28 Days Later

●Year- 2002

●Dir- Danny Boyle.

●Main Actors- Cillian Murphy, Naomi Harris, Christopher Eccleston

●Writer- Alex Garland

●Filming Locations – London, Lake District, Pinewood.

●Production Companies- DNA Films, British Film Council.

Introducing Cillian Murphy as a bicycle courier who wakes up in hospital after 4 weeks of unconsciousness. He awakes to a very different London. The city is empty, and ghostly. After disturbing some zombielike creatures in a church his is taken under the wing of Selena (Naomi Harris) and Mark (Noah Huntley). They explain that a virus, spread by bites, saliva and blood, has ravaged the population. It is known as Rage.

They meet up with a London cabby (Brendan Gleeson) and his daughter, they decide that London is dead. They leave the city and head up north following a radio transmission quoting the answer to the infection is with them.

They then meet with a small group of soldiers holed up in a mansion on the outskirts of Manchester. It is run by Major Henry West (Christopher Eccleston) who does have the answer to infection, but is it right or ethical.

 It is superbly made and acted, the special effects are very effective and all together it makes for a terrifying image of the apocalypse.

A Dark Song 

●Year- 2016

●Dir- Liam Gavin

●Main Actors- Steve Oram, Catherine Walker, Susan Loughnane

●Writer- Liam Gavin.

●Filming Locations- Ireland.

Production Companies - Bórd Scannán na hÉireann, Ffilm Cymru Wales, Samson Films, Tall Man Films

 In frustration to speak again to her dead son, Sophia reaches out to a failed Occultist in an attempt to contact him via the dark side. Sophia rents a desolate house for a year up front and the unlikely pairing prepare themselves and the property.

They undergo numerous rituals in an effort to bring forth Sophias Guardian angel. Initially the rituals don’t work, but when the truth finally comes out about Sophias intentions, things do start to happen. The story snowballs to a violent and lonely conclusion.

Afraid of the dark
 

●Year- 1992
●Dir- Mark Peploe
●Main cast- James Fox, Fanny Ardant, Paul McGann
●Writers- Mark Peploe, Frederick Seidel.
●Filming Locations- Brompton, Artesian Road, Needham Road, Moorhouse Road, London
●Production Companies- Les Films Ariane, Telescope Films, Cine Cinq.

    Lucas is a you boy with a blind mother, Miriam (Fanny Ardent), and a police officer father, Frank (James Fox). Miriam teaches others with blindness how to knit at a clinic, Lucas enjoys going with her.
    The news at present is that one of their friends, another blind woman, has been attacked and had her face slashed. He seems to have an unhealthy obsession with his older step sister, with whom he is close and drops into strange violent fantasies involving her and other events. He is convinced every man in comes into contact with is the attacker.
    It is hard to follow what is real and what is created in Lucas' mind. To make matters worse his own eyesight is starting to fail with the requirement of an operation.
    All his fears and violence collide after the birth of his little sister and ends with his operation. A moving tale with either a child with a morbid vivid imagination, or on the brink of insanity.
 

The Wicker Man

●Year- 1973

●Dir- Robin Hardy

●Main Actors- Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee, Britt Ekland.

●Writer- Anthony Schaffer

●Filming Locations – Scotland.

●Production Companies- British Lion Film Corporation.

Summerisle is a small private island just of the coast of Scotland. Sgt Howie (Edward Woodward) is a devout puritan police officer and is sent to the island to investigate the disappearance of a child.

Howie gets the runaround from the moment he arrives. Instead of leaving without clues his enquiring mind seeks suspicion and he decides to stay. The woman who supposedly made the report and contacted the police laughs it off. It is not long before Howie discovers the people of the island are not how they appear. They are crude with strange customs. 

He meets Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee), the leader of the islanders. Howie surmises they are Godless, in fact they are Pagan and celebrate the gods and goddesses of the land and nature. He discovers it’s a very dangerous place for a man of faith.

The scenery is stunning, and the soundtrack is haunting but in a traditional way. It is a true Folk horror film.