and a knowing eye to family dynamics. Still works a treat.

Young Frankenstein: One of the few horror spoofs that keeps on giving. Put it on early and leave the cattle-prod boo-fests till later. You will have set the mood and kept it while appearing to have intensified the fare.


ROAST N VEGIES

Pontypool. Listen and you shall hear.

This is the most balanced option. That said, it still requires some serious planning. What's happening with this is that you are curating a celebration of horror cinema for people who aren't fans of the genre. The thought of turning the mild mannered Niles or over-talkative Shay into crumbling pillars of salt with the likes of Martyrs or Cannibal Holocaust might well stretch your face into a rigid grin but if you're doing it properly you might win a few converts with a good blend of warm convention and real art.

Now, you know that Niles considers himself a bit of an Oscar Wilde even though no one else does and he's likely to start finding things to deride in the movies you have chosen. Shay will light up at the connective cues and start laughing along. Well, keep your Assyrian sacrifice dagger in the pool room and remember that this is a social occasion as well as an opportunity for outreach. Roll with it enough to show that you're really not Hannibal Lecter but maybe also take the curation side of it seriously enough to talk about why the movies are important. Did they defy the moral code of their times? Is there a production quirk worth noting? Is there something they can look out for and feel invited to participate in? Yeah, sure they can giggle at some of the acting but have a look at what's happening with this peripheral character. Show your love of the things and serve them up on the chipped plates that you won't miss. This is about the food and the sharing.

What you choose here will be personal (though maybe leave out Martyrs or Cannibal Holocaust for different occasions) but here are some that always work for me when making this approach.

The Haunting: Robert Wise's expert adaptation of Shirley Jackson's chiller combines strong characterisation, snappy dialogue, epoch-influencing art direction and an insistence on tragedy to drive the scares (which are few but still chilling).

Videodrome: David Cronenberg's accurate vision of the future of media remains my favourite of his works. The cold sci-fi concepts are warmed up by James Woods' career-best performance and rock star Debbie Harry's air of having lived her edgy character's life before anyone yelled "Action!"

It Follows: Less something to talk over than with as the issues it raises can provoke while playing like a classic dread fest (is it a creature feature, an evolved slasher, a supernatural thriller?) Real themes and real scares (and no cattle prodding, either, so real tension)

Night of the Living Dead: Great classic of shoestring cinema, this never quite gets old because it's so muscular in its execution and relentless in its theme. Nothing is really old timey about it beyond a few things like the news broadcasts. It's played so vigorously that you probably won't have time to rag it. Just watch.

In fact, the really important innovation writer/director Romero made in the thinking has seen this film used as the basis for every major zombie movie after it, from its own sequels right up to The Walking Dead. Find out what that is and you will have sold a viewing to the most genre-resistant person there. Hint, it has to do with what he left out rather than what he put in.

Phase IV: Ants, but not giant ants. Just little ants that together can be a conquering force and agent of evolution. Thoughtful 70s sci-fi that keeps on thinking and delivers like a Cronenberg movie from its future. All that said, it's kept light enough to withstand industrial strength murmuring. If you can get Youtube going on the TV find the original ending and watch it after this. It's worth it.

Dellamorte Dellamore/Cemetery Man: Very funny yet grim tale of fatal recursion. Rupert Everet irresistable as a cemetery keeper who falls in love with an Anna Falchi whose multiple characters have a terrible habit of dying violently and then coming back for more.

Pontypool: You really do have to pay attention to the dialogue here as this one is all about language. The threat at its centre is the spoken word. It's a zombie movie. Let those two things sink in. The tension is well mounted and the performances are enjoyable. Once you've got it, it's a fun ride, though.


CAVIAR

Under the Shadow. Oppression + imagination = terror!

This is the easiest to plan and the least fun. But it is the most engaging if you invite from the secret coteries and invite from the strongest of the curious. The numbers are small, the lights are low, it's warmed sake or icy vodka on the table with the best of anything you like. Talk is allowed but whispered below the dialogue. You're not at the Drive-In you're in the PRESENCE. Shut up and absorb. ... See what I mean about the fun? If you're inclined to loud in the crowd this approach will suck like a polar vortex. It's my favourite approach.

You can be as daring as you like, either challenging your guests to make it along to Inside or A Serbian Film, or you might want a night of quiet reverence for a mix of the well-thumbed and the mint fresh.

This is the horror-nerd cave and works best if each co-celebrant knocks bearing their own treasure. Could be a piece of old cheese from the 80s fermented with some mind-blowing philosophy between the latex syrup effects. Could be something involving a theme or depiction of something one of you genuinely fears which the company will help with. Could be something you just can't get out of your mind, old or new. Could be vintage splatter because you feel like talking about splatter. But that's the thing: if you bring something you will have to talk about it before we press play.

This is potentially infinite but here are some I'd think of :

Dark Water: This one spends its time wisely, building up why we should care about these characters and what's important to them before plunging them into the thick and breathless atmosphere and the horror that lurks within. If you've seen it before try it again without subtitles (if it's not in Japanese it isn't the real Dark Water). Keep it quiet, watch, absorb.

Excision: In the same neighbourhood as Ginger Snaps or Heathers (but at the scrappier end) Excision takes us on a tour of a teenager's psychosis. Pauline's fantasies are Matthew-Barney-quality challenges but her waking wit is worthy of Daria and the overall arc goes into a nasty place made of madness and despair.

The Woman in Black: If it stars Daniel Radcliffe send it back; that's a point-missing piece of garbage. The real one was made in the '80s and scripted by Nigel Kneale for TV. Simple means used to great effect. Genuinely chilling. Also, near impossible to find so the appearance of it will have a near-supernatural cache.

Kairo: Kyoshi Kurosawa's poem of loneliness in a life connected by bits, bytes and surrender. Glacially slow but ocean deep. The scares come from the bedrock of the story and strong atmosphere. You will absorb this through your pores and feel it long afterwards. Also known as Pulse but there's an American remake you need to avoid with that title. Check the case. If the names are Japanese you've got it right.

Martyrs: Rough and constantly violent until the second half which slows down but gets more disturbing. There is a point to it but, boy .....!

Eraserhead: My favourite film of all time. I've been lucky enough since the marvellous Criterion edition was released, to have shown this three times to people who had never seen it.

Under the Shadow (only at the Nova at the moment but also through itunes): a strong and clever updating of the Dark Water model shifted to find its own character constraints. Like Dark Water it remembers that horror is at its strongest and impactful when built on a bed of hardship or tragedy.

Fear Itself: A very clever essay on the relationship between horror cinema and its fans that will delight and compel at either end of the night. Uses fictionalised narration over brilliantly edited clips from horror or fear-based scenes both mainstream and obscure. Not too long and cheerfully unacademic.

Beyond the Black Rainbow: The makers of this one play down the philosophy involved, preferring to highlight the design and atmosphere but this goes beyond just looking like Kubrick or the stranger sci-fi from the 70s (like ZPG or THX 1138) and begins to act like it as well. If you like the futuristic elements of Rollerball but also the vibe of Farenheit 451 you'll dig this.

13 for Halloween 2015

Insert usual blurb about celebrating Halloween in your own style rather than bending over for the empire and doing it the American way. That aside, one thing I like about Halloween as a contemporary folk feast night is its association with the horror genre. Here are some suggestions for a film night on October the 31st. This year I've gone for energy. That doesn't always just equate to action but can mean the sprightliness of the ideas. Oh and running times on the shorter side.

IT FOLLOWS (2014)

Derivative but uses what it likes about the legacy rather than just copies. Disregard shallow criticism that the real revival here is the 80s teen horror sex=death. It's far more about wisdom=responsibility. But even more, it's about good fun with good scares and music that gets away with being retro.



UNFRIENDED (2014)

Set almost entirely on a single computer screen, this messenger revenge tale transcends its occasional cheesiness by its deep comprehension of what compels the characters to stay glued to their screens. Clever, but not so clever that it isn't rivetting.





SUSPIRIA (1977)

Big, brash, beatiful and baroque, Dario Argento's masterpiece eschews complex plotting for a viscerally true evocation of a nightmare state. The only time it sags is when it gets characters to explain the events but even then it's not for long. And that music!






HALLOWEEN (1978)

Still one of the scariest, best edited and least bloody of all the slashers, John Carpenter's classic still grips and torments. Carpenter's own score was heavily influenced by Argento's use of Goblin and Friedkin's use of Tubular Bells in The Exorcist but this is something he really made his own.


RINGU (1997)

Try to forget about the big bloated U.S. remake which added a needless hour to the story. Hideo Nakata's original remains the superior piece. The pacing is more astute and the climactic moment far more terrifying for being less bombastic than the cover version. Also with a good hands-off music score.





THE HAUNTING (1963)

Based closely on the Shirley Jackson source novel, Robert Wise's film version keeps the atmosphere forward and remembers that the real chills come from the central tragedy unfolding around the character of Eleanor. Vintage special effects still effective. Compare that with the gormless 1999 version which doesn't get the difference between shock and suspense.

REC (2007)

Infection-zombie piece lifts from normality into a fever pitch and an ending you will not expect. Lean pov filmmaking reminds us how this approach can be used to enhance shifts in pace and, in the right hands, can prove a powerful creator of suspense, using what the audience/characters can and cannot see. Remade as Quarrantine but see the original: if it's in English you're watching the wrong version.



TIME CRIMES (2007)

The time travel paradox examined to an unnerving degree in this ingenious take on circuit breaking. See it before the unecessary remake.










HONEYMOON (2014)

A very dark fable about the horrors of intimacy unfolds as young newlyweds pile into a country cabin for a few weeks of private ecstasy and communion with nature. That kind of happens but not how either is expecting. Some very tough scenes but worth it for the overall purpose which is serious (nice for a change) and steady.




ALIEN (1980)

Set a few tonal standards by making the fantastical setting workaday before the horror explodes. High action and white knuckle suspense make this a perennial winner. I still prefer this to the action movie sequel and any of the others after that. It's scarier if you never see the whole creature. And don't waste you time with Prometheus; it's steeped in a creepy religious agenda that only leads to clunkiness. The first one is the real deal.




PHANTASM (1979)

The beauty of this one is that it mixes real eerieness so easily in with its nostalgia and keeps the pace high. One of the highly imaginative Don Coscarelli's most complete. "Boy!"







VIDEODROME (1983)

A hidden broadcast is making people grow new organs and is changing their brain chemistry. "What we see on television emerges as raw experience." A wow idea every few minutes with Cronenberg's early unnerving visual style and James Woods' magnetic central performance. Still weird, still wonderful.




GINGER SNAPS (2000)
One of all time favourite genre game changers. Blending the high-school social order, emo-anti-cool, and real wit, Ginger's plummet into the life of the beast is as funny as it is scary and, in the end, genuinely tragic. If you liked the recent series Orphan Black, know that this is from the same writer/director team of Karen Walton and John Fawcett.




So, there it is, enjoy your Halloween in your own way, avoiding, if you can, locally-meaningless rituals and any movies directed by James Wan. Boo!

Thirteen for Halloween

No, I haven't bought into the bend-over-for-the-empire practice of Americanising my October but I am a fool for any opportunity to make a list of horror films. This time, though, I'm going to do two, one for the horror-curious and another for those who just want the genre for the occasion.

While I as an Australian born and raised didn't experience Halloween as part of the calendar I knew about it from American shows and kind of envied the costumes and rituals. Most of all I liked the mood and always considered horror fiction nourishment for the imagination and I loved how even though I've never believed in ghosts I would be haunted awake in the pre dawn by the stories of M.R. James or Sheridan LeFanu. The Christmas tales from UK television added location and atmosphere. In the end I had to admit that I lived in the tropics which see neither snow nor fog and when there were human atrocities in the air they had the weight of close reality. Otherwise there were the movies and I never tire of the best of them nor discovering new avenues into the self-confrontation that genuine horror demands.

As you'll read, I'm biased toward originality and genre-warping but these qualities are by no means prerequisite for a good horror fiction experience. There's a lot of real cinema to be had with movies that just behave themselves in their margins and deliver what they say. There is, of course, a spectrum of how well this is done.

Hey, there's more than thirteen here! It rhymes with Halloween .. and count the genres in the second section

For non-horror fans...

Contemporary Mainstream

Wahhahahahahahahahahahahahaha! which
is the kind of dialogue I hear when I see
something like this.

Insidious and anything else by James Wan or anything like them. These scary-skull party decorations wear me out with their quiet quiet LOUD formula but for all their identikit nature they are at least reliable and you can talk over them as you won't be missing any suspense. Serve with the free-chicken-wing-and-family-size-softdrink deals from the nearest franchise pizza place. No concentration required and you won't retain a second of screen time to haunt you later. Examples, The Conjuring, Sinister and the godawful "Harry Potter and the Woman in Black".

There is a notion afoot that these are generationally restrictive so if you're too old you'll gurmpily reject them and if you're young enough you'll dig them. If that worked I'd prefer the 1982 Thing over the 1956 one and Friday the 13th over The Exorcist (wrong in both cases). Sorry, it's not me being old, it's these movies being mediocre.

But quite seriously, if you aren't into horror but want to use the occasion, these will work.

Remakes



Remakes of 70s and 80s genre. It's often observed that it's only bad movies that should get remakes to correct the errors of the past. Instead, we get the errors of the present whose makers have learned nothing from the originals. You can count the as-good or better remakes on one hand. Like the contemporary Hollywood fare mentioned above, these are not taxing and have been declawed so that only the serviceable gore gets through and none of that disturbing concept work to bring things down.

Remakes of films originally in languages other than American. If you can't read subtitles you shouldn't be reading this. Seriously, if getting close to a good arresting idea is blocked for you by a series of titles in the most basic of English (as they have to be for speed alone) then all you can experience is a series of someone else's ideas at a cultural remove. Not it's not Let Me In but Let the Right One In. Not The Ring but Ringu (seriously, this one involves a major failure of interpretation when in English). Not Quarantine but .REC. The American version of Pulse has a line about the use of gaffer tape common to both films: "It just seems to work somehow." Why didn't anyone in Kyoshi Kurosawa's original have to say that? Because they wanted YOU to work it out. I have known no exceptions to this rule that didn't take a lot of indulgence and apology.

Would you really rather hear a note perfect cover band play your favourite songs or the original band? If the latter aren't available wouldn't you at least want some interpretation to be part of it rather than a re-enactment? You wouldn't? Fine, the remakes are over there. Let's just never talk about music.

Mainstream gothic

All the scares of the Ghost Train ride

Blade, Underworld, Mama, etc. All serviceable narrative pieces with a few scares and suspense but I find so much backstory really wetblankets a horror movie. It give its audience too much control over the events. The reason we wake up gasping from nightmares is precisely because we can't control them. But these usually have some fine art direction.






Horror Comedy

This is a good one. It's almost the only one.

The best one is Shaun of the Dead because it remembers to be scary as well as funny. The rest usually just give up and try to be funny but the best of them are good at that. Scream (keep it to the first one) Bad Taste, Beetlejuice are all fine examples. Word of advice: don't start with one of these if you are going down the party atmosphere path as it will make everyone take the piss out of everything else. That might sound great but it really gets fatiguing quickly and any return to appropriate mood will feel like someone turned the lights on. Try it last or after something that does have an effect. That works.

Well, that should do you. Or ....

For horror fans and the curious of heart...

Apocalypse

Kairo/Pulse begins with social erosion as the online realm vacuums its users' lives which allows ghosts to spill over from existential intertia into a steadily scarier real world. The ghosts here aren't just scary, they're disturbing. If the dialogue is in English you are watching the wrong version: the real one is in Japanese. Tasssuketeeeeee....

See also Pontypool, Canadian slowburner is huge on atmosphere, character and cleverness. What's in a word?






Body Horror

Shivers gave David Cronenberg to the world. A science experiment gone wrong begets a sexually transmitted parasite in an isolated luxury highrise apartment complex. Genuinely disturbing ideas rise above the often hokey action and acting.

See also Audition, Takeshi Miike's nightmare of emotional distortion and ugly morality/body confusion will stay with you.







Found Footage

The Blair Witch Project is still the champ of this and deserves a look by anyone who has only heard of it and a new look for those who have seen it. If we follow we descend. The human imagination can be a bad place at the best of times but with only a little frustration turns into a constant nightmare.

See also .REC, best descendant of Blair Witch takes us from a rookie tv reporter's slow news night into a terryifiying enclosed hell. Brilliant ending you won't expect. If the ending of the first Paranormal Activity hadn't ruined the entire film with its bubblegum hokiness that would have been .REC's rival. But no.



Ghosts

Too many. It's a favourite sub genre. Hmmmm. Ok, Dark Water. Atmosphere and genuine tragedy provide solid support for a ghost story that will stay with you. If you think the coda scene is sweet give it a few minutes and feel the hair on the back of your neck stand up. If Jennifer Connelly is in it you are watching the wrong version. This is a Japanese film.





See also Lake Mungo: local and vocal masterpiece. You will NOT expect the climactic scene. Did you see it? What did you see?






Infestation

Quatermass and the Pit. One of the finest sci-fi minds of the mid twentieth century, Nigel Kneale, came up with this intriguer that like other greats of his takes narrative and thematic swerves you will not expect. Here it goes from possible unexploded German bombs in the London tube to human evolution. The locally released blu-ray is the same as the BFI, sensational.




See also Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) had two remakes on a par but this original still feels like the best with its American dream gone wrong or horribly right.




Satan

I'd normally put the ol' Exorcist here but this time I'll go subtler and nominate Rosemary's Baby. Before Friedkin drained the last gothic drop from movies about cults and the Divil Polanski had a red hot go substituting naturalistic acting for histrionics and worrying ideas instead of shocks. Expert casting of Mia Farrow and John Cassavettes bring this one home as a believable couple and Ruth Gordon and Sidney Blackmer as the old couple across the hall whose urbanity and comedy are equally sinister. "What have you done to it's eyes?" What did they do? Well, good horror requires you to use your imagination which ought to be more powerful than anything on a screen.

Also, the only available dvd and blu-ray of the Exorcist are of the long and plodding "version you've never seen" which is the only one anyone after 2000 has seen. You can get the original in a deluxe package from overseas sources so, if you're interested, hold off until you can see the shorter, tighter and scarier one.

The Brotherhood of Satan. Low-budget big concepts as the children of a small town vanish and toys come horrifically to life. Youth and age clash in a kind of Lewis Carrol verite.





Short Form

It's a really good idea to ease the burden of the parade of features with shorter pieces and they don't come much more curious than this series of twelve found footage ambushes collectively known as The Forbidden Files (also, Les Documents Interdits, in case you're braving the waves, sleets and torrents to find them). SBS showed these in the 90s as part of their Saturday night shorts showcase Eat Carpet. They were originally shown unannounced on French cable tv. From true life ghost stories, alien incursion, witchcraft and much more these ingeniously use the short running time (mostly only a few minutes) to maximum effect, playing on our trust at the sight of what looks like raw footage. Also, try some of the shorter form fiction that used to appear on TV like Twilight Zone (particularly the hour long Thirty Fathom Grave) or the shorter BBC Mr James adaptations like Whistle and I'll Come to You or Lost Hearts.

Slasher

Black Christmas is Bob Porky's Clark's jump start to the genre that would be planted in the 70s and take firm root in the 80s. Those phone calls!








See also Halloween (if it doesn't say 1978 somewhere in the details you are watching the wrong one).








Sui Generis

Lovely Molly sees half of the Blair Witch directorial team venture only a comfortable pace from the scene of his fame. Nevertheless, by concentrating on the internal crisis storming inside the central character rather than sudden scares adds depth and eeriness.





See also Martyrs which starts like any Euro revenge piece but takes a terrifying turn halfway through. The violence dissipates into control and the control has a disturbing force. I'll sing with Mark Kermode on this one, though: CAUTION! This is a VERY rough ride.




Vampires

Martin: Is he a vampire or a very naughty boy? Either way, Martin is as confused and pissed off as any other teenager. How many of them ever wished they had the powers of mythical monsters? The generation gap doesn't get more poignant .... or bloody.







See also Lips of Blood:Jean Rollin's mix of perve and unnerve with a genuinely poignant ending to surprise.







Werewolf

Ginger Snaps. Lighten up the marathon with this still fresh take on lycanthropy. Whedonesque smarts mix with a welling real tragedy which emerges in a climax worthy of Cronenberg.








See also The Wolf Man: uses pathos rather than threat to suggest the pity of heredity but also the anger in response to it. Lon Chaney Jr might have had a few things on his mind about that issue playing this role.







Witches

Suspiria. The phrase style over substance is so pejorative that even as I put it here in order to twist it into a positive I hesitate. But with a palette determined by aggressive lighting and intentional use of old film stock, a massively powerful music score and enough tension and stark violence to fill several genre pieces, Suspiria's style IS its substance. Its relentless genuine nightmare logic is in force from the word go and is only weakened by a scene which attempts to explain the events and plant a telescope. Not for talking over but its 92 minutes don't allow that kinda malarky.

See also Black Sunday, Bava bravura in black and white with a mad eyed Barbara on the roam.







Zombies

Romero's Night is one of my favourites but for freshness I'll go with Lucio Fulci's Zombie. Very pervy and very gory but also strongly atmospheric. Aka Zombie Flesh Eaters and Zombi(e) 2.

See also Colin for a very British take that intrigues.

So, happy happy Halloween.

Top 13 horrors for Halloween

Okay, as this is an occasion for my favourite film genre I'm doing two unusual things in my tops lists: there are more titles and Eraserhead isn't one of them.

What's the same is that this is not an attempt at a definitive list. Horror is my favourite genre and I like far more than thirteen. I left the inclusion entirely up to what I could think of at the time. This would almost certainly change if I thought about it again this time next week. So, sorry if your favourites aren't here, a lot of my own aren't either.

Halloween: This bloodless coup of a film was the most profitable independent American film until The Blair Witch Project. Through the kill scenes and an atmosphere of undiluted and understated creepiness there is a powerful arc of nerd girl Laurie finding her courage and standing up to the monster. It was this where the masked killing machine who just keeps coming back originated. Original still best. Oh, and one of the best realised music scores for any film in any genre, by director Carpenter himself.

Dark Water: Shivery ghost tale remembers that the best of them include a tragedy at their centre. The convergence of this and the haunting results in a powerful and heartrending climax. Wash this down with a creepy and crushing coda and you have the logical end to the J-horror genre.

 

 
The Blair Witch Project: Campfire tale as cinema verite. Three students try and make a film about a witch in the woods and either fall under her control or get literally scared out of their wits. Not the first found footage film but still the most effective.





Ringu: The man who ended J-horror also began it with this tale of a curse and race against time. Like Dark Water this is also the story of a mother's bond with her child and the rediscovery of mutual respect between a woman and her estranged husband. Climax still freezes me and it's still better than the exponentially higher budgeted American re-bloat.





Suspiria: Giallo maestro Dario Argento's apex drives to the heart of why our nightmares scare us (we have no control over them) and serves one up with frozen blues and thick blood reds. Some of the most tightening murder scenes you'll see and a music score on a par with Halloween.


Martyrs: Outside of Asia contemporary horror has fallen to cliche and uninterestingly slick digital effects but this French/Canadian entry not only gives us gore that is painful to the eye but concepts that make us feel ashamed to be alive. The really nasty stuff has less gore but the ideas behind it are petrifying.




The Haunting: Citizen Kane alumnus Robert Wise made one of the finest haunted house movies of all time with this adaptation of a popular novel. Some still impressive special effects, almost three dimensional lighting design support a very very sad central story. Could watch this on a weekly basis.


The Exorcist: A story of doubt, faith and mother and daughter. You don't need to be religious to get into this one anymore than you need to believe in ghosts to dig The Haunting. As a girl goes through severe changes in mind and body her famous and inevitably neglectful mother is drawn to attention. The father who is only suggested by the gaps in an international phone call has been absent for years. As the tumult within the girl explodes into freakish violence the priests are called in. One is a skeptic, grieving for his recently deceased mother and the other is an old stager who has met this demon before. A mix of tough seventies drama and supernatural pyrotechnics, The Ex remains a wonder of the medium. Try to find the original cut as the "version you've never seen" aka the director's cut just adds bloat and removes power.

Night of the Living Dead: Throw out the magic and ritual of the traditional zombie story and all you have is the dead come back to life. All? Romero's fable of fate, made for the shoe polish budget of a contemporary quirky indy gets everything it tries for right.

The Changeling: Effectively eerie haunted house film builds to a conclusion of real dread. Atmosphere and strong performances lift this already fine story into the ether.






Kairo: Would you like to meet a ghost? So asks the website visited by most of the characters in this apocalyptic tale. No you wouldn't, is the correct answer, not if they're anything like the ones here. A chaos of mass loneliness, Kairo (or Pulse or Circuit as it's variously known in English) was once beautifully described as The Omega Man as directed by Tarkovsky. Yup!

Prince of Darkness: Dismissed even by Carpenter fans my near favourite JC film has ideas worthy of its chief inspirator Nigel Kneale and a human diminishing concept at its centre AND another great music score by Johnno himself. I can watch this just for the atmosphere but love the rest of it too much.




The Cabinet of Dr Caligari: Silent wonder as sleepwalker terrorises town at the same time as sinister bullish carny seems also to run the local asylum. Crazy expressionistic backdrops suggest a constantly unsettled state of mind which might be as easily fallen into as a gutter. Like a nightmare that has sneaked out from an Edvard Munch woodcut.