Oddball Cinema

While watching this wonderfully loony variation on the old haunted-castle theme, the viewer may wonder, “is horror even scarier when opera is involved?” Locals fear the titular building, calling it The Devil’s Castle, and relate tales of spooky goings-on in the area. A brave and determined opera singer thinks his fiancée is being held captive there, and a young gamekeeper who’s recently become smitten with the same woman accompanies him. Subsequent events are unfailingly weird yet form a coherent, albeit ridiculous, plot.

■ Title — The Mysterious Castle in the Carpathians
■ A.K.A. — Tajemství hradu v Karpatech
■ Director — Oldrich Lipský
■ Cast — Michal Docolomanský, Evelyna Steimarová, Vlastimil Brodský
■ Unrated, suitable for general audiences
■ ©1981 | 1h 37m | Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
■ Czech dialogue with English subtitles

Everyone in a remote Spanish town has a dark secret. Forty years in the past the citizens committed a despicable act in an effort to prevent a terrible prophecy from being realized. Now the appearance of a strange girl suggests that they may not have been entirely successful. In a population utterly lacking in trust among neighbors, horrifying supernatural events surrounding the girl lead to suspicions, accusations, and violent revenge. The title hardly captures just how dire the situation will become. A short scene midway through the end credits is not to be missed.

■ Title — Everyone Will Burn
■ A.K.A. — Y todos arderán
■ Director — David Hebrero
■ Cast — Macarena Gómez, Rodolfo Sancho, Ana Milán
■ Unrated, suitable for teens and adults
■ ©2021 | 2h 5m | Horror
■ Spanish dialogue with English subtitles

The story starts slowly and without apparent direction, but by the time the final credits roll it develops into a weird and original twist on the vampire genre. A gritty story filmed on the streets of New York and in shadowy interiors, it looks like something that might have resulted from a collaboration between Martin Scorcese and Gaspar Noé. A young woman working on her PhD at NYU walks home in the evenings through some dodgy territory, and along the way one night she encounters something supernatural. From then on she has to contend with malevolent forces developing within her. Caution: the main character is working on a philosophy dissertation focused on concepts of good and evil (mostly evil). For this purpose, she spends a lot of time studying the Holocaust, and photos of WW2 atrocities are frequently displayed onscreen.

■ Title — The Addiction
■ Director — Abel Ferrara
■ Cast — Lili Taylor, Christopher Walken, Annabella Sciorra
■ Unrated, suitable for teens and adults
■ ©1995 | 1h 22m | Drama, Horror