Five More Instruments Of Evil: Horror Movie Picks

By Less Lee Moore

Here are five more horror movie picks, just in time for Halloween viewing!

1. And Soon The Darkness: Robert Fuest, 1970 (UK)
Less a flat-out horror movie than a slow burn thriller, this subtle film is well worth watching. Jane and Cathy are bicycling through rural France and quarrel over the real purpose of their trip: sightseeing or cruising for guys. They separate and eventually Jane becomes worried when she can’t find Cathy. Jane’s naiveté and lack of French-speaking skills hinder her attempts to find out what happened, and even the viewer isn’t certain whom she should trust.

The Bird With The Crystal Plumage

2. The Bird With The Crystal Plumage: Dario Argento, 1970 (Italy)
American tourist Sam witnesses a murder two days before he leaves Italy, but unfortunately, he doesn’t witness enough to provide any help to the police, only enough to become hopelessly and dangerously embroiled in the case. Dario Argento’s directorial debut is highly influenced by Hitchcock, but has a style all its own.

3. Blue Sunshine: Jeff Lieberman, 1976 (United States)
Definitely the only movie I’ve ever seen where all of the characters are introduced between snippets of the opening credits. An odd, unsettling mix of cautionary tale and whodunit, Blue Sunshine has a few outstanding and grotesque murder scenes and a great, suspenseful climax in a department store. Not sure if the coda is meant to be funny or serious, but either way, it’s memorable. Lieberman also directed Just Before Dawn.

Blue Sunshine

4. Prey (aka Alien Prey): Norman J. Warren, 1978 (UK)
This was described to me as a movie about an alien who becomes unwittingly involved in a dysfunctional lesbian relationship, so I just had to see it. It sounds bizarre—and it is—but mostly it’s super creepy. The alien character has superbly scary make-up and the drama that unfolds when one of the lesbians becomes crazy with jealousy adds even more to the claustrophobic sense of suspense. And of course, there’s a twist. There’s always a twist.

5. Two Evil Eyes: Dario Argento and George A. Romero, 1990 (Italy)
Containing two interpretations of Edgar Allan Poe stories from two horror masters, Two Evil Eyes feels like an exceptionally well-crafted horror movie from the late 70s. Romero shifts his focus to a new type of undead being in “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar” and Argento transforms “The Black Cat” into a horrific, modern fable of misogyny (with clever references to other Poe stories).

Two Evil Eyes

RELATED LINKS:

Ten Instruments Of Evil: Popshifter‘s Horror Movie Picks (And Five To Avoid)