Mystery: 104

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992), an American comedy directed by Fran Rubel Kuzui and written by Joss Whedon, follows the story of Buffy Summers. She is a cheerleader at Hemery High School in Los Angeles, where her main interests include shopping and spending time with her wealthy friends and boyfriend, Jeffrey. However, one day at school, she meets Merrick, who claims she is The Slayer – the chosen one destined to defeat vampires. At first, Buffy dismisses his words but later changes her mind when he describes a recurring dream of hers in vivid detail. Despite ...

Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), an American vampire horror film, was produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and written by James V. Hart. It is based on Stoker’s classic 1897 novel of the same name. The story follows Vlad Dracula, who returns from a victorious battle against the Ottoman Empire in 1462 to find his beloved wife, Elisabeta, dead. He is told by a priest that her soul is condemned for committing suicide. Outraged, Vlad renounces Christianity and vows to avenge Elisabeta with the powers of ...

Based on the 1974 short story by Stephen King, Sometimes They Come Back (1991) is a made-for-television horror film about Jim Norman’s return to his old hometown of Liberty, Missouri. Along with his wife Sally and son Scott, Jim moves back to accept a teaching job. As a child, Jim witnessed his brother Wayne’s murder by a group of greasers during a train tunnel mugging in 1963. His family then moved away from the small town, but now they are returning. However, old wounds resurface as Jim begins to have nightmares about his brother’s death. To his horror, he soon realizes that the ghosts of ...

The Exorcist III (1990) is a gripping American psychological horror film directed and written by William Peter Blatty, based on his novel Legion from 1983. Set fifteen years after Regan MacNeil’s harrowing exorcism in 1975, the story follows Father Dyer and Lieutenant Kinderman as they reflect on the late Father Damien Karras. Strange events begin to unfold at a local church, where a crucifix unexpectedly opens its eyes. Later, a man wanders the streets claiming to have had a dream about ‘falling down a long flight of steps’, leading Kinderman to suspect that someone is committing murders related to Karras’ tragic death. The following day, ...

The miniseries, It (1990), is a two-part psychological horror drama based on Stephen King’s novel of the same name. It was directed by Tommy Lee Wallace and adapted by Lawrence D. Cohen. Set in Derry, Maine in 1960 during a heavy rainstorm, young George Denbrough is playing with his paper sailboat in the streets. His older brother Bill, who stutters, made the boat for him. Unfortunately, it ends up going down a storm drain. There, Georgie meets Pennywise the Dancing Clown who entices him to retrieve his boat. ...

Angel Heart (1987), an American neo-noir psychological horror film, is based on William Hjortsberg’s 1978 novel Falling Angel. In the movie, private investigator Harry Angel receives a job offer from a man called Louis Cyphre to locate John Liebling, also known as Johnny Favorite, a singer who suffered neurological damage during World War II. This injury has affected Favorite’s ability to fulfill his contract with Cyphre, which involved some form of collateral. Believing that a private hospital where Favorite was receiving psychiatric treatment is hiding something, Cyphre asks Harry for help. After ...

Opera (1987) is a renowned Italian giallo, co-written and directed by Dario Argento. The story follows Mara Cecova, the lead in an innovative performance of Verdi’s Macbeth at the Parma Opera House. During a heated disagreement with the director outside the theater, Cecova is tragically struck by a car and left injured. In her place, the young understudy Betty steps into the role of Lady Macbeth. Despite her initial hesitation, Betty’s debut proves to be a triumph. However, on the night of her opening, an unknown individual sneaks into the opera house and watches her performance from an unoccupied box. When ...

The American horror film Silver Bullet (1985) is based on Stephen King’s 1983 novella, Cycle of the Werewolf. It follows the story of Jane Coslaw and her paraplegic younger brother Marty in their small rural town of Tarker’s Mills, Maine during the spring of 1976. A series of murders takes place, starting with railroad worker Arnie Westrum being decapitated by an unseen attacker. Pregnant Stella Randolph, driven to despair, meets a brutal end in her own bedroom. The abusive father Milt Sturmfuller is killed in his greenhouse and even Marty’s best friend Brady Kincaid falls victim to the ...

Phenomena (1985) is a giallo-horror film directed and co-written by Dario Argento. After missing a bus in the Swiss countryside, 14-year-old Danish tourist Vera Brandt seeks help at a nearby cottage. She falls victim to an attack by an unknown assailant, who beheads her. The case is later examined by forensic entomologist John McGregor and Inspector Rudolf Geiger of the Kantonspolizei Zürich, who discover that Brandt is just one of several young girls who have been murdered. McGregor’s former assistant is also among the victims. Meanwhile, Jennifer Corvino, daughter of a famous American actor, arrives at the Swiss ...

Graham Baker’s Omen III: The Final Conflict (1981) is a supernatural horror film that follows the story of Damien Thorn, a 32-year-old CEO of an international conglomerate. After the U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom commits a brutal suicide, Damien is appointed to take his place – a position once held by his adoptive father, Robert Thorn. Fully embracing his unholy ancestry and having run his company for seven years, Damien embarks on a mission to stop the Second Coming of Christ and shape his own destiny. However, Father DeCarlo, a priest from the same monastery where Damien’s adoptive father ...

Inferno (1980) is an Italian supernatural horror film written and directed by Dario Argento. Rose Elliot, a poet residing in New York City’s Upper West Side, purchases a book from an antiques dealer titled The Three Mothers, written by alchemist Varelli. The book tells the tale of three malevolent sisters who each reside in their own specially constructed homes: Mater Suspiriorum, the Mother of Sighs in Freiburg; Mater Lachrymarum, the Mother of Tears in Rome; and Mater Tenebrarum, the Mother of Darkness in New York. Believing that she may be living in Mater Tenebrarum’s building, Rose reaches out to her ...

Salem’s Lot (1979) is an American two-part vampire miniseries based on the 1975 horror novel ‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King. Directed by Tobe Hooper. At a church in Guatemala, Ben Mears and Mark Petrie are gathering holy water when they suddenly realize they are being pursued. Despite the ominous presence, they decide to stand their ground and confront it. Two years prior, Mears, a successful writer, returns to his hometown of Salem’s Lot, Maine. His plan is to research and write about the infamous Marsten House on the hill, known for its ...

Directed by Don Taylor, Damien: Omen II (1978) is a supernatural horror film that follows the story of Damien Thorn, the Antichrist. One week after the events of the first film, archaeologist Carl Bugenhagen discovers that Damien is still alive. He enlists the help of his friend Michael Morgan to deliver a box containing the Seven Daggers of Megiddo – necessary for Damien’s demise – to his new guardian. Initially doubtful, Morgan eventually believes Bugenhagen after seeing a depiction of Damien on a mural at a local ruin called Yigael’s Wall. Sadly, both men are buried alive when the ruins ...

The Fury (1978), an American supernatural horror thriller film directed by Brian De Palma, follows ex-government agent Peter Sandza and his psychic son Robin as they encounter Ben Childress, Peter’s former colleague from the agency. Despite Sandza’s plans to leave their old lives behind and return to the United States, Childress objects and stages a terrorist attack as a cover-up for kidnapping Robin in order to protect him. Though Peter manages to survive the attack and escape while badly injured, he is unable to save his son. Meanwhile in Chicago, high-school student Gillian Bellaver discovers her own ...

Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), an American supernatural horror film directed by John Boorman and written by William Goodhart, is the second installment in The Exorcist franchise. It follows the events of The Exorcist (1973), as we meet Philip Lamont, a priest struggling with his faith. Lamont travels to Latin America to exorcise a woman who claims to possess miraculous healing abilities. However, things take a tragic turn when the exorcism goes awry and sets the room on fire. Amidst the chaos, the possessed woman is killed after her dress catches on ...

Suspiria (1977), an Italian supernatural horror film, was directed by Dario Argento and co-written with Daria Nicolodi. The inspiration for the film partially came from Thomas De Quincey’s 1845 essay Suspiria de Profundis. Suzy Bannion, an American ballet student, arrives at the renowned Tanz Akademie in Freiburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany during a heavy storm. As she approaches the school, she witnesses another student, Pat Hingle, fleeing in terror. However, Suzy is denied entry and must stay in town for the night. Meanwhile, Pat seeks refuge at her ...

The Omen (1976), a supernatural horror film from director Richard Donner and writer David Seltzer, follows American diplomat Robert Thorn and his wife Katherine as they live in Rome. After giving birth to a stillborn child, Katherine is convinced by hospital chaplain Father Spiletto to secretly adopt a newborn whose mother has recently died. Keeping this secret from Katherine, the couple names the baby Damien. Several years later, Robert is now the Ambassador to the United Kingdom and strange occurrences begin to haunt the Thorns: an aggressive Rottweiler appears at their ...

The Exorcist (1973), an American supernatural horror film, was directed by William Friedkin and adapted from William Peter Blatty’s novel. Priest Lankester Merrin joins an archaeological expedition in the ancient ruins of Hatra in northern Iraq. There, he discovers a stone talisman depicting a winged being that triggers a worried expression on his face. In the midst of his exploration, he has a vision where he is confronted by a giant version of the same creature. Meanwhile, actress Chris MacNeil and her daughter Regan reside in a grandiose house with hired help in ...

The American drama film Season of the Witch (1972), written and directed by George A. Romero, follows the story of Joan Mitchell, a dissatisfied 39-year-old housewife living in suburban Pittsburgh with her husband Jack and college student daughter Nikki. Despite being attractive, Joan is unhappy with her role as a homemaker while Jack is successful but often absent on business trips and displays domineering and occasionally violent behavior. To cope with her recurring dreams about her controlling husband, Joan seeks help from a psychotherapist. As Jack continues to make comments about needing to assert his dominance, he ...

The Terror (1963), an American independent horror film, was produced and directed by Roger Corman and stars Boris Karloff and Jack Nicholson. Nicholson portrays a French officer who is seduced by Helene, a shapeshifting devil disguised as a woman. In 1806, André Duvalier, a lost French soldier, is rescued by Helene, who bears a striking resemblance to Ilsa von Leppe, the late wife of Baron von Leppe. As André delves into Helene’s true identity, he discovers the Baron’s darkest secret: after catching his wife ...