Horror – 1000 Films Blog

Posted on November 7, 2025 by 1000filmsblog

#370 The Devil Rides Out

Watched: October 22 2025

Director: Terence Fisher

Starring: Christopher Lee, Charles Gray, Nike Arrighi, Leon Greene, Patrick Mower, Sarah Lawson, Paul Eddington, Rosalyn Landor, Gwen Ffrangcon Davies

Year: 1968

Runtime: 1h 36min

We’ll just come right out and say it: The Devil Rides Out is the perfect double feature companion piece with Rosemary’s Baby. While wildly different in execution, they are two sides of the same coin thematically, with ethnically diverse devil worshippers happily sacrificing others for their own benefit.

Sure, still predominately white, but still more diverse than your average high society gathering in 1968. We swear some of these people wore clothing from other countries in a previous scene!

Nicholas, Duc de Richleau (Lee) and his old friend Rex van Ryn (Greene) are worried about their departed friend’s son Simon (Mower), who they have promised to look after. They take a ride (in a very cool car) to Simon’s place, only to find him in the company of twelve strange guest. De Richleau immediately recognizes them as devil worshippers (after using British politeness to finangle his way to the observatory), and the two friends embark on a mission to save Simon’s soul. And also the soul of Tanith (Arrighi), because Rex thinks she’s hot.

There’s a bit of a consensus on that. She has that certain je ne sais quoi that appeals to both satanists and useless sidekicks.

Satanic cults were apparently all the rage in 1968, but while Rosemary’s Baby is subtle in its execution, leaving most of the devil-related stuff to the imagination, The Devil Rides Out goes completely in the opposite direction. There are actual goat-faced devils, huge ass spiders, orgies, and at one point the Angel of Death himself (herself..? We’re not sure if it’s Death or Susan) rides into the living (ironically) room. We loved that Fisher went very visual and literal about it – both approaches work really well for their respective films.

He looked at subtlety and laughed right in its face

Christopher Lee is simultaneously giving Vincent Price and Rupert Giles as the no-nonsense expert on the occult, and he is such a magnetic presence on screen that it’s hard to focus on anyone else whenever he is on. Rex is however fucking useless… They both make some questionable choices though – who thought it was a good idea to bring your Satanic “date” to a house with a young child? And then perform a ritual in the same house, with all the adults safe and sound in the protective circle, but just leave said child asleep in her room? With no protection save the butler??? It’s almost as though they wanted to get rid of Peggy (Landor). Even after she saved them all by breaking the spell/hypnosis placed on her mother by the big bad himself, Mocata (Gray). Still, the two men are extremely good and loyal friends to go through all of this to save the son of their departed homie.

“What was that? You think we should put Peggy in the protective circle with us? Oh, I’m sure she’ll be perfectly fine in her bedroom. Whoever heard of devils and fiends going up the stairs?”

This movie is a tense, fun and scary ride. We loved the sets and the vibe, the performances and the special effects – sometimes it’s nice to see such a classic depiction of the devil himself. We’re also intrigued by the upper classes’ obsession with the occult in the ’60s, particularly the destructive occult, that both this and its sister movie (RB) portray. Are these people rich because they worship? Or do they worship because they are rich..? Perhaps you can only be in a Satanic cult if you have the budget to get a custom made mosaic seal built into your floor? These are the questions that beg answering.

Can we DIY it? How accurate must it be? If we end up summoning a heckhound from one of the minor circles, we honestly wouldn’t mind to be completely honest with you…

We love the British politeness in this as well – the whole “she woke up and tried to strangle me” reminded us a bit of In the Earth (2021), when the main character is trying to persuade the maniac in the woods not to cut off his foot. IYKYK. And we always, always love a good ritual. Love, love, love this!

We’d pay good money to attend this slumberparty

Quote of the day: “I think we’re behaving like a pack of idiots!”

What we learned: Every friend group needs the Nurturer, the Entertainer, the Advocate and the One Who Knows About Devil Worship and Rituals For When a Satanic Cult Inevitably Comes After Someone You Love (the OWKADWRFWSCICASYL).

MVP: Nicholas, Duc de Richleau. And Peggy.

Next time: The Great Silence (1968)

Posted on October 29, 2025October 31, 2025 by 1000filmsblog

#368 Spirits of the Dead/Histoires extraordinaires

Watched: October 7 2025

Director: Federico Fellini, Louis Malle, Roger Vadim

Starring: Jane Fonda, Brigitte Bardot, Alain Delon, Terence Stamp, Peter Fonda

Year: 1968

Runtime: 2h 1min

Spooctober continues (we expand it into November as well. And occasionally December. Not to mention January! There’s nothing scarier than a blank slate and new opportunities, after all…), and coincidentally there are quite a few fitting films coming up on the list. Such timing! In Spirits of the Dead, three directors have each made a short film based on the works of our child- and adulthood hero Edgar Allan Poe. Artistic liberties have been taken, but in each entry Poe’s spirit is present. And he is in fact dead. So the (English) title checks.

We like to think his spirit still roams wild on Hampstead Heath. Close to the meat.

Director Roger Vadim is behind the first segment, “Metzengerstein.” Here, cruel, oversexed countess Frédérique de Metzengerstein (Fonda) falls for her cousin/enemy/rival/neighbour Wilhelm Berlifitzing (also Fonda, but this time Peter), burns down his stables when he rejects her, then grows obsessed with a horse that appears out of nowhere just as Wilhelm accidentally dies in the fire. Well, technically the horse seems to appear out of a tapestry. Either way, clearly a supernatural horse. It does not end well for her.

There’s a joke in here somewhere about stallions and getting wet, but we’re better than that.

The second adaptation, Louis Malle’s “William Wilson,” follows the titular character (Delon) as he is confronted by kindness and positive qualities, things he himself does not possess in the slightest. As he goes around bullying and torturing school mates, trying to start a serial killer career by dissecting a random (and still alive) woman he picked up from the street (with a willing audience of equally psychotic medical students, it seems? WTF, guys???), and cheating at cards (ok, this one sounds relatively mild compared to the others, but he does it in order to strip and whip a woman (Bardot) in front of yet ANOTHER audience of men before offering her up for them to rape. So the cheating really was just a means to an end), he is repeatedly thwarted by a doppelganger (or the Jekyll to his Hyde, if you will). And Wilson is pretty darned indignant about it! It does not end well for him.

We see you, guys in the background who just stand by. You’re all equally culpable.

The final, and in our opinion best, entry is Fellini’s “Toby Dammit,” based on the story “Never Bet the Devil Your Head.” Now, while it might be the segment that diverges the most from the story on which it is based (it is also the only one where they did not keep the title or the historical setting), it is also the most successful (in our opinion). Toby (Stamp) is a messed up, alcoholic actor visiting Italy to star in a Catholic western and drive a Ferrari, who keeps seeing the devil everywhere. This devil is in the form of a little girl with a ball as opposed to Poe’s old man with just a girly hairstyle (actual quote: “his hair was parted in front like a girl’s”). Toby’s behaviour becomes increasingly unhinged as he falls deeper into the bottle as well as his own visions, climaxing in a wild Ferrari ride. It does not end well for him.

“Dress for the job you want, not the one you have,” they say. “Dress like a sickly Byronic vampire and reap the consequences,” we say.

Poe’s original story “Never Bet the Devil Your Head” is a hilariously passive aggressive response to his critics who accused him (and/or his tales) of lacking morals. So he wrote the most blatantly moral tale he could come up with. It is definitely worth reading if you have not – the tone is hilarious. However, it may not be the easiest story to make into an interesting film, so Fellini’s decision to basically keep only the ending and a slightly morally dubious protagonist is an understandable one. And as stated, this entry was our favourite, despite us being Poe-purists at heart.

“Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night” What a legend!

While the three shorts have varying degrees of connection with the source material, they have all definitely tried to sex it up quite a bit. Poe wasn’t really known for his spicy content – he was more about the implied incest and necrophelia than explicit sexual stuff. So, much more pure. In Vadim’s “Metzengerstein,” the young count Frederic has become sexy Frédérique, and the old neighbour Berlifitzing has become young, alluring, and a cousin to boot. So at least Poe’s incest motif has been honoured, we guess. William Wilson, while always an unlikable character has, in Malle’s version, become a sexual sadist in addition to your ordinary, run-of-the-mill everyday sadist from the short story.

Admittedly, it’s been a while since we read “Metzengerstein.” It is entirely possible that Frederic wore this exact outfit in the story and the adaptation is true to its source material.

We loved the costumes, Terence Stamp, Jane Fonda, the Devil, the stressful Ferrari ride, the Catholic Western that Toby’s set to star in (complete with cowboy Jesus and all), the award ceremony and basically everything about Fellini’s entry. We also enjoyed the fact that these filmmakers have chosen relatively unknown Poe tales to adapt (at least, lesser known compared to “the big ones”). This may of course be related to the fact that there were supposed to be more directors and stories filmed for the series, but one by one they all dropped out, leaving the three we have today. While the project may not have reached the heights originally envisioned, the ones that were completed are definitely worth a watch, and the film is a perfect choice for Halloween (which, as you all know, is celebrated from October 1st through (at least) November 30th).

I believe we just found this year’s costume

What we learned: Dammit, Toby! Also, if you stand by and do nothing, or participate in the slightest, when people are trying to rape or kill, you’re as culpable as the perp. Do better!

MVP: Terence Stamp. And Edgar himself, obvi.

Next time: The Boston Strangler (1968)

Posted on October 28, 2025October 28, 2025 by 1000filmsblog

Bonus: Ramaskrik 2025

October is spooky month, and those who have followed us for a while are probably familiar with Norway’s scariest film festival – Ramaskrik in Oppdal. It’s been a tradition for us to attend this annual event in Spooctober for a while now, and the festival has been going strong for 15 years. Relatively small, it is an amazing horror movie bonanza filled with scares and laughs. As per (sort of) usual, here’s our recap and personal highlights from this year’s festival. Plus a bonus rant for those who enjoy these sort of things…

Overall, we managed to fit in 15 feature films as well as a couple of shorts between Wednesday and Sunday. The highlights for us were definitely Good Boy (2025), No dejes a los niños solos (Don’t Leave the Kids Alone – also 2025), Bernadette Wants to Kill (2024), Hallow Road (2025) and Onsen shâku (Hotspring Sharkattack – 2024).

Honorable mentions go to The Toxic Avenger (2023), Primate (2025, aka. Julius the horror version if you’re Norwegian), Trizombie (2024) and Exit 8 (2025), all of which we also thoroughly enjoyed.

There were others which we liked, but did not quite live up to their potential or just paled a bit in comparison with the others. However, the biggest (and frankly only) disappointment turned out to be this year’s biggest movie, The Black Phone 2 (2025). Now, we usually prefer not to talk too much about the movies we don’t like – we understand the concept of personal taste, and we don’t want to discredit the hard work put in by a lot of people to make any movie happen, and all of that. But we both (individually, without communicating) found ourselves getting increasingly angry while watching this. So allow us a moment to rant (and just skip reading it if this is not your thing – we won’t blame you).

It is important to note that we both loved The Black Phone (2021), and our MVP in that was definitely Madeleine McGraw’s Gwen. So a sequel focused on her should be a win, right? (Spoiler alert: it was not.) (Actual spoiler alert: if you haven’t seen it, we strongly advise you to do that before reading any more, as we will be discussing some important plot points.) Ok, so first off, the originality of the first movie is completely lost in this. Instead of a new and exciting story, we get a mash-up of A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) (or, probably more accurately, Nightmare on Elm Street part 3: Dream Warriors – 1987) and Stranger Things (2016). The (now dead) Grabber has become a masked Freddy Krueger, capable of invading people’s dreams and kill them inside them. (Except he doesn’t really do that much – he just shows up, scares them, stumbles around, makes threats, and then just disappears again or is easily thwarted by the kids. He is made less scary every time he makes an appearance, completely defeating the purpose.) The only one who can fight him (eventually), is the formerly headstrong and resourceful Gwen, now reduced to a scared and insecure teenager who worries about going mad and needs boys/men to protect her and tell her what to do and how to do it. A complete character assassination in other words. Even her “sassy” retorts, insults and swears seemed forced in this iteration, and not in keeping with the rest of her character as it appeared in this film. And let’s not even get into the stupid retconning of the circumstances of their mother’s death. Who thought that was a good idea?!?

You can see the difference in the posters as well: the attempt to make the mask look scarier in the sequel has only succeeded in turning it into a generic evil devil mask. The very human eyes and glasses featured in the original make it so much more unsettling.

Our other grievances include the dialogue – it felt like it was written by someone who had never had a human conversation in their lives; how easy it was to find the bodies of the missing boys who disappeared once someone ACTUALLY LOOKED FOR THEM! IN THE AREA THEY DISAPPEARED!!! (It took them two nights… After 30ish years… Sheesh. Clearly, nobody cared about finding them before); the stupid and unnecessary backstory of the Grabber, demystifying him and again making him more generic; and just the general soullessness of the entire thing. Is it all bad? Well, no. The production value is there, and the grainy dream sequences look good (despite their contents being utterly stupid for the most part). It starts off ok, and the acting is decent enough. But we’re left with the feeling that this was an entirely unnecessary movie which to some extent ruined the original which we really, really enjoyed. There, rant over.

Anyway, come to Ramaskrik next October! It’s great fun! In addition to showing new (and old) horror and horror-adjacent movies from all over the world, there are always special events and guests. For instance, this year there was a screening of Jaws (1975) in the pool, Troll Hunter (2010) in the woods, and The Descent (2005) with a visit from Neil Marshall, among other great happenings. It’s also cosy as fuck.

Tell us this doesn’t look like the perfect place to watch horror movies for a few days. And yes, it looks like this all the time, all over Oppdal. True story.

Posted on October 17, 2025October 24, 2025 by 1000filmsblog · 3 Comments

#367 Rosemary’s Baby

Watched: October 6 2025

Director: Roman Polanski

Starring: Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer, Maurice Evans, Ralph Bellamy, Patsy Kelly, Emmaline Henry

Year: 1968

Runtime: 2h 17min

Rosemary Woodhouse (Farrow) and Guy (Cassavetes), her aspiring actor-husband, move into a beautiful apartment in an old, infamous apartment building, “The Bramford.” They then proceed to completely ruin the vibe by painting everything white.

Crime in progress. Viewer discretion is advised.

From the start, the omens are ominous. There are cryptic writings left by the previous tenant (an old lady who died, though not on the premises), closets blocked by furniture, the brutal death (suicide..?) of another tenant, and chanting coming through from the neighbours’ place. Add to that the Bramford’s reputation for witchcraft, baby-eating, creepy sisters and scary men, and we can sort of understand why Rosemary decided to brighten the place up. But we can never forgive.

“I’m not saying all I’m about to subject you to is punishment for destroying this amazing place (albeit with my apparent blessing), but I’m also not saying it isn’t…”

Not long after moving in, Rosemary is invaded by dreams or visions of nuns in her sleep, and by nosy neighbour Minnie Castevet (Gordon) in her waking hours, both equally distressing. Being a polite young woman, she accepts Minnie’s first invitation to dinner, and to all of their surprise, Guy takes a fancy to Roman Castevet (Blackmer). Soon, the neighbours are entangled in their lives, and Rosemary has lost any sense of peace, quiet and privacy she may have otherwise enjoyed in her huge apartment.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that nosy neighbours must be in league with the devil

On paper, the Woodhouses are on an upward spiral – Guy’s luck as an actor takes an unexpected turn as a rival suddenly goes blind which gives him a leading role in a play, and Rosemary becomes pregnant after a creepy night of coersion, marital rape and even more disturbing visions than the other disturbing visions she’s been having since moving in. What’s the problem? They wanted a child, right?

“I didn’t want to miss baby night. A couple of nails were ragged.” “You? While I was out?” “And it was kinda fun – in a necrophile sort of way.” – Actual quote from the movie… Guy has bigger problems than his deal with the devil.

The claustrophobic atmosphere keeps building throughout the pregnancy. Guy and his new besties, the Castevets and their weird friends, control what she eats, which doctor she sees, where she goes and pretty much everything in Rosemary’s life. In addition, Guy gaslights, guilts and manipulates his wife to comply with pretty much everything they put her through. She does push back though, and occasionally succeeds. A vindicating scene is her party for her old friends, including her supportive girl squad who puts Guy in his place for an evening, but her victories are small and short-lived. She is also way too trusting of her husband and shares all her fears and suspicions about the neighbours with him. As if it isn’t perfectly clear that he is in league with them!

You should have pulled that knife out the second he insulted your haircut

Rosemary’s Baby is one of those movies that we have seen several times, and it just gets more sinister and frustrating every time. Rosemary is a precariously balanced character who is potentially hard to like, but Farrow makes her very charming and likable, and manage to balance her out: had she been more assertive, she might have gotten away from the situation. However, had she been less assertive, we would have lost some sympathy for her. She has some defiance in her – she tries several times to rescue herself, she just never takes it far enough. In her defence, we guess it takes a while to get used to the idea that your husband is in league with evil baby-killing witches and that everyone around you is part of a conspiracy to steal your child.

It’s never a good idea to befriend your neighbours. We avoid ours like the plague, and have yet to be impregnanted by a single demon!

It’s a great movie with so many amazing details that we can’t possibly list them all. The fashion, the slow escalation, Mrs Castevet’s table manners, the use of scrabble pieces, and Rosemary’s gradual evolution from child to adult woman are all great. Turns out the men in this (with the notable exception of our man Hutch) are even worse than we remembered from previous viewings – especially Guy and the two doctors. Take out the entire antichrist subplot, and we’d still have an infuriating movie about the lack of female autonomy, as well as domestic abuse being perpetuated by male professionals who refuse to take women seriously. The literal devil is more of an afterthought to this very real threat. (Not that the devil isn’t a real threat… Please don’t come for us, Satan! We assure you we have a healthy fear and respect for you and your minions.)

Sidenote: do we think Aunt Glady in *Weapons* (2025) was inspired by this gal..?

What we learned: Never be a Catholic, no matter how lapsed. It’s always the Catholics who are possessed or tricked into giving birth to devils. Also, when in trouble, call the girl squad! And don’t trust your ambitious husband who thought it was perfectly acceptable to rape you (or, as it turns out, have you raped) in order to further his career. And who also thinks going through a hard pregnancy and then giving birth at home only to be told the baby died is the same as “no one gets hurt.” Damn, there are a lot of lessons to be learned from this movie.

MVP: Girl Squad! Or, they could have been, had she contacted them earlier… Hutch, then. RIP.

Next time: Spirits of the Dead (1968)

Posted on October 5, 2025 by 1000filmsblog

#363 Night of the Living Dead

Watched: February 16 2023 (We know, we know… It’s been an intense few years, ok?)

Director: George A. Romero

Starring: Duane Jones, Judith O’Dea, Karl Hardman, Marilyn Eastman, Keith Wayne, Judith Ridley, Russell Streiner

Year: 1968

Runtime: 1h 36min

Heeeeey guys… So it’s been (another) minute, but we’re finally back in a place in our lives where we want to try to revive the blog. How fitting then, to talk about a movie where things refuse to stay dead and buried! It’s almost as if we planned this (we didn’t. Planning is not really part of our skill set..).

In Night of the Living Dead, siblings Barbra and Johnny expect nothing but a peaceful afternoon on their yearly road trip to place flowers on their father’s grave. Which just goes to show that expectations are meant to be crushed. Instead of a routine 6 hour trip of bickering about the inconvenience of their father being buried so far away (rude! Of him, we mean. Bury yourselves close to your relatives), they find themselves caught in a new and exciting situation: the dead walking the earth and armageddon being nigh! Well, Barbra does at least. Johnny is a lost cause from the beginning and the first one to die. But his sister makes a valiant, if somewhat hysterical, effort to escape the slooooowly creeping dread that surrounds her.

POV: the most unsettling game of Grandma’s Footsteps ever (possibly apart from the one played in Royston Vasey)

We probably don’t need to say much more about the plot – a bunch of strangers end up together in a house trying to survive, and make sense of, an inconceivable and dangerous situation. Some with more luck than others.

50+ years later, the zombies themselves might not pack the same punch (bite?) they once did, but Night of the Living Dead is still incredibly entertaining, creepy and stressful. This is the movie that cemented the modern zombie; not the Haitian undead slaves, but flesh-eating monsters with brains on their… well, brains. Interestingly enough, the word “zombie” is not used in the film – the undead are referred to as “ghouls” throughout. But you don’t fool us – we know what you really are!

A zombie, by any other name, would bite as hard

Shockingly to a lot of white audiences back at the height of the American Civil Rights Movement (and even now because the world sucks and people suck even more), the most constructive and reasonable person in the film is an African American man. Ben deals with what must be dealt with and gets shit done. Of course, once the Middle Aged White Man™ emerges from the deep dark basement, he tries to take over the leadership position. Fortunately, there are some Radical ’60s Teens™ around to help the cultural progress in the US (a.k.a. the house) and support Ben.

You don”t mess with Ben. He came there to chew bubble gum and kick undead ass. And he’s all out of bubble gum.

Progressive as that may be, the main female character is still mostly useless, prone to hysteria and easily distracted by shiny things. We can’t blame her too much, we suppose. Her reaction is pretty natural considering what she’s just gone through, which includes, but is not limited to, watching her brother be eaten by some guy in the cemetery. And as entertaining as it can be to watch characters quipping their way through mortal danger and trauma; apathy, irrationality and terror are probably more common responses to zombie apocalypses.

Flam – flames. Flames, on the side of my face, breathing-breathl- heaving breaths. Heaving breaths… Heathing…

We love this movie – it’s a regular rewatch for us, especially during spooky season (happy Halloween-month to all who observe!). From the first notes of the creepy score it is clear that this is going to be a scary ride, which it is. Not so much because of the zombies as the people and the racism, but isn’t that always the case… Night of the Living Dead is entertaining yet very dark with shocks, twists and turns. Its legacy is also undeniably significant; where would we, as a society, be without zombie movies in our horror canon? Definitely less entertained, that’s for darn tootin’.

Personally, we would hate to live in a world where every minor or major inconvenience was not met with the line “Let’s go to the Winchester, have a nice cold pint, and wait for all this to blow over.”

What we learned: Blades don’t need reloading, and stagnation means death.

MVP: Ben. Obvi.

Next time: Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

Posted on October 24, 2021October 25, 2021 by 1000filmsblog

Ramaskrik Film Festival 2021

We’ve just got back from Oppdal, and Ramaskrik Film Festival. For the uninitiated, Ramaskrik is an annual horror film festival and Sister the Oldest has had the privilege of helping pick out movies for it for the past 2 years. Since Thursday, we’ve basically been in a vegetative state in front of a big cinema screen (as opposed to our usual vegetative state in front of a much smaller TV screen) absorbing horror movies and eating too much pizza. Here’s a recap of some high- (and low-)lights.

The Boy Behind the Door, dir: David Charbonier, Justin Powell.
Intense and tense movie about two boys who are kidnapped, in large parts carried by an amazing performance from Lonnie Chavis. Recommended!

Brain Freeze, dir: Julien Knafo
French-Canadian plant zombies on a private island for rich people. This one didn’t quite work for us. It’s not funny enough for a comedy, not scary enough for a horror, not political enough for a satire, and not dramatic enough for a drama. It sort of touched on several genres but didn’t quite fulfill any of them. It has some redeeming qualities though – the cast is very good, and they have found the most amazing baby who has ever existed. Seriously, that baby alone is worth the ticket money.

Benny Loves You, dir: Karl Holt
Jack works for a toy company, lives at home, and is hopelessly stuck in a state of arrested development. In an attempt to get his life together, he throws away his childhood toy Benny. Big mistake… Benny is not ready to let go.
Benny Loves You is adorable. Is it a perfect movie? No. But it is funny, gory, and extremely charming. So yes – if you get a chance, you should definitely check this out. We’ve watched it twice already…

The Deep House, dir: Alexandre Bustillo, Julien Maury
A couple goes diving to explore a flooded house. But they find more than they bargained for. This one divided us a bit. It’s a slow burner, and some found it a bit boring while the pace worked for others. We’re all in agreement about hating the boyfriend with a fiery vengeance though – he is such an asshole. We also agree that the ending was a bit meh. But all in all the movie is quite good – especially if you don’t mind a slow pace and an idiot boyfriend.

Kandisha, dir: Alexandre Bustillo, Julien Maury:
A girl summons the Moroccan demon Kandisha for revenge after her ex assaults her. And Kandisha answers the call. This was a nice little demon movie with a cool monster and a good cast of characters. The French multi-cultural setting worked really well as well. Not overly memorable, but not bad either. Also directed by the same guys who made The Deep House.

Coming Home in the Dark, dir: James Ashcroft
A family is assaulted and then kidnapped by two drifters in New Zealand. Oooo, this was good! Very tense, very engaging, very well cast, and undeniably brutal and dark. Definitely recommended if you like long lasting psychological torture. And who doesn’t?

Antlers, dir: Scott Cooper
This is a long-awaited Wendigo movie and it almost lived up to the hype. The monster is awesome (del Toro was involved), the characters work, they balance the backstory really well (just enough information without dwelling on it), and the concept is great. We just wish there had been some more Native Americans in this movie about Native American myths… It’s a veeeery white movie.

In the Earth, dir: Ben Wheatley.
Mythical wood spirits and madness, probably exacerbated by mushrooms. Also British politeness leading to horrible consequences. The first half is great, the second half seems disconnected from the first. But amazing performances, especially by 1000 films blog favourite Reece Shearsmith. Not for everyone, but worth watching, even though it falls apart a bit towards the end. We enjoyed it.

The Night House, dir: David Bruckner
After her husband’s suicide, Beth starts to uncover his dark secrets in the lake house he built them. Fairly standard horror, but taken to the next level by an amazing Rebecca Hall! Also contains the most accurate picture of teachers out drinking ever captured on film. Recommended!

Titane, dir: Julia Ducournau
Winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes this year, Julia Ducournau’s Titane probably doesn’t need much of an introduction. We were warned it would be shocking and weird before we went to see it, but we didn’t really find it all that shocking. Or that weird, really. We did however enjoy the hell out of it. Catch this one in the cinema!

The Sadness, dir: Rob Jabbaz
In Taiwan, a virus has been largely ignored by authorities until a mutation turns all the infected into sex-crazed, sadistic killers. Whoops! There had to be a zombie-virus film this year (we’re surprised there weren’t more, actually), and The Sadness offers up all the over-the-top gore you could possibly ask for. There’s also a Me Too-message in there, so ticks a lot of Zeitgeist boxes. Two very enthusiastic thumbs up!

Alone With You, dir: Emily Bennett, Justin Brooks
Charlie is waiting for her (possibly psychologically abusive) girlfriend to come home, but finds herself trapped in her apartment as weird things begin to happen.
We watched this on our last day, and that may have been a mistake. Compared to the rest of the program, this wasn’t quite up to scratch. It might have worked as a 30 minute short, but there definitely wasn’t enough there for a full length feature. Meh.

The Night Shift (a.k.a. Ghost Mansion), dir: Jo Ba-Reun:
A Korean anthology about a cursed apartment building and some of the inhabitants who have lived (and usually died) there over the years.
This was cool, and became a bit of an audience favourite. The backstory of the building might have been a tad convoluted and not necessarily related to all the stories, but each short story worked really well. Check it out!

No Man of God, dir: Amber Sealey:
Not necessarily a horror, No Man of God tells the story of the relationship between Ted Bundy and the FBI analysist who worked with him after his arrest. It’s quiet and slow, but it packs a punch and is thoroughly engaging. Additionally, Elijah Wood manages to look 40 and 14 at the same time, and we love him all the more for it. Highly recommended!

The Advent Calendar, dir: Patrick Ridremont
Wheelchair bound Eva gets an old wooden advent calendar from a friend. A demonic calendar. With demons. Which was obvious from the look of it, but it’s surprising how many characters in horror movies have never actually seen a horror movie. Still, it was entertaining with a great concept and a cool monster. Perhaps a new Christmas tradition?

Slapface, dir: Jeremiah Kipp
Brothers Tom and Lucas live alone since the death of their mother. Tom tries to look after his little brother, but is not quite capable. And then Lucas befriends a monster in the woods… This is an excellent monster movie with compelling characters and sibling dynamics. The monster is also really good, and the movie is darker than you’d expect. Very good stuff!

Last Night in Soho, dir: Edgar Wright: Ho. Ly. Fuck. Yes. Yes please. Everyone must watch this. Stylish, intriguing and surprising, with a perfect cast and all the attention to detail we’ve come to expect from Edgar. We’re watching it again once it’s released in Norway.

Posted on March 28, 2021 by 1000filmsblog · 1 Comment

#294 Quatermass and the Pit

Watched: March 19 2021

Director: Roy Ward Baker

Starring: Andrew Keir, James Donald, Barbara Shelley, Julian Glover

Year: 1967

Runtime: 1h 37min

Hobbs End: a lone bobby is walking along the wet London street, making this the most British opening scene ever. Then: Ape men! Buried in the underground! This is gonna be goooood.