griggs's - Horror Films (Available on Cinema Paradiso) Everyone Should Watch Once List
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Perfect Blue (1997)Pafekuto Buru
Mima Kirigoe (voices of Bridget Hoffman / Junko Iwao) is one third of chart topping girl-pop group, Cham! But she is keen to put the childish career of the pop singer behind her and pursue her dream of becoming an actress. Her fans are sceptical however, and she quickly discovers that the transition is nowhere near as easy or enjoyable as she'd hoped...After getting a part in a very adult murder mystery drama, her life takes a turn for the sinister. She uncovers a blog detailing her life in intimate detail, and as a real life killer begins to attack the people around her, delusion and reality blend into one and she begins to question her own identity... - Director:
- Satoshi Kon
- Cast:
- Junko Iwao, Rica Matsumoto, Shinpachi Tsuji
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Horror-master John Carpenter teams Kurt Russell's outstanding performance with incredible visuals to build this chilling version of the classic 'The Thing'. In the winter of 1982, a twelve-man research team at a remote Antarctic research station discovers an alien buried in the snow for over 100,000 years. Soon unfrozen, the shape-shifting alien wreaks havoc, creates terror and becomes one of them. - Director:
- John Carpenter
- Cast:
- Kurt Russell, Adrienne Barbeau, Wilford Brimley
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A psychopath known only as Buffalo Bill is kidnapping and murdering young women across the midwest. Believing it takes ones to know one, the FBI sends in Agent Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) to interview an insane prisoner who may provide psychological insights and clues to the killer's actions. The prisoner is psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins). Brilliant yet psychotic, with a taste for cannibalism, Lecter will only help Starling in exchange for details and secrets about her own complicated life. This twisted relationship forces Starling not only to face her own demons, but leads her face-to-face with a demented killer, an incarnation of evil so overwhelming, she may not have the courage or strength to stop him. Horrific, disturbing, spellbinding. This thriller set the standard by which all others are measured. - Director:
- Jonathan Demme
- Cast:
- Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Lawrence A. Bonney
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Psycho (1960)Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho / Wimpy
Alfred Hitchcock's landmark masterpiece of the macabre stars Anthony Perkins as the troubled Norman Bates, whose old dark house and adjoining motel are not the place to spend a quiet evening. No one knows that better than Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), the ill-fated traveller whose journey ends in the notorious "shower scene". First a private detective, then Marion's sister (Vera Miles) searches for her, the horror and the suspense mount to a terrifying climax where the mysterious killer is finally revealed. - Director:
- Alfred Hitchcock
- Cast:
- Anthony Perkins, Virginia Gregg, Janet Leigh
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The Cremator (1968)Spalovac Mrtvol
'The Cremator' has been described in many ways - as surrealist-horror, political allegory, a pitch-black comic satire and a darkly disturbing tale of terror. This unique cult film, a brilliantly chilling mix of Repulsion and Dr. Strangelove, is set during the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia and built around a remarkable performance by Rudolf Hrusinsky as the titular cremator. Proud of his mastery of his trade, Mr. Kopfrkingl's perverse and deranged fantasies gradually lead him towards offering a final solution for the 'salvation of the world'. - Director:
- Juraj Herz
- Cast:
- Rudolf Hrusínský, Josef Kemr, Vlasta Chramostová
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Cure (1997)Kyua
A series of murders have been committed by ordinary people who claim to have had no control over their actions, many of them having killed friends, co-workers or even their spouse. There are only two links between each crime: an X carved into the neck of each victim, and a mysterious stranger who seems to have had brief contact with the perpetrator a short period of time before each killing. But to follow these leads and end a seemingly inexplicable wave of terror, police detective Kenichi Takabe (Koji Yakusho) will need to put his own sanity on the line and endure a descent into hell. - Director:
- Kiyoshi Kurosawa
- Cast:
- Masato Hagiwara, Kôji Yakusho, Tsuyoshi Ujiki
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A tall, handsome 'preacher' - his knuckles eerily tattooed with 'love' and 'hate' - roams the countryside, spreading the gospel...and leaving a trail of murdered women in his wake. To Reverend Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum), the work of the Lord has more to do with condemning souls than saving them, especially when his own interests are involved. Now his sights are set on $10,000 - and two little children are the only ones who know where it is. 'Chill...dren!' the preacher croons to the terrified boy and girl hiding in the cold, dark cellar...innocent young lambs who refuse to be led astray. - Director:
- Charles Laughton
- Cast:
- Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish
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When the crew of the space-tug Nostromo answers a distress signal from a desolate planet, they discover a deadly life form that breeds within a human host. And soothe horror begins – a horror which will end the lives of six crew members and alter the life of the seventh forever. Sigourney Weaver stars as Lieutenant Ellen Ripley in one of the most suspenseful and powerful science fiction films of all time. - Director:
- Ridley Scott
- Cast:
- Ian Holm, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt
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Kwaidan (1964)Kaidan / Weird Tales / Ghost Stories
Winner of the Special Jury Prize at Cannes, 'Kwaidan' features four nightmarish tales (adapted from Lafcadio Hearn's classic Japanese ghost stories) about mortals caught up in forces beyond their comprehension when the supernatural world intervenes in their lives. Breathtakingly photographed entirely on hand-painted sets, the film is an abstract wash of luminescent colours from another world. - Director:
- Masaki Kobayashi
- Cast:
- Michiyo Aratama, Misako Watanabe, Rentarô Mikuni
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Writer Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson), a former alcoholic, accepts a job as the winter caretaker for a hotel high in the Rocky Mountains, isolating him, his wife (Shelley Duvall) and their psychic young son until spring. But when the first blizzard blocks the only road out, the hotel's stored energy from evil past deeds begins to drive Jack insane...a and there may be no escape for his family in this haunting story of madness, memory and violence. - Director:
- Stanley Kubrick
- Cast:
- Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd
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In seventeenth-century France, Father Urbain Grandier (Oliver Reed) uses his power to protect the city of Loudun from destruction at the hands of the establishment. Soon, he stands accused of the demonic possession of Sister Jeanne (Vanessa Redgrave), whose erotic obsession with him fuels the hysteria that sweeps through her convent. - Director:
- Ken Russell
- Cast:
- Vanessa Redgrave, Oliver Reed, Dudley Sutton
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Rosemary (Mia Farrow) and Guy Woodhouse (John Cassavetes) are newlyweds, but Rosemary has no idea that her wedded bliss is about to come to a horrific end. Her husband's ambition as a struggling actor is about to plunge her into an abyss of terror like she has never known. In exchange for a taste of fame, Guy makes a deal with the devil that puts his wife and soul in jeopardy. When Rosemary becomes pregnant, her husband becomes odd, her neighbours (Sidney Blackmer and Ruth Gordon) border on obsessive, and her normal life turns into a surreal nightmare. Slowly, she begins to realise that a seed of evil has been planted... and she is its host. - Director:
- Roman Polanski
- Cast:
- Mia Farrow, Gail Bonney, Tony Curtis
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Coraline Jones (voice of Dakota Fanning) is bored until she finds a secret door and discovers an alternate, better, version of her life on the other side. When this seemingly perfect world turns dangerous, and her other parents - including her Other Mother (voice of Teri Hatcher) - try to trap her forever; Coraline must use her resourcefulness, determination and bravery to escape this perilous world - and save her family. - Director:
- Henry Selick
- Cast:
- Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, John Hodgman
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Diabolique (1955)Les Diaboliques
A tyrant schoolteacher - Delasalle (Paul Meurisse) in a seedy boarding school has both his wife (Vera Clouzot) and his mistress (Simone Signoret) looking for a way out as he maltreats them both. They decide to work together to murder their tormentor. The two women drown Delasalle in the bath then dump the body in a swimming pool. When the pool is drained and no body found they start to worry. When his suit is returned, cleaned, they start to panic. Is he alive? Does someone else know? A spiral of perfectly crafted tension hurtles you to an unparalleled conclusion and an ending you will never forget! - Director:
- Henri-Georges Clouzot
- Cast:
- Simone Signoret, Véra Clouzot, Paul Meurisse
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What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)¿Qué pasó con Baby Jane?
Two icons from the golden age of Hollywood, Oscar winners Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, take their famous feud onscreen in Robert Aldrich's newly restored thriller. In fierce, no-holds-barred performances, Bette Davis portrays aging ex-child star Baby Jane Hudson while Joan Crawford plays Blanche, the crippled sister Jane torments psychologically. As the sisters descend into madness, the tension builds to a shocking ending... - Director:
- Robert Aldrich
- Cast:
- Bette Davis, Debbie Burton, Joan Crawford
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