Singing the Blues

It is not too often that a mid or post-credit sequence leaves much of an impact as things come to a close. Usually meant to add a few final jokes to a comedy (think Airplance! or Old School), show some silly bloopers, or tease for a future film (Marvel has thrived thanks to these hints pointing towards coming storylines and movies), a rare example of something having a true impact on a narrative is Ryan Coogler’s period horror film Sinners (2025). A most dynamic feature melding many intriguing elements, the first thing that will be noticed is the time and setting – Clarksdale, Mississippi during the Great Depression (specifically 1932). Following twin brothers ‘Smoke’ and ‘Stack’ Moore (both played by Michael B. Jordan), and to a slightly lesser extent their cousin Sammie...

The immense love for Dario Argento’s visually mesmeric horror film Suspiria (1977) has in some ways overshadowed that it is actually part of the Three Mothers Trilogy – a thematic grouping more akin to the Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy from Edgar Wright than a more traditional franchise. Both written and directed by Argento, Inferno was released three years after the original... for those curious, the long delayed bookend, The Mother of Tears, only came to life in 2007. Carrying forward a similar vibe and flair as the first feature, Inferno, instead of being set in Germany, takes place between New York and Rome. Starting in the Big Apple, young poet Rose Elliott (Irene Miracle) seems to be living quite the life for someone so young... as the apartment she resides in would even make the cast of Friends jealous.

Clearly inspired by the classic 1960 plastic surgery French horror film Les Yeux Sans Visage (Eyes Without a Face), eccentric exploitation master director Jesús Franco (Bahía Blanca), who often goes by Jess, crafted the horror movie Faceless (1988) – his highest budgeted film in twenty years. Sometimes things go bad right off the bat, and that is the case here – as a disgruntled former patient of famed plastic surgeon Dr. Flamand (Helmut Berger) tries to throw acid on him as payment for the botched job... unfortunately, it hits his gorgeous sister Ingrid (Christiane Jean) in the face, disfiguring her model-like visage.

The fantastic thing about a horror short film is that it strips away all of that bulky flesh – the slick story that’s trying to trick or impress, the characterization of the spooked individuals or haunted location, the exorbitant settings and special effects that might distract as much as impress; a short instead simply returning to the very primordial aspects of what scares us as human beings – a most basic idea that creakily lurks in the shadowy recesses of our minds. This 2025 four minute and three second feature, Dark Water, written and directed by Ethan Hunt (no, not Tom Cruise’s super spy), does just that. Starting with a most basic premise: a young woman (Amelie Melsness) helps a friend with a seemingly simple and rather menial task – open a jar of murky water no later than 10 P.M., make sure there are no witnesses... and wait until the water goes crystal clear. That’s it! One thing’s for sure, the girl named Alyssa who asks for this by way of text has a great friend.

The first of Edgar Allan Poe’s famed horror stories to come to life at American International Pictures with Roger Corman at the helm and Vincent Price in the starring role, House of Usher (1960), was a huge success... spawning numerous gothic Poe adaptations that would bring the team back together in the near future. With Price taking on the role of the titular Roderick Usher, the man is an utter emotional mess, belying his impeccably manicured appearance. Severely sensitive to noise, light, and taste, he demands hushed voices, minimal natural or candle light at all times, and bland gruel as the meal of choice.

A British slasher film parading as your prototypical American one, 1986's Slaughter High (which was originally going to be more accurately titled April Fool’s Day, but changed after a conflict arose with a Paramount movie coming out with the same name), written and directed by triumvirate George Dugdale, Mark Ezra, and Peter Mackenzie Litten, is a by the books horror movie with some above average kills... and, as we all know in this sub-genre, that is usually what truly stands out. Following a group of high school hot shot jerks led by pretty girl Carol Manning (Caroline Munro – Bond girl Naomi from The Spy Who Loved Me; as well as the Hammer horror film Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter), cruel prankster Skip Pollack (Carmine Iannaccone), feigners Ted Harrison (Michael Safran) and Carl Putney (John Segal), slutty Stella (Donna Yeager), and other entourage members, their sole goal is to sabotage the life of science nerd Marty (Simon Scuddamore). As these things do, they take the jester prank way too far... leaving the teen in a horribly disfigured state.