Horror Film Festival
Creepy films for an October evening.
You will find these DVDs arranged by call number in the DVD area on the second floor.
| Count Dracula | ||
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Horror of Dracula
After the tremendous success of their reboot of the
Frankenstein franchise, "Curse of Frankenstein",
Hammer studios brought Christopher Lee and Peter
Cushing together again, this time as Count Dracula
and his nemesis, Professor Van Helsing.
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Dracula has risen from the
grave
Dracula rises yet again to take revenge on the priest
who has barred him from his castle by taking the
priest's niece as his newest bride. The priest's only
ally is his niece's freethinking atheist boyfriend.
Since the usual cross wielding, stake driving methods
of dealing with vampires require a modicum of
religious belief, this complicates things greatly.
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Taste the Blood of Dracula
One more time for Christopher Lee's incarnation of
Dracula. This time, three distinguished but
unscrupulous old men accidentally raise Dracula from
the dead when they murder his servant. Dracula
appreciates being revived, but takes vengeance on the
three men and their families just the same.
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| George Romero Zombie-athon | ||
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Night of the Living Dead
The low budget black and white nightmare that
redefined the rules of how far horror movies could
go. In a lonely farm house in rural Pennsylvania a
handful of survivors fight off hordes of flesh eating
zombies. The 30th anniversary DVD contains a "special
edition" of the film that intercuts new footage with
the original film. Fans and critics alike rejected
this new version. Thankfully, the DVD also contains
the original film, although the original soundtrack
of public domain sci fi movie music has been replaced
by a cheesy synthesizer score. This is also the
cleanest, sharpest print of this film ever released.
Some horror fans believe that this actually detracts
from the fuzzy, newsreel atmosphere of older prints.
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Dawn of the Dead
Some critics saw a subtext in Night of the Living
Dead that channeled the violence of the late sixties.
With this 1978 sequel there was no missing the social
commentary. This time around, the heros gather in a
brightly lit shopping mall and end up in a turf
battle with other survivors over who owns the glitzy
70s era consumer paradise.
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Day of the Dead
George Romero's third Zombie thriller advances the
plot to the 80s. This time the desperate survivors
are holed up in an underground missile base.
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| Genre Blending | ||
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From Dusk till Dawn
The first half of this hybrid movie is directed by
Quentin Tarentino and follows a pair of criminal
fugitives who take a preacher and his family hostage
and head across the Mexican border. Then director
Robert Rodriguez takes over and the film switches
rapidly from hard boiled melodrama to grotesque and
imaginative horror.
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Shaun of the Dead
Part British slacker comedy, part bloody end of the
world zombie flick. A group of lads hole up in their
favorite pub to defend against the living dead.
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Army of Darkness
Part horror movie, part slapstick comedy, and part
medieval fantasy, about a resourceful discount store
employee who is catapulted back to a demon haunted
middle ages with nothing but his car, a shotgun, and
a college Chemistry textbook.
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| Frankenstein | ||
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Frankenstein: the Legacy
Collection
The original horror classic of the talking picture
era, in which an obsessed scientist creates a living
being from parts of exhumed corpses.Contains
Frankenstein in 1931; Bride of Frankenstein in 1935;
Son of Frankenstein in 1939; Ghost of Frankenstein in
1942; House of Frankenstein in 1944..
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The Curse of Frankenstein
A young German nobleman has uncovered life's mystery
and unleashed a chain of blood-curdling terrors that
seem similar to the monstrous horrors of a generation
earlier. Outraged, the local citizenry imprisons the
nobleman and condemns him to death, hoping to blot
his family's ignominious name.
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Frankenstein Must be
Destroyed
Another take on the classic tale. This one's a
British version from 1969 with a more heartless
version of the mad scientist. Instead of having a lab
assistant to do his dirty work, this Dr. Frankenstein
pushes a young doctor and his betrothed to kidnap the
next victim. They must capture the mentally ill Dr.
Brandt so that his brain may be used in Dr.
Frankenstein's experiments.
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| Classics | ||
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The Mummy
Three British archeologists discover the grave of an
important Egyptian female priest who has died about
four millenia ago. But when they open it a bad curse
falls on them for having woken up the mighty guard of
the grave who was buried with the priest.
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Phantom of the Opera
Contains both the 1925 original feature version and
the 1929 restored version of the silent Gothic tale
of horror in a Parisian opera house.
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The Hammer Horror Series
A selection of frightful tales from the studio that
reinvented horror in the 1960s. Contains: Brides of
Dracula, The Curse of the Werewolf, Phantom of the
Opera, Paranoiac, The Kiss of the Vampire, Nightmare,
Night Creatures, The Evil of Frankenstein
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| More Vampires | ||
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Vampyr
The original German version in a new high-definition
digital transfer from the 1998 restoration by Martin
Koerber and the Cineteca di Bologna, newly credited
alternate version with English text, audio commentary
featuring film scholar Tony Rayns, new and improved
English subtitle translation.
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Bram Stoker's Dracula
The tortured journey of the devastatingly seductive
Transylvanian Prince as he moves from Eastern Europe
to 19th century London in search of his reincarnated
long-lost love.
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Nosferatu
The first film version of Bram Stoker's Dracula.
Count Orlock (Nosferatu, the vampire), leaves his
castle in the Carpathians and travels by ship to
Bremen, bringing coffins filled with dirt and plague
rats.
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| Hell's Heroes | ||
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Ghost Rider
In order to save his dying father, Johnny Blaze, a
young stunt cyclist, sells his soul to Mephistopheles
and sadly parts from Roxanne, the girl he loves.
Years later, Johnny's path crosses again with
Roxanne, who is now a reporter. He, also, crosses
paths with Mephistopheles, who offers to release
Johnny's soul if Johnny becomes the fabled, fiery
Ghost Rider, a supernatural agent of vengeance and
justice.
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Hellboy
In the 1940s, the Third Reich has joined forces with
the evil Grigori Rasputin, who has used his occult
powers to summon up a demon from the depths of Hell.
However, the demonic creature is captured by American
forces, and put in the care of Professor Broom. Under
Broom's care, Hellboy develops the desire to do good.
Sixty years later he takes action as part of an elite
secret defense team alongside Liz Sherman, and Abe
Sapian, an aquatic humanoid with the power of
telepathy. Hellboy finds himself facing the powerful
Rasputin determined to bring the demon back to the
forces of darkness
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Spawn
Featuring all three seasons of Spawn, this
three disc set chronicles Spawn's rise from battling
evil on Earth, to seeking vengeance against his
former boss and protecting himself from new enemies,
to the final showdown where he must finally choose
between the forces of good and evil.
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| Tim Burton | ||
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Ed Wood
A stranger-than-fiction true story of the early
career of Edward D. Wood, Jr., the undisputed worst
movie director of all time. Wood was the auteur
behind Glen or Glenda? and Plan 9 from
Outer Space, and it is during the making of
these two no-budget flicks that Wood is profiled.
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Edward Scissorhands
Johnny Depp stars as Edward, a being created by mad
scientist Vincent Price. Unfortunately the scientist
dies before finishing Edward's hands, leaving him
with razor sharp clippers in their place. The
frightening but gentle Edward is adopted by an upbeat
suburban family in this Gothic faerie tale.
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Corpse Bride
Set in a 19th century European village, we follow the story of Victor, a young man who is whisked away to the underworld and wedded to a mysterious Corpse Bride, while his real bride waits bereft in the land of the living. |
| Do it Yourself Horror | ||
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The Blair Witch Project
This low budget independent film was a surprise hit.
Three student filmmakers set out into the forest to
film a documentary on a legend known as The Blair
Witch. As they become lost in the woods, an unseen
evil begins to stalk and harass them. They soon
realize that what they are filming is not a legend,
but their own descent into a horrifying encounter
with the supernatural.
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The Evil Dead
Five vacationing college students unwittingly
resurrect ancient demons. First film by Spider-Man
director Sam Raimi. Shot for next to nothing on
location in the hills of East Tennessee and starring
the director's friends (including the legendary Bruce
Campbell.)
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American Movie
Wannabe filmmaker Mark Borchardt is scary enough, but
the DVD also contains Coven, the low budget horror
feature whose creation
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| Horror Spoofs | ||
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Scary Movie
The Wayan Brothers of In Living Color fame
scored a big hit with this parody of scary movies
past and present.
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Young Frankenstein
Summoned by a will to his late grandfather's castle
in Transylvania, young Dr. Frankenstein soon
discovers the scientist's step-by-step manual
explaining how to bring a corpse to life. Assisted by
the hunchbacked Igor and the curvaceous Inga, he
creates a monster who only wants to be loved.
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Scream
A self conscious postmodern deconstruction of the
"slasher film". Someone is killing the citizens of a
small peaceful community, someone who is carefully
following all the rules and conventions of teen age
horror movies. Featuring Henry Winkler, "The Fonz",
himself in a small role as the high school principal.
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| Lots of Dead Teenagers | ||
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Friday the 13th
Gory surprise hit that spawned a gazillion sequels
throughout the 80s and 90s.
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Halloween
The slasher movie phenomena started right here in
1977 with John Carpenter's atmospheric, low budget
evocation of scary baby sitter stories and urban
lengends.
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The Nightmare on Elm Street
Collection
Wes Craven created a new horror icon with this
imaginative thriller about a hideous murderer who
haunts the dreams of a group of teenagers.
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| The Twisted World of David Cronenberg | ||
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Scanners
Early movie from David Cronenberg, director of A
History of Violence. Supernaturals with the
power to destroy human beings through telepathy are
bent on taking over the world while a young artist
races against time to stop them.
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The Fly
Remake of the campy sixties film that made "Help
meeeeee" a catch phrase. A teleportation accident
fuses the genetic material of scientist Seth Brendle
with that of a housefly.
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The Brood
Frank Carveth finds himself faced with a terrible
predicament. His wife is in an institution suffering
from mental illness, yet her therapy does not seem to
be working. The institute's director refuses to
reveal the nature of the therapy he is using to treat
her. Before Frank can learn more, a series of bizarre
murders rock the city-- victims of vengeful,
murderous creatures that destroy anything that gets
in their way..
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| Talking Back to the Screen | ||
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The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection.
Volume 2
Four features from the 1993 television series,
America's only show that makes fun of really bad B
movies from the comfort of a spaceship floating above
earth. Angels Revenge, Cave Dwellers, Pod people,
Shorts, Volume 1 : The Home Economics story ; Body
Care & Grooming ; Cheating ; A Date with Your
Family ; Why Study Industrial Arts ; Chicken of
Tomorrow.
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The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection.
Volume 9
Joel, Mike, Tom Servo, Crow, and the usual gang of
misfits take us on another memorable ride through
four films that only the films mothers could love.
Women of the Prehistoric Planet, Wild Rebels,
Sinister Urge, The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who
Stopped Living and Became Mixed-up Zombies
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The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection.
Volume 10
Joel, Mike, and their robot friends let their
opinions be known while watching some of worst films
ever made. This time around they get to endure
Godzilla vs. Megalon, Swamp Diamonds, Teen-age
Strangler, and The Giant Spider Invasion.
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| Clap for the Wolfman | ||
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An American Werewolf in
London
Funny yet scary werewolf tale from Animal House
director John Landis. David Naughton (the I'm a
Pepper guy from the old TV commercial) is a college
student who is attacked by a mysterious beast while
vacationing in England. Rick Baker did the make up
SFX, which provide an interesting look at what life
was like before CGI effects.
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The Wolf Man: The Legacy
Collection
Four classic Universal thrillers. The Wolf
Man: When a man is attacked by a werewolf, he
finds to his horror that he now becomes one himself
under a full moon. WereWolf of London: While
on a botanical expedition in Tibet Dr. Wilfred
Glendon is attacked in the dark by a strange animal.
Frankenstein meets the Wolf Man:
Graverobbers open the grave of the WolfMan and awake
him. She-Wolf of London: A young heiress
finds evidence suggesting that at night she acts
under the influence of a family curse.
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Cat People
A young woman is victim of a heritage that transforms
her into a deadly panther when she makes love. Paul
Scrader's 1982 remake takes what was implicit in the
1942 original makes it all very explicit. We also
have the
Val Lewton original.
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| Sci-Fi Horror | ||
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Alien
Terror begins when the crew of a spaceship
investigates a transmission from a desolate planet
and discovers a life form that is perfectly evolved
to annihilate mankind. Scary, atmospheric, and
believable (unlike its many sequels).The library has
a copy of the
original screenplay.
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Predator
A group of commandos run into more than they bargain
for on a secret mission in Central America. Starring
California govenor Arnold Schwartzengger, and former
Minnesota govenor Jesse Ventura. Also starring carl
Weathers, who has yet to run for office.
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The Thing
Brilliantly executed science fiction horror tale
about a team of scientists who find a space creature
in the Antarctic that has the ability to take the
shape of anything it touches. A remake of Howard
Hawks The Thing from Another World, which
was in return inspired by John W. Campbells story
Who Goes There?.
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| Stephen King | ||
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The Dead Zone
Stephen King adaptations sink or float on the basis
of the quality of the directors involved.Cronenberg
and King both seem to "get" each other, resulting in
this soulful thriller featuring an outstanding
performance by Christophen Walken as a mild mannered
school teacher who is given the power of second sight
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The Shining
"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." A
recovering alcholic writer has visions that cause him
to doubt his sanity while spending the winter in a
resort hotel with his terrified wife and psychic
little boy.
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The Stand
Mini-series based on Stephen King's whopper of a
novel. The U.S. government denies that there's a
problem when the horrifying deaths begin, but within
a few days, only one percent of the world's
population is left alive after a deadly virus escapes
from a California research lab. The shattered
remnants of humanity face the end of civilization and
the beginning of the ultimate battle between good and
evil.
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| Zombie-athon Part Two | ||
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George Romero's Land of the
Dead
Zombies have become the dominant population, and
they've begun to show signs of undead intelligence
and gathering power. The wealthiest human survivors
live comfortably in a luxury high-rise building that
is barricaded within a safe zone. The wealthy ignore
the horrors of the outside world while armed
scavengers stage raids in the zombie-zone to gather
much-needed food and supplies.
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Dawn of the Dead
In a remake of the cult classic, a mysterious virus
turns people into mindless, flesh-eating zombies, and
a handful of survivors flee to a shopping mall turned
fortress. Intense, inventive, and geniunely scary,
yet missing much of the ironic humor and social
commentary of George Romero's original.
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Zombie
A group of scienetists discover a virus that is
turning the inhabitants of a tropical island into
flesh eating zombies. Italian explotation director
Lucio Fulchi's attempt to cash in on the success of
George Romero's "Living Dead" franchise.
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| Eurohorror | ||
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Blood and Black Lace
The beautiful bodies of the models at Contessa
Christina's fashion salon are usually covered with
elegant, exclusive designs. Isabella's body is
covered with blood. As inspector Silvester tries to
uncloak the killer, he finds the design of the murder
to be complex and stitched with mystery..
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Deep Red
A psychic who can read minds picks up the thoughts of
a murderer in the audience and soon becomes a victim.
An English pianist gets involved in solving the
murders, but finds many of his avenues of inquiry cut
off by new murders, and he begins to wonder how the
murderer can track his movements so closely.
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Opera
When a young opera singer takes over the leading role
in an avant-garde presentation of Verdi's Macbeth,
she triggers the madness of a crazed fan who
repeatedly forces the diva to watch the brutal
murders of her loved ones
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| Extreme and Bizarre | ||
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Dead Alive
Long before he would win an Oscar for his work
adpating The Lord of the Rings, New Zealand director
Peter Jackson made a name for himself with this
inventive and remarkably tasteless horror comedy.
Lionel is forced to care for his domineering mother.
After she's bitten by the cursed Sumatran rat monkey,
she becomes a zombie, making it very difficult for
Lionel to keep the neighbors from suspecting
something.
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Re-Animator
Herbert West is obsessed with the idea of bringing
the dead back to life. Experimenting with a glowing
green fluid, he successfully reanimates dead tissue.
However, the dead are uncontrollable and difficult to
subdue. Unrated, for good reason.
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Eraserhead
Is it a nightmare or an actual view of a
post-apocalyptic world? Set in an industrial town in
which giant machines are constantly working, spewing
smoke, and making noise that is inescapable, Henry
Spencer lives in a building that, like all the
others, appears to be abandoned. The lights flicker
on and off, he has bowls of water in his dresser
drawers, and for his only diversion he watches and
listens to the Lady in the Radiator sing about
finding happiness in heaven. A bizarre and
challenging debut from the man who would go on to
make Blue Velvet and Mulholland
Drive.
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| Cult Movies | ||
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The Wicker Man
When a young girl mysteriously disappears, Police
Sergeant Howie travels to a remote Scottish island to
investigate. But this pastoral community, led by the
strange Lord Summerisle, is not what it seems as the
devout Christian detective soon uncovers a secret
society of pagan blasphemy.
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Suspiria
Atmospheric horror film about an American student
enrolled in a German dance academy. A series of
bizarre incidents and brutal murders puts the academy
in chaos.
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Deathdream
An American soldier is killed in Vietnam. His parents
and sister are then shocked to find him standing at
their front door in his dress uniform, apparently
alive and well, but all is not as it seems.The script
is a reworking of the tale "The monkey's paw" and
relies on mood and tension to convey the terror. It
uses the horror genre to explore the difficulty of
post-Vietnam adjustment and the disintegration of the
American family in the 1960s.
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| Silent Horror | ||
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Häxan
Creepy silent movie about the history of witchcraft.
Includes both versions of the film: Haxan
(1922) - a new, speed-corrected digital transfer of
the Swedish Film Institutes's corrected tinted
restoration and Witchcraft Through The Ages
(1968) - the 74 minute version of Haxan, narrated by
William S. Burroughs, with a soundtrack featuring
Jean-Luc Ponty
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The Golem
In an attempt to protect his people a rabbi creates a
golem statue made of clay, brings it to life where it
performs acts of heroism and violence
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The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
German Expressionist film about a somnabulist who
commits a series of murders under a hypnotist's
influence.
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| Classic Creature Features | ||
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The Last Man on Earth
Adaptation of Richard Matheson's classic "I am
Legend" about a scientist's lonely battle against the
undead that have overrun the earth.
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Creature from the Black Lagoon: The
Legacy
The movies that introduced the world to the legendary
gill-man. The original Creature from the Black
Lagoon, Revenge of the Creature (featuring the
movie debut of Clint Eastwood in a small part as a
lab technician), and the Creature Walks Among
Us.
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Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Contains the original 1931 uncut long version
starring Frederic March, for which he won an Oscar
and the 1941 remake with Spencer Tracy in the title
role. A mild mannered doctor turns himself into a
blood thirsty fiend.
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| Visitors from Beyond | ||
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The Sixth Sense
A noted child psychologist attempts to help a
frightened 8-year-old boy who is experiencing
terrifying visions of the dead.
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Donnie Darko
An edgy, psychological thriller about a suburban teen
coming face-to-face with his dark destiny. Donnie
Darko is a delusional high-school student visited by
a demonic rabbit with eerie visions of the past, and
deadly predictions for the future.
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The Exorcist
A young girl becomes possessed by the devil and
causes several violent deaths before she can be
cured.
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| Eurohorror Part Two | ||
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The Blind Dead Collection
A legion of Knights Templar-- executed horsemen whose
eyes had been pecked out by crows-- rise rotting from
their grave, hunting only by sound in a quest for
human flesh.
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La Morte Vivante (Living Dead
Girl)
In Jean Rollin's 1982 cult favorite, a radioactive
gas leak resurrects a dead woman who seeks the blood
of the living.
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Tenebre
A novelist arrives in Rome only to find somebody
using his novels as the inspiration for murder. He
finds himself the subject of death threats. As the
death toll mounts, the writer finds himself more
closely linked to the police investigation. Example
of the "Giallo" genre that stylish Italian director
Dario Argento helped to create and define. This is
the rarely-seen uncut, uncensored version.
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| Very Disturbed Individuals | ||
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Peeping Tom
A study of a voyeuristic maniac who kills women while
filming them with his 16mm camera. Very controversial
when released in 1960.
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Se7en
A psychological thriller about two detectives on the
trail of a serial killer who chooses his victims
according to the seven deadly sins.
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Psycho
Horror melodrama in which a woman disappears after
spending the night in an isolated motel which adjoins
an eerie Victorian mansion, inhabited by Norman Bates
and his unpleasant mother.
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This page is maintained by Matt Benzing.
