10 Horror Movies For The Week (10/26/25)

Posted on October 26, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Halloween approaches! I’ll be posting another list of movies in a few days but here’s ten horror movie recommendations for between now and Wednesday!

Vampire Circus (1972) is a gloriously macabre film that I recommend to everyone. This British film takes place in a Serbian village that a vampire curses with his dying breath. Twenty years later, the village is ravaged by the plague and blockaded by other towns. With the inhabitants basically prisoners in their own home, they are easily tempted by the arrival of a circus. The circus, of course, is not what it seems. This is a stylish film, full of quirky characters, disturbing imagery, and a lot of blood. It’s perfect for Halloween. You can view it on Prime.

Speaking of vampires, Count Yorga, Vampire (1970) features Robert Quarry as a vampire in 1970s California. Apparently, the film was originally envisioned as being a soft-core film that would feature a few horror elements but Quarry insisted that the script be rewritten to emphasize the count’s vampirism. That was probably a good idea as Quarry turned Yorga into one of the most memorable movie vampires not named Dracula. Serious actor Michael Murphy appears in this film as well. It’s interesting to note that Murphy went from battling a vampire to working with Robert Altman and Woody Allen and appearing in some of the best films of the 70s. You can view Yorga here.

In Magic (1978), Anthony Hopkins plays a ventriloquist who is basically at the mercy of his foul-mouthed, foul-tempted, all together foul dummy. This is one of the best examples of a creepy ventriloquist dummy film. Hopkins’s neurotic performance is brilliant and actually far more interesting than his best-known work as Hannibal Lecter. Burgess Meredith and Ann-Margaret offer strong support. Hopefully, the dummy was used for kindling after this film was shot because seriously ….. agck! Magic is on Prime.

Prime also has some of Vincent Price’s classic collaborations with Roger Corman. The Fall of the House of Usher (1961), The Pit and The Pendulum (1961), and The Raven (1963) are available for your Halloween viewing and I recommend them all. It’s not really Halloween without a generous amount of Vince Price, is it? The Fall Of the House of Usher, The Pit and The Pendulum, and The Raven can all be found on Prime.

The Witchfinder General (1968) stars Vincent Price and was released as The Conqueror Worm in the United States but it should not be mistaken for one of Corman’s Poe adaptation. Instead, The Witchfinder General is a visually stunning and intense film that features Price is one of his best villainous roles. There’s very little camp or intentional humor to be found in this film. Instead, it’s just Price giving a genuinely frightening performance. Under its American Title of The Conqueror Worm, The Witchfinder General can be found on Prime.

Earlier, I mentioned that Robert Quarry’s Count Yorga was one of the most interesting not named Dracula. I should also mention that William Marshall made for an equally interesting vampire in 1972’s Blacula. The film may have been a bit campy but William Marshall gave a strong and dignified performance as Count Mamuwalde, who is transformed into a vampire by Dracula (who is not just a bloodsucker but a racist as well) and later finds himself in 1970s America. Blacula was followed by a sequel, 1973’s Scream, Blacula, Scream. The sequel is a mess but worth watching for the teaming of William Marshall and Pam Grier. Blacula and Scream, Blacula, Scream are both on Tubi.

Finally, I have to mention that Bruno Mattei’s 1984 masterpiece, Rats: Night of Terror can now be viewed on Tubi. The film may seem ludicrous but you’ll never get that final shot out of your head! It can be viewed on Tubi.

Click here for last week’s movie suggestions!

I Love You, Canada! And here’s six trailers to prove it…

Posted on February 20, 2011 by Lisa Marie Bowman

I think I’ve been a little bit too hard on Canada as of late. I mean, sure — our northern neighbor did give us Paul Haggis and Vermont. However, Canada also gave us Degrassi: The Next Generation, Jason Reitman, Atom Egoyan, David Cronenberg, Denys Arcand, and my friend Lindsay Dianne. So, I’m here to say right now: I love Canada! And in order to show that love, this week’s edition of Lisa Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse and Exploitation Trailers is dedicated to films produced up in Canada.

1) Sudden Fury (1975)

I’ve never seen this movie and I don’t know much about it beyond the fact that it was made in Canada. Looking at the cast list at the end of the trailer, I don’t see any familiar names. But the trailer fascinates me because it somehow manages to be intriguing and dull at the same time.

2) Rats (1982)

I haven’t actually seen this one either and I’m kind of glad for that because seriously, I am scared to death of rats. I remember this one time when I was little, I was visiting my grandpa’s place in Arkansas and he lived in this big three-story house out in the country. And I was sitting out back in this swing when suddenly, this rat jumped out of a third story window and it landed right next to the swing and broke its neck and died with its tail twitching as I watched. I still have nightmares about that. Anyway, this film is apparently not to be confused with Bruno Mattei’s Rats: The Nights of Terror.

3) Humongous (1983)

This is one of the several million slasher films that ended up being made in Canada by American film companies looking for a tax shelter. Just imagine how much shorter the trailer would have been in the movie had simply been called Huge. Incidentally, the film was directed by Paul Lynch, the same guy who did the original Prom Night.

4) Fast Company (1979)

Arleigh would never let me live it down if I did a post and didn’t include a trailer for a David Cronenberg film. So, here you go. Now, to be honest, this trailer is only interesting if you know that 1) it’s for a film directed by David Cronenberg and that 2) he made this in between making Rabid and The Brood. Now I know that this trailer probably screams out, “David Cronenberg just needed the work,” but Cronenberg has actually spoken with a good deal of fondness about this film. I personally haven’t seen it but I guess if anyone could somehow make a movie about drag racing exciting, it would be David Cronenberg.

5) Videodrome (1983)

Here’s a more representative example of what we think about when we think about Cronenberg.

6) Out of the Blue (1980)

Originally, I was going to end this with the 2 Cronenberg films but then I remembered that Dennis Hopper’s Out Of The Blue was a Canadian production and there were simply no way I couldn’t end with that film. Out of the Blue is, quite simply put, one of the greatest films ever made. I’ve been meaning to write a review of it for a while now but it’s been difficult for me to know where to begin because, in many ways, viewing Out of the Blue was as much of a personal experience for me as watching Black Swan.

Review: Rats: Night of Terror (dir. by Bruno Mattei)

Posted on April 15, 2010 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Can one scene make an otherwise thoroughly useless movie worth seeing?

That’s the question that I’m pondering right now as I attempt to write this review of 1984‘s Rats: Night of Terror.

Rats: Night of Terror opens in the 23rd century. As the result of a nuclear war, Earth has been transformed into a barbaric wasteland. While the majority of humankind has retreated underground, small bands of scavengers occasionally get dressed up like a New Order tribute band before coming to the surface and driving around on their motorcycles. The movie follows one group of survivors as they scavenge for food, come across a deserted ghost town, and eventually end up getting attacked by hundreds of rats.

For the most part, that’s the movie. None of the characters are all that memorable and the so-called rats appear to be bored. For the most part, the film wouldn’t even be worth reviewing except for the Scene. After 90 minutes of languid mayhem, Rats: Night of Terror comes up with one scene that manages to be odd, brilliant, and numbingly stupid all at the same time. The Scene simply has to be seen to be believed.

Director Bruno Mattei often said that Rats: Night of Terror was his personal favorite out of the countless number of exploitation films that he directed. While it’s generally agreed that Mattei was responsible for making some of the worst films in history, I’ve always had a sneaky admiration for him. It’s hard not to love someone who defies the odds while pursuing his dream. Mattei’s dream was to make movies and he never let a thing like budget or talent to stand in his way. While Mattei is best known for taking over the direction of Zombi 3 after Lucio Fulci walked off the set, he was a prolific director who dabbled in every genre. Rats: Night of Terror is his contribution to the post-apocalyptic genre.

For a brief period in the 1980s, Italian exploitation filmmakers moved away from cannibals, gialli, and zombies and instead concentrated on making movies about post-apocalyptic bikers. For the most part, I’ve never been a huge fan of these Italian versions of The Road. There’s an overwhelming blandness to them. If the underlying goal of Italian exploitation cinema was to make movies that could pass for American studio productions, then the postapocalyptic genre is the closest the Italians came to accomplishing that goal. As opposed to the zombie films or the gialli, the only thing that was obviously Italian about the majority of these films was George Eastman.

Rats: Night of Terror, strangely enough, does not feature George Eastman. What it does feature is a lot of gerbils. We’re continually told, throughout the movie, that these gerbils are actually rats but no, they’re gerbils and they’re pretty obviously not only gerbils but cute gerbils too!

I’m sure I’m not the only person out there who has a strong phobia of rats. I can still remember when I was 12 years old and visiting my grandad’s farm in Arkansas. I was exploring an old barn with my older sister, Erin. The barn, which already smelled like death, was also full of hay and, within a few minutes of stepping inside, I stared to have trouble breathing. I stepped outside, used my inhaler, and leaned up against the barn’s wall. As I caught my breath, I heard a very distinct squeaking coming from inside the wall. I jumped away from the wall, spun around, and realized that I had been resting my head against a small hole. Staring contemptuously at me from inside that hole was a really ticked-off looking rat. No matter how many times I washed my hair that day (and, believe me, I washed and rewashed it a lot), I could not stop imagining the feeling of germ-ridden rodents running across the back of my head.

Ever since that day, whenever I’ve seen a rat in a movie (or, God forbid, real life), I’ve remembered that feeling and it still makes me shudder. It’s a reminder that, in the end, we’re all going to end being devoured by the same scavengers.

On the other hand, whenever I see a gerbil, I’m reminded of that episode of South Park where Mr. Garrison, attempting to get fired, makes Mr. Slave his new teaching assistant.

And whenever I see Rats: Night of Terror, I’m reminded of the Pandemic episodes of South Park because the gerbils in this film appear to be about as naturally aggressive as a bunch of guinea pigs dressed up like pirates.

Yes, Rats: Night of Terror has a lot going against it. The characters are boring, the rats are gerbils, and the director is Bruno Mattei. It would be easy to dismiss this film if not for the Scene. Oh, how I wish I could tell you something about the Scene without giving the whole thing away. I wish there was some way I could safely expand on just how weird and silly and oddly wonderful the Scene is.

Tell you what. My e-mail address is LisaMarieBowman@live.com. Or you can talk to me on twitter where I’m @LisaMarieBowman. If you’ve seen this movie or if you see the movie after reading this review, contact me and tell me what you thought when you saw the Scene. Seriously, it’s something that has to be discussed.

If you haven’t seen the film, I’ll give you a clue about the Scene. It happens at the end of the movie. It makes absolutely no sense and it is so extremely odd that it actually makes you wonder if maybe the entire film was meant to be somehow satiric. What’s especially odd is that most viewers usually guess what the Scene is going to be halfway through the film before then thinking, “No, no way. There’s no way that’s going to happen.”

So, to a return to the original question, can one scene make an entire film worth seeing?

In the case of Rats: Night of Terror, the answer is yes.