Night Of The Ghouls (1959)

The seance scene. When the camera focuses on Dr. Acula (Kenne Duncan) – a granite-face middle-aged guy wearing a suit and a “swami” turban – sitting at a table, and the camera moves back so that we can see three people sitting on one side, and three rinky-dink skeletons sitting on the other, I was […]

Chime (2024)

After I watched Chime (2024) at home, I started washing up dishes in the kitchen and felt a rising pressure in my head. At 45 minutes length and directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Chime builds tension with no release. Obviously its short length might preclude a fuller narrative experience, more time given to understand what’s going […]

Christmas Evil (1980)

Christmas Evil (1980) is John Waters’ favourite Christmas movie. It’s easy to see why, as the film’s New Jersey suburban setting is not far away from the Baltimore depicted in Waters’ films: there’s something miserable mixed within the campiness. Christmas Evil is less of a slasher than Silent Night Deadly Night, more of a cross […]

Theatre Of Blood (1973)

Vincent Price playing a hammy theatre actor, delivering Shakespeare monologues, right before taking revenge on a critic who’s wronged him, played by a gallery of great British character actors (Harry Andrews, Robert Morley, Jack Hawkins), and the bloody murder has some thematic tie to a Shakespeare play. And then you have Diana Rigg playing Price’s […]

The City Of The Dead (1960)

It’s a simple but effective trick. Works for rock shows, and it certainly works for old, black-and-white horror movies. If you don’t have the budget for set design, just pump in the smoke machine! The City Of The Dead (1960; aka Horror Hotel) gets a lot of atmospheric effect through its one major street set […]