Tuesday, October 22, 2024

Johnny Deadline: Ten Obscure and Esoteric Horror Delights

 by JB

If you are like me, gentle reader, you have been enjoying all the seven-word SMM reviews here for the past 22 days. You have doubtless noticed that some films, beloved and popular, keep showing up again and again and again and again. But... shouldn’t Scary Movie Month be partially devoted to NEW spooky discoveries?

Here’s a short list of films I’m betting the majority of you have never seen. Many I first saw during my misspent youth while enjoying the pleasures of the ABC Wednesday Night Movie of the Week, which conveniently coincided with the night my parents made me a Swanson TV Dinner and went out to a local restaurant. The taste of mediocre Salisbury Steak still TERRIFIES me!

All of these movies are gems. Some are very scary. Some I first saw when I was about ten years old, and I loved that those were NOT too scary. If you choose any of these for a first-time watch, comment below what you think!

Many of these are available to watch on the YouTube machine. Enjoy.

The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927)


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I can still remember how impressed I was by this early Hitchcock film when I finally caught up with it at the Music Box Theater. I loved the creepy atmosphere and the twisty, twisty ending. I also finally learned who Ivor Novello was! There is a prestigious British songwriting award named after him.

Seconds (1966)



This film is no longer as undiscovered as it was before it was dusted off by the Criterion Collection in 2013, but it is still underrated enough that its relative obscurity works in its favor. Arthur Hamilton (John Randolph) receives a mysterious phone call one night from a dead friend. The friend offers Arthur a new future. Seconds is creepy as hell, with Oscar-nominated cinematography by James Wong Howe and a career-best performance by Rock Hudson. More "full of ideas" than the average horror film.

Crowhaven Farm (1970)



Maggie and Ben (Hope Lange and Paul Burke) inherit an old New England farm. Maggie starts having visions of what may be the farm's distant past. One of the nostalgic, Wednesday night made-for-TV delights, this gave me nightmares for weeks. It also gave me a life-long fear of Puritans and hats with buckles. I was only eight years old when I first saw this!

She Waits (1972)



A young couple (Patty Duke and David McCallum) move into an old house, but find there is just not enough room for the two of them, his mother, her caretaker, AND the ghost of his first wife. You know that you’re in for a good time when the film features an evil antiques dealer. Slow as molasses... but that’s one of the things I like about it! She Waits was released theatrically in England as Night of the Exorcist.

Haunts of the Very Rich (1972)



A group of rich tourists find themselves abandoned on a tropical island after a hellacious storm, completely bereft of servants, communications, food, or water. These tourists all have something in common. Can you guess what it is? This modest made-for-TV movie seems to be one of the inspirations for the television series Lost—but with Lloyd Bridges, Ed Asner, Cloris Leachman, and Robert Reed!

Killdozer (1974)



The title says it all. Metal-crunching fun. Starring Clint Walker, Neville Brand, and a young Robert Ulrich. Carey Loftin supervised the stunts, a job he also performed in the films It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World and Duel.

Paperhouse (1988)



I’ve been championing this little gem since I first saw it—though it used to be very hard to see. Now, you can purchase it on iTunes or watch it on the YouTube machine. An eleven-year-old comes home from school with a fever, sits around the house drawing pictures, and at night goes to a place where the pictures become real. Creepy as fuck. Directed by Bernard Rose four years before Candyman.

TRIVIA: The film’s producers decided two days before the film was released that the mother character should be British, so American actress Glenne Headly, who plays the mother, had to dub over all her original dialogue using an English accent.

I, Madman (1989)
Remember Jenny Wright from The World According to Garp and Near Dark? Remember Clayton Rohner from Just One of the Guys and Modern Girls? They are both in this!

Virginia Clayton (Wright) works at a used bookstore in downtown LA and becomes obsessed with a certain book. Never a good sign. Roger Ebert loved the film and wrote, "Climaxes in thrillers have gotten pretty standard recently [but] I, Madman has some surprises [...] placing its terrors where they belong, in the midst of everyday life.”

Stuck (2007)



Nurse Brandi Boski (Mena Suvari) has an accident on her way home from work and winds up with Tom Bardo (Stephen Rea) smashed halfway through her windshield. He is still alive, but stuck. She parks the car in a friend’s garage and leaves him there. Then it gets weird. Inspired by a true story. Director Stuart Gordon’s last film.

Hold Your Breath (2024)



I was dismissive of this when I saw it a few days ago, but it has stuck with me, and I continue to think back to its creepy atmosphere and amazing performances. Sarah Paulson plays a mother in Depression-era (era) Oklahoma, dealing with the deleterious effects of the dustbowl and a malingering past trauma. The atmosphere here is the star, along with a wonderfully subtle supporting performance by Ebon Moss-Bachrach. Every time I think back to this film, it rises in my estimation. Your mileage may vary.

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