London Horror Movie Club

This month Chris and I watch the 2017 gothic "The Limehouse Golem" in which Inspector John Kildare's investigation of a serial killer in Linehouse leads him to the trail of Lizzie Cree, an actress accused of poisoning her husband. The film had a high budget with a stellar cast including  Olivia Cooke ,  Bill Nighy  and  Douglas Booth , but did it impress or can this film - like the g...

Drama, The Wrath of God, and Brussels Sprout liquour. This month we watch the psychedelic Vincent Price masterpiece The Abominable Dr. Phibes . As doctors and nurses are dying all over London in recreations of the Biblica plagues, the answer seems to lie in the graves of the recently deceased Dr. Anton Phibes and his wife. When it came out in 1971, the film was a hit, showing off stars like Price,...

London Horror Movie Club watches "American Werewolf In London" - the classic comedy horror directed by John Landis and beloved by horror fans and directors.  A clever, modern werewolf film starring David Naughton, Griffin Dunne, and Jenny Agutter, this is a classic everyone should consider watching once.  Chirs and I explore our favourite moments, imagine a recasting today, and, of cours...

This month's movie is the 2012 "Cockneys vs Zombies" an East End/Shaun of the Dead/Bank Heist comedy mashup starring Alan Ford ,   Matthias Hoene , Rasmus Hardiker . With some of the craziest kill scenes of any zombie movie, lots of heart, and a dash of social commentary, we had great fun watching this one! Join us to hear the best bits, the funniest lines, and if it taught us anything about...

Frenzy is the story of Dick Blaney ( Jon Finch ), a grumpy barman who has a very bad week, leading to him becoming the chief - and only - suspect in the Necktie serial killings.  With the help of his girlfriend Babs ( Anna Massey ) and his friend Bob ( Barry Foster ) he tries to avoid being hanged for the murder of several women,  including his ex-wife.   This was famously Hitchock'...

Happy Friday the 13th!  To kick off 2023 Chris and I interviewed the fantastically fun Tony Mardon. An actor and horror director, he has worked with horror legends like Ian McCulloch ( It! ), Pauline Peart ( The Satanic Rites of Dracula ), and Linzi Drew ( American Werewolf in London ). Join us as we ask Tony everything from directing tips, horror starter movies, and stories and insight...

This month I take Chris out of his usual horror groove with one of the best British Horror Films of the 1950s:  "Night of the Demon".  A favourite of Martin Scorsese, and  starring Dana Andrews , Peggy Cummins and Niall MacGinnis , this occult horror film is a forerunner to the more well known Folk Horrors of the next decade.  With a satanic cult, druidic runes, curses and the...

Chris is back as our permanent co-host and to welcome him we are talking about a favourite of his,  the Hughes Brothers' 2001 Jack the Ripper horror From Hell , starring Johnny Depp and Heather Graham and a stellar supporting cast including Ian Holm and Robbie Coltrane .  The film is part of a long history of Ripper-inspired horror films going back to Hitchcok's 1927 The Lodger , and it...

Day of the Triffids is a 1962 alien-invasion/ apocalypse horror, staring the incomparable Howard Keel and smouldering Nicole Maurey . After a meteor shower blinds most of the world, the few left with their sight intact struggle to survive the takeover of Earth by cannibalistic Triffid plants. Naval officer Bill Masen and student Susan leave desolated London in search of survivors, while biologists...

This season is all about London horror films adapted from books, beginning with the 1977 "Full Circle" starring Mia Farrow and Keir Dullea (known for 2001: A Space Odyssey ).  This is a beautiful adaptation of Peter Straub's haunting story "Julia". After the death of her daughter, Julia Lofting moves into a new home, which is haunted by the ghost of a little girl. Julia is torn between the gi...

To kick off season three I have a very special guest joining me from America, my brother Chris! We talk about Edgar Wright's remarkable and hilarious "Shaun of the Dead", the Cornetto Trilogy, "American Werewolf in London", London Horror, and why there has yet to be a truly brilliant Jack The Ripper movie.  Sit back, relax (maybe get a pint at the Winchester) and join us for this special epis...

For the final episode of Season 2 we look at a handful of other films where people are trapped in the underground; even if that isn't a main feature of the film.  This includes Godzilla-inspired horror Gorgo , Hammer classic Quatermass and the Pitt ,  Tobe Hooper's space-vampire film Lifeforce , and the recent haunted horror Woman In Black II .  All these films draw on the very real...

We go into the deleted scene archive this episode for Danny Boyle's 2001 "28 Days Later", an icon of London Horror Cinema. Starring Cillian Murphy ( Peaky Blinders ) and Naomi Harris ( Skyfall , Spectre ) as survivors in a post-apocalyptic, Rage-infected London. The film has been talked about in many ways, but rarely considering how Boyle uses the 'safe space' of the underground. I will dive in to...

For this episode, we go to Old Street Station in the 1998 horror Tale of the Mummy .  With a surprisingly star-studded cast (including Christopher Lee , Shelley Duvall , Gerard Butler , Sean Pertwee , Honor Blackman, and Michael Learner) this under-the-radar mummy movie is a wild and crazy ride. Archeologists discover the cursed tomb of the Egyptian ruler Talos precariously suspended over a p...

A deep cut of London Horror, "The Deaths of Ian Stone" is a hidden gem for those who loved other popular films of the time like "Constantine" or "Gabriel" but sought a less-religious and more dangerous angel.  Starring Mike Vogel (American Horror Story), Christina Cole (Jane Eyre, Poirot ), and Jamie Murray (Castlevania), the strong cast shines in this slow-burn fantasy in which average man I...

In horror a character on the underground can be like a rat in a maze: lost, confounded, and inevitably trapped.  We've seen it in other episodes, but perhaps the most intensely shot example is in John Landis' American Werewolf in London .  This 1981 comedy horror is a classic. It won an academy award for Best Makeup and took home Saturn Awards for Best Horror Film and Best Makeup and it...

When does the underground become more than just a way to transport people in a city?  In this week's post-apocalyptic monster movie Reign of Fire (2002), the underground bookends the film as a symbolic space where young Quinn is forced to reckon with his past in the form of a dragon.  Starring Christian Bale and Matthew McConaughey, this is an unusual horror film in some ways but is also...

Going deeper into the Underground, we go deeper into ourselves.  That is the psychological highlight of Episode 4 where we dig deep into the climactic underground scene in Juan Carlos Fresnadillo's 28 Weeks Later .  A sequel to the Danny Boyle film, 28 Days Later , Fresnadillo's film used pioneering camera techniques and a robust cast (including Robert Carlyle, Imogen Poots, Jeremy Renne...

A lot can happen in just one night.  Especially if that night is spent in the closed London Underground. And that is the premise of this episode's horror film, Christopher Smith's 2004 Creep . Trapped in a closed tube station, Franka Potente (best known for the Borne films) tries to escape while being pursued by a human science experiment living in the depths of the Underground.  A tense...

This month brings Death Line , the twisted tale of cannibals on the London Underground that feed off wayward commuters. But the film does more than pit a monsterous underground dweller against London's students, as writer/director Gary Sherman exposes the monsters that live above as well as below.  Shot in the Old Aldwych Tube station and including horror giants Christopher Lee and Donald Ple...

Season 2: Terror on the Tube   In Episode 1 Lauren takes us into Hobb's End where a Martian vessel is discovered just off the station platform in Quatermass and the Pit .  The 1967 Hammer film stars Andrew Keir and Barbara Shelley.  Mixing aliens, ghosts, and World War II, this film launched the Tube network into horror cinema history.

For the final episode of Season One, we watch the 2011 comedy-horror Attack the Block starring Jodie Whittaker and a pre- Star Wars John Boyega. In the film, a group of kids in a council block defend London from nearly-invisible aliens, who arrive hidden by the fireworks of Guy Fawkes night. This film is as much about aliens as it is about London, from the complex social realities of London Counci...

From the director of "Shiver". A serial killer stalking victims all over London, but why is he showing you his crimes? A creepy twist on found footage, The Last Horror Movie is a time capsule of what horror was and how it was changing in the early 2000s. It's also pure nostalgia for those of us who grew up renting horror movies.

Winner of three Academy Awards and starring Gary Oldman as Dracula, this is one of the truly underrated Vampire films of our time.  And the best of Francis Ford Coppola's horror films. The film captures Bram Stoker's London - from Bedlam Asylum to the Lumiere Brothers on Regents Street -  while adding a romantic twist to Stoker's famous vampire.  Cast also includes Keanu Reeves, Wyn...

From the director of "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "Poltergeist" comes the truly unique and visually spectacular London horror "Lifeforce": a tale of spirit-sucking space vampires! Starring an all-star cast including Patrick Stewart, Matilda May, Steve Railsback, and Peter Firth.