Khopdi: The Skull
Khopdi is like a ratty old blanket that smells of mildew but is never the less still festering in the attic when it should have been thrown out years ago. But you just can’t do it, can you?
Tag Archives: Ghosts & Spirits
Strangler of the Swamp
Languishing in relative obscurity for years, this modest horror film from one of the cheapest of all production houses, PRC, was championed in the 60s and 70s by the Cahiers […]
Bhoot Ke Pechhe Bhoot
There’s almost a competent movie contained within the running time of Bhoot ke Pechhe Bhoot, though Kishan Shah never gets around to actually making it.
Viy
My odyssey through the strange world of Russian fantasy films began in earnest many years ago, when I moved to a prominently Russian and Ukrainian neighborhood and started prowling around […]
Ghost With Hole
To my mind, when it comes to horror filmmaking with an exploitative edge, the Indonesians back then really knew what they were doing. Their films were both compact and loaded with outlandish visuals…
Enchanting Shadow
After a stormy start, the two become closer, eventually even falling in love — which would be sweet if Hsiao-Chien didn’t turn out to be a ghost, her well-appointed villa an illusion covering a decrepit haunted house, and her mistress a demanding old ghoul with a taste for souls.
Mr. Vampire
Old Hong Kong movies use the presence of a Taoist priest as a license to print crazy, despite the real world practice of Taoism’s emphasis on quiet contemplation and equilibrium with nature.
Ghost Stories of Wanderer at Honjo
Held up against more famous Japanese ghost movies, Ghost Stories of Wanderer at Honjo probably seems a bit slight. But just because it doesn’t aspire to lofty or epic intentions doesn’t mean it’s not a great little movie.
Shaitani Dracula
One gets the feeling, however, that if a potential creator of outsider art suddenly found himself in possession of a movie camera, some plastic Dracula fangs, and half a dozen cheap novelty wolfman masks, the resultant film would look something like Shaitani Dracula.
Chinese Ghost Story: The Animation
In such an environment, it’s not surprising that A Chinese Ghost Story: The Animation, despite being a fun movie, sparked no interest in the pursuit of a Chinese animation renaissance. Animation is just too hard. It’s too labor intensive. And the Hong Kong industry had been totally gutted.
