Horror is a broad church, and within its hallowed walls reside a variety of delights to please the most discerning devotee of dread. Horror is also a genre that transcends – perhaps transgresses would be a better word – cultural boundaries; anyone who has known fear is susceptible to its dark charms. Here, then, is a selection of what’s currently waiting to send a chill up your couch-bound spine…
Dracula Unearthed
Released to commemorate the centenary of F.W. Murnau’s silent classic Nosferatu, the first (and very much unauthorised) cinematic adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, this 90-minute documentary dives deep into the lore of the legendary leech (or lich, if you prefer). Taking us from the historical Vlad II of Walachia who inspired Stoker’s Gothic classic, through the author’s almost complete reinvention of the vampire myth, to the various filmic versions from Universal, Hammer and beyond, experts including renowned author, critic and Dracula expert Kim Newman lead us into the dark heart of the greatest vampire tale of all time.
Dracula Unearthed premieres at 8.30pm, Monday 31 October on SBS VICELAND, and will be available at SBS On Demand after it airs.
Ringu
This 1998 Japanese horror classic spawned a wildly popular franchise that’s still running in some form or another today. Nanako Matsushima stars as a journalist, investigating her niece’s death, who discovers an urban legend about a cursed video tape: after watching the awful thing, the viewer receives a strange phone call. Seven days later, they die. Foolishly watching the tape at hand, she enlists her psychically sensitive ex-husband (Hiroyuki Sanada) to try and break the curse. Uncanny, unsettling and visually striking, this is ground zero for the J-Horror craze and essential viewing for any fan of the genre.
Ringu is now streaming at SBS On Demand.
The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw
A profound sense of creeping dread suffuses this Canadian chiller. It’s 1973 but superstition and suspicion still rule a remote and devout village in the Canadian hinterlands. When a mysterious plague begins killing off the village’s crops, then the livestock, and ultimately the village children, suspicion falls upon Agatha and Audrey Earnshaw (Catherine Walker and Jessica Reynolds), mother and daughter occultists whose own property seems immune from the infection. But are they the target of misguided paranoia, or are they more than they seem? Following on from genre-mates The Witch and Midsommar, this is another moody and memorable modern folk horror.
The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw screens 10.55pm, Sunday 29 October as part of the SBS World Movies Modern Horror Showcase (see the full list ). The film is also streaming now at SBS On Demand.
Angel Heart
Hired by the saturnine Louis Cyphre (Robert De Niro, clearly enjoying himself) to find missing musician Johnny Favourite, private detective Harry Angel (Mickey Rourke at his most charismatic) follows a cold trail from New York City to New Orleans and soon finds himself lost in a twilight world of Voodoo magic, brutal murder and passion with the primally seductive Epiphany Proudfoot (Lisa Bonet). But Harry is closer to this case than he ever imagined and solving it may just damn him forever. Alan Parker’s baroque, stylised allegorical horror was wildly controversial on first release, and still retains the power to shock today.
Angel Heart is streaming now at SBS On Demand.
REC
This Spanish found-footage film breathed new life into a format that was starting to feel its age, but vibes very differently in the post-Covid world. Accompanying a group of firefighters on an emergency call to an apartment building, a reporter (Manuela Velasco) and her cameraman (Pablo Rosso) find themselves stuck there when the authorities quarantine the building due to an infection. The infection in question? Zombies. Brisk, brutal, claustrophobic and desperate, this is a lean, mean zombie movie that pulls few punches.
REC is streaming now at SBS On Demand (expires 30 November).
Rampant
South Korea produces great historical action epics by the bushel, but this offering ups the stakes by the simple expedient of adding zombies into the mix. Returning from exile in China at the request of his late brother, Prince Ganglim (Hyun Bin) discovers that the Machiavellian Minister of War, Kim Ja Joon (Jang Dong Gun) is plotting to usurp the throne – and that a plague of zombies, brought to the Kingdom by European arms merchants, is overrunning the countryside. Cue political intrigue, blistering swordplay and plenty of gruesome gore. Ambitious, epic and fun, this is a great addition to the zombie canon.
Rampant is streaming now at SBS On Demand.
Near Dark
Oscar winner Kathryn Bigelow’s solo directing debut drags vampires out of the aristocracy and back into the blood-soaked dirt where they belong. After modern-day cowboy Caleb (Adrian Pasdar) is seduced by the waifish Mae (Jenny Wright) he soon finds himself with a thirst for blood and an aversion to daylight. Forcibly adopted into her nomadic vampire pack, he must decide if an eternity in Mae’s pale arms is worth its bloody price. A modern Western horror classic, Near Dark upended the vampire genre completely, and features iconic turns from B-movie legends Lance Henriksen, Jeanette Goldstein and the late, great Bill Paxton.
Near Dark is streaming now at SBS On Demand.
beDevil
Artist Tracey Moffatt takes inspiration from the stories she heard as a child from her Aboriginal and Irish-Australian extended family to bring to the screen a trilogy of surreal, poignant ghost stories. ‘Mr. Chuck’ sees an Indigenous child haunted by the ghost of an American soldier as he struggles to survive his abusive family and care for his younger siblings. ‘Choo Choo Choo Choo’ follows a woman, played by Moffatt herself, who feels compelled to return to the railway line where her family were menaced by a ghostly train. Finally, ‘Lovin' the Spin I’m In’ gives us the ghosts of two Torres Strait Islanders eternally dancing in the warehouse they died in after escaping an arranged marriage. beDevil rejects the stereotypical treatment of Indigenous culture and beliefs to give us a truly unique Australian genre effort.
beDevil is streaming now at SBS On Demand.
