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Finally, Sam Raimi is right back where he belongs. After establishing himself as the master of hyper-stylish, cartoonish horror/comedy with the Evil Dead trilogy (1981–1992) and Darkman (1990), he disappointingly veered off into mega-budget comic-book territory and away from the genre that made his name.
The Children
Evil kids are a tried-and-true horror staple responsible for some legit masterpieces—The Bad Seed, The Exorcist, The Omen, Who Can Kill a Child?, and Bloody Birthday, to name just a few.
Ghostkeeper
While few horror movies can hold a candle to The Shining, filmmakers never stop trying. The year after Kubrick’s 1980 King adaptation came out, a small, low-budget Canadian slasher emerged—though it was never released in U.S. theaters, and a video didn’t materialize until 1986—that shares desolate snow-lodge settings, protagonists with questionable sanity, and loose ties to the Wendigo myth.
Inside
If there was a prize for the worst Christmas Eve in film history, it would easily go to grieving young mom-to-be Sarah (Alysson Paradis).
A Reflection of Fear
Renowned cinematographer William A. Fraker, perhaps best known for lensing Rosemary’s Baby, naturally hired one of the best—László Kovács—to shoot his own film A Reflection of Fear, the second of his three features, and his only directorial venture into horror.
Copycat
Male buddy movies are a dime a dozen, yet finding memorable female screen teams is as difficult as securing a good therapist, doctor, lover, or any other real-world rarity. Yet in Jon Amiel’s 1995 serial-killer thriller, the steely women protagonists M.J. and Helen are a powerhouse duo thanks to the ingenious pairing of Holly Hunter and Sigourney Weaver…
The Blob
More an homage than a direct remake, Chuck Russell’s The Blob is distinctly ’80s but with a ’50s soul.
It Stains the Sands Red
Every so often, the zombie movie collapses from pure fatigue, and some heroic film has to come along and pull it back up. In 2016, the second feature directed by Colin Minihan, one half of the non-sibling Vicious Brothers (Grave Encounters), was the one that came to the rescue, giving the tired subgenre a fresh new spin in the process.
Dead Calm
As we entered the 1990s, the era of sleazy sex thrillers, genre fans exited the previous decade with the parting gift of 1989’s Dead Calm. The Phillip Noyce–directed, George Miller–produced, Australian-made movie veered into racy, provocative territory without neglecting its main mission of delivering unadulterated edge-of-your-seat suspense.
Ravenous
Completely mismarketed and misunderstood upon its initial 1999 release, Antonia Bird’s wicked period-horror adventure set in the snowy western Sierra Nevadas during the Mexican-American War was also, as a result, barely seen.