This masterful portmanteau British horror laid the foundations for a slew of similarly structured films in the 1960s and 70s. But no imitator could hope to better this superb collection of macabre supernatural tales, which take in haunted mirrors, ghostly children (and golfers), deadly premonitio...

In the far reaches of space, a team of intergalactic archaeologists find themselves in grave danger when an extra-terrestrial entity impregnates one of their crew members. Bearing more than a passing resemblance to Ridley Scott’s Alien, Norman J Warren’s wild sci-fi shocker is a glorious exercise...

Alejandro Amenabar weaves together a complex sci-fi romance with this audacious drama. Cesar (Eduardo Noriega) is a handsome and successful man, but feels completely different once he meets Sofia (Penelope Cruz), who captivates him with her beauty and sensibility. However, just at the beginning o...

When he is banished from the village, Paul Carson (Christopher Matthews) winds up at Castle Dracula, where unbeknownst to him, the Lord of the Undead (Christopher Lee) has been reanimated. Searching for Paul, his brother Simon (Dennis Waterman) storms Castle Dracula with his fiancée, unaware of t...

Lord Byron (Gabriel Byrne) promises his guests a night of horror only a mad poet can deliver and after partaking in hallucinogens, the guests tell ghost stories while exploring the dark corridors of his home - and of their minds. If any director is suited to retelling the wild night that conjured...

Unable to attend his daughter’s violin recital, suburban father Ian (Edward Woodward, The Wicker Man) is haunted by a series of prophetic nightmares that seem to foresee a looming tragedy. Are dark forces gathering to be unleashed upon him?

After receiving an anonymous tip, a policeman ( Edward Woodward ) travels to the Scottish island of Summerisle to search for a missing girl. When he arrives, the Islanders, most of whom seem to be practising pagans, claim to have never seen or heard of the young girl. The mystery leads to our pro...

Much criticised at the time of its release, Michael Powell’s psychological study of a shy camera technician who films for his home movies the death throes of the women he kills is now widely regarded as a dark classic. Less a straightforward serial-killer thriller than a Freudian meditation on ho...

The Ghoul is an atmospheric slow-burn crime film more interested in psychology and the occult than in solving crimes. Tom Meeten’s detective Chris is called to investigate a mysterious, possible double murder. Discovering clues in the house of a shadowy suspect, he goes undercover as a patient to...

When a newly reopened church in Devon reports of supernatural happenings, the Vatican send a team on investigators, armed with digital recording equipment, with a mission to debunk the spectral myths and restore order to the church. What they discover, however, is far worse than they could have f...

David Bowie cemented his unearthly persona in Nicolas Roeg’s startling cult film; playing an alien stranded on Earth while on a mission to find water for his own world, he initiates a plan to amass a fortune to help save his home planet.

Set in Victorian England, The Nightcomers follows two orphans - Flora and Miles - as they are left by their tutor in a mansion, under the care of the elderly housekeeper Mrs Grose, the governess Miss Jessel, and the groundskeeper Peter Quint. When Grose attempts to have the master of the house fi...

Friendship (Tilda Swinton) has been sent to Earth on a peace mission. Heading for MIT, she inadvertently lands in Amman, Jordan during the 1970 ‘Black September’ war and is ushered to safety by journalist Sullivan (Bill Paterson). Holed up in a hotel as the conflict rages outside, the pair enter ...

When they stumble across the tomb of the evil sorceress, Queen Tera (Valerie Leon), a team of British archaeologists bring her sarcophagus back to London, in an attempt to uncover whatever secrets she holds. However, when Tera's spirit possesses the daughter of one of the archaeologists (also Val...

This ingeniously small-scale sci-fi adventure of a tiny, shiny alien ball-being with strange powers and a taste for electricity, crisps and custard, was released the same year as Star Wars, and foreshadows E.T., but was made for just a fraction of the cost of either. It was produced for The Child...

Shot on location around Derbyshire, this atmospheric and entertaining ghost story - which sees the dispossessed spirit of a young plague victim making contact with modern kids - is one of the highlights of the latter days of the Children's Film Foundation. Past intrudes on present with increasing...

Shot on location around the lonely, windswept coasts of Cornwall, this is an impressively ghostly adventure from the Children's Film Foundation. It remains a cautionary tale for profit-hungry modern miners, and the fine underground camera work effectively conveys all the creepy claustrophobia of ...

This gloriously odd, gently subversive comedy from the Children's Film Foundation sees cosmic hobo Kadoyng – blessed with mysterious powers and a stalk-like appendage on his head - arrive unexpectedly on Earth, to befriend local residents, and take on nasty politicians and road developers. Wittil...

When the USA and Russia simultaneously test atomic bombs, the Earth is knocked off its axis and set on a collision course with the Sun. Peter Stenning (Edward Judd), a washed-up Daily Express reporter, breaks the story and sets about investigating the government cover-up.

Two young English nurses, Jane (Pamela Franklin) and Cathy (Michele Dotrice) embark on a cycling holiday in the French countryside. They happen upon a mysterious man, Paul (Sandor Eles), who seems interested in them. Cathy is intrigued by the man, but suspicious Jane wants to continue on the jour...

English tourist John Trant (Mark Gatiss) visits an East European cathedral in search of an obscure religious painting. There he encounters enigmatic guides, who lead him deep into the strange church, where horror awaits... With the unnerving black humour you'd expect from League of Gentlemen pedi...

When wealthy couple Richard and Angela visit Marion and Alex in their decaying family home, an evening of drunkenness and sexual rivalry turns bloody as the guests fall victim to an unhinged attacker. Featuring a rare performance from director Bill Douglas (Bill Douglas Trilogy, Comrades), and st...

Marcello Mastroianni is the victim and Ursula Andress the hunter in Elio Petri’s sexy ‘60s sci-fi, which predates The Hunger Games, Battle Royale, et al, with its depiction of a televised assassination spectacle, The Big Hunt.

This enjoyably unusual combination of Agatha Christie-style murder-mystery and gothic chills was the brainchild of Amicus Productions, Britain's chief rival to Hammer Films during the golden era of 1970s Anglo-horror. The film is best known for its gimmicky 'werewolf break' towards the end, where...