THE NEON MARQUEE AT HOME HALLOWEEN DOUBLE FEATURE EXTRAVAGANZA

It's that time of year again to indulge in a stack of horror faves and Halloween is pretty much the perfect time to deep dive into slasher, terror or monster movie territory. Usually, we’d be recommending the events that repertory cinemas would have in store, but with the pandemic necessitating celebrating at home, we decided on a pivot this year. Sadly with video stores and their vast horror movie aisles a rarity now, so streaming has become a go to spot. And although unearthing a gold mine of forgotten genre titles isn't as satisfying as a stack of hellish VHS covers, there's still plenty to click on instantly.

We've rounded up comprehensive list of our faves and organized them into a slew of thematic Double Features to keep your Halloween slumber party well stocked, hopefully giving you a bit more of a varied list than what’s popping up in endless online lists.

All titles below are available to stream and linked, and included with those platforms basic subscription packages (a couple will require an extra add on via Amazon, but we recommend adding the free trial, then cancelling). Outlets like Tubi and Pluto requires no subscription, but may have occasional short ad breaks

THE MODERN MONSTER DOUBLE
30 DAYS OF NIGHT (2007 / Amazon Prime / Tubi) + CABIN IN THE WOODS (2011 / Amazon Prime / Hulu).
A seriously evil spin on the Vampire genre with 30 Days of Night, a wickedly cold thriller with some extremley nasty blood suckers terrorizing a town in perpetual night. Follow that up with the ingenious genre spoof where a bunch of teens, stranded in the ultimate of horror tropes, wind up fending off a cataclysmic threat.

THE REDNECK SLASHER DOUBLE
TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2 (1986 / Amazon Prime) + HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES (2003 / Amazon Prime / Netflix / Hulu)
The sequel to Tobe Hooper's ground breaking horror classic is all kinds of crazy with Dennis Hopper taking on the nefarious Leatherface, followed by an onslaught of insanity in Rob Zombie's directorial debut, as a group of teenagers are captured and terrorized in an out of the way house of twisted horrors.

THE HIGH BROW HORROR DOUBLE
THE LIGHTHOUSE (2019 / Amazon Prime) + THE BLACKCOAT'S DAUGHTER (2015 / Netflix)
Two doses of intense atmosphere. The Lighthouse brings powerhouse performances by Robert Pattinson and Willem Defoe among some spectacularly cramped cinematography as two lighthouse keepers spiral into madness. Follow that up with the icy creeping fear of a boarding school where two girls fear the Nuns may be Satanists.

THE UNDERRATED DOUBLE
THE RUINS (2008 / Hulu / HBO Max) + DEVIL (2010 / Hulu / HBO Max)
Two greats that slipped under the radar. The Ruins takes a group of travelers into a spiral of madness and plenty of gore. Followed up by a group of strangers stuck in an elevator where an unseen demonic entity slowly torments the stranded passengers.

THE NEW SCHOOL HORROR DOUBLE
READY OR NOT (Hulu / HBO Max) + MIDSOMMAR (Amazon Prime)
Like many of the most memorable horror movies, it's the women who stay the course and come out on top, but in these two recent titles, it's done with a thoroughly modern edge. The ridiculously underrated and sassy Ready or Not sees a newly wed bride involved in a killer game of hide and seek, while Midsommar is the ultimate descent into hallucinogenic insanity serving as a twisted metaphor on the deterioration of a relationship.

THE NOT WHAT YOU WERE EXPECTING DOUBLE
THE INVITATION (Netflix) + 1BR (Netflix)
It's more than likely you missed these two indie gems, which can be the case on Netflix exclusives thanks to algorithms keeping great content hidden. The Invitation is an exercise in the horror that you don't see, but the paranoia that oozes out of every frame pushes it into a place you weren't expecting. Likewise, 1BR starts off like one film, before yanking the rug out big time to become a completely different, disturbing entity set in an unassuming Los Angeles apartment complex.

THE SUPER INTENSE DOUBLE
TRAIN TO BUSAN (2016 / Tubi / Crackle ) + WOULD YOU RATHER (2012 / Netflix)
The Korean zombie thriller Train To Busan is quite possibly the best entry into the genre since 2004's Dawn of The Dead remake. It is pure adrenaline from start to end on an a doomed train ride, minus many of the cheesy tropes that plague American films. Would You Rather is pure unsettling dread that veers into class war themes.

THE EARLY 00s DOUBLE
GINGER SNAPS (2000 / Amazon Prime / Tubi / Vudu) + JEEPERS CREEPERS 2 (2003 / Hulu / HBO Max)
Several horror movies of this era slipped into obscurity given the 80s was considered the renaissance of the genre. However Ginger Snaps is an underrated tale of two death-obsessed sisters and suburban outcasts in their suburban neighborhood, dealing with the consequences when one of them is bitten by a deadly werewolf. The original Jeeper Creepers was a brilliant take on the chase genre, but the sequel doesn't get much love despite being a tight 'confined space' type gem with a championship basketball team's bus attacked by The Creeper, the winged, flesh-eating terror of the original.

THE 80s DOUBLE
POLTERGEIST (1982 / Netflix) + SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE (1982 / Amazon Prime / Tubi / Pluto)
One is held up as a benchmark of the genre, the other not so much. But both are well worth revisiting. Not much can be said that hasn't been said about the iconic Poltergeist, where a family's home is haunted by a host of demonic ghosts, but it is said that although Tobe Hooper's name is on the Directorial credit, writer Steven Spielberg took on a portion of the duties. We follow up with Slumber Party Massacre, a true product of the 'co-ed sleep over slasher craze of the 80s, as high school student's slumber party turns into a bloodbath, as a newly escaped psychotic serial killer wielding a power drill prowls her neighborhood.

THE RETRO DOUBLE
INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1978 / Amazon Prime / Hulu ) + EXORCIST 3 (1990 / Amazon Prime / Tubi / Pluto)
A remake of the absolutely timeless and brilliant 1956 version, the 1978 take on Body Snatchers is eerie and terrifying, with Donald Sutherland's iconic guttural scream that will stay with you long after the credits. Followed by the underrated third entry in the Exorcist saga. This creeper wasn't initially written as a sequel to the first two, however the studio wanted some more box office potential, so they shoehorned in some extra re-shoot scenes to tie it together. Make no mistake, it's still super scary, and features the greatest jump scare in the history of cinema

THE VIDEO NASTY DOUBLE
THE GREEN INFERNO (2013 / Netflix ) + CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (1980 / Amazon Prime )
For those new to the term, a 'video nasty' was a term given to banned movies in the UK, often horror films, that wound up circulated on video cassette. This double bill features a tribute to the genre, followed by one of the original nasties, both featuring the catalyst to wind up on that banned list; cannibalism. Green Inferno by horror master Eli Roth, takes a group of activists deep into uncharted territories to encounter a tribe that is more bent on them as a meal rather than saviors. Cannibal Holocaust was hugely controversial at the time, so much so, that censors and the public believed it to be an actual documentary. A precursor to the found footage genre.

THE 80s DOUBLE II
FRIGHT NIGHT (1985 / Amazon Prime / Pluto ) + NIGHT OF THE DEMONS (1988 / Pluto )
More 80s fun with Fright Night where a teenager discovers that the newcomer in his neighborhood is a vampire, so he turns to an actor in a television horror show for help dealing with the undead, followed by a party at an abandoned funeral parlor on Halloween night, where an evil force awakens and demonic spirits keep the party going teens from leaving, turning the gathering into a living Hell!

THE ACID TRIP DOUBLE
HOUSE aka HAUSU ( 1977 / HBO Max ) + MANDY ( 2018 / Amazon )
Set your brain to stun. House is the Japanese cult classic that never lets up with the utter insanity where schoolgirl and six of her classmates travel to her aunt's country home, which turns out to be haunted.It has to be seen to be believed. Meanwhile in Mandy, a love letter to the look of 80s horror, we get a manic tale of revenge starring Nicolas Cage in a career best, unfolds drenched in blood red hues and mind melting synth music.

THE CULT CLASSICS DOUBLE
THE EVIL DEAD ( 1981 / Netflix ) + KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE ( 1988 / Netflix / Amazon Prime )
Two cult classics that need no introduction. The Evil Dead is the catalyst for the Cabin In The Woods genre starring legendary Bruce Campbell and all manner of demonic entities, followed by a wildly inventive and funny tale of aliens, who look like clowns of course, come from outer space to terrorize a small town.

THE FOUND FOOTAGE DOUBLE
PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 ( 2011 / Amazon Prime / Hulu ) + UNFRIENDED ( 2014 / Netflix)
Two takes on the genre using two forms of technology. The third entry into the Paranormal Activity series is set in the 80s and is truly, absolutely terrifying in the eerie, patient cinematography using VHS cameras to document the evil that fueled the first film. On the flip side, Unfriended may be the only film we'd recommend watching on a laptop, given the entire film unfolds on a desktop screen. While gleefully silly, it's a well made use of the every day applications we use to unfold a scary tale of supernatural revenge. Doesn't explain how ghosts know how to use Skype though.

THE ARTHOUSE FLAVORED DOUBLE
THE LODGE ( 2019 / Hulu ) + GOODNIGHT MOMMY ( 2014 / Hulu / Tubi)
These two are more reliant on an a chilling atmosphere to drive their tales of terror, forgoing jump scares for a creeping fear. The Lodge, which is one of the coldest looking movies of recent memory, a soon-to-be stepmom is snowed in with her fiancé's two children at a remote holiday village. Just as relations begin to thaw between the trio, some strange and frightening events take place. In Goodbye Mommy, twin boys move to a new home with their mother after she has face changing cosmetic surgery, but under her bandages is someone the children don't recognize.

ALL NIGHT SLASHER-THON AT THE PRINCE CHARLES LONDON

This Saturday June 24th, get your nerves and sleeping bags primed for the Prince Charles Cinema in London's gory slasher all night smorgasbord 80's SUMMER CAMP SLASH-A-THON! Presented by Arrow Video Club presentation with four films plus 1 mystery selection. Marathon begins 9:30pm, and runs until approximately 6am Sunday.

Camp down for the night around the bonfire as Arrow Video Club presents some of their finest 80s Summer Slasher movies. From the classic The Burning, featuring fantastic SFX from legendary Tom Savini, through to lesser-known (but no less enjoyable) titles such as The Mutilator and Madman, Arrow Video promise a full night of splatterific gore, inventive deaths, sexy jacuzzi scenes and camp hijinks. Plus, there will be an additional RARE screening of a MYSTERY title of a forthcoming, but still to be announced, Arrow Video release.  

Arrow Video staff will be on hand all evening with spot prize giveaways, party pranks and a selection of Arrow Video goodies for sale, plus more surprises, guests and more to be announced.

PROGRAMME LINEUP:

THE BURNING (1981)

Of all the many slice-and-dice films that emerged in the early 80s, few remain as gruesomely effective as The Burning, the notorious video nasty! When an ill-advised prank misfires, summer camp caretaker Cropsy is committed to hospital with hideous burns. Released after five years, hospital officials warn him not to blame the young campers who caused his disfigurement. But no sooner is Cropsy back on the streets than he’s headed back to camp with a rusty pair of shears in hand, determined to exact his bloody revenge. With standout gore effects courtesy of FX legend Tom Savini, The Burning proved too shocking for UK censors upon its original video release. Now, fully uncut and in High Definition, The Burning is ready to reclaim its place as the ultimate summer camp nightmare.
 

MADMAN (1981)

Gather around the campfire, and hear the tale of Madman Marz an ill-tempered farmer who, one dark night, chopped up his wife and two children into pieces. When the locals learned of his heinous crimes, they exacted revenge sinking an axe into his head and hanging him from a nearby tree. But the next day, Marz’s body was gone... Thus the camp counsellor finishes his tale, closing with the warning never to say Marz’s name above a whisper, lest the hideously-deformed farmer comes looking for them. Naturally, the first thing that one of the young campers does is calls out Marz’s name precipitating a terrifying night of murder, mayhem and sexy Jacuzzi vignettes! Inspired by the same Cropsey urban legend which informed 1981’s The Burning and starring Dawn of the Dead’s Gaylen Ross (appearing under the pseudonym Alexis Dubin), Madman stands as one of the finest offerings from the golden age of hack’n‘slash.
 

THE MUTILATOR (1984)

They don't come much grislier than writer-director Buddy Cooper’s sickening stalk-and-slash classic The Mutilator! When Ed receives a message from his father asking him to go and lock up the family’s beach condo for the winter, it seems like the perfect excuse for an alcohol-fuelled few days away with his friends. After all, his dad has forgiven him for accidentally blowing mom away with a shotgun several years ago... hasn’t he? But no sooner are the teens on the island than they find themselves stalked by a figure with an axe (and a hook, and an onboard motor) to grind... Originally entitled Fall Break (watch out for the incongruous theme song of the same name!), The Mutilator has earned a reputation amongst horror fans as one of the holy grails of 80s splatter mayhem due to its highly inventive (and not to say, decidedly gruesome) kill sequences, courtesy of FX wizard Mark Shostrom (Videodrome, Evil Dead II).

 

BLOOD RAGE (1987)

What do you get if you combine Thanksgiving, American TV star Louise Lasser (Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman), killer 80s synths and some of the most gruesome special effects in all of slasher history courtesy of Ed (Terminator 2) French. Why, it’s Blood Rage of course! Twins Todd and Terry seem like sweet boys that is, until one of them takes an axe to face of a fellow patron at the local drive-in. Todd is blamed for the bloody crime and institutionalised, whilst twin brother Terry goes free. Ten years later and, as the family gathers around the table for a Thanksgiving meal, the news comes in that Todd has escaped. But has the real killer in fact been in their midst all along? One thing’s for sure, there will be blood and rage! Shot in 1983 but not released until 1987, Blood Rage (re-cut and shown in theatres as Nightmare at Shadow Woods) is a gloriously gruesome slice of 80s slasher heaven now lovingly restored from original vault elements.

MYSTERY FILM (??????????)

The final film will be a forthcoming Arrow Video slasher release, which has still yet to be announced.

Head HERE for tickets. Program notes by The Prince Charles Cinema.