Guillermo Del Toro's blockbusting tale of a young girl struggling to make sense of the violent world around her was a big 2006 arthouse hit. Continuing his exploration of the impact of the Spanish Civil War on his generation (it was also the backdrop for his excellent ghost story, The Devil's Backbone) Del Toro's fantasy mixes strong horror with fairytale-style aesthetics to great effect, making Ofelia's escape into an imaginary realm a poignant response to the cruel realities of her existence. find out more...

Given the slew of horror remakes in recent years it was perhaps inevitable that Sam Raimi's 1981 video nasty classic would receive an update sooner or later, but Fede Alvarez's reboot has enough tricks up its sleeve to warrant a revisit to that infamous log cabin. The emphasis on physical effects over CGI gives the film a refreshingly visceral flavour, and the initial cold turkey setup feels like a novel spin, though for all of its lashings of gore it ultimately  find out more...

It's back to the 80s and student Samantha, desperately needing some dosh (as students in those days did), takes a one-off well paid job as a baby (OK nanny) sitter. Stuck on her own for a night in an isolated, spooky cottage deep in the Connecticut woods she gets a severe case of the heebie-jeebies, and not surprisingly as she's in mortal danger. This highly credible frightener combines elements of the haunted house, slasher and occult themes from an earlier era, and it's no satire - trust me. find out more...

A group of backpacking friends discover an ancient temple in the jungles of Mexico, but their delight soon turns to terror when they're attacked by aggressive locals and then savaged by a blood thirsty, but quite pretty, vine (yup, as in a plant). As terrifying as realising you've fried the garlic before the onion while cooking a ‘spag bol' for your mates, but some fun might be had from its unrelenting awfulness. find out more...

A young man is left for dead when a patrol officer happens upon him. Rushing to the nearby hospital things take a turn for the worse as every sub-genre of horror collides in this monster/slasher/detective/supernatural/cult-style schlock fest. The tension is good but it looses its bite when the twist turns out to be almost everything you can think of. More throw it at the w find out more...