Body Snatchers (1993)
Jack Finney’s The Body Snatchers has proved a remarkably robust novel. Each generation of film-makers seems to see its own concerns reflected in Finney’s tale of alien takeover; the 1956 film was basically all about the cold war, the 1978 adaptation poked fun at narcissism and pseudo-spirituality, and this 1993 version is… a teen movie. It doesn’t sound massively promising on paper, but in fact director Abel Ferrara (best known for the notorious Driller Killer slasher flick) uses the original plot to take a subtle and sober look at the crushing loneliness and isolation of adolescence. Gabrielle Anwar gives a nicely understated performance as Marty Malone, a teenage girl who reluctantly spends her life on the road with her father, who inspects military bases for their chemical safety, her step-mother and her younger step-brother. She already feels frozen out of her dad’s new family, but when one airbase become infected by alien pods which turn humans into emotionless ‘pod people’, she quickly realises that she has very few people she can turn to… Read more
The Fog (1979)
There seems to be a thing for John Carpenter remakes at the moment, with this year seeing a big-budget version of ‘Assault on Precinct 13′ and next year the (British) release of The Fog. There were high-hopes of The Fog at the time of it’s release, following as it did Carpenter’s seminal classic, ‘Halloween’ (readers will forgive me for overlooking his immediate successive offering - Elvis: The Movie - in this regard, though I suppose Kurt Russell as The King might conceivably be described as a form of horror). To be fair to Carpenter he doesn’t do a bad job here, and though The Fog lacks the searing impact of Halloween it suceeds in offerering up a more contemplative and developed story, with the trademark atmospherics and effects that you’d expect from his (early) offerings. Read more
The Black Lagoon Halloween top 5
As you may well have noticed, it’s Halloween, so we thought we’d cash in with a list of our top five films best suited for viewing on October 31st. These aren’t necessarily the most gory or horrific films, but we’ve tried to pick stuff that’s suitably creepy… And of course, any other recommendations are more than welcome in the comments box below!
5. Halloween
Inevitable really. But in a genius twist, this classic slasher film turns the act staying in and watching spooky films on Halloween into something you should be afraid of. Post-modern, but bloody scary.
4. Bad Day At Black Rock
Not strictly speaking a horror movie, but few films are as successful in fostering such an uncomfortable sense of unease. A simple morality tale that’ll really get under your skin.
3. The Wicker Man
A creepy, slow-burning build up leads to a pretty shattering conclusion that completely changes your perspective on everything you’ve just watched. You’ll never look at Scottish people the same way again.
2. Night of the Living Dead
Effectively, it’s one night in a haunted house - but the house is very ordinary, and the dangers very real. Camp-free, funereal and upsetting, it suggests that your peers are actually the people you should fear most.
1. The Night of the Hunter
The classic good-against-evil parable. Laughton’s accomplished synthesis of American Gothic and German expressionism makes this both chilling and hauntingly beautiful to watch.
[Honourable mentions go to the original Frankenstein (gothic and gorgeous), Suspiria (nonsensical but gorgeous) and Ringu.]
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Okay, so it’s taken us an unreasonably long time to get round to one of the genre’s defining classics, but is there really all that much to say about Night of the Living Dead? Probably not, and I’m certainly not going advance the art of film criticism by announcing that it’s both a historical and an artistic milestone for cinema. What is interesting is viewing it in the context of the three Dead films that followed it. I rewatched Night for the first time in about 18 months, hot on the heels of revisiting both Dawn and Day and seeing Land and the superlative Martin for the first time, and found it fascinating how Romero managed to bring so many new ideas to the table whilst simultaneously learning his craft both as a film-maker and as a storyteller. Read more
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
There are lots of people who argue that Scream was one of the most significant horror films to come out of the 1990s. Tosh. When it comes to picking the most significant, most original and most refreshing film to emerge from that decade The Blair Witch Project must be the leading contender for the crown. Perhaps I’m being a little biased here; Blair Witch was the first horror film that I’m conscious of being more than just a film and more a cultural phenomenon even BEFORE it was released in Britain. It seems to be on the wane now but it still happens that a horror film which tries to big itself up before its release styles itself as ‘Blair Witch meets…..’ in the way that Psyhco was used in the 1970s and The Ring is now (in this vein one can only marvel at a film which claimed to be ‘Psycho meets Blair Witch meets The Ring). Perhaps because of the voyeur element of the camcorder it has also spawned more soft-porn tributes than any other film I aware of– horror or not – with titles such as The Bare Wench Project (and the unforgettable Bare Wench 2: Book of Babes), The Erotic Witch Project and Witchbabe: The Erotic Witch Project 3. Read more
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