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If there’s one thing movies have taught us it’s you should never, ever be alone in a house. Heck, even with other people. You’re just going to get haunted, or you’re going to get slashed, or at the very least your place will be an absolute mess in the morning and you’ll have to tell your parents what really happened. So go outside, dang it! You’re more likely to star in a romantic comedy if you’re not trapped in an isolated mansion on a dark and gloomy night, making side-eyes at your old college friends who secretly hate you or want you dead.

Then again, if you do stay inside, you might as well watch Greg Jardin’s engrossingly mean-spirited “It’s What’s Inside,” which takes the familiar setup — we sure are alone in this house and nothing bad could possibly happen to us...

Now that Daily Dead readers have had a chance to check out Immaculate in theaters, I am excited to share my recent interview with director Michael Mohan! We talked in detail about the film last week, from the journey the project took to get to the big screen, to working with Sydney Sweeney, and the ending everyone is talking about:

[Spoiler Warning]

What was the journey this project took to get into production? I understand it took a little bit of time and I'm curious about when you got involved in the process.

So it was the longest process for Andrew [Lobel], the writer. He came up with this about 18 years ago and it almost got made at a studio, where Sydney had auditioned for the part. She had multiple callbacks, but ultimately the film ended up falling apart.

Years passed and Sydney was tracking the project, seeing what was happening with it.

After The Blair Witch Project came along in 1999, it feels like the independent horror boom of the 2000s was almost a direct result of that film’s success. Throughout this decade, we saw so many writers, directors, and other industry creatives get the opportunity to establish themselves and chart their course in Hollywood, and so many of those folks are still continuing to have a huge impact on what’s going on in the genre world these days as well.

The start of the new millennium proved to be an interesting time for horror, but especially indie horror. So many may not realize it, but American Psycho was initially an indie project that went through years and years of development before Lionsgate picked up the rights to Bret Easton Ellis’ book and moved forward on the project with Mary Harron at the helm. Even David Twohy’s Pitch Black started off as an indie film,...

Hello, dear readers! Today, we here at Daily Dead are kicking off our 2022 Indie Horror Month celebration, and we have a ton of killer content coming your way throughout the entire month of April that will highlight some amazing indie genre goodness created by an assortment of maverick makers from both the past and present. And for our first official piece for Ihm 2022, I thought it made sense to take a look at one of the most pivotal decades in independent horror cinema: the 1970s.

While we’ve had plenty of brilliant indie horror released here in America throughout every decade (it’s worth noting that the roots of independent horror can even be traced back 100 years to the release of F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu), there were certainly several key figures who were busy making horror movies on their own terms prior to the ’70s that helped pave the way...

The extraordinary Jonathan Ross discusses his favorite movies with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Kick-Ass (2010)

Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015) – Dennis Cozzalio’s 2015 year-end list

The Woman in Black (2012)

Stardust (2007)

The Green Knight (2021) – Our podcast interview with director David Lowery, Dennis Cozzalio’s best-of-2021-so-far list

Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

The Astro-Zombies (1968) – Dennis Cozzalio’s drive-in director list

The Corpse Grinders (1971) – Dennis Cozzalio’s drive-in director list

Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living And Became Zombies (1964) – Dennis Cozzalio’s drive-in director list

Blood Feast (1963) – Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review

The Wizard of Gore (1970)

Police Story (1985) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

Honey, I Shrunk The Kids (1989)

Re-Animator (1985) – Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review

Society (1989)

Eraserhead (1977) – Karyn Kusama’s Blu-ray review

Faster Pussycat Kill Kill (1965) – Randy Fuller’s wine pairing

Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls (1970) – Michael Lehmann’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review, Randy...

In the early ’80s, a loophole in film classification laws allowed a series of so-called “video nasties” — think low-budget horror and exploitation offerings like “Blood Feast” and “The Burning” — to hit the market without any sort of regulation. The response to these films was swift and expected: public panic, supposed moral outrage, and eventually heightened censorship and regulation. Such is the world of “Censor,” a gory and clever horror feature about, well, horror films. Sort of.

Per the film’s official synopsis: “Film censor Enid takes pride in her meticulous work, guarding unsuspecting audiences from the deleterious effects of watching the gore-filled decapitations and eye gougings she pores over. Her sense of duty to protect is amplified by guilt over her inability to recall details of the long-ago disappearance of her sister, recently declared dead in absentia. When Enid is assigned to review a disturbing film from the archive that echoes her hazy childhood memories,...

A new take on Edgar Allan Poe’s "The Fall of the House of Usher," Patrick Picard's The Bloodhound is one of the January releases on Arrow Video's streaming service ahead of its Blu-ray release on March 23rd, and we've been provided with an exclusive clip to share with Daily Dead readers.

You can watch a disturbing dream come to life in our exclusive clip below, as well as details on Arrow's January lineup:

Press Release: London, UK - Arrow Video is excited to announce the January 2021 lineup of their new subscription-based Arrow platform, available now in the US and Canada, coming soon to the UK. Building on the success of the Arrow Video Channel and expanding its availability across multiple devices and countries, Arrow boasts a selection of cult classics, hidden gems and iconic horror films, all curated by the Arrow team.

The lineup begins with...

Mario, Mario, wherefore art thou, sweet Mario? I imagine he’s dust by now, having passed away in 1980. His films, however, live forever. One that is rarely mentioned is his swan song, Shock (1977); a shame too, because it is much stronger (and more effective) than critics have labeled it through the years, offering up a melee of evil kids, possession, telekinesis, and other assorted sub-genres in a compelling way.

Released on his home turf in August, Shock didn’t receive an American release until March of ’79 under the title Beyond the Door II, cashing in on the hit from a couple of years earlier while nothing to do with said film. No matter what it was called, critics were unkind and the film floated into the ephemera of the occasional mom and pop video store. But time has been pretty gentle with a film unfairly compared to Bava’s earlier...

Halloween may be over, but there's a ton of horror content to look forward to from Shudder this December, including Creepshow and Joe Bob holiday specials:

New Shudder Specials

Joe Bob Saves Christmas — December 11 at 9pm Et

The Christmas spirit takes over The Last Drive-In as Joe Bob and Darcy close out the year with a double feature of holiday horrors. Premieres live on the ShudderTV feed Friday, December 11, and will be made available on demand on Sunday, December 13. (Also available on Shudder Canada)

A Creepshow Holiday Special — December 18

In the holiday themed, hour-long episode, “Shapeshifters Anonymous,” fearing he is a murderer, an anxious man searches for answers for his "unique condition" from an unusual support group. Starring Anna Camp (Pitch Perfect) and Adam Pally (The Mindy Project), the special is written and directed by Creepshow showrunner Greg Nicotero, based on a short story by J.A. Konrath (Last Call...

In a packed edition of Horror Highlights, we have a clip from Crystal Eyes, details on the To Your Last Death Blu-ray release, info on The Year Without Halloween book, the short film We Got a Monkey's Paw, details on Joe Bob Brigg's drive-in event, and the trailer for Chop Chop!

Watch a Clip from Crystal Eyes: September's Arrow Video Channel offerings bolster the already great lineup with an eclectic mix of titles that include Crystal Eyes, Graveyard of Honor, Return of the Killer Tomatoes, and more. Here's a look at a clip from Crystal Eyes and more details on Arrow's September lineup:

"London, UK - Arrow Video is excited to announce the September slate of titles on their subscription-based Arrow Video Channel, including the Argentinian giallo homage Crystal Eyes, Fukasaku's Graveyard of Honor, and Miike's 2002 remake. The stylish slasher Crystal Eyes, Fukasaku's classic crime thriller Graveyard of Honor...

September's Arrow Video Channel offerings bolster the already great lineup with an eclectic mix of titles that include Crystal Eyes, Graveyard of Honor, Return of the Killer Tomatoes, and more:

"London, UK - Arrow Video is excited to announce the September slate of titles on their subscription-based Arrow Video Channel, including the Argentinian giallo homage Crystal Eyes, Fukasaku's Graveyard of Honor, and Miike's 2002 remake. The stylish slasher Crystal Eyes, Fukasaku's classic crime thriller Graveyard of Honor and Miike's reimagining lead a selection of cult classics, hidden gems and iconic horror films coming to the Arrow Video Channel September 1st.

Crystal Eyes, Graveyard of Honor (1975), and Graveyard of Honor (2002) will be available September 1st on the Arrow Video Channel in the US and the UK. Additional new titles available September 1st include Ivansxtc (UK/US), The Holy Mountain (UK), Fando Y Lis (UK), El Topo (UK), and Return of the Killer...

Stars: Christopher Abbott, Mia Wasikowska, Laia Costa, Marin Ireland, Maria Dizzia, Wendell Pierce | Written and Directed by Nicolas Pesce

Christopher Abbott and Mia Wasikowska star in Piercing, a deliciously dark psycho-sexual horror; the second feature from director Nicolas Pesce (The Eyes of my Mother). Adapted from a novel by Ryû Murakami (who wrote the source material for Takashi Miike’s Audition), the film is shot through with a jet-black sense of humour and a sensibility that recalls Steven Shainberg’s Secretary in more ways than one.

Abbott (It Comes At Night) stars as Reed, a new dad who’s first glimpsed psyching himself up to stab his infant daughter with an ice-pick, unbeknownst to his young wife, Mona, played by Laia Costa (Victoria). When a demonic voice from the baby informs him that he knows what he has to do, Reed tells his wife he’s off on a business...

Stars: Christopher Abbott, Mia Wasikowska, Laia Costa, Marin Ireland, Maria Dizzia, Wendell Pierce | Written and Directed by Nicolas Pesce

Christopher Abbott and Mia Wasikowska star in Piercing, a deliciously dark psycho-sexual horror; the second feature from director Nicolas Pesce (The Eyes of my Mother). Adapted from a novel by Ryû Murakami (who wrote the source material for Takashi Miike’s Audition), the film is shot through with a jet-black sense of humour and a sensibility that recalls Steven Shainberg’s Secretary in more ways than one.

Abbott (It Comes At Night) stars as Reed, a new dad who’s first glimpsed psyching himself up to stab his infant daughter with an ice-pick, unbeknownst to his young wife, Mona, played by Laia Costa (Victoria). When a demonic voice from the baby informs him that he knows what he has to do, Reed tells his wife he’s off on a business...

Review by Roger Carpenter

While Lucio Fulci made his reputation with a series of graphically violent horror movies like Zombie (Aka Zombi 2), City of the Living Dead (Aka The Gates of Hell), The House by the Cemetery, The Beyond, and The New York Ripper, his early career was a hodgepodge of film genres including comedies, spaghetti westerns, and poliziotteschi. However, many critics argue that his greatest films were his early gialli films like A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin and Don’t Torture a Duckling. Fulci was handicapped by terribly low budgets for most of his career but some of his earlier works were actually well-funded, allowing his cinematic craftsmanship to be on full display. Such was the case with Don’t Torture a Duckling.

As was the case with many gialli of the time period, the film titles were influenced by Argento’s first three gialli, collectively known as the “Animal Trilogy.

For my money, Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani are two of the best genre directors working today. Their two feature-length gialli, Amer (2009) and The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears (2014) are among the greatest "throwback" films of all-time, taking the vocabulary and iconography of the giallo and twisting it into something new and exciting, all while playing with the cinematic form with a barrage of close-ups, split screens, and Chris Marker-esque jump-cut slideshows. The only downside is that, as of the time of this writing, only the aforementioned gialli are available for viewing, while their latest film, Let the Corpses Tan, won’t be released stateside until this summer. So what’s a fan of hyper-stylized neo-gialli to do? Why, turn to their shorts, of course!

Like many filmmakers, Cattet and Forzani honed the aesthetic they’d use in their later films through their early shorts. Unlike all filmmakers,...

Lucio Fulci’s Don’T Torture A Duckling (1972) will be available on Blu-ray September 12th from Arrow Video

From Lucio Fulci, the godfather of gore (The Psychic, The Beyond), comes one of the most powerful and unsettling giallo thrillers ever produced: his 1972 masterpiece Don’t Torture a Duckling.

When the sleepy rural village of Accendura is rocked by a series of murders of young boys, the superstitious locals are quick to apportion blame, with the suspects including the local “witch”, Maciara (Florinda Bolkan, A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin). With the bodies piling up and the community gripped by panic and a thirst for bloody vengeance, two outsiders – city journalist Andrea (Tomas Milian, The Four of the Apocalypse) and spoilt rich girl Patrizia (Barbara Bouchet, The Red Queen Kills Seven Times) – team up to crack the case. But before the mystery is solved, more blood will have been spilled,...

Arrow Video has a treat in store for both slasher and giallo fans this summer, as their August Us Blu-ray / DVD releases will include The Slayer and Don't Torture a Duckling.

From Arrow Video: "New UK/Us Title: The Slayer (Dual Format Blu-ray & DVD)

The Slayer finally rises from the ashes of obscurity in a brand new 4K transfer courtesy of Arrow Video.

Pre-order in the UK via Arrow: http://bit.ly/2r9t2Ab

Pre-order in the UK via Amazon: http://amzn.to/2r9sZnZ

Pre-order in the Us: http://bit.ly/2r9yYsP

Release dates: 21/22 August

Is It A Nightmare? Or Is It… The Slayer?

One of the most sought-after titles for slasher fans everywhere, The Slayer finally rises from the ashes of obscurity in a brand new 4K transfer courtesy of Arrow Video.

Two young couples set off to a secluded island for what promises to be a restful retreat.

At the height of the Italian giallo boom in the early 1970s, scores of filmmakers turned their hand to crafting their own unique takes on these lurid murder-mystery thrillers. Emilio P. Miraglia may not be as well-known as Dario Argento or Mario Bava, but he did direct a distinct pair of thrillers that are out today on Blu-ray from Arrow Vide0: The Red Queen Kills Seven Times and In The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave.

In The Red Queen Kills Seven Times (1972), an age-old family curse hits sisters Kitty (Barbara Bouchet) and Franziska (Marina Malfatti) following the death of their grandfather Tobias (Rudolf Schündler). Every hundred years, so the legend goes, the bloodthirsty Red Queen returns and claims seven fresh victims. Was Tobias just the first… and are Kitty and Franziska next?

Director Emilio P. Miraglia once again combines a conventional giallo whodunit narrative with supernatural chills,...

April 18th looks to be another fun day of home entertainment releases for genre fans, as we have an excellent variety of films—both old and new—coming home to Blu-ray and DVD. M. Night Shyamalan’s psychological thriller Split makes its way to both formats on Tuesday courtesy of Universal Studios Home Entertainment, and Arrow Video is keeping busy with a trio of Blu-rays: The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave, The Red Queen Kills Seven Times, and their four-disc set celebrating Richard Kelly’s Donnie Darko.

Other notable releases for April 18th include Scream Factory’s stellar collector’s edition of Tales From the Hood, Contamination .7, The Handmaid’s Tale, and The Mephisto Waltz from Kino Lorber.

Donnie Darko: 4-Disc Limited Edition Set (Arrow Video, Blu-ray)

Fifteen years before Stranger Things, Richard Kelly set the template and the high-water mark with his debut feature, Donnie Darko.

Arrow Video isn't playing any April Fools' Day joke on horror and thriller fans with their Blu-ray releases for next month, which include the respective House: Two Stories (previously scheduled for a March 21st release) and Donnie Darko box sets, Wolf Guy, Caltiki the Immortal Monster, and more.

Press Release: Mvd Entertainment Group furthers the distribution of Arrow Video in the Us with several titles for April 2017. On April 18th comes The Night Evelyn Came Out Of The Grave (Blu-ray and DVD) and The Red Queen Kills Seven Times (Blu-ray and DVD), two giallo chillers from director Emilio P. Miraglia which were previously only available in the limited edition box set entitled Killer Dames. Miraglian blends the grisly whodunnit of the giallo with gothic and supernatural elements to create some truly unique chills in tales of revenge from beyond the grave and killer curses.

One of Emilio P. Miraglia's supernatural,...

I cherish a good giallo film. For those unfamiliar with this sub-genre, it’s like a slasher, but with an emphasis on police procedure and a dash of Italian Vogue. (Not to mention the ubiquitous gloved killer.) Starting in the mid ‘60s, they revved up the violence, leading to the watershed of Twitch of the Death Nerve (1971), where Mario Bava singlehandedly invented the “body count” that transferred across the water and led us to Haddonfield and Camp Crystal Lake.

But some gialli still let their freak flags fly, bringing us to The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave (1971), a film that blends bodies, bodices, castles, the supernatural, possible gas lighting, nudity, and triple crosses into an overflowing bath of ideas that is a lot of fun to splash around in. Not all the water stays in the tub, but there’s still plenty enough for a good soak.

Released in Italy in August,...

Arrow Video are doing a very good job of feeding my love of giallo movies. With the release of Killer Dames: Two Gothic Chillers by Emilio P. Miraglia they have provided us with The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave and The Red Queen Kills Seven Times, two Gothic tales that work well in fulfilling our lust for blood and violence in true Italian style.

The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave is somewhat of a strange beast because there is an ambiguity over which character is the evillest. We have Anthony Steffen playing Lord Alan Cunningham a character haunted by his dead wife Evelyn, but appears to have a fetish of inflicting pain (and possibly death) on women. Then we have the spectre of Evelyn, and the possibility of her returning from the grave. These scenarios both merge together in a twisted tale, which though predictable is still entertaining.

By Tim Greaves

Two early 1970s Italian Gothic chillers from director Emilio Miraglia have been released in the UK in a dual Blu-ray/DVD box set. Bearing the tantalising umbrella title "Killer Dames", it could equally be looked upon as a Marina Malfatti set, since the actress occupies a prominent role in both of the films contained therein.

A prolific assistant director throughout the first half of the 60s, Emilio Miraglia's fourth spin in the director's chair following a trio of crime thrillers was also his first foray into terror terrain. 1971's The Night Evelyn Came Out of Her Grave (o.t. La Notte Che Evelyn Usci Della Tomba) concerns English aristocrat Lord Cunningham (Anthony Steffan), a man devastated by the passing of his titian-haired wife Evelyn, who he suspected was being unfaithful. Struggling to overcome his grief over her death and rage at her perceived infidelity, Cunningham lures...

Here’s another helping of immorality and mayhem courtesy of Emilio Miraglia, the man responsible for one of my favorite gialli, The Red Queen Kills Seven Times (which, ironically, was glimpsed in last week’s Saturday Nightmare, New Year’s Evil, under the Us title - Blood Feast).

This film, the first of Miraglia’s only two forays into giallo cinema, isn’t as accomplished as its successor but has plenty of perversity to keep things interesting. If you’ve come to expect ludicrous plot twists, unscrupulous characters, sexual debauchery and a solid dose of murder, then you’ll find much to love about this atmospheric little shocker.

To put it mildly, Alan Cunningham has issues. As the Lord of a sprawling estate, the smarmy playboy spends his evenings luring attractive young women to his castle where he tortures them before savagely killing them. It seems as though Alan has...