Horror films mean scares and thrills. And scares and thrills put bums on seats and popcorn in mouths. A certain proportion of the cinema viewing population loves Horror. Traditionally not taken seriously as a genre or pooh poohed by snobby film academics, I maintain that the horror film community is the most tightly knit, most knowledgeable and most laid-back group on the Net.
Most of us horror fans have sampled all of the major genre staples – Halloween, Friday the 13th, The Exorcist etc. – and while we appreciate these films as masterpieces, there is usually, in the serious horror fan, a desire to delve more deeply into the genre.
This can lead to dodgy ground. Crap acting, lame special effects and poor directing. In any other genre films with these attributes would be scorned. However, with Horror, some of us find them quite endearing. Perhaps we like the overall mood of the film or it’s so bad it is funny.
The list below follows in that ethos. These films are not great works of art but they are masterpieces of a kind for horror connoisseurs. And so I urge you to wallow in crapulence in these cult films – films that despite their flaws, are growing in appreciation today. Add your own films in the comments section below so we can mass debate!
10. Autopsy (1973)
Revived recently by Blue Underground with 15 minutes of footage restored, Autopsy is a horror-Giallo directed by Armando Crispino which is pretty damn good. The direction is bizarre and quirky and there are many weird and frightening scenes. The Ennio Morricone score is chilling.
Basically in Rome, there has been a big heat wave and a massive surge in suicides. Are the two interrelated? Young pathologist Simona (Mimsy Farmer) is becoming traumatised by these bodies – they are haunting her in her dreams. She is questioning whether all these deaths are suicides…
Excellently acted across the board, Autopsy is a complexly plotted movie but this – instead of wrecking the film the way over-plotting does to so many Giallos – only makes the film more enjoyable. It is a rather sleazy little film if you are into that – with shots up Mimsy Farmer’s skirt, clothes getting ripped off, partial rapes, a slideshow of vintage erotic photographs. So it’s a great film for Eurosleaze fans (of which I proudly count myself).
It is very different to a standard Giallo and manages to create it’s own atmosphere and style which makes it a nice little movie if you fancy something obscure.
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17 Comments
Great list!
Thanks Kev, glad you enjoyed it!
Clare
Really enjoying all your horror write ups as of late, found so great ones to go and find!
Thanks Daniel! I similarly love your gaming pieces. Top class!
What? no ‘Graveyard Disturbance’,… just stirrin’. Yet another enjoyable read which without a doubt made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end as well as putting a smile on my face. All I can say is that I seriously have to reacquaint myself to this genre & it’s many sub-genres, there’s a lot I’ve missed. And because of these posts my must-watch list is growing…argh!!! I can’t keep up!
Hi Baz, glad you liked the review. I spent 60 quid on DVDs this morning. And they were not nice DVDs…. How i suffer for my art! Ha ha!
Awesome article, and I assume that the moral of the story is that the 70s were an awesome time for cinema. I’ll go with that. And because of this I’m gonna try and watch Children Shouldn’t Play w/ Dead Things soon. It’s rated PG, which boggles my mind, based on that one image. This is gonna be fun.
Wow Davey, I cant believe it is rated PG! I got my copy (region 1 uncut) from the states. And it is pretty damn violent and gory!
You my fair lady are a great add to the contributors of this site. Keep up the good work!
Thank you Juuke! Keep an eye out for a Clare Simpson special arriving in a day or two! Im scribbling hard!
Good job putting Fascination on here. When I was a teenager I tried getting in Jean Rollin, but for some reason I just couldn’t do it. I started off with Demoniacs and Living Dead Girl, but for some reason they just weren’t my bowl of jello. 10 years later I picked up a copy of Fascination and overnight I had a new found appreciation for Rollin. That opening shot where they’re in the slaughterhouse and the vampire rubs the cows blood on her lips is one of my all time favorite shots. These days my only beef with Rollin is that he was a terrible editor. Great direct, great cinematographer, but horrible editor. You really could cut his movies down to 30-45 minutes and they’d be just as effective.
Also highly recommend The Grapes of Death, Rollins stab at the zombie genre. Plus (at least from a male point of view) you can’t go wrong with anything starring Bridget Lahaie.
I agree with you, Rollin is a tough nut to crack. I bought La Viol de Vampire and found it silly and pretentious. Fascination and the Living Dead Girl are the only Rollin films I can really get into. As you said, he has a stinker of an editing problem. He’s a bit like Franco – when Franco is good, he is really really good but when he is bad he is awful. A genius but only in rare glimpses
Oh God…don’t get me started on Franco. I’ve tried and tried and tried to get into Franco but I just can’t do it. The only film of his I can sit through is Faceless. Almost all cult and/or Euro sleaze directors I can understand their following. Franco? I just can’t grasp it. I have a better understanding of quantum physics and string theory than I do people’s obsession with Franco.
He is 95% rubbish. He can even make a hardcore porno look like the biggest chore to watch in the world. Its his actresses that make his films watchable -Soledad Miranda and Lina Romay. Without these amazing actresses he is buggered
Always good to be recommended some obscure low-budget horror films. Thanks for the list.
Btw – is that comedian Noel Fielding in the photo accompanying They Don’t Cut Grass anymore :-)
Hi Paul, I’m not quite sure who it is. Some obscure two bit actor probably!
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