BLOOD LUST

NOSFERATU THE VAMPYRE (1979)

Jonathan Harker is sent away to Count Dracula's castle to sell him a house in Virna, where he lives. But Count Dracula is a vampire, an undead ghoule living of men's blood. Inspired by a photograph of Lucy Harker, Jonathan's wife, Dracula moves to Virna, bringing with him death and plague... An unusually contemplative version of Dracula, in which the vampire bears the cross of not being able to get old and die...

Film's original German title is Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht ("Nosferatu: Phantom of the Night"). It was conceived as a stylistic remake of the 1922 German Dracula adaptation, Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens.The film also marks the second of five collaborations between director Werner Herzog and actor Klaus Kinski, immediately followed by 1979's Woyzeck. The movie was shot simultaneously in German and English. An almost completely unrelated sequel, Vampire in Venice, was released in 1988 by director Augusto Caminito, with only Klaus Kinski returning to reprise his loosely connected role.

Director: Werner Herzog
Writter: Werner Herzog, Bram Stoker (novel)
Starring: Klaus Kinski, Isabelle Adjani, Bruno Ganz
Running Time: 107min
Country: West Germany, France
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeYpGsEdEZU

Rating: 9.5/10

MARTIN (1977)

Martin (John Amplas) sedates women with a syringe full of narcotics and then slices their wrists with a razor blade so he can drink their blood. Martin, who comes to live with his granduncle and cousin in the dying town of Braddock, Pennsylvania, has romantic monochrome visions of vampiric seductions and torch-lit mobs, but it is impossible to tell how seriously he takes them. Martin's granduncle, the superstitious old Tada Cuda, has reluctantly agreed to give Martin room and board as he is the closest living relative. Cuda is very much a Lithuanian Catholic who treats Martin like an Old World vampire and tries unsuccessfully to repel Martin with strings of garlic bulbs around the home and a crucifix...

The original cut of the film ran nearly 2 hours 45 minutes. Romero has confirmed that there is no known existing copy of this legendary cut at a recent screening of the film in New York City. Tom Savini also did the stunts (and special makeup effects) in the film. George A. Romero originally wanted the entire film to be in black and white, but the producers didn't want to risk this experiment and insisted that the majority of the film be in color. Much like Romero's Dawn of the Dead, Martin was edited for the European market, under the title of Wampyr. This version is only available in an Italian dubbed version. This version's score was performed by the band Goblin.

Director: George A. Romero
Writter: George A. Romero
Starring: John Amplas, Elyane Nadeau, Tom Savini
Running Time: 95min
Country: United States
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SwXSiGpCxc&feature=related

Rating: 8/10


THIRST (2009)

Sang-hyun, a priest working for a hospital, selflessly volunteers for a secret vaccine development project intended to eradicate a deadly virus. However, the virus eventually takes over the priest. He nearly dies, but makes a miraculous recovery by an accidental transfusion of vampire blood. He realizes his sole reason for living: the pleasures of the flesh...

Film is loosely based on the novel Thérèse Raquin by Émile Zola. It is the first mainstream Korean film to feature full-frontal adult male nudity (but not the first-ever commercially-released South Korean film to do so) The film won the Jury Prize at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.

Director: Park Chan-wook
Writter: Park Chan-wook, Jeong Seo-Kyeong
Starring: Song Kang-ho, Kim Ok-bin, Shin Ha-kyun
Running Time: 133 min, S. Korea: 145 min (director's cut), Canada: 148 min (Blu-ray)
Country: South Korea
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksHBkbERaJI

Rating: 8/10

THE KIDS ARE ALLRIGHT

THE OMEN (1976)

Robert and Katherine Thorn seem to have it all. They are happily married and he is the US Ambassador to Italy, but they want more than to have children. When Katharine has a stillborn child, Robert is approached by a priest at the hospital who suggests that they take a healthy newborn whose mother has just died in childbirth. Without telling his wife he agrees. After relocating to London, strange events - and the ominous warnings of a priest - lead him to believe that the child he took from that Italian hospital is evil incarnate...

Two endings were filmed. The original ending featured a child's casket with Robert and Katherine's, indicating Damien was also killed. But the studio head, Alan Ladd, Jr., said whilst The Omen was a great movie the first ending was a mistake: you cannot kill the devil! He gave Donner additional funds to refilm the ending. The site used for the Megiddo archaeological dig is a real dig, just not in Megiddo. It is located in the Old City of Jerusalem, on the southern end of the Temple Mount. An original score for the film was composed by Jerry Goldsmith, for which he received the only Oscar of his long career.
A remake, The Omen, was released on June 6, 2006.

Director: Richard Donner
Writter: David Seltzer
Starring: Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, David Warner, Billie Whitelaw
Running Time: 111min
Country: United States
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PuIBNLOeEU

Rating: 10/10


THE ORPHANAGE (2007)
(Spanish: El Orfanato)

Laura, a former orphan, raises her adopted son Simón together with her husband Carlos in an old house and former orphanage where she was raised. While at the orphanage Simón tells Laura that he has five invisible friends which she believes are a product of his active imagination. Laura decides to reopen the orphanage to cater for disabled children and throws a party. During the party Simón tries to persuade Laura to go and take a look at his friends cabin but she's too busy. Later on she sees a mysterious masked boy and realizes that Simón has also disappeared...

The film's script was written by Sergio G. Sánchez in 1996 and brought to the attention of Bayona in 2004. Bayona asked his long-time friend, director Guillermo del Toro, to help produce the film and to double its budget and filming time. Bayona wanted the film to capture the feel of 1970s Spanish cinema; he cast Geraldine Chaplin and Belén Rueda, who were later praised for their roles in the film.
It received critical acclaim from audiences in its native Spain, winning seven Goya awards. New Line Cinema bought the rights to the film for an American remake.

Director: Juan Antonio Bayona
Writter: Sergio G. Sánchez
Starring: Belén Rueda, Fernando Cayo, Roger Príncep, Geraldine Chaplin, Montserrat Carulla
Running Time: 105min
Country: Spain - Mexico
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUZQgqxIZ6s

Rating: 9/10


HANSEL AND GRETEL (2007)

When Eun-soo gets lost in a country road, he meets a mysterious girl and is led to her fairytale ike house in the middle of the forest. There, Eun-soo is trapped with the girl and her siblings who never age. Eun-soo finally discovers a way out which is written on a fairy tale book. But the book tells a story of none other than himself!

Director: Yim Pil-Sung
Writter: Kim Min Suk
Starring: Cheon Jeong-myeong, Eun Won-jae, Shim Eun-kyeong, Jin Ji-hye
Running Time: 117min
Country: South Korea
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlfnhVsbyeQ&playnext=1&list=PL8E4BCAB3B615465E

Rating: 7/10


THE OTHER (1972)

In the summer of 1935, 9-year-old twins Niles and Holland Perry live with their family on a Connecticut farm. Their loving grandmother Ada has taught them something called "the game." A number of accidents begin happening, and it seems to Niles that Holland is responsible. It is Ada who begins to see the truth, and she is the only one who can stop this macabre game of murder...

Adapted for film by Tom Tryon, from his bestselling novel. This is the only movie appearance by the twins Chris and Martin Udvarnoky, the featured stars. Despite the grotesque nature of the plot, composer Jerry Goldsmith elected to give the film a mostly upbeat score to reflect the childish innocence of its main character. More often than not, the film's darker scenes feature no music at all. Goldsmith's compositions for the film can be heard in a 22 minute suite found on the soundtrack album of The Mephisto Waltz. This CD was released 25 years after the release of the film.

Director: Robert Mulligan
Writter: Tom Tryon (also novel)
Starring: Uta Hagen, Diana Muldaur, Chris Udvarnoky, Martin Udvarnoky
Running Time: 108min
Country: United States
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMmMqWkudgA

Rating: 8/10

POOR POOR GIRL...

ROSEMARY'S BABY (1968)

A young couple move into a new apartment, only to be surrounded by peculiar neighbors and occurrences. When the wife becomes mysteriously pregnant, paranoia over the safety of her unborn child begins controlling her life...

Based on the bestselling 1967 novel by Ira Levin. The film received mostly positive reviews and earned numerous nominations and awards. The American Film Institute ranked the film 9th in their 100 Years…100 Thrills list. The official tagline of the film is "Pray for Rosemary's Baby."
For the scene where Rosemary is raped by Satan, Rosemary's Baby ranked #23 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments. Contrary to an urban legend, Anton LaVey did not play the role of Satan in the rape scene of Rosemary's Baby. In fact it was actor Clay Tanner, and no technical advisor was used.
Thirty years after he wrote Rosemary's Baby, Ira Levin wrote Son of Rosemary, a sequel which he dedicated to the film's star, Mia Farrow.
A 2009-2010 remake of Rosemary's Baby was briefly considered. The intended producers were Michael Bay, Andrew Form, and Brad Fuller.
The remake fell through in 2008.

Director: Roman Polanski
Writter: Roman Polanski, Book: Ira Levin
Starring: Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer, Maurice Evans, Ralph Bellamy
Running Time: 136min
Country: United States
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otPyEsObI1M

Rating: 10/10


THE GIRL NEXT DOOR (2007)

Inspired by true events, the film is set in 1958 and follows the story of two adolescent girls (Blythe Auffarth and Madeline Taylor) who, upon losing their parents in an accident, are sent to live with their Aunt Ruth (Blanche Baker), a sadistic psychopath. Unbeknownst to the residents of the small New Jersey suburb, the girls endure brutal punishment and torture at the hands of their aunt and three cousins.

Film adaptation of the 1989 novel of the same name by Jack Ketchum. It is loosely based on the true story of the murder of Sylvia Likens.
See also:
"An American Crime", which leans more in the direction of a documentary telling of the Likens story was scheduled for release at roughly the same time, but not released until a Showtime premiere in mid-2008.

Director: Gregory Wilson
Writter: Screenplay: Daniel Farrands, Philip Nutman, Novel: Jack Ketchum
Starring: Daniel Manche, Blanche Baker, Blythe Auffarth, Madeline Taylor
Running Time: 97min
Country: United States
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=typY725pjZ4

Rating: 7/10


I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (2010)

New York short story writer Jennifer Hills (Camille Keaton) rents an isolated cottage by a lake in the countryside to write her first novel. The arrival in town of the attractive and independent young woman attracts the attention of Johnny (Eron Tabor), the gas station manager, and Stanley (Anthony Nichols) and Andy (Gunter Kleemann), two unemployed youths who hang around the gas station. Jennifer receives a grocery delivery from Matthew (Richard Pace), who is shy and apparently mildly mentally retarded, and befriends him. Matthew is friends with the other three men and reports back to them about the beautiful woman he met, claiming he saw her breasts...

A remake of the controversial 1978 cult classic of the same name.

Director: Steven R. Monroe
Writter: Jeffrey Reddick
Starring: Sarah Butler, Chad Lindberg, Daniel Franzese, Rodney Eastman, Jeff Branson
Running Time: 107min
Country: United States
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3zDSzULMqM

Rating: 6/10


ORPHAN (2009)

Kate and John Coleman are rebuilding their troubled marriage. Kate had a drinking problem, but is in therapy and is doing well. She has been sober for one year. The couple decides to adopt a child. When they meet the nine-year-old Russian girl, Esther, at the St. Marina Orphanage, they immediately fall in love with the well-educated orphan...

The film's content, depicting a murderous adopted person, was not well received by the adoption community. The controversy caused filmmakers to change a line in one of their trailers from "It must be difficult to love an adopted child as much as your own," to "I don’t think Mommy likes me very much."

Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Writter: David Leslie Johnson, Story: Alex Mace
Starring: Vera Farmiga, Peter Sarsgaard, Isabelle Fuhrman, CCH Pounder, Jimmy Bennett
Running Time: 123min
Country: United States
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ywOPNNii9w

Rating: 8/10

LONG LIVE THE 70s! (2)

SUSPIRIA (1977)

During a night of rain and thunder, a young American ballet student, Suzy Bannion (Jessica Harper), lands in Munich to attend a prestigious dance academy in Freiburg. When she reaches the school, she witnesses another student, Pat Hingle (Eva Axén), fleeing the building in a panic. Unable to gain access herself, Suzy stays in town for the night. Pat arrives at a friend's apartment where she is attacked and murdered...

Soundtrack
The Italian rock music band Goblin composed most of the film's musical score. Goblin also composed music for several other films by Dario Argento. In the film's opening credits, they are incorrectly referred to as "The Goblins". The score for Suspiria is considered a unique masterpiece. Like Ennio Morricone's compositions for Sergio Leone, Goblin's score for Suspiria was created before the film was shot.
Goblin frontman Claudio Simonetti later formed a heavy metal band, Daemonia, and the 2001 Anchor Bay DVD release contains a video of the band playing a reworking of the Suspiria theme song. This DVD edition also contains the entire original soundtrack as a bonus CD, long out of print in North America.
Goblin's main title theme for Suspiria was named as one of the best songs released between 1977 and 1979 in The Pitchfork 500: Our Guide to the Greatest Songs from Punk to the Present.

Director: Dario Argento
Producer: Claudio Argento
Writter: Dario Argento, Daria Nicolodi
Starring: Jessica Harper, Stefania Casini
Running Time: 92 min(Rated), 98 minutes(Unrated)
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8zbV_fFkYs&feature=fvw

Rating: 9/10


THE LEGEND OF THE HELL HOUSE (1973)

Physicist Lionel Barrett is enlisted by an eccentric millionaire, Mr Deutsch, to make an investigation into "survival after death" in "the one place where it has yet to be refuted". This is the Belasco House: the "Mount Everest of haunted houses," originally owned by the notorious "Roaring Giant" Emeric Belasco, a six-foot-five perverted millionaire and supposed murderer, who disappeared soon after a massacre at his home. The house is believed to be haunted by numerous spirits; the victims of Belasco's twisted and sadistic desires. Accompanying Barrett are his wife, Ann, as well as two mediums: a mental medium and Spiritualist minister, Florence Tanner, and a physical medium, Ben Fischer, who is also the sole survivor of an earlier investigation. The rationalist Barrett is rudely skeptical of Tanner's Christian faith and spiritual beliefs, asserting that there is nothing but unfocused electromagnetic energy in the house...

Dialogue from the film has been sampled in popular songs by the bands Anaal Nathrakh, Skinny Puppy and Orbital.

Director: John Hough
Producer: Albert Fennell, Norman T. Herman, James H. Nicholson(executive), Susan Hart (executive)
Writter: Novel & screenplay: Richard Matheson
Starring: Pamela Franklin, Roddy McDowall, Clive Revill, Gayle Hunnicutt, Roland Culver
Running Time: 95min
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MDF9vZVd_s

Rating: 7,5/10


THE WICKER MAN (1973)

Police Sergeant Howie (Edward Woodward) is sent an anonymous letter recommending that he investigate the disappearance of a young girl, Rowan Morrison, on the remote Hebridean island of Summerisle (a fictional island apparently inspired by the real-life Summer Isles of the Inner Hebrides).
He flies to the island and during his investigations discovers that the entire population participates in a Celtic neopaganism cult, believing in re-incarnation, worshipping the sun and engaging in fertility rituals and sexual magic in order to appease immanent natural forces.

Director: Robin Hardy
Producer: Peter Snell
Writter: Anthony Shaffer
Starring: Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee, Diane Cilento, Ingrid Pitt, Britt Ekland
Running Time: 88min
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FdV-O8o7ok

Rating: 8,5/10


THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT (1972)

Mari Collingwood (Sandra Peabody) plans to celebrate her seventeenth birthday by attending a concert with her friend, Phyllis Stone (Lucy Grantham). Her parents (Gaylord St James and Cynthia Carr) express concern both at the band and Mari's friendship with Phyllis. They let her go, giving her a peace symbol necklace as a gift before she leaves. Phyllis and Mari go to the city for the concert. On the way, they hear a news report on the car radio of a recent prison escape, involving violent criminals by the names of Krug Stillo(David Hess), a rapist and serial killer, his son Junior (Marc Sheffler), Sadie (Jeramie Rain), a psychopath and Fred "Weasel" Podowski (Fred J. Lincoln) a child molester, peeping tom and murderer. After the concert, Mari and Phyllis stroll the streets, seeking someone who might sell marijuana. They find Junior, who leads them back to an apartment, where they are immediately trapped by the criminals. Phyllis tries to escape, then tries to reason with the criminals to let her go and is punched in the stomach and raped...

The story is based on the 13th century Swedish ballad "Töres dotter i Wänge", which was also adapted into the 1960 Swedish film The Virgin Spring, directed by Ingmar Bergman.

Director: Wes Craven
Producer: Sean S. Cunningham
Writter: Wes Craven
Starring: Sandra Peabody, Lucy Grantham, David Hess, Fred J. Lincoln, Jeramie Rain
Running Time: 91min
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8W9KPhmYYtg

Rating: 7,5/10

LONG LIVE THE 70's! (1)

DON'T LOOK NOW (1973)

Don't Look Now tells the story of a couple, Laura (Julie Christie) and John Baxter (Donald Sutherland) whose young daughter has recently drowned in a tragic accident at home. Their grief puts a sudden pressure on their marriage.
Seeking a change of scenery and an opportunity to work through their loss, they take a "working vacation" to Venice, where John has been contracted to restore an ancient church. While John attends to this project Laura is befriended by two strange elderly sisters, one of whom is blind and claims to be in psychic contact with the Baxters' dead daughter. Laura is drawn to the sisters, but John finds their influence on her unsettling and suspects them of deceit. The ensuing drama is set against a subplot involving a serial killer who has eluded the police. John catches glimpses of a child-like figure in red raingear who resembles his dead daughter, although the figure vanishes whenever John pursues it. He begins to question his own sanity and that of his wife as Laura appears to be completely under the command of the sisters, who in turn suggest that John shares their gift of a "second sight"...

Director: Nicolas Roeg
Producer: Peter Katz
Writter: Screenplay:Allan Scott, Chris Bryant, Story: Daphne du Maurier
Starring: Julie Christie, Donald Sutherland
Running Time: 110min
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYICwstBwnM

Rating: 10/10


THE TENANT (1976)
(French: Le Locataire)

Trelkowski (Polanski), a quiet and inconspicuous man, rents an apartment in France where the previous tenant, Simone Choule, attempted to commit suicide by throwing herself out of the window and through a pane of glass. He goes to visit her in the hospital, but finds her all bandaged up and unable to talk; she instead lets out a disturbing cry upon seeing him before she dies afterwards. Trelkowski meets Simone's friend, Stella (Adjani), at the hospital. He tries to comfort her but dares not say that he never knew Simone, pretending instead to be another friend of hers. They leave together and go out for a drink and a Bruce Lee movie Enter The Dragon, where they fondle each other. However outside the theater they part ways.
As Trelkowski occupies the apartment he is soon unreasonably chastised by his neighbors and his landowner Monsieur Zy (Douglas) for hosting a party with his friends, making too much noise in general, not joining in on a petition against another neighbor, etc. Trelkowski attempts to adapt, but is himself disturbed by the frequent sight of his neighbors standing blankly in the toilet room (which he can see from his own window) and the discovery of a hole in his apartment with a human tooth stashed inside...

Director: Roman Polanski
Producer: Hercules Bellville
Writter: Gérard Brach, Roman Polanski, Novel: Roland Topor
Starring: Roman Polanski, Isabelle Adjani, Melvyn Douglas, Jo Van Fleet
Running Time: 125min
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmhIMbdecEU

Rating: 10/10


THE CHANGELING (1980)

The story is based upon events experienced by writer Russell Hunter while he was living in the Henry Treat Rogers Mansion of Denver, Colorado.

Scott stars as Dr. John Russell, a composer living in New York City, who moves cross-country to Washington state following the tragic deaths of his wife and daughter in a traffic accident while on a winter vacation in upstate New York. In suburbanSeattle, Russell rents a large, old, and eerie-looking Victorian-era mansion and begins piecing his life back together. However, Dr. Russell soon discovers that he has unexpected company in his new home when a poltergeist, the ghost of a murdered child, haunts the house...

Director: Peter Medak
Producer: Chessman Park Productions, Tiberius Film Productions
Writter: Russell Hunter, William Gray, Diana Maddox
Starring: George C. Scott, Trish VanDevere, Melvyn Douglas, John Colicos
Running Time: 115min
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jZDq8sK6a8

Rating: 9,5/10



THE BROOD (1979)

The Brood was named 88th on the "Chicago Film Critics Association's 100 Scariest Movies of All-Time". The film was Cronenberg's first major success.
A novelization was written by Richard Starks.

An unconventional psychotherapist (Oliver Reed) has created a technique called "psychoplasmics." He encourages his patients to "go all the way through it" and allow their negative emotions (rage, fear, etc.) to cause their bodies to undergo (usually radical) physical change. A man who was verbally abused by his father develops welts over his body as a way of expressing his pain. Another patient develops lymphatic cancer, supposedly a manifestation of his self-hatred. In the case of the principal characters, it causes a woman, Nola Carveth (Samantha Eggar), to parthenogenetically birth strange, mutated children and, via a telepathic bond, have them act out whatever negative emotions the mother is feeling at the time...

Director: David Cronenberg
Producer: Claude Heroux
Writter: David Cronenberg
Starring: Oliver Reed, Samantha Eggar, Art Hindle
Running Time: 92min
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSfZunKpRVM

Rating: 9/10