halloween movie marathon 2026

The Return of the Living Dead (1985)

Posted on October 26, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

It’s the fourth of July, the year is 1984, and it’s time to get horny.

But before we get loose and festive, here are some important facts to know: because did you know that The Night of the Living Dead (1968), yes the George A. Romero classic, was actually based on a true case? Frank can tell. We’re at a medical supply warehouse somewhere in Louisville, Kentucky, where the two workers, Frank (James Karen) and the new, younger employee, Freddy (Thom Matthews) are about to get done for the day. Frank is supposed to be 45 years old, which has to be the most brutal 45 years I’ve ever seen. Bearing the guilt of being responsible for building houses on an unmarked cemetery maybe does that to you. Anyway: It all starts when Freddy asks Frank what’s the weirdest thing he’s ever seen in the warehouse. Oh, he’s surely seen some things, but nothing weirder than the Trioxin gas conspiracy. Because the true story is that in 1969 this chemical got leaked into a hospital in Pittsburgh, leaked down to the morgue and woke up the dead bodies into zombies. The Trioxin was originally developed for the Army, and if it was ever exposed in the movie, Romero and co would have their asses sued.

And given that this film is actually co-written by John A. Russo, who also co-wrote TNOTLD, the truth is finally coming out. Anyway, the Army sent all the contaminated bodies out, and some of them are in the basement, yes, in this building, with a can of the Trioxin. You wanna see? Of course you do.

The pompous dork that Frank is, takes a quick slam at the canister to show how strong and secure it is. Instead, the gas oozes out that eventually reeks out of the crematorium pipe and up in the air that makes the rain toxic enough to resurrect the dead at the local cemetery. And they want braaaaains! Why exactly brains though? You’ll see.

While Frank and Freddy get more and more sick after inhaling the gas, we meet a charming group of punks who just wanna party. And what could be a better spot to celebrate the fourth of July than in a cemetery? They all stick out in their own ways, but the one we would focus most on, is the redhead Trash (Linnea Quigley). Because when the sun has gone down, and it’s partytime, Trash gets aroused and horny with her own filthy sadomasochistic fantasies of being killed in all kinds of different ways by a bunch of men. Be careful what you wish for, hon. She rips off her clothes and dances on a gravestone, buck naked, which alone made the entire legacy of Linnea Quigley. Not bad. And she runs around naked for the rest of the movie. Quigley already had a background as a nude model, so that explains something.

Fun trivia time: The grave dance scene was as groundbreaking and controversial in American cinema as it was to show a toilet in Psycho (1960). This scene was shot two times. The second time was when they realized that they couldn’t show pubic hair without getting an X-rating. And an X-rating at that time meant zero advertisement other than a small black & white logo of the film’s title hidden in the newspaper. It wasn’t just enough to shave it, no no, she had to wear a prosthetic of her crotch to make her less exposed and make her more doll-like. The funny thing is that the actors had never seen a shaved pussy before, because this was after all the 1980s, and they were more confused about what they were watching. Pretty vacant, like Johnny Rotten would say.

According to the making-of-documentary More Brains! A Return to the Living Dead from 2011, the film was a brutal shoot, a war zone, someone even calls it. A lot of spontaneous rehearsal tapes ended in the final cut, which was usually unheard of. There’s a great chaotic atmosphere here, lots of raw punk rock vibes energy (yeah duh), and much is also due to the director Dan O’Bannon, who according to the actors, was a total punk himself who pushed the actors to the breaking point. Everything that could go wrong, could go seriously wrong and ruin the whole production. In this case, however, it seemed to make the film better. More chaos, more fun. Art by many accidents, or just having a relatively clear vision may help a lot. Even though this was Lloyd Kaufman, I mean Dan O’Bannon’s first time directing, he was the one who wrote Alien (1979), so he wasn’t exactly a nobody.

More fun trivia: One of the actresses had a very awkward meeting with Bannon over a script reading at his house, where he had guns all over his desk and hardcore porn showing on the TV. That’s Hollywood, baby, to quote R. Zegler. The best part of the documentary can be found in the deleted scenes section called “Researching the Dead“. The iconic movie poster was illustrated by Carl Ramsey (1946-2014). He also made the posters for Motel Hell (1980) and Beetlejuice (1988).

The soundtrack has a fitting playlist of some local punk bands such as The Cramps, The Damned, The Flesh Eaters and more. The most memorable will always be Party Time by 45 Grave, and the pop song Tonight We’ll Make Love Until We Die by SSQ is catchy as hell. The good ole’ 1980s. It also has to be said that this is far from a gore fest like Re Animator, which came out the same year as this. You have two scenes where skulls get eaten, more bloody than the other. The satire and the chaotic absurdity is what drives the film, with lots of memorable moments like the restrained zombie who explains why they need to eat brains, the first encounter with Tarman, “send more paramedics“, and the overall pure ’80s atmosphere.

I also like the concept of Frank and Freddy slowly dying while they’re still alive after they inhaled the Trioxin. Having to go through rigor mortis before death is a horror movie in itself. And there you have the irony of zombies running, which you’ll see later on. So no, Zack Snyder was far from the first. My favorite character here is the mortician with the big bulging eyes, Ernie (Don Calfa), who has some of the best reactions as he plays it all straight and rational, which is moons apart from all of the rest. The ending is what it is, because Bannon had no clue how to, well, end it.

Director: Dan O’Bannon
Writers: Rudy Ricci, John A. Russo, Russell Streiner
Country & year: USA, 1985
Actors: Clu Gulager, James Karen, Don Calfa, Thom Mathews, Beverly Randolph, John Philbin, Jewel Shepard, Miguel A. Núñez Jr., Brian Peck, Linnea Quigley, Mark Venturini,
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089907/

The Frighteners (1996)

Posted on October 25, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

Are you troubled by strange sounds in the middle of the night?
Do you experience feelings of dread in your basement or attic?
Have you or any of your family ever seen a spook, specter or a ghost?

If the answer is yes, pick up your phone and call the professionals: GHOSTB…I mean Frank Bannister, a true shameless conman that will suck all your money out of your pocket faster than the closet mouth in Carol Anne’s bedroom.

We’re in the small coastal town of Fairwater where Frank Bannister (Michael J. Fox), a chronically depressed “psychic investigator“, drives around in his rusty, yellow Volkswagen Beetle like a madman, throwing away a handful of business cards at random funerals, and does his best to make a not-so earnest living. And here’s the thing: Frank is actually a psychic who can see ghosts clear as day, everywhere he goes, and even lives with three of them in his half-built hillside house: the gunslinger Judge, the disco afroman Cyrus, and the uncool ’80s nerd Stuart. Sounds fun. But instead of investigating real hauntings, Frank uses Cyrus and Stuart to stage false haunting scenarios so he can basically just come in, switch on the lights and write the check. How clever. Judge, on the other hand, is too old to spook around (yes, even ghosts can get old). I guess that being dead isn’t such a luxury, after all.

Then folks around the town start to die suddenly, at a high rate, while Frank sees numbers carved on peoples’ foreheads as a premonition, which seem to draw some connections with the dead notorious serial killer Johnny Bartlett. So, maybe it’s time to cut down the booze and start some serious ghost hunting. Well, that’s maybe easier said than done when Frank himself gets investigated by the FBI for being accused of killing his wife who died in a car accident after Frank’s reckless driving some years back. And if you thought Mulder was “spooky“, then say hello to Milton Dammers (Jeffery Combs). Yikes.

The Frighteners is truly something special, directed by Peter Jackson and co-written with his wife Fran Walsh. It blends the comedy and the “seriousness“ like Ghostbusters (1984) and the more cartoonish elements from Beetlejuice (1988), Casper (1995), and even some grimy true-crime elements. A script like this, with its many layers, subplots, slapstick comedy and more dark horror could easily have been an epic tonal disaster. But like a lightening in a bottle, it works.

There are a lot of colorful characters here and the three ghosts Frank lives with is just the tip of the iceberg. A particular standout here is Jeffrey Combs as Milton -Sieg Heil- Dammers. And there’s nothing shady about him. He only looks like if Adolf Hitler and Judge Doom had a baby, possessed by the paranoid ghost of Jim Carrey (don’t panic, Jim is alive and well, but you get the point). I could watch a whole spin-off with this guy. Then you have the cameo of none other than Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, I mean R. Lee Ermey, as a ghost who protects the local cemetery, and who can’t get enough to showcase his goddamn rights to the Second Amendment. God Bless America, you slimy fucking walrus-looking piece of shit! Rumors say that his screentime is taken from the Full Metal Jacket audition tapes.

Jake Busey certainly looks the part as Johnny (The Homicidal Maniac) with his dead eyes and hideous mouth. Michael J. Fox’s performance as the broken, depressed and desperate shell of a man is a big contrast of his signature role Marty McFly. Fox actually turned down the role as Edward Douglas in The Island of Dr. Moreau (yes, that one) to be in The Frighteners. And ‘boy, even though this wasn’t the biggest moneymaker at the box-office, we can say that he dodged a huge bullet. Dee Wallace also have a central role here as, well, that’s all I can say without slipping too much into spoilers. Danny Elfman gives a fitting and spooky Danny Elfman score, I at least can say.

The film goes heavy on CGI, all created by Wētā FX, who also did the visual effects for the The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Avatar movies and Van Helsing, to mention some. The post-production to add the visual effects took 18 intense months. After the 15 artists at Wētā was on the verge of getting burned-out, George Lucas’ company, Industrial Light & Magic, had to step in to give a helping hand. Sounds like a messy disaster already, but Universal was so impressed with the final cut that they wanted to release the film right away instead of waiting three months for October, which was its intended release. Not a good plan since the film barely made back its budget. And maybe the R-rating was a factor. Who knows.

In Norway, my home country, the film flopped so hard that it didn’t even survive the first week before it was pulled from the theaters. A prime example of how a flop does not equal a terrible product. The Frighteners holds up, 30 years after its release and is an absolutely delightful fun spookyride. And on October 26, (yes, tomorrow) the film gets a 4k/Blu-ray release from Arrow Video. Happy anniversary!

Director: Peter Jackson
Writers: Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh
Country & year: USA/New Zealand, 1996
Actors: Michael J. Fox, Trini Alvarado, Peter Dobson, John Astin, Jeffrey Combs, Dee Wallace, Jake Busey, Chi McBride, Jim Fyfe, Troy Evans, Julianna McCarthy, R. Lee Ermey
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116365/

Necronomicon (1993)

Posted on October 24, 2026October 24, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

H. P. Lovecraft himself is visiting a monastery, where they store a copy of the Necronomicon. When he enters the place and meets some rather dubious monks, he asks if he can read the Alchemical Encyclopedia Vol. III, and manages to steal a key from one of them. He hurries to the cellar vault, where the Necronomicon is being held. Once inside, a vault door closes behind him. Taken aback by this he drops the key down a grating and into water, but he still proceeds to do what he came for, and sits down and starts reading.

And from here on the movie is separated into different segments, which Lovecraft is sitting there reading. The first one is called The Drowned, and supposedly based on The Rats in the Walls. The story is about Jethro De Lapoer who lost his wife and son. He uses the Necronomicon to bring his family back to life. Of course, we know that bringing back the dead always ends in even more misery. The next story is called The Cold, based on Cool Air. Here we meet Dale Porkel, a reporter who is investigating a string of murders in Boston which has taken place over several decades, and interviews a woman who lives in a freezing cold house. Next up is Whispers, based on The Whisperer in Darkness. This time we meet two police officers, Paul and Sarah, who is pursuing a suspect nicknamed “the Butcher“, where we go into creature-feature territory. And all the while Lovecraft has been reading these stories, seals have opened up to let in…something.

Necronomicon (also called H. P. Lovecraft’s Necronomicon, Necronomicon: Book of the Dead or Necronomicon: To Hell and Back) is an anthology horror film from 1993, featuring segments that are loosely inspired by some of Lovecraft’s stories. The segments are directed by Brian Yuzna, Christophe Grans, and Shusuke Kaneko, and they were written by Gans, Yuzna, Brent V. Friedman and Kazunori Itō. Animatronic effects and special makeup were supervised by Tom Savini, and were created by John Carl Buechler, Christopher Nelson and Screaming Mad George. So, yeah…it goes without saying that the effects here are kickass. The film won the award for Best Special Effects at the 1994 Fantafestival. The film did pretty well upon its initial VHS release in the US, and even better in Europe and Asia.

I found all the segments interesting and nice enough in their own way, but the film’s final segment, Whispers, is definitely my favorite, and the most insane and fast-paced of them all. It barely has jack shit to do with the original Lovecraft story, so if you want something more true to that you should check out The Whisperer in Darkness from 2012. Whispers is the darkest segment of the bunch, going into pure horror territory in an old abandoned house and a nasty feeding ground deep inside some creepy tunnels leading to a cave. We also get some cool body horror elements here, plenty gore and creature effects. But yeah, the segments are just veeery loosely based on the original stories, where I guess the first one regarding theme and atmosphere is probably closest to the vibe of a “cosmic horror“ Lovecraft story with sea people, rejection of the Christian God and a tentacled monster, while Cool Air is the one closest to the source material. I love Lovecraft’s stories, and I’ve gotten used to the fact that most movies based on them doesn’t really manage to capture them in a solid way. That being said, I also love the more loosely-inspired ones (and even some of the parody ones), I’m not picky. I can easily see how some of the more hardcore Lovecraft fans might wrinkle their nose like someone just farted in their face when seeing this film, though, despite how much fun I personally find it.

Jeffrey Combs plays the role as H. P. Lovecraft here, and for some crazy reason the makeup makes him look like Bruce Campbell’s twin brother. A little uncanny, to be honest. The ending/climax features of course some wrap-up with Lovecraft and the monks, which is fun. While some of the segments leaves a bit to be desired story-wise, the movie makes it all worthwhile with the awesome special effects. Plus Bruce Camb – er, I mean Jeffrey Combs, of course.

Necronomicon is a bit of a mixed bag, but it’s pure 90’s fun through and through with special effects from some of the best. It’s a little hard to come by, but we got the German Wicked Vision Blu-ray release which includes both the German dub and original English language + English subtitles.

Directors: Christophe Gans, Shûsuke Kaneko, Brian Yuzna
Writers: Brent Friedman, Christophe Gans, Kazunori Itô, Brian Yuzna
Country & year: USA/1993
Actors: Jeffrey Combs, Tony Azito, Juan Fernández, Brian Yuzna, Bruce Payne, Belinda Bauer, Richard Lynch, David Warner, Signy Coleman, Don Calfa, Judith Drake
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107664/

Hiruko the Goblin (1991)

Posted on October 23, 2026October 23, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

Reijiro Hieda is a young archeologist who is very interested in the supernatural. No one takes him seriously, though, and he is discredited for advocating his “wild“ theories. One day, he receives a letter from his brother-in-law, Takashi Yabe. Yabe is a high school teacher, and he and his student Reiko Tsukishima investigated a burial mound where they discovered an ancient tomb, built to seal an evil spirit (a yōkai). Reiko mysteriously disappears, and Yabe has no idea what happened to her.

Hieda travels to the town where Yabe lives so he can investigate the incident, and he meets Masao, Yabe’s son. Masao tells him that Reiko has in fact returned, and he noticed that she tried to oddly seduce one of his classmates. Soon, they find that both this classmate and several others have been murdered with a switchblade. They first suspect the creepy janitor, but when they find Reiko’s singing, disembodied head…well, then there’s no doubt who’s the culprit and that the threat is entirely supernatural!

Hiruko the Goblin, also known as Yōkai Hunter: Hiruko, is a Japanese horror film from 1991, directed by Shinya Tsukamoto. Yes, that’s the guy who made the infamous Tetsuo: The Iron Man from 1989. Hiruko the Goblin is based on a manga by Daijiro Morohoshi, called Yokai Hunter. The movie was filmed in the town of Asahi, Toyama and Toho sound stage. For some reason, the production of the film was strained because some crew members complained about having to work under “a younger director“. Seriously…the guy was 30 at the time. What the hell. I guess these guys would’ve suffered a collective aneurysm if they had to work on Backrooms. The director even got into a physical altercation with veteran cast member Hideo Murota who refused to follow his directions. The film also went over budget near the end of the production, so the requiring crew members had to finish it for free.

With just reading the title, you’ll be quick to expect something zany and totally bonkers. And it sure is! While it doesn’t have the deepest story, it really doesn’t need it. There’s a Gate to Hell that must be prevented from opening, and our protagonist and friends must prevent this from happening while being killed off by an evil spirit. The evil spirit chasing them is using people’s disembodied heads as a vessel, crawling after them on spider legs. And through the school hallways, we see some fast-moving POV shots when the creature is coming for them. Hmm…these things probably ring a few bells, don’t they? Tsukamoto was paying some obvious homages to several classic western horror films, like John Carpenter’s The Thing and Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead. You can also find some nods to Ghostbusters (their goblin-hunting devices) and Alien (that face-hugging thing). As much as the film obviously gives references and pays homage to several western horror films, it’s doing its own thing with Japanese folklore and the Shinto mythology. Hiruko aka “Leech Child“ was the deformed firstborn son of the Shinto creator deities Izanagi and Izanami, born without bones and unable to walk or stand properly.

Performances are as expected, often energetic and hyper. The guy in the leading role as Hieda (Kenji Sawada) is the same guy who played the family father in The Happiness of the Katakuris. The effects here are of course practical and even some stop motion, and the creature designs are really cool. There’s the usual blood spray now and then, plenty decapitations and some decent gore and, of course, body horror elements. We’re talking about the creator of Tetsuo: The Iron Man after all! And while this movie is nowhere near as insane as that one, it’s still a lot of fun and with that old-school charm that older movies often manage to deliver.

If you want to see a fun, goofy low-budget J-Horror film about a severed head on spider legs killing and terrorizing students, with some awesome creatures and body horror effects, then Hiruko the Goblin is a film for you to check out!

Director: Shinya Tsukamoto
Writers: Koji Tsutsumi, Shinya Tsukamoto
Original title: Yôkai hantâ: Hiruko
Country & year: Japan, 1991
Actors: Kenji Sawada, Masaki Kudou, Hideo Murota, Naoto Takenaka, Megumi Ueno
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100991/

The Pit (1981)

Posted on October 22, 2026October 22, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

Jamie (Sammy Snyders) is a disturbed and socially stunned 12-year-old boy with only one friend: his teddy bear, who he has daily conversations with. When he tries to connect with other kids in the neighborhood, he only gets met with a suckerpunch or just public humiliation. He starts to show interest in girls, especially in the older psychology student Sandy (Jeannie Elias), a brunette curlyhead who gets the job of babysitting him when his parents go on a business trip. He falls madly in love with her and does creepy things such as watching her sleep, and writing “I love you“ with her lipstick on the bathroom mirror while she’s showering. Puberty is one helluva drug. And Sandy is just too young and naive to spot any red flags other than getting irritated by his creep behavior. Boys are just being boys, as they say.

Fun fact: The director, Lew Lehman, couldn’t direct the scene in the bathroom since his wife refused him to be in a same room with a naked actress. Lol. He should make a porn after this one, just out of spite.

Anyway: Jamie is also a prankster, who glues the face of the local librarian, Marg, on a page from a nude photography book. Har-har. If that sounds harmless, well, then listen to this: Jamie one night gives the woman a phone call, telling her that her niece has been kidnapped, and if she is going to be released, Marg has to strip in front of the window so he can snap some Polaroid photos of her.

And then there’s this mysterious pit out in the forest, hence the title, that only Jamie knows of. And at the bottom of the pit, which I’d guess is only three meters deep, live some small monstrous creatures who’ve escaped from the puppet storage of Charles Band. Joey calls them Tra-La-Logs and buys raw meat from the local butcher shop to feed them. Why? Who knows. Fun fact: the pit creatures were originally called Troglodytes, but were renamed after being misspelled as Tra-La-Logs. Sounds like something that Claudio Fragasso would name his beaver pet. Screenwriter Ian A. Stuart didn’t like that as it sounded silly. And if that sounds silly, regarding this film, then you’ve seen nothing yet. From here on I’d just recommend going into this strange anomaly of a film blind, because, well, just trust me.

When Jamie no longer can’t feed the Tra-La-Logs with meat, he tries to drag a cow to the pit with no success. The next option: bring people to the forest and push them into the pit. He even brings the pit an old lady in a wheelchair where the tone suddenly shifts to an absurd silly comedy where the only thing missing is the Benny Hill theme song. Yeah…

The Pit was originally meant to be a serious and realistic coming-of-age horror thriller about a preteen boy with murderous fantasies. Director Lew Lehman had other plans though, and wanted to make…god knows. Here we basically have three films: a dark psycho drama of a boy growing up to be a Ted Bundy, a silly comedy, and a standard creature feature like Critters. What could possibly go wrong? Everything. I’ve seen some wild tone-deaf horror movies, but so far, this one takes the cake. The wooden acting, the overly dramatic and sometimes goofy misplaced score doesn’t help much to take this seriously. It’s the pure definition of a Bruh what the fuck am I watching movie, plain and simple.

Director: Lew Lehman
Writer: Ian A. Stuart
Country & year: USA, 1981
Actors: Sammy Snyders, Jeannie Elias, Sonja Smits, Laura Hollingsworth, John Auten, Laura Press, Paul Grisham, Wendy Schmidt, Andrea Swartz, Edith Bedker, Lillian Graham
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086113/

The Seventh Curse (1986)

Posted on October 21, 2026October 21, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

A girl named Bachu is a member of the bloodthirsty “Worm Tribe“ in Thailand. She is about to be sacrificed to the demonic Old Ancestor, but is saved by Dr. Yuen. The evil sorcerer of the tribe gets really pissed off by this, and Yuen is given seven “Blood Curses“, which each burst through his leg periodically. When the seventh one bursts…well, then it’s game over for Yuen, no continue. Bachu manages to make an antidote for him, served from her own tit…but unfortunately this antidote will only last for a year. Yuen gets in contact with Wiseley, whose advice is to travel back to Thailand to find a cure that will rid him of all the curses. This won’t be easy, as the evil sorcerer of the Worm Tribe will do anything to stop him, with the help of strange creatures and ghoulies that you’ll only find in a wacky film like this.

The Seventh Curse is a Hong Kong action horror film from 1986, directed by Ngai Choi Lam. Yes, that guy, who later gave us more Hong Kong horror wackiness like Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (1991) and The Cat (1991). That these two films became his last is such a shame. He just quietly retired from the film industry without giving any explanation, so who knows what the hell happened. There could have been so much more pure comedy horror gold from this guy, but alas. Let’s just appreciate what we got, and how it’s been made more available for us western audiences during the recent years.

The Cat, which we reviewed earlier here on Horror Ghouls, was based on Ni Kuang’s Wiseley novel series. The Seventh Curse is also based on another of Ni’s series: the Dr. Yuen Series. Wiseley actually appears as a supporting character in this film, just to tie the universes together. Ni even has a brief appearance in the movie, and also serves as the film’s narrator.

Now, if I were to try and explain this movie to someone in the simplest and shortest way possible, I’d say something like this: imagine the horror elements from the Indiana Jones movies, mixed with lots of crazy Hong Kong action. Sounds fun? Well, it sure as hell is! This movie is stocked with over-the-top crazy kung fu fighting, bizarre and goofy monsters, and even some insane body horror moments and a little bit of gore.

The main characters are for the most part rather bland, but that’s okay, as everything else is so crazy that I guess we need a more grounded protagonist at least. The guy playing the evil sorcerer is almost like a goofy villain from an animated Scooby Doo episode, extremely exaggerated in his expressions and antics, but it worked in what is already such a wild movie. What did become a little bit of a pet peeve, however, was the journalist character who is eager to get the scoop of this story and come to Thailand with Dr. Yeun. She mostly came off as a little too noisy and slightly annoying. I get that she’s supposed to be intentionally intrusive but yeesh…that being said, she also had some golden moments in the movie.

Many of the things happening in this movie is so bonkers that you pretty much can’t foresee what’s going to happen most of the time. There’s just one wild and incredible scene after another. The scene featuring a giant Buddha statue our protagonist must climb while fighting kung fu monks is something you would only see in a crazy Hong Kong movie, that’s for sure. My favorite amongst it all is the little “blood ghost“, which is a nasty lil’ fetus-like bugger that’s summoned by the evil sorcerer and made from the blood of 100 children. It looks so goofy, creepy-cute and silly that every second it’s on screen is pure gold! And let’s not forget the zombie skeleton, with its glowing blue eyes! Sure, it looks like a cheap halloween-prop and the budget limitations certainly is at full display here, but it’s so cheesy and filled with charm, and even leads to a rather gory scene and its second form. Yeah, just like a video game boss it’s got a second form which is, of course, much harder to beat! Especially when it looks like something that’s been crossed with a Xenomorph.

The Seventh Curse is pretty much everything you want from a wild Hong Kong martial arts horror movie. Lots of awesome old-school practical effects (this was made in the 80’s, after all), kung fu zombies, a fetus monster, and a wild climax!

Director: Ngai Choi Lam
Writers: Jing Wong, Kai-Chi Yuen
Original title: Yuen Chun Hap yu Wai See Lee
Country & year: Hong Kong, 1986
Actors: Chow Yun-Fat, Siu-Ho Chin, Maggie Cheung, Ken Boyle, Hung Chen, Bing-Chuen Cheung, Kwok-Keung Choi, Yuen Chor, Joyce Godenzi, Shu-Yuan Hsu, Sibelle Hu
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092273/

Van Helsing (2004)

Posted on October 20, 2026October 20, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

It’s the year of 1887 and some interesting things are happening in Transylvania. Dr. Victor Frankenstein has just given life to his monster under the assistance of Igor (Kevin J. O’Connor) and…Count Dracula himself (Richard Roxburgh). What could go wrong aside from Frankenstein’s castle getting invaded by a mob of angry peasant villagers? Well, now that Frank has done his work and can go further with his shady plans, Dracula doesn’t need him anymore and kills him. Igor, that weasel, has secretly been on Dracula’s side since “he pays well“. At least he’s being honest. Igor looks like the lost little twin brother of Radu, by the way. The monster gets angry, knocks down Dracula for a second before he carries his dead “father“ and runs to the windmill. The mob throws their torches until the windmill explodes. Rest in peace Frankenstein and his monster. Dracula’s plans have just been put on the back burner, pun intended.

This opening sequence was shot in black & white as a homage to James Whale’s Frankenstein (1931) and the golden era of Universal’s monster movies. It also sets the tone perfectly for the kind of movie this is that could share the same universe as The Mummy (1999) and The Mummy Returns (2001). You either vibe with it, or you don’t.

Then we jump one year later to Paris, where monster hunter Gabriel Van Helsing, a buff Anime-style thereof, played by Hugh Jackman, is chasing a CGI video game boss of Mr. Hyde to the top of the Notre-Dame. Fun fact: the face of Mr. Hyde was modeled after a French wrestler named André René Roussimoff, also known as André the Giant. Anyway, after the boss fight with Hyde, Gabriel flees back to the Vatican City in Rome, where we learn that he works for the secret organization Knights of the Holy Order as an assassin. They simply protect mankind from unholy creatures, way before the world got blessed with Father Amorth and the Winchester bros. Gabriel’s next big mission points to the Carpathian Mountains in Transylvania to team up with Princess Anna Valerious (Kate Beckinsale) and kill this mysterious evil Count Dracula. Good luck. Carl (David Wenham), a Friar and a weapon/gadget inventor, joins the journey.

As they approach the obscure, snowy countryside of Transylvania, we see some of the remarkable set-pieces. The old village Gabriel and Carl enter is a village where they meet Anna, that was actually built for the film, much like the Bree village in The Fellowship of the Ring. Yes, there’s lots of greenscreen in pure Hollywood fashion that later went full overkill in the MCU/DC, and seeing Frankenmonster swinging on wires like Peter Parker, is just…well, something. What makes a great balance with the digital ocean of effects are the spectacular set-designs, and even matte-paintings, even to recreate some of the look and the gothic atmosphere from the Universal classics and some of the Hammer films. Miniatures were also used, if I’m not mistaken. The world of Van Helsing and Dracula feels lived-in where you also have steampunk elements sprinkled in. I could walk around on the set of Frankenstein’s laboratory all day long, just watching the details, the cobwebs, all the rusty old equipment while being mesmerized. Dracula also has an army of Dwergers, who looks like a cross between the dwarfs from Phantasm and the Shy Guys from the Mario games.

That being said, we’re not without the slop when it comes to CGI, especially the werewolves and their “transformation“. The final boss battle with Helsing and Drac is lame and lackluster where the video game cutscenes are getting tiresome. Here I prefer the simplicity of Peter Cushing tearing down the big curtains to expose Christoper Lee to the sunlight like he did in Dracula (1958). I like the look on Dracula’s brides in their monster form, though, and Frankenmonster looks cool. The effects are, after all, made by Wētā Workshop, so there’s some decent stuff here from that department. And I almost forgot the drinking game: take a shot of Stalinskaya for each time you see a lightning bolt/spark on screen. You may need 20/40 bottles for that and already secured a new liver.

Then there’s the masquerade ball scene, which I’d guess was some of the deleted chunks of Eyes Wide Shut. And if you see the Castlevania parallels, you’re not alone. The gadget that beams up the whole ballroom building could be a reference to the rosemarys from the games. But there’s more, cuz listen to this: Right before Dracula says, “Ladies and gentlemen… I give you VAN HELSING “, you can actually hear the trumpets from Castle Dracula from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Isn’t that freaking’ c o o l. Alan Silvestri cooks the type of catchy and pompous orchestral score before it became trendy to just throw in some classic A-side songs.

Stephen Sommers had some big plans to bring Van Helsing to a lucrative franchise. The bad reviews and box-office returns suggested otherwise. The director who was once on the top of the world with the first two Mummy films and the gory sea monster-flick Deep Rising (1998) on his resume, got his film career pretty much demolished by the critical failure of Van Helsing. Bummer. Sommers made only two movies after that, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009) and the disastrous flop that was Odd Thomas (2013). However, Van Helsing became a big success on DVD, which sold copies for $65 million in the first week, more than half the revenue from theater runs, and has gained cult status over the eons. Van Helsing, despite its issues, is a pure roller coaster extravaganza with lots of energy, heart and camp, made at the last minute before Hollywood lost its funny bone and slipped into a chronic depression. They tried with the recent Masters of the Universe (thumbs up) to reignite the power of the old magic, but flopped hard at the box office. So, we can only hope for the best that the upcoming Mummy: Book of the Dead with the return of Brendan Fraser will make Epic Hollywood Adventure Horror flicks great again.

Writer and director: Stephen Sommers
Country & year: USA/Czech Republic, 2004
Actors: Hugh Jackman, Kate Beckinsale, Richard Roxburgh, David Wenham, Shuler Hensley, Elena Anaya, Will Kemp, Kevin J. O’Connor, Alun Armstrong, Silvia Colloca, Josie Maran
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338526/

The Pied Piper (1986)

Posted on October 19, 2026October 21, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

Welcome to the town of Hamelin, where the sun slowly rises above the horizon, and it’s time to begin a new day! Except, every new day in this town is one filled with misery and pettiness, as the townspeople of Hamelin are all a miserable, narcissistic bunch of lowlifes. Everything that matters in this town is money and social rank, and people’s gluttony and waste is enormous. The result is a rat infestation, where the rats are having their fun at night and steal both food and other valuables. Things get worse and worse, until a mysterious hooded man arrives in town. This man is a piper, and he demonstrates to the town leaders that the sound of his playing can entice rats to their deaths. How wonderful! The rat problem is soon to be gone an all the assholes in town can go back to their same shit as usual. They offer the piper 1000 gold coins as payment for the job, and so he starts playing and gets rid of the rats.

You probably know this story, of course. The Pied Piper of Hamelin is an old tale dating back to the Middle ages, and have forever stood as a warning of the importance of paying your debts when due. Because the Piper, despite getting rid of the rats and doing the job, doesn’t get paid. When the townspeople have gotten their problem solved, they decide to not pay him after all, causing him to exact his revenge. In the original story he lures all the children away from town, in the same way he did with the rats. In this movie, there’s a different twist on this old tale.

This version of The Pied Piper (Czech title: Krysař) is a 1986 Czechoslovak animated dark fantasy film, directed by Jiří Barta. It was a very ambitious project, where other animation studios in Czechoslovakia mainly made short films for television, usually aimed at children. As someone born in the 80’s and growing up in Norway, these Czech animated shorts were often featured on our local children’s programs on TV, mainly our public broadcaster NRK, with some of the main ones being Krtek and Pat a Mat. Kratky Film was the production company behind The Pied Piper (which is also the company that helped produce Krtek and Pat a Mat). Research for the film took six months, while screenplay and technical preparations took a year.

This movie is certainly a gorgeous and artistic piece of work. The art design is heavily influenced by German Expressionism and medieval German art, which of course is perfect for this film. And the puppets – oh man – they really are something else! Pure nightmare fuel, but in the greatest sense. I can imagine if I saw this as a child, my dreams would probably be really, really weird for the next days. The people of Hamelin look just as ugly as their personalities, which I suppose is very much the point as they’re horrible people through and through. The puppets were also intentionally designed to appear very mechanical to make them even less human, a contrast to the use of several living rats in the film. This is of course an artistic choice to make the rats seem more alive than the humans. There’s no language in the film, so the “dialogue“ is delivered through physical gestures, grunts, mumblings and other sounds.

Aside from the pure uncanny valley territory from the puppets, the whole film has a certain dark and disturbing atmosphere all over. The backgrounds, puppets, rats, music and everything creates this weird and slightly surreal nightmare-feeling to it all. Just taking a quick look at it should make most people realize this isn’t something you put on for the kids, but it’s also not just because of the visual style. There’s several themes here, including some really dark ones when it comes to another of the Piper’s main reasons for taking revenge on the entire town, that’s definitely not suitable for a younger audience.

The Pied Piper is an awesome art-house stop-motion animated film for adults, and definitely one you should check out if you want something strange, nightmarish and oddly beautiful! The movie is available on some streaming sites, including Tubi. A restored version of the film was released in 2023 by Deaf Crocodile, which is the film’s first official Blu-Ray release.

Director: Jirí Barta
Writer: Kamil Pixa
Original title: Krysar
Country & year: Czechoslovakia/West Germany, 1986
Voice actor: Oldřich Kaiser, Jiří Lábus, Michal Pavlícek, Vilém Cok
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0174834/

Troll Hunter (2010)

Posted on October 18, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

The film starts with the text that says:

On October 13, 2008, Filmkameratene AS (Film buddies, LLC) received an anonymous shipment consisting of two hard drives containing the filmed material. This film is a rough cut of the footage. Everything is shown in chronological order, and the images have not been manipulated. For over a year, a team of investigators has tried to determine whether this is a hoax or if the material is genuine. The conclusion was that it is genuine.

Hey, look, it’s actually real, you guys! No Blair witch bollox.

Some weird stuff is going on in the west part of Norway, such as suspicious bear killings by a mysterious lone ranger-like man named Hans. And yes, he’s a Norwegian, not a German. A group of film students follow Hans to get some real answers, and why some shady guy, who says he’s the head of the Norwegian Wildlife Board just coincidentally shows up on every kill site with the “nothing to see here, folks“ attitude (catching my breath). It’s too easy to smell the bullshite, or trollshite if you will, especially when he’s from Bergen. The film crew tries to get an interview with Hans, only to get a clear Stay away! Sure, bud. They follow him over to Sogn and Fjordane, a hotspot for trolls, and as they track him deeper into the woods after the dark has settled, they hear some unearthed noises. The next moment, Hans runs towards them in a panic and yells TROOOLL! I guess that wasn’t exactly on their bingo card.

And here’s a funny thing: If you view Sognefjord from Google Maps, it actually looks like an epic lightning strike. Thor was here, that’s for sure.

We eventually learn that Theodor Kittelsen’s classic drawings were not merely some products of imagination, and that anyone with Christian blood is safer in Oslo’s worst neighborhoods than in the forest. Muslims are safe, though, because that’s another religion. Asbjørnsen and Moe, on the other hand, (the Norwegian answer to the Brothers Grimm) do not quite align with reality, according to Hans. And now that the can of worms has been opened, and that Hans has not much to lose, he welcomes the film crew to join him as he hunts for the giant mountain troll Jotun, while exposing some secrets that would be Norway’s answer to Disclosure Day (catching my breath again).

Our Troll hunter is portrayed by Otto Jespersen, one of the most profiled, and sometimes controversial comedians of Norway. His primetime was during the ’90s and early to mid-2000s and us norse millennial gnomes will have some fond memories of the farmer Duggurd, Mr. Bean on bathsalt Friskusen and Barron Blod who got me into Black Metal. Fun, fun times. And his transition from the comedy scene to the big screen was not the easiest as he struggled to keel himself together and take the film seriously during the shooting. Most of the comedic one-liners he added was cut out, and that was maybe for the best. The mix of apathy and bitterness fits his ragged, scarfaced character way more which also makes a great paradoxical contrast to all considered with trollpiss, Tusseladder and all. This is no laughing matter, you see.

André Øvredal actually had his directorial debut in the mid ’90s with the thriller/fantasy film Future Murder, which he co-directed with his buddy Norman Lesperance. It was made as a student thesis at Brooks Institute of Photography in California, and released in 2000 with a limited DVD release of 5000 copies. It took another ten years until he made his breakthrough film, Troll Hunter, that would not only be the first mockumentary/found footage made in Norway, but also its first creature feature. And what could be more fitting than trolls? The real trolls in Norway will always be the politicians (yes, I despise them) and the Royal family, much like how the real vampires in Romania hides in the Victoria Palace in Bucharest.

The first remarkable thing here is, of course, the grim n’ gloomy Norwegian nature, which already makes a perfect backdrop. No set-pieces needed, just drive some miles, take a ferry and there you have it. And we haven’t even seen the troll yet, only the disgusting slime and other bodily fluids they leave behind. I must admit I was skeptical when seeing this back in 2010, and I really liked how the first troll was introduced and how the effects looked way more practical than CGI. The sharp sound design also adds some weight on their presence. They actually looked so convincing that there were people on the internet who asked if this was real, probably the same simpletons who still believes that The McPherson Tape is real, so…what can you say.

Most of the humor relies on folklore references, such as a scene where Hans tries to lure a troll by placing three billy goats on a bridge. We also finally have a “logic“ medical explanation of why the sunlight turns them into stones. Then there’s a scene where Hans and the crew enter an old mine, only to get trapped in a corner and exposed to gas. And yes, we’re talking about troll farts. Long, wet crusty bubbly farts. Ew. Speaking of stench, since trolls can smell Christian blood, a certain crew member has to smear their body and clothes with troll stench. The climax at the mountain where Hans’ Land Rover has been modified as something from Mad Max before the encounter with the giant troll, looks c o o l.

Troll Hunter still holds up, just like the 10 000 year-old Troll Cock (Trollpikken) outside of Egersund, and feels fresh to this day, sixteen years after its release. It’s still a unique triumph that doesn’t look like anything else coming from Norwegian cinema (if we’re gonna ignore the rather forgettable and shallow Troll films made for Netflix.) Norwegian horror films hasn’t been much to write home about during the last ten years or so, aside from very few exceptions, and the newest Kraken was a total embarrassment. Øvredal said under the press tour that he’d love to make a sequel sometime, and now that Otto Jesperen already has pushed his 70s, it’s maybe about time to gear up the Land Rover.

Writer and director: André Øvredal
Original title: Trolljegeren
Country & year: Norway, 2010
Actors: Otto Jespersen, Glenn Erland Tosterud, Johanna Mørck, Tomas Alf Larsen, Urmila Berg-Domaas, Hans Morten Hansen, Robert Stoltenberg, Knut Nærum, Eirik Bech, Inge Erik Henjesand
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1740707/

Thir13en Ghosts (2001)

Posted on October 17, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

Cyrus Kriticos is a ghost hunter, and together with his psychic assistant Dennis Rafkin they are on a mission with an entire team to ghost-bust a spirit located in a junkyard. Even though they manage to capture the ghost, there are several fatalities, including Cyrus. After this somewhat crazy scene we head over to a man named Arthur, a widower who is Cyrus’ nephew. He gets informed by a lawyer that he has inherited his uncle’s estate, which comes as good news as Arthur is close to being completely broke. He moves there with his two children, Kathy and Bobby, and along with them comes their nanny Maggie. The house is made entirely out of glass panels, inscribed with Latin phrases. Odd…but that doesn’t steer Arthur away from finally becoming financially secure. At the property they meet Dennis, who tells them that he is an electrical technician so he can come inside with them. In the basement Dennis discovers that the ghost hunting activities he and Cyrus had together, made Cyrus capture twelve ghosts inside cells which can be seen using some special glasses. Dennis tries to warn Arthur, but before Arthur even has a chance to take anything seriously enough, the house is sealed and they are all trapped inside. But the ghosts are eager to come out of their cells so they can add to their number!

Thirteen Ghosts (aka 13 Ghosts and THIR13EN Ghosts) is a supernatural horror film from 2001, directed by Steve Beck in his directorial debut (a year later he made Ghost Ship). It is a remake of the 1960 film 13 Ghosts by William Castle, and it was released by Warner Bros. Pictures in the US while Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International released it in other countries. It became somewhat of a box-office disappointment with $68.5 million towards its $42 million budget, and received mainly negative response from the critics, despite the production design getting some praise. It has later garnered a bit of a cult following and is nowadays seen in a more positive light.

A movie like this is one of those where you kind of feel its schlocky vibe all over the place, while also feeling it’s considerably more polished than it should have been. The production design is awesome, the effects here are quite solid and much of it practical. The practical creature makeup was created by Howard Berger and the KNB EFX Group, using full-body transformations where many of the ghosts had full-foam rubber bodysuits and prosthetics. The most complicated ghosts were the Juggernaut and The Angry Princess which required five hours in the makeup chair!

I remember seeing it way back when it was released, and didn’t think too much of it actually. Well, your perception can certainly change over the years, and with a more recent rewatch of the film I was able to appreciate it a lot more. Having now also seen the 1960 film, I found this be a decent remake of the original, updated to a more modern premise and also giving the ghosts a considerably more nasty look to the point where some of them could have come straight from a Hellraiser movie or from the Netherworld in Beetlejuice. I liked how the ghosts are an actual deathly threat, and them all being trapped inside the glass house. If you can even call it a house, it’s more like a hellish contraption of some kind…which is more or less exactly what it is.

Thir13en Ghosts is a fun and easy popcorn film for the Halloween season, and one that kind of got better rather then worse over the years. Practical effects usually gives a movie a better chance to stand the test of time, but as an early 2000’s movie there’s also a little flair left of the slightly silly and rompy vibe of the 90’s films. Something to not take too seriously and just have a fun time with.

In August 2023, Dark Castle Entertainment announced plans of making a Thirteen Ghosts series, but it is still in development.

Director: Steve Beck
Writers: Neal Marshall Stevens, Richard D’Ovidio
Country & year: Canada/USA, 2001
Actors: Tony Shalhoub, Embeth Davidtz, Matthew Lillard, Shannon Elizabeth, Alec Roberts, JR Bourne, Rah Digga, F. Murray Abraham, Matthew Harrison
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0245674/