2000s
Plot: lovelorn office worker is seduced by his nubile neighbor… or is he? Described by Variety as, “an homage to Roman Polanski with nods to David Lynch” Norwegian-Swedish-Danish co-production Naboer (or Neighbor, for some reason released internationally somewhat awkwardly as Next Door) is indeed a solid thriller.
1980s
Plot: struggling British model is haunted by malefic spirits of the dead. By the late 1980s the Italian exploitation industry was on the verge of extinction. What little still sold internationally was anything coasting on the dying embers of genres previously profitable, mainly daft action, soft erotic dross and horror.
2010s
Plot: workaholic ad executive dies for the job… and comes to regret it. Argentine vampire horror has come a long way. In the Golden Age of exploitation Latin – and South American gothics took primarily after Universal Horror and Hammer Films, respectively. Reflective of our more enlightened times Dead Man Tells
1960s
Plot: newly-weds fall under the spell of vampires in remote castle. The Kiss of the Vampire is not one of Hammer’s more famous vampire films. The original Dracula (1958) was followed with the fantastic The Brides Of Dracula (1960) and Hammer Studios was eager to capitalize on its
2010s
Plot: troubled young woman is beset by ghouls and ghosts. Very much a transitional piece between the glorified cosplay of Little Red Riding Hood (2016) and his earlier European fairytale adaptations and the later Playing with Dolls (2015-2017) sequels The Obsidian Curse is rank horror pulp that barely ever
1970s
Plot: wealthy middle-aged industrial hires a new secretary. Hilarity ensues! La segretaria privata di mio padre (or My Father’s Private Secretary internationally) may not be the best Italian sex comedy has to offer but that doesn’t make it any less fun for what it is. Completely free
2010s
Plot: eclectic group of urbanites is locked into a studio during a TV gala. Álex de la Iglesia has never released a truly bad film. While there are peaks and valleys in his filmography de la Iglesia is a master technician who knows exactly what he’s doing. What has
1990s
Plot: teen girl and her mother are beset by seven homicidal psychopaths. The year is 1992. Horror was in a completely different place and had become an entirely different beast upon the dawning of the new decade. The once-flourishing Italian horror industry had gone all but extinct, the Spanish
2000s
Plot: 42 students, 3 days, 1 winner. Let the games begin. Even more than twenty years later Battle Royale (バトル・ロワイアル) has lost none of its inherent power. It was, is, and remains a milestone, a worldwide phenomenon that Japan hasn’t been able to match nor surpass to this
1980s
Plot: feisty columnist challenges her editor-in-chief to a bet. Hilarity ensues! In the Edwige Fenech 80s comedy canon Sballato, gasato, completamente fuso (or High, Gassed, Completely Melted, released in the English-speaking world as simply An Ideal Adventure) is probably the least talked about. Directed by master satirist
2000s
Plot: in a post-apocalyptic wasteland two starlets seek a sacred stag reel. John Michael McCarthy is probably the closest America has come to having a Josh Collins. Collins was the master of ceremonies behind Pervirella (1997) (with Emily Booth) and Superstarlet AD is cut from a very similar cloth.
1970s
Plot: estranged sibling returns to the old family seat, finds eccentric relatives. León Klimovsky’s La saga de los Drácula (The Dracula Saga internationally) has retroactively attained cinematic immortality not only because it was a direct competitor to Paul Naschy’s own Count Dracula’s Great Love (1973) but because