The boozy mercenary of the title, based on the actual historical figure of Naoyuki Ban (1567-1615), attempts to rid a haunted castle of spooks.
Pirelli Film's first promotional short, starring John Malcovich and Naomi Campbell.
Alice Guy's version of Edgar Allan Poe's The Pit and the Pendulum. This film is partially lost.
A young man befriends a limping demon to get rid of a woman who's after him.
Sombras de Thule
A lost film. Georges Méliès also directed a film entitled Faust aux enfers in 1903 that is frequently confused with this one, but it has little to do with the story of Faust.
Mary takes over her friend's babysitting job on Christmas Eve, but something more than yuletide spirit is loose in the house...
An alcohol/drug abuser re-examines his life until he nearly dies from an overdose. Then a friend convinces him to join a self-help group which turns out to be demonic.
A green-skinned demon places a woman and two courtiers into a flaming cauldron.
[…] A reel was shot of the Noh drama Momiji-gari (Maple Leaf Hunters, or Viewing Scarlet Maple Leaves), in which Danjuro played opposite Onoe Kikugoro V (1844-1903) as an ogress who has disguised herself as the Princess Sarashina. Filmed by Shibata Tsunekichi in the open air on a windy day in November 1899, Danjuro would allow only the one take, so that when his fan blew away in mid-performance the scene had to stay. The film re-emerged at the Kikikan theatre in 1907 where it was a great success and inspired a wave of fiction filmmaking based on traditional Japanese narratives. (cont. http://victorian-cinema.net/danjuro)
It's Christmas time, and a grandmother spends a quiet afternoon tending to the family chores. But the arrival of an unexpected visitor brings with her some deadly consequences.
A wizard sleeps at a table in his well-appointed sitting room. From a drawer in the table, a snake appears.
A young woman becomes the eighth wife of the wealthy Bluebeard, whose first seven wives have died under mysterious circumstances.
The Passenger is the result of about six years spent in a bedroom with a computer. It began in 1998 as a proposed showreel piece, but then escalated into an unstoppable monstrosity that continued to absorb my life (and savings) until 2006. I created all sound, music and vision for the film. Running time is 7 minutes.
Witch’s Cradle is an unfinished Maya Deren film made in the Guggenheim Gallery during a surrealist “Art of this Century” exhibit. It was assembled long after her death by staffers within the preservation department at Anthology Film Archives.
This compendium of six horror shorts starring Matthew Glave, Alice Cooper, Ewan McGregor and Rebecca Gayheart serves up a ghoulish cinematic buffet. Two pals discover the dangers of carnivals in "Freak Show"; a sea creature preys on victims in "Desserts"; a man has a "twin" who only surfaces when he sleeps in "Doppelganger"; and more. Also includes "Reducing Stanley," "Holiday on the Moon" and "A Fate Foretold."
Simon is a little boy that has to deal with his babysitter, Sonia, a total nuisance. But that same night Simon will receive and unexpected visitor, Timothy, the main character of Simon's favourite show, a visit he will never forget.
A young man walks into a meticulously clean and sterile bathroom and proceeds to shave away hair, then skin, in an increasingly bloody and graphic bathroom scene. Many film critics have interpreted the young man's process of self-mutilation as a metaphor for the self-destructive involvement of the United States in the Vietnam War.
After a car accident, Ben wakes up in hospital. Not knowing where he is or what is going on, he starts exploring the corridors...only to find that the staff don't have his health in mind! The hapless patient must pull himself together and do everything he can to escape. It's an action/horror/comedy — ending with the wheelchair chase from hell!
This special collection features 10 spellbinding short works from Belgian experimental filmmaker Olivier Smolders, including "Adoration" (1987), "Mort a Vignole" (1998), "L'Amateur" (1997) and "La Philosophie Dans Le Boudoir" (1991). "Pensees et Visions D'une Tête Coupée" (1991), "Ravissements" (1991), "Point de Fuite" (1988), "L'Art D'Aimer" (1985), "Neuvaine" (1984) and "Seuls" (1989) round out the sampler.