Exploitation films

The Queen of Black Magic

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

Bewitched

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

Seeding of a Ghost

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

The Eternal Evil of Asia

Black magic, exploding wizards, and a curse that turns a man's head into a penis. Cat III lost its mind.

The Boxer's Omen

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

Lady Terminator

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

Mystics in Bali

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

Purana Mandir

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

Beyond the Door

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

J.D.'s Revenge

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

Messiah of Evil

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

Abby

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

At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul

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

Scream Blacula Scream

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

Şeytan

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

God Told Me To

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

Race with the Devil

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

Veerana

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

Tales from the Crypt

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

The Blood on Satan's Claw

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

To the Devil a Daughter

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

Martin

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

The Devil Rides Out

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

Carnival of Souls

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

A Tale of Two Sisters

Korea's classiest ghost story, and the one that actually rewards a rewatch.

The Changeling

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

Phantasm

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

Häxan

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

The Omen

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

Rosemary's Baby

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

The Exorcist

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