Nosferatu the Vampyre
Now that the fear economy is booming, you may be kicking yourself for investing everything in love. But before you dump all those stocks, ask yourself the perennial question: would you rather be loved or feared? You can’t have both, just like you’d never mistake a “follower” for a “friend.” This dilemma is at the heart of Werner Herzog’s Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)…
Messiah of Evil
The cold open to Messiah of Evil (1973) promises first-rate grindhouse, grimy as you like: a man running for his life down a suburban sidewalk collapses outside a wooden gate.
Empire of Silence
Renowned composer Toru Takemitsu brought his own brand of sonic fear to the soundtracks of many genre highlights from the Japanese New Wave.
The Hellstrom Chronicle
Insects are the worst kind of people. With all the venom-pumping, eye-gouging, and cannibalism, it’s a wonder they get around to maintaining our delicate ecosystem. Dr. Nils Hellstrom, fictional entomologist, is here to tell us that they mean to kill us, or simply wait until we kill ourselves.
The Lair of the White Worm
Item 1 on my list of demands to be met before returning to regular Mass on Sundays is the canonization of Ken Russell.
Angel Dust
Angel Dust (1994) is an energetically bleak film about the terrific ease with which we surrender our minds.
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Beware the autumn people. You know who you are. Curled up under a blanket each October rereading Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes.
Spider Forest
The guilty mind passes the time by inventing new escapes and tortures. Song Il-gon’s Spider Forest (2004) is the story of a troubled television producer walking back through his memories in search of clues to a savage murder at a cabin in the woods.
The Devil (Diabeł)
Andrzej Żuławski will be your guide through hell, giddy as Virgil his first day on the job. He conceived his second theatrical feature, 1972’s The Devil (aka Diabel), as a political allegory for the witch hunts launched by the Polish Communist government in response to the 1968 student uprisings, but it is also a convulsive work of revenge horror, a wintry ride well beyond the limits of sanity.
Planet of the Vampires
Planet of the Vampires is a film you haven’t seen at all if you haven’t seen it in the wee hours, with the lights off, and its hypnotic sound turned way up.