Have a high brow Halloween with Curzon Home Cinema’s ‘Stream and Scream’ collection

Now that we’ve given you a rundown of the irresistibly cheap thrills and deliciously bad taste horror on Amazon and Netflix this year, allow us to point you in the direction of some hair-raising Halloween programming for the more discerning film fan.

As of today and until November 9th, Curzon Home Cinema presents its Stream and Scream collection, featuring a mix of tricks ‘n’ treats in the form of sci fi, mystery, international and documentary films. Here’s what Curzon has in store for those of you seeking a higher brow Halloween this year…

The Nightmare (2015)

A terrifying exploration of real life incidents, Rodney Ascher’s The Nightmare recreates some of the worst visions had by people suffering from sleep paralysis; a phenomenon which approximately one third of the British population is said to have experienced, and which Wes Craven cites as his inspiration for Freddy Krueger and the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise.

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Room 237 (2012)

Also from Rodney Ascher comes this documentary giving voice to some of the theories surrounding Kubrick’s iconic 1980 adaptation of Stephen King’s The Shining. From Holocaust references to moon landing conspiracies, obsessive cinephiles offer their interpretations of what they believe to be the film’s hidden meanings; some of which have us rather convinced…

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The Blair Witch Project (1999)

The low budget found footage film in need of no introduction, this worldwide phenomenon and its innovative marketing campaign pretty much sparked a new genre for a new century, and earned a seat at the ‘most profitable films of all time’ table. A must-see for the uninitiated, and well worth a revisit from the rest of us (now we’re reassured that it is in fact fictional – whew)!

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Suspiria (1977)

Directed and co-written by giallo genre legend Dario Argento, this cult Italian horror sees a young Jessica Harper as an American ballet student, who discovers that her prestigious German dance academy is a front for something far more sinister. Featuring an original score from Italian prog rockers Goblin, no less.

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Doc of the Dead (2014)

Alexandre O. Philippe (The People vs. George Lucas) examines our fascination with the zombie genre in film, literature, and popular culture as a whole in this definitive documentary, featuring interviews with the likes of zombie trailblazers George A. Romero and Robert Kirkman, and actors Simon Pegg, Bruce Campbell and Judith O’Dea.

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The Strange Colour of Your Body’s Tears (2013)

Otherwise known by its original title L’étrange couleur des larmes de ton corps, this international production follows an ordinary businessman who returns home to find that his wife has gone missing; the search for whom leads him to discover a complicated web of murder and deception.

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Possession (1981)

Sam Neill is having some wife trouble of his own in this French-German horror, as his character’s wife leaves him and begins to spiral into madness. Yet upon hiring a private investigator to follow her, he soon learns she is hiding a much bigger secret than just another lover.

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Berberian Sound Studio (2012)

Toby Jones plays Gilderoy – a British sound engineer in a 1970s Italian horror studio – who uses real life torture methods to extract the sound effects he needs for the blood-drenched giallo thriller he is working on. A creepy anti-horror and a loving tribute to the genre at a snappy 92 minutes long.

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Scanners (1981)

“10 seconds: the pain begins. 15 seconds: you can’t breathe. 20 seconds: you explode”. The graphic below says it all, doesn’t it? Securing David Cronenberg’s notability to the ‘body horror’ genre, this audacious sci fi presents the ‘scanners’ – people with telepathic and telekinetic powers, whose thoughts can literally kill – and how a weapons-dealing corporation seeks to use them for its own sinister gain.

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Antichrist (2009)

Forming one third of the ‘Depression Trilogy’ from Lars von Trier – A.K.A arthouse film’s biggest troll – this shocker opens with an infant child falling out of a window to his death while his oblivious parents (von Trier muses Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg) get it on in the next room. With an exposition like that, you just know things are going to get pretty effed up.

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What We Do In The Shadows (2014)

In case things are getting a bit heavy for you in this hypothetical movie marathon, here’s an hilarious mockumentary horror from Kiwi comedy legends Taika Waititi, Jemaine Clement and Rhys Darby, who play a trio of vampire housemates struggling to cope with the complexities of modern life.

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Cannibal Holocaust (1979)

Publicised as ‘The one that goes all the way’, this found footage exploitation horror from director Ruggero Deodato – which follows a team of American film-makers searching the Amazon basin for a previous expedition, who disappeared whilst investigating cannibal tribes – is still considered one of the most controversial films of all time; and for good reason. Find out why, if you’ve got the stomach for it.

In the mood for more Horror? Check out our lists of what Netflix and Amazon Prime Instant Video have to offer this Halloween.