Rosemary's Baby

"Rosemary's Baby" (1968, Roman Polanski, Paramount Pictures) is a supernatural, psychological thriller about a woman who grows concerned that a cult has laid a claim on her unborn child.

I saw this film as a kid (my mum was always pretty cool about sharing her love of horror with me) and two things always stuck with me; that I really liked Mia Farrow's short hair and that making friends with neighbours can be a burden. Yep. Those were my big takeaways from this famous, award-winning Polanski film aged 10.

Guy (John Cassavetes) and Rosemary (Mia Farrow) Woodhouse find a spacious New York City apartment which has recently become available after the elderly tenant passed away. They move in and make it their own, much to the disappointment of their friend, Hutch (Maurice Evans), who has heard tales of murder and dark happenings in the building.

Rosemary makes friends with another young woman living with an elderly couple in the building but is shocked when she appears to have committed suicide soon after. The elderly couple, Minnie (Ruth Gordon) and Roman (Sidney Blackmer) Castevet soon become friends with the Woodhouses after the tragedy. Rosemary is initially keen to be friends but soon finds the Castevet's constant presence in their lives strange. Guy, on the other hand, seems to go from unwilling politeness to a full-on friendship with the couple. He also sees a sudden upturn in good fortune, landing a dream job.

Soon Rosemary and Guy discover that they are having a baby and they are elated. The Castevet's become very involved in the couple's lives and are extremely interested in the pregnancy. Rosemary begins to look very ill and suddenly crave raw meat which causes Hutch to go digging but before he can share his findings with her, he is struck seriously ill.

As her due date approaches, Rosemary becomes more and more convinced that something is wrong. Guy and the Castevets try to convince her that she is getting upset over nothing, but she comes across a message from Hutch which further confirms her worst fears and things spiral into madness from there on...

A truly great film that is both an excellent monument to its era and fashions and a commentary on paranoia and the dismissive way that people can be treated. Whilst slow-burning and fairly low on any gore, the film relies more on a sense of dread which builds around the couple's apparently happy home and lives. Mia Farrow rules the screen as the distraught and waif-like Rosemary. The audience truly feels for her plight which builds slowly before being dialled up to eleven at the film's climax. The film enjoys a fairly twisted ending with Rosemary caught with a very difficult decision. Dark and oddly charming this is definitely a classic worthy of adding to any movie lovers' list.

[Image: Paramount Pictures]

Hani

The Incredible Shrinking Man

"The Incredible Shrinking Man" (1957, Jack Arnold, Universal International) is a classic 50s sci-fi film based on the book and screenplay by Richard Matheson.

Scott Carey (Grant Williams) and his wife, Louise (Randy Stuart), were enjoying a short holiday on his brother's boat when a strange mist engulfed their vessel. Luckily for Louise, she was inside the boat at the time, but Scott was completely covered. Some months later he notices that he is losing weight and height and that none of his clothes are fitting him!

Doctors find a possible cure which seem to halt Scott's decrease for a time, but soon he begins to shrink again! As well as affecting his relationship with his wife and drawing a lot of unwanted attention from the media, Scott also soon learns that the home can be a dangerous place when you are the size of a borrower!

A surprisingly emotional film with good dialogue, sympathetic characters and amazing effects for the time! I felt completely drawn in to the action and could easily believe that Williams was truly shrunk. The action scenes with the cat and the spider are truly inspired.

I love a good classic sci-fi horror, but am more than aware of some pretty terrible films from the era. "The Incredible Shrinking Man", however, is not one of these. The film still stands well today and is extremely watchable.

The outlandish subject matter does have some glaring flaws: how would a doctor make the connection so easily between the shrinking symptoms and their cause? But the film remains surprisingly provocative and thoughtful, with a haunting ending.

Although the film makes fun use of props and proportions to enhance the physical impact upon our protagonist, it actually maintains quite a cerebral subject matter, focusing more on the psychology of this change. A quite disturbing film.

[Image: Universal International]

Hani

Trilogy of Terror

"Trilogy of Terror" (1975, Dan Curtis, ABC, MPI Home Video) is a made-for-TV horror anthology starring the awesome Karen Black; one of my favourite scream queens.

All three stories are named after the women's names and all of the centric women are played by Karen Black who embodies the nerdy, the crazy, the devious, the shy and the terrified in her usual charismatic way.

Three fun stories, the first being about a college professor and her creepy student, the second about an unusual sisterly relationship and the third about a bullied young woman who purchases a Zuni fetish doll for her boyfriend. All three shorts are quirky, engaging and the right balance of cheesy TV 70s horror and good storytelling. My favourite is certainly the final piece, "Amelia", which is a kind of one-woman play. It really focuses on Black's ability to portray a whole plot through her acting and I absolutely love the creepy little doll. It's a really fun short.

Maybe it's not as sophisticated as today's horror and certainly it has its flaws (being too obvious for today's genre-savvy audience being one), but this remains one of the classic 70s anthologies and is definitely worth your time.

[Image: ABC]

Hani

Frankenstein (2015)

"Frankenstein" aka "Frank3nst3in" (2015, Bernard Rose, Bad Badger, Summerstorm Entertainment, Eclectic Pictures) is a modernised retelling of the classic novel by Mary Shelley.

Set in the present day in LA, a couple of mad scientist lovers (Carrie-Anne Moss and Danny Huston) and their pal 3D Print a fully grown man (Xavier Samuel) in their home lab. They initially celebrate their successes and attempt to nurture the creature (known, of course, as Adam) in a somewhat disturbing few scenes of nursing and screaming. But soon they realise that they have made an error in their calculations and their beautiful creation is becoming both inhumanly strong and grotesquely disfigured as his cells begin to degenerate.

The creature escapes into the world where he is unaccepted and severely mistreated by strangers, forced to scrounge for food, living homeless and without any understanding of the world. He makes a friend in a kind and wise, blind homeless man (Tony Todd) who teaches him to speak and helps him survive the city streets. However, his monstrous appearance and strength get the better of him frequently as he tries to get back to his creators.

This film boasts some recognisable faces, a poignant update on the classic monster tale and manages to make the humans the true villains of the piece (just like the original), but suffers from a low-ish budget and somewhat boring, meandering scenes. The narration is also somewhat confusing, giving us the impression that the monster has a differing future, and gains full conversational skills. I'm sure it's meant to be his internal monologue which would be how he'd like to sound, but for me it made the ending seem confusing, abrupt and a little disappointing.

This film is a straight to DVD release.

[Image: Bad Badger, et al]

Hani

Victor Frankenstein

"Victor Frankenstein " (2015, Paul McGuigan, Davis Entertainment Company, TSG Entertainment, 20th Century Fox) is a retelling of Mary Shelley's famous novel.

We meet the currently nameless hunchback destined to become the iconic assistant, Igor (Daniel Radcliffe), working as a clown and aspiring physician at a circus, where he is brutalised and beaten often by his 'circus family'. He is saved by Victor Frankenstein (James McAvoy) who sees the young man's astounding intellect and potential when Igor's dream girl, the beautiful acrobat, Lorelei (Jessica Brown Findlay), is hurt during a performance and tended to by Igor.

Upon being freed from the circus, Igor is taken to Frankenstein's impressive home where the trainee Dr. quickly corrects Igor's deformity and posture, which was not a true hunchback condition and shows him his impressive scientific experiments. Together they assemble a creature which they bring to life to impress Victor's peers and superiors at university. The experiment succeeds but, instead of being met with applause, Victor is dismayed to find that his creature has brought him only disgust and it soon becomes violent, forcing him to kill it.

Not disheartened by this, Victor and Igor continue to work on a bigger, better creature whilst dodging the attentions of a determined Scotland Yard inspector who suspects the pair of murder and worse.

Although the horror elements are remarkably tame, the film attempts to retell the tale through Igor's eyes in an imaginative fashion and updates the plot without losing too much of the original tale.

McAvoy and Radcliffe make an excellent pair of mad scientists with McAvoy playing the titular Victor Frankenstein in true charismatic, maniacal brilliance. Radcliffe brings a new dimension to the usually humorous assistant character of Igor, with a confused ethical code, heroic qualities and a sympathetic charm.

It was nice to see Igor get a new lease on life (and some intellectual credit) and to see the tale from a different perspective. However, the film itself does nothing particularly ground breaking and certainly won't appease the gore hounds. It stands as a fun retelling but can be boring in places and, despite the excellent performances of the main characters, it does not break free from other Frankenstein remakes as anything unique.

[Image: 20th Century Fox, et al]

Hani

Psycho

"Psycho" (1960, Alfred Hitchcock, Paramount Pictures) is a famous psychological thriller based on a novel by Robert Bloch. It's probably one of the most iconic in the horror film genre.

We follow Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), a desperate secretary who decides to skip town with a large sum of money belonging to her employer. She sells her car, buys some new wheels and checks into the roadside "Bates Motel", ran by the peculiar and awkward owner-manager, Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins). Norman makes polite, on-edge conversation with Marion and offers to make her something to eat.

While he's off making sandwiches, Marion overhears him having an argument with his mother from the house. Later, he and Marion eat in the office where Marion accidentally touches a nerve that sends the unassuming Norman into a shocking fury. Marion excuses herself and retires to her room, where she is later attacked by someone wearing elderly woman's clothing with a knife, in what is easily one of the most recognisable scenes in cinema.

A truly stunning film to watch, "Psycho" remains a firm favourite. From its careful scripting, excellent acting, murderous scenes and shocking reveal, "Psycho" truly changed the face of horror cinema for the better and paved the way for a new generation of violent and shocking films.

Norman Bates is such an interesting character and portrayed so excellently by Anthony Perkins that the viewer cannot help but be enthralled. His explosive temper and unnerving performance truly draws you in.

Janet Leigh portrays a strong female lead who, despite her untimely demise, cut a determined and striking figure which was (and still largely is) absent from the horror genre.

A classy film which provides chills and screams without becoming gross, "Psycho" was not only a game changer, but remains chilling to this day.

[Image: Paramount Pictures]

Hani

The Raven

"The Raven" (1963, Roger Corman, AIP) is a somewhat comic adaptation of Poe's famous poem of the same name and should also not be confused with another Karloff film from 1935 of the same name which also starred Bela Lugosi.

In this film a sorcerer named Dr. Erasmus Craven (Vincent Price) is going about his wizardly business and mourning the death of his wife Lenore (Hazel Court), when he is interrupted by a rather blustery talking raven. Using a potion that the raven instructs him on how to make, Erasmus returns the raven to its true form, that of Dr. Bedlo (Peter Lorre), a fellow sorcerer.

Bedlo reveals that he was transformed during a duel with the evil wizard, Dr. Scarabus (Boris Karloff) and also happens to mention seeing Craven's wife's ghost wandering Scarabus' castle. Both wizards set out together, along with Erasmus' beautiful daughter, Estelle (Olive Sturgess), and Bedlo's son, Rexford (a very young Jack Nicholson), to deal with this Scarabus once and for all.

Of course, this advance results in a rather funny and tongue-in-cheek wizard duel between Price and Karloff with a lot of entertaining 60s special effects.

The wardrobe of the cast is also quite amusing: the wizard hats especially!

Whilst it's not really a horror movie, I like this film for several reasons:

• It stars some of my favourite horror icons
• It has a sense of humour
• It's set in a big creepy castle
• It involves B-movie special effects

Essentially, this is a light hearted romp starring some extremely wonderful people, and Vincent Price reading the poem really gives me the chills! (although it's notable that aside from that and the fact that there is a raven present for some scenes, this film has practically nothing to do with the actual poem).

[Image: AIP]

Hani

Afflicted

"Afflicted" (2013, Cliff Prowse, Derek Lee, Automatik Entertainment,Téléfilm Canada) is a 'found footage', relatively low budget horror with some excellent jumps.

Two mates (the asforementioned Cliff and Derek, playing themselves) are on a hiatus from college to go on a Eurotrip. They get as far as Paris before an encounter with a lovely lady leaves the rest of their trip tainted by an increasingly nightmarish situation. 

The film builds similarly to its peers but with a charmingly good sense of unease and an excellent and appropriate amount of gore.

The camera work is great, not giving too much of that motion sickness I've come to expect from such films and the story telling is good, if a little long in the build up.

The plot manages to breathe some life into an old story and bring it into today's culture with great ease and style.

The best way to enjoy this film is to go in knowing as little as possible and let the events unfold. 

A fun and creative endeavour from two young and talented film makers. A very good highlight in the ~Glasgow Film 4 Fright Fest 2014 lineup.

[Image: Automatik Entertainment]

Hani

The Pit and The Pendulum

"The Pit and The Pendulum" (1961, Roger Corman, American International Pictures) is one of my favourite Vincent Price films and is based on the short story by Edgar Allen Poe.

It's 16th century Spain and a young man, Francis Barnard (John Kerr), has travelled from England to the castle where his recently deceased sister, Elizabeth (Barbara Steele), lived with her nobleman husband, Nicholas Medina (Vincent Price). He is greeted with suspicion by the butler and urged to leave, but upon meeting Nicholas' sister Catherine (Luana Anders) he is permitted entrance to the castle.

He is at first told that Elizabeth died of an unexplained heart complication, however, as the story progresses more details of Elizabeth's sticky end are revealed. It is upon the discovery of Nicholas' father's torture chamber that the final ghastly details are slipped and we begin to find that Nicholas is becoming severely unhinged with guilt and fear. Under the guidance of his physician, Dr. Leon (Antony Carbone), Nicholas exhumes the body of Elizabeth to find that his worst fear is apparently true; she was buried alive!

Believing that he is being haunted by the vengeful spirit of Elizabeth, Nicholas slips into insanity,  rampaging terribly and using his father's torturous devices. However, all may not be as it seems...

A riveting tale and one of my favourite performances from Price as the tortured but twisted Medina. An atmosphere from the sparse, classic surroundings really lends itself to the film and the haunting ending really works.

 

 

[Image: American International Pictures]

Hani

Frankenstein (1931)

"Frankenstein" (1931, Universal Pictures, James Whale, Carl Laemmle, Jr.) is the iconic classic starring Boris Karloff in his most famous (and career making) role.

Based on the story by Mary Shelley, Dr. Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) and his hunchbacked assistant, Fritz (Dwight Frye) build a man from the body parts of corpses and bring it to life using Galvanisation with electricity. The poor creature, who is not the villain of the piece really, goes on a rampage and incurs the wrath of the townspeople.

Henry's fiancé, Elizabeth (Mae Clarke), his best friend Victor (John Boles) and his old teacher, Dr. Waldman (Edward Van Sloan) attempt to help make things right before the monster goes too far.

A truly awe-inspiring piece, the famous appearance of the monster character is still striking to this day. The film itself is fun as well as pretty, with some really humorous scenes involving Henry's father, Baron Frankenstein (Frederick Kerr), and a plot which moves forward. The full film is only 71 minutes long but manages to fit a lot of lovely creepy scenes, German folk dancing and an angry mob vs monster battle in there!

Despite not being a gory film, it remains a steadfast piece of cinema history and a thrilling and atmospheric horror. Seeing it in the cinema today was a real experience!

 

 

[Image: Universal Pictures]

 

Hani

The Bride of Frankenstein

"The Bride of Frankenstein" (1935, Universal Pictures, James Whale) is the first sequel to Universal's famous horror classic, "Frankenstein" (1931).

Following on from the first film's events, this sequel ties in well with the original, adds to the original plot and also includes an introduction from our author, Mary Shelley (Elsa Lanchester), who is telling the story to Lord Byron (Gavin Gordon) and Percy Byssche Shelley (Douglas Walton).

The monster, as in the first film, is memorably portrayed by the wonderful Boris Karloff, who has become more monstrous since the events of the first film and is adding to his body count (and also his vocabulary).

Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) is approached by the strange Doctor Pretorius (Ernest Thesiger), a man with many strange experiments of his own to his credit, to continue in his experiments and create a female creature to be the mate of the monster. With some convincing and blackmailing, Frankenstein agrees.

A classic film with the ever iconic Bride having huge cult status to this day (despite her very small actual on-screen time!), "The Bride of Frankenstein" remains as a favourite.

The acting is excellent, especially that of Karloff who still manages to create a sad and pitiful creature who is full of uncertainty, hatred and loathing but also with a yearning for acceptance and love. The scenes with the old blind man in the woods are touching to this day!

Other characters are also surprisingly well-rounded for a 30's film. A favourite has to be Minnie (Una O'Connor), the housekeeper and maid to Frankenstein and Elizabeth, who provides some wonderful comic moments.

A real Hollywood silver-screen classic which continues to charm audiences today with dramatic sound, scenery and storytelling. A fabulous piece of cinema history.

[Image: Universal Pictures]

Hani

Day of the Dead

"Day of the Dead" (1985, George A. Romero, Dead Films Inc., Laurel Entertainment Inc., Laurel-Day Inc., United Film Distribution Company) is the third in Romero's series of "...of the Dead" films.

After "Dawn of the Dead" (1978) the world has become overrun by zombies, and now, hiding in caves and fortresses, the remaining living civilians and army personnel are dwelling, hoping to find a cure or more survivors.

This film explores the slow decay of one such micro-society and the turning of the humans against one another at this inhuman hour.

Also, a scientist, known unaffectionately as "Dr. Frankenstein" (Richard Liberty), who had gone decidedly mad, trains a zombie called Bub (Sherman Howard) to listen to music, communicate and shoot a gun. Definitely not the best idea I've ever heard...

All in all, it is, in my view, the weakest and most poignant of the films with a lot to say about humanity and where we are headed (zombie apocalypse or not), but it's certainly a good film with lots going on, excellent acting and some excellent gore. There are comparatively few scare scenes with the zombies creeping up on the characters until the end, but between the zombie-infested-cave-adventure and the fantastic Bub-fights-back scenes, it's well worth the wait.

[Image: Laurel-Day Inc. & Dead Films Inc.]

 

Hani

Evil Dead (2013)

"Evil Dead" (2013, Fede Alvarez, Rodo Sayagues, Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell, FilmDistrict, Ghost House Pictures, TriStar Entertainment) is the remake/reboot/sequel of the classic 1981 Raimi film.

Finally, I got around to seeing this!

Well, what can I say, as much as I missed Ash greatly, (Evil Dead without Bruce's fabulous on-screen presence is just never going to cut it for me) I have to give credit where credit is due, this film is brutal. Gory doesn't even begin to describe this film.

While gory, though, I wouldn't say it terrified me more than it had me awestruck at the sheer brutality of the special effects. It is safe to say that this film is disgusting, but in that special way that gorehounds love. It's well made, the special effects are brilliant and, while the characters all seem to exhibit some form of the original Ash character in one way or another, they hold pretty well for a splatter film and the actors and actresses' performances are excellent.

Changing the plot slightly to a bunch of friends (and a brother) trying to save their friend/sister from her lethal drug addiction, saved this film a lot. Had they tried to rehash the whole original Evil Dead plot I would have been sorely disappointed. But I rather enjoyed this new plot with its several well-placed nods and homages to the original films. Instead of recreating the first or second films they altered just enough to make this version a film in its own right.

I would also have to commend this film on its sheer energy, which is also reminiscent of the original two films. Truly an unrelenting torrent of blood and insanity, it barely gives the audience breathing space to recover from each scene without losing any of that agitating, squirmy appeal.

While it will never replace the original film for me, and certainly with the straight-faced quality of the storytelling it will never become one of my must-watch-several-times-a-year films, "Evil Dead" really brings everything it promised to the table: gallons of gore, creepy demonically possessed twenty-somethings, a suitably nostalgic cabin, tree rape and a lot of nice jumpy bits. Definitely something to see, even if you're not a gorehound.

[Image: Ghost House Pictures & TriStar Entertainment]

Hani

The Curse of Frankenstein

"The Curse of Frankenstein" (1957, Terence Fisher, Hammer Film Productions, Warner Brothers) is Hammer's first colour horror movie, and also the first of their many renditions of the Frankenstein story based on the novel by Mary Shelley.

Peter Cushing, who is also well known for portraying Van Helsing in the Hammer Dracula series of films, stars as Baron Victor Frankenstein, who we find in prison awaiting the death sentence. A priest enters and Frankenstein recounts his life story to him.

Young Frankenstein (Melvyn Hayes, who was famed for playing 'Gloria' Gunner Bombadier Beaumont in the "It Ain't Half Hot, Mum" TV series) takes on a mentor and tutor, Paul Krempe (Robert Urquhart), since inheriting the estate from his late father.

There's a montage of he and Paul working on science and maths throughout the years, as Hayes becomes Cushing. Finally we see that Frankenstein and Paul have brought a dead dog back to life! Oooh!

Dissatisfied with this enormous feat, Frankenstein begins working on creating life and a 'perfect' man, by stitching together bits of corpse. He's also not too scrupulous about how he comes about these bits of corpse...

Paul becomes uncomfortable with the turn in events and tells Frankenstein he is leaving, until a young woman, Elizabeth (Hazel Court), who is Frankenstein's cousin, appears and tells Paul that she has come to live with and marry her cousin! Fearing for the young woman's safety, Paul sticks around to protect her from her crazy fiancé-cousin.

Little known to either of them, ol' Frankie is knocking off the maid, Justine (Valerie Gaunt)! 

Wanting his creature to be perfect, Frankenstein invites 'round a scholar and decorated scientist, Professor Bernstein (Paul Hardtmuth), kills him and then grave-robs his brain! What a loon!

Paul, suspicious now, catches him in the act and accidentally damages the genious brain in the scuffle. Oops!

Frankie perseveres, and we witness the consequences. The monster is played by another Hammer favourite, Christopher Lee! Who is one of my all-time favourite actors and thespians. He plays the monster in some very original monster makeup. No green, square heads and bolts for this guy! Lee looks painfully dead.

A fun adaptation of the book, which is itself an excellent story and a very dark read.

With excellent performances from Cushing, Lee, et al, the film keeps a good pace and doesn't feel dated.

Lee's monster isn't given enough screen time in my opinion, but the time he does get he uses to create a sad and very 'dead' creature, which is unstable, awkward and animalistic, unlike other Frankenstein's Monsters from past and present, who are always more human... 'Humanising' the monster can be very effective, such as it is in the big screen 1994 adaptation starring Robert De Niro, but in this version, the monster isn't the real villian of the piece.

Cushing gives an excellent performance as a the disturbed and determined Baron. The end scene is very emotional, and Frankenstein's desperate pleas seem very heartfelt. Like most crazy people, the Baron didn't think what he was doing was crazy! And considering how much his friends deny his tale, maybe it didn't even happen at all!

Definitely a version of the story you should see. One of my favourite Hammer Horrors, too!

[Picture: Hammer Film Productions & Warner Bros.]

Hani

Witchfinder General

"Witchfinder General" (1968, Tigon British-American International, Michael Reeves) is a British witch trials-centred horror starring the horror master, Vincent Price.

Price plays The Witchfinder, Matthew Hopkins (an actual man in British History, who was responsible for many atrocities in his time, but wasn't sanctioned by the government or church, unlike this tale).

The year is 1645, the time of The English Civil War, and law and order are virtually non-existent. Belief in witches is rife, and the scapegoating of women for everyday ills and unfair treatment is commonplace. Hopkins spends his life travelling the length and breadth of the country 'hunting', torturing and exacting justice on 'witches' with his team of followers.

Vincent Price is terrifying in this film, even by today's standards. Hopkins is insane, determined, evil minded and has the power of 'god' behind him... The church of the day supported this kind of behaviour, so no one was safe.

A lot of screaming goes on in this film. A lot. It's virtually a screamfest. I had to turn it down to avoid annoying my neighbours!

Despite there being pretty much no gore at all, the tense, suspicious feeling this film creates is tangible. There are also some hanging scenes which are disturbing in their simplicity.

Being a later film of this type, they felt the need to bring in some boob shots and a lot of shots of the whoring and activities of the menfolk. And we all know the priest's neice is in for some trouble after her pre-marital sexcapades with her betrothed! Also there's some rape. Thankfully off camera, but rape nonetheless.

Hopkins rolls into town to accuse the Priest of being in league with Satan (and all his little wizards if you watch 'Blackadder'). His neice is distraught and bargains for his safety with her virtue (little does Matthew know she's not actually a virgin...). When her soldier fiancé finds out, he races back to save the day!

As I mentioned, a lot of screaming and hangings (and other real witch finding tortures; pricking with needles, dooking in water, the ladder over fire....). There's little gore, but some very red blood. The story is simple and effective (I have never read the novel, so can't comment on trueness to plot) and as I mentioned, Price is an excellent villain in this piece! Even his own men hate him!

A surprisingly brutal film, with some remarkably true points on witch hunting in Britain in this era, as well as a good yarn. Oh, and no actual witches. This isn't a supernatural film!

[Picture: Tigon British-American International]

 

Hani

 

The Vault of Horror

"The Vault of Horror" (1973, Roy Ward Baker, Amicus Productions, 20th Century Fox) is a British horror anthology made after "Tales From The Crypt" but before "Creepshow" and based on the horror EC Comics. The cast were all famous names from the day.

The main story follows five men entering an office building in London and one by one entering a lift (or 'elevator' for all you non-British types). The lift quickly passes all of the floors the men had previously selected, and takes them instead to a sub-basement level.

The men enter this strange floor to find a table set with beverages and chairs, and also that the lift has no call button, meaning that they cannot now leave.

Being Englishmen, they decide to make the most of it and sit at the table to enjoy some free alcohol. Good on them, I say!

Being in a somewhat odd situation at the moment, their conversation soon comes to an odd theme: recurring nightmares. Each man describes his own hellish nightmare, each resulting in that man's death. They tell each one in great detail, and state how real the dream always is.

There are five stories, one for each man.

Midnight Mess
Harold Rogers (Daniel Massey - best known for being in "Roads to Freedom") kills his sister Donna (played by Daniel's realife sister, Anna Massey - best known for being in "Hotel du Lac") in cold blood in order to claim her inheritance. He then goes for spot of dinner in a local restaurant. Unfortunately for him, Donna's not the girl she was and this particular restaurant would rather serve him for dinner, than serve him dinner...

A nice little tale to start up the stories. A few nice touches such as the hilarious tap for blood letting. Story let down by terrible vampire fangs!

The Neat Job
Arthur (Thomas Terry Hoar-Stevens aka Terry-Thomas - best known for his many roles as the typical toffee-nosed Cad in British film, but I personally recognise him from "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines" and "Munster, go home!") is a neat freak. His poor wife Eleanor (Glynis Johns - fondly known as the mother in "Mary Poppins"), a young wife who is not a neat freak, has a terrible time putting up with his constant nagging and increasingly violent (by the day's standards) outbursts. She eventually can't stand anymore....

Excellent build up, I knew what was coming, but I loved every minute of it! Eleanor's tears were very believable, and I loved the neatly labelled jars and elongated maniacal laughter!

This Trick'll Kill You
Sebastian (Curd Jürgens - "The Spy Who Loved Me") is a magician/illusionist on holiday with his magician's assistant wife, Inez (Dawn Addams - "The Moon is Blue") in India. After publically humiliating a local illusionist in front of his audience, Sebastian is later intrigued by the illusionist's assistant who is a rope charmer. When she will not sell him the trick, he talks her into coming to his hotel room to show his 'sick' wife. He then kills the girl and tries to charm the rope. Unfortunately for him, the rope has a mind of its own and has taken a severe dislike to him!

A good, well paced short with some impressive scenes of the rope moving on its own. The scenes where it attacks Sebastian are not great, but this is the 70s!

Bargain in Death
A man, Maitland (Michael Craig), is seen awakening in his coffin. He slowly begins to remember how this situation occurred. Safe to say he's made a grave (get it?) error in trusting his pal Alex (Edward Judd)... Things turn for the worse when two young medical students turn up with a grave robber to steal Maitland's corpse!

Really good. The scenes inside the coffin are excellent and the ending is worth a smile!

Drawn and Quartered
Moore (Tom Baker - known to most people as Doctor Who - the 4th Doctor) is a struggling artist in Haiti. He learns from an acquaintance that his paintings which he had sold for virtually nothing to a London art dealer after terrible reviews and rejections, are now being sold for a lot of money! Furious when he learns that he has been cheated by the art world, he visits a local Voodoo Priest and asks for a way to pay them back for the wrongs they have done to him. His wish is granted, but he should be more careful how he uses it and what he paints in future.

An excellent story which takes voodoo out of the zombie territory and into a more "Dorian Grey"-esque realm. There's even some lovely gore, but remember it's a 70s British horror, this ain't no "Driller Killer"! Don't expect too much blood.
Very well paced and my favourite of the lot, not just because Tom Baker is a legend!

The film ends with a nice twist, where the lift doors open to reveal a graveyard, and we learn of the men's true fate and their reason for meeting.

Nicely haunting and well laid out, this film encompasses everything that horror comics did/do. I recommend!

[Picture: 20th Century Fox]

Hani

Jeepers Creepers

"Jeepers Creepers" (2001, United Artists, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Victor Salva) is a modern monster movie and the first in the ever faltering series of "Jeepers Creepers"-es.

Set in the countryside of Florida, two twins, Trish (Gina Philips) and Darry (Justin Long), are on their way home for spring break from college. May I point out now that Trish is driving a Chevy Impala, made famous in my eyes as Dean's car in "Supernatural"!!! Ok, sorry, geeking over.

During this long and boring trip, they spot someone throwing some suspiciously bloodstained-looking, body-shaped sheets down a tube... Then they are almost suddenly run off the road by the suspicious figure in his digusting old rusty truck (also a Chevrolet) with a cryptic number plate: "BEATNU". Which could either be 'Beating You' or 'Be Eating You'. You decide.

The twins are shaken and annoyed, but recover and return to their journey. But Darry soon convinces his sister that they should go back and investigate where the 'body' was being dumped, now that the trucker has driven off. You know, in case someone needs help or a morgue or something... So they return to where they saw the Creeper with the sheet.

They investigate, the Creeper returns in his rattling old banger, and they flee. But they just can't seem to shake him off. Can they survive the time the Creeper has left in which he has to feast?

There's also a psychic lady, Jezelle (Patricia Belcher), who is an interesting  and creepy character but is clumsily laced into the plot, I always think...

A good 'show you little' kind of flick for the most part. The Creeper is creepy as hell. His long coat, big hat and lack of much else visible really keeps the tension up. The fact he cannot be killed while it's still within the alloted 23 days of the 23rd spring allows for excellent carnage scenes. And his disgusting regenerations are both graphic and hidden enough to get your imagination in gear.

The twins are capable characters who manage not to annoy the hell out of me, and both Philips and Long have good 'Holy shit' faces!

The death scenes are gross and there's a fair few bits of dark screened tension scenes with a good jump here or there. This film has 'future classic' written all over it. It makes "I Know What You Did Last Summer" look like "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" in the world of 90s and early 00s teeny horror. The major flaw in this film? Showing too much! Why did they do it?

Now, I'm a prosthetics and props lover. And I love monster movie costumes. I'm the kind of person who puts pictures up of famous classic monsters in my livingroom and collects books on the subject. Yes, I truly am that sad! But showing the monster stopped him being so damn creepy and just made him look like a cross between Predator's little cousin and the Fear Demon from 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer' (but not so tiny).

If you've ever watched "The Midnight Meat Train" you may feel that some direct comparisons can be made between both this film and that one. A really disappointing few scenes where they over-share can ruin an otherwise excellent monster movie. Unless the film happens to be "The Wolfman" (1941), "The Creature from The Black Lagoon" or a "Hellraiser" kind of film.

Some effort is made to claw back the creepiness with the end scenes though, and for some part it does succeed.

Much, much better than the second film which just flat out forgot how to use mystique to its advantage. Worth 87 minutes of your time.

I hear "Jeepers Creepers 3" is on its way sometime next year. Can't say I'm too excited, but I'm always up for a sequel to a film I like, even if it promises more cheese than a readymeal macaroni!

[Picture: United Artists]

Hani

Nosferatu (1922)

"Nosferatu" (1922, F.W. Murnau, Prana Film) is a German Expressionist silent horror movie based on Bram Stoker's "Dracula". Although, because it was not an authorised adaptation, in order to avoid copyright infringement, they changed the names of the characters and some small pieces of the plot. Not that this helped them at all, when the Stoker family took them to court...

Count Orlok (Max Schreck) is a vampire count living in Transylvania in the Carpathians. Sound familiar?

He is interested in purchasing a house in Wisborg, Germany (hint, not a real city) and contacts a company in Wisborg owned by a character called Knock (Renfield by any other name. Played by Alexander Granach). Knock sends young Hutter (The Harker character. Played by Gustav von Wangenheim) to the Carpathian region to meet with the count and deal business.

Hutter sets off immediately, much to the upset of his wife, Ellen (Mina. Played by Greta Schröder).

The film follows the general Dracula tale with Hutter travelling to the region, the locals being wary of the name of the count, getting to the castle by carriage and then by foot as the driver will go not closer, wolves, Orlok being creepy, a small cut and an overreaction to the "Precious blood" from the Count... yadda, yadda.

We also see Orlok travel by boat to Wisborg, killing the crew as he does in most versions of the famous tale, travelling in coffins filled with earth... and so on.

Orlok takes Ellen under his spell, distills fears in the townsfolk of plague, and drives Knock insane by turning him into a human-vampire-bug-eating-underling (not Human Servant if you read laurell K. Hamilton, you'll know that's entirely different).

The film is very old, and can be seen for free on YouTube as a slightly remastered copy with some subtitles for the ye olde script, where needed. Although all the dialogue cards are in English (but sometimes difficult to read, 'Hutter' looks like 'Butter' which just made us think of "South Park"!)

I do love this jumpy old fashioned film. Watch for things and people just popping out of sight or appearing from nowhere!

The real beauty of this film is not the acting or the plot, it's the fact it's a silent film with a traditional piano track. The makeup for the time is also excellent and the iconic image of the Nosferatu looming over the sleeping Ellen is one of the best known in cinema.

A real history lesson for any horror fan!

Some of the special effects must have dazzled the viewers in 1922; stop motion, Orlok rising into an upstanding position from a prone position, doors closing themselves, coffin lids rising... etc...

It is evident through most of the scenes that they have been shot in daylight, despite there being a vampire present... as the film equipment of the time would not have captured such scenes in a dark setting. And I'm afraid ol' Orlok has a reflection.

The overacting used in this period of film to convey the emotions and plot are hilarious for modern viewers! But were quite standard for the time, so don't go thinking this film is, in any way, bad. And Hutter's grinning, expressive face is just a hoot!

Ellen's 'I'm-sad-so-sad' look makes her look almost zombie-like and that's before she's even under the Nosferatu's spell!

Some of the scenes are just completely random, and the plot can be a bit jumpy. But on the whole, it's very well captured and the quality of the YouTube video is actually pretty damn good! Especially considering that it is not made from the original (and only, negative) but several later copies strung together! The original film may have been destroyed when they lost the rights to Stoker, I can't remember.

The demonic horses were my favourite part; real horse and cart sped up to look 'inhumanly fast' and the horses were wearing masks to make their faces look more like dragons!

Also, watch for the shipmate who looks a bit like Harry from "Dumb and Dumber"! And the weird stripey 'werewolf' in the woods!

This is a film strictly for real horror-history-geeks or people studying cinematography as an academic interest. It's not a fast or scary film and the Nosferatu's creepy, sinister movements are just laughable to the modern viewer who are more used to masked slashers and super-fast vampires in leather. Although, if you sit in a nice dark room with some candles burning, maybe there's a thunderstorm outside, this film can be enjoyed to its full extent.

Really good fun, and it lets you appreciate how horror cinema has developed.

[Picture: Arts Guild]

Hani

Candyman

"Candyman" (1992, Bernard Rose, Clive Barker, TriStar Pictures) is scary. It's not scary because of the whole urban myth, mirror thing. No. It's scary because it could happen. Not the undead dude with the hook, I mean going crazy.

I have two fears; zombie apocalypse (ok, not really, but out of all the horror creatures, zombies are at the top of my scariest shit list) and going crazy. Insanity scares me. I don't like the idea that I could just lose it and become someone/thing else! Really terrifying, actually!

Anyway, aside from my own personal insecurities, this film is about two PhD students, Helen Lyle (Virginia Madsen) and Bernadette Walsh (Kasi Lemmons) who are writing a thesis on Urban Legends. They come across the Candyman legend which is local to their area, being based in the gang controlled, ghetto-Projects closeby the university.

They, of course, dare one another to say "Candyman" five times in the mirror, but only Helen finishes all five repetitions. I have to say, that the fact that he didn't jump out and kill her just then really impressed me. The tension meter was right up for about the first 20 mins of this film while I awaited his big entrance!

The two women visit Cabrini-Green, the projects, where they learn of the history and the myth around the Candyman. And meet a few locals.

Poor Helen runs into a lot of unfortunate luck even before she is confronted by the hook-handed man. And, lucky her, he fancies her. So instead of gutting her right there, he instead decides to frame her for a bunch of murders (of mainly people she knows) and for kidnapping, and then kill her once she's become infamous like him (reasoning being that she too will join him as a local Urban Legend).

The slow descent into madness for Helen is traumatic to watch. I remember watching "Premonition" starring Sandra Bullock and finding her torturous unlinear week and 'madness' very disturbing. As I said, it's a thing with me.

Virginia Madsen plays the part well, and I hear she also had hypnosis during filming. Some method actors, huh?

So we're left with the question, is Helen truly haunted by her not-so-secret-admirer, Candyman? Or has she just flipped and is actually killing everyone then blacking out covered in evidence?

Very disturbing with a nicely hefty amount of gore (remembering Clive Barker was involved!) and a few good jumps. Also some 90s fashion; always scary! Oh and bugs. Lots of wasps. Yuck!

Scary on so many levels:

• The childish boogeyman factor
• The insanity factor
• And, speaking as a female, the maternal factor - they stole a baby, man! For a MONTH! What was that kid eating?!

I'm disappointed in myself for having never watched this classic before, but now I have I can say, as a first time viewer, I am so impressed! Never knew what I was missing!

[Picture: TriStar Pictures]

Hani

House of Wax (1953)

"The House of Wax" (1953, Warner Bros. Pictures, André de Toth) is the remake of a movie called "Mystery of the Wax Museum" from 1933, and was itself remade again in 2005 (with the main best scene being Paris Hilton getting a spear through the head!).

Vincent Price stars as Professor Jarrod, a waxwork sculptor who owns a museum. His museum is criticised by his financial backer (Roy Roberts) for being boring and old fashioned. When Jarrod refuses to 'liven up' his exhibits, the backer sets the museum alight, clearly as a last ditch attempt to make some cash off of the insurance. In shock, and unable to leave his waxwork creations to burn alone, Jarrod is left in the flames, apparently to his doom.

Jarrod survives, however, but is wheelchair bound. He opens another waxwork museum with his helper, a deaf-mute name Igor (Charles Bronson).

Learning from previous lessons, Jarrod has a special 'Chamber of Horrors' section to his museum which is a big success. It features some older crimes and newer terrors. The crowds are loving it.

Suddenly, a disfigured killer is on the loose, seemingly avenging Jarrod's mishaps, by killing the backer. Unfortunately, a young woman is also killed.

When the young woman's friend recognises her deceased chum as one of the waxwork models things get hairy.

A very nicely executed film which tried hard to maintain the feeling of the 1910s.

The 2005 film kind of overdid the whole thing, but the 50s version kept some finesse to it. I really liked the feeling of this whole film and the eerie scenes on the streets are enjoyably atmospheric.

The character of Cathy Gray (Carolyn Jones) is just a silly little woman. Her voice is really very high pitched, too. But you do feel terribly for her friend Sue Allen (Phyllis Kirk) who, for a 50s horror female role, wasn't too helpless... well, I said TOO helpless!

Remember the period it was made in, though. It's a movie you switch the lights off to and grab a mug of hot chocolate.

[Picture: Warner Bros.]

Hani