This Week's Essential SCARY Movies for Free T.V Guide
It's Halloween, so what good horror are we in for this week?
I have attempted to enlist the best of the line up of horror films that haunt this Halloween week, including some lesser known trick or treats that should have something in store to tempt even the most tainted horror film fanatics. Enjoy at your own risk... SundaySLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY (1991)23.50, E4 Another 90s extreme endeavour into domestic psychotic bliss. This sees creepy Patrick Bergin (where is this fine actor these days?) playing an abusive, compulsively obsessed husband who keeps his demure wife Julia Roberts in check, to undertake his rigorous domestic cleansing. That is until she decides to fake her own death and start a new life in the suburbs€until hubby comes a calling. PSYCHO (1960)02.10, ITV4 Hitchcock used to tense that he didn't except the audience to take his famous thriller quite as seriously as they did, merely intending the entire show to be just an elaborate joke, not the fearlessly controversial slasher shocker that it has now become. Take that statement as you will but theres no denying that the old master created one of the most influential horror films ever made - bending all the cinematic rules in the process to severely tug the rug from beneath audiences to such an exent that they were cinematicallly 'raped' after the notorious shower scene murder, that effectively killed off its prosumed main star Janet Leigh. With no protagonist to invest in Norman Bates was the perfect character to fiendishly follow: innocent, kind-hearted but dominated by the ever watchful precence of an erratic mother. "Uh-uh, Mother-m-mother, uh, what is the phrase? She isn't quite herself today". MondayRETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD (1985) 21.00, HORROR ZONE "They're Back...They're Hungry...And they're NOT vegetarian" went the tagline for Dan O'Bannon's tongue in cheek entry into the zombie franchise. Frequently referencing Romero original Night of the Living Dead film this boldly attempts and mostly succeeds to reanimate new...well, life into the series. A pair of workers at a warehouse accidentally let off a deadly gas which causes the dead to awaken and go on a relentless rampage across Louisville, Kentucky in search for human brains!! PSYCHO22.00, ITV4 See Sunday at 02.10 WOLF (1994) 00.10, ITV4 Although it may not be a definitive entry in the werewolf saga, Mike Nichols' film is atmospheric and palpable enough to give the creature series a decent reworking. Jack Nicholson is perfectly cast as the down and almost out editor who develops animal magnetism when he receives a passing bite from a wolf, whom he hits one whilist driving home in New England. Michelle Pfeiffer plays his newly found but feisty love interest with sexy gusto, but its James Spader's predatory performance as Nicholson's scheming younger rival that is the highlight. TuesdayTHE GIFT (2000)21.00, FILM4 Sam Raimi's return to supernatural horror - after a 8 year hiatus - is a decent and rather chilling affair. Cate Blancett is the medium who inadvertently channels into the grisly details of the rape and murder of a promiscuous small town girl (an atypical Katie Holmes), reluctantly aiding the police in their investigations. An appropriately eerie country town location and trademark chills from the veteran director more than compensate for the wishy-washy performances and over elaborate ending. WOLF(22.00, ITV2) See Monday 00.10 SWITCHBLADE ROMANCE (2003) 22.55, HORROR ZONE Though the last time I caught a glimpse of this merciless French slasher when it was screened on Horror Zone it was distractingly dubbed, this remains a creepily claustrophobic and deeply suspenseful feature debut from the promising director of the TheHills Have Eyes remake, Alexandre Aja. When French student Maria goes over to stay at her friend's parent's secluded farmhouse hideaway to study, little does she expect that she will be stalked by a mysterious psychopath who comes calling late at night. Proceeding to knock off the entire family in a grisly blood bath, Maria must use all her intellect to hide her own presence from the killer and survive the nightmare she has awoken to. The denouncement is just mind-boggling but if you can get over that you must admit you had a bloody thrilling ride! WednesdayZOMBIE FLESH EATERS 2 & 3 (1979 & 1988) 21.00 and 22.55, HORROR ZONE The original was a video nasty classic of gargantuan bodily part proportions, so I expect that the sequels (directed by Italian mastro Lucio Fulci) will have equal doses of palpable blood and gore for fans of that sort of thing. THE SHINING (1980)22.30, ITV4 Widely regarded as one of the scariest horror films ever made, Kubrick's adaptation of Stephen King's seminal novel was notoriously panned by the writer himself for straying too far from his source material, (he in turn substituted it for his own risible straight to video interpretation in 1997) but its all the more successful for doing just that. From its audacious opening helicopter shot of a cliff-bound roadway that tauntingly follows our protagonist Jack Torrance en route to the Outlook hotel, to the haunting murmurs of the soundtrack, the acrophobic architectural space of the pivotal hotel and Jack Nicholson's powerhouse performance as the possessed writer- this is a brooding and chilling shocker that will stay with you long after the closing credits have rolled. HALLOWEEN (1978)23.30, BBC1 The timely scheduling of John Carpenter's untouchable seminal baby-sitting shocker appropriately puts Rob Zombie's bloody sham of a remake to an early grave with its effective chemistry of chills and suspense, all thanks to the mastery framing of interior/exterior locations, a bogeyman who's motivation is kept errie mysterious and Carpenter's self-composed haunting piano score. A true classic of its kind only predated by that other festive classic original: Black Christmas. THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH (1964)00.50, ITV4 "SHUDDER... at the blood-stained dance of the Red Death! TREMBLE... to the hideous tortures of the catacombs of Kali! GASP... at the sacrifice of the innocent virgin to the vengeance of Baal!" Vincent Price stars in one of Roger Corman's best horror adaptations of Edgar Allen Poe's mastery literally works. The setting is a plague infected medieval Italy with the evil Prince Prospero throwing a party for his hideous aristocratic friends at his palace while unfortunate peasants suffer and die outside...then a mysterious entity in a masque intrudes upon the party... Lavishly lensed by Don't Look Now director Nicholas Roeg and featuring a typically diabolically good performance by Vincent, at his creepy best, this is a daring and sensual horror that demands repeat viewing. JU-ON: THE GRUDGE (2003)02.45, C4 The original J-Horror shocker - whose orginal effect has somewhat been reduced to a pulp by the relentless effect of countless sequels, remakes and reinterpretations - is the tale of a curse, residing in a small Japanese house, that locks any person it comes into contact with in a powerful rage that proceeds to claim their life. Capitalising on its eerie claustrophic domestic ambiance early on this is a brooding creeper that has a powerful ability to ensnarl the audience into its relentless spell. ThursdayTHE SHINING 22.00, ITV4 See Wednesday 22.30 PULSE (1988)22.50, FIVE US An American couple are threatened by their household's electrical appliances, which appear to have a mind all of their own. Haven't viewed this sci-fi horror before, but I am intrugued by the concept because it reminds me of one of my favourite 70s domestically confined sci-shockers Demon Seed. FridayHALLOWEEN II (1981)01.15, BBC1 A rare screening of the sequel to Carpenter's original slasher horror hit, which directly proceeds the events of the first film. Laurie Strode is rushed to hospital following her ordeal with Michael Myers. Its still Halloween night and Sam Loomis and Sheriff Brackett are attempting to pursue the mysterious babysitter killer who seemingly walked away from sudden death. Given that its considered one of the better sequels and that I have never seen it screened on the telly before I have decided to include it in my line up...we could be in for a bumpy night!