The films

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The Queen of Black Magic

Suzzanna, Indonesia's horror queen, wronged by a whole village and collecting on the debt.

obscure

Bewitched

Shaw Brothers black magic: worms, curses and a Taoist priest fighting a Thai sorcerer.

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Seeding of a Ghost

Ninety minutes of restrained Shaw revenge, then twenty of rotting-corpse insanity.

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The Boxer's Omen

The most deranged thing Shaw Brothers ever paid for, and it never slows down to explain itself.

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Lady Terminator

The Terminator, if the machine were a sea goddess and had no shame whatsoever.

cult

Mystics in Bali

The Indonesian one everybody means: a flying witch's head, viscera trailing, hunting in the dark.

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Purana Mandir

The hit that proved Indian audiences would pay to watch a man in a rubber demon mask.

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At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul

The first Brazilian horror film, and the birth of Coffin Joe, a national icon with terrible fingernails.

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Beyond the Door

The Italian Exorcist. Warner sued. It made money anyway.

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J.D.'s Revenge

A dead 1940s gangster possesses a mild law student. Blaxploitation crossed with the supernatural.

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Messiah of Evil

Made by the couple who then wrote American Graffiti. A nightmare that never explains itself.

cult

Abby

The blaxploitation Exorcist. A minister's wife is possessed by a sex demon. Warner Bros sued.

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Scream Blacula Scream

The rare sequel that adds Pam Grier and a shred of dignity.

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Şeytan

The Exorcist, shot-for-shot, in Istanbul, with the same score. Astonishing nerve.

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God Told Me To

A detective investigates random killers who all say God ordered it. It goes somewhere insane.

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Race with the Devil

Satanists chase a Winnebago across Texas. Better than that sounds.

cult

Veerana

The Ramsay brothers' witch movie, with musical numbers between the murders.

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Tales from the Crypt

The best Amicus omnibus, and Joan Collins versus a killer Santa two years before Black Christmas.

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The Blood on Satan's Claw

A plough turns up a skull and a village falls apart. Coined the term.

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To the Devil a Daughter

Hammer's last gasp. Christopher Lee said it finished the studio off.

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Martin

Romero's vampire film. A boy who needs blood, and no fangs, cape or certainty that he is one.

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The Devil Rides Out

Hammer's best occult film. Lee as the hero for once, and enjoying it.

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Carnival of Souls

Made by an industrial-film director for $33,000. Genuinely haunted.

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The Changeling

George C. Scott versus a bouncing red ball. The best serious ghost film of its decade.

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Phantasm

A flying silver sphere, a towering undertaker, and dream logic. Nobody has explained it since.

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Häxan

A 1922 documentary about witchcraft that is also a horror film. Way ahead of itself.

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The Omen

Studio horror with a Goldsmith choir and four very memorable deaths.

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Rosemary's Baby

Nothing supernatural is ever shown. It does not need to be.

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The Exorcist

Plays it entirely straight and takes the theology seriously. Still works.