15 – 105mins – 2017
GAME NIGHT FRIGHT
Based (albeit sketchily) upon a real-life case from Madrid in 1991, this haunting new horror from [REC] co-director Paco Plaza takes full advantage of its “true crime” roots by beginning and concluding with title cards establishing the unique police case which investigated this occult-dabbling nightmare. Purportedly this was the first ever case in Spanish history to be officially attributed to “paranormal phenomena”.
18 – 117mins – 1977
CALL ME BY MY DEVIL NAME
Cynically made on-the-cheap by a new creative team after the two Williams (original Exorcist director Friedkin and author Peter-Blatty) flat-out refused to be involved in a follow-up, The Heretic was also beset by a mountain of production problems (its script was rewritten FIVE times DURING filming by uncredited writers; the final product scarcely resembles the first draft) and – rather predictably – it garnered near-universal derision upon release. Frankly, it’s a miracle that the franchise survived such a monumental blunder, but clearly the power of Pazuzu conquers all set-backs!
18+ – The Phoenix Theatre, London – tickets from £30.00
Official Website – Box Office (until 10th March 2018)
THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT REGAN
While the easily-petrified may turn their noses up at the very prospect of seeing a theatrical adaptation of one of the most chilling books/films of all time, there is no denying that with the bulk of the action taking place in a single location (a simple bedroom), that William Peter Blatty’s horror masterpiece lends itself remarkably well to the stage.
15 – 99mins – 2016
THE MYSTIFYING ORACLE
“This game was designed to make us scare ourselves.”
My questionable foray into Whaley House aside, my film viewing in the run-up to Halloween largely consisted of rewatching recent blu-rays I have bought (The Boy, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, The Witch) and first time viewings of genre classics I really should have seen sooner (A Nightmare on Elm Street, Child’s Play, Critters). So, on All Hallows’ Eve, I reserved a recent release I had long anticipated… what a fool I was!
18 – 87mins – 1985
THE DEADLY DINOSAUR
“Something is trying to get inside my body…”
Set five years after the original Nightmare (reviewed HERE), quickly-produced sequel Freddy’s Revenge sees high schooler Jesse Walsh (Mark Patton) and his family move onto Elm Street – and into the former home of dream-stalked survivor Nancy Thompson. Upon reading Nancy’s left-behind diary, Jesse is bedevilled with horrific night terrors and uncharacteristically violent outbursts. From beyond the grave, Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) needs a host body to carry out his revenge against the community’s youth.
15 – 110mins – 2017
TOY STORY OF TERROR
With my recent rewatch of 2014’s unfairly-maligned Annabelle (reviewed HERE) still haunting my memory, I tentatively headed to the cinema ALONE to see the new and far more warmly-received prequel to a prequel, directed this time around by David F. Sandberg, who recently sent shivers down my spine in short film-expanded horror feature Lights Out.
15 – 95mins – 2014
DEVIL’S WELCOME
“It cannot truly ever be destroyed…”
Set before but filmed after James Wan’s 2013 horror hit The Conjuring (the sequel of which I reviewed HERE), Annabelle is the creepy doll-centric spin-off which has recently been given a Creation story, now in cinemas nationwide, which itself is set before but filmed after Wish Upon director John R. Leonetti’s period frightener.
15 – 85mins – 2016
DISASTER PREPAREDNESS
Duped into adding this to my watch list by a poster which strongly resembles the promo art for Guillermo Del Toro’s The Strain TV series, my punctured hopes were somewhat re-inflated when the opening credits revealed that this lo-fi parasitic possession horror was directed by Catfish, Paranormal Activity 3 & 4 and Nerve helming duo Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost.
15 – 91mins – 2016
PARASITIC PURGE
Inception meets The Exorcist in this barmy WWE Studios and Blumhouse co-produced paranormal Aaron Eckhart vehicle, which sees the usually trim and hunky London Has Fallen star grizzled-chopped, lank-haired and wheelchair-bound as Dr. Seth Ember, the sole survivor of a road accident which sets him on a mission to track down “Maggie,” the driver of the car which robbed him of the use of his legs, his wife and young son.
15 – 80mins – 2017
GORE POWER
A horror anthology comprising four grisly vignettes directed by female filmmakers, XX is commendable for none of the quadruple strands overtly capitalising on the USP with dominant feminist themes. These are simply isolated genre tales which just so happen to have women at the helm. Even Sofia Carrillo’s kooky stop-motion animated wrap around featuring a walking dollhouse resuscitating a clockwork girl has no correlations to the embedded stories, simply establishing an eerie, off-kilter aura.
