The Best (and Worst) Horror Films You Haven't Heard Of
Librarian selects a few choice scares for Halloween
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Durham, NC -- Are there any horror movies out there still worth watching, films that haven’t been surrendered to the need to bring in a teen-age audience? This Halloween, Ken Wetherington says yes.
Wetherington is a movie archivist with Duke University Libraries. Lilly Library’s Film and Video collection includes more than 14,000 DVDs, 13,000 videocassettes and more than 500 16 mm films. They include some of the best, and worst, horror movies that you may never have heard of.
Below is a list of recommendations by Wetherington of horror movies for this Halloween:
Martin (1977) – An early George Romero film about a different kind of teen-age vampire.
The Body Snatcher (1945) – A little seen gem starring Boris Karloff based on the Robert Louis Stevenson story.
Audition (1999) – A Japanese horror film about a widower seeking a new wife. He makes a bad choice.
Black Night (2005) – Belgian director Oliver Smolders takes viewers into a nightmarish world of a disturbed entomologist.
The Company of Wolves (1984) – Director Neil Jordan tells a story that explains why Little Red Riding Hood should be scared of men.
The Innocents (1961) – Henry James’ Turn of the Screw is the basis of a haunting ghost story about spirits that may or many devil two young children and their governess.
And because some horror films are best when they are bad, here are some of Weatherington’s selections from the So Bad They’re Fun category.
Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959) – Edward Wood’s masterpiece and Bela Lugosi’s last role.
Incubus (1965) -- On a strange island inhabited by demons and spirits, a man battles the forces of evil. That man is William Shatner, and he’s speaking Esperanto.
Sleepy Hollow (1999) – Tim Burton didn’t stick too close to Washington Irving’s tale.
Cannibal Holocaust (1980) – Before the Blair Witch Project, this movie took the idea of using footage from a missing film team – in this case in the Amazon – to new depths.
Leprechaun (1993) – It doesn’t get worse than this movie, unless you are counting the many sequels it spawned. Look for Jennifer Aniston in an early role.
All of these films are available in Duke’s Lilly Library collection. Select one tonight and have fun.
