Suspiria is a 2017 American supernatural horror film directed by Italian filmmaker and co-producer Luca Guadagnino from a screenplay by David Kajganich.

It is a remake of the 1977 Italian film directed by Dario Argento from a script co-written with Daria Nicolodi. Suspiria is a Latin word meaning “sighs.”

Amazon Studios has acquired the worldwide distribution rights and is financing the production. The film will be produced by Frenesy Film Company, Mythology Entertainment, First Sun Films, and Memo Films. The co-producers are Luca Guadagnino, Brad Fischer, Kajganich, Francesco Melzi d’Eril, Marco Morabito, Gabriele Moratti, William Sherak, and Silvia Venturini Fendi.

Variety has reported that Chloe Moretz (Carrie, 2013) is set to star opposite Dakota Johnson, Tilda Swinton, and Mia Goth.

Plot:

A young ballet dancer who travels to a prestigious dance academy in Europe, only to discover it is a front for something far more sinister and supernatural amidst a series of increasingly grisly murders…

IMDb

‘Pray she doesn’t answer’

Don’t Knock Twice is a 2016 Welsh horror film directed by Caradog W. James (The Machine) from a screenplay by writing team Mark Huckerby and Nick Ostler (Howl; Me and My Monsters; Creepschool).

The film premiered at the Raindance Film Festival on 29 September 2016.

Wales Interactive are developing a first person virtual reality horror game based upon the film.

Main cast:

Katee Sackhoff (Oculus; Riddick; The Haunting in Connecticut 2), Lucy Boynton (I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House; The Blackcoat’s Daughter), Javier Botet (Insidious 4; The Mummy; It), Nick Moran (13 Eerie).

Plot:

To save her estranged daughter, a guilt-ridden mother must uncover the terrifying truth behind the urban legend of a vengeful, demonic witch…

Reviews:

” … somewhere between knock-down-ginger to Drag Me to Hell, as Caradog proves himself an adept horror director, his camera moving with the unpredictable eeriness of Sam Raimi and his effects carrying the practical creepiness of David Cronenberg – it’s only a matter of minutes until we get our first genuinely heart-stopping encounter with our spooky spectre…” Ivan Radford, VODzilla

“Like a grab bag of horror sub-genres and conventions, there’s nothing too familiar or unfamiliar that the film won’t use in an attempt to scare its audience. There are mirrors and lighting effects, haunted houses, old hags, a distinct Japanese influence and even some Skype-horror. It’s a tour of the genre both old and new.” Caroline Preece, Den of Geek!

Production companies:

Red & Black Films
Seymour Films

Filming locations:

Cardiff, Wales

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Trick or Treat is a 1952 American animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The cartoon, which takes place on Halloween night, follows a series of pranks between Donald Duck and his nephews with Witch Hazel.

The film was directed by Jack Hannah and features the voices of Clarence Nash as Donald and his nephews, and June Foray as Hazel.

It introduced the song “Trick or Treat for Halloween” which was written by Mack David, Al Hoffman, and Jerry Livingston and performed by The Mellowmen.

Plot:

One Halloween night, Witch Hazel observes Huey, Duey, and Louie trick-or-treating. When the trio go to their uncle Donald Duck’s house, Donald decides to prank the boys (giving them a “trick” instead of a treat).

So instead of giving them candy, he intentionally puts firecrackers in their bags, then pulls a string that dumps a bucket of water on their heads. After Donald bids farewell to the boys, the discouraged nephews go and sit on the curb.

But Hazel, who was watching the drama unfold, approaches the boys and tries to encourage them. When she discovers that they believe in witches, she offers to help them get their treats from Donald after all…

In the end, Huey, Duey, and Louie collect their treats and Hazel departs. A final shot shows an enchanted Jack-o’-lantern suddenly pop onto the screen saying “Boo!” to the viewers before smiling.

A print adaptation by Carl Barks was published simultaneously in the Donald Duck comic book. Barks was given a storyboard of the film by Ralph Wright while production of the film was still in progress.

Barks was asked to create a 32-page comic adaptation, yet Barks did not believe he had enough material. He made up some of his own material, even creating new characters such as Smorgie the Bad.

When the final product was sent to the publisher, Barks’ segment with Smorgie was rejected, and the story was cut to 27 pages. To fill out the rest of the comic book, Barks had to create an additional story called “Hobblin’ Gobblins.”

Disneyland Records also produced an audio adaptation that was narrated by Ginny Tyler who also voices Witch Hazel. This version was twelve minutes long and also included a song and story from the Haunted Mansion Disneyland attraction.

Wikipedia | IMDb

The Witching Hour was an American comic book horror anthology published by DC Comics from 1969 to 1978.

The series was published for eighty-five issues from February–March 1969 to October 1978. The comic’s initial tagline was “It’s 12 o’clock… The Witching Hour!” until it was changed to “It’s midnight…” from issue #14 onwards.

The series was originally edited by Dick Giordano, who was replaced by Murray Boltinoff with issue #14. Stories in the comic were “hosted” and introduced by three witches, based on Macbeth‘s Weird Sisters: Morded, Mildred, and Cynthia. The witches defined the archetypal Maiden/Mother/Crone—in reverse order—triumvirate of womanhood.

Writers who worked on the comic included Alex Toth, Dennis O’Neil, Gerry Conway, Steve Skeates, Marv Wolfman, George Kashdan and Carl Wessler. Nick Cardy was a key inker/penciller.

After The Witching Hour’s cancellation in 1978, the title was merged with The Unexpected, until issue #209.

Wikipedia | Image thanks: Comic Vine (visit to see the full selection of covers)

The Witching is a 2016 supernatural horror anthology film co-produced, edited and with a wraparound story directed by Corey Norman (The Hanover House; The Invoking 2 (segment “Natal”); producer of 60 Seconds to Die). It was produced by Ruthless Studios in association with Bonfire Films.

As with Patient Seven, this anthology film comprises short films combined with a newly filmed wraparound. The shorts are:

‘Grief’ – directed by George Bessudo, written by Jesse David Ing
‘Sleepwalker’ – directed, written and edited by Calvin Weaver
‘The Hourglass Figure’ – directed by Patrick Rea, written by Michelle Davidson, Amber Rapp
‘Next Caller’ – written, edited and directed by Patrick Rea
‘Graveyard Shift’ – written and directed by April Wright
‘Sweet Hollow’ – written and directed by Sean Lee

This film should not be confused with Bert I. Gordon’s Necromancy (1972) which was released on VHS as The Witching.

Wraparound segment cast:

Jessica Bedell, Ian Carlsen, Joanna Clarke, Jennifer Friend (Bonnie & Clyde vs. Dracula; Cadaverella), Jack Scannell, Beth Somerville, Ellen Elizabeth White

Plot:

With Halloween only hours away, the members of a popular podcast, The Witching Hour, gather around a campfire to swap scary stories in the dark. But they bargain for more than just ratings as they have ventured to the site where the Woodland Valley Witch was brutally murdered…

Review:

“There’s nothing damaging enough to brand the movie a waste, and there’s nothing earth shattering in its inventiveness to praise the film to high heavens. It’s just an entertaining joyride that helps to make about 90 minutes fly right on by.” Addicted to Horror Movies

Filming location (wraparound segement):

New Gloucester, Maine

IMDb

Häxan (English title: The Witches or Witchcraft Through the Ages) is a 1922 Swedish-Danish silent horror film written and directed by Benjamin Christensen.

Based partly on Christensen’s study of the Malleus Maleficarum, a 15th century German guide for inquisitors, Häxan is a study of how superstition and the misunderstanding of diseases and mental illness could lead to the hysteria of the witch-hunts. The film was made as a documentary but contains dramatized sequences that are comparable to horror films.

With Christensen’s meticulous recreation of medieval scenes and the lengthy production period, the film was the most expensive Scandinavian silent film ever made, costing nearly two million Swedish kronor.

Although it won acclaim in Denmark and Sweden, the film was banned in the United States and heavily censored in other countries for what were considered at that time graphic depictions of torture, nudity, and sexual perversion.

Reviews:

” …Häxan is a deeply rationalistic piece of humanism, exposing the horrors of superstition and hysteria rather than of witchcraft itself. Every scene of witchcraft here is carefully framed as a dream, a delusional hallucination, or the content of a false confession extracted under torture; and while we see body-snatching anatomists mistaken for sorcerers, women denounced in error (or malice) as witches, and repressed, neurotic monks and nuns convinced they are possessed by the Devil, the closest that the film comes to a ‘real’ witch is a crone (Pedersen) who concocts and dispenses obscure pharmaceutical philters and unguents – for money, of course.” Anton Bitel, Film4

” …it’s a wonderfully strange and engaging film” Brian W. Collins, Horror Movie a Day

Buy: Amazon.co.uk

“Overall, it is an interesting piece of cinema history and I would recommend it as such, but it doesn’t really work as conventional movie due to the constant changes of narrative style and it doesn’t work as a documentary, because it spends too much time on just dramatically portraying various myths. Still, recommended for enthusiasts of cinema history, other than that it doesn’t offer much for a modern viewer.” Karlails Films

“The movie is a collage, but what holds it together is Christensen’s authorial presence, an innovative technique for its time and still uniquely effective. Though shifting suddenly between drama and direct address to the audience, he appears as a guiding hand that is learned, compassionate and humanistic.” David Christenson,  Monsterzine.com

“Genre fans will certainly recognise imagery which has been copied endlessly through the years, and the film certainly stands as a great example of early, sensationalistic horror. Although it is a little slow moving in places, the film is ghoulishly captivating throughout and incredibly, despite its age it has certainly stood the test of time, remaining the definitive work on the subject and still being accessible enough to be enjoyed by modern viewers.” Beyond Hollywood

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

“Part earnest academic exercise in correlating ancient fears with misunderstandings about mental illness and part salacious horror movie, Haxan is a truly unique work that still holds the power to unnerve, even in today’s jaded era.” James Kendrick, 1001 Movies You Should See Before You Die

Buy: Amazon.com

Offline reading:

Horror Films: The Pocket Essential by Colin Odell and Michelle Le Blance – Pocket Essentials, UK, 2011

Artwork designed by Hartter

Wikipedia | IMDb

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Reel Nightmare – also known as Reel Nightmare: Book of Witchcraft – is a 2017 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Armand Petri (Bayou Horror Story; TV series Tujunga Horror Story) for Together Magic Films. Produced by Art Arutyunyan, the film stars Madeleine Heil (Clowntergeist), Garrett Morosky (Ballet of Blood) and Andres Mejia Vallejo.

A group of film students from Miskatonic University venture into an old Victorian house with a grisly past to shoot a last-minute thesis.

However, the discovery of a mysterious book called the Necronomicon brings production to a deadly halt when they awaken the spirits of three vengeful witches…

The film is released on Digital HD via Amazon; and on Blu-ray on February 7, 2017. Buying links to follow…

Main cast:

Madeleine Heil, Garrett Morosky, Andres Mejia Vallejo, Armand Petri, Eric Saleh, Hailey Chown, Mari-Liis Userdnov, Keith Edie, Christine Uhebe,  Eliza Bone, Kate Mccafferty.

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‘A night of unrelenting terror’

Spookies is a 1986 American horror film co-directed by Brendan Faulkner, Thomas Doran and Eugenie Joseph from a screenplay co-written with Frank Farel. The creature effects were created by Gabe Bartalos, Arnold Gargulio, Jennifer Aspinall and John Dods.

It was originally a 1984 feature film entitled Twisted Souls. The film was being edited when creative and legal issues between the producers and the financial backer prevented final post production work from being carried out.

In 1985, producer Michael Lee hired Eugenie Joseph to direct more footage which was pieced together with the footage from Twisted Souls, creating Spookies. Faulkner and Doran also worked on Igor and the Lunatics (1985).

Steadicam operator J. Michael Muro later directed Street Trash (1987) utilising a number of the Spookies crew members.

Plot:

A 13-year-old boy named Billy runs from home because his parents forgot his birthday. Making his way through woods, he encounters a drifter who is subsequently slashed to death. Billy stumbles on an old mansion where a room is decorated for birthday celebrations. Thinking it is a surprise by his parents, he opens a present to discover a severed head. Running away, he is attacked by the drifter’s killer, a werecat with a hook on one hand, and subsequently buried alive.

Meanwhile, a group of friends decide to have a party in a seemingly deserted mansion. However, a sorcerer named Kreon resides there, keeping watch over his bride whom he has kept preserved for over seventy years.

Kreon possesses one of teenagers in the group, forcing her to use a Ouija board and summons a variety of monsters to pick off the group one by one. These include muck-men, small reptilian demons, giant spiders, an arachnid woman, an octopus-like creature with electric tentacles, a skeletal witch, a Grim Reaper statue, a vampiric boy in a monk’s habit, and a large group of zombies…

Main cast:

Peter Dain, Peter Iasillo, Joan Ellen Delaney, Soo Paek, Nick Gionta, Anthony J Valbiro, Lisa Friede, Kim Merrill, Charlotte Alexandra, Al Magliochetti, Felix Ward, Alec Nemser, Maria Pechukas.

Buy: Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

“Spookies doesn’t hold up well as a proper feature film for obvious reasons. It seems too much of a patched together creation solely based around what make-up effects the FX team could come up with. But what FX! A tour-de-force of 80s horror at its most grandiose and most sublime, Spookies is as entertaining as it is infuriating!” Andrew Smith, Popcorn Pictures

“The opener is harrowing, Fulci-esque and the night scenes are stunningly shot. The effects are not nearly as bad as they could be given the modest budget but there are corny lightning strikes and a plot that’s all over the map.” Really Awful Movies

” …the entire movie is a series of visual setups, strung between the incongruous sorcerer gloating, party people screaming and dying, the purple werewolf holding doors closed with glee, and a bride loathing her predicament […] This movie is so goofy nonsensical you’ll love watching it while deriding the hell out of it.” Zombo’s Closet of Horror

“For 80 minutes long you will witness a monstrous SFX extravaganza while a group of clueless people is running around and being killed in a big mansion. Now, how does all this relate to our freeze-frame ending? To put it simple, in the same way all the previous events relate to each other in the film: It makes no sense!” Cult Reviews

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

“The ‘kitchen sink’ approach should please undemanding fans.” John Stanley, Creature Features

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.ca

Filming locations:

New York, New York, USA

Wikipedia | IMDb

‘Death has a face… yours’

Adaline: The Conjured – aka The Conjured – is a 2016 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Bidisha Chowdhury, making his feature debut. It stars Jill Evyn, Lane Townsend and Jeremy Walker.

A young artist Daniela, inherits an old house from an aunt who she never thought existed. She moves into that house where she meets a handsome carpenter and a mentally challenged young neighbour. While staying in her house, she has a series of bizarre nightmares.

Daniela finds an old diary which tells the sad story of a girl called Adaline, who used to live in the same house during the early 1900’s with her two sisters and drunk father. Daniela discovers that Adaline could see into the future and make premonitions including the death of her two sisters. She was cast out and branded a village witch by the locals.

However, Adaline’s work in this world is not finished as she reaches out through nightmares and leaves cryptic prophecies hidden in the attic…

Buy DVD: Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

“The house itself is beautiful and we get to see lots of it, and the ending does jump up the pace a bit even if it did raise more questions than answers for me. But Adaline is too bland and unengaging for me to truly recommend. Not campy enough for a fun Friday night in, it’s just a bit dull.” Elliott Maguire, UK Horror Scene

“Chowdhury obviously has potential, and with a writer to come up with some good ideas I think his eye for certain shots could lead to something decent in the future, and there are a couple of okay acting jobs in the film, mostly from its female lead […] It was boring too often, didn’t offer any scares or real tension, and failed to bring a strong haunting atmosphere which, based on the location, seemed very possible to do.” Chris Cummings, Nerdly

Buy DVD: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

“The film is not a total waste, it has enough fun scares here and there that keep you wanting to stick it out till the end. After all, that is what we want as horror fans these days. A film that keeps us interested till the end. This film needed someone to watch the final product and work with the positives and fix the negatives.” James D, Wicked Channel

” …what holds this together, despite all the rips at the seams, is Jill Evyn. She has a striking on camera presence and an unforced acting manner. If only her performance was in service of a better film.” Brandon C. Sites

Main cast:

Jill Evyn (The Black Room; Death: A Love Story; Axe Giant: The Wrath of Paul Bunyan), Lane Townsend (The Bride; Martian Land), Jeremy Walker (Paranormal Whacktivity) Emily Claeys, Pamela Finney, Sergio Alejandro, C.S. Boris, Anne Hallinan, al Garrahan, Elise Scarlott, Dixon Phillips, Cole Panther, Warren Serkin, Camille Grenier, Mackenszie Drae, Bret Grantham, Cameron Mark Lewis, Cynthia Naylor Smyth.

IMDb

Harrow County is an American supernatural horror comic book, created by writer, Cullen Bunn and artist Tyler Crook. First published by Dark Horse Comics in May 2015, it was originally a serialised text-only work, only available on Cullen’s website, under the title, Countless Haints.

Harrow County tells the story of a seventeen year-old girl named Emmy whose tranquil life in a rural backwater (likely to be in a Southern state during the early part of the twentieth century) is abruptly shattered when she learns her father, Isaac, and the local townsfolk plan to kill her. Believing her to be the reincarnation of a witch called Hester Beck they burned and hanged from a tree near Emmy’s house eighteen years earlier, they are haunted by her final taunts that she will return to enact her revenge.

Emmy escapes their clutches and convinces them that she means them no harm, though recurring visions and a knack for healing suggest that she and Hester may indeed be in some way linked.

Visitations by various “haints” (a Southern colloquialism for “ghost”) and a peculiar friendship with the flayed skin of a young boy, which she keeps in her bag, reinforce the peculiar nature of Emmy’s background and, as the plot progresses, we begin to learn that the townsfolk may not be what they initially seemed.

A strangely slow-moving plot, often with the gentle sway of early American children’s stories and the Southern Gothic style of writers such as William Faulkner, Harrow County is also particularly notable for the water-coloured art by Crook, an unusual technique in an age when many comics utilise digital techniques. Though there are sequences displaying overtly violent acts, the story relies far more on general unease and the interaction of the characters and their untamed environment.

Each issue features not only the main story arc but also shorter pieces covering other aspects of the local mythology, under the heading Tales of Harrow County. The initial run of the comic sold out, prompting a second printing.

In December 2015, it was revealed that a television adaptation was being considered, with a collaboration between Dark Horse Comics and Universal Cable Productions being optioned by the SyFy television channel. Dark Horse Comics already has a significant track record in bringing their stable of off-kilter characters to the small and big screen from Dr. Giggles, to Hellboy and Sin City so any such adaptation seems promising.

Daz Lawrence, Horrorpedia

Wikipedia

Demon Witch Child is a 1975 Spanish horror film directed by Amando de Ossorio, best known for his Blind Dead series of films.

Starring Marián Salgado, Julián Mateos, Fernando Sancho and Kali Hansa, the film is generally judged by one of two camps – those who see it simply as one of the slew of post-Exorcist cash-ins and those who see it something of a minor classic from one of the more overlooked of Europe’s genre directors.

Titled La Endemoniada (which translates as ‘the cursed’, or ‘the damned’), the film has been released on DVD by Code Red as part of a double-bill with Help Me… I’m Possessed!

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Review:

In remotest Spain, a witch is ransacking a church in order to obtain relics for her coven’s Black Mass. The local police close in on the old crone and add child snatching to her list of crimes, prompting much cackling until the police threaten her with a truth serum injection, at which point, rather unexpectedly, she throws herself out of the police station window, killing herself.

Decidedly more attractive witch (Hansa, also seen in de Ossorio’s own Night of the Sorcerers and Jess Franco’s Perverse Countess), vows to avenge her partner in crime by cursing the police inspector (Italian Western regular, Sancho) and giving his young daughter, Susan (Salgado, who also pops up in Who Can Kill a Child?), a cursed talisman, which she hides inside her teddy bear – just their little secret, you understand.

Though initially coming across as a rather innocuous bunch of loons in the woods, the witches soon reveal themselves as extremely evil-hearted and Susan’s curse soon takes effect, changing her from a sweet little girl (actually, the least convincing sweet little child since Peter Bark in Burial Ground) to a levitating, (mildly) swearing, baby-killing, castrating maniac, though in her defense, she does gift-wrap the severed penis to give to her mum as a present!

A doubting priest (Mateos, also in The Cold Eyes of Fear) enters the fray but will he have the faith and strength to lift the curse and stop the witches’ mayhem?

In fairness, Demon Witch Child would have sufficed as a three-word synopsis. However, what de Ossorio regularly lacks in narrative and the ability to harness acting talent, he again makes up for in genuine creepiness and an often startling gloom, right up until the final frame. The slender budget inevitably makes the effects look shaky, especially the levitation scene but also adds a strange otherworldliness to Salgado’s make-up and the scene in which the old hag’s soul inhabits Susan’s body.

Though centered on witchcraft rather than the demonic possession of The Exorcist, there is a connection between the two films, with Salgado dubbing Linda Blair’s voice in the Spanish language edition of the more famous film. The film is, by turn, ridiculous and intriguing, some scenes seemingly having no bearing on plot and the priest’s moral and religious dilemmas being more Jeremy Kyle than a search for divine truth.

Daz Lawrence, Horrorpedia

Other reviews:

” …de Ossorio does a good job of getting what he needs from the cast and does an even better job of putting it all together to make a pretty compelling and entertaining movie. Again, there was a lot of dialogue problems though, and that could be chalked up to the poor dubbing and the budget was obviously minimal, but Demon Witch Child stands as a good example of making the best out of what you have.” The Telltale Mind

“Despite a truly awful English dub track, Demon Witch Child boasts a handful of memorably grotesque horror sequences that truly come out of left field. No age group is safe at any time, and adult males get some of the nastiest treatment here including a castration gag that probably cleared out more than a few viewers at the time. ” Nathaniel Thompson, Mondo Digital

” …Demon Witch Child makes the possessed person a child. She’s a girl with stuffed animals. The movie gets a lot of mileage from the fact that she swears and says stuff about sex. Imagine how hilarious it is watching really old people say naughty or filthy things. This is sort of like that. But, different. It’s funny. It’s also a little creepy. Funny + creepy = awesome.” Dan Budnik, Bleeding Skull!

IMDb | Thanks to Serious Jacksonville Horror for the drive-in ad mat

The Witches Mountain – original title: El monte de las brujas – is a 1972 Spanish horror film directed by cinematographer Raúl Artigot (The Ghost Galleon; The Cannibal Man; The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein) from a screenplay co-written with Juan Cortés Alvarez de Miranda and Félix Fernández. It stars Patty Shepard, Cihangir Gaffari and Monica Randall.

After a bitter breakup with his girlfriend Carla (Monica Randall), a photojournalist named Mario (Cihangir Gaffari) takes an assignment to an area in the Pyrenees Mountains in northern Spain.

On his way, he meets Delia (Patty Shepard), an attractive freelance writer, whom he convinces to join him. The couple stop at an ancient hotel and hear rumours that the nearby mountain is haunted by a coven of dangerous witches, but decide to travel there anyway…

Reviews:

“From minute one to minute eighty-three, The Witches Mountain follows up bad grammar (and worse dubbing) with lots of misty space. Unfortunately, that semi-menacing spaciousness is vacant. Or filled with several minutes of unbelievably wretched soundtrack cues.” Joseph A. Ziemba, Bleeding Skull!

“I expected very little from this film and was pleasantly surprised.  It was a fun movie that stayed on the borderline of creepy and amusing. Gaffari portrays Mario so perfectly that the conclusion is most fitting for him. The acting was above average and the pace though slow at times, built up in the last half hour quite nicely.” Melissa Garza, Scared Stiff Reviews

” … a laborious, tedious affair whose dreamy gaps in logic, awesome mustaches, and ghastly locales couldn’t defy its overall inertia. It may open with a frenzied nightmare, but the rest of the film feels like it’s either sleepwalking or lazily plodding through the motions…” Brett Gallman, Oh, the Horror!

“Shepard’s beauty aside, the only other thing this film has to offer is some great moments of unintentional hilarity to brighten any Bad Movie Night. Otherwise, this is just a mediocre horror film that’s scare free and, like its protagonists, ultimately ends up nowhere.” Steve Miller, Terror Titans

” …beautiful mountain scenery, weird witch chanting, creepy photographs, hot heroine, amusing moustache on the hero, but also long stretches of boredom, not enough skin or gore, and an incomprehensible plot.” David Elroy Goldweber, Claws & Saucers

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com | Amazon.ca

Main cast:

Patty Shepard (Edge of the Axe; Slugs; Rest in Pieces), Cihangir Gaffari [as John Caffari], Monica Randall (Cross of the Devil; My Dear Killer), Guillermo Bredeston, Soledad Silveyra, Luis Barboo (Satan’s Blood; Female Vampire; The Demons) , María Eugenia Calleja, Ana Farra, Carmen Herrera, Victor Israel (El pobrecito Draculín; Horror Express; Graveyard of Horror), Conchita Linares, Inés Morales.

Choice dialogue:

Mario: You know, you’re forcing me to be disagreeable.”

IMDb

Curse of the Witching Tree is a 2015 British horror film written, photographed, edited and directed by James Crow (Nightmare on 34th Street; A Suburban Fairytale; Black Creek; House of Salem), making his feature debut. It stars Sarah Rose Denton, Lucy Clarvis and Lawrence Weller.

An innocent woman, accused of murdering her son and hanged as a witch, curses a tree and the children who play around it. The effects of this act of revenge echo through the years and centuries, and restless spirits haunt the house where the bodies of the cursed children have been buried.

A family move into their new home, and begin to uncover the terrible truth behind The Witching Tree and the murdered children upon which they unknowingly sleep.

The film was released by 4Digital Media on DVD in the UK on 18 May 2015 and on DVD in the US on 19 May 2015.

Reviews:

“There are many familiar elements to Curse of the Witching Tree, but Crow blends them with style and unfussy simplicity. Budgetary restrictions have removed any temptation towards superfluous flourishes but Crow has embraced this, manipulated the tools at his disposal, and created a finished film that is stark, bleak and genuinely chilling at times.” John Townsend, Starburst

“With a handful of shorts to his credit, Crow’s camera betrays a potentially talented eye behind it, but his pen can make no such claim here. Thus, the tension he constructs throughout serves only to prelude an onslaught of cheap scare tactics. Equally undermined is Pete Coleman’s lovely score, which shares audio space with awful pop ballads…” Rob Getz, HorrorNews.net

“Using suggestion, the barely glimpsed and shadow, Crow cultivates an atmosphere of dread in which sackcloth headed spirits and black clad witches lurk just out of sight, affording us the briefest of glimpses as they torment and haunt the family.” Hickey’s House of Horrors

“Holding the film together is the assured and stylistic direction from James Crow. He has a gift for creating fantastic atmospheric shots that really add to the overall creepiness and effectiveness of the film. He is also aware of the the what makes for a good ghost/supernatural story.” The Gingernuts of Horror

Cast and characters:

• Sarah Rose Denton – Amber Thorson
• Lucy Clarvis – Emma Thorson
• Lawrence Weller – Jake Thorson
• Jon Campling – Father Flanagan
• Danielle Bux – Isobel Redwood
• Caroline Boulton – Eva
• Lydia Breden-Thorpe – Lily
• Ben Greaves-Neil – Merrick

Filming locations:

Production on the film began in May 2014 in Kent, England, UK

Wikipedia | IMDb

Artwork by Aldo Yu

México Bárbaro II is a 2017 Mexican horror anthology film and a sequel to México Bárbaro (2014).

Grotbags is a British television series about a fictional witch called Grotbags, who was a popular fixture on children’s TV during the 1980s and early 1990s.

A character sculpted very much in the mould of the traditional pantomime villain, Grotbags was always played by actress and singer Carol Lee Scott in a costume comprising distinctive vivid green makeup and a witch’s cape and hat.

The witch character Grotbags originally appeared in Rod Hull’s Emu’s World. In 1991, Grotbags was given her own spin-offs series after Emu’s World was axed by Central Television.

The Grotbags series was created by puppeteer Richard Coombs and Carol Lee Scott around an idea of a puppet series. The scripts for the series were written by Bob Hescott and directed by Colin Clews.

Each episode rotated around Grotbags and her minions at cobweb-filled Gloomy Fortress, and their day-to-day lives. The series, which also featured the characters Croc (a crocodile), tin butler Robot Redford and manservant Grovel, featured panto-style singing and dancing and spawned the catchphrase: “There’s somebody at the door!”

After news that Grotbags star Carol Lee Scott had died on 3 July 2017, fans commented on Twitter.

One wrote: “Rest in peace Grotbags. You made my early years awesome. I was so scared of you!”

Another said: “Daleks. Zelda. Skeletor. Nothing – NOTHING – terrified me quite like Grotbags. Bravo! #RIPCarolLeeScott.”

Principal characters:

• Grotbags, the cantankerous witch
• Colin the Bat: a stupid bat who cannot fly very well
• Doris the Dodo: the last dodo, rescued by Grotbags from a desert island
• Norman Nettle: a grumpy nettle plant
• Grumble: Grotbags’ cauldron
• Lumpy: a gremlin who lives in Grumble

Posted in tribute to actress Carol Lee Scott, who died on 3 July 2017.

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‘Her soul lives on’

Conjuring the Witch’s Doll is a 2017 British supernatural horror film written and directed by Lawrence Fowler. The Up A Notch Productions film stars Helen Crevel, Neil Hobbs and Philip Ridout.

Adeline Gray’s attempt to escape Blitz bombing leads her to a derelict, creepy manor in the woods.

When Adeline’s young daughter goes missing, a series of inexplicable events lead her to believe a haunted doll holds a vengeful soul; the soul of a murdered witch…

Main cast:

Helen Crevel, Neil Hobbs, Philip Ridout, Claire Carreno, Layla Watts.

Filming locations:

Northampton, Northamptonshire, England, UK

Trivia:

The production title was The Witch’s Doll.

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‘Heather takes a babysitting job surrounded by a mysterious secret’

Mother Krampus – aka 12 Deaths of Christmas – is a 2017 British horror film directed by James Klass (The House on Elm Lake) from a screenplay by co-producer Scott Jeffrey (The Legend of Mandy the Doll; Unhinged; Fox Trap). The Proportion Productions film stars Claire-Maria Fox, Faye Goodwin and Tony Manders.

Based on the myth of Frau Perchta, a witch that comes on the 12 days of Christmas taking children each night…

Main cast:

Claire-Maria Fox, Faye Goodwin, Tony Manders, Michelle Archer, Tara MacGowran, Dottie James, Oliver Ebsworth, Sian Crisp, Amy Burrows, Becca Hirani, Tim Freeman, Oliver John Lee, Penelope Read, Emily McQueen, Henry W. Smith.

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The Castle of the Living Dead – original title: Il Castello dei morti vivi – is a 1964 Gothic horror film, an Italian/French co-production written and directed by American Warren Kiefer.

It stars Christopher Lee as the sinister Count Drago who adds to his collection of embalmed corpses by murdering guests. Donald Sutherland made his film debut, in a triple role as both a police sergeant, a wizened witch and an old man.

The cast also features Philippe Leroy, Gaia Germani, Jacques Stany and horror genre regular Alan Collins (a.k.a. Luciano Pigozzi) as a troupe of travelling players who fall into the count’s clutches.

The film was shot in black-and-white, utilizing the Odescalchi Castle in Bracciano and the “Parco dei Mostri” in Bomarzo as principal locations.

Italian bureaucracy has led to much confusion over the director’s identity. Many sources claim that Warren Kiefer is a pseudonym for Lorenzo Sabatini, but Kiefer was actually an American novelist and aspiring director who moved to Italy in 1962, leaving behind his family and day job in public relations. He joined forces with fellow ex-patriot Paul Maslansky (Sugar Hill; Death Line; The She Beast) so they could take advantage of state subsidies and debut – as director and producer, respectively – on a low budget movie.

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Kiefer later claimed that Lorenzo Sabatini was a pseudonym inspired by a 16th century painter: a necessary expedient because the project needed an Italian director to qualify for funding. Red tape meant that the Italian version eventually ended up with contradictory credits: “a film by Warren Kiefer” and “directed by Herbert Wise”. Herbert Wise is actually the anglicized pseudonym of Luciano Ricci. Kiefer is credited as director on all export prints, and Donald Sutherland named his son after him.

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Future British director Michael Reeves (The She-Beast, The Sorcerers, Witchfinder General) was also part of the crew, but his contribution has apparently been grossly exaggerated over the years. Assistant director Frederick Muller has confirmed that Reeves only provided a handful of pick-up shots: nothing that would make a notable difference to the finished film.

Reviews:

“Castle of the Living Dead has a potentially interesting idea but is hamstrung by a muddled approach and sluggish pacing. Although the film is slow going at times, director Luciano Ricci is still able to build a modicum of atmosphere, especially during the scenes inside the titular castle. While the flick is drawn out a little too much and features more than it’s fair share of padding, Castle of the Living Dead remains worth a look for the performances alone.” Mitch Lovell, The Video Vacuum

Antonio de Martino

“The cast is generally adequate, with Donald Sutherland providing most of the fun in his on-screen debut. He displays a skill for slapstick in his portrayal of the inept policeman, though it is mainly the makeup department that provides an effective characterization of the old woman. Christopher Lee’s typical restraint is refreshing as always.”Lawrence McCallum, Italian Horror Films of the 1960s

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“The scenes with Lee, the basement laboratory littered with the remnants of mummification research, and most of the story for that matter are presented unimaginatively. But from the appearance of Lee’s scythe-wielding servant (Valentin) and the energetic dwarf (de Martino) who protects the threatened heroine (Germani), the film shifts into a different gear, achieving some genuinely disturbing scenes…” Phil Hardy (editor), The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror

“Typical Continental Gothic melodrama, notable only for Lee’s performance and Donald Sutherland’s first screen appearance.” Alan Frank, The Horror Film Handbook

” …as the panda-eyed Drago, Lee is more than his usual frosty self. His delighted laughter and applause during the troupe’s command performance is truly manic, and at the end, when stabbed with his own embalming scalpel by a vengeful witch, he enjoys one of his most memorable screen deaths […] As for Donald Sutherland, his turn as a local policeman is an engaging echo of Kiefer’s original comic intentions…” Jonathan Rigby, Euro Gothic

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” …the premise is pretty cool (albeit kind of a let-down in light of the title), there are a few good performances that cut through the interference of the dubbing, and Castle of the Living Dead looks wonderful overall, despite obviously having been either shot on the shoddiest available film stock or processed by the most woefully inept development lab in Italy. No classic, but well worth a look.” Scott Ashlin, 1000 Misspent Hours and Counting

“The direction is awkward and the pacing choppy. One out of every three scenes is useless. No pretty women, no mysterious music. The count has some personality; he’s a troubled and contemplative man who doesn’t mean (much) harm. But other than him, only the energetic long-haired dwarf is fun to watch.” David Elroy Goldweber, Claws & Saucers

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” …standard Gothic fare, distinguished only by the presence of Christopher Lee as a mad Count.” Monthly Film Bulletin, 1968

Release:

In the UK, the film was released by Tigon Films, playing on a double-bill with Barbara Steele vehicle Terror Creatures from the Grave. Tigon re-released it as a support feature for The Blood Beast Terror.

The film was released in 1965 in the United States where it was distributed by The Woolner Brothers.

Cast and characters:

• Christopher Lee as Count Drago
• Gaia Germani as Laura (Hercules in the Haunted World; Devil in the Brain)
• Philippe Leroy as Eric (Naked Girl Killed in the Park)
• Mirko Valentin as Sandro (The Virgin of Nuremberg)
• Donald Sutherland as Sgt. Paul / The witch / The old man (Buffy the Vampire Slayer; Don’t Look Now; Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors)
• Antonio De Martino as Nick, the dwarf
• Luciano Pigozzi as Dart (Seven Deaths in the Cat’s Eyes; Baron Blood; Lycanthropus)
• Luigi Bonos as Marc (Frankenstein ‘80; The Evil Eye)
• Ennio Antonelli as Gianni
• Jacques Stany as Bruno (The Cat O’ Nine Tails)
• Renato Terra Caizzi as Policeman

Filming locations:

Castello Orsini-Odescalchi and Bomarzo in Italy

Buy Castle of the Living Dead on DVD from Amazon.com

We are grateful to Chilling Scenes of Dreadful Villany for some of the images above.

Posted by Mark Ashworth, with additional images added by Adrian J Smith

Hagazussa – A Heathen’s Curse is a 2017 Austrian horror film directed by Lukas Feigelfeld. It marks Feigelfeld’s graduating feature from the Berlin-based film school Deutsche Film-und Fernsehakademie Berlin (DFFB), which produced with Retina Fabrik.

Hagazussa takes place in the Austrian Alps in the 15th century when people lived in constant fear of witches and ancient magic. It will receive its world premiere at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas (September 21-28).

Meanwhile, Toronto-based Raven Banner (Trench 11; Another Evil; Crabs!; et al) has picked up worldwide rights to Hagazussa – A Heathen’s Curse.

“Hagazussa is a beautifully crafted, stylish and thought-provoking gothic horror film,” Raven Banner managing partner James Fler said. Business partner Michael Paszt added: “Feigelfield’s vision, and attention to the craft of filmmaking, definitely makes him an exciting new filmmaker to watch. We are very pleased to be part of this amazing film.”

“The aim of Hagazussa was to dissect the mind of the main character Albrun, a simple goatherd living in solitude and tormented by the local town folk,” Feigelfeld said. “After researching old pagan beliefs and folklore about witches that were supposed to roam the mountain woods in those times, my interest was to develop a character that these folk tales would have branded as a witch, but to dig deeper into her psyche and see her as the traumatised, mistreated and finally delusional person that society constructed.”

Feigelfeld said he wanted to understand the “utterly evil things people were led to do while suffering from psychosis in the Middle Ages” surrounded by superstition and religious persecution. “The film tries to depict a very personal and empathetic mental image of a nightmarish and sick mind.”

Source: Screen Daily

Pyewacket is an upcoming Canadian horror thriller film written and directed by Adam MacDonald (Backcountry, 2014). It stars Laurie Holden, Nicole Muñoz and Chloe Rose.

A frustrated, angst-ridden teenage girl awakens something in the woods when she naively performs an occult ritual to evoke a witch to kill her mother…

Cast and characters:

• Laurie Holden as Mrs. Reyes
• Nicole Muñoz as Leah
• Chloe Rose
  Eric Osborne as Aaron
• James McGowan
• Bianca Melchior as Pyewacket

Trivia:

Pyewacket was one of the familiar spirits of a witch detected by the “witchfinder general” Matthew Hopkins in March 1644 in the town of Manningtree, Essex, England.

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