Gremlins is a forthcoming American comedy horror Warner Bros remake of the original 1984 hit that is currently back in development after a long period of gestation. No director has been assigned to the project – although fans will probably still hope that Joe Dante will make a return.

The writer of the original, Christopher Columbus, is producing and Carl Ellsworth (Disturbia, The Last House on the Left remake, Goosebumps) has recently been announced as handling the screenplay. Steven Spielberg is executive producing.

Updates to follow…

Buy The Goonies + Gremlins + Gremlins 2 on Blu-ray from Amazon.com 

‘Be careful, children at play.’

Sinister 2 – aka Sinister II – is a 2015 American supernatural horror movie directed by Ciaran Foy from a screenplay by Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose; The Messengers; Deliver Us from Evil) and C. Robert Cargill (The Outer Limits). It is a sequel to 2012 film Sinister and stars Shannyn Sossamon and James Ransone reprising his role from the original film.

The film is set for release on 21 August 2015.

Plot teaser:

A young mother and her twin sons move into a rural house that is marked for death…

Cast:

• Shannyn Sossamon as Courtney
• Jaden Klein as Ted
• Lucas Jade Zumann as Milo
• Laila Haley as Emma
• James Ransone as Deputy
• Olivia Rainey as Catherine
• Caden M. Fritz as Peter
• Lea Coco as Clint

Wikipedia | IMDb

 From the Dark is a 2014 Irish horror film directed by Conor McMahon (Stitches) and starring Niamh Algar, Stephen Cromwell, Ged Murray, and Gerry O’Brian.

A couple on a trip through the Irish countryside find themselves hunted by a creature who only attacks at night…

“From the Dark is a taut, coiled piece of dread-infused cinema that may not rewrite the book on creature horror, but absolutely delivers everything one could hope for from a fresh entry in that subgenre.” Fangoria

“Familiar territory, admittedly, but it’s still edge-of-the-seat exciting, visceral and at times uncomfortably tense. Where Stitches had its tongue firmly in its cheek, From the Dark is determinedly no laughing matter and it’s all the better for its uncompromising, gritty bleakness and refreshing simplicity. It’s a little gem well worth keeping an eye out for.” Starburst

“It’s an accessible monster movie for mainstream audiences, which translates into redundant normalcy for hardcore horror fans. Unfortunately, you’re probably better left in the dark on this one, no matter how dangerous the shadows are perceived to be.” We Got This Covered

IMDb

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Satan (Hebrew: שָּׂטָן satan, meaning “adversary”; Arabic: شيطان shaitan, meaning “astray” or “distant”, sometimes “devil”) is a figure appearing in the ancient texts of the Abrahamic religions who brings evil and temptation, and is known as the deceiver who leads humanity astray. Some religious groups teach that he originated as an angel who fell out of favour with God, seducing humanity into the ways of sin, and who has power in the fallen world. In the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, Satan is primarily an accuser and adversary, a decidedly malevolent entity, also called the devil, possessing demonic qualities.

Satan is a surprisingly difficult character to pin down biographically, primarily as references to him are wildly inconsistent, right down to his name regularly changing, depending on the time written and the source. The most oft-old story relating to Satan goes back to the 2nd day of Creation where upon God created the firmament of Heaven and the angelic inhabitants, the most revered of whom was Lucifer, Son of the Dawn (or if you prefer, the Angel of the Morning). A cherub measuring eighteen feet in height made of pure light and furnished with six, eight foot-high wings, Lucifer, as with the other angels, was given free will, later to be upgraded to being put in charge of God’s greatest triumph, the creation of Earth.

Said to be a vision of pure beauty and adorned with precious stones, Lucifer grew to question why he should answer to anyone, considering the many gifts which had left him near perfection. When God inspected the goings-on of Adam in the Garden of Eden, Lucifer seized the opportunity to take his place on God’s throne, a third of the angels gathering to view their new leader (no mean feat – an early theological estimate put the number of angels in heaven at an impressive 133,306,668). The rebel group set up camp in, according to Milton in Paradise Lost, the North of Heaven, where they waged war upon the remaining two thirds still loyal to God who were led by the Archangel Michael.

Upon returning from Eden, God was inevitably displeased, unleashing his wrath immediately on Lucifer and his subjects, casting them from Heaven and sending them crashing through nine days of descent, their bodies first tarnishing from their golden hues until they were eventually black and oily. When the angels eventually hit the earth, the weight of their sins caused the ground to part, sending them into the fiery pits beneath. Here it was that Lucifer vowed to match the might of heaven with an evil, vengeful equivalent.

All of which is fine but the foundations of this gripping tale are rickety at best. There is only one mention of the name Lucifer in the Bible:

Job 14:12: “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How are thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!”

Unfortunately, as the Bible combines texts from so many cultures over such a vast span of many years, much, literally, is lost in translation. ‘Lucifer’, the morning star described, is first mentioned in Hebrew texts and refers to hêlêl or heylel, now widely believed to refer to a Babylonian king who fell from power – only when Christian writers translators re-wrote these lines did this change to Lucifer, the nearest they could approximate to the source material: Lucifer meaning morning star in the planetary sense, in particular the first shining light seen in the morning sky, Venus. Only by the 4th Century had this now corrupted imagery get taken to the ultimate extreme, merging with already firmly accepted understanding of the Devil.

The original Hebrew term satan is a noun from a verb meaning primarily “to obstruct, oppose”, as it is found in Numbers 22:22, 1 Samuel 29:4, Psalms 109:6.Ha-Satan is traditionally translated as “the accuser” or “the adversary”. The definite article ha- (English: “the”) is used to show that this is a title bestowed on a being, versus the name of a being. Thus, this being would be referred to as “the satan”. Some time by the year A.D.70, the Greeks had translated ha-satan with the word “diabolos” (slanderer), the same word in the Greek New Testament from which the English word devil is derived. This entymology was reinforced by the Middle English “devel”, from Old English “dēofol”, that in turn represents an early Germanic borrowing of Latin diabolus.

In the New Testament he is called “the ruler of the demons” (Matthew 12:24), “the ruler of the world”, and “the god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4). The Book of Revelation describes how Satan was cast out of Heaven, having “great anger” and waging war against “those who obey God’s commandments”.

The early Christian church encountered opposition from pagans such as Celsus, who claimed that “it is blasphemy… to say that the greatest God… has an adversary who constrains his capacity to do good” and said that Christians “impiously divide the kingdom of God, creating a rebellion in it, as if there were opposing factions within the divine, including one that is hostile to God”.

Beelzebub, meaning “Lord of Flies”, is the contemptuous name given in the Hebrew Bible and New Testament to a Philistine god whose original name has been reconstructed as most probably “Ba’al Zabul”, meaning “Baal the Prince”. This pun was later used to refer to Satan as well. The Book of Revelation twice refers to “the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan” (12:9, 20:2). The Book of Revelation also refers to “the deceiver”, from which is derived the common epithet “the great deceiver”.

If all this weren’t exhausting enough, we haven’t yet considered the Islamic references to this most confusing of entities. Shaitan (شيطان) is the equivalent of Satan in Islam. While Shaitan (شيطان, from the root šṭn شطن) is an adjective (meaning “astray” or “distant”, sometimes translated as “devil”) that can be applied to both man (“al-ins”, الإنس) and Jinn, Iblis (Arabic pronunciation: [ˈibliːs]) is the personal name of the Devil who is mentioned in the Qur’anic account of Genesis. According to the Qur’an, Iblis (the Arabic name used) disobeyed an order from Allah to bow to Adam, and as a result Iblis was forced out of heaven. However, he was given respite from further punishment until the day of judgment.

When Allah commanded all of the angels to bow down before Adam (the first Human), Iblis, full of hubris and jealousy, refused to obey God’s command (he could do so because he had free will), seeing Adam as being inferior in creation due to his being created from clay as compared to him (created of fire):

“It is We Who created you and gave you shape; then We bade the angels prostrate to Adam, and they prostrate; not so Iblis (Lucifer); He refused to be of those who prostrate. (Allah) said: “What prevented thee from prostrating when I commanded thee?” He said: “I am better than he: Thou didst create me from fire, and him from clay.”
—Qur’an 7:11–12

It was after this that the title of “Shaitan” was given, which can be roughly translated as “Enemy”, “Rebel”, “Evil”, or “Devil”. Shaitan then claims that, if the punishment for his act of disobedience is to be delayed until the Day of Judgment, then he will divert many of Adam’s own descendants from the straight path during his period of respite. God accepts the claims of Iblis and guarantees recompense to Iblis and his followers in the form of Hellfire. In order to test mankind and jinn alike, Allah allowed Iblis to roam the earth to attempt to convert others away from his path. He was sent to earth along with Adam and Eve, after eventually luring them into eating the fruit from the forbidden tree.

Actual depictions of Satan don’t appear in the Christian world until it had taken hold in Europe, as late (or early) as the 6th Century. The images showed Satan and his minions as something like black imps, only as the years passed did these primitive images begin to become more and more extreme, exaggerating human features and often used to keep mortals in check by revealing the ultimate in fear. By the Enlightenment, these had matured somewhat to show a more obviously human character imbued with duplicity.

Although the Pagan influence on the depiction of Satan usually centres solely on the adaptation of Pan, other early beliefs led to familiar traits we now regularly associated with the Devil. The horns are possibly a nod to the illicit, highly sexualised view of bulls, or indeed the shape of a crescent moon.

In Northern Europe, Satan is often depicted as being black in colour, the familiar red in Western Europe being attributed not just to the fires of Hell but the blood of Hell-bound sinners. Although regularly featured wearing similarly red clothes, his ‘official’ livery is black and yellow, signifying infection and disease. As religious fervour increased yet further, even greater detail was given to his behaviour; his penchant for playing dice (The Devil’s Bones) or cards (The Devil’s Bible), his love of the dramatic arts and favoured times of day – noon, dusk and midnight. Although associated with the number 666, this is again most likely a mistranslation, the number actually being 616, a numerical value given to the Roman emperor Nero, at the time, seemingly accepted as the Earthly embodiment of the Devil.

An almost unrivalled influence on all aspects of popular culture, Satan is still big news and has many present-day worshippers, loosely divided into two camps; Theistic Satanism, the more traditional worship of the Devil and the accompanying rituals and Atheistic Satanism, now most readily associated with its most famous practitioner, Anton Le Vey (who founded the Church of Satan in the 1960s), actually somewhat distanced from the actual worship of any deities.

Finally, to perhaps ensure maximum bafflement, here are just some of the names Satan also goes by:

Abaddon
Angel of Light
Antichrist
Apollyon
The Apostate
Beast
Beelzebub
Betrayer
The Black Dog
Black Jack
Deceiver
Devil
Dickens
Dragon
Father of Lies
Gentleman Jack
Horny Jack
King of Tyre
Leviathan
Little Horn
Lucifer
Lusty Dick
Old Bogie
The Old Gentlemen
Old Hairy
Old Horny
Old Nick
Potentate of the Pit
Prince of Lies
Prince of the Pit
Roaring Lion
Serpent
The Stoker

Daz Lawrence (written by, not one of His names)

Images of Satan in popular 20th century culture:

‘Man is the true monster.’

Frankenstein is a 2015 US horror film adaptation of Mary Shelley’s novel written and directed by Bernard Rose (Paperhouse; Candyman).

The film stars Xavier Samuel (Twilight Saga: Eclipse), Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix trilogy), Danny Huston (American Horror Story: Coven, Big Eyes) and Tony Todd (Candyman). Special effects are courtesy of Randy Westgate (X-Men Origins: Wolverine).

Frankenstein premiers on 12 April 2015 at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival.

Plot teaser:

Present day Los Angeles: After he is artificially created with a revolutionary 3D printer by Elizabeth and Victor Frankenstein, a husband-and-wife team of eccentric scientists, Adam is left for dead by his creators. He is confronted with nothing but aggression and violence from the world around him. This perfect creation-turned disfigured monster must come to grips with the horrific nature of humanity…

IMDb

“Animal desires… Human lust. Test Tube terrors… Half beast… all monster.”

Twilight People is a 1972 horror movie directed by Eddie Romero (Beast of Blood) and made in the Philippines. It stars John Ashley and in an early film appearance, Pam Grier.

While diving, Matt Farrell (John Ashley) is kidnapped by Neva Gordon (Pat Woodell) and Steinman (Jan Merlin) and taken to an island where Neva’s father Dr. Gordon (Charles Macauly) is experimenting, trying to make a “Super Race” by combining humans and animals. His creations are Ayesa the panther-woman (Pam Grier), Kuzma the antelope-man (Ken Metcalfe), Darmo the bat-man (Tony Gonsalvez), Primo the ape-man (Kim Ramos), Lupa the wolf-woman (Mona Morena) and Doro the boar-man (who is shot down by Steinman while trying to flee early in the film). Dr. Gordon wants Farrell to be one of his upcoming experiments but Neva begins to doubt her fathers’ work after a botched experiment on another test subject, Juan Pereira (Eddie Garcia). She decides to help Farrell and the animal people escape. As Steinman and his men hunt them down, Ayesa turns completely savage and is killed. A fierce gun-battle begins, and Farrell kills Steinman. Most of the other animal people are also killed, except Darmo, who is now able to fly and returns to the compound to attack Steinman’s men. Dr. Gordon tries to escape, but is confronted and killed by the tree-woman who used to be his wife. At the end, Farrell and Neva watch as Darmo flies off.

Buy Twilight People on DVD from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk

Reviews

“Fans of ‘C’ movies and drive in drivel will get plenty to chew on here. The first half is relatively slow, but about 40 minutes in the hilarity and poverty row production values kick in showcasing some goofy charm for those who can appreciate this sort of thing. Schlock lovers need only apply.” Cool Ass Cinema

Trailer:

“Darmo the bat is crappy enough to be worth the price of admission all by himself, and he probably gets more screen-time than any of the other Twilight People, even though he’s only rarely the focus of a scene. You have to admire the nerve of a filmmaker who isn’t ashamed to glue cut-up plastic garbage bags to a guy’s arms, and call him a bat-man.” 1000 Misspent Hours

“Any potential this flick had goes out the window pretty fast thanks largely to the film’s languid pacing. Sure, those Blood Island movies weren’t the finest examples of low budget made-in-the-Philippines horror, but at least they had their moments.  This one is the pits.” The Video Vacuum

Wikipedia | IMDb

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‘Evil has been chosen’

Infernal is a 2015 American found footage horror-thriller. Infernal was written and directed by Bryan Coyne and stars Andy Ostroff, Heather Adair, Shane Hartline, Leandra Ryan, Alyssa Koerner, and Matthew Scott Payne. It was released in the USA on April 10th 2015.

Plot teaser:

A happy young couple welcomes their first child shortly after getting married. Their joy quickly turns to fear when the girl starts acting strangely and unexplained phenomena start happening around the house. Fearing their daughter could be possessed, the parents call in a priest to perform an exorcism, but when that goes horribly wrong, the parents start to wonder if they can break their child free from the evil spirit that has taken over her body and soul and if she can be saved before it’s too late…

Reviews:

“Nothing refreshing to see here in this Exorcist/Omen style mash up but some great visuals and magnificent character scripting makes this more than an average watch, and the pay-off of the film is unexpected and brilliantly done.” The Movie Waffler

“The film boasts some truly creepy sequences of the supernatural, and though many horror films benefit from a less-is-more approach, Infernal could have used a lot more of this spectral imagery. For low-budget horror Infernal is hardly inspired, but it’s not an utter waste of time either.” ScreenRelish

” …this film was entertaining to watch, even if it fell flat at times. If you’re a fan of the found footage genre and liked the Paranormal Activity franchise this is something you should check out. It can be a little rough around the edges with the acting, dialogue, and the overall length dragging things down. However, it makes up  for some of those shortcomings with its practical effects and the ominous feeling it produces once the lights go out.” House by the Video Store

IMDb

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Lake of Dracula – aka Noroi no yakata: Chi o suu me – is a 1971 Japanese film made by the Toho company but following in Hammer’s Gothic tradition. The film is considered the second in a trilogy of films referred to as “The Bloodthirsty Trilogy”, the other films being The Vampire Doll (Yûrei yashiki no kyôfu: Chi wo sû ningyô , 1970) and Evil of Dracula (Chi o suu bara, 1974). All three were directed by Michio Yamamoto.

In a remote coastal setting young Akiko (Midori Fujita) chases after her misbehaving hound, Leo, following him through a wooded area until they both arrive at a rather unlikely European-style mansion. Obliged to snoop around inside, they are faced with a figure appearing out of the gloom, fangs bared and none too welcoming. Skipping forward many years, Akiko is still with Leo and is venturing out to find a handyman, Kyûsaku, to fix her door. As she arrives, the handyman receives an unexpected delivery which he later discovers is a crate containing a white coffin.

Akiko’s simple life, living with her sister Natsuko (Sanae Emi) by Lake Fujimi, allows time for her pastime of painting, her latest work being a large yellow eye featured in a sunset, which she explains was inspired by nightmares she’s been having since a child. The pair, joined by her sister’s boyfriend, wait patiently for Kyûsaku, who never shows – little do they know that having opened the coffin, only to find it empty, the man has been attacked by an unknown person lurking in the shadows.

Events become ever more peculiar, with a dead body arriving at the hospital drained of blood but with two puncture holes in the neck, all of which the local doctor, Saeki (Chôei Takahashi) finds most perplexing. Meanwhile, Akiko has sadly found her beloved dog dead in the woods with the dinner-avoiding handyman close-by and acting oddly. Now referring to his ‘new master’, Kyûsaku’s return coincides with further abductions, all of which lead back to the mansion’s owner, a nameless vampire (Shin Kishida; the familiar star of the Lone Wolf and Cub films, Hanzo the Razor: The Snare and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla). Dr Saeki and Akiko are dragged into the vampire’s web of terror, not least when Natsuko begins to act strangely. Visions from Akiko’s childhood could be key to saving them from an eternity as the undead…

Largely unloved, both at the time and now, Lake of Dracula is an interesting attempt to combine the particularly Japanese style of slow-moving action and gently painted characters with the elements which had contributed to Hammer’s meteoric rise as the bastion of the horror film. Firstly, it’s best to leave your thoughts on Dracula at the door, there’s really no connection here, the reference being a marketing ploy by American distributors (perhaps the same who thought a re-titling of ‘Japula’ might draw in the crowds – fortunately, even they abandoned this quite quickly); neither is it wise to compare this to the other films of the trilogy, there is no storyline to follow between them.

The main issue is an odd desire for the filmmakers to leave the vampire as such a minor character – apart from a pleasing finale and some hiding in corners, he is left with little to do, leaving, sadly, the less arresting actors to do the majority of the heavy-lifting. Fujita is a timid, shallow female lead, difficult to empathise with, even when her dog is killed – in fairness, she has proved herself to be all but useless in terms of preventing him from constantly running way. Likewise, the doctor, certainly no Van Helsing and barely as interesting as Van Morrison, we are presented with a scenario which blights many a horror film – heroes we’d much rather die than succeed.

Fortunately, the cinematography is excellent, the mansion situated in such an unlikely place being that it’s oddly fascinating to see Japanese actors placed within it. Less well exploited is the titular lake, an opportunity for invention well and truly missed. The problem, aside from the issues already mentioned, is largely that Japan has little in the way of vampiric folklore to draw upon, unusual for a nation so large. As such, the sexual element is missing and the vampire’s motive is somewhat muddled – the film’s conclusion supposes the audience has come straight from a Hammer film, otherwise it could only appear as distinctly odd.

Riichirô Manabe’s score is superb, a real shame it is coupled with such a lacklustre film; Western flourishes and Eastern exoticism, fruity glissandi doing their best to convince the audience something exciting is going to happen. He would later score the likes of Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster and Godzilla vs. Megalon. Colourful and often dreamy, it’s a waste of a good setting and an appealing monster, though as a curiosity it’s worth a watch. If nothing else, the film did have some influence – the impressive No Wave band, Lake of Dracula, taking their name from the movie.

Daz Lawrence, Horrorpedia

 ‘You scream, you expand, you explode. A new source of evil is discovered and is out of control.’

Spasms is a 1983 Canadian horror film directed by William Fruet (Death Weekend, Trapped). It stars Oliver Reed (Paranoiac; Blue Blood; The Brood), Peter Fonda (Open Season; Race with the Devil; The Harvest) and Kerrie Keane.

Jason Kincaid (Oliver Reed) has a massive serpent captured on a remote island. He brought it to the US because it killed his brother, and he now shares some kind of psychic link with it. He enlists the help of psychologist Tom Brazilian (Peter Fonda) to study the animal and the mental connection, but they do not count on a group of snake worshipping Satanists to complicate matters by accidentally setting the beast free.

The screenplay by Fruet and Don Enright is based on the novel Death Bite by Michael Maryk and Brent Monahan. The production ran out of money before shooting was finished and the final scene had to be heavily padded with flashback sequences in an effort to lengthen the movie to a respectable runtime. The film’s bladder special effects were designed by Dick Smith (The Exorcist; Ghost Story; Scanners).

The film’s score was composed by Eric Robertson and Tangerine Dream (The Keep; Firestarter).

According to interviews with director William Fruet and other people involved in movie at the time when it was released, a longer version of the ending fight between Oliver Reed and giant snake was planned and filmed, it included parts where he stabs the snake and snake swallowing his arm but due to the problems with effects the scene was not finished and had to be cut. A scene where a sailor who is bitten by snake gets his arm swallowed by it was also cut, and there was also a nightmare sequence in which some victims of the snake show up covered with gory wounds. Director said that he shot some additional violent scenes for the Far East versions of the movie but none of these sequences were ever reported to be included in any version of the movie.

The film was given a limited release theatrically in the United States by Producers Distributing Corporation in May 1984. It was issued on VHS by Thorn EMI Video in the US and VTC and Xtasy in the UK. As of 2015, Spasms has yet to be officially released on DVD or Blu-ray.

Reviews:

“Spasms is what it was intended to be – a cheap horror movie about Oliver Reed sweating profusely while a gigantic snake bites people – and nothing more. Uneven though the execution may be, director William Fruet managed to deliver an entertaining mess despite the odds. And that’s all you can ask from such a film.” Thrill Me!

“I’ve always thought that mediocre is the worst thing a movie could ever be and this has all the charm of that copy of People’s Friend you couldn’t be arsed looking at, not even the ads for everlasting shoes, in the doctor’s waiting room last week. A real mind-number that is only partially saved by Tangerine Dream’s soundtrack and a pert pair of erect nipples during a single shower scene.” The Spinning Image

“Spasms is an interesting snakesploitation movie hampered by a meager budget. Oliver Reed gives a strong performance (and just coming off the set of Venom he surely had practice), which is certainly more than the role deserves. He chews the scenery, and invests plenty of emotion in the role. There are times when he is so intense that his hands shake uncontrollably, though this may be due to his chronic alcohol addiction at the time.” Canuxploitation

Buy They Came From Within from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Wikipedia | IMDb | Image credits: Monstrula! | Todo el Terror del Mundo

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Goosebumps is a 2015 American comedy horror film directed by Rob Letterman (Lake Placid; Shark Tale; Monsters vs. Aliens) from a screenplay by Mike White and Darren Lemke (Jack the Giant Slayer), based on the children’s book series of the same name by R. L. Stine. It stars Jack Black (King Kong), Dylan Minnette, Odeya Rush, Amy Ryan, Jillian Bell and Ryan Lee. R. L. Stine has a cameo role.

On July 25, 2014, at Comic-Con it was confirmed that Slappy the Dummy, The Executioner from A Night in Terror Tower, the giant praying mantises from A Shocker on Shock Street, Murder the Clown from When Ghost Dogs Howl and The Horror at Chiller House, The Mummy from Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb and Return of the Mummy, and The Scarecrow from The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight would all appear in the movie.

The filmmakers had to cut some of the books monsters for budget reasons, but director Rob Letterman stated that the crew tried to choose the monsters most appropriate to the story.

Goosebumps is scheduled to be released on October 16, 2015, by Columbia Pictures.

Plot teaser:

After moving into a small town, a teenage boy named Zach Cooper (Dylan Minnette) meets Hannah (Odeya Rush), his new neighbour. Hannah’s father, R. L. Stine (Jack Black), who writes the Goosebumps stories, keeps all the ghosts and monsters in the series locked up in his books. When Zach unintentionally releases the ghouls and the monsters from the storybooks, Zach, Hannah, and Stine team up in order to put the monsters back where they came from, before it’s too late…

Wikipedia | IMDb

The Fan – aka Der Fan, Trance, Blood Groupie – is a 1982 German psychological horror film directed by Eckhart Schmidt and starring Desiree Nosbusch and Bodo Steiger. The soundtrack is by short-lived group Rheingold, whose lead singer was also Bodo Steiger.

Plot teaser:

Teenager Simone appears to be like any other young pop fan. But soon her fixation on the band’s lead singer R takes over her life. Simone walks out of school, breaks off with her friends and parents and somehow finds herself waiting for her idol as he appears on a TV show. When she sees him in the flesh she is speechless, unable even to ask for his autograph. He reaches out to touch her. Overcome with emotion, Simone faints; with that first touch, R’s fate is sealed. Simone discovers the carefully styled world of which R is just another product. Simone wants nothing more than to love and be loved by R, but he takes her with machine-like coldness. She experiences their intimacy as a kind of slow motion nightmare, an encounter with a robotic creature, totally incapable of affection or emotion. Simone cannot accept the detachment of her idol, and when R walks out on her to join his friends, she plots her revenge. Simone plans the ultimate sacrifice of her god on the altar of her madness, a ceremony as exalted and romantic as it is horribly wonderful. The police search for R. But only Simone knows where he is, and she will give birth to him anew….

In her contract, popular German TV star Désirée Nosbusch agreed to shoot the nude scenes together with Bodo Steiger. After stills from those scenes were published during the marketing campaign of the film, she tried to stop the film’s release. After a long trial that caused a scandal in the German press, she finally lost and the film was released in its original version by director Eckhart Schmidt. Schmidt and Nosbusch were reconciled years later and became friends again.

 Buy The Fan uncut on Mondo Macabro Blu-ray + DVD combo from
Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk. Previous releases were all cut!

Reviews:

“It’s virtually impossible to explain why The Fan is a horror film without spoiling the entire third act, but let’s just say this haunting, deeply creepy slice of German new wave creepiness has been steadily building up a cult following on home video with very good reason for over three decades. Fans of Audition in particular should get a kick out of this one, which is still a riveting experience and bound to catch any unprepared viewer completely off guard.” Mondo Digital

“Eckhart Schmidt’s The Fan can easily be compared to Andrzej Zulawski’s Possession. It is a very interesting time capsule whose unusual story is actually a metaphor for Germany’s fascination with Adolph Hitler and National Socialism. Highly recommended.” Blu-ray.com

“Der Fan is no doubt far less shocking than it was back in 1982, even though it has acquired something of a cult reputation … thanks largely to the fact that it shies away from showing anything too graphic. Many viewers will be more preoccupied by Nosbusch’s prolonged nudity than they will by the criminal act she’s committing, and most of the time that the incident to which the entire movie builds was taking place, I was speculating about just how powerful German domestic electric carving knives really are…” 20/20 Movie Reviews

IMDb

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Scream is an upcoming American horror TV series created by Jill Blotevogel that is due to air on MTV on June 30, 2015. The series is a television adaptation of the slasher film series of the same name and is being produced by Wes Craven, Tony DiSanto, Liz Gateley, Marianne Maddalena and Cathy Konrad.

The first episode, ‘Red Roses’, was written by show creator Jill Blotevogel and Wes Craven is rumoured to be directing.

Plot teaser:

What starts as a YouTube video going viral, soon leads to problems for the teenagers of Lakewood and serves as the catalyst for a murder that opens up a window to the town’s troubled past…

Cast:

Bella Thorne as Nina Patterson
Willa Fitzgerald as Emma Duvall
Bex Taylor-Klaus as Aubrey Jensen
Amadeus Serafini as Kieran Wilcox
John Karna as Noah Foster
Connor Weil as Will Belmont
Carlson Young as Brooke Maddox
Dale Heidenreich as Nick Foster

Wikipedia | IMDb

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‘Something you wouldn’t dare to imagine is alive!’

Jaws of Satan – originally titled King Cobra – is a 1981 US horror film directed by Bob Claver from a screenplay by James Callaway and Gerry Holland. It stars Fritz Weaver (Nightkill; Creepshow; Friday’s Curse), Gretchen Corbett (Let’s Scare Jessica to Death), Jon Kork, Norman Lloyd (1995: The Omen), Diana Douglas, Bob Hannah, Nancy Priddy and Christina Applegate. The film was photographed by Dean Cundey (Halloween; The Fog; Psycho II).

Plot teaser:

A preacher whose ancestors were cursed by Druids battles Satan, who has taken the form of a huge snake…

Buy Empire of the Ants + Jaws of Satan on Scream Factory Blu-ray from Amazon.com

Reviews:

‘See, THIS is how you work a motive into a horror movie – you use a creature that already has occult related significance (the serpent!), and chalk it up to Satan. Not a silly revenge mission like in Jaws 4. Also, the priest has lost his faith, making this the rare Jaws/Exorcist ripoff hybrid.’ Horror Movie a Day

‘It’s like a who’s who of movie clichés. I don’t want to complain too much about the clichés though because it’s when then the movie decides to get creative that it really humps the daggit. As dumb as everything is throughout the course of the movie (the list of offences goes on and on) it’s toward the end when we really fall into an almost abstract experience with weird shoehorned dubbing, people appearing in two places at once or out of nowhere and a climax that plays out like a battle between man and mop handle.’ Kindertrauma

‘Jaws of Satan doesn’t consistently deliver on any level. As a bad movie, it’s simply bad in a dull way: none of the performances are particularly noteworthy (save for an early appearance by a young Christina Applegate), nor is the film particularly exciting in a trashy manner. Unlike many of the films in Jaws’s wake, this one doesn’t lean on an abundance of schlock, which would be an admirable approach if it had much else going for it.’ Oh, the Horror!

Buy Jaws of Satan ceramic mug from Amazon.co.uk

‘Terrible killer snake movie … awful Neanderthal special effects … a wretched wreck filmed in Alabama.’ John Stanley, Creature Features

Buy metallic A4 poster (main image) from Amazon.co.uk

IMDb

Mars Attacks! is a 1996 American comedy science fiction horror film directed by Tim Burton (Corpse Bride; Sleepy Hollow; Dark Shadows) and written by Jonathan Gems, based on the cult trading card series of the same name. The film is a parody of science fiction B movies with elements of black comedy and political satire.

It stars Jack Nicholson (in a dual role), Glenn Close, Annette Bening, Pierce Brosnan, Danny DeVito, Martin Short, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michael J. Fox, Rod Steiger, Tom Jones, Lukas Haas, Natalie Portman, Jim Brown, Lisa Marie Smith, and Sylvia Sidney.

Alex Cox (Repo Man) had tried to make a Mars Attacks! film in the 1980s before Burton and Gems began development in 1993. When Gems turned in his first draft in 1994, Warner Bros. commissioned rewrites in an attempt to lower the budget to $60 million. The final production budget came to $80 million, while Warner Bros. spent another $20 million on the marketing campaign. The film grossed approximately $101 million in box office totals making it a blockbuster flop.

The filmmakers hired Industrial Light & Magic to create the Martians using computer animation after their previous plan to use stop motion, supervised by Barry Purves, fell through because of budget limitations.

Plot teaser:

When Martians surround Earth with a fleet of flying saucers, President James Dale (Jack Nicholson) along with his aides Professor Donald Kessler (Pierce Brosnan), Press Secretary Jerry Ross (Martin Short), and Army Generals Decker (Rod Steiger) and Casey (Paul Winfield) address America concerning the historic event.

People around the country follow the story, including news anchors in New York, developer Art Land (Jack Nicholson) and his wife Barbara (Annette Benning) alongside employees and guests at the Luxor Las Vegas hotel in Nevada, and the family of US Army private Billy-Glenn Norris (Jack Black) and his brother Richie (Lukas Haas) in Kansas. The President’s science aides set up a first contact meeting with the Martians in Nevada as President Dale watches the development on TV with his wife Marsha (Glenn Close) and his daughter Taffy (Natalie Portman).

Using a universal translator, the Ambassador of the Martians announces that they intend to colonize the Earth. To prevent this intention from causing panic, the translator is reprogrammed to say that the Martians “come in peace”. When a hippie (Josh Philip Weinstein) releases a dove as a symbol of peace, the Ambassador shoots it, then he and the other Martians slaughter a large number of people at the event including General Casey, news reporter Jason Stone (Michael J. Fox), and Billy-Glenn Norris before capturing chat show host Nathalie Lake (Sarah Jessica Parker) and her pet Chihuahua Poppy whose heads they transpose…

Reviews:

‘ …lacking in the uproarious humor that might well have ensued from the material, which instead inspires occasional laughs but, much more often, bemused fascination and wonderment at the bizarre imaginations and impressive skill of the filmmakers. Pic is loaded with wit, nifty little ideas and an extraordinary sense of design, but its allure is of quite a particular nature, much closer to that of “Ed Wood” than of Burton’s earlier, and far more commercially successful, works.’ Todd McCarthy, Variety

‘Mr. Burton now shows why money isn’t everything. Here at his disposal are clever special effects, darling Martians, loads of talent and a genre (fleabag sci-fi) that is tailor-made for his satirical talents. Yet here, too, is a screenplay (by Jonathan Gems) based on old Topps bubble gum cards, which makes for a definite lack of connective tissue. ”Mars Attacks!” is just a parade of scattershot gags, more often weird than funny and most often just flat.’ Janet Maslin, New York Times

‘The anarchy is sometimes inspired (Burton incinerates Congress, movie stars and doves with equal abandon – he loves playing Godzilla), but much of the film is flat and cripplingly indulgent. It feels nearly half an hour too long, and Nicholson, in a double role, is just too much. It’s a personal work, but not a mature one. It didn’t hit home at the US box-office, but the reviews have been surprisingly accommodating. In that sense, this sour, prefabricated cult movie has the last laugh – and I’m afraid the joke’s on us.’ Time Out

Cast:

• Jack Nicholson as President James Dale, the President of the United States.
  • Jack Nicholson also portrays Art Land, a developer in Las Vegas.
• Glenn Close as First Lady Marsha Dale, the wife of James Dale.
• Annette Bening as Barbara Land, the wife of Art Land.
• Pierce Brosnan as Professor Donald Kessler, a science expert that works for President Dale who is later captured by the Martians.
• Danny DeVito as Rude Gambler
• Martin Short as Press Secretary Jerry Ross
• Sarah Jessica Parker as Nathalie Lake, a talk show host who is later captured by the Martians.
• Michael J. Fox as Jason Stone, a news reporter who is killed during the Martians’ first invasion.
• Rod Steiger as General Decker
• Lukas Haas as Richie Norris, the brother of Billy-Glenn Norris
• Natalie Portman as Taffy Dale, the daughter of James Dale
• Jim Brown as Byron Williams, a Las Vegas casino employee and former boxer
• Sylvia Sidney as Florence Norris, the grandmother of Richie Norris and Billy-Glenn Norris
• Tom Jones as Himself
• Christina Applegate as Sharona
• Pam Grier as Louise Williams, the wife of Byron Williams.
• Jack Black as Billy-Glenn Norris, a US Army private who is Richie’s older brother
• Lisa Marie Smith as Martian Girl, a Martian posing as a human female.
• Paul Winfield as General Casey
• Janice Rivera as Cindy, a co-worker of Byron
• Brian Haley as Mitch, a Secret Service agent
• Joe Don Baker as Mr. Norris, the father of Billy-Glenn Norris and Richie Norris
• O-Lan Jones as Sue-Ann Norris, the mother of Billy-Glenn Norris and Richie Norris
• Ray J as Cedric Williams, the son of Byron Williams and Louise Williams
• Brandon Hammond as Neville Williams, the son of Byron Williams and Louise Williams
• Jerzy Skolimowski as Dr. Zeigler, a scientist who created a device that translated the Martian language
• Barbet Schroeder as Maurice, the French President.
• Joseph Maher as White House Decorator
• Steve Valentine as TV Director
• Josh Philip Wenstein as Hippie
• Frank Welker as Martian Vocal Effects
• Roger L. Jackson as Dr. Zeigler’s translator (voice uncredited)

Wikipedia | IMDb

Chocolate Strawberry Vanilla is a 2014 Australian comedy horror film directed by Stuart Simpson and starring Glenn Maynard, Kyrie Capri and Aston Eliot.

Plot teaser:

Warren (Glenn Maynard) is a lonely ice cream man. Following on from the accidental death of his pet cat, Warren, who keeps a daily video diary to record his thoughts on his favourite TV show ‘Round the Block’, becomes more and more isolated and angry at the world around him. Through these video diaries, it becomes apparent that Warren’s sanity is beginning to deteriorate and his obsession with ‘Round the Block’ star Katey George (Kyrie Capri) threatens to cloud his judgement even further…

Buy Chocolate Strawberry Vanilla on Blu-ray from Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

‘The film is not perfect. A lot of the editing choices, especially the use of flash-forwards in the opening scenes, I did not enjoy. And some of the video diary scenes seemed unnecessary. But my complaints are insignificant. Chocolate Strawberry Vanilla had a far stronger emotional resonance than I expected, and it features one of the most impressive lead performances seen in Aussie cinema for some time.’ Mondo Exploito

‘… it’s a rather plodding affair – less slow burn and more just slow – that has an uneasy mix of comedy and pathos, and Maynard’s performance, far from a moving portrayal of a vulnerable man on the edge of sanity, all too often seems overly exaggerated in its pathos for comic effect.’ David Flint, Strange Things Are Happening

‘Ultimately Chocolate Strawberry Vanilla is an interesting film rather than a compelling one. A victim sometimes of its own influences, its overly predictable second half is a disappointment after the careful emotional beats of the first. Glenn Maynard gives an excellent performance as Warren Thompson and saves the film from completely folding in on itself.’ UK Horror Scene

IMDb | Website | Related: Ice Cream Man

WH

‘When the devil breeds… a new evil is born.’

The Culling is a 2015 US supernatural horror film, directed and written by Rustam Branaman.

It stars Jeremy Sumpter, Elizabeth DiPrinzio, Brett Davern, Chris Coy, Linsey Godfrey, Virginia Williams, Johnathon Schaech, and Harley Graham.

Plot teaser:

When a group of college friends head out of town for a fun-filled long weekend, their plans change after finding a 7-year-old girl alone at an empty cafe along the highway and have no choice but to drive her home. When they arrive at her house it’s quickly apparent they will have to stay the night – but what’s not apparent is the living nightmare that they’re about to encounter…

Buy on Instant Video | DVD from Amazon.com

Reviews:

‘There is an intriguing and, at times, tense build-up to the film’s finale, but not enough is left to our imagination. There are a few times where The Culling is surprisingly misguiding in terms of plot, but overall, we know where this is going. The journey we take to get to the reveal is reasonably enjoyable; there’s a few jumps along the way – there is a great moment involving a flying axe – but nothing remarkable.’ Jessie Williams, Scream magazine

‘It made a pleasant and refreshing change to watch a film that relied on good old-fashioned filmmaking. There were only the smallest touches of CGI when we would see the shadowy figures that invaded bodies, and all other effects were practical. The slow buildup and creepy setting added to the overall effect. This was all achieved without a plot-hole in sight, and while there was a certain amount of ambiguity as to Lucy’s true origin, it was of the intelligent kind that I see adopted quite often in J-horror.’ Nav Qateel, Influx magazine

‘The issue I had was that the film doesn’t seem to want to identify the force until it is too late which takes away the reason why the characters are running around aimlessly at times. When we do finally get the reveal it does again come off clichéd but works for what this horror is trying to achieve. You can see the low budget used on this film which doesn’t help because the acting takes away from certain moments that are highlights.’ Movie Reviews 101

Buy on Instant Video | DVD from Amazon.co.uk

Cast:

• Jeremy Sumpter as Tyler
• Elizabeth DiPrinzio as Emily
• Brett Davern as Sean
• Chris Coy as Hank
• Linsey Godfrey as Amanda
• Virginia Williams as Val
• Johnathon Schaech as Wayne
• Harley Graham as Lucy

Wikipedia | IMDb

WH

The Reincarnation of Peter Proud is a 1975 US supernatural horror film directed by J. Lee Thompson (Eye of the Devil; Happy Birthday to Me; 10 to Midnight) from a screenplay by Max Ehrlich (The Cult; Shaitan), based on his 1973 novel. The haunting part-synth score was by Jerry Goldsmith.

The film stars Michael Sarrazin (Eye of the Cat; Frankenstein: The True Story; The Seduction) in the title role, along with rising actors Margot Kidder (Sisters; Black Christmas; The Amityville Horror), Jennifer O’Neill (The Psychic; Scanners), Cornelia Sharpe (Open Season; Venom), Paul Hecht (The Savage Bees) and Norman Burton (Fade to Black; Deep Space).

In 2012, a remake directed by David Fincher (Se7en) was mooted but the project appears to have now been dropped.

Plot teaser:

A professor at a college in California, Dr. Peter Proud (Michael Sarrazin), begins to have recurring dreams. In one nightmare, Proud appears to see a man murdered by a woman in a rowboat while he is swimming naked. The murdered man repeatedly cries, “Marcia, don’t!”

Proud is haunted by his dreams and seeks medical treatment. He attends a “sleep lab” to try to decipher his visions. Upon learning that the location of his “visions” is in Massachusetts, Proud and his girlfriend Nora (Cornelia Sharpe) travel there. They drive from town to town, but are unsuccessful until they arrive in Springfield. It is here that Proud begins to see familiar sights from his dreams, such as the bridge, the church, the Puritan statue, and others. Eventually, Peter locates Crystal Lake and Marcia (Margot Kidder), the mystery woman from his nightmares…

Review:

‘The film is quite hypnotic. Maybe because it’s from a different era (it feels odd to be looking back in time at a film that’s looking back in time), but it has plenty to offer as a mystery, as to how it’s all going to pan out. Also, it’s not coy! I don’t think there’s nearly as much sex or nudity in mainstream horror (or thrillers) at the moment.’ Black Hole Reviews

‘The film is a soft core 70s journey into, the psycho sexual and an indulgence into mysticism. The preoccupation of the 70s with reincarnation and past lives emerging. Peter Proud is a truly, gripping, haunting film directed seamlessly by J. Lee Thompson … One of the superb elements of this fine supernatural suspense/horror film is the musical contribution by legendary composer Jerry Goldsmith.’ The Last Drive In

‘ … any howls emanating from your local theatre on this occasion should be attributed to hilarity rather than horror… it’s the inadvertent humour that gives real pleasure here, much of it provided by Ms Sharpe in a performance of what may be the years worst-written role…’ Village Voice

‘Directed with a total lack of finesse, the film is even more clumsily scripted (by Ehrlich from his own novel) and features a mass of flashbacks and some truly embarrassing interventions by Hecht as an excited parapsychologist.’ Phil Hardy (editor), The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror

Buy on DVD from Amazon.com

Cast:

Michael Sarrazin as Peter Proud
Jennifer O’Neill as Ann Curtis
Margot Kidder as Marcia Curtis
Cornelia Sharpe as Nora Hayes
Paul Hecht as Dr. Samuel Goodman
Tony Stephano as Jeff Curtis
Norman Burton as Dr. Frederick Spear
Anne Ives as Ellen Curtis
Debralee Scott as Suzy
Jon Richards as Newspaper Custodian
Steve Franken as Dr. Charles Crennis
Fred Stuthman as Pop Johnson
Lester Fletcher as Car Salesman
Paul Nevens as Room Clerk
Breanna Benjamin as Miss Hagerson
Addison Powell as Reeves
Phillip Clark as Number Five
Gene Boland as Charlie
Albert Henderson as Police Sergeant
Connie Garrison as Ellie
Sam Laws as Satan’s Disciple
Mary Margaret Amato as Nurse
Terry Green as College Student
Jacqueline Manning as Lab Assistant
Henry Cosimini as Square Dance Caller
Douglas Rutherford as Club Steward
Marjorie Eaton as Astrology Lady
Shelley St. Clair as Bookstore Clerk

Wikipedia | IMDb | Image thanks: Technicolour Yawn | Wrong Side of the Art!

Fade to Black is a 1980 American horror film written and directed by Vernon Zimmerman, and starring Dennis Christopher, Eve Brent Ashe, and Linda Kerridge. It also features Mickey Rourke and Peter Horton in minor roles.

Released in October 1980, Fade to Black was commercially unsuccessful, but later garnered a cult following. It was released on DVD in 1999 by Anchor Bay Entertainment.

Plot teaser:

Eric Binford is a hollow, chain smoking young man who is also an obsessed film addict whose love of old films extends far beyond his job at a Los Angeles film distributor’s warehouse and endless late night film screenings in his bedroom. For his vast knowledge, he’s been bullied by his friends and family.

His singular obsession eventually rounds the bend into psychosis after he crosses paths with Marilyn O’Connor (Linda Kerridge), an Australian model and a Marilyn Monroe look-alike who becomes the physical embodiment of his cinematic desires.

When (unintentionally) stood up by Marilyn on what would have been their first date, Eric becomes homicidally unbalanced, transforming himself into a gallery of classic film characters – including Dracula, The Mummy, and Hopalong Cassidy – and sets out to destroy his oppressors, starting with his crotchety wheelchair-using, ex-dancer Aunt Stella…

Reviews:

‘Fade to Black features a great premise for a film: what if a movie fanatic got lost in his own pop culture-filled imagination? The promise shown in the early parts of the film is squandered by a bad script, lack of vision, and mediocre performances. The death scenes where Eric dresses as classic characters are fun, but would’ve packed much more of a punch if it felt like the same character we fell for in the first place.’ John Portanova, The MacGuffin

‘I just wish the movie was tighter. Binford just does his thing over and over again; the sequences are fun in and of themselves, but they don’t add up to a hell of a lot. Plus there’s no real evolution to his character, he seems just as crazy after his first kill as he does after the last one.’ Horror Movie a Day

‘Fade to Black is an intelligent, ingenious, imaginative and pleasingly self-reflective horror movie … the film succeeds in portraying the world of movie buffery as a seemingly seductive but in fact deadening, de-sensitizing cul-de-sac, in particular in its shots of the weird Night of the Living Dead audience blithely munching popcorn whilst watching scenes of appalling on-screen horror.’ Phil Hardy (editor), The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror

Cast:

• Dennis Christopher as Eric Binford
• Tim Thomerson as Dr. Jerry Moriarty
• Gwynne Gilford as Off. Anne Oshenbull
• Norman Burton as Marty Berger
• Linda Kerridge as Marilyn O’Connor
• Morgan Paull as Gary Bially
• James Luisi as Capt. M. L. Gallagher
• Eve Brent Ashe as Aunt Stella Binford
• John Steadman as Sam
• Marcie Barkin as Stacy
• Mickey Rourke as Richie
• Peter Horton as Joey
• Melinda O. Fee as Talk Show Hostess

Wikipedia | IMDb | Image thanks: Wrong Side of the Art!

Slice – original title Cheun – is a 2009 Thai serial killer film directed by Kongkiat Khomsiri. It stars Chatchai Plengpanich and Arak Amornsupasiri.

Plot teaser:

The police are unable to find or stop a serial killer who targets men and dismembers their bodies. When the next victim is the son of a politician, the police turn to ex-hitman Tai (Arak Amornsupasiri) for help in hunting down the serial killer. Tai is then sprung from prison and works with the police to find the killer before the killer slices again…

Buy Slice on DVD from Amazon.com

Reviews:

“Slice is a bleak tale of actions and consequences which plays out to a fittingly tragic conclusion, and for people who enjoy visceral horror with a bit more emotional charge to it, this is a worthwhile movie.” Horror Extreme

“I highly recommend this film to those who aren’t offended by the disturbing aspects of it. It’s an enjoyable watch with some major twists that really got my attention.” In Nervous Convulsion

“This is a movie that never lets the audience calm down and go back to that normal state of non-thinking, non-controversial relaxation. When some shit happens here it happens big, and it won’t take long until something even worse happens. The stuff in this movie is something that never, and I mean never, would happen in an American movie.” Ninja Dixon

IMDb

WH

In Chinese tradition, a ghost marriage (Chinese: 冥婚; pinyin: mínghūn; literally: “spirit marriage”) is a marriage in which one or both parties are deceased. Other forms of ghost marriage are practiced worldwide, from Sudan, to India, to France since 1959. The origins of Chinese ghost marriage are largely unknown, though reports of it being practiced in the present day have become more frequent. Whilst Sudanese and French ‘posthumous’ marriage largely revolves around a bereaved widow marrying one of the groom’s brothers or a partner killed in war, the Chinese variant regularly sees the joining in matrimony of a living person and a corpse.

China

Chinese ghost marriage was usually set up by the family of the deceased and performed for a number of reasons, including the marriage of an engaged couple before one member’s death, to integrate an unmarried daughter into a patrilineage, to ensure the family line is continued, or to maintain that no younger brother is married before an elder brother. Upon the death of her fiancé, a bride could choose to go through with the wedding, in which the groom was represented by a white cockerel at the ceremony. However, some women were hesitant since this form of ghost marriage required her to participate in the funeral ritual, mourning customs (including strict dress and conduct standards), take a vow of celibacy, and immediately take up residence with his family. A groom had the option of marrying his late fiancée, with no disadvantages, but there have been no records of such weddings.

Chinese tradition looked very unfavourably on unmarried women, in part due to the deceased woman leaving no surviving male descendants who could pay tribute to her memory, whilst also causing a burden to her family, resulting her being no longer welcome in the family home. For a son to find himself unmarried and hence being unable to carry on the family name, a similar rejection takes place, both genders sometimes resorting to ‘ghost marriage’, very occasionally a living bride taking a dead groom, more often a woman disinterred to be with her new living spouse. The cadaver is not always required, the ceremony, performed by a psychic or a priest, sometimes transferring the spirit from the grave.

Ghost marriages are often set up by request of the spirit of the deceased, who, upon “finding itself without a spouse in the other world, causes misfortune for its natal family, the family of its betrothed, or for the family of the deceased’s married sisters. This usually takes the form of sickness by one or more family members. When the sickness is not cured by ordinary means, the family turns to divination and learns of the plight of the ghost through a séance. More benignly, a spirit may appear to a family member in a dream and request a spouse.

If a family wishes to arrange a ghost marriage, they may consult with a matchmaker of sorts: In a Cantonese area of Singapore there is in fact a ghost marriage broker’s sign hung up in a doorway of a Taoist priest’s home. The broker announces that he is willing to undertake the search for a family which has a suitable deceased member with a favourable horoscope.”

Others do not use the aid of any priest or diviner and believe that the groom the ghost-bride has chosen “[will] somehow identify himself.” Typically, the family lays a red envelope (usually used for gifts of money) as bait in the middle of the road. They then take to hiding, and when the envelope is picked up by a passer-by, they come out and announce his status of being the chosen bridegroom. In a ghost marriage, many of the typical marriage rites are observed. However, since one or more parties is deceased, they are otherwise represented, most often by effigies made of paper, bamboo or cloth.

For instance, a ghost couple at their marriage feast, the bride and groom may be constructed of paper bodies over a bamboo frame with a papier-mâché head. On either side of them stands their respective paper servants, and the room contains many other paper effigies of products they would use in their home, such as a dressing table (complete with a mirror), a table and six stools, a money safe, a refrigerator, and trunks of paper clothes and cloth. After the marriage ceremony is complete, all of the paper belongings are burned to be sent to the spirit world to be used by the couple.
In another ceremony that married a living groom to a ghost bride, the effigy was similar, but instead constructed with a wooden backbone, arms made from newspaper, and the head of “a smiling young girl clipped from a wall calendar.” Similarly, after the marriage festivities, the dummy is burned.
In both cases, the effigies wore real clothing, similar to that which is typically used in marriage ceremonies. This includes a pair of trousers, a white skirt, a red dress, with a lace outer dress. Additionally, they were adorned with jewellery; though similar in fashion to that of a typical bride’s, it was not made of real gold. If a living groom is marrying a ghost bride, he will wear black gloves instead of the typical white.

Most of the marriage ceremony and rites are performed true to Chinese custom. In fact, the bride was always treated as though she was alive and participating in the proceedings, from being fed at the wedding feast in the morning, to being invited in and out of the cab, to being told of her arrival at the groom’s house. One observable difference in a ghost marriage is that the ancestral tablet of the deceased is placed inside the effigy, so that “the bride’s dummy [is] animated with the ghost that [is] to be married”, and then placed with the groom’s family’s tablets at the end of the marriage festivities.

France

The primary reason for the posthumous marriage in France is to allow for bereaved widows to marry their lost partners, usually as a result of death during war. It is also used to legitimize children that a woman might have, though it is also done for emotional reasons. After a posthumous marriage the living spouse inherently becomes a widow or widower. Posthumous marriage will also bring the surviving spouse into the family of the deceased spouse, which can create an alliance or moral satisfaction. The surviving spouse is also subject to impediments of marriage that result. Posthumous marriage also shows the strength of an individual to overcome a fiancé’s death.

The proliferation of post-life weddings prompted the French government to clarify the law in 1950. The resultant law decreed that marriage between a living person and a dead person was legal but required the approval of both the country’s President and Justice Minister. Wedding services which are allowed omit the line “til death do us part” and amend another line from “I do” to “I did”. The ‘missing’ partner is represented by a photograph at the ceremony. As recently as 2014, a posthumous wedding was granted to a woman whose husband-to-be had expired of a heart attack just one monthbefore their wedding was due to take place.

Europe and Beyond

Ghost marriages in the United States are very rare indeed, although examples do exist, where a planned wedding has had to be aborted due to an untimely death. These instances have gone ahead on a locally authorised basis rather than a national decree. A law unto themselves are the members of The Church of the Latter Day Saints (Mormons), who often refer to marriage as ‘sealings’ and do not differentiate between the joining of a couple before or after death. Their justification rests in an interpreted passage in the bible in which in Matthew 16:19:
“And I will give thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
Such wild imaginings also allow members of the church to partake in the somehow even more ghoulish practice of ‘dead baptisms’.
In Sudan, a ghost marriage is a marriage where a deceased groom is replaced by his brother. The brother serves as a stand in to the bride, and any resulting children are considered children of the deceased spouse. This unusual type of marriage is nearly exclusive to the Dinka (Jieng) and Nuer tribes of Southern Sudan, although instances of such marriages have also occurred in France.
Nuer women do not marry deceased men only to continue the man’s bloodline. In accordance to Nuer tradition, any wealth owned by the woman becomes property of the man after the marriage. Thus, a wealthy woman may marry a deceased man to retain her wealth, instead of giving it up after marrying. Among the Nuer, a ghost marriage is nearly as common as a marriage to a live man.

The Sudanese tradition is related to ‘levirate marriage’ [derived from the Latin, ‘levir’, meaning ‘husband’s brother’]. Levirate marriages have been performed around the world and by many cultures, from Africa to Europe to throughout Asia, famous examples even taking place in England, such as Catherine of Aragon’s marriage to Henry VIII, brother to her previous husband, Arthur, Prince of Wales.
A turn in the economy of China has resulted in a black market trade evolving since the turn of the millennium, the trafficking of corpses for needy lonely hearts becoming a booming business. Although outlawed in the country since 1949, groups have taken to digging up corpses for the purpose of ghost marriage, selling the cadavers to desperate families for up to £3700 each. In 2014, 4 men were jailed for attempting to sell 10 corpses for the princely combined sum of £25,000. Less wealthy ‘customers’ often make do with statuettes or even baked effigies with black beans for eyes.

Telegraph report of recent corpse harvesting

Daz Lawrence