by: AthenaY
Posted on 04.09.10 in All Horror Films > Psychological Thriller > Supernatural > Thriller/Suspense

Sometimes, to use a time-worn cliche, less is more. Sadly, many mainstream American horror movies don’t take this idea to heart. Sometimes, the eerie, insidous fear of something unseen lurking in the closet– or the human consciousness– is more terrifying than lots of blood and gore and freaky CGI effects. In his 2003 psychological suspense film Janghwa, Hongryein (A Tale of Two Sisters), South Korean director Ji-woon Kim proves to be masterful …

by: Shaun Anderson
Posted on 03.25.10 in All Horror Films > Psychological Thriller > Supernatural > Thriller/Suspense > Torture

Clive Barker’s Books of Blood were originally released in six volumes during 1984 and 1985. Published by Sphere they were an impressive calling card and showed that Barker had an appreciation for the traditional aspects of horror fiction as well as an impulse to create something slightly different. The emphasis on perverse sexuality, sado-masochism (explored in more detail in Barker’s debut horror film Hellraiser (1987)) and graphic bodily violence showed him to …

by: Obaid K
Posted on 02.11.10 in All Horror Films > Psychological Thriller > Zombie

If you’re prepared to set aside any notions you may have about what a zombie movie is supposed to be and pay attention, you might want to check this out.
Pontypool (which is based on Tony Burgess’ book Pontypool Changes Everything) relies heavily on its storyline, a great script and strong performances from its cast instead of the more traditional emphasis on scenes of flesh-eating zombies. It …

by: Letitia
Posted on 02.04.10 in All Horror Films > Psychological Thriller

I’m a big fan of cheap horror movies. There’s one thing that talky indie movies and horror films have in common: they don’t necessarily require special effects or fancy camerawork to be effective. The things that most frighten me are mundane: insanity, the dark, being trapped somewhere small, etc. Big-budget horror movies often err on the side of telling too much, showing too much, and throwing too much money into making everything …

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: Letitia
Posted on 01.12.10 in All Horror Films > Psychological Thriller

Before he went Hollywood with The Dead Zone, David Cronenberg made some extremely cold and cerebral low-budget horror films in his home country of Canada. The Brood isn’t his best earlier film, but it’s the movie where he steps up with the theme that he took to extremes throughout the 80’s and early 90’s: the horror of what’s inside our bodies and what our bodies are capable of when pushed to their …

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 12.08.09 in All Horror Films > Psychological Thriller > Supernatural > Thriller/Suspense

The Shining is proof that on occasion the medium of cinema can eclipse the written word it is based upon. I’ve never been a fan of the novel, despite the general high regard it is held in. It is a typical King novel; bloated, overlong, full of the usual popular culture references and essentially little more than a haunted house narrative. The peg that King chooses to hang his themes of parental …

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 …