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The Devil BatOver the past few years the Vienna International Film Festival's retrospective, organized in close partnership with the venerable Austrian Filmmuseum, has shifted its focus from the standard—though no less rewarding—practice of showcasing the work of Great Directors to carving out new lateral paths through cinema history, opening oblique thematic and geographical doorways that fruitfully undermine the notion of cinema as the product of a single monolithic creator. From tracing the circuitous second life of certain stories and their variations as they crop up, like musical refrains, in the form of remakes, sequels or re-imaginings across time to exploring the idea of utopia and its ideological correction in Soviet cinema, the Viennale's retrospective has become a dynamic platform through which to re-think cinema in all of its wonderful and varied complexity. This year was no different with the retrospective detouring from the sanitized, big budget, star-driven...

Rebecca Clough Oct 24, 2018

Here's our pick of the most terrifying sea monsters, snakes and, er, sheep...

This article comes from Den of Geek UK.

Animals have been our companions for millennia, but what happens when nature… goes bad? Some of cinema’s scariest moments come from creatures who have become freakishly intelligent, aggressive, or large, normally as a result of human experimentation. Other times, it’s simply that our reckless disregard for the natural order means a clash between man and beast; a fair fight only if we have guns, fireballs, and industrial-strength pesticides.

While the likes of Jaws and Arachnophobia create hauntingly iconic scenes that spring to mind at inopportune moments in your life, glorious counterparts to these classics are to be found in the cinematic bargain bin. Sometimes a straight-up thriller becomes a B-movie simply with the passage of time, as the animatronic monster becomes less terrifying and more ludicrous.

Classic horror film lovers get excited, as Turner Classic Movies just unveiled its movie lineup for the Halloween season. I’d run through and list all the classics that will be popping up throughout the month, but there’s just too many to list. This is Turner Classic Movies after all. Check out the full lineup below, and let us know if you’re excited for any of these! (via Bloody Disgusting)

Wednesday October 3, 2018

8:00 Pm The Unknown (1927) Dir: Tod Browning

9:00 Pm The Phantom of the Opera (1925) Dir: Rupert Julian

10:45 Pm The Monster (1925) Dir: Roland West

Thursday October 4, 2018

12:30 Am The Penalty (1920) Dir: Wallace Worsley

2:15 Am The Unholy Three (1925) Dir: Tod Browning.

4:00 Am He Who Gets Slapped (1924) Dir: Victor Seastrom

Saturday October 6, 2018

2:00 Am Deadly Friend (1986) Dir: Wes Craven

3:45 Am Demon Seed (1977) Dir. Donald Cammell

Sunday October 7, 2018

8:00 Pm The Mummy’s Hand (1940) Dir: Christy...

A few years ago, in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the death of influential film critic Pauline Kael, I wrote the following:

“I think (Kael) did a lot to expose the truth… that directors, writers and actors who often work awfully close to the surface may still have subterranean levels of achievement or purpose or commentary that they themselves may be least qualified to articulate. It’s what’s behind her disdain for Antonioni’s pontificating at the Cannes film festival; it’s what behind the high percentage of uselessness of proliferating DVD commentaries in which we get to hear every dull anecdote, redundant explication of plot development and any other inanity that strikes the director of the latest Jennifer Aniston rom-com to blurt out breathlessly; and it is what’s behind a director like Eli Roth, who tailors the subtext of something like Hostel Part II almost as...

Bela Lugosi fan alert! This Monogram horror opus is yet another narrative-challenged fumble of unmotivated, incomprehensible characters… but Bela’s great in it, in a central role. He’s a sympathetic, non- maniac this time, if you don’t count his tendency to go into trances and smother random houseguests. Savant’s review has the lowdown on the interesting cast; Tom Weaver’s commentary has the authoritative lowdown on whole show.

Invisible Ghost

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1941 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 64 min. / Street Date March 21, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95

Starring: Bela Lugosi, Polly Ann Young, Clarence Muse, John McGuire, Betty Compson, Ernie Adams, Terry Walker, George Pembroke .

Cinematography: Harvey Gould, Marcel Le Picard

Film Editor: Robert Golden

Original Music: hahahahah, good one.

Written by Helen Martin & Al Martin

Produced by Sam Katzman

Directed by Joseph H. Lewis

Horror movie fans come in two varieties, obsessive and dangerously obsessive. Back...

Dr. Orloff’s Monster

Blu-ray

Redemption / Kino Lorber

1964 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen / 84 min. / El secreto del Dr. Orloff, Brides of Dr. Jekyll, Les maitresses du Dr. Jekyll / Street Date February 7, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Hugo Blanco, Agnès Spaak, Marcelo Arroita-Jáuregui, Luisa Sala, Perla Cristal, Magda Maldonado, Pepe Rubio, Pastor Serrador, Daniel Blumer, Manuel Guitián, Mer Casas.

Cinematography: Alfonso Nieva

Film Editor: Á Serrano

Original Music: Fernando García Morcillo, Daniel White

Written by: Jesús Franco, Nicole Guettard, A. Norévo

Produced by: Marius Lesoeur

Directed by Jesús Franco

Arguing the merits of Jesús Franco seems a blind alley to me. I know academic film writers that have seen dozens of his films and who assure me that they perceive an artist amid all the exploitation and pornography. Why not? I continue to see Franco as a fringe filmmaker of little talent and less interest. Keep anything up long enough and it...

Alec Bojalad Mike Cecchini Elizabeth Rayne Oct 28, 2019

We've compiled some of the best scary movies on Amazon Prime for you. Now you can live every day like it's Halloween!

Editor's Note: This post is updated monthly. Bookmark this page and come back every month to stay up to date with the best horror movies on Amazon Prime.

Updated for November 2019

Amazon Prime's selection of horror movies is as extensive as it is terrifying. What's more, they have a significant selection of old/classic films for your scary pleasures. So we've compiled our picks of the best scary movies to watch on Halloween (or any other time) on Amazon Prime Video right now.

Join Amazon Prime - Watch Thousands of Movies & TV Shows Anytime - Start Free Trial Now

And for October, Amazon has devoted a whole Chillers and Thrillers page to everything spooky available. Now, pour yourself a glass of...

Shed No Tears

Written by Brown Holmes

Directed by Jean Yarbrough

U.S.A., 1948

Edna (June Vincent) and her much older husband Sam Grover (Wallace Ford) have cooked what they believe is the perfect plan to live happily together with a handsome sum. Despite that Sam’s career floundered, his insurance is an enviable amount, hence they opt to fake the husband’s death to in order for Edna claim the bounty of 50,000$ before meeting up with hubby in Mexico. What Sam fails to realize is that Edna already has another beau, Ray Belden (Mark Roberts), with whom she actually intends to split the money. Complicating matters is, first, Sam’s son Tom (Dick Hogan) who refuses to believe the police report concluding that his father’s death was accidental. Secondly is the private eye Huntington Stewart (Johnston White), commissioned by Tom to snoop around to find out what he...

Welcome back to The Stack. I'm sneaking this episode in before I leave for Fantastic Fest; it's a light week but there are some real gems here. For those not easily offended, Hidden in the Woods from Artsploitation will probably offend you anyway. Less offensive than downright disturbing is the psychological thriller Simon Killer from IFC. Shout Factory and Scream Factory bring a couple of classics up to date with Blu-rays of Day of the Dead and Mystery Science Theater 3000 The Movie and, last but not least, Kino kills it with their solid Blu-ray release of the 1940 Bela Lugosi vehicle The Devil Bat. The next episode of The Stack after I return from Fantastic Fest. Until then make sure to check out The Stack Holiday Gift Guide a little...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

New York, NY September 6, 2013 Kino Classics is proud to announce the Blu-ray and DVD release of The Devil Bat, starring Bela Lugosi, mastered in HD from archival film elements. This classic of low-budget horror stars the legendary Lugosi in one of his finest performances.The Devil Bat will become available on Blu-ray and DVD on September 17th, with a Srp of $29.95 for the Blu-ray and $24.95 for the DVD. The disc includes an audio commentary…...

Feature Sarah Dobbs 28 Aug 2013 - 07:00

Sarah tots up what we know so far about Sam Mendes' 'psychosexual horror' series, Penny Dreadful, with Josh Hartnett and Eva Green...

Picking a derogatory term for the title of your newest project seems a bit odd, but apparently Sam Mendes isn’t bothered. The Skyfall director is currently producing a new TV series for Showtime: based on various Victorian gothic horror stories, it’s called Penny Dreadful, after the cheap serialised thrillers of the nineteenth century. It’s set to start filming in October, so it won’t be on our screens for a little while yet, but here’s everything we know about it so far…

It’s been written by John Logan

Former playwright John Logan wrote all eight episodes of the show. He’s best known right now for writing the script for Skyfall – and he’s also down...

Movies from the “golden age” of black and white films (approximately the 1930’s through the 1950’s) almost invariably contain well-written dialogue and strikingly subtle humor, making them a favorite among many fans of cinema. The horror movies of this more subtle period in film history are therefore of a cerebral nature, primarily relying on the viewer’s imagination to generate the true sense of horror that modern movies generate through more visual means. It is these oft-ignored horror movies that will be the focus of a series of articles detailing the reasons why true fans of horror movies should rediscover these films.

With this 4th installment in the Forgotten B&W Horror series, we return to the golden age of B&W horror films with a classic Bela Lugosi movie called The Devil Bat (1940). Jean Yarborough, whose King of the Zombies appeared in the debut article of the Forgotten B&W Horror series,...

Every Halloween, TV channels pump out some of the best/worst horror movies. However, there are films that transcend the badness until it becomes funny. Here are some kid-appropriate schlock films:

The Killer Shrews

During the 50's, most horror films had pretty bad special effects. The best it could hope for was some cheesy stopmotion, and with the worst you get something like The Killer Shrews. Some people are stuck on an island where some science experiments have resulted in some slightly large killer shrews (rats). First sign of trouble: the shrews are just some ridiculously dressed up dogs. The film fails to have any conflict in the first half of the film . ..and it's only 69 minutes long! Also, it's hard to understand some of the actors' thick accents. The film's available via the Internet Archives or you can see it through "Mystery Science Theater 3000" for some added hilarity.

Considering Famous Monsters’ coverage of all things horror, we would be remiss if we didn’t point you in the direction of TCM tonight. Every Monday in October all the way up to Halloween, TCM brings you specially selected horror classics, many of which provided inspiration for the master of horror himself, Stephen King.

Tonight’s line-up begins at 8 p.m Et. with the Universal classic The Wolf Man, followed by the 1944 chiller The Uninvited. Dead Of Night comes next, followed by I Walked With A Zombie, Cat People, Curse Of The Cat People, The Devil Bat, and Dead Men Walk.

Selections throughout the rest of the month include such seminal films as House On Haunted Hill, The Tingler, House Of Wax, The Pit And The Pendelum, Night Of The Living Dead and The Haunting.

And for those that missed it last week, TCM will be showing encores starting next...

Today I decided to watch an old classic film from 1940 called The Devil Bat staring infamous Bela Lugosi! The storylline is short, simple, and genius! A doctor invents a new after shave lotion which has the aroma that attracts an eagle sized bat which he also raised and created to kill who ever was wearing the lotion. I could not think of such a simpler concept for a film! This movie, if it were remade today would be a hit especially with al…...

The full lineup for the 6th Annual South African HorrorFest has been announced, and it's chock full of classic and rare movies, brand new indie productions, loads of short films, literature, music, Halloween dress-up, and killer giveaways.

First, though, before the Fest even starts (it runs 28 October - 5 November 2010 at The Labia Theatre, Orange Street, Cape Town, Za), there are a couple of warm-up events:

Wed 20 Oct

8:15pm: Machete (special pre-release S.A. premiere screening of Robert Rodriguez's ass-kicking new Grindhouse flick)

Wed 27 Oct

Bloody Parchment Live Reading Event with Local Authors

6pm @ The Book Lounge, Corner of Roeland & Buitenkant Streets, Cape Town (no charge)

Most movies screening this year are making their South African theatrical premieres:

Thur 28 Oct

8:15pm: The Exorcist (Free Opening Screening of this legendary classic)

Fri 29 Oct

9:30pm: Shadow Realm Part 1 - Short Film Collection (1st of 3 feature length short film collections...

Not doing anything special this weekend and looking to kick it off with a bang? Or in this case a shriek? Well, then fire up your PC and bust out your popcorn!

From the Press Release

Last week, 100Ymm’s chatrooms were on fire as Ms. Monster and her Monster Melons hosted the weekly “Chat-Along” Double Feature Monstercast! 1940s cheesefests The Flying Serpent and The Devil Bat bookended almost four hours of madcap entertainment, featuring prerecorded and live bits by the lovely blue-skinned creature and her green skinned companions, plus trailers, cartoons and government warning films from the ’50s. Prizes were given out every 20 minutes or so and the attendance rivaled the original 3-day marathon that started it all back in March!

So, back by popular demand, Ms. Monster and the melons, “Tit” and “Tat” will be back for A Completely Live Hosting Gig this Friday night, June 11, at 8Pm Est!

• The new Micro Werks DVD outfit gave Fango the scoop on cover art and details for new special-edition discs (coming June 23) of Rick Sloane’s notorious Gremlins knockoff Hobgoblins (a Mystery Science Theater 3000 favorite) and his new sequel Hobgoblins 2. The first flick has been digitally remastered in widescreen, and the follow-up “shot in 35mm and made to look painstakingly identical to the original,” per the company.

Extras on Hobgoblins include:

• Audio commentary by writer/director Sloane

• Hobgoblins: The Making of a Disasterpiece documentary

• Interviews with the original cast

• Still gallery

• Remastered 35mm trailer

Hobgoblins 2 comes with:

• Audio commentary by Sloane

• Making-of featurette with cast interviews

• Deleted scenes

• Still gallery

• 35mm theatrical trailer

Retail price is $14.98 each. Micro Werks (which has yet to set up an official website) also has five discs in Johnny Legend’s The Vampire Chronicles series streeting on the 23rd for $9.98 each. The contents are...

Here I thought this whole colorization thing had more or less died out in the Eighties. Guess not. I'm with most people in thinking that if a movie was made in black & white, then it ought to be viewed in black & white. Besides, something about the colorization process has just never looked right to me. Don't tell that to Legend Films; restoring and colorizing black & white movies is their bread & butter.

On October 21st Legend Films will be releasing several newly colorized old horror films onto DVD that most probably never thought would warrant the colorization treatment. Those films are 1964's The Last Man on Earth, a loose adaptation of Richard Matheson's I Am Legend starring the legendary Vincent Price; Roger Corman's 1961 monster-comedy Creature from the Haunted Sea, and given how utterly silly-looking the title monster appears I can only imagine it'll look a thousand times sillier in...