Nightmare (1964)

A black-and-white horror film by Hammer called "Nightmare" is not well known but a real gem. It was directed by Freddie Francis and the stars include David Knight, Moira Redmond and Jennie Linden. 

A teenage girl named Janet is always having nightmares about her traumatic past. When she was a younger child, she discovered that her own mother brutally murdered her father. Fearing that she may become just like her mother, she constantly dreams of finding herself locked away. The school sends her home to get looked after, although it isn't safe there. She has visions, and becomes afraid of a creepy woman in the house but everyone thinks she's imagining it.

Rating: A cool 7/10

Fun facts: The film "Nightmare" also goes by the name of "Here's the Knife, Dear: Now Use It." On the cast itself, Julie Christie was originally offered to play Janet who turned it down, and Jennie Linden was given the role on the 11th hour of casting.

Info: Janet's doll is constantly grinning and looks uncanny. The location of this was made in Wargrave, Berkshire, England.  

Warning: Get your earplugs as there is a lot of screaming. 

Howls ^^  

Onryo the vengeful spirit

Japan isn't lacking in spirits and gouls. There is a number of unpleasant ghosts in Japanese folklore, and one of them is the scary Onryo. This is a spirit or ghost that is capable of causing a lot of harm against the living. It can even kill by murdering people or inflicting fatal accidents to steal away the departed souls. 

Onryo has been known to make horrible disasters such as earthquakes, storms and even plague. It's widely believed that these Onryo spirits are the angry ghosts of people who were wronged or betrayed in life so in death they're filled with desire to seek revenge. This feeling has made the Onryo extremely powerful and very dangerous unless they're appeased. 

These angry vengeful Onryo spirits have been exorcised and there is a tale about this in the "Konjaku Monogatarishu" collection from the Heian period of 794 to 1185. Many of these scary supernatural incidents during the Dark Ages era and Medieval times in Japan ended up as writings of dark tales. 

Many of the Onryo are portrayed as having long hair and dressed in white kimonos. It seems to me that a number of the Onryo spirits and their legends have been showing up in a lot of horror films, books and frightening modern urban legends. Do you want to encounter one? Do you want to know more about them? Do you think you've experienced such an Onryo? It's a chilling idea.

Howls ^^

Blood Strawberry 💜💜💜

The Wolf Witch

Here is my review of  a 2020 Chinese fantasy film called "The Wolf Witch". Directed by Wu Ying Xiang, and starring Yuming Du, Xi Huang and Junzhe Shi. (Note: the rest of the cast is on Internet Movie Database). 

Near the end of the Ming Dynasty, Lian Nishang is a powerful sorceress with white hair. She's connected to a hair pin that should have two stones, but only the red one remains and the green stone is absent. There is a sinister cult, and a load of sinister goings on. A member of the secret service is sent to investigate the Wolf Witch, although someone else has been pretending to be her. The special effects are pretty awesome, a few gory scenes and there are some comedic moments, but a lot of over-the-top martial arts. 

Fun facts: The film is part of a series, "The White Haired Witch of the Lunar Kingdom" (2014) and earlier "The Bride with White Hair" (1993) and "The Romance of the White Haired Maiden" (1995). These are loosely based on a novel by Liang Yusheng called "Baifa Monü Zhuan".  

Warning: The tea girls will shock.

Rating: A modest 6/10

Blood Strawberry ^^ Howls! ^^

The Cat Creature (1973)

 A TV horror made in 1973, "The Cat Creature" was directed by Curtis Harrington and stars include Meredith Baxter, David Hedison and Gale Sondergaard. 

There is a wealthy man who collects ancient Egyptian artefacts, and among them is a sarcophagus that includes a mummy wearing a golden cat medallion. A thief steals the medallion, and takes it to a magical shop to pawn it but the owner is a witch called Hester Black, who refuses to deal with it. Her assistant finds a cat with pale eyes, and a lot of mysterious deaths happen. A creepy mystery supernatural horror.

My rating is 6/10 

Fun Facts: Meredith Baxter was wearing green contact lenses and a red wig in order to look more mysterious, since the actress is really blonde with blue eyes. A chunk of twelve minutes was cut out to fit in with the time slot. There is a dwarf woman whose character is a jezebel called Mabel but the actress' name isn't listed in the credits.  The Tarot cards used by Hester Black is like the Minor Arcana. 

Blood Strawberry ^^