The Avid eReader (Archived)

Many great scary movies have been produced other than in America, this post will focus on more obscure and international horror films that some of you may not have heard of. The films on this list can be found either through the Criterion Collection or Hoopla. The focus on this blog will be directors who have stayed away from the mainstream in order to have more creative control.

Cronos
This take on the vampire/Dracula movie comes to us from Mexican film maker Guillermo del Toro who both wrote and directed the movie (he went on to film Hellboy, Pan's Labyrinth, etc). The premise of the film is that this broach like device exists and can give its owner ever lasting life; however the device comes with a few quirks in order to achieve that eternal youth.

The film centers around an antiques dealer who accidentally stumbles upon the device and activates it. He is then torn between using the device and dealing with the wealthy man who is also after the cronos. This film's take on the vampire subject is the levels of morality and ethics that people are willing to abandon in order to achieve everlasting life.

Scanners
What can be said about David Cronenberg that has not already been said? The man is creepy, so creepy in fact that when he was young and worked at Sam the Record Man on Yonge street he was often scheduled in the basement to avoid his freaking customers out. Originally from Toronto and still does a great deal of his work in the city he is a treasure of creepy and odd.

The premise of this film is that a man who has extraordinary psychic abilities is hired by a Doctor to hunt and exterminate others like him. The "scanners" are an underground army of people who can control others, hurt them, and even kill them just by using the power of their mind.

This philosophical film focuses on experiments on humans and what are the complications behind it. Includes the famous coming out of the television screen.

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

This Iranian film is written and directed by up and comer Ana Lily Amirpour and it was her first feature film, based on a shorter film she had already done. This wonderful feminist take on the vampire film is about an Iranian ghost town that the folks who live there are completely unaware that a vigilante female vampire is protecting them from the violence and danger that lurks in their city.

The more traditional component of the film is that the vampire is herself quite lonely and in desperate need of company and companionship, but has also accepted her fate to be alone. The soundtrack for the film is also incredibly diverse and impressive.

The Ninth Gate
This religious thriller was directed by controversial director Roman Polanski. Who returns to one of his favorite themes of heaven and hell and the supernatural (he did direct Rosemary's Baby). Johnny Depp is our lead character who is a rare book dealer who comes across the last two remaining texts of an ancient demon text.

He gets drawn into a religious conspiracy that kind of resembles that of "The Da Vinci Code" (but this is well before that book was written). Dean must figure out if the text is authentic and if it is he has to keep it out of certain persons hands.

 All of these films are available to stream through a device with a live internet connection. Happy Hauntings!