City of the Living Dead (1980)

Directed by Lucio Fulci

One of the best known directors of Italian horror films, Lucio Fulci's signature is over-the-top scenes of all out gore.  This film manages to deliver a bit more substance than that with an incredible dense helping of spooky atmosphere.  The name of the movie (probably intentionally) makes it sound like some sort of Dawn of The Dead spin-off (or rip-off).  This is fairly misleading though and the mismatched expectations are probably the cause of it's somewhat underrated status.  Although it was released on videotape under the name Gates of Hell, which makes quite a bit more sense.  Because you see, this is a supernatural horror tale involving demonic possession and strange unexplained happenings.  No real zombies in a John Romero sense.  It proceeds in the end into something in the manner of an adventurous quest.  Also has a fantastic soundtrack by Fabio Frizzi.

The Bat People (1974)

Directed by Jerry Jameson

This actually has the distinct dishonor of being in the Bottom-100 rated films on IMDB. While yes, it is a bad movie, I wouldn't actually say it's that bad.  Unlike many well known perfectly awful sci-fi and horror movies, there is actually a somewhat coherent plot here, and it does contain some scenes that are genuinely entertaining.  I mean, it has a car chase.  And it's actually a pretty good car chase.  There are of course many unintentionally ridiculous and hilarious moments, but it remains fairly watchable throughout the whole movie.

The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967)

Directed by Roman Polanski

Very sort of broad european quality to the humor but nonetheless a fairly great horror/comedy about an absent minded vampire hunter, Professor Abronsius, and his young assistant.  Directed and co-starring Roman Polanski and featuring his future wife Sharon Tate.  Beautifully shot film.  They really created a fantastic character with Professor Abronsius, you will wish there were more vampire movies with him.  How great would it be if Polanski made a sequel to this movie today.

Planet of the Vampires (1965)

Directed by Mario Bava

Has the distinction of having some plot elements that seemed to influence Dan O'Bannon when working on Alien.  Even though some like to claim Ridley Scott "ripped off" this movie, in reality it's in no way as similar as that and it's not clear that he was aware of this obscure film (he was not really a sci-fi fan).  Alien must be considered a highly original work any way you look at it.

Other than that, this is a somewhat plodding, dull sci-fi suspense thriller.  Very low budget, and looks it.  Although it does have some half-way interesting production design.  If you want to see an older sci-fi film that still stands up today, I would recommend Forbidden Planet.  It's almost 10 years older than this movie and looks far better.

Isle of the Dead (1945)

Directed by Mark Robson

This is one of a few horror movies that were produced by Val Lewton.  It's an interesting psychological sort of horror film.  You're never sure if things are what they seem or if everyone's just going crazy.

Under The Skin (2013)

Directed by Jonathan Glazer

There was a 1950s EC Comics horror story very similar to this one, with men being led to slaughter by a decoy in the form of an attractive young woman.  This movie is an ultra modern take on the same idea.  Raises a lot of interesting questions.  Unfortunately it's quite heavily overshadowed by some overly harsh and brutal scenes, that just leave you questioning the necessity of such callous treatment of your audience.

Blood from the Mummy's Tomb (1971)

Directed by Seth Holt

Aside from a few decent scenes with lots of heavy atmosphere this is a fairly dull murder mystery plot.  It's essentially a vehicle for Valerie Leon to lend her *ahem* attributes.  Interestingly enough, she had been one of the actresses considered to play Vampirella before that project folded and Hammer Studios along with it.

Fright Night (1985)

Directed by Tom Holland

By this time the Hammer Studios Dracula franchise was a thing of the past and there hadn't been much in the way of vampire movies since then. This movie was one of the first to bring vampires back in a big way and boy did they do a good job. Rife with 80s cultural markers and featuring incredible pre-CGI special effects, this one is a classic.

Also notable is Amanda Bearse playing a teenager in this movie when only two years later she played the pretentious neighbor on Married With Children.

Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969)

Directed by Terence Fisher

One of the better Hammer films with some very cool horror type scenes.  This Dr. Frankenstein is truly irredeemably evil and doesn't shy away from all sort of heinous acts.  Veronica Carlson plays only a very peripheral character compared to her part in Dracula Has Risen from The Grave.  Her only service to the story seems to be as a victim of Frankenstein's brutality.

Mark of The Vampire (1935)

Directed by Tod Browning

By my estimation, one of only four times Bela Lugosi would play a vampire was in this very silly spooks-and-scares comedy.  It's a remake of a lost silent film called London After Midnight that starred Lon Chaney.  All around fairly entertaining.  Also I have to say, the bat prop they use in this movie is incredibly well done. It looks better than any of the ones used in the Dracula movies

The Return of The Living Dead (1985)

Directed by Dan O'Bannon


Highly underrated sort of unofficial sequel to Night of the Living Dead. Some write it off for breaking some of the rules of Romero's zombie films. This is a huge mistake because this is a true 80s horror classic by none other than Dan O'bannon (worked with A. Jodorowsky on Dune, and R. Scott on Alien). Fantastic special effects, punks, T&A, and a brilliant 80s soundtrack.

The Most Dangerous Game (1932)

Directed by Irving Pichel, Ernest B. Schoedsack

 First movie I can think of that follows the familiar story that, due to unforeseen events the central characters end up at the residence of a crazed maniac, who then chases them throughout the movie and it is eventually revealed that the circumstances that caused them to be there was in fact orchestrated by said crazed maniac.  Fay Wray is the damsel in distress and they re-used sets from King Kong!

4/5 crazed madmen say you should watch this movie.

Vampyr (1932)

Directed by Carl Th. Dreyer

Mildly eery, glacially slow vampire movie.  Largely uninteresting and forgettable.  Nosferatu (1922) is a much more interesting alternative to this vampire story.