Carrie (1976)
The high esteem in which Carrie is held has as much to do with its portrayal of high-school life as it does with any of the film’s shocks or scares. Although it’s been a very fertile area for all manner of teen films - good and bad - since, Brian de Palma’s classic was one of the first films to really get inside the brutal caste system that many teenagers grow up with. Sissy Spacek plays Carrie White, an emotionally crippled schoolgirl who has developed powers of telekinesis, which enable her to move objects with her mind. Of rather more concern to her is the bullying she receives at school and the terrible treatment she gets at home from her psychotic, bible-bashing mother. The situation improves when a concerned classmate sets her up with a date for the prom, but as her confidence grows, she has no idea that the tempestuous Christine Hargenson is planning one last humiliating prank - a prank which forces Carrie to use the full extent of her powers to devastating effect… Read more
Undead (2003)
The debut feature from Australia’s Spierig brothers, Undead has secured a cult reputation (mainly through DVD) over the last couple of years, but could probably achieve a degree of mainstream success if given the distribution. Although it’s a low-budget, independent horror, it aims unashamedly high, taking on the epic scale of a blockbuster without ever once feeling like a cookie-cutter studio picture. Essentially a very gory action movie, its piercingly witty script and outrageously choreographed action make it a relentlessly enjoyable but never mindless ride, even if it offers nothing substantial to think about. Read more
Martin (1978)
Martin more than deserves its reputation as the best of George Romero’s ‘non-Dead’ movies. Stylish, intelligent and deeply troubling in its implications, it’s impossible to watch without detecting Romero’s hand at the wheel. He sets about deconstructing the myths of vampirism much more overtly than in his subtle analysis of zombies and the undead, but the skill with which Romero crafts the tale leads the viewer very quickly into a minefield of moral confusion and offers few pointers as to who is right and who is wrong. Read more
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
You can’t help but have certain expectations from a movie whose title contains the words chainsaw and massacre. It naturally conjures up images of super-violence and blood-curdling gore, with plot development taking second place to the graphics of horror. This is especially so when a lead character – in this case the brutal Leatherface – enters the annals of cinema history in their own right and becomes the emblem of the film, even to those who’ve never actually watched it. I was steeped in these preconceptions the first time I watched The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and was thus delighted to instead discover a movie of real worth and intelligence. Read more
The Birds (1963)
I have to to confess to not knowing a great deal about Alfred Hitchcock, but I’m reliably informed by someone who does that The Birds is probably the nearest thing he made to an actual horror movie. Based on a short story by Daphne Du Maurier (who apparently was none to happy with the finished film), it’s one of those all-conquering, era-defining classics, and I’m not going to waste time echoing the acres of critical praise that the film has accumulated over the years. In a nutshell, it’s brilliant - tense, utterly terrifying and paced so beautifully you could weep. Approaching the film as a horror fan, though, a couple of things stuck out. Read more
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