Death Line (1972)

Everyone and their mums will tell you that the slasher genre came into being in the mid-1970s; building primarily on the legacy of Hitchcock’s Psycho, such down and dirty independent productions like Last House on the Left and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre laid the groundwork for the innumerable stab-happy B-movies which came in the […]

House (Hausu) (1977)

A teenage girl, angry at her father for wanting to remarry, invites her schoolfriends to spend the summer break with her at her maternal aunt’s house in the countryside. Once there, the girls realise not all is right with the house, and they need all their wits about them to escape the terrible place. A […]

Willard (1971) and Ben (1972)

1970s cinema has many noteworthy qualities, but amongst these, the decade is certainly remarkable for its brief, but intriguing phase of imagining animals ‘going rogue’ and attacking humans; some of the resulting films were breakthrough hits, such as Jaws (1975), whereas some, such as Day of the Animals (1977) would be long-lost to obscurity if […]

Folk Horror: Hours Dreadful & Things Strange by Adam Scovell

As horror is increasingly picked up by the academic community, with more seminars, papers and conferences emerging yearly, it’s little surprise that the renewed interest in folk horror is also making its way into print via this new wave of academia and its authors. Adam Scovell’s book, Hours Dreadful and Things Strange, is a meticulous […]

UK DVD Review: Who Can Kill A Child?

Who Can Kill A Child? (AKA ¿Quién puede matar a un niño?/Island of the Damned) (1976) Distributor: Eureka DVD Release Date: 23 May 2011 Directed by: Narciso Ibáñez Serrador Starring: Lewis Fiander, Prunella Ransome Review by: Ben Bussey A comfortably middle class English couple, with two children at home and a third on the way, take a trip […]

DVD Review: 70s Supernatural Sexploitation in ‘Virgin Witch’

Virgin Witch (1971) Distributor: Odeon Entertainment DVD Release Date (UK): 28th February 2011  Directed by: Ray Austin Starring: Ann Michelle, Vicki Michelle, Keith Buckley, Patricia Haines Review by: Ben Bussey Two beautiful, virginal, adolescent sisters run away from home with dreams of fame and fortune in London town. Promptly picked up by a smooth-talker in […]

UK DVD Review: A Bay of Blood

A Bay of Blood (AKA Twitch of the Death Nerve/Reazione a Catena/Carnage/Bloodbath/Many, many more…) (1971) Distributor: Arrow Video DVD/Blu-Ray Release Date (UK): 13th December 2010 Directed by: Mario Bava Starring: Claudine Auger, Luigi Pustilli, Claudio Camaso, Anna Maria Rosati Review by: Ben Bussey Deep in an idyllic wilderness lies a serene, unspoiled bay. Amongst all […]