by: Obaid K
Posted on 04.21.10 in All Horror Films > Mystery > Supernatural

Even with a nice build up, The Last Broadcast leaves viewers with an incompetent conclusion that ruins everything it had going for it. I try not to judge movies solely by their ending but I honestly can’t remember the last time I was this disappointed especially since the build-up to the climax is very good. I’ve seen plenty that were far worse but those movies were a little more self-conscious and didn’t …

by: Shaun Anderson
Posted on 04.06.10 in All Horror Films > Mystery > Supernatural > Thriller/Suspense

The Asphyx is a film that would have seemed quaint and harmless at the time of its release. It is one of a handful of films that represented the last dying stutters of the British cycle of gothic horror. At this point in time Hammer’s gothic milieu was playing second fiddle to nudity and lesbianism, but this subtle and affecting drama is refreshing in its total disavowal of the exploitation elements that …

by: Shaun Anderson
Posted on 04.01.10 in All Horror Films > Mystery > Supernatural > Thriller/Suspense

In the 1960’s Roger Corman in conjunction with American International Pictures was creating his own brand of gothic horror. These films which were largely based on the short stories and poems of Edgar Allan Poe offered more psychological depth than the rival productions of England’s Hammer. Corman opted for a more delicate and finely balanced visual palette which mirrored the dreamy and hallucinatory nature of his films. Hammer’s merits lay in the …

by: Shaun Anderson
Posted on 01.25.10 in All Horror Films > Mystery > Supernatural

This somewhat solemn and humourless paranormal horror film has stood the test of time extremely well. Over three decades on it emerges as one of the most durable and rewarding films of the early 1970’s. It shares a number of obvious similarities with the Robert Wise adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting (1963). But Richard Matheson’s novel Hell House differs greatly from Jackson’s work in its emphasis on deviant sexuality, and plays up to …

by: Shaun Anderson
Posted on 01.18.10 in All Horror Films > Mystery > Psychological Thriller > Supernatural > Thriller/Suspense

Anthony Armstrong’s short tale of a modern day doppelganger started its screen life as a 25 minute episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. The great Hitchcock himself took the directorial duties for the episode. A short story translates particularly well to the anthology format, and often suffers when expanded to feature length. The feature long adaptation The Man Who Haunted Himself naturally suffers from padding as a result of this translation, but still …

by: Shaun Anderson
Posted on 01.10.10 in All Horror Films > Mystery > Supernatural

If 1977’s hallucinogenic and hyperbolic shocker Suspiria was as close as Italian director Dario Argento could get to a nightmare on celluloid, then the sequel, 1980’s Inferno is even more difficult to pin down because of its disavowal of any recourse to logic. Although Inferno continues the exploration of the mythical Three Mothers, it manages to have an illogical internal structure all of its own. This is Argento’s most unique production. Inferno takes narrative incoherence …

by: Shaun Anderson
Posted on 12.26.09 in All Horror Films > Comedy > Mystery > Supernatural > Vampire > Werewolf

The beautifully titled Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors holds a prominent place in British horror history for being the first anthology film produced by Amicus Productions – an Anglo-American production house led by Max J. Rosenberg and Milton Subotsky. For a while the blueprint of the portmanteau format, big name ensemble casts, and inspirational low budget filmmaking heralded a commercial rivalry with Hammer. But one that ultimately tailed off in the mid …

by: Dylan
Posted on 12.23.09 in Action/Adventure > All Horror Films > Mystery > Psychological Thriller > Thriller/Suspense

“The Game” is a decent thriller derailed by – and I say this without the slightest bit of exaggeration or hyperbole – the absolute all-time worst ending to a film I’ve ever witnessed in my entire lifetime of film viewing. The finale is so at odds with the prior proceedings, so ridiculously ludicrous within the context of any film (but particularly one that bills itself as a ‘psychological thriller’), that it’s hard …

by: Shaun Anderson
Posted on 12.14.09 in All Horror Films > Mystery > Psychological Thriller > Torture

Quirky Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike positively exploded onto the international scene in 1999 with this unforgettable and challenging exercise in genre bending audience endurance. The film wowed and horrified in equal measure patrons of the art cinema circuit in a number of European countries, before being embraced by horror fans eager for Miike’s sadistic manipulations. Miike self-consciously employs a storytelling style that downplays events and keeps knowledge too a minimum. The pace …

by: Shaun Anderson
Posted on 12.03.09 in All Horror Films > Mystery > Psychological Thriller > Thriller/Suspense

Rosemary’s Baby is a very important film in two regards. Firstly it confirmed the promise of Polish filmmaker Roman Polanski and proved that he was able to handle a large budget and the pressures of Hollywood. Secondly it became one of the keynote films in establishing a new modern horror, a type of horror that didn’t reside in distant gothic landscapes populated by sadistic aristocrats. The problem with the brand of gothic …