Hammer Horror’s Ithaqua [2025]

Hammer Horror are back from the dead. Having released Doctor Jekyll [2023] they have finally announced their latest film production, Ithaqua.

Ithaqua will be directed by Casey Walker who has previous form as director of the excellent The Void [2016] HP Lovecraft inspired tale of cults and inter-dimensional gateways to evil.

I'm a fan of Hammer's classic Abominable Snowman [1957] starring Peter Cushing so I have high hopes for this similar release. According to the Hammer Horror press release : "Set in the brutal wilderness of 1800s Canada, the fur trade is in decline and a remote outpost is starving. A mercenary fights to unite the survivors against the cold, the hunger… and something far worse. A dark force is watching. Waiting. And those who fall into its grasp are cursed with an insatiable hunger for flesh.

Hammer Horror’s legacy continues with Ithaqua, now in production, starring Luke Hemsworth, Kevin Durand, Michael Pitt, Craig Lauzon & Leenah Robinson, and directed by Casey Walker.

This is horror as it was meant to be: terrifying and utterly unforgettable."

28 Years Later Trailer [2025]

First there was 28 Days Later.

Then there was 28 Weeks Later. Now there is 28 Years Later.

Christmas has come early for horror fans with the release of the new trailer for Danny Boyle’s latest addition to the 28 Days Later zombie trilogy. Some fans were contemptuous of the film’s abandoning of zombie genre tropes which saw the introduction of running zombies, but few could deny the artisty, energy and originality in the low budget english horror classic.

Now director Danny Boyle returns with writing duties from Alex Garland (Ex Machina / Annihilation / Civil War) and starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Jodie Comer as humanity retreats to remote walled communities to prevent extinction.

Watch the 28 Years Later trailer below:

The Substance [2024]

Is The Substance the best mainstream body horror in recent years?

Shocking, grotesque and essentially brilliant feminist body swap nightmare, The Substance stars Hollywood luminary Demi Moore, and Margaret Qualley. Directed by relative newcomer Coralie Fargeat, the simplistic plot follows an aging actor’s experience of aging and self hate in Hollywood, who after receiving a mysterious offer, will stop at nothing to regain her lost beauty and declining career. Even if it means battling herself.

Have you ever thought about creating a newer, better, improved version of yourself? Then stick around for the frankly demented ending(s) which piles on the misery in a similar fashion to Requiem For A Dream. But whatever you do, don't miss it.

It’ll change your life.

The Substance is in cinemas and on video on demand now.

Top 10 Folk Horror Films Of All Time

Let’s be honest, it’s a foregone conclusion. The Wicker Man wins hands down.

But what constitutes Folk Horror? Folk Horror simply would not exist without The Wicker Man that birthed an entire horror sub genre by setting horror within a religious conspiracy in rural communities - a symbiotic relationship between horror and a conflict of idealogies that leads to collective madness. I would argue that mythology sits at the heart of some of the best folk horror films where ancient gods must be appeased by sacrifice to guarantee local survival with a bountiful harvest, the grieving are granted their loved ones resurrection, religious persecution is rife, or people are spared an old testament threat when morality is questioned.

Still, it could be argued that the UK is not the only country to have evolved its own folklore traditions, religious persecutions, and collective madness, so welcome to that time of year where we look at another horror sub genre and sit down with the ancient gods and unearth some cursed gems that will make your eyes bleed. Just pray you don’t upset the locals.

Watch the Top 10 folk horror movies below.

In descending order of greatness:

10. KILL LIST

Ben Wheatley’s Kill List is a deceptive film that starts off as a cheap-looking British revenge thriller, and like most good folk horrors, descends into a different genre en route to hell.

Starring Neil Maskell and Michael Smiley, Kill List is an underated gem about two hit men take on a mysterious job that may or may not lead to their redemption, if they can live long enough. The final sacrificial scenes are strangely reminiscent of the infamous bohemian grove undercover documentary about George Bush’s membership of the skull and bones society’s worship of Moloch, the owl god, which no doubt influenced the director.

Kill List [2011]

9. VIY [1967]

This obscure and beautifully shot early 1960’s fantasy horror was directed by Konstantin Ershov and based on russian folklore. It begins when a monk is summoned to keep a three night vigil of a local dead woman and the woman is revealed to be a witch who returns to life and invites the forces of hell to test his faith. Although not overtly similar to The Wicker Man, the main character has to endure a test of his faith, much like Edward Woodward, through the lens of russian folk tales.

Viy [1967]

8.The Witchfinder General [1968]

The Witchfinder General is the third in the unholy trinity of folk horror films first identified by genre scholar and author Adam Scovell.

Let’s not forget that according to early english religious belief systems, people really did believe that witches existed within society and were a threat from within. Women were maligned, drowned and burnt at the stake for practicing early medicines or denounced for not following strict moral codes laid down by the church and a patriacharal state. A collective madness which saw the introduction of witch finders in rural communities.

To be honest, I’ve always found this film a bit dour and boring in comparison to the superior Mark Of The Devil (also starring Vincent Price) which some of you may recognise as a Freudstein song. However, it’s Vincent Price’s villainous portrayal of the real life exploits of 17th-century witch-hunter Matthew Hopkins, that is worth the price of admission alone.

Witchfinder General [1968]

7. The Witch [2015]

The Witch was Robert Eggers breakout success which excelled at subtlety and confusion to obsfucate the viewer as a puritan family encounter a witch.

The film centres on Christian pilgrim settlers in 1630s New England as they seek to survive amid a new harsh and alien landscape where religious persecution is a threat from within. Anna Taylor Joy gives a pitch perfect performance, in her first big role, as a young girl who may or may not be a witch, in this atmospheric and psychological horor.

The Witch [2015]

6. The Blair Witch Project [1999]

The Blair Witch Project is so infamous its almost too easy to dismiss it as just another 90’s horror film, but look closer and you’ll spot some of the tropes of folk horror, albeit an americanised version.

Local mythology tempts a group of teenager to dare to spend the night camping in the local woods where, rumour has is it, a witch still lurks in the lost village of Blair. They encounter pagan symbols tied to trees and something moving through the forest at night, and slowly descend into a collective madness.

The film’s low fi use of found footage catapaulted the film into the national consciousness and even created its own urban myths with a marketing campaign when the actors were listed as deceased on the internet and the found footage concept, first alluded to in Cannibal Holocaust, was reborn.

The Blair Witch Project [1999]

5. A Field In England [2013]

Ben Wheatley’s second entry into our top 10, A Field In England, is perhaps his most psychedelic period piece which literally take place in a field during the English Civil War. The folk horror trope of rural environments, religious persecution and a threat from within are all present but what makes this film so haunting is the creeping paranoia and terrifying performance from Reece Shearsmith.

This low budget black and white film is perhaps Wheatley’s most personal project with its focus on characters and dialogue as the characters slowly detach from reality due to shell-shock, religious beliefs, and some local magic mushrooms.

A Field In England [

4. Midsommer [2019]

Midsommer is a direct descendent of The Wicker Man and is one of my favourite films directed by the talented, Ari Aster, who also made the harrowing Heriditary.

In many ways Midsommer is an inbred relative of The Wicker Man with a similar fish out of water tale that echoes the original when a group of teenagers travel to a Swedish mid-summer festival. It’s a modern take on the folk horror genre with a fictional swedish pagan mythology used to trap its victims in a cult as the festival slowly builds to a horrific, if somewhat predictable climax.

I particularly love the fact that the film, unlike most horror films, employs bright colours and comforting day time scenes to lure the viewer into safety, when horror resides in plain sight.

Midsommer [2019]

3. The Blood On Satan’s Claw

This often overlooked Hammer Horror classic, Blood On Satan’s Claw, is the second in the unholy trinity of folk horror films first identified by genre scholar and author Adam Scovell.

Blood On Satan’s claw is a Hammer Horror classic B movie with its creeping, mysterious atmosphere building to a crescendo as a teenage occult worship develops in Medieval England. The isolated rural setting and strange belief systems are ever present as timeless fears of teenagers and the corruption of youth from outside forces cause adults seek to fear and uproot the threat from within.

Blood On Satan’s Claw [1971]

2. The Shout [1978]

The Shout is a relatively unknown British cult classic starrring John Hurt, Alan Bates and Susannah York. I would argue that this an unconventional folk horror which begins as a simple love triangle when a stranger enters a couples lives, hell bent on stealing the main protagonist’s wife, then descends into a meditation on magic and loss based on aboriginal folk lore.

The stranger, played by Alan Bates, who may or not be a magician, is a spellbinding presence who threatens the protagonist’s morality in a small rural village. His refusal to leave their home leads to a plot twist and finale that is incredibly subtle, quintisesentially english, and ahead of its time with the use of a unconventional narrative struture.

Madness or magic? Although there is no larger conspiracy at play on the part of the local village, the rural setting and heavy leanings towards psychological horror, magic and folklore, make this worthy of cannon.

1. The Wicker Man

It’s no surprise to find Robin Hardy’s debut film at the top of our list. This is the first in the unholy trinity of folk horror films first identified by genre scholar and author Adam Scovell. The Wicker Man was based on David Pinner's 1967 novel, Ritual, and its unpredictable climax is so memorable its like psychological lightning in a bottle.

The film perfectly sets out the first tropes of folk horror with its literal slow burning execution, when a Christian policeman (Edward Woodward) is sent to a remote rural community in the outer hebrides to investigate the disappearance of a local girl, when his faith is tested. He soon encounters pagan beliefs and meets Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee), an atypical villain who is neither fearsome nor dramatic, but an eloquently spoken and thoughful cult leader, concerned for the survival of his community.

The Wicker Man features a wonderful soundtrack composed by Paul Giovanni which was so convincingly conceived that the songs and lyrics are believable as traditional english folk songs about fertility and sacrifice. It’s a personal favourite.

The Wicker Man is so steeped in english folklore and psychological horror that it seems believable that somewhere out there a community of Summerisle pagans still exists, practicing ancient sacrifices to ward off bad harvests, famine and evil. It is a reminder of our recent past, our collective madness, that makes you question if society really has progressed past its prejudices and old belief systems. Are we really so enlightened?

Watch it and burn.

The Wicker Man [1973]

Nosferatu [2024]

Robert’s Eggers’s long rumoured gothic horror remake of Nosferatu [1922] has finally surfaced with a captivating and sinister trailer teasing the return of the long fingernailed immortal undead Count Orlock.

Director Robert Eggers is well known for his previous slow burning edgy gothic horrors The Witch [2015] and the Lighthouse [2019], and his new production of Nosferatu features Bill Skarsgård [Stephen King’s IT] as Count Orlock, Nicholas Hoult and William Dafoe. The original black and white silent film was one of the first horror films ever made with its extensive use of german expressionist cinema techniques, ominous shadows, camera angles, special effects and make up which inspire film makers even today.

The film was previously remade as Nosferatu The Vampyre [1979] with Klaus Kinski in the lead vampiric role and directed by Werner Herzog. The rumoured insane use of method acting employed by Kinski to remain in character and prey upon the camera crew and actors throughout the whole production was glorified in the film Shadow Of The Vampire [2000] with William Dafoe in the Count’s role. In a call back to the previous remake, Dafoe returns as Professor Albin Eberhart von Franz, in Egger’s remake.

Nosferatu is available in cinemas on December 24th.

Watch the Nosferatu trailer below:

RIP Donald Sutherland 1935 - 2024

I've always followed Donald Sutherland's impeccable career and was saddened to learn of his death. His incredible acting ability always elevated anything he appeared in, including Mash, Klute, Don't Look Now, Kelly's Heroes, and yes, even The Hunger Games. He was a versatile and unique actor who often played the role of the outsider, an unsuspecting lead character, who always brought something very un-Hollywood and grounded to every role.

Weeks before his death, I watched Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1978) because I was curious to see if it lived up to the original 1956 black and white science fiction horror classic. I had a weird feeling that I had seen it before but there was something odd about the film. For some reason I couldn't remember if the remake was better or worse. Obviously, I assumed it would be terrible. Jesus, was I wrong.

Invasion Of The Body Snatchers is a bona fide classic which builds on the orginal cold war premise of encroaching Communism and explores the societal weirdness as the invasion builds steam and more and more people are replaced. Donald Sutherland's performance as a curious, hard nosed, happy go lucky health inspector brings the role to life as he slides into encroaching paranoia.

The file was directed by Philip Kaufman, who it has to be said, was somewhat ahead of his time in the use of hand held cameras to track Sutherland's walk through New York City as he wakes up as an outsider in his own land. The unnerving extended shots of everyday people remind me of Adam Curtis's documentaries and express that intense otherworldly feeling of dread. Lingering shots of other people lurking in hallways, watching, conspiring, waiting for you to fall sleep and replace you.

Of course, the original film, and the remake, were analogies for cold war paranoia and the mcarthy era that swept America. But I would argue that this film can be seen in a new perspective since Covid-19. The constant fear of other people, family members, loved ones or strangers who might attempt social contact and infect you at any moment, represent pure agrophobia. Or perhaps it's just me? The shots of Donald Sutherland wandering the streets alone, caught within a circling web of conspiracy that he can never escape feel very familiar as the pandemic swept their world.

The remake also features an incredible cast of 1970’s actors including Donald Sutherland, Leonard Nimoy, Veronica Cartright, Jeff Goldblum and Brooke Adams. Incredibly, it also features a brief cameo by the original 1956 actor, Kevin McCarthy, reprising his role as the original Dr. Miles J. Bennell. The electronic soundtrack was also ahead of its time with long electronic drones and weird noises punctuating the invasion of planet earth by strange biological wisp like beings from another world.

The final shot of Invasion Of The Body Snatchers is pure 1970’s horror and may stay with you forever, which is perhaps why I always remembered there was something strange about this film. After all these years I think I must have blocked out the memory of this horror classic for my own sanity. Thank god I didn't rewatch it in 2020 at the height of the pandemic or I may never have left the house again.

Rest in Peace Donald Sutherland. Your career lives on.

Lumberjack The Monster [2023]

Today I woke up to discover Takashi Miike’s latest film, Lumberjack The Monster, is available to stream on Netflix. This live action horror thriller stars Kazuya Kamenashi as a psychopathic laywer turned vigilante as he sets out to stop a masked serial killer with strange abilities.

Takashi Miike has a reputation as the international bad boy of asian cinema with a huge catalogue of over 100 dark and strange, funny, violent and horrific films such as Audition, Dead Or Alive, Ichi The Killer, 13 Assassins, and many more strange and beautifully weird films and anime series. His work is impossible to pin down because he's not afraid to mix several genres within one film so you never quite know where the story won’t go. So it's surprising to find this lengendary auteur’s latest film released on Netflix with zero publicity or fanfare. In fact, you'll have to hunt it down before the masked serial killer hunts you down first.

Lumberjack The Monster is available to stream on Netflix.

UK General Election 2024 - July 4th - Drowning In Effluence

So Rishi Sunak has finally called a General Election before the Conservatives completely bleed out and devour each other like the evil self serving parasites they are. The PM is hoping to blindside the opposition by being first out of the election gate, launch a personal smear campaign against Keir Starmer, announce another wave of attacks on the poor, disabled and mentally ill, then dangle hundreds of tax cutting policies and lies. Anything to cling to power and please his party before his own colleagues show him the door or the electric chair, whichever comes first.

Let’s pray the long suffering public have finally woken up to 15 years of broken promises, broken public services, broken government, and vote for anyone else. History is our teacher and we must all remember and remember well : Government Covid parties, Brexit, environmental disaster and water pollution, the cost of living crisis, attacks on the poor, mentally ill and disabled, PPE scandals, post office scandals, NHS defunding and cannibalisation, GCSE exam scandals, Levelling Up, the list goes on and on.

People struggling to feed their familes with food banks in a cost of living crisis will have little empathy for a Billionaire PM whose wife famously evaded taxes and has shown his true environment colours by granting new oil and gas offshore drilling permits and coal mines, despite promising his own children a better environment when he first came to office. And Boris Johnson will no doubt already be plotting to rejoin the Tory party amid the extreme right wing madness of Liz Truss’s cabal of followers, by becoming its leader once again, and lead the faithful into oblivion.

A Labour party poised to fix public services and eat the rich is our last best hope before Not So Great Britain flushes itself down the toilet of Tory corruption and ineptitude to join the effluence allowed to be pumped into our rivers and seas by water companies and regulators. It will not be an easy ride for whoever inherits the Tories mess but as PM Clement Attlee proved after WW2, when he created the National Health Service and nationalised major industries and public utilities, lives can be rebuilt, and a new future won.

The horror show must stop. The government is not fit to govern.

The Tory party must die.

Vote them out.

Caitlin Cronenberg's Humane [2024]

David Cronenberg's family are making a kiling at the box office. First his son, Brandon Cronenberg, introduced us to his cinematic world with Infinity Pool, Possessor and Antiviral. Now the family business has expanded with his daughter, Caitlin Cronenberg's directorial debut, Humane, arriving in cinemas.

Caitlin Cronenberg's debut, Humane, stars Emily Hampshire and Peter Gallagher, and as you might suspect, is on brand with a dark socialogical premise and playful black humour. The press release describes this as "a dystopian satire taking place over a single day, months after a global ecological collapse has forced world leaders to take extreme measures to reduce the earth’s population.'

I, for one, would love to listen in on the Cronenberg’s family dinner table conversations to hear what horrors they're cooking up next.

Humane is available to watch in select cinemas and arrives on Shudder in July.

Watch the Humane trailer below:

Late Night With The Devil [2024]

Late Night With The Devil is a slice of 1970’s inspired horror arriving in 2024.

Late Night With The Devil stars David Dastmalchian as a late night TV talk show host featuring magicians, tricksters and charlatans vying for fame and attention on Halloween night. But one act might be horrifyingly real.

This Shudder original was reportedly inspired by the australian Don Lane late night talk show and is steeped in 1970s nostalgia from the stage sets to the costumes, lighting and poster. It even features a scary narrator voicing the trailer for horror fans of this era. So don’t go to sleep. This one’s worth staying up for.

Available in cinemas and Shudder from March 22nd, 2024.

Watch the Late Night With The Devil trailer below:

New Year, New Horror : David Cronenberg's The Shrouds [2024]

2024 is shaping up to be a another great year for horror and the Cronenberg dynasty.

Last year, Brandon Cronenberg released the mindbending Infinity Pool [2023] while his father, David Cronenberg, returned to the horror genre with Crimes Of The Future [2022]. Now, according to reports, the master of body horror is working on a new film, The Shrouds [2024].

According to the press release, David Cronenberg’s The Shrouds concerns Karsh (Vincent Cassel), an innovative businessman and grieving widower (Diane Kruger), who builds a device to connect with the dead inside a burial shroud. The machine allows relatives to watch the departed decompose in real time at state of the art cemeteries.

The Shrouds is due for release in 2024.

Suitable Flesh [2023]

After opening Fright Fest 2023 earlier this year, Joe Lynch’s Suitable Flesh has earned itself something of a reputation.

Perhaps its because this outlandish spoof of 1990’s erotic thrillers shares its DNA with Lovecraftian horror, or maybe because it features Heather Graham (Scrubs TV fame) as a fantastic new scream queen. Either way, its body shaping up to be the must see B-movie horror of the year.

Like most 1990’s films, the narrative is deliberately forgettable and centres on Psychiatrist Elizabeth Derby’s romantic involvement with a disturbed patient who seduces her, then swaps bodies using dark magic.

Available for VOD and digital download from Oct 27th.

Watch the Suitable Flesh trailer below:

Dario Argento Panico Documentary [2023]

Dario Argento is finally being recognised by his peers for his groundbreaking contribution to filmmaking with Simone Scafidi’s upcoming Panico documentary celebrating his work at the Venice Film Festival.

The documentary finds the director writing a film script for his latest venture in a hotel and offers “an immersive deep dive into the creative process and life of Argento and features exclusive interviews with the legendary filmmaker and insight from other acclaimed directors like Gaspar Noé, Guillermo del Toro and Nicolas Winding Refn about his impact on the horror genre and generations of other directors.”

Watch the Dario Argento Panico promo trailer below:

Dario Argento : Doors Into Darkness - BFI Film Festival

Dario Argento is finally being recognised by the BFI for his outstanding body of work and contribution to filmmaking with an upcoming retrospective film festival of his greatest, and latest work.

This long overdue respect has finally extended beyond the horror community and led to the BFI curating a Dario Argento film festival at London’s South Bank from May 12th, thanks to season programmer Michael Blyth’s upcoming celebration of his work. The month long programme will include a rare live interview with Dario Argento in discussion with Prano Bailey-Bond about his screen career, Q&A discussions, films rarities, and film introductions from the great auteur himself.

Films:

The Bird with the Crystal Plumage
The Cat o’ Nine Tails
Four Flies on Grey Velvet
The Five Days (a forgotten rarity)
Deep Red (including Q&A with the director)
Suspiria (including a personal introduction by the director)
Inferno
Tenebrae (including a personal introduction by the director)
Phenomena
Opera (including a personal introduction by Michael Blyth)
Trauma
The Stendhal Syndrome
The Phantom of the Opera
Sleepless
The Card Player
Do You Like Hitchcock?
Mother of Tears – The Third Mother
Dark Glasses

The entire season programme can be found here:

https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/default.asp?BOparam%3A%3AWScontent%3A%3AloadArticle%3A%3Apermalink=darioargento

The main event takes place on Friday May 12th and tickets are available from the link below:

https://southbanklondon.com/events/bfi-southbank/dario-argento-doors-darkness

Watch the BFI promo trailer below:

Dario Argento - Doors Into Darkness