But there was a complication. When you watch 120 horror movies from the 1960s and 70s \u2013 as I did last year \u2013 there\u2019s not a lot left to choose from. So this year I removed the time fences and watched anything I hadn\u2019t seen before, or hadn\u2019t seen in so long I couldn\u2019t remember much about it.<\/p>\n
Out of another long list of movies, I eliminated the ones that weren\u2019t good enough to recommend, the newer ones that were too obvious (though I will say I loved Abigail<\/em>), and the ones that are too hard to find. From that list I picked my 13 favorites.<\/p>\n All of these can be found on either Tubi (free with ads) or Amazon Prime (for rent). Movies come and go on streaming services all the time. JustWatch.com<\/a> is a reliable and frequently updated source for what can be found where.<\/p>\n And now here are my 13 favorite horror movies of the past year.<\/p>\n Director Jes\u00fas Franco is best known for barely-watchable exploitation movies. Count Dracula<\/em> is proof that with enough time, money, and acting talent, Franco could make very good movies.<\/p>\n Count Dracula<\/em> was filmed in Spain and stars Christopher Lee as the Count. By this time Lee had played Dracula in three Hammer films and would go on to do four more, but he was already getting tired of the questionable scripts that gave him very few lines. He wanted to play Dracula as Bram Stoker had written him. This was his opportunity.<\/p>\n This is one of the most faithful adaptations of the novel ever made. Until Bram Stoker\u2019s Dracula<\/em> in 1992, it was the only version that showed the Count transforming from old in Transylvania to young in England.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, while Count Dracula<\/em> had a bigger budget than many of Franco\u2019s films, it still didn\u2019t have a lot. Despite the excellent performance by Christopher Lee, it can\u2019t compare to the \u201cBig Four\u201d Dracula films<\/a>. But if you\u2019re a fan of classic vampire movies, it\u2019s definitely worth watching.<\/p>\n Jean Rollin is another director who made a lot of movies of questionable quality. The Iron Rose<\/em> is one of his best. It\u2019s the story of a young man and a young woman who meet at a wedding. They leave together and eventually begin to explore a large cemetery (it was filmed in Cimeti\u00e8re de La Madeleine d\u2019Amiens in France). And then they get lost, and it gets dark, and they begin to change.<\/p>\n This movie is slow, and it\u2019s made even slower by the need to read subtitles (it\u2019s in French). But it\u2019s quite interesting, and it\u2019s a good study of what can happen to people when they\u2019re placed in stressful situations.<\/p>\n Are the supernatural elements real, or are they the product of distressed minds? Perhaps it\u2019s both \u2013 the movie leaves it to the viewer\u2019s imagination.<\/p>\n This is another French movie. A busload of tourists has to make an unplanned stop at the castle of a family where the first-born daughter is cursed to be a succubus. Each of the guests embody one of the Seven Deadly Sins, and one by one, they fall to the succubus. Will any of them survive?<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t the most original movie on this list, but I found it quite entertaining.<\/p>\n A woman hires an occultist to curse the people who kidnapped and murdered her son. She rents a house in the countryside \u2013 most of the movie is just the woman and the magician doing intense ritual preparation. They attempt the Abramelin Rite<\/a>, a piece of ceremonial magic that dates back at least to the early 1600s and was part of Aleister Crowley\u2019s practice.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not a ceremonial magician \u2013 I can\u2019t vouch for its authenticity. But it looks and sounds authentic, and I see a lot of people on the internet who say it\u2019s close even though it\u2019s not complete.<\/p>\n I was somewhat disappointed with this movie until the ending, which absolutely floored me. If you\u2019re interested in this sort of magic, there\u2019s nothing like it.<\/p>\n This is one of the more unusual vampire movies I\u2019ve seen. It\u2019s in Italian and it\u2019s directed by Corrado Farina, who also directed Baba Yaga<\/em> (1973) which was #4 on last year\u2019s Streaming Revenge list. It stars Adolfo Celi, best known for playing the Bond villain Emil Largo in Thunderball<\/em> (1965).<\/p>\n Ever since Dr. Polidori wrote The Vampyre<\/em> in the same storytelling contest that produced Mary Shelley\u2019s Frankenstein<\/em>, vampires have been seen as elite nobility sucking the life out of ordinary people. They Have Changed Their Face<\/em> (original Italian title Hanno cambiato faccia<\/em>) updates that for the 1970s. Celi\u2019s Giovanni Nosferatu lives in a remote castle, but instead of being a count or a prince, he\u2019s the CEO of a corporation that seeks to control the world.<\/p>\n Comparisons to Elon Musk are inevitable. How accurate those comparisons are remains to be seen.<\/p>\n When you\u2019ve seen all the good movies that fit your preferences, you have a choice. Either you keep digging deeper into that same genre and are constantly reminded that some movies are obscure for a very good reason, or you try something different and hope you like it.<\/p>\n Bliss<\/em> is the story of a painter whose creativity has dried up, leaving her on the verge of losing her livelihood. Out of desperation and frustration she turns to some unusual drugs. The drugs bring her brilliant inspiration, but with some wild side effects\u2026 and with a thirst for blood.<\/p>\n This is not a movie I expected to like \u2013 it\u2019s full of blood and gore. But as a writer, I related strongly to the feeling of desperation that can set in when the words just won\u2019t come (which is one of the reasons I\u2019ve never seriously considered quitting my day job). Beyond that, something about it grabbed me. It\u2019s not a great story, but the visuals and the themes just work.<\/p>\n And it was far better than another badly-written B-movie from the 1970s.<\/p>\n And then there are the ones that look like yet another badly-written B-movie but when you watch them, they turn out to be pretty good.<\/p>\n I Like Bats<\/em> was made in Poland during the last years of domination by the Soviet Union. It\u2019s not political, but it\u2019s also not the kind of movie that typically gets made in an authoritarian state. It\u2019s a look at a vampire who wants to be cured, but who mainly wants to be loved.<\/p>\n Some reviewers call this a comedy \u2013 I think that\u2019s a mischaracterization, even though it plays rather loosely with vampire lore, and the ending is more cute than scary.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re looking for a modern-ish vampire movie that\u2019s different, give it a try.<\/p>\n This movie is based on the 1967 novel of the same name by Joan Lindsay. It\u2019s set in a girls\u2019 boarding school in Australia in 1900, where most \u2013 but not all \u2013 of the students go on a Valentine\u2019s Day picnic to Hanging Rock.<\/p>\n And then some of the students disappear.<\/p>\n [To be clear \u2013 because I wasn\u2019t clear when I first heard about Picnic at Hanging Rock<\/em> \u2013 Hanging Rock is a real place<\/a>, but the novel and the movie are entirely fictional.]<\/p>\n What happened? Who\u2019s to blame? What happens to the survivors? What happens to those who look for the girls? What happens to the school when parents start pulling their kids out because they fear something similar may happen to them?<\/p>\n There are hints that something supernatural is at work, but no conclusive evidence, even by horror movie standards. Mainly this is a very intense psychological drama.<\/p>\n The movie was a critical success and it did very well at the box office. It was voted the best Australian film of all time in a 1996 poll<\/a> of filmmakers and critics.<\/p>\n I hate to compare an original to a remake, but it\u2019s hard not to do that in this case. I\u2019ve seen the 1982 remake with Nastassja Kinski several times. This was the first time I watched the 1942 original with Simone Simon. As you would expect, the original is missing the sex and violence of the post-Hays Code remake.<\/p>\n But there\u2019s something to be said for subtlety.<\/p>\n An immigrant from Serbia fears she will turn into a panther if she becomes intimately involved. But she falls in love with a man, who is attracted to her and also to a co-worker. Things get intense. Does she really turn into a panther?<\/p>\n There\u2019s something to be said for subtlety.<\/p>\n Cat People<\/em> did well enough it got a sequel: The Curse of the Cat People<\/em> in 1944. I have not seen it, but Wikipedia says<\/a> it\u2019s \u201conly tangentially related to its predecessor\u201d despite having several of the same characters and actors.<\/p>\n This film is loosely based on the Bram Stoker novel of the same name first published in 1911. It\u2019s directed by Ken Russell, who is best known for The Devils<\/em> (1971, which I want to see but can\u2019t find anywhere), Altered States<\/em> (1980), and Gothic<\/em> (1986, which I did see this year but didn\u2019t like well enough to put on this list).<\/p>\n The story is based on the legend of the Lambton Worm<\/a>, and tacks on Amanda Donohoe as a priestess of a pre-Roman snake cult who\u2019s angry that Christians built a convent on the site of her former temple. And she\u2019s eager to feed sacrifices to her God.<\/p>\n This is not a film to be studied in depth. This is a movie to be enjoyed, ideally with a glass of wine or a not-so-wee dram of Scotch.<\/p>\n Have you seen the memes with a young girl about to be burned at the stake and she\u2019s sticking her tongue out at her inquisitors? This movie is where that picture comes from.<\/p>\n Valerie and Her Week of Wonders<\/em> was made in Czechoslovakia and is based on the 1935 Czech novel by V\u00edt\u011bzslav Nezval, which I have but haven\u2019t read yet. Valerie has her first period and sets out on a week of discovery. What happened to her mother\u2019s earrings? Why is everyone trying to control her and her sexuality? And who is her father?<\/p>\n There are a few brief scenes of underage nudity, but this is not an exploitation film. This a beautiful, fascinating, and very surrealist film. Do not expect a straightforward story. Do expect an enjoyable experience.<\/p>\n Jos\u00e9phine de La Baume plays Djuna, a vampire who falls in love\/lust with a writer she meets at a video store. Despite her best intentions, she turns him. They begin a new life together until Mimi (played by Roxane Mesquida) shows up. Mimi is Djuna\u2019s wild child vampire sister who likes to stir things up. Things get complicated.<\/p>\n Kiss of the Damned<\/em> was written and directed by Xan Cassavetes. If you\u2019re of a certain age, you may remember her father John Cassavetes, an actor and director best known for playing Mia Farrow\u2019s husband in Rosemary\u2019s Baby<\/em>.<\/p>\n This is one of the better modern vampire movies I\u2019ve seen. In addition to being entertaining it\u2019s a commentary on addiction, lust, and life in general\u2026 and on the importance of being respectful to the domestic staff.<\/p>\n And speaking of modern vampire movies, how did I go 11 years without seeing Only Lovers Left Alive<\/em>?<\/p>\n When I was young, one of the big attractions of vampirism was immortality. As I\u2019ve gotten older, I\u2019ve come to realize that living forever (or at least<\/a>, living forever without breaks) would be as much of a curse as a blessing.<\/p>\n Tom Hiddleston plays Adam, a vampire who\u2019s getting tired of living. Tilda Swinton plays Eve, his fellow vampire and sometimes-lover who\u2019s concerned about his well-being (writer and director Jim Jarmusch insists the names aren\u2019t biblical and he didn\u2019t make the connection until after filming had started). As in Kiss of the Damned<\/em>, there\u2019s a wild child vampire sister who makes things complicated.<\/p>\n My notes from my first watching say \u201cslow but brilliant.\u201d I understand why it isn\u2019t better known, and why it took me so long to finally watch it.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s visually amazing and emotionally deep. I rented it on Amazon \u2013 I\u2019m going to have to buy it on Blu-ray so I can watch it semi-regularly in the future.<\/p>\n 31 Movies for Halloween<\/a> (2016)<\/p>\n 13 Horror Movies I\u2019m Watching This October<\/a> (2019)<\/p>\n The Four Great Draculas<\/a> (2022)<\/p>\n![\"photo](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2024\/09\/movie-rack-09.27.24-01-scaled.jpg\")
<\/a>13. Count Dracula (1970)<\/h2>\n
12. The Iron Rose (1973)<\/h2>\n
11. The Devil\u2019s Nightmare (1971)<\/h2>\n
10. A Dark Song (2016)<\/h2>\n
9. They Have Changed Their Face (1971)<\/h2>\n
8. Bliss (2019)<\/h2>\n
7. I Like Bats (1985)<\/h2>\n
6. Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)<\/h2>\n
5. Cat People (1942)<\/h2>\n
4. Lair of the White Worm (1988)<\/h2>\n
3. Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970)<\/h2>\n
2. Kiss of the Damned (2012)<\/h2>\n
1. Only Lovers Left Alive (2013)<\/h2>\n
Previous horror movie lists<\/h2>\n