Night of the Werewolf
Waldemar Daninsky. The name is a trochaic delight, a complete poem—I could walk around all day saying those words, which roll off the tongue like “Candyman.” Waldemar Daninsky, the lycanthropic Polish nobleman, was the creation of Spanish screenwriter Paul Naschy (also credited as Jacinto Molina, his real name), who portrayed him in 12 films…
The Return of the Vampire
Had you watched Bela Lugosi in Universal’s 1931 Dracula and then been apprised by a clued-in demon-cum-publicist of the underworld that the actor lived for the chance to reprise his most famous role, you wouldn’t exactly be surprised.
The Howling
The first inkling I ever had of The Howling was hearing the opening notes of Pino Donaggio’s score sampled in the Primal Scream song “Pills,” produced by Dan the Automator. When I finally saw the movie years later (my adolescent music nerd phase predated my obsession with VHS horror), I was scandalized.
Blackout
The premise, like the ambient air of fatalism, owes as much to film noir as it does horror. A man wakes in a place he can’t remember arriving at, his body bearing the ravages of some misadventure, his memories a dense fog yielding no clues save a lingering sense of grave culpability.
Silver Bullet
There’s so much to love about ’80s horror, especially for those of us raised on the films of that era. They routinely feature endearingly predictable plot twists, spooky synth soundtracks, characters who do the stupidest possible thing at the worst possible moment, corny comic relief, secondary antagonists taken out by the killer, and awesome movie monsters created with old-school, non-CGI effects.