A Law Unto Themselves

It all started with X – an ode to the 1970s early slasher movies; then, it was followed up by prequel Pearl – a horror flashback paying tribute to the early days of colour cinema; and it all concludes (supposedly) with MaXXXine (2024) – which leaps into 1985... following survivor of the original, Maxine Minx (Mia Goth), as she navigates Los Angeles – attempting to make it in the cutthroat world of show business. One of the more unique trilogies in cinema history, writer/director Ti West’s conclusion is not complex in its narrative... if you’ve been in tune with the films from the very beginning, it will likely not be too difficult to guess where it’s all leading to, but it is utterly impressive in its cinematic dialogue – in other words, how it pulls its inspiration from the history of the industry to create a striking pastiche of the 80s era.

Using a slight variation on the Master of Suspense’s oh-so-famous name, The Horrible Dr. Hichcock (1962), a horror film out of Italy written and directed by Ernesto Gastaldi, does not hide its love of the great Alfred Hitchcock’s oeuvre. Set in 1885, the titular Dr. Hichcock is a much lauded surgeon for his early mastery of anesthesia... saving lives no one ever thought remotely possible. With a veneer of respectability both in public and at home, his wife, Margaretha (Maria Teresa Vianello), happily entertains the Italian elite with her elegant piano playing in her extravagant estate home. But it is after hours when his hidden vices are released.

Unlike most other memorable Hammer horror movies, the 1964 mystery thriller Nightmare, directed by Freddie Francis (perhaps better known as the cinematographer of films like David Lynch’s The Elephant Man and Martin Scorsese’s Cape Fear) eliminates all of the monsters for an old fashioned quasi ghost story... the piece deserving to be remembered up there with those Hammer horror films centered on vampires, resurrected corpses, and lycanthropes. Shot in shadowy black and white, the story follows struggling seventeen year old Janet (Jennie Linden), who is currently away from home living at a finishing school for girls.

It’s just never a good sign when you’re honeymooning in the early 20th century Bavarian countryside and your brand new automobile runs out of petrol. The opening of a rather lesser known Hammer horror film (following a little bit of early staking action), The Kiss of the Vampire (1963), directed by Don Sharp, is shockingly without stalwarts Christopher Lee or Peter Cushing. The couple: Gerald (Edward de Souza) and Marianne (Jennifer Daniel), are left with little option. With the former walking ahead hoping for some aid, the latter is soon scared by a storm, bumping into the rather inimical Professor Zimmer (Clifford Evans)... coming across more like a morose vagabond than a learned man. All the while, a man from a hilltop manor, Dr. Ravna (Noel Willman), looks on with intrigue with the use of his telescope.

A clever reworking of the Predator franchise, 2022's Prey, a prequel co-written and directed by Dan Trachtenberg (10 Cloverfield Lane), is set some 250 years prior to what we thought was the alien species first arrival opposite human beings on Earth. Set in the vast Great Plains in 1719, the story follows Naru (Amber Midthunder), a young Comanche woman who has been trained as a healer, though not so secretly yearns to be a hunter. Overshadowed by her successful bow and arrow wielding brother Taabe (Dakota Beavers), she uses whatever free time she has to continue training at the useful skill. It is worth noting that the familial relationship is nicely crafted, not simply one of brutish sibling rivalry (like we’ve seen in other motion pictures), instead holding within it a nuanced combination of direct competition, hunting mentorship, and much needed cooperation.