Set during the Spanish Civil War, this atmospheric ghost story finds a young boy sent to an isolated orphanage where he must deal with hunger, school bullies, the specter of war and the understandably upset ghost of a murdered orphan. Director Guillermo del Toro ( Cronos, Mimic ) ladles on the old-fashioned chills, creating a top-notch horror flick along the lines of The Sixth Sense and The Others. In Spanish with English subtitles.
I Like To Watch
From the tweaked-out imaginations of director Don Coscarelli ( Phantasm) and writer Joe R. Lansdale ( Electric Gumbo ) comes this inspired horror comedy about an aged Elvis Presley (the great Bruce Campbell) laid up in an east Texas rest home. When a soul-sucking Egyptian mummy shows up to harvest some easy pickings, the King teams up with an elderly black man (Ossie Davis) who claims to be J.F.K. Together, the two (possibly crazy) oldsters battle the forces of evil. The budget is low and the action is slow, but the cast is great and the dialogue is endlessly quotable. Pure cult film fun.
I Like To Watch
Brilliant South Korean filmmaker Chan-wook Park ( Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy) writes and directs this offbeat horror drama about a beloved priest who selflessly volunteers for a medical experiment. He ends up craving some sins of the flesh thanks to an accidental transfusion of vampire blood. Gorgeous, original and filled with Park’s wonderfully deadpan sense of black humor.
I Like To Watch
The “Nazi zombie” has become something of a subcategory these days. But nothing beats the original, 1977’s subtle Shock Waves. T he sight of a legion of sub-aquatic Nazi zombies rising from the ocean is absolutely indelible. Plus it’s got Peter Cushing and John Carradine for added street cred.
