Riding the Bullet (2004) DVD

Ever since his father passed away, art student Alan Parker (Jonathan Jackson) has been hypnotized by thoughts of death. After his girlfriend, Jessica (Erika Christensen), breaks up with him, Alan attempts suicide but is rescued by his friends. The next day, he learns that his mother (Barbara Hershey) has just had a serious stroke, and he sets out to hitchhike to her hospital. Along the way, he meets a series of strange people, including sinister George Staub (David Arquette), who may be Satan.

It Follows (2014) DVD

After carefree teenager Jay (Maika Monroe) sleeps with her new boyfriend, Hugh (Jake Weary), for the first time, she learns that she is the latest recipient of a fatal curse that is passed from victim to victim via sexual intercourse. Death, Jay learns, will creep inexorably toward her as either a friend or a stranger. Jay's friends don't believe her seemingly paranoid ravings, until they too begin to see the phantom assassins and band together to help her flee or defend herself.

Phantasm IV: Oblivion (1998) DVD

With a hearse as his escape vehicle, Mike (A. Michael Baldwin) flees from the Tall Man (Angus Scrimm), who wants to enslave him as an undead servant. Along the way, he investigates the origins of his enemy. Elsewhere, Mike's friend Reggie (Reggie Bannister) searches for him in a variety of dimensions, all the while battling mysterious spheres, including the ones he's discovered in the breasts of his beautiful undead companion. The friends must stop the Tall Man before he destroys them all.

Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead (1994) DVD

The evil alien known as the Tall Man (Angus Scrimm) has infiltrated the minds of Mike (A. Michael Baldwin) and Reggie (Reggie Bannister). The two friends embark on a journey to find and kill him, only to discover that he has destroyed town after town, leaving zombies in place of the living. Along the way, Mike and Reggie meet several characters who share their goal, including a murderous boy named Tim (Kevin Connors) and two young women who are excellent fighters.

Phantasm II (1988) DVD

Years after surviving his encounter with the sinister Tall Man (Angus Scrimm), Mike Pearson (James LeGros), now a mental patient, still has nightmares about the evil gaunt mortician. Upon being released from the institution, Mike and his friend Reggie (Reggie Bannister) set out to track down the Tall Man and end his murderous and macabre practices. Also involved is Liz Reynolds (Paula Irvine), a pretty young woman who has a psychic connection to both Mike and the Tall Man.

Phantasm (1979) DVD

The residents of a small town have begun dying under strange circumstances, leading young Mike (Michael Baldwin) to investigate. After discovering that the Tall Man (Angus Scrimm), the town's mortician, is killing and reanimating the dead as misshapen zombies, Mike seeks help from his older brother, Jody (Bill Thornbury), and local ice cream man Reggie (Reggie Bannister). Working together, they try to lure out and kill the Tall Man, all the while avoiding his minions and a deadly silver sphere.

Previously owned on VHS!

Arachnophobia (1990) DVD

After a nature photographer (Mark L. Taylor) dies on assignment in Venezuela, a poisonous spider hitches a ride in his coffin to his hometown in rural California, where arachnophobe Dr. Ross Jennings (Jeff Daniels) has just moved in with his wife, Molly (Harley Jane Kozak), and young son. As town residents start turning up dead, Jennings begins to suspect spiders, and must face his fears as he and no-nonsense exterminator Delbert McClintock (John Goodman) fight to stop a deadly infestation.

Previously owned on VHS!

The Witch: A New-England Folktale (2015) DVD

The Wicker Tree (2011) DVD

A Christian singer (Brittania Nicol) and her boyfriend (Henry Garrett) learn the real meaning of sacrifice when they run afoul of pagans in a Scottish village.

The Village (2004) DVD

An Amish-style community lives cut off from the outside world by the woods, in which they believe dangerous creatures exist. They have an uneasy truce with the creatures - if they stay out of the woods, they are left unharmed. When one of the young villagers becomes ill, the boy who loves her ignores the elders of the village to make a bid to the next town to fetch medicine.

Dead Hooker in a Trunk (2009) DVD

Set in beautiful Vancouver, four friends set out on an everyday errand and end up in a fight for their lives when they discover the body of a dead hooker left in their trunk. Lead by a sexy, impulsive Badass, her distant Geek twin sister, their bible thumping, Jesus loving Goody Two Shoes friend, and a chaotic, rock star Junkie pal, the group has to put aside their differences to dispose of the body before they're next. Thrown into their own personal purgatory, they face off against persistent police, a sleazy motel manager, chainsaw wielding triads, and a brutal serial killer. All the while they are followed by a mysterious Cowboy Pimp who wants to claim the corpse for his own. Will they uncover the truth behind the body and be able to stand up to their demons? Buckle up and get ready for the ride of your life filled with gun fights, extreme violence, blood, guts, gore, and goats. Dead Hooker In A Trunk is the unexpected first feature film written, directed, and produced by identical twin sisters, Jen and Sylvia Soska. The two newcomers created an impossible film that is an underground sensation, destined to become a cult classic and will make you fall in love with films again!
 

Shaun of the Dead (2004)

Shaun is an electronics salesman with no direction in his life. His younger colleagues disrespect him, he is estranged from his stepfather Philip, and his girlfriend Liz is unhappy spending every date at his favourite pub, the Winchester. After a bad day at work, Shaun forgets to book a restaurant for his anniversary with Liz. When he suggests the Winchester, Liz breaks up with him. He drowns his sorrows with his housemate and best friend Ed at the Winchester. At home, their housemate Pete, complaining of a bite wound from a drunk, berates Shaun to get his life together.

By morning, a zombie apocalypse has overwhelmed London, but the hungover Shaun is slow to notice. He and Ed encounter two zombies in their garden and kill them with blows to the head. They form a plan to rescue Shaun's mother, Barbara, and Liz, then wait out the crisis in the Winchester. They escape in Pete's car, and pick up Barbara and Philip, who has been bitten, then Liz and her friends Dianne and David. Philip makes peace with Shaun, dies from his bites, and reanimates as a zombie.

The group abandon the vehicle and continue on foot. The streets surrounding the Winchester are overrun, so the group pretend to be zombies to sneak past them. Ed answers his phone, attracting the zombies' attention; while Shaun leads them away, the rest take refuge inside the Winchester, where Shaun rejoins them.

Shaun discovers the Winchester rifle above the bar is functional and the group attempts to use it to defend themselves. Barbara reveals she has been bitten and dies after giving Liz and Shaun her blessing. Shaun, distraught, is forced to shoot her after she reanimates. David is torn apart by the zombies, while Dianne rushes out to rescue him, disappearing into the advancing horde. Pete, zombified, bites Ed, but Shaun shoots Pete and sets fire to the bar. The fire spreads, setting off the rifle ammunition while Shaun, Liz and Ed flee into the cellar and contemplate suicide. Discovering a barrel hatch elevator that opens to the outside, Shaun and Liz escape as the wounded Ed volunteers to stay behind with the rifle. The British Army arrives and guns down the remaining zombies.

Six months after the outbreak, civilisation has returned to normal, with zombies used as cheap labour and entertainment. Liz has moved in with Shaun, and Shaun keeps the zombified Ed tethered in the garden shed so they can play video games together.

Suspiria (1977)

Suzy Bannion, an American ballet student from New York City, arrives late on a stormy night at the prestigious Tanz Dance Academy in Freiburg, Germany. While trying (unsuccessfully) to get someone to answer the door to the academy, she witnesses a young student, Pat Hingle, flee from the school. Suzy makes her way to a hotel, while Pat finds refuge at a friend's apartment in town. Pat tells her friend that she has uncovered something terrible inside the Academy, then locks herself in the bathroom. A shadowy figure appears outside the bathroom window – an arm smashes through the window and grabs Pat. Hearing Pat's screams, her friend runs for help but nobody answers. The attacker stabs Pat repeatedly – even once in her heart – and then slips a noose around her neck. The figure throws Pat through a window that leads into the apartment lobby below and the rope snaps, killing her, just as the falling glass kills her fleeing friend below.

Suzy returns to the academy in the morning and is introduced to Madame Blanc, the vice-directress, and Miss Tanner, one of the instructors. She is then introduced to students Sara and Olga, the latter with whom she has previously arranged to share an off-campus apartment. After a strange encounter with the academy's custodian, Suzy faints during a lesson. She awakens that night to discover that she has been moved into an on-campus dormitory, despite her reluctance. The doctors tell her that she is to be "medicated" with a glass of wine daily, and will have to live on campus for her continued care. Suzy rooms with Sara, and the two become friends.

As the students prepare for dinner, maggots rain down from the ceiling. The students are told this was due to spoiled food being stored in the attic and are invited to sleep in the practice hall overnight while the spoiled food and maggots are disposed of. During the night, Sara identifies a distinctive whistling snore as that of the school's director, who is not due to return to the academy for several weeks.

The following day, Tanner orders the school's blind piano player, Daniel, to leave the academy after his guide dog supposedly bites the custodian's son (who is also Madame Blanc's nephew). That night, Sara hears a teacher's footsteps and counts them whilst Suzy becomes drowsy and falls asleep. Elsewhere, while crossing a plaza, Daniel's dog and Daniel himself sense a strange presence before the canine – without warning – lunges at him and tears his throat out, killing him.

Suzy recalls that Pat had mumbled "iris" and "secret" when they briefly crossed paths. Suzy and Sara go for an evening swim at the school's indoor swimming pool and Sara reveals that Pat had been saying strange things for some time. The two girls search for Pat's personal notes, but they are missing. Suzy suddenly becomes drowsy again and falls asleep before Sara flees after hearing footsteps. Sara is chased by an unseen pursuer and, thinking she will be able to escape on a window ledge, falls into a pile of razor wire. She struggles until a dark figure slits her throat.

In the morning, Blanc and Tanner inform Suzy that Sara has abruptly left the academy. Confused and suspicious, Suzy goes to meet one of Sara's acquaintances in town, the psychologist Frank Mandel. Mandel explains that the academy was founded by Helena Markos, a cruel Greek émigré who was widely believed to be a witch, while Mandel's colleague, Professor Milius, tells Suzy that a coven can not survive without their queen.

Suzy returns to the academy to find that all the other students have been sent out for the evening to see a performance by the Bolshoi. After disposing of her food and wine (which may have been drugged, thus explaining Suzy becoming drowsy), she then hears the same footsteps that Sara heard, Suzy follows the sound to Blanc's office, entering to find the walls painted with the irises Pat had mumbled about. She finds a hidden passage and enters, quietly observing Blanc, Tanner and the staff performing a ritual and plotting Suzy's death. Suzy turns to find Sara's body nailed to a coffin. She sneaks into another room, where she accidentally awakens a shadowy figure who reveals herself as Helena Markos. Helena orders Sara's corpse to rise from the dead to murder Suzy, but Suzy stabs Helena through the throat with a knife she finds, killing Helena and causing Sara's corpse to collapse. The rest of the coven start asphyxiating without their queen, and Suzy escapes just as the academy collapses in flames.

The Hills Have Eyes (1977) DVD

At a run-down gas station in the desert of Nevada, somewhere near the Nellis Air Force Base, an old man named Fred (John Steadman) is packing his truck when a ragged and somewhat feral teenage girl named Ruby (Janus Blythe) approaches him. She offers to trade what she has in her bag for food, but the old man refuses. They walk into a small cabin and Fred scolds her for what "they" have done. Ruby says that her family ambushed a nearby airfield because they were hungry and that no one passes by where they live anymore. She pleads with Fred to take her with him, but he refuses and warns Ruby that she could be in danger if "the pack", in particular someone named Jupiter learns what she's doing. She replies that his life will be in danger as well if Jupiter finds out that he's trying to leave. A noise distracts them and Fred orders Ruby to hide.

The Carter family is traveling on vacation towing a travel trailer from Ohio to Los Angeles. Parents Bob (Russ Grieve) and Ethel (Virginia Vincent) are driving, accompanied by their teenage children Bobby (Robert Houston) Brenda (Susan Lanier), eldest daughter Lynne (Dee Wallace), Lynne's husband Doug (Martin Speer), their baby daughter Katy, and their dogs, Beauty and the Beast. They stop at Fred's Oasis for fuel and Fred urges them to stay on the main road as they leave. Fred's truck suddenly explodes, preventing him from leaving. Ignoring Fred's warning, the Carters skid off a desert road and crash. Bob walks back to Fred's Oasis to get help. The dogs become very panicky and start barking at the hills. Beauty then runs off into the hills, where she's slaughtered by someone. Bobby chases after her and finds her mutilated body. Frightened, he runs, falls and knocks himself unconscious.

As night falls, Bob reaches the gas station, where he finds Fred, who has tried to hang himself. Fred tells him about his son's family of deranged cannibals who live in the hills through which the Carters have traveled. They are commanded by Papa Jupiter (James Whitworth) who had killed his mother, Fred's wife, during childbirth. As a child, he killed the livestock on his father's farm and later murdered his sister. Fred attacked his son with a tire iron and left him in the hills to die. However, Jupiter survived and had children with a depraved, alcoholic prostitute known as Mama (Cordy Clark). Together, they had three sons - Mars (Lance Gordon), Pluto (Michael Berryman) and Mercury (Peter Locke) - and an abused daughter, Ruby. They survive by stealing and cannibalizing travelers. Papa Jupiter suddenly crashes his hands through a window, kills Fred with a tire iron and takes Bob prisoner.

Brenda finds Bobby, who is shaken up about Beauty and returns to the trailer but doesn't mention Beauty's death, not wanting to frighten the rest of the family. He then gets locked out of the trailer and asks Doug for his keys, but is unaware the trailer is locked because Pluto is looking through their valuables while Ethel and Brenda are asleep. Before Bobby enters the trailer, Pluto signals Papa Jupiter to set Bob on fire on a stake as and an explosion is heard in the distance. Ethel, Lynne, Doug, and Bobby rush out to save Bob while Brenda stays in the trailer with the baby. As they extinguish the fire, Pluto and Mars ransack the camper and Mars promptly rapes Brenda. The Carters eventually extinguish the fire, but Bob dies shortly afterwards. When Ethel and Lynne return to the trailer, Lynne is attacked by Mars, and Ethel hits him with a broom. After Mars shoots Ethel and Lynne, he attempts to shoot Brenda as well but has run out of bullets. Pluto abducts the baby and the brothers flee, intending for the family to eat the baby. Hearing their screams, Doug and Bobby rush in the camper only to find Lynne dead and Ethel mortally wounded.

Mars and Pluto return to the cave, but the Beast pushes Mercury off a hilltop to his death. Ruby is then chained outside the cave with Mama tormenting her, and is forced to eat Beauty as punishment for her betrayal. The family then cooks and eats Bob's body. The next morning, shortly after Ethel dies, Doug sets out to find his baby while Papa Jupiter and Pluto set out to kill the remaining family members. The Beast tears Pluto's throat out, and Papa Jupiter is killed by a trap set by Brenda and Bobby using their mother's corpse. Doug sees Ruby knock out Mama and escape with Katy into the hills.

Doug catches up with Ruby and the baby, but Mars follows them. Mars initially manages to tackle and knife-struggle with Doug, but Ruby interferes by putting a rattlesnake on Mars' neck, enabling Doug to overpower him. Doug then repeatedly stabs Mars to death while Ruby weeps over her brother's body and the screen fades to red.

The Exorcist III (1990)

The film begins with the point of view of someone wandering through the streets of Georgetown, a voice informing us "I have dreams... of a rose... and of falling down a long flight of stairs." The point of view shows a warning of evil about to arrive later that night at a church. Demonic growls are heard. Leaves and other street trash suddenly come flying into the church as a crucifix comes to life. It then cuts to Lieutenant William F. Kinderman at a crime scene, where a 12-year-old boy named Thomas Kintry has been murdered.

Kinderman takes his friend, a priest named Father Dyer, out to see their mutually favorite film It's a Wonderful Life. Kinderman later relates the gruesome details of the murder of the young boy he was investigating that morning, including his crucifixion. Another murder soon takes place - a priest is found decapitated in a church. Dyer is shortly hospitalized—and found murdered the next day - with the words "IT'S A WONDERFULL LIFE", written on a wall in Dyer's blood.

The fingerprints at the crime scenes do not match, indicating a different person was responsible for each. Kinderman tells hospital staff the reason for his unease: seventeen years ago the vicious serial killer James "The Gemini" Venamun, was executed; with every victim he cut off the right index finger and carved the Zodiac sign of Gemini into the palm of their left hand. Kinderman noticed the hands of the three new victims and verified that the Gemini's sign has been there. The Gemini Killer also always used an extra "L" in his notes sent to the media, such as "usefull" or "carefull". Furthermore, to filter out false confessions, the original Gemini Killer's true mutilations were kept a secret by the Richmond police's homicide department; the newspapers were made to wrongfully report that the left middle finger was severed and that the Gemini sign was carved on the back of the victim.

Kinderman visits the head of the psychiatric ward, Dr. Temple, who relates the history of a man in Cell 11, that he was found wandering aimlessly seventeen years ago with amnesia. The man was locked up, catatonic until recently when he became violent and claimed to be the Gemini Killer. Kinderman sees that the patient resembles his dead friend Father Damien Karras. The patient expresses ignorance of Father Karras, but boasts of killing Father Dyer.

The next morning, a nurse and Dr. Temple are found dead. Kinderman returns to see the patient in Cell 11, who claims that after his execution his soul entered Karras's dying body. The Gemini's spiritual "master", who had possessed the girl Regan MacNeil, was furious at being pushed out of the child's body and is exacting its revenge by putting the soul of the Gemini Killer into the body of Father Karras. Each evening, the soul of the Gemini leaves the body of Karras and possesses the elderly people with senile dementia elsewhere in the hospital and uses them to commit the murders. The Gemini Killer forced Dr. Temple to bring Kinderman to him or he would suffer in unspeakable ways — Temple couldn't take the pressure, and he committed suicide.

The Gemini possesses an old woman, who makes a failed attempt to murder Kinderman's daughter. The possessed patient attacks Kinderman, but the attack abruptly ends when a priest, Father Paul Morning (Nicol Williamson), enters the corridor leading to cell 11 and attempts an exorcism on the patient. The Gemini's "patron" intervenes, taking over the patient's body, and the priest is all but slain. Kinderman arrives in time and attempts to euthanize Karras after finding the body of the priest but is hurled into the wall by the possessed Karras. Father Morning manages to briefly regain consciousness and tells Karras, "Damien, fight him." Karras regains his free will briefly and cries to Kinderman, "Bill, now! Shoot now! Kill me now!" Kinderman fires his revolver several times, hitting Karras in the chest, fatally wounding him. The Gemini is now gone...and Karras is finally free. With weak breaths, he says "We won, Bill. Now free me." Kinderman puts his revolver against Karras' head—and fires.

The film ends with Kinderman standing over Karras' grave.

Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)

Philip Lamont, a priest struggling with his faith, attempts to exorcise a possessed South American girl who claims to "heal the sick". However, the exorcism goes wrong and a lit candle sets fire to the girl's dress, killing her. Afterwards, Lamont is assigned by the Cardinal to investigate the death of Father Lankester Merrin, who had been killed four years earlier in the course of exorcising the Assyrian demon Pazuzu from Regan MacNeil. The Cardinal informs Lamont (who has had some experience at exorcism and has been exposed to Merrin's teachings) that Merrin is facing posthumous heresy charges because of his controversial writings. Apparently, Church authorities are trying to modernize and do not want to acknowledge that Satan actually exists.

Regan, although now seemingly normal and staying with her guardian Sharon Spencer in New York, N.Y., continues to be monitored at a psychiatric institute by Dr. Gene Tuskin. Regan claims she remembers nothing about her ordeal in Washington, D.C., but Tuskin believes her memories are only repressed.

Father Lamont visits the institute, but his attempts to question Regan about the circumstances of Father Merrin's death are rebuffed by Dr. Tuskin, who believes that Lamont's approach would do Regan more harm than good. In an attempt to plumb her memories of the exorcism, and specifically the circumstances in which Merrin died, Dr. Tuskin hypnotizes the girl, to whom she is linked by a "synchronizer", a revolutionary biofeedback device used by two people to synchronize their brainwaves. After a guided tour by Sharon of the Georgetown house where the exorcism took place, Lamont returns to be coupled with Regan by the synchronizer. The priest is spirited to the past by Pazuzu to observe Father Merrin exorcising a young boy, Kokumo, in Africa. Learning that the boy developed special powers to fight Pazuzu, who appears as a swarm of locusts, Lamont journeys to Africa, defying his superior, to seek help from the adult Kokumo.

Kokumo has become a scientist studying how to prevent locust swarms. Lamont learns that Pazuzu attacks people who have psychic healing ability. Regan is able to reach telepathically inside the minds of others; she uses this to help an autistic girl to speak, for instance. Father Merrin, who belonged to a group of theologians that believed psychic powers were a spiritual gift which would one day be shared by all people, thought people like Kokumo and Regan were forerunners of this new type of humanity. In a vision, Merrin asks Lamont to watch over Regan.

Lamont and Regan return to the old house in Georgetown. The pair are followed in a taxi by Tuskin and Sharon, who are concerned about Regan's safety. En route, Pazuzu tempts Lamont by offering him unlimited power, appearing as a succubus who is a doppelgänger of Regan. The taxi crashes into the Georgetown house, killing the driver, but his passengers survive and enter the house, where Sharon sets herself on fire. Although Lamont initially succumbs to the succubus, he is brought back by Regan and attacks her doppelgänger while a swarm of locusts deluge the house, which begins to crumble around them. However, Lamont manages to kill the doppelgänger by beating open its chest and pulling out its heart. In the end, Regan banishes the locusts (and Pazuzu) by enacting the same ritual attempted by Kokumo to get rid of locusts in Africa (although he failed and was himself possessed). Outside the house, Sharon dies from her injuries and Tuskin tells Lamont to watch over Regan. Regan and Lamont leave while Tuskin stays to answer police questions.

The Exorcist (1973)

In 1973, Lankester Merrin is a veteran Catholic priest and exorcist who is shown to be on an archaeological dig in the ancient city of Hatra in Iraq. There he finds an amulet that resembles the statue of Pazuzu, a demon of ancient origins with whose history Merrin is familiar.

In modern-day Georgetown, actress Chris MacNeil is living on location with her 12-year-old daughter Regan, where Chris has just wrapped the final scene of a film about student activism directed by her friend and associate Burke Dennings. After playing with a Ouija board and contacting a supposedly imaginary friend whom she calls Captain Howdy, Regan begins acting strangely, including making mysterious noises, stealing, constantly using obscene language, and exhibiting abnormal strength. Chris hosts a party, only for Regan to come downstairs unannounced, telling one of the guests, who is an astronaut, "You're gonna die up there", and then urinating on the floor. Later, Regan's bed begins to shake violently, adding further to her mother's horror. Chris consults a number of physicians, but Dr. Klein and his associates find nothing physiologically wrong with her daughter, despite Regan undergoing a battery of diagnostic tests.

One night when Chris is out, Burke Dennings is babysitting Regan, only for Chris to come home to hear he has died falling out the window. Although this is assumed to have been an accident, given Burke's history of heavy drinking, his death is investigated by Lieutenant William Kinderman, who interviews Chris, as well as priest and psychiatrist Father Damien Karras, who has recently been emotionally shaken after the death of his frail mother.

The doctors, thinking that Regan's aberrations are mostly psychiatric in origin, recommend an exorcism to be performed. Chris arranges a meeting with Karras. After recording Regan speaking backwards and witnessing the apparent effect of the scarification of her flesh with the words "Help Me" on her stomach, Karras is convinced Regan is possessed. Believing her soul is in danger, he decides to perform an exorcism. The experienced Merrin is selected for performing the actual exorcism with Karras present to assist.

Both priests witness Regan perform a series of bizarre, vulgar acts, and confine her to her bedroom. They attempt to exorcise the demon, but a stubborn Pazuzu toys with them, especially Karras. Karras shows weakness, and is dismissed by Merrin, who attempts the exorcism alone. Karras enters the room and discovers Merrin has died of a heart attack. After failing to revive Merrin, the enraged Karras confronts the mocking, laughing spirit of Pazuzu, tackling the demon to the ground. At Karras's furious demand, Pazuzu then possesses Karras, leaving Regan's body. In a moment of self-sacrifice, the priest throws himself out of the window before allowing Pazuzu to compel him to harm Regan, and is himself mortally injured. Father Dyer, an old friend of Karras, happens upon the scene and administers the last rites to his friend.

A few days later, Regan, who is now back to her normal self, prepares to leave for Los Angeles with her mother. Although Regan has no apparent recollection of her possession, she gives Father Dyer a kiss on the cheek. Kinderman, who narrowly misses their departure, befriends Father Dyer as he investigates Karras's death.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)

In 1846, Benjamin Barker, a barber, arrives in London, accompanied by sailor Anthony Hope. Fifteen years earlier, he was falsely convicted and exiled by the corrupt Judge Turpin, who lusted after Barker's wife Lucy. Barker adopts the alias "Sweeney Todd" and returns to his old Fleet Street shop, situated above Mrs. Nellie Lovett's meat pie shop, where she sells the "worst pies in London". Lovett tells him that Turpin raped Lucy, who then poisoned herself with arsenic. The couple's daughter, Johanna, is now Turpin's ward. Todd vows revenge, and re-opens his barber shop after Mrs. Lovett, who loves him unrequitedly, presents him with his old straight razors. Anthony becomes enamored with Johanna, but is caught by Turpin and driven away by his henchman, Beadle Bamford.

Todd denounces faux-Italian barber Adolfo Pirelli's hair tonic as a fraud and humiliates him in a public shaving contest. A few days later, Pirelli arrives at Todd's shop, with his boy assistant Tobias Ragg. Pirelli identifies himself as Todd's former assistant, Davy Collins, and threatens to reveal Todd's secret unless Todd gives him half his earnings. Todd kills Collins, and hides his body in a trunk.

After receiving advice from Bamford, Turpin visits Todd for grooming, intent on marrying Johanna. Todd shaves Turpin, preparing to slit his throat; they are interrupted by Anthony, who reveals his plan to elope with Johanna before noticing Turpin. An angered Turpin renounces Todd's service and leaves. Todd swears revenge on the entire world, vowing to kill as many people as he can while he waits for another chance to kill Turpin. Mrs. Lovett gets the idea to bake Todd's victims into pies. Anthony searches for Johanna, whom Turpin has sent to an insane asylum upon discovering her plans to elope with Anthony.

The barbering and pie-making businesses prosper, and Mrs. Lovett takes Toby as her assistant. She tells an uninterested Todd of her plans to marry him and move to the seaside. Anthony discovers Johanna's whereabouts and, following Todd's suggestion, poses as a wigmaker's apprentice to rescue her. Todd has Toby deliver a letter to Turpin, telling him where Johanna will be brought when Anthony frees her. Toby has become wary of Todd and tells Mrs. Lovett of his suspicions, vowing to protect her.

Bamford arrives at the pie shop, informing Mrs. Lovett that neighbors have been complaining of the stink from her chimney. Todd distracts him with an offer of a free grooming and murders him. Mrs. Lovett informs Todd of Toby's suspicions, and the pair search for the boy, who hid in the sewers after finding human remains in Mrs Lovett's bakehouse. Meanwhile, Anthony brings Johanna, disguised as a sailor, to the shop, and has her wait there while he leaves to find a coach.

A beggar woman enters the shop in search of Bamford, and Johanna hides in the trunk. The woman recognizes Todd, but upon hearing Turpin coming, Todd kills her and sends her through a trapdoor in the floor. As Turpin enters, Todd explains that Johanna had repented and is coming to him, then offers a free shave in the meantime. When Turpin finally recognizes Todd as Benjamin Barker, Todd stabs him several times, cuts his throat and sends his body down a trap door to the bakehouse, killing him. Johanna comes out of her hiding place, still in disguise, and Todd prepares to kill her as well, not recognizing her as his daughter. However, hearing Mrs. Lovett scream in horror in the basement after discovering Turpin's body, Todd lets Johanna go.

Todd discovers that the beggar woman was his wife Lucy, whom he believed to be dead, and that Mrs. Lovett deliberately misled him so she could have him to herself. Todd pretends to forgive her and dances with her before hurling her into the bakehouse oven, then cradles Lucy's dead body in his arms. Toby appears, enraged at Mrs. Lovett's death, and Todd allows Toby to slit his throat with his own razor. Toby leaves as Todd bleeds to death over his dead wife.

Vampires (1998)

A team of Vatican-sponsored vampire hunters led by Jack Crow rids an abandoned house of vampires in the middle of New Mexico during a daylight raid. The team uses a coordinated method of using battle pikes as harpoons, spearing vampires within the house so that a mechanical winch can pull them outside into the daylight. After clearing the house, the team celebrates at a local motel with drinking and prostitutes, to the disapproval of the Priest assigned to the team. Jack Crow defends the celebration, stating that given the horrors the team witnesses on a daily basis, this is an effective way to blow off steam. During the height of the party, with most of the team drunk, they are attacked swiftly by a master vampire called Valek, who kills most of the team and their priest. Only two members of the team survive, Jack Crow and Tony Montoya, as well as a prostitute named Katrina who was bitten by Valek. Crow later meets his boss, Cardinal Alba, who introduces him to Father Adam Guiteau.

After Crow reluctantly allows Guiteau to come along with him, he tells the priest some of his past, about how his father was bitten by a vampire, killed his mother and came after Jack, who ended up killing him. He then asks what it is Valek is after and Guiteau tells him that Valek is seeking an ancient relic called the Black Cross of Berziers and that Valek was once a fallen priest who was thought to have been possessed by demons. The Bérziers Cross was used in an exorcism that was cut short but the result was that Valek was forever changed into the first vampire.

Using the changing Katrina's mind, Jack, Montoya and Guiteau find out that Valek has seized the cross and they arrive at an old church to kill more vampires, but they are soon set up as Cardinal Alba sides with Valek and kidnaps Crow, revealing that his plan all along was being turned by Valek so he too can become immortal. Katrina turns into a vampire and allies herself with Valek after biting Montoya. Cardinal Alba agrees to perform a ritual using the cross which will allow vampires to walk in sunlight and be invulnerable, but Guiteau, who was in hiding, appears and kills him before he can finish the ritual. Montoya and Guiteau then rescue Crow as the sun rises, and Crow heads off to confront Valek, whom he kills by ramming the Berziers cross into his chest and exposing him to sunlight, which causes Valek to explode.

Guiteau realizes that Montoya is about to turn into a vampire now that he has been bitten by Katrina, but Crow knows that Montoya has been loyal to him and so decides to take Montoya's fate in his hands, telling Montoya that after two days he will hunt down and kill both him and Katrina. After Montoya and Katrina leave, Jack and Guiteau head off once again to kill the rest of the vampires that made it to shelter.

Salem's Lot (1979) Miniseries

Salem's Lot (also known as Salem's Lot: The Movie, Salem's Lot: The Miniseries and Blood Thirst) is a 1979 CBS-TV mini-series American television adaptation of the horror novel of the same name by Stephen King. Directed by Tobe Hooper and starring David Soul and James Mason, the plot revolves around a writer returning to his hometown and discovering that its citizens are turning into vampires. Salem's Lot combines elements of both the vampire film and haunted house subgenres of horror.


At a church in Guatemala, a man and a boy, Ben Mears (David Soul) and Mark Petrie (Lance Kerwin), are filling small bottles with holy water. When one of the bottles begins to emit an eerie supernatural glow, Mears tells Mark that "they've found us again." Knowing an evil presence is nearby, they decide to stay to fight it.

Two years earlier, Mears, a successful author, returns after a long absence to his small hometown of Salem's Lot in Maine in the United States. Mears intends to write a book about the Marsten House, an old, ominous property on a hilltop which has a reputation for being haunted, and attempts to rent it. However, Mears finds that another new arrival in town, the mysterious Richard Straker (James Mason), has recently bought the Marsten House. Straker is also in the process of opening an antique shop with his oft-mentioned but always absent business partner, Kurt Barlow. Meanwhile, Mears moves into a boarding house in town run by Eva Miller (Marie Windsor), and develops a romantic relationship with a local woman, Susan Norton (Bonnie Bedelia). He befriends Susan's father, Dr. Bill Norton (Ed Flanders), and reconnects with his kindly former school teacher, Jason Burke (Lew Ayres). Mears tells Burke that he feels the Marsten House is somehow inherently evil, recalling a traumatic childhood experience which took place inside it.

After a large crate is delivered to the Marsten House one night, an increasing number of townspeople begin to disappear or die under strange circumstances. Mears and Straker are the main suspects as they are both new in town, but it eventually becomes clear that the crate contained Straker's business partner, Kurt Barlow (Reggie Nalder) - an ancient master vampire who has come to Salem's Lot after sending Straker to make way for his arrival. Straker kidnaps a young boy, Ralphie Glick (Ronnie Scribner), as an offering to Barlow, while Barlow himself kills local realtor Larry Crockett (Fred Willard). The Glick boy then returns as a vampire to claim his brother, Danny (Brad Savage), who becomes one as well. In turn, the undead Danny infects a gravedigger, Mike Ryerson (Geoffrey Lewis), then attempts to prey on one of his schoolfriends, Mark Petrie. However, Mark is a horror film buff and manages to repel Danny with a cross.

As the vampirism spreads, Mears, Burke, and Dr. Norton gradually realize what is happening to the town and attempt to stop it. Mears is attacked by Ralph and Danny's presumed-dead mother Marjorie Glick (Clarissa Kaye) after she revives on a mortician's table, but defends himself using a makeshift cross. Mark's parents are both killed by Barlow, though Mark is allowed to escape thanks to some assistance from a local priest. Jason Burke, however, suffers a severe heart attack following an encounter with the newly vampirised Mike Ryerson.

Seeking revenge for his parents' deaths, Mark breaks into the Marsten House, and a concerned Susan follows him inside; both are soon captured by Straker. Later, Mears and Dr. Norton enter the house, too, where Straker kills Norton by impaling him on a pair on antlers before he himself is fatally shot by Mears. Afterwards, Mears and the freed Mark find Barlow's coffin in the cellar and destroy him by driving a stake through his heart. Fleeing the other vampires in the house (the infected townsfolk), the two set fire to the Marsten property as they leave, though Susan is nowhere to be found. While the house burns, the wind carries the fire towards the town itself. As he and Mark drive away from Salem's Lot, Mears comments that the fire is a good thing because it will drive all the vampires from their hiding places and purify the town from the evil that has engulfed it.

The story returns to Mears and Mark at the church in Guatemala two years later. It becomes clear that they are on the run from the surviving Salem's Lot vampires, and that their bottles of holy water glow whenever a vampire is nearby. Realising that they have been tracked down yet again, Mears and Mark return to their lodgings to collect their belongings. Once there, Mears finds Susan lying in his bed. Now a vampire, she prepares to bite him as he leans down to kiss her, but instead Mears drives a stake through her heart and kills her. A grief-stricken Mears then leaves with Mark, knowing that the vampires will continue to pursue them.