It's October, so I'll be posting about my favourite supernatural/ gothic/ horror films and TV programmes for #31DaysOfHalloween.
Thread below.
1/31 THE DEVIL RIDES OUT (1968).
Rich socialites worshipping the devil in the English countryside. A fine occult thriller by @hammerfilms based on the novel by Dennis Wheatley, featuring Christopher Lee in his favourite role.
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2/31 DEAD OF NIGHT (1945)
An architect arrives at a remote mansion with the feeling that he's been there before and that his visit has ended in violence.
An anthology horror film with a linking narrative and an effective ending that draws a perfect circle.
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3/31 THE STONE TAPE (1972)
A group of researchers accidentally unleash ancient terrors in an old house, realising that its stone walls have recorded traumatic events from the past.
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4/31 TASTE OF FEAR (1961)
A young heiress arrives at her estranged father's estate on the French Riviera. She's told he's away, but her horrifying visions suggest something's amiss.
The perfect woman-in-peril thriller. Tense, stylish, and perverse.
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5/31 I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE (1943)
A Caribbean-set reimagining of Jane Eyre that combines Val Lewton's exquisite melancholy with Tourneur's haunting, expressionist atmosphere. Dreamlike, punctuated by uncanny images, breathtakingly romantic.
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6/31 QUATERMASS AND THE PIT (1967)
Work at the London Underground uncovers ancient skeletons and an alien spacecraft with a dormant energy that could destroy humanity.
Nigel Kneale's compelling classic blends sci-fi, archaeology, horror, and folklore.
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7/31 THE SEVENTH VICTIM (1943)
When searching for her missing sister, a woman uncovers a cult of devil worshippers in Greenwich Village.
A metaphysical Gothic noir infused with Val Lewton's singular melancholy.
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8/31 LOST HEARTS (1973)
A young orphan sent to his older cousin's remote country house has visions of a girl and a boy with a lacerated chest.
Uncanny images, misty tones, and a spectral soundtrack that captures the eeriness of the original tale.
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9/31 NIGHT OF THE DEMON (1957)
A skeptical professor discovers that his colleague's strange death is connected to occult practices.
Ancient evil emanating from ominous landscapes in Tourneur's adaptation of M.R. James's 'Casting the Runes'.
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10/31 THE INNOCENTS (1961)
A governess suspects her two pupils are possessed by malignant spirits.
The eeriness of James's novel is amplified by the masterful composition and by the psychosexual undercurrent in Kerr's unsettling performance.
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11/31 EYES WITHOUT A FACE (1960)
A famous surgeon kidnaps beautiful women to transplant their facial tissues onto the face of his disfigured daughter.
A haunting and unsettling masterpiece with some gruesome moments, yet poetic and oddly beautiful.
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12/31 THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES (1959)
Holmes & Watson are hired to protect Sir Henry Baskerville from a family curse in the shape of a ghostly hound.
The most gothic story in the Holmesian Canon, enriched by lurid moments and the presence of Lee & Cushing.
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13/31 THE REPTILE (1966)
A remote Cornish village is shaken by a series of strange deaths that appear to be the work of a monstrous snake.
Atmospheric slow burner that reinterprets the werewolf legend introducing elements of "exotic" evil and mysticism.
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14/31 NIGHT OF THE EAGLE (1962)
When a skeptical professor of Psychology forces his wife to destroy her black magic charms, his luck begins to turn.
Peter Wyndgarde is terrific as the rational man rendered powerless in the face of supernatural forces.
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15/31 THE BLOOD ON SATAN'S CLAW (1971)
The unearthing of a skull in a field unleashes evil supernatural forces that threaten a 17th century English village.
Claustrophobic, with a rare atmosphere of malevolence. Evil seems to seep through the soil.
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16/31 THE GHOST AND MRS MUIR (1947)
A young widow and her daughter move into a seaside cottage haunted by the ghost of a sea captain.
Part ghost story, part romance; melancholic, yet humorous. One of the most charming films ever made.
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17/31 LA BELLE ET LA BÊTE (1946)
A beautiful woman takes her father's place as the prisoner of a Beast and ends up falling for her captor.
Cocteau's dreamlike adaptation of the most gothic of fairytales is full of mystery and desire; dark and weirdly erotic.
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18/31 YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES (1985)
Teenage Holmes investigates a series of strange deaths and stumbles upon an Osiris-worshipping cult that practises human sacrifice.
Full-blown Imperial Gothic meets angsty Holmes. A childhood favourite that still obsesses me.
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19/31 THE WATCHER IN THE WOODS (1980)
When an American girl and her family move into a English country house, strange happenings hint at the disappearance of the owner's daughter several years ago.
Eerie Disney Gothic with the imposing Bette Davis.
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20/31 DRACULA (1958)
The battle between Lee, the deadly predator dressed as Gothic hero, brimming with dark eroticism, and Cushing, graceful, principled, reassuring. Full of raw energy. Forever my favourite vampire film.
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21/31 THE PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES (1966)
A professor of Medicine and his daughter arrive at a remote Cornish village to identify a mysterious plague.
Folk horror, occult and gothic romance elements for this Cornwall-set delight, with Morell at his most loveable.
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22/31 ROBIN REDBREAST (1970)
A script editor who moves into a remote rural house uncovers a sinister plot with echoes of ancient rituals.
Intelligent and unnerving, this is Frazerian folk horror at its finest.
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23/31 REBECCA (1940)
A timid young woman is swept off her feet by a rich, brooding widower, but his estate is haunted by the presence of his dead first wife.
An intoxicating ghost story without a ghost, an oppressive psychodrama full of Expressionist shadows.
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24/31 THE WICKER MAN (1973)
A repressed policeman arrives at a remote Scottish island to investigate the disappearance of a girl.
Eerie, powerful, totemic. Superimposing horrific happenings over beautiful landscapes, this is the film that defined folk horror.
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25/31 THE AWAKENING (2011)
A debunker of the supernatural is summoned to a boarding school to investigate the death of a boy terrorised by a ghost.
A supernatural mystery that reflects on the scars and trauma left by WW1 and the nature of belief.
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26/31 THE TROLLENBERG TERROR (1958)
A mind-reader and her sister, a UN troubleshooter, and a journalist investigate mysterious accidents occurring near a resort on the Swiss mountains.
Charming characters, radioactive mist, and a slithering creature.
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27/31 THE COMPANY OF WOLVES (1984)
"Never stray from the path, never eat a windfall apple, and never trust a man whose eyebrows meet in the middle."
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28/31 A PATTERN OF ROSES (1983)
A teenager is haunted by the spirit of a boy who died in his parents' cottage.
Comforting ghost story directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark. Makes perfect autumnal viewing.
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29/31 THE NAME OF THE ROSE (1986)
A monk and his apprentice investigate the grisly deaths of several brothers at a remote abbey.
A gloomy, grotesque, Gothic whodunnit set in the Dark Ages that manages to preserve some of the erudition of the original novel.
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