POLTERGEIST (1982)
The first big budget Hollywood production by THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE’S Tobe Hooper, although POLTERGEIST’S actual director has long been in question
PINOCCHIO AND THE EMPEROR OF THE NIGHT
More scary eighties kid cinema, this one an animated rethink of PINOCCHIO crossed with SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES
PIN
A stronger-than-average psycho thriller from Canada about a malevolent medical dummy
PERFECT STRANGERS
This 1984 suspensor can be viewed as the low budget inverse of the following year’s WITNESS, a dark thriller about a kid who witnesses a crime and the tumult that results
PATTY HEARST
The 1974 abduction and brainwashing of Patty Hearst reconfigured as a CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI-esque horror show
PARENTS
This eighties curio was advertised and possibly intended as a black comedy along the lines of EATING RAOUL, but it’s actually closer to ERASERHEAD in tone
PAPERHOUSE
This brilliant but criminally neglected horror-fantasy is long overdue for a rediscovery
THE QUEEN OF BLACK MAGIC
More nutty Indonesian horror, and far from the best example of such. Still, THE QUEEN OF BLACK MAGIC definitely has moments, and was one of the first films of its kind to make any kind of impact in the USA
Q: THE WINGED SERPENT
A quirkier-than-average monster mash from writer/producer/director Larry Cohen, one of the genre’s most singular talents
JUST BEFORE DAWN
A largely undistinguished slasher that owes its minor cult following to just ONE scene