Though occasionally considered stuffy by casual film fans, the Criterion Collection also includes lots of populist goodies that add a dash of fun to their mostly highbrow library. This may be best exemplified by the company's selection of horror films, which encomes everything from B-Movie schlock to experimental spook shows and Kaiju classics. Below, we list ten such off-the-beaten-path horror gems just begging to be streamed on the Criterion Channel.
The Golem (1920)
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is inarguably the most famous example of German Expressionist cinema, but The Golem, which was released the same year), is a worthy companion to that bonafide horror classic.
Based on an ancient Hebrew legend, actor-director Paul Wagener stars as the titular monster. Created by a sixteenth-century rabbi (Albert Steinrück) to protect his people against the cruelties of Rudolf II of Prague, the golem is an indestructible force that, falling into the wrong hands, spells doom for the very people he's sworn to serve. A spellbinding swirl of religion, magic, and refined effects work, The Golem is an early masterpiece of silent horror cinema whose themes ring out even more loudly post World War II.
Sisters (1973)
Brian De Palma is best known for his stylish and sleazy suspense pictures, and Sisters was his first foray into a Hitchcockian style of film craft. Starring Margot Kidder (Black Christmas, Superman) in a duel role as model Danielle and her separated coned twin, Dominique, Sisters kicks off with a reporter, Grace (Jennifer Salt) witnessing a nasty murder for which she believes Dominique to be responsible. With little to go on besides what she saw with her own eyes, Grace strives to untangle the complex web that links Dominique and Danielle... risking her own life in the process.
De Palma's chilling first dip into the horror genre is packed with the director's trademarks (voyeuristic violence, split-screen effects) and topped off with an exquisite score by legendary Hitchcock collaborator, Bernard Hermann.
The Haunted Strangler (1958)
This UK production, starring all-time horror great, Boris Karloff (Frankenstein), concerns a nineteenth-century novelist named James Rankin (Karloff) who begins an investigation into what he believes to have been a wrongful execution twenty years prior. In Rankin's figuring, the man put to death for the crimes of "The Haymarket Strangler" wasn't the perpetrator, and the Strangler got off scot-free, changed his name, and is still living. But, of course, things are never so simple, and, as Rankin begins to uncover the true facts of the case, he discovers a personal connection with the Strangler beyond his wildest imaginings.
The Haunted Strangler is an atmospheric whodunnit that takes its cues from The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde for a boffo Karloff vehicle.
Hour of the Wolf (1968)
Cinema legend Ingmar Bergman's sole pure horror effort, Hour of The Wolf is a subconscious nightmare as bone-chilling as its Scandinavian setting. Recently-departed screen titan Max von Sydow stars as Johan Borg, an artist eaten up by repressed dreams and desires. While on holiday on a remote island with his wife, Alma (Liv Ullmann) Borg's grip on reality begins to slip, leading to an explosion of nightmarish visions both real and imagined.
With enough indelibly weird imagery to give David Lynch the jitters (e.g. a woman pulling her own face off) and a strong core of ambiguous psychology, Hour of the Wolf isn't easily forgotten.
Spirits of the Dead (1968)
Horror omnibus films are a dime a dozen, but few have the pedigree of this 1968 feature. Combining the talents of Federico Fellini, Louis Malle, and Roger Vadim, this stylish and delightfully weird anthology features three tales by Edgar Allen Poe conceived in each director's inimitable style.
Though not quite on par with something like Creepshow or Two Evil Eyes, Spirits of the Dead is a fascinating product of an all-too-rare collaboration by three of cinema's most beloved artists.
Equinox (1970)
This charmingly handmade creature feature boasts one unbelievable credit: its effects were created by Dennis Muren before he became a nine-time Oscar winner for films like Star Wars and Jurassic Park.
When a group of teens goes on vacay in California, the foursome discovers an ancient book that lets loose a coterie of demoniacal beasties. The pet project of an ambitious crew of amateur filmmakers, this love-letter to giant monster movies of the 1950s was made for a mere $6,500 and has proven to be one of the most influential films ever made for the horror and sci-fi crowd.
God Told Me To (1976)
Writer/Producer/Director Larry Cohen is well-loved for his New York brand of guerilla-style filmmaking, but even professed fans often ignore God Told Me To, his most ambitious and far-out work.
When a rooftop sniper is questioned by NYPD detective Peter Nicholas (Tony Lo Bianco), he claims that God told him to kill before leaping to his death. As the same mania begins to sweep the city, Nicholas begins to unearth a shadowy underground conspiracy connected to an ostensible alien messiah (Richard Lynch), who he may be more closely related to than he realizes.
A bug-eyed stare into the cosmic void, God Told Me To is speculative sci-fi at its grubbiest and most unsettling.
I Was A Teenage Zombie (1987)
This takeoff on the I Was A Teenage... movies of the 1950s and Brat Pack-style high school romance concerns a group of teens who accidentally off a drug dealer in a scuffle for pot. Disposing of the body, they accidentally drop him in toxic waste, from which he emerges as an irradiated flesh-eater. A rough-hewn comedy set to the rockin' tunes of the Fleshtones, Los Lobos, and the Violent Femmes.
Baxter (1989)
And you thought Cujo was a bad boy! Based on the novel "Hell Hound" by Ken Greenhall, this pitch-black comedy tells the story of a bloodthirsty bull terrier and his search for the perfect owner. When he settles upon a Hitler-obsessed boy, the real fun begins!
Director Jérome Boivin's film has been critiqued for its dull human characters, but, with a canine performance this good (voiced by Maxime Leroux), his two-legged counterparts can only pale in comparison!
Cronos (1993)
Years before he became an Academy Award winner, Guillermo Del Toro began his filmmaking career with this unorthodox vampire tale. When antiques dealer Jesús Gris (Federico Luppi) inherits a bizarre device with sinister powers, he becomes possessed by an overwhelming bloodlust that makes him the target of a deranged American businessman named Angel (Ron Perlman). Though smaller in scale than Del Toro's subsequent work, Cronos remains an intimate and bewitchingly modern take on immortality and addiction.
