FEAR FRENZY!
IT’S ALL IN THE NAME.
Why do we love horror at AIN?
Let us count the ways.
We love horror because it makes us feel alive.
For a little while, the grocery list disappears. The emails disappear. The deadlines, bills, traffic, appointments and endless obligations of the real world disappear. Horror grabs us by the collar, pulls us into another world and says:
Pay attention. Something is out there.
And we do.
We lean forward. We listen for the floorboard that shouldn't have creaked. We watch the doorway behind the character instead of the character. We know perfectly well someone should NOT go down those basement stairs — and we also know there isn't a chance in hell we're turning the movie off before they do.
Because horror gives us something increasingly rare:
Permission to surrender control.
For ninety minutes, we don't have to be sensible. We don't have to be structured. We don't have to know the answer.
Maybe the noise in the woods is only a branch.
Maybe.
Maybe that shadow in the hallway was the cat.
Probably.
And yes, perhaps there are cave dwellers crawling across the ceilings of caves waiting to descend upon unsuspecting explorers and feast upon human flesh.
Of course there are. Who are we to deny it?
Have we personally investigated every cave on Earth?
No.
Do we actually know that flesh-eating cave dwellers do not exist?
No, we do not.
And THAT is where horror lives.
In that delicious little sliver of uncertainty between what we know and what we think we know.
What lurks just beyond the light?
What made that sound?
Is somebody standing behind me?
Is it safe to open that door?
We won't know until we open it, will we?
Horror understands that sometimes what we imagine is far more terrifying than anything a filmmaker could possibly show us. The great horror storytellers have always known how to exploit that space — the darkness at the end of the hallway, the thing underneath the bed, the footsteps getting closer, the monster we haven't quite seen yet.
And then, sometimes, they show us the monster.
We love that too.
Horror can be gothic or grotesque, psychological or supernatural, elegant or gloriously ridiculous. It can whisper in our ear or come charging through the wall. It can make us laugh, scream, squirm, hide our eyes and then immediately peek through our fingers because we absolutely have to see what happens next.
But beneath the monsters, ghosts, killers, creatures and things that really should have remained buried, horror has always been about something profoundly human.
Fear.
Survival.
Loss.
Isolation.
The unknown.
And that primitive little voice somewhere deep inside every one of us asking the oldest question imaginable:
Am I safe?
Great horror lets us confront that question from the extraordinary safety of our own sofa. Our hearts race. Our palms sweat. Our imaginations ignite.
And when the credits roll, we emerge on the other side.
Alive.
Safe.
And perhaps looking just a little more carefully into the dark hallway before we turn out the light.
Welcome to FEAR FRENZY, where monsters are welcome, shadows are suspicious, doors are probably better left closed — and absolutely nothing is guaranteed to stay dead.
Go ahead.
Open the door.
We dare you.
YOU’VE BEEN WARNED.
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Nosferatu (1922)
Directed by: F.W. Murnau
Starring: Max Schreck, Gustav von Wangenheim, Greta Schröder, Alexander Granach, John GottowtSTORY
Before Dracula became a romantic figure in a cape, before Bela Lugosi gave him an accent, and long before vampires became handsome, seductive creatures of the night, there... -
Night Of The Living Dead
Directed by: George A. Romero
Written by: George A. Romero and John A. Russo
Starring: Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea, Karl Hardman, Marilyn Eastman, Keith Wayne, Judith Ridley, Russell StreinerSTORY
A car winds along a lonely Pennsylvania road toward a cemetery.
There is nothing supernatural about... -
THE DEVIL BAT BELA LUGOSI
Directed by: Jean Yarbrough
Starring: Bela Lugosi, Suzanne Kaaren, Dave O’Brien, Guy Usher, Yolande Donlan, Donald Kerr
Produced by: Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC)
Screenplay by: John Thomas Neville
Original Story by: George Bricker
Runtime: Approximately 68 minutes
Black & White | United ... -
House on Haunted Hill (1959)
Directed by: William Castle
Written by: Robb White
Starring: Vincent Price, Carol Ohmart, Richard Long, Alan Marshal, Carolyn Craig, Elisha Cook Jr., Julie Mitchum
STORY
Frederick Loren is throwing a party.
Of course, when Frederick Loren is played by Vincent Price, accepting the invitation proba... -
The Brain That Wouldn't Die
Directed by: Joseph Green
Written by: Joseph Green and Rex Carlton
Starring: Jason Evers (credited as Herb Evers), Virginia Leith, Adele Lamont, Anthony La Penna, Lola Mason, Bruce Brighton, Eddie CarmelSTORY
There are certain sentences a woman never expects to hear from the man she loves.
“Da... -
Carnival of Souls (1962)
Directed by: Herk Harvey
Written by: John Clifford
Starring: Candace Hilligoss, Frances Feist, Sidney Berger, Art Ellison, Stan Levitt, Herk HarveySTORY
This one HAUNTS.
It doesn't chase you out of the theater.
But, it will follow you home.It begins with a dare.
Two cars.
A stretch of road.
K... -
Dementia 13 Francis Ford Coppola
Directed by: Francis Ford Coppola
Written by: Francis Ford Coppola
Executive Producer: Roger Corman
Starring: William Campbell, Luana Anders, Bart Patton, Mary Mitchell, Patrick Magee, Eithne Dunne, Peter ReadSTORY
The Haloran family has a problem.
Actually, the Haloran family has several probl... -
The Skeleton Dance -1927 Walt Disney a CLASSIC
Directed by: Walt Disney
Animation by: Ub Iwerks
Music by: Carl W. StallingSTORY
Midnight strikes in a lonely graveyard, and while most sensible creatures would probably prefer to be somewhere else, the residents of this cemetery are only getting started.
An owl watches from a tree as bats fl...
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PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE 1959.ia
Directed by: Edward D. Wood Jr.
Starring: Gregory Walcott, Mona McKinnon, Bela Lugosi, Maila Nurmi (Vampira), Tor Johnson, Tom Keene, Lyle Talbot, Dudley Manlove, Joanna Lee
Narrated by: CriswellSTORY
Flying saucers are appearing over California.
The government knows about them.
The military...
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The Ghoul BORIS KARLOFF 1933
Directed by: T. Hayes Hunter
Starring: Boris Karloff, Cedric Hardwicke, Ernest Thesiger, Dorothy Hyson, Anthony Bushell, Ralph RichardsonSTORY
Professor Henry Morlant is dying.
But Henry Morlant has absolutely no intention of staying dead.
Boris Karloff stars as the wealthy, obsessive Egyptolog... -
Werewolf_of_Washington
Directed by: Milton Moses Ginsberg
Starring: Dean Stockwell, Biff McGuire, Clifton James, Katalin Kallay, Michael Dunn, Thayer DavidSTORY
Washington has survived scandals, political enemies, cover-ups and crises.
But it has never had to deal with a werewolf in the White House.
Dean Stockwell st... -
A Bucket of Blood (1959)
Directed by: Roger Corman
Starring: Dick Miller, Barboura Morris, Antony Carbone, Julian Burton, Ed Nelson, Bert Convy
STORY
Walter Paisley is a painfully awkward busboy working at the Yellow Door, a coffeehouse filled with beatnik poets, artists and bohemian intellectuals. Walter desperately...
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The Haunted House Mickey Mouse 1929
Directed by: Walt Disney
Starring: Mickey Mouse (Walt Disney)
STORY
It is a dark and stormy night, and poor Mickey Mouse is caught outside in absolutely miserable weather.
Rain pours down. Lightning flashes across the sky. The wind has turned Mickey's umbrella into something considerably less...
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The Last Man on Earth (1964)
Directed by: Sidney Salkow, Ubaldo Ragona
Starring: Vincent Price, Franca Bettoia, Emma Danieli, Giacomo Rossi Stuart, Umberto Raho, Christi Courtland
STORY
The world as Dr. Robert Morgan knew it is gone.
A mysterious disease has swept across humanity, killing nearly everyone it touches. But ...
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Attack Of The Giant Leeches
Directed by: Bernard L. Kowalski
Starring: Ken Clark, Yvette Vickers, Jan Shepard, Michael Emmet, Bruno VeSota, Gene RothSTORY
Deep in the Florida Everglades, something enormous is hiding beneath the black water.
When local trapper Lem Sawyer claims he has seen a gigantic creature in the swam...
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The Bat VINCENT PRICE, AGNES MOOREHEAD
Directed by: Crane Wilbur
Starring: Vincent Price, Agnes Moorehead, Gavin Gordon, John Sutton, Lenita Lane, Elaine Edwards, Darla Hood, John Bryant, Harvey Stephens, Mike Steele
STORY
Mystery writer Cornelia Van Gorder thinks she has found the perfect place to spend a quiet summer working on h...
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The Terror (1963) BORIS KARLOFF, JACK NICHOLSON
Directed by: Roger Corman
Starring: Boris Karloff, Jack Nicholson, Sandra Knight, Dick Miller, Dorothy Neumann, Jonathan HazeSTORY
Lost and separated from his regiment, young French Lieutenant André Duvalier wanders along a desolate coastline searching for his way back to civilization. Exhaust...
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White Zombie (1932) BELA LUGOSI
Directed by: Victor Halperin
Starring: Bela Lugosi, Madge Bellamy, John Harron, Robert Frazer, Joseph Cawthorn, Brandon Hurst, George Burr MacAnnan, Clarence MuseSTORY
Young lovers Neil Parker and Madeleine Short arrive in Haiti expecting to begin their new life together. They have been invite...
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Revolt of the Zombies (1936)
Directed by: Victor Halperin
Starring: Dorothy Stone, Dean Jagger, Roy D’Arcy, Robert Noland, George Cleveland, E. Alyn Warren, Carl StockdaleSTORY
During World War I, something far more terrifying than ordinary weapons appears on the battlefield.
A Cambodian priest serving with a French colo...
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King Of The Zombies (1941)
Directed by: Jean Yarbrough
Starring: Dick Purcell, Joan Woodbury, Mantan Moreland, Henry Victor, Patricia Stacey, John Archer, Leigh WhipperSTORY
Somewhere over the Caribbean, three American travelers are about to discover that surviving a plane crash may be the EASY part of their evening.
P...
