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Starring: Candace Hilligoss, Frances Feist, Sidney Berger

Herk Harvey’s macabre masterpiece gained a cult following through late night television and has been bootlegged for years. Made by industrial filmmakers on a modest budget, Carnival of Souls was intended to have the “look of a Bergman” and “feel of a Cocteau,” and succeeds with its strikingly used locations and spooky organ score. Mary Henry (Candace Hilligoss) survives a drag race in a rural Kansas town, then takes a job as a church organist in Salt Lake City. En route, she becomes haunted by a bizarre apparition that compels her to an abandoned lakeside pavilion.

NEW RESTORATION! 

In the beginning of the Twentieth Century, the Dr. Eswai is called by Inspector Kruger to a small village to perform an autopsy on a woman who has died under suspicious circumstances. Despite help from Ruth, the village witch, Kruger is killed and it is revealed that the dead woman, as well as other villagers, have been killed by the ghost of Melissa, a young girl who, fed by the hatred of her grieving mother, Baroness Graps, exacts her revenge on them. Dr. Eswai, along with Monica, a local nurse, are lured into a fateful confrontation at the Villa Graps…

One of the great horror anthology films of all time hosted by the great Boris Karloff, and Mario Bava’s personal favorite of his works, Black Sabbath solidified the director’s reputation as Europe’s maestro of the macabre. In The Telephone! a woman is haunted by menacing phone calls from a former lover. The Wurdulak stars Karloff as a vampire hunter whose family is stalked by the wandering spirit of an undead ghoul. A Drop Of Water involves a nurse who steals a ring from a corpse – not realizing the curse that is carried with it.

Starring: Claudine Auger, Luigi Pistilli, Claudio Camaso, Anna Maria Rosati, Chris Avram, Leopoldo Trieste, Laura Betti

One of the most influential horror films of all time, Mario Bava’s A Bay of Blood (1971, aka Twitch of the Death Nerve) is the spurting artery from which all future slasher films would flow.

When Countess Federica is murdered at her isolated mansion, a gruesome battle ensues to secure the rights to her valuable property around the bay. Everyone, from illegitimate children to shady real estate agents, stakes a claim, only to be killed in increasingly bizarre ways, from simple shootings to impalement by fishing spear. The makeup effects are by Carlo Rambaldi, who would later earn Oscars for his work in Alien (1979) and E.T. (1982).

Initially scorned upon its original release because of its graphic violence, A Bay of Blood eventually became a trendsetter, the model slasher film that Friday the 13th would emulate nearly a decade later.

Steeped in sadomasochism and lushly photographed in the vivid hues for which the director is known, Mario Bava’s THE WHIP AND THE BODY is a Gothic thriller that far surpasses the API Edgar Allan Poe films that it was intended to emulate.

Christopher Lee (Dracula: Prince of Darkness) stars as Kurt Menliff, the sadistic son of a wealthy Count, who returns to the family castle, much to the dismay of his family, their servants, and the beautiful woman with whom he shares a fondness for the lash (Daliah Lavi). When Kurt is found murdered, it brings no peace to those who had feared him, as his vengeful spirit cannot be contained by the grave, and he returns to torment those unfortunate enough to remain within Menliff Manor.

Starring: Bruce Campbell, Sarah Berry, Dan Hicks

Evil Dead 2 is a comedic take on a lone survivor (the estimable Bruce Campbell) and a group of strangers who fight the undead released after reading the Necronomicon (aka “Book of the Dead”). A parody sequel to director Sam Raimi’s original feature Evil Dead (when does THAT ever happen?) this version heavily features the handsome hero Ash who must fight squirly, soaring and scary demons as well as his very own hand and a flying eyeball. Cue the chainsaw and shotgun accessories. One of the best!

Starring: Peter Sallis, Ralph Fiennes, Helena Bonham Carter, Peter Kay

Cheese-loving eccentric Wallace and his cunning canine pal, Gromit, investigate a mystery in Nick Park’s animated adventure, in which the lovable inventor and his intrepid pup run a business ridding the town of garden pests. Using only humane methods that turn their home into a halfway house for evicted vermin, the pair stumble upon a mystery involving a voracious vegetarian monster that threatens to ruin the annual veggie-growing contest.

Starring: Lori Cardille, Terry Alexander, Joseph Pilato, Jarlath Conroy, Sherman Howard

In George A. Romero’s third installment of his “Dead” series, he makes commentary on the militarization of the United States and the dangers of free-range scientific experiment. In Day of the Dead, the zombies have been raging for quite some time and it should be apparent that humans are in a brave new world of the dead. Still, there’s a hold out group of soldiers, scientists, and workers in a Florida underground military base who are still clinging to the idea things will return to normal. Most go crazy in the process and the abuses of power manifest in many different, gruesome ways. Day is vivid, neon gore with heart…and an evolved zombie named Bud.