Paperhouse (1988)
Bernard Rose, who also directed the original
Candyman, adapts Catherine Storr's novel. This intelligent and haunting meditation on childhood and dreams was called by some critics 'the thinking man's
Nightmare on Elm Street' when it debuted in 1988. This label is partly true. While
Paperhouse has none of the wit or gore of Craven's film, it is a deeply thoughtful and genuinely eerie film. The plot follows a young mysteriously sick girl named Anna who slowly finds that a picture of a lonely house she has drawn seems to actually exist in her dreams. The blurring of the lines between dream and reality build until the film reaches a surprising but not entirely unsatisfying climax. -
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Peeping Tom (1960)
Voyeurism. We all do it. Movies in general are nothing if not voyeuristic. We are allowed to sit back anonymously and watch all manner of spectacle that we might otherwise never see. But in 1959, Michael Beohm’s portrayal of painfully shy newspaper photographer, Mark Lewis, took the concept a step further…and a step too far according to the critics and censors of the day. Lewis likes pornography… and he likes to kill beautiful women. Okay, we’ve seen that before. And he likes to film them as he kills them. Now’s it’s getting a little kinky. What’s more, he likes his victims to see themselves being killed – thanks to a mirror attached to the front of his movie camera. Forcing a victim to be a voyeur to her own death was a concept too deviant, too depraved for the audiences of the day. The film was savaged by the critics. Director Michael Powell’s career was ruined. Actor Carl Boehm’s career suffered similarly. Twenty years after its release, Martin Scorsese hailed the film as a lost masterpiece after his editor (and Powell’s widow) Thelma Schoonmacher screened a print of the film for him. Bathed in the sleezy, lurid glow of primary colors and populated by prostitutes, smut peddlers and an angel-faced murderer; Peeping Tom is still a powerful and provocative film. Watch. Enjoy. Repeat. -
Roderick Usher
Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)
This 1975 film from Australian master director Peter Weir (
Galipoli, The Truman Show) is all about atmosphere and imagery. The plot is simple: On Valentine's Day in 1900, a girl's school takes a field trip to Hanging Rock. Three students and a female teacher disappear. The film follows the aftermath of this event on the lives of the others. However, what makes
Picnic so powerful is the haunting images, the way that the repressed sexuality of the girls resonates with the harsh, wild and untamed wilderness in the rock. For those who like their films to crash, bang and bleed all over the screen, this is not the film for you. But, for those who like to feel followed out of the theater by a film and to spend days trying to shake a feeling of dread for days afterwards - then pack up your basked and head to
Hanging Rock - zero
Plaga Zombie: Zona Mutante (2001)
Plaga Zombie: Mutant Zone is one of the best no budget, unheard of horror comedies of all time. It is a Spanish film, and it is loaded with everything a hilarious trash film could possibly need. Loads of gore and creative kills, likeable characters and a fun plot. Plaga Zombie: Mutant Zone, along with its prequel, Plaga Zombie, are the best and funniest films to fall under the radar -
The Mothman
La Posesión (aka Possession) (1981)
