HorrorGhouls – Page 2 – Horror Ghouls

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026)

Posted on January 27, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

We’re off to Emerald City, I mean the Bone Temple, to meet the Great Wizard, I mean Old Nick, the Great Satan of Oz, I mean UK. Oh, well …

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is a direct continuation of the previous one, where Spike (Alfie Williams) has now been captured by Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connel) and his small cute gang of Teletubbies, or chavs, for a better term. Welcom’ to Brittn, ya fockin’ cont! As we got more of the impression that Spike got saved by these bizarre individuals, in a quick scene that broke the internet six months ago, we learn that this Jimmy lad recruits young stray broken teens to join his cult-mission to torture and kill people in the name of Old Nick (Satan). Because, like Jimmy says:

— Old Nick released his demons onto the world of man.
And the world of man failed before the demons. —

Jimmy has created his own demented theology to excuse his extreme sociopathic way of life, but to put it plain and simple: his inverted cross that he got from his crazy-priest/preacher dad right before he was killed 28 years ago is not just an innocent rebellious statement. He’s evil through and through and the classic Charles Manson/dictator-type that gleefully watches his members doing the torture and killing work. The Jimmy Saville-looking wigs they wear as a form of a badge, which also matches the hairstyle of their cult-leader, only puts the rotten cherry on top. Yes, his hair is actually not a wig (!)

Against Spike’s will, he has to prove himself to Lord Jimmy in the old British way by a knife-fighting death-combat, against one of the Jimmys. And watching this scene without context, one would assume that this was just some regular youth activities somewhere in Glasgow on a Tuesday evening. Americans have their guns, but you should never, ever underestimate a chav with a sharp knife. Spike hits an artillery that causes a gory mess. Lord Jimmy laughs and grins ear-to-ear. Spike is now a part of the Jimmys and, of course, very reluctant and terrified joins their murderous coming-of-rage odyssey around rural Britain as they invade homes and skin people alive in barns. How they can just walk and dance around like they owned the world while others still walk on minefields, is a fair question to ask. Alfie bonds with one of the two girls in the gang, Jimmy Ink (Erin Kellyman), the only one who has developed empathy and isn’t completely brainwashed.

Then we have our mysterious Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) who lives peacefully alone in his small underground bunker next to his impressive lifeswork, the Bone Temple memorial. Approx 5,500 fake skulls and 150,000 bones were made to construct it. It would be just way too easy to just CGI the whole thing, but big kudos for making it the old school way. Dr. Kelson is still picking up fresh bodies to add to his temple, and has a side-project by observing an alpha zombie which he calls Samson. He’s a giant who rips people’s heads off, Predator-style, and eats brains straight from the skull. Hardcore. Dr. Kelson spits morphine darts to drug him out so he can dig into his subconsciousness and maybe see if there still is any humanity left in him. And good luck with that. Jimmy Crystal spots Kelson at a perfect timing, where he’s all smeared in red’ish lodine as he always is, and having a close interaction with the alpha by the Bone Temple. Because he believes he’s finally found his big idol and his father, Old Nick, and, well…haha, this should be interesting.

I’m not familiar with Nia DaCosta’s directing work prior to this, and I had no idea what to expect from her passing the torch after Danny Boyle. DaCosta does some really heavy lifting here, where it was pretty much already clear by judging the awesome trailers that they didn’t just choose some random work-for-hire director. Her directing approach is more traditional than the experimental style we saw in the previous where we have more dialogue-driven scenes than action. And although I —personally— enjoyed 28 Years Later a bit more, this is a rock-solid entry in the expanding and eccentric world building of the franchise that still keeps its feet on a grounded level. But calling this torture porn is a far stretch. It’s not even close. Yes, there are some gruesome moments here, but the film doesn’t show too much. Thus, I was a little disappointed by the “I don’t have a ticket“-scene, which felt a bit rushed. The effects are all practical though, as far as I noticed, and it’s nice to see stunt actors in real flames, which is a rare sight nowadays. That said, the action is very minimal. The zombies/infected are barely on screen, where the focus primarily lies on the psychological aspects between Jimmy and Old Nick, I mean Dr. Kelson. It’s still the good vs evil where the humans are the real monsters. This is more of an intense thriller/drama with some exploitation-elements.

What makes this franchise still feel fresh in the year of 2026 is much thanks to the unpredictable writing of Alex Garland, and how he explores our primitive instincts. While the action has taken a morphine pill, the tension is stronger than ever. We have a very simple scene where Jimmy meets Old Nick, I mean Dr. Kelson, for the first time, sits and has a chat about life, death, religion and whatnot. It seems harmonic and peaceful at the surface while the sky is almost blue, yet you can feel the electricity where one never knows when all hell will blow up. And then we have the uncanny parallels to The Wizard of Oz, which turns up the smoke and mirrors all up to eleven in a scene that was certainly not on my bingo card. Pure post-apocalyptic Mad Max-level insanity. It’s pretty amazing how this particular scene just perfectly fits right in when on paper it shouldn’t. But there you have the genius writing of Garland. Ralph Fiennes and Jack O’Connel are the stars here, and they’re both intimidating in their own ways. While Fiennes is the veteran he is, who can just speak with body language and facial expressions, I hope O’Connel gets more great villain roles. We saw him last year as the Irish lead vampire in Sinners, and also as one of the sadistic kids in Eden Lake way back in 2008.

While the film in isolation has been a flop, the previous have earned well over its budget for both. And this being a middle-chapter of a trilogy, I surely hope we get the final piece as we still have the incomplete arc of Spike to fill. What happened to Spike’s dad is also an open question. Is he out in the wild and searching for him? What’s next for Samson? Are 28 Weeks Later (2007) completely retcon? Will Brittan ever be Great again? Who knows.

Until next time: Memento Mori.

Director: Nia DaCosta
Writer: Alex Garland
Country & year: UK/USA/Canada, 2026
Actors: Jack O’Connell, Alfie Williams, Ralph Fiennes Connor Newall, Erin Kellyman, Maura Bird, Ghazi Al Ruffai, Robert Rhodes, Emma Laird, Sam Locke, Gareth Locke, Chi Lewis-Parry
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32141377/

Prequels:
– 28 Years Later (2025)
– 28 Weeks Later (2007)
– 28 Days Later (2002)

THE SEEKER – Horror Short

Posted on January 25, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

Two sisters return to their childhood home and are drawn into a nightmarish realm where they’re hunted by a monstrous doppelgänger of their late father—forcing them to confront the buried trauma he left behind and a horrifying truth.

It is Horror Short Sunday again, and this time we’re taking a look at The Seeker. A creepy horror short where facing the truth of repressed trauma can be terrifying…

Director: Matt Sears
Writer: Matt Sears
Year: 2025
Actors: Kelsey Cooke, Emma O’Dwyer, David Houston
Letterboxd: letterboxd.com/film/the-seeker-1/

Shelby Oaks (2024)

Posted on January 23, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

The Paranormal Paranoids are a group of paranormal investigator YouTubers who consists of the following members: Riley Brennan, Laura Tucker, David Reynolds, and Peter Bailey. After they decide to investigate the ghost town of Shelby Oaks, they end up missing and lots of people believe it’s some kind of publicity stunt. Well…not so much. All of them are eventually found dead, with the exception of Riley, whose last moments being seen alive is from a recovered camera which shows footage of her in a terrified state. Of what or whom she’s afraid, we don’t know (yet). Fast forward to twelve years later, Mia (Riley’s older sister) still hasn’t given up hope. She is interviewed for a documentary, where she also talks about how Riley suffered from night terrors as a child, and believed something was watching her.

After the documentary crew packs up and leave, Mia suddenly gets a stranger at the door. The only thing this man says is “she finally let me go“ before using a gun to blow his own brains out. This guy carried with him a mini-DV tape simply labeled Shelby Oaks (ooohhh…a clue!) and Mia decides to watch it. Not surprisingly, the tape reveals more of Riley’s moments prior to her disappearance, with some new locations to mark on Mia’s quest map, including an abandoned prison. Mia is determined to finally solve the mystery of her sister’s disappearance, and starts searching for more clues.

Shelby Oaks is a supernatural horror film from 2025, written and directed by Chris Stuckmann in his feature directorial debut. The start of it all began in early 2021, when Stuckmann released an early guerilla marketing campaign in the from of an online alternate reality video series which was named The Paranormal Paranoids, and it was published on a YouTube channel called JesstheParanoid. The channel featured several found-footage videos by this so-called paranormal research team who, we learn, allegedly went missing when investigating a ghost town named Shelby Oaks. It gained a certain interest online, where some people even believed the videos to be real. The Kickstarter for the film began on March 1, 2022, and already on March 21 it had gotten the most-funded horror film project on Kickstarter after raising $650.000. It ended up with approx. $1.4 million from 14,720 backers, which is kind of insanely good considering the goal had only been $250.000!

While all of this sounds like nothing but peaches and sunshine, it most certainly didn’t proceed that way. Now, I have to admit I didn’t know about Chris Stuckmann prior to finding out about this movie, and that was after the Kickstarter campaign had ended…I won’t delve into all I’ve read about this, but from what I have gathered things started going a bit sour amongst the fans and backers after several delays, and many fans were disappointed with the change in Chris Stuckmann’s YouTube Channel. He’s become a rather famous YouTuber for reviewing movies, raising his popularity especially through his “Hilariocity videos“, but after going further into his film-making career he decided to stop critiquing movies…which was a big disappointment to many of his followers. In 2024 it was revealed that Mike Flanagan got onboard as executive producer, and the movie was bought by Neon which gave it some reshoots, and eventually the movie got a theatrical release in October 2025 (not here in Norway though, it wasn’t available on streaming here until 30th December).

There’s no doubt that a lot of people had high hopes for this film. Maybe that’s to be expected, when it’s coming from a movie reviewer who seemed to be well aware of many of the tired and worn-out mistakes that a lot of horror movies could have easily avoided. Well…when viewing Shelby Oaks, it becomes apparent that there are many inspirations here. I could easily spot the influence from Lake Mungo and The Blair Witch Project for example. The performance from the lead actor who’s playing Mia (Camille Sullivan, also known from Hunter Hunter) carries a lot of the movie on her shoulders and she does well with what she’s got. While her performance is pretty good, there are some issues regarding her character which is by no means her fault, but rather that of the script. Like how she, for some inexplicable reason, stays covered in blood from the man who shot himself at her doorstep. She doesn’t even bother to wash it off even hours after it happened, and proceeds to watch the video tape instead while her husband apparently doesn’t give a shit about anything. Yeah, I know the husband is supposed to be kind of distanced from her and tired of her obsession with Riley’s disappearance and all, but essentially he’s nothing but a non-supportive character with no real function…Mia could as well have imagined his presence. She is also consistently going on what are obviously dangerous missions, like exploring an abandoned prison at night without even telling her husband or anyone else about it. There’s just something about both Mia, her husband and the characters overall that takes away from the realism, and that’s ruining a bit of what is supposed to be a very serious narrative. But hey…maybe I’m just overtly nitpicking here. I mean, it’s not like we haven’t already got a fair share of insanely stupid decisions made in horror movies by all kinds of characters…

For the most part Shelby Oaks looks decent enough, and there’s obviously some competence in the cinematography department, but unfortunately it never manages to elevate some of the scenes to a very effective level. Like in the abandoned prison, which is supposed to be a very creepy and atmospheric setup but ultimately felt kind of flat. The found-footage and mockumentary scenes work well enough though, and I didn’t mind the transition from mockumentary to traditional film. I just kind of missed actually feeling the dread or unease the movie obviously tried to go for. That being said: if anything, I have to say that I loved the old, rotten mold-house we get to see later in the film. The black mold creeping up the walls and festering all over the place makes you feel like it could’ve been some kind of instant-death location, and I really loved the ominous vibe of that place. There are some glimpses here and there where it’s like there’s a much better film just hiding beneath the surface, and the mold-house with the old lady is certainly one of those moments.

Shelby Oaks is, without a doubt, a movie that carries a lot of inspirations from (arguably better) movies on its sleeve. But it is by no means an awful movie or one without any redeeming qualities, despite coming off as quite generic. There are some scenes that carries a lot of atmosphere, the performances overall are pretty good, and visually it’s pretty fine. And while it was not what a lot of people expected from Stuckmann, I think it’s okay as a feature debut.

Writer and director: Chris Stuckmann
Country & year: USA, 2024
Actors: Sarah Durn, Camille Sullivan, Sloane Burkett, Brenna Sherman, Caisey Cole, Anthony Baldasare, Eric Francis Melaragni, Lauren Ashley Berry, Brendan Sexton III, Charlie Talbert, Robin Bartlett, Keith David
IMDb: www.imdb.com/title/tt14999684/

The Dead Next Door (1989)

Posted on January 20, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

You could say that this obscure little schlocky zombieflick takes place somewhere between Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead, where the dead roams in the midst of the zombie apocalypse, all shot with a Super-8 camera on a microbudget. Some years after the outbreak, we’re in Virginia where a group of soldiers from the “Zombie Squad“ are on a mission to take down a pack in some farmhouse. The squad is led by Raimi, played by the Temu version of Bruce Campbell. And no, your ears aren’t playing tricks on you — the actor (Pete Ferry) is actually dubbed by Bruce Campbell for some reason. Anyway: it isn’t until now that they learn the fact that it isn’t enough to shoot the zombies in the head, or even chop it off with a machete.

— Damn things! Look at it! Why won’t they DIE?! The thing’s head’s off its body fo Christ’s sakes! Doesn’t it know that?!

When one of the soldiers grabs his gun which lies next to a zombie’s severed head, he gets two of his fingers bitten off. And when you’re that dumb, you deserve it. Since there’s no cure yet, the squad has not much other choice than to leave him there. Goodbye soldier, thanks for your service, and God bless. While Dr. Moulsson is working on a serum that can wipe out the zombie virus, the Zombie Squad gets sent to Akron, Ohio to search for the ingredients. Instead they get in trouble with a crazy cult leader named Jim Jones. And he’s even wearing dark glasses. Not subtle at all. And this Jones guy views the zombies as God’s punishment to the humanity. Fred Phelps from Westboro Baptist Church would give a big Amen to that.

Dumb dialogues, amateur acting, campy action and lots of gore n’ delicious fun practical effects is what’s on the menu from this grainy-looking cheesefest. Nothing more, nothing less. The Dead Next Door is written, directed, produced, edited and scored by J.R. Bookwalter, an amateur filmmaker who just loves to make Z-grade backyard-style horror movies, I guess. That said, it’s a little impressive that he managed to film some quick shots of zombies walking the National Mall and near The White House in Washington DC. Hardcore guerrilla filmmaking. He’s also buddy with Sam Raimi, who’s listed as an executive producer under the pseudonym of “The Master Cylinder“. Raimi actually spat his earnings from Evil Dead II (1987) into this. If it was worth it, who knows, but what do you have friends for.

The film can be found next door to Alice, Tubi.

Writer and director: J.R. Bookwalter
Also known as: Mondo Zombie
Country & year: USA, 1989
Actors: Pete Ferry, Bogdan Pecic, Michael Grossi, Jolie Jackunas, Robert Kokai, Floyd Ewing Jr., Roger Graham, Maria Markovic, Jon Killough, Scott Spiegel
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094962/

THE RED HOURGLASS – Horror Short

Posted on January 18, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

After an encounter with a black widow in her sleep, a virgin woman becomes impregnated. After the mysterious spawn is brought to this world, a cult begins to form around her home and she begins to suspect the child is a demonic entity.

Horror Short Sunday is here again, and this time we’re taking a look at The Red Hourglass. A strange horror short about a woman becoming pregnant after an “encounter” with a spider while sleeping…

Director: B.C. Jones
Writer: B.C. Jones
Country & year: USA, 2024
Actors: Marcia Broadway, Todd Warren Howard, David Andrew Lloyd, Megan Powers, Caroline Quigley, Michael Stratigakis
IMDb: www.imdb.com/title/tt29720817/

The Wolf House (2018)

Posted on January 16, 2026January 16, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

We start off with a prologue in the form of a typical Nazi propaganda film, showing what is apparently an idyllic community in Chile where everyone is happy while working, singing and helping each other. And the farm animals, the flowers and the bees are happy too! This colony also has a motto: “Helping makes Happiness“ (yeah at this point you’re probably already thinking about that “Arbeit macht Frei“ slogan on the Nazi concentration camps). The narrator of this film calls himself the “shepherd“ of the colony, and vaguely refers to how this place has gotten horrible rumors about what is going on there, and how that’s of course not true. Well…we’ll see about that.

After this somewhat unsettling intro, we go straight over to an animated stop-motion (mixed with a lot of other techniques) narrative. It’s about María Wehrle, a girl who escapes from the Colony. While fleeing through the woods she barely escapes the “Wolf“, and she hides inside an abandoned house. Inside she’s accompanied by two pigs, and the place starts shaping itself into her dream home. Even the pigs slowly transforms into real people, a little boy and an older girl, whom she names Pedro and Ana. While all three of them are living in isolation inside the house since they can’t leave because of the Wolf outside, things eventually go bad once they start running out of food. And yeah…that’s more or less the gist of the story….but believe me when I say that no matter what descriptions you will read of this film, there’s just no way anything can properly prepare you for the experience of watching it!

The Wolf House (Spanish: La Casa Lobo) is a Chilean adult animated film from 2018, created by Cristobal León and Joaquín Cociña, with a screenplay co-written with Alejandra Moffat. It is inspired by an actual post-World War II Chilean colony, called Colonia Dignidad (Dignity Colony). The colony’s longest continuous leader was a man named Paul Schãfer (whose last name translates to “shepherd“ in German, which puts it all into context with the propaganda video we saw in the beginning), who arrived there in 1961. Both he and other members of the colony were deeply religious, and his place did indeed become notorious for all the fascist and sect-like shit that went on there: torture, murder, internment, child abuse and more. And it wasn’t until around 2005-2007 that the sect’s control over the place was ended. Today, it is open for tourism. The creators of this film decided to use a story based on this and present it in a fairytale-like setting, filled with arthouse and avant-garde elements, and it took five years to develop the film.

Visually, there are few things I can really compare this to. There’s so many techniques used here: stop-motion animation, paintings, papier-mâché, puppets, and the workshop and set pieces must have been messy as hell. It was shot in several studios and exhibitions at museums of different cities from Latin America and Europe. The sets were also built in real human size, which differs a lot from most stop motion movies that mostly use miniature set pieces…and I mean, holy shit, this must’ve been absolutely painstaking to pull off! The dedication, artistry and patience here is beyond impressive.

The movie also feels like one shot (with the exception of the propaganda film at the start), and it’s like everything is just breathing, dying, disintegrating and coming to life over and over again in the most hypnotic way. Visually, it is very atmospheric and haunting in the most bizarre ways possible, where the tone is always having the kind of faux safety vibe to it and you just keep expecting something really bad to happen. And mostly it doesn’t…for the most part it’s the underlying tension and how you know everything is just totally messed up. While always having a certain ominous and unsettling atmosphere, it also has this simultaneously strange ASMR-vibe to it, like some kind of bizarre, hypnotic lullaby. It’s uncanny in the same way a dream starts to slowly morph into a nightmare.

While the story underneath isn’t that complex, it takes a while to digest all the hidden meanings and metaphors shown throughout the film. Like for example the “pigs“ in the house, which have obviously been human from the start. María, despite escaping from the colony, is still having much of a fascist mindset and looks upon the Chilean children as uncultured natives no different than animals, which is why we first see them as pigs. It’s only when she starts caring for them that they “transform“ into humans, and she inserts herself as the mother figure in their lives. All the while still seeing them as ugly and inferior to her, until they eventually reach the Aryan ideal with the blonde hair and blue eyes and all. And the Wolf, which I take is pretty much an allegory for the colony itself and the fascist mindset, often tries to tempt María into returning to the colony. Overall there’s a lot to interpret here, and you’d probably notice new things each time you watch it.

Trying to describe The Wolf House with words borders on being impossible. It’s like describing the strangest and most surreal dream you’ve had, there’s no way anyone can properly relate to how it felt. This isn’t just a movie you simply watch, it’s a movie you experience. It is simply very extraordinary, and a smorgasbord for anyone who loves to watch something really strange and creative. Whenever someone say they feel like they just watched a “cursed“ movie, this one certainly belongs on that list!

Directors: Joaquín Cociña, Cristóbal León
Writers: Alejandra Moffat, Joaquín Cociña, Cristóbal León
Original title: La casa lobo
Country & year: Chile/Germany, 2018
Voice actors: Amalia Kassai, Rainer Krause
IMDb: www.imdb.com/title/tt8173728/

Possession (1981)

Posted on January 13, 2026January 13, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

We’re in West Berlin during the Cold War era, and a man named Mark returns home after having completed one of his spy missions. Instead of a warm welcome, however, he discovers that his wife, Anna, is ready for a separation and has also started seeing another man. Yay…welcome home. While this is a situation that would make most people lose their minds a little, it appears that both Mark and Anna have lost more than a few marbles already. Prepare for the most unhinged scream-battles and erratic behavior. To top it all, they’ve got a young son named Bob, who has to listen to all their bullshit.

Now, if you thought this was just a regular drama-thriller about a couple going mad during a divorce, don’t worry: you’ll be traveling down more than one rabbithole during the movie’s screentime. As we follow Mark’s first falling-down episode resulting in him having a long drinking spree, he returns to find their young son Bob alone in the apartment eating jam from the fridge, and everything is a mess. According to the child, he’s been alone for days! Yep, the poor kid should’ve been placed in foster care a long time ago. Instead, Mark decides to become the primary caregiver since his soon-to-be ex-wife appears to be so busy fucking around that she can’t even watch over her own child. Mark even decides to visit her so-called loverboy Heinrich, a sleazy, flamboyant new-age dude who lives with his old mom and claims to love everyone. Alright then…Mark decides to show him the “love“ of his own fist before leaving, and then goes home to Anna and gives her a beating too. Did I mention at this point that Bob should’ve been placed in foster care a long time ago..? Jesus Christ…and here’s a not-so-fun fact: the scene with Bob being alone was actually directly inspired by the director’s own divorce where he found his five year old son alone in the apartment with jam smeared all over this face, as his ex-wife had left him alone for several hours.

Now, if you thought at this point that this movie is a thriller with a fucked-up love triangle involving some fucked up people, you’d be wrong again. Because Anna still has her secrets, and not even loverboy Heinrich has a clue what she’s up to most of the time. Mark decides to hire a private detective to find out where Anna is going, and at an address located in a derelict apartment building she’s having another secret…one that looks like it escaped the set of some kind of Lovecraftian sci-fi horror movie and got itself tangled up in a messed-up relationship drama instead.

Possession is a psychological horror drama film from 1981, directed by Andrzej Żuławski and co-written with Frederic Tuten. It was an international co-production between France and West Germany, filmed in West Berlin in 1980. Żuławski’s idea for the film came during his own divorce, which was apparently a very painful one, and he was in a deep depression while working on the script. And yeah…it’s easy to see that a lot of the scenes must indeed be inspired by a difficult breakup, where a life is shattered into pieces and family relations are forever changed. There’s also some metaphors regarding the Cold War-era West Berlin, with the wall still present and we see it a lot during this film, providing an excellent symbol of how something once connected is now completely separated. You could probably not choose a better location for a split-up movie like this.

Possession is without a doubt one of those movies where you’ll often find yourself questioning what actually happens, and what is the result of the character’s shattered mind. And there’s no doubt that the performances here are really out of this world, with so much unhinged insanity that even Jack’s performance in The Shining is rivaled. Mark (played by Sam Neill) and Anna (played by Isabelle Adjani) are doing these performances so well that I can easily imagine that they would have been completely exhausted afterwards. Apparently, it was in fact very emotionally exhausting for Adjani, and during an interview she admitted that it had taken her “several years to recover“ from her performance in the film. It was even rumored that she had an attempted suicide after the filming was over, something Żuławski later confirmed to be true. Yikes! And while Sam Neill didn’t have too much lasting trauma from the experience, he said that I think I only just escaped that film with my sanity barely intact…

Naturally, it didn’t take long after its release until the movie got banned in the UK as one of those beloved video nasties, and in the US it was heavily edited as an 81-minute version (the original version is 2 hours and 4 minutes). It also didn’t get very positive reception, but has later gained a cult following.

While this movie’s most famous scene is “that subway scene“, I’d have to say that I think there are a lot of “that scene“ moments here. Carlo Rambaldi, an Italian special effects artists who also made the animatronic head in Alien, assisted in the creation of the creature that’s featured in the film which does of course look pretty great, and while I already knew about the creature/monster before watching the film, I was really not prepared for all the frenzied hysteria that is all over the place! If I were to even try making a summarized version of all the craziness and metaphors (both the obvious ones and the ones I perceived) I’d probably be writing about this movie until next year. Possession is one of those rare movies that do not only have a story about mad people, the film itself actually feels mad! We’re all mad here, as the Cheshire cat would’ve said. So I’ll stop here, and simply say that If you want something unpredictable and totally nuts, give this one a watch!

End note: Possession is a movie that was a rare thing to come across in the time after its release, at least in its uncut form. It wasn’t until much later that you could get your hands on it. It’s gotten several DVD and Blu-ray releases, and is also available now on several streaming sites. In 2024 there was also an Indonesian remake of the film called Possession: Kerasukan, and there’s also been talk about an American remake with Parker Finn (Smile and Smile 2) as the director.

Director: Andrzej Zulawski
Writers: Andrzej Zulawski, Frederic Tuten
Country & year: France/West Germany, 1981
Actors: Isabelle Adjani, Sam Neill, Margit Carstensen, Heinz Bennent, Johanna Hofer, Carl Duering, Shaun Lawton, Michael Hogben, Maximilian Rüthlein, Thomas Frey, Leslie Malton, Gerd Neubert
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082933/

YOU ARE HERE – Horror Short

Posted on January 11, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

A young man gets sucked into a dreamlike universe where the resident creature keeps him from getting home.

It’s Horror Short Sunday again, and this time we’re taking a look at You Are Here. This one is a creepy and surreal liminal space/dream-core horror short made by Spencer Lackey, who has been creating unsettling short-form horror videos for several years now. Hopefully he’ll have his first feature film soon!

Director: Spencer Lackey
Writer: Spencer Lackey, Michaela Tropeano
Country & year: USA, 2025
Actors: Dayci Brookshire, Vance Carraher, Kevin Keppy, Spencer Lackey
IMDb: www.imdb.com/title/tt35303589/

Pulgasari (1985)

Posted on January 9, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

“The Story Behind This Movie is Crazy!”

Once upon a time in North Korea there was this dictator, Kim Jong Il, mostly known for being the blueprint archetype for the evil final boss in a Far Cry game. Big boss Kim was also a huge movie buff, a true cinemaphile who owned up to 20,000 films. Rambo, Raiders of the Lost Arc, Friday the 13th, and, of course, kaiju movies like Godzilla, were some of his favorite films. But when it came to North Korean films, there wasn’t much to be impressed by, as they all were mostly boring duds made for propaganda.

Then there was this famous South Korean film director, Sang-ok Shin, “The Prince of Korean Films“ as he was called. And Kim had an eye for him. This was his Steven Spielberg, so to speak. So, in order to produce some more profitable movies in North Korea, big boss Kim took the easy way to get Shin kidnapped to be hold in “house arrest” (just to put it nicely) in North Korea where he was forced to make movies. Plain and simple. This was between 1978 and 1986 after he managed to escape to the US.

If this alone sounds totally bananas, this is just the tip of the iceberg of this absurd saga. So, here’s a complicated story, which could have been an insane movie by itself, cut simple: it all started with a kidnapping in Hong Kong, not by Shin, but by the actress Choi Eun-Hee. The year was 1978 and the actress was the ex-wife of Sang-ok Shin and the favorite actress of big boss Kim. When Shin flew to Hong Kong to search for her, he got assaulted by some agents under the orders of, guess who, the big boss Kim, who brought him back to Mordor, I mean North Korea. The cinemaphile that Kim was, opened a brand new movie studio with 700 employees/slaves where Shin was forced to make films. Several starred his ex-wife. Yes, she was alive. The films weren’t seen by anyone, maybe expect for some few lucky people in the country that were actually allowed to. Most people didn’t even knew what a movie theater was. And that didn’t put any cash in Kim’s pockets. Showbiz is tough, even in North Korea. What a shocker. So now what?

Then 1984 came with The Return of Godzilla, which became a smash success in Japan. Big boss Kim saw the movie and said to Shin while sitting with his high heels and eating chocolate pudding: I also want one! Now! Alright, then. Here’s Pulgasari for you, an absurd, goofy Godzilla-clone ordered straight from Temu (even before Temu). Happy now, big boss Kim? Can I and my ex-wife go home now? Please? This was a big international co-production with China and Japan and was meant to be the big magnum opus for North Korean cinema. Toho Studio was actually involved here. Yes, in Mordor, I mean North Korea. Must have been some blackmailing going on here, ’cause that the film was made and finished under its bat-shit crazy circumstances is a miracle by itself.

The plot for Pulgasari goes like this: We’re somewhere in the 1300s North Korea where the peasants and farm people are living under tyranny by an evil king. No shit. The time period could as well be set in 1985, even in the present day of 2026, and there wouldn’t be much difference. The evil king forces a small village to hand over all of their metal so he can make weapons. As the blacksmith, Takse, refuses to forge the weapons for the king, he gets shoved into a muddy prison cage to die of starvation. His daughter Ami tosses some rise into his cage, and here it’s when it gets interesting: instead of eating the rise, he mixes it with mud and makes a kaiju action figure out of it. After Takse dies, his daughter takes the figure, sticks a needle in her finger and drops her blood on it, and it then comes to life. She names it Pulgasari. And Pulgasari is a sight to behold. The creature grows from a cute n’ cuddly goofy-looking puppet, to Bowser from Super Mario Bros, just without the shell, and the red hair.

Pulgasari’s favorite food is metal. And the more he eats, the bigger he gets. The peasants now have a perfect weapon to fight against the evil king and his empire. And the most ironic thing here is that this is actually an uplifting story about fighting against tyranny — in the forbidden country of North Korea, while at the same time being produced by a tyrant. Bruh… Ami, who basically gave birth to the monster, also gets held hostage by the king, which gives Pulgasari a bigger motivation to destroy the evil empire.

So what we basically have is a messy, clunky, chaotic and tone-deaf circus show with lots of crazy things going on, where I’d also guess that the safety standards were nonexistent. Around 10,000 soldiers were used as extras here who risked their lives as they got attacked by dozens of rolling fireballs. 3.5 million people in North Korea died of starvation a few years after big boss Kim produced his masterpiece, so I would assume that he is just maybe the kind of guy who couldn’t give a fuck less if some actors got seriously hurt or killed during the filming. Roll camera, hope for the best and rest in piece in advance, just in case.

The film isn’t completely hopeless though. The Japanese company Toho was as mentioned involved, which also made the rubber costume of Pulgasari. Inside the costume was Kenpachirô Satsuma, a veteran known for being Godzilla in a laundry list of movies. Pulgasari has lots of screentime where he spits fireballs and destroys miniature buildings. The classic stuff. And if you expect the film to land on a more conventional ending, well — SPOILER WARNING — After Pulgasari saves Ami and wipes off the tyranny, they don’t know what to do with him. He doesn’t get any smaller, and metal is his only food. So… looks like someone just has to euthanize the poor thing before he becomes a serious new threat. The solution? Ami hides in a bell where she waits for Pulgasari to eat her. After doing so, he have the oh shit, what did I just do?-look on his face before quickly imploding and falling apart into dust. But there is actually one more little special and magical moment after that which I won’t spoil.

The aftermath of the whole epic spectacle is a chapter in itself, but there is actually a positive ending here. Shin Sang-ok and his ex-wife got remarried after a suggestion from big boss Kim himself. Then came the time to sell Pulgasari to the world. Yes, outside of North Korea. And during a film festival in Vienna, Shin and his wife finally managed to escape and seek asylum in the US where he made some low-budget ninja films under the pseudonym of Simon S. Sheen. In 1996, he was the executive producer on Galgameth, an American fantasy film for kids, based on Pulgasari. Big boss Kim, on the other hand, was pissed. So pissed that he buried all of Shin’s movies, including Pulgasari, even though he called it a masterpiece. However, the film somehow survived, and in 1996 it was put on the silver screen for the first time in Tokyo, where it was a success that even outperformed the American remake of Godzilla (1998). Pulgasari wasn’t as lucky in South Korea where it sold under 10,000 tickets. Some other sources say that Kim Junior, the son of big boss Kim, is a big fan of of the film and tried to sell the film internationally himself at one time, which went nowhere.

And all that said, it comes at no surprise that there’s no official release of the film. The only thing to grab it on are DVD-bootlegs. It’s not exactly in HD, but still looks better than the AI filter version that’s available on YouTube.

Director: Shin Sang-ok
Writer: Se Ryun Kim
Country & year: North Korea/Japan/China, 1985
Actors: Son Hui Chang, Ham Gi Sop, Jong-uk Ri, Gwon Ri, Gyong-ae Yu, Hye-chol Ro, Sang-hun Tae, Gi-chon Kim, In-chol Ri and about 10.000 of involuntary extras
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089851/

Eyes Without a Face (1960)

Posted on January 6, 2026January 6, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

Outside of Paris, a woman is driving with a mysterious passenger in the backseat. When she stops near the river, we see that the mysterious passenger is actually a dead person whom the woman dumps there. Later, when the body has been found, it is believed to be Christiane, the missing daughter of Dr. Génessier. He is called in to identify the body, and claims that it is indeed his daughter. Which is nothing but a big, fat lie, as his daughter is very much alive and lives in isolation at his mansion which also lies next to his private clinic. She is always wearing a face-like mask, as she was severely disfigured after a car crash which was her father’s fault. Dr. Génessier is mainly driven by guilt as the reason for trying to restore his daughter’s face by removing the skin from other young women, hoping to graft it into her face. It has always been a failure, though, and the woman dumped in the river was his latest victim which was disposed of by his faithful assistant Louise. Louise must now find a new victim for the next experiment, and ends up choosing a young woman named Edna Grüber, who is lured to the mansion under the offer of a cheap room for rent. Maybe the experiment will be successful this time…

Eyes Without a Face (French title: Les yeux sans visage) is a French horror film from 1960, directed by Georges Franju. It is based on a 1959 novel by Jean Redond, and he also co-wrote the screenplay. It was also a co-production between France (Champs-Élysées Productions) and Italy (Lux Films). It was shot in Paris and the suburbs surrounding the city, and some scenes were shot at Boulogne Studios. When making it, the censors were a big concern, so they tried to tone it down in the ways possible to appease everyone: not including a lot of blood which would have upset the French censors, not showing animal torture which would have made the English censors throw a hissy fit, and leave out any typical “mad scientist“ elements which apparently would have pissed off the German censors. And it passed through the European censors and premiered in Paris on 2nd March 1960, but it still caused quite a stir. People really reacted at that heterografting scene where a woman gets the skin of her face removed, and when the film was showed at the 1960 Edinburgh Film Festival, seven audience members fainted to which the director simply responded “Now I know why Scotsmen wear skirts“…

In the US, the movie was edited, dubbed, and renamed into The Horror Chamber of Dr. Faustus and released in 1962. Parts of the heterografting scene was removed amongst several other scenes, and had a very limited run and little attention. Eyes Without a Face was not received well upon its release, but is today considered one of the most influential horror films of all time. John Carpenter has also mentioned that the featureless mask of Michael Myers was inspired by the film.

It is kind of a slow one, but without a doubt very atmospheric, much enhanced by the moody black and white shots. Christiane’s mask is perfectly eerie in its lifelessness, and there is a gradual buildup of mystery over how her face actually looks as she’s either wearing the mask, or having her face turned away from the viewer. Her father, while not coming off as too “mad doctor“-ish, still pulls off a character without any scruples when it comes to restoring his daughter’s face. Instead of having the typical madman who is obsessed because of some scientific experiment just for the sake of ego and science, we have a man who does everything out of guilt, inadvertently doing even more horrible things than the one he’s trying to correct. The characters here aren’t really villains, just tragic people.

Like mentioned the movie is mostly moody and atmospheric, but the tone of the film sometimes becomes really strange when it’s often playing a carnival-esque waltz (Générique) as the soundtrack for multiple scenes. It’s used over and over, in all kinds of scenes, and actually gave me a little bit of a chuckle at times…but the eerie carnival waltz works well when imagining the downward spiral of madness awaiting Christiane. And, speaking of: while you do of course feel sorry for Christiane and what happened to her, it becomes a bit irksome how she spends every breathing moment feeling sorry for herself. Yes, we’re supposed to feel a great bit of sympathy for her and the situation she’s in, but she’s living in a friggin’ mansion, having everything she needs. It’s not like she doesn’t have at least a chance of trying to cope with her life in the way it turned out. She could’ve learned a thing or two from Sal Fisher in that department. Also, her character does lose a bit of sympathy from me since it becomes obvious early on that she knows what her father is doing, which the desire for a new face isn’t going to justify. Sure, she’s getting some kind of redemption arc when the guilt gets the best of her…but still…

Of course, one of the highlights of the film is that scene, the one that made people faint and the US version getting a cut. I’m of course talking about the face removal scene. And yeah, of course it isn’t nearly as graphic as what you can see in some movies these days, but I really understand why some people found it to be a tough watch back in 1960. It’s probably much to do with the black and white, and it looks for the most part quite realistic. Maybe a small, early foretaste of the French Extremity films that were to come much later.

Overall, Eyes Without a Face is an interesting film to watch, where it’s easy to see how it would influence a lot of creative minds later on. Well worth a watch!

Director: Georges Franju
Writers: Pierre Boileau, Thomas Narcejac, Jean Redon, Claude Sautet, Pierre Gascar
Original title: Les yeux sans visage
Country & year: France/Italy, 1960
Actors: Pierre Brasseur, Alida Valli, Juliette Mayniel, Alexandre Rignault, Béatrice Altariba, Charles Blavette, Edith Scob, Claude Brasseur, Michel Etcheverry
IMDb: www.imdb.com/title/tt0053459/