One of the first horror movies, about a hypnotist who uses a somnambulist to do his murders, and a landmark in the history of cinema. The dark shadows, crazy angles and doom laden atmosphere of German Expressionism and the film's extraordinary use of painted light have rarely been copied, and its influence, on film noir in particular, is indisputable. find out more...

Director Weir started an illustrious career with this bizarre and apocalyptic tale of a small outback town that lures passing drivers, cannibalises their cars and uses the survivors for strange medical experiments by the town doc. Mad, witty, surreal..superb! find out more...

When the desperate, obese Martha meets handsome Ray, who leeches off rich widows, she falls madly in love and teams up with him as he scours the lonely hearts clubs, but her jealousy is to lead to murder and betrayal. A bleak, unsentimental thriller loosely based on the real-life 'lonely hearts killers' Martha Beck and Ray Fernandez. find out more...

Hitchcock's third feature is basically a variation on the Jack the Ripper story adapted from a novel by Anne Belloc Lowndes. A serial killer is on the loose in London, singling out blonde haired chorus girls and, as the hunt for him hots up, a stranger turns up seeking lodgings at the Bunter family's house. Mysterious he certainly is, but is he the murderer? Menacingly effective camera work, but lighter in tone than his later thrillers. Especially interesting is the way the younger Hitchcock is find out more...

The original spooky old house movie, as a crazed killer goes on the rampage looking for small innocent females to bump off in numerous nasty ways. All this, of course, takes place at night during a heavily gothic thunderstorm. Vintage horror and classic Hollywood! find out more...

Camp-it-up Hammer horror with Vincent Price on top form as a deranged actor who exacts stylishly horrible revenge on his critics. When he fails to win the Actor of the Year Award he takes a few leaves out of Shakespeare's books to bump off the judges one by one. Imaginatively over the top.

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When a Woman Ascends the Stairs might be Japanese filmmaker Mikio Naruse's finest hour, a delicate, devastating study of a woman, Keiko, played heartbreakingly by Hideko Takamine, who works as a bar hostess in Tokyo's very modern post-war Ginza district. Sly, resourceful, but trapped, Keiko comes to embody the conflicts and struggles of a woman trying to establish her independence in a male-dominated society. A profoundly moving masterpiece. find out more...