Subgenre Sampler

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Scream (2022): Dir. Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett
Feat. Melissa Barrera, Mason Gooding, Jenna Ortega…; The fifth installment in the SCREAM series of slasher films, acting as a direct sequel to 2011's SCREAM 4, and the first to be made without the late…
Silent Night (2021): Dir. Camille Griffin
Feat. Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Roman Griffin Davis…; A grinch of a Christmas movie that on the surface looks like LOVE ACTUALLY but has a premise as black as coal. A bunch of…
How To Deter A Robber (2020): Dir. Maria Bissell
Feat. Vanessa Marano, Benjamin Papac, Abbie Cobb; Endearing horror comedy set in a desolate town in Northern Wisconsin at Christmas, where a stubborn young woman and her sweet but naive boyfriend…
Parasite (2019): Dir. Joon-ho Bong
Feat. Kang-ho Song, Sun-kyun Lee, Yeo-jeong Cho…; An unemployed family with a bleak future systematically ingratiate themselves into the lives of a wealthy family in this brilliant,…
Mom and Dad (2017): Dir. Brian Taylor
Feat. Nicolas Cage, Selma Blair; Pitch–black horror–comedy featuring Nicolas Cage in a wonderfully crazed performance alongside an impressive Selma Blair as parents who…
Aaaaaaaah! (2015): Dir. Steve Oram
Feat. Steve Oram, Julian Barratt, Lucy Honigman…; A twisted cult comedy which confronts the human condition by imagining what life would be like if humans were apes. Written and directed by Steve…
Guest, The (2014): Dir. Adam Wingard
Feat. Dan Stevens, Sheila Kelley, Maika Monroe; The director of YOU'RE NEXT returns with another entertainingly lurid thriller about a returning soldier ingratiating himself to a family whose son…
Inside No. 9 (TV Series) (2014-2018): Dir. David Kerr, Guillem Morales
Feat. Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith; CONTRABAND TITLE. Series 1–4 are not legally available for sale, rent or trade in New Zealand unless submitted for approval to the NZ Office of…
Big Bad Wolves (2013): Dir. Aharon Keshales, Navot Papushado
Feat. Lior Ashkenazi, Tzahi Grad; A bold, gruesome satire on Israel's militarised culture, this black comedy about three Israeli men who abduct a school teacher upon suspicion that he…
Cheap Thrills (2013): Dir. E.L. Katz
Feat. Pat Healy, Ethan Embry, Sara Paxton…; A devilishly effective black comedy about a pair of old friends who enter into an increasingly bloody game of one–upmanship with a wealthy…
Lesson of Evil (Lesson of the Evil) (2012): Dir. Takashi Miike
Feat. Yamada Takayuki, Mitsuru Fukikoshi, Hideaki Ito; Another manga adaption from director cult Takashi Miike based on the seinen manga on the same name. A successful English teacher who is secretly a…
Burke and Hare (2010): Dir. John Landis
Feat. Simon Pegg, Andy Serkis, Tom Wilkinson…; An oddball comedic take on the infamous grave robbing duo, with Serkis and Pegg supported by a terrific ensemble of British comedic thesps. While…
Drag Me To Hell (2009): Dir. Sam Raimi
Feat. Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Lorna Raver; Sam Raimi returns to his horror roots in this twisted tale of a loan officer (Lohman) who has three days to rid herself of a deadly curse placed upon…
Must Love Death (2009): Dir. Andreas Schaap
Feat. Jeff Burrell, Sami Loris, Manon Kahle…; Perversely romantic torture porn with a suicidal man joining up with what he assumes to be a group of like–minded individuals; unluckily for…
Psychoville (TV Series) (2009): Dir. Matt Lipsey
Feat. Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith, Dawn French…; Blacky comic sitcom written by and starring The League of Gentlemen members Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton, who each play numerous bizarre…
Run Bitch Run! (2009): Dir. Joseph Guzman
Feat. Christina DeRosa, Cheryl Lyone, Peter Tahoe; Cheap and nasty pastiche of old school grindhouse flicks that sees two Catholic schoolgirls seek brutal revenge on their attacker.
Cottage, The (2008): Dir. Paul Andrew Williams
Feat. Andy Serkis, Reece Shearsmith; Splattery horror–comedy in the vein of SHAUN OF THE DEAD follows two mismatched brothers on a bungled kidnapping attempt of a gangster’s…
Dance of the Dead (2008): Dir. Gregg Bishop
Feat. Jared Kusnitz, Greyson Chadwick, Zoe Myers…; Lean and mean zombie comedy about a plague of living dead who crash the high school prom and the dateless losers who appear to be the only ones who…
Otis (2008): Dir. Tony Krantz
Feat. Daniel Stern, Illeana Douglas, Bostin Christopher…; A cult favourite in the making, this outrageous black comedy is an assuredly twisted, dark and laugh–out–loud funny satire of vigilantism…
Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008): Dir. Darren Lynn Bousman
Feat. Alexa Vega, Paul Sorvino, Anthony Head…; Gore–soaked goth opera set in a future necropolis where worldwide organ failure has necessitated a global organ–selling empire with an…
Dead and Deader (2007): Dir. Patrick Dinhut
Feat. Dean Cain, Guy Torry, Susan Ward; A referential zombie comedy that is knowingly unoriginal, but serves its subgenre well by splatting the target more often than most in both laughs…
Planet Terror (2007): Dir. Robert Rodriguez
Feat. Rose McGowan, Freddy Rodríguez, Josh Brolin…; Robert Rodriguez's half – and quite possibly, the better half – of the "Grindhouse" double bill (with Quentin Tarantino's DEATH PROOF),…
Signal, The (2007): Dir. David Bruckner, Dan Bush, Jacob Gentry
Feat. Anessa Ramsey, Justin Welborn, A.J. Bowen…; This promising triptych of horror stories centres on a mysterious viral signal which, via electronic transmissions, sends those exposed to its…
Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007): Dir. Tim Burton
Feat. Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman…; Johnny Depp is centre stage once again for dir. Tim Burton in this fiendish screen rendition of Stephen Sondheim's twisted musical about a…
Teeth (2007): Dir. Mitchell Lichtenstein
Feat. Jess Weixler; Squeamishly entertaining horror centred on a sweet high school virgin who discovers she has a set of mutant teeth between her legs, the perfect…
Belief (2006): Dir. Phil Davison; Low–budget grinder from local horror up'n'comer Phil Davison (KUNG FU VAMPIRE KILLERS) which juggles comedy and DIY terror around the tale of…
Final Destination 3 (2006): Dir. James Wong
Feat. Mary Elizabeth Winstead; Workmanlike third entry in the horror series known best for its wildly inventive death sequences, this time setting up a handful of teenagers to…
2001 Maniacs (2005): Dir. Tim Sullivan
Feat. Robert Englund, Lyn Shaye, Giuseppe Andrews; A clan of college loafers plan a spring break to Daytona Beach but end up getting side tracked into a creepy little town where the residents have…
Evil Aliens (2005): Dir. Jake West; Riotous horror–comedy in the shamelessly low–rent tradition of BAD TASTE, in which a tabloid TV presenter gathers up her film crew to…
Ordeal, The (Calvaire) (2004): Dir. Fabrice du Welz
Feat. Laurent Lucas; Less gruelling than its title suggests, this is a macabre, blackly humorous slice of "redneck gothic" from Belgium, in which a cabaret singer's…
Final Destination 2 (2003): Dir. David R Ellis
Feat. Ali Larter, A J Cook, Michael Landes; Inevitably tongue–in–cheek sequel to one of the better teen horror’s of the late nineties replaces the original’s doomed…
Cabin Fever (2002): Dir. Eli Roth
Feat. Justin Ladd, James DeBello, Rider Strong; More a horror ‘tribute’ than a horror movie, this indie effort from David Lynch protégé Roth steals knowingly from every other…
Suicide Club (Suicide Circle) (2002): Dir. Sion Sono
Feat. Ryo Ishibashi, Akaji Maro, Masatoshi Nagase; Off–beat Japanese thriller based on apparently real–life incidents in which groups of high–school children commit mass…
Happiness of the Katakuris (2001): Dir. Takashi Miike
Feat. Kenji Sawada, Keiko Matsuzaka, Kiyoshiro Imawano…; A delirious confection from Japanese bad boy dir., Takashi Miike, this “zombie musical” is his most benevolent yet purely entertaining…
Bride of Chucky (1999): Dir. Ronnie Yu
Feat. Jennifer Tilly, Brad Dourif, Nick Stabile; Hard to believe this was a good idea, but the writer of the original CHILD'S PLAY manages to rejuvenate the tired series with a sardonic edge and an…
Hypnosis (Saimin) (1999): Dir. Masayuki Ochiai
Feat. Hiroshi Inagaki, Miho Kanno; A mysterious force is causing a spate of bizarre suicides, creatively and gruesomely staged for our blackly comic pleasure, in this…
Idle Hands (1999): Dir. Rodman Flender
Feat. Seth Green, Devon Sawa, Elden Henson; An evil spirit moves from person to person, afflicting only a single hand, which proceeds to wreak five–fingered carnage. High–school…
Quiet Family, The (Choyonghan kajok) (1998): Dir. Ji-woon Kim
Feat. Kang-ho Song, Min-sik Choi; A deliciously deadpan black comedy in which a respectable family decide to leave the rat race behind, buy a hotel in remote mountains and lead more…
Jack Frost (1997): Dir. Michael Cooney
Feat. Scott MacDonald, Christopher Allport, Stephen Mendel; A modern Ed Wood–style horror comedy about a killer snowman terrorising a small rural community. While uneven, this is mostly better than it…
Scream 2 (1997): Dir. Wes Craven
Feat. Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette…; Neve Campbell and friends get revisited by another round of cell–phone threats, masked stalkers and spotty, self–referential…
Scream (1996): Dir. Wes Craven
Feat. Neve Campbell, Drew Barrymore, Skeet Ulrich…; The horror genre gets a long overdue (if tongue–in–cheek) revamp but you needn't be an aficionado to experience the thrill of this…
Grave, The (1995): Dir. Jonas Pate
Feat. Craig Sheffer, Josh Charles, Gabrielle Anwar…; Craig Sheffer and Josh Charles break jail to dredge though redneck country in pursuit of buried treasure. Though indebted to the likes of the Coen…
Vampire in Brooklyn (1995): Dir. Wes Craven
Feat. Eddie Murphy, Angela Bassett; Eddie Murphy and the ever–dynamic Angela Bassett team up for horror specialist Wes Craven, who injects a mix of comedy and gothic romance into…
Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994): Dir. Wes Craven
Feat. Heather Langenkamp, Robert Englund, Miko Hughes; Ingenious post–script to the tired NIGHTMARE ON ELM ST. franchise in which castmembers of the previous films (playing themselves), too, become…
Addams Family Values (1993): Dir. Barry Sonnenfeld
Feat. Anjelica Huston, Raul Julia, Christopher Lloyd; Not bad sequel focuses less on Gomez & Morticia, and gets more comic mileage from the rest of the gang.
Innocent Blood (A French Vampire in America) (1993): Dir. John Landis
Feat. Anne Parillaud, Robert Loggia; Director Landis rekindles the AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON formula and almost reaches the heights of his classic predecessor. Scrummy Anne 'NIKITA'…
Braindead (Dead Alive) (1992): Dir. Peter Jackson
Feat. Timothy Balme, Diana Penalver, Elizabeth Moody; Local prodigy's magnum opus may well be the last word in zombie film. What begins as a nervous romance for naive young Lionel soon turns into a…
Guilty As Charged (1992): Dir. Sam Irvin
Feat. Rod Steiger, Isaac Hayes; Resourceful and 'well–executed' black comedy stars Rod Steiger as a religious zealot who fries sinners in his home–made electric chair.…
Addams Family, The (1991): Dir. Barry Sonnenfeld
Feat. Anjelica Huston, Raul Julia, Christopher Lloyd…; Huston, Julia and Lloyd star in this glossy update of the '60s TV series. Inventive, blackly comic and lavishly gothic production design.
Battle Heater (Kotatsu) (1990): Dir. Geroge Iida
Feat. Pappara Kawai, Akira Imoto; A maniacal low–budget doozie about a man–eating Kotatsu heater, this adds its own spirited splash to the horror mini–genre of…
Frankenhooker (1990): Dir. Frank Henenlotter
Feat. James Lorinz, Joanne Ritchie, Patty Mullen; A young scientist accidentally chops up his gal with a lawnmower, then seeks new body parts from the red light district in order to preserve their…
Society (1990): Dir. Brian Yuzna
Feat. Billy Warlock, Connie Danese, Ben Slack; Perverse hallucinations plague a young man in this sqeaumish satire of social mores in LA. The finale is an outrageous orgy of slimy…
Tales from the Crypt (1990): Dir. Robert Zemeckis, Walter Hill, Richard Donner
Feat. Miguel Ferrer, Roy Brocksmith; Three gruesome anecdotes featuring; an out–of–work executioner who turns vigilante, an adulterous housewife who gets a sharp Christmas…
Parents (1989): Dir. Bob Balaban
Feat. Randy Quaid, Mary Beth Hurt, Sandy Dennis; Frightening piece of horror kitsch about a boy who suspects his parents are cannibals. Splendid, stylised direction and set design make this a…
Beetlejuice (1988): Dir. Tim Burton
Feat. Michael Keaton, Geena Davis, Alec Baldwin…; A deceased couple return as ghosts and discover their home has been occupied by an obnoxious family, so decide to enlist the services of…
Brain Damage (1988): Dir. Frank Henenlotter
Feat. Rick Hearst, Gordon MacDonald, Jennifer Lowry; Outrageous splatter comedy doubles as a drug–addiction parable about a parasitic monster that feeds off the acquaintances of its human host.…
Child's Play (1988): Dir. Tom Holland
Feat. Catherine Hicks, Chris Sarandon, Alex Vincent…; 'Chucky', the possessed cabbage–patch kid, goes on a murderous rampage in this clever consumerist parable. Tightly scripted and imaginatively…
Fright Night Part 2 (1988): Dir. Tommy Lee Wallace
Feat. Roddy McDowall, William Ragsdale, Traci Lind…; William Ragsdale returns as Charley Brewster, now a college freshman who is tormented by the undead sister of the vampire from the first film. While…
Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988): Dir. Stephen Chiodo
Feat. Grant Cramer, Suzanne Snyder, John Allen Nelson; Smalltown folk are harvested by blood–drinking alien clowns in this novelty horror confection. Has something of a reputation, but that doesn't…
Lair of the White Worm (1988): Dir. Ken Russell
Feat. Amanda Donohoe, Hugh Grant, Sammi Davis…; Dir. Ken Russell's campy masterwork combines many estranged ideas from his previous films for an outlandish horror spoof. As hilarious as it is…
Return of the Living Dead Part II (1988): Dir. Ken Wiederhorn
Feat. Michael Kenworthy, Thor Van Lingen, Jason Hogan; Yet another unnecessary sequel, this time to the popular spoof of Romero's Living Dead films.
Bad Taste (1987): Dir. Peter Jackson
Feat. Peter Jackson; New Zealand's entry into the splatter comedy genre, shot on consecutive Sundays over a four year period, is among the best ever made. Outrageously…
Creepshow 2 (1987): Dir. Michael Gornick
Feat. George Kennedy, Dorothy Lamour, Tom Savini…; George Romero and Stephen King present three stories of bloodcurdling horror that include a vengeful wooden Native American, a monstrous blob in a…
Evil Dead 2 (1987): Dir. Sam Raimi
Feat. Bruce Campbell; Not so much a sequel as a big–budget remake, it's a tour–de–force of slapstick horror with camera theatrics that confirm a major…
Stepfather, The (1987): Dir. Joseph Ruben
Feat. Terry O'Quinn, Shelley Hack; This psycho doesn't waste time with marriage guidance when a few waves of a machete is the quick and easy solution! Superior…
House (1986): Dir. Steve Miner
Feat. William Katt; Expedient, tongue–in–cheek frightfest about a horror novelist who inherits a haunted mansion.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, The (1986): Dir. Tobe Hooper
Feat. Dennis Hopper; A belated, somewhat desperate, return to TCM county by the director of the original, who 'cannibalizes' his authentic horror classic with some…
Fright Night (1985): Dir. Tom Holland
Feat. William Ragsdale, Chris Sarandon, Roddy McDowall…; Terrific vampire satire in which a boy becomes highly suspicious of his new neighbours, led by a suave Chris Sarandon. The superb make–up…
Re-Animator (1985): Dir. Stuart Gordon
Feat. Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Abbott, Barbara Crampton; Essential splatter comedy takes gore levels to a (then) new extreme. Rebel science student Herbert West invents a serum that brings the dead back to…
Return of the Living Dead, The (1985): Dir. Dan O'Bannon
Feat. Clu Gulager, James Karen, Don Calfa; Pretty–good parody of Romero's Living Dead films, though not quite the same as the real thing. Great thrash–metal soundtrack, though.
Toxic Avenger, The (1985): Dir. Michael Herz, Sam Weil
Feat. Andree Maranda, Mitch Cohen, Jennifer Prichard; A nerd becomes super–powered after falling into a vat of radioactive waste, and proceeds to clean up crime in one of the most notorious yet…
Creepshow (1982): Dir. George Romero
Feat. Hal Holbrook, Adrienne Barbeam, Fritz Weaver; Well–spun compendium of five tales captures the intended spirit and ghoulishness of 1950s EC horror comics in an affectionate homage.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1982): Dir. Terry Hughes
Feat. Angela Lansbury, George Hearn, Cris Groenendaal; TV movie of the 1979 Broadway hit, originally staged by Harold Prince, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Set in London in 1846, where Barber…
Fade to Black (1980): Dir. Vernon Zimmerman
Feat. Dennis Christopher, Tim Thomerson, Gwynne Gilford; Film buffs should appreciate this inventive black–comedy about a weirdo movie addict who kills people in the style of his various film heroes.
Motel Hell (1980): Dir. Kevin Connor
Feat. Rory Calhoun, Paul Linke, Nancy Parsons; Comedy black enough to convert one to vegetarianism about rednecks who use a special kinda meat for 'Farmer Vincent's Fritters'! The duelling…
Blood for Dracula (1974): Dir. Paul Morrissey
Feat. Joe Dallesandro, Udo Kier; Joe Dallesandro happily deflowers a house of virgins before Udo Kier can sink his fangs into them. The perfect excuse to flaunt lashings of sex and…
Homebodies (1974): Dir. Larry Yust
Feat. Douglas Fowley, Ruth McDevitt, Frances Fuller; A blackly humourous yarn about a group of retired tenants who are willing to go to extremes to prevent eviction. Inventive genre pic belies its low…
House That Dripped Blood, The (1970): Dir. Peter Duffell
Feat. Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Denholm Elliott…; Juicy if variable four–part portmanteau film written by PSYCHO scribe, Robert Bloch, and adorned by the Cushing/Lee double–act as well as…
Sadisterotica (1967): Dir. Jess Franco
Feat. Janine Reynaud, Rosanna Yanni, Adrian Hoven; Eurotrash comedy–thriller about a foxy private eye whose insignia is imprint of her red lips!? She teams with another babe to pursue a nasty…
Addams Family, The (TV Series) (1964-1966): Feat. John Astin, Carolyn Jones, Ted Cassidy…; Macabre 1960s sitcom about a family whose gothic lifestyle and trappings make for a mordant contrast with 'apple–pie' America. 22 episodes…
Raven, The (1963): Dir. Roger Corman
Feat. Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Boris Karloff…; A great cast inhabits this low budget fantasy–comedy version of Edgar Allan Poe's tale – one of Corman's best.

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Subgenre Sampler