The Eye (2002)
On one level it feels quite patronising and imprecise to refer to “Asian horror” as a genre, at least from a critical perspective; one would hesitate to bracket “European horror” and expect to find useful common ground between, say, Terence Fisher and Lucio Fulci. But on another such a generalisation is actually pretty indicative of the lack of differentiation in the gold-rush that saw Hollywood ransacking the back catalogues of directors from countries such as Japan, China and Korea in the early 21st century. Read more
The Exorcist (1973)
The Exorcist is that rare beast - a genre film that becomes a genuine cinematic and cultural touchpoint. A controversial phenomenon on its release - and banned in the UK until the late 90s - it achieves its unique power through William Friedkin’s deliberate, un-flashy direction and author / screenwriter William Peter Blatty’s absolutely rigid plotting and pacing. Read more
The Omen (1976)
One of the strangest things I’ve ever found on the Internet was a PowerPoint version of the Book of Revelation. Quite how or why I stumbled across it I’ve no idea, but at the time I remember wondering precisely why anyone would ever want to render the such a extraordinary tale in that sterile form. Could it really be that when the Seventh Seal was opened and the angels sounded their trumpets of destruction the plagues, firestones and blood would be preceded by a PowerPoint presentation on what it was all about, with additional reading at the end? Hardly the most dramatic way to herald in the downfall of humanity. Given its ultimate consequences I’ve personally always consoled myself to the inevitable with the thought that at least it would look dramatic and exciting for a bit.
The Masque of the Red Death (1964)
Roger Corman was nearing the end of his Edgar Allen Poe adaptations when he made The Masque of the Red Death, perhaps the most vividly interpreted and original of his offerings. That’s not to say that he takes artistic licence with it as he did with some of the earlier offerings (I’m thinking particularly of The Raven here). In fact it stays pretty faithful to the original text and the viewer will forgive Corman’s occasional flights of fancy as they tend to enhance rather than detract from the final product. Corman had intended this to be his second Poe picture following the success of House of Usher in 1960, but he passed it over because of the release of Bergman’s The Seventh Seal in 1957, which he held to be too similar in places. Read more
Season of the Witch (1973)
Or: George Romero does feminism. This might not seem like the most obvious conceit for a movie, but Romero’s at his happiest (and best) when exploring social themes and concerns under horror / supernatural premises, and this rarely-seen feature, recently exhumed on DVD in the US, is a flawed but worthwhile addition to the director’s canon. Season of the Witch was Romero’s third film, following the epochal Night of the Living Dead and the scarcely-mentioned romantic comedy There’s Always Vanilla, and tells the story of Joan, a bored and repressed middle-aged housewife who finds release and fulfillment through the occult. Her confidence grows as she begins to identify herself as a witch, even though she finds a new lease of life, she also takes on a whole range of new problems… Read more