Zoltan the Hound of Dracula

This is a 1977 horror also called "Dracula's Dog". The director of the film is Albert Band, and the stars include Michael Pataki and Jan Shutan. Soviet soldiers discover a tomb of the infamous Dracula family. One of the coffins opens and a soldier investigates, waking up the terrible vampire hound Zoltan. After a tremor, the evil dog finds the coffin of its former owner, who was the enslaved servant of Dracula. All of the other coffins were destroyed because according to legend, the family are dangerous vampires. The dog is secretly shipped overseas to America, so that the servant can locate Dracula's only remaining descendant, a family man called Michael Drake. On a camping trip, Drake and his family become disturbed by an aggressive dog and the eerie presence of an undead man with a hearse. A highly underrated film full of scary moments and also really tense scenes that put me on the edge of my chair! This was well made for its time and I applaud all of the dogs for their brilliant acting in this! 

My rating - 9/10

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Legend of the Seeker

 

This is a fantasy TV series made from 2008 to 2010. It was created by Sam Raimi, distributed by Disney - ABC Domestic Television. The stars include Craig Horner, Bridget Regan, Bruce Spence and Tabrett Bethall. It's based on "The Sword of Truth" book series by Terry Goodkind. There are two seasons and I binged watched it for just over a month.

The world is divided into three sections, the Westland, Midlands and D'hara. The three worlds are all different, and coming from the Westland (a normal place) is a young man called Richard Cypher who learns things are not what they seem, and a kind wizard helps him on a quest. They encounter many dangers and this includes monsters such as dragons, blood flies and more that will appear. They come across evil foe and make friends. The series has everything a fan of both fantasy and horror will want. There are nightmares and some magical, funny, romantic and very dark moments. All in all a fantastic series.

My rating is a 10/10.

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Black Annis

Black Annis is a scary entity of English folklore, believed to live inside a cave within the Dane Hills of Leicestershire. A frightening blue faced hag with sharp teeth and long razor fingernails, who loves eating human flesh. She's often said to linger around isolated lanes, roads and paths at night looking for victims. She prays on children and young animals. Sometimes she hides up in the branches of trees so that no one can see her waiting for them. College windows were made small to prevent her from entering or trying to reach inside and grab a victim. Cottages and houses put up herbs around the doors and windows to protect themselves from her. 

It's also believed she shape-shifted into the form of a cat, called Cat Anna, so she could travel from the Dane Hills to an underground tunnel leading to Leicestershire castle's cellar. So there was an old local custom on Easter Monday (also called Black Monday), of soaking a dead cat in aniseed, then dragging it in front of dogs on a gruesome trek, starting from the witch's cave to the mayor of Leicestershire. 

Personal experience: As a child of eight, I had a nightmare of a witch walking through a wood. The wind was howling, and it was a small wind that happened only where the witch walked. She was very tall and she wore long grey robes. She had long matted red hair, but most scary of all were her extremely long fingernails. 

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The Devil's Rain

The Devil's Rain is a 1975 horror directed by Robert Fuest and stars include William Shatner, John Travolta and Ernest Borgnine.  

A ghost town in the desert is central to the story, as its creepy residents are a cult of Satanists that use an abandoned old church for their rituals. A man searches for his missing brother, and stumbles upon the eerie derelict town that isn't what it seemed to be. It's leader is searching for a book that connects to an event that happened there in the town centuries before. That book is the most important object, besides the bottle containing trapped souls hidden in the town.

Fun facts - It was filmed in Durango, Mexico. Many strange things happened during the filming. Anton LaVey, the founder of the Church of Satan, worked in this horror film. This was John Travolta's debut.   

My rating - 8/10 a popcorn worthy choice.

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