The Unborn (2009) Demon terrorizes a twin using her dead brother's spirit. Rabbi Gary Oldman comes to the rescue. Some neat ideas, but it's a slog to get to them. TIL: S.G.F. Brandon's Dictionary of Comparative Religion notes belief in demons goes back to the Paleolithic age.
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Tinseltown Testaments: Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988) "No. It is not hands that summon us. It is desire."
Mosquito (1994) Big skeeters suck people dry. Okay, but seems to have been made just so Gunnar Hansen could pick up a chainsaw again. TIL: The word translated as “gnats” in Exodus has an “-im” suffix, which is collective. So, mosquitos might have been part of the plague of gnats.
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One Sheet Words of Wisdom: Mosquito (1994) "Life is a hailstorm of distractions. It's not the monster that stops us but the mosquito." - Robert G. Allen
Out of the Dark (1988) Clown-masked killer Bobo targets phone-sex operators. Average, but where else can you find Karen Black and Divine in the same movie? TIL: While clown ministries are okay, the NCCB wrote in 1985 that clowns have no legitimate liturgical function during mass.
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Still Voices - Out of the Dark (1988) "Saints and clowns know how to laugh because they see things for what they are, and thus spot the inevitable incongruities of human behavior in a fallen world." - Fr. Gerald E. Murray
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Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker (1981) Overbearing aunt offs anyone too close to her nephew. Susan Tyrrell, great at playing psychos or just being herself? TIL: Jesus' aunt Mary of Clopas was at his crucifixion and, legend says, eventually died in France where her relics remain.
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One Sheet Words of Wisdom: Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker (1981) "The stomach is easier filled than the eye." - Old Proverb
Cutie Honey (2004) Mechanical magical girl fights the Panther Claw gang. Hyperactive live-action anime is campy and ridiculous, but that's on purpose. TIL: Around 1580, Spain's King Philip II had a mechanical replica of Saint Didacus built to honor the Saint's healing of his son.
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Funny Book Philosophy: Thor 310 (1981)
Crack in the World (1965) Scientists must correct their mistake before Earth goes boom. Early take on the disaster genre starts slow but ends well. TIL: Pope St. JPII noted that while science can purify religion from superstition, religion can purify science from false absolutes.
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One Sheet Words of Wisdom: Crack in the World (1965) "All natural disasters are comforting because they reaffirm our impotence, in which, otherwise, we might stop believing. At times it is strangely sedative to know the extent of your own powerlessness." - Erica Jong
Hawk the Slayer (1980) Warrior, rogue, elf, and others defend a convent from Jack Palance. Definitely someone's D&D campaign turned into a screenplay. TIL: While some individual priests frown on RPGs, the Church has no official pronouncement, leaving it to an informed conscience.
One Sheet Words of Wisdom: Hawk the Slayer (1980) "Nurture your minds with great thoughts. To believe in the heroic makes heroes." - Benjamin Disraeli
Tron (1982) Videogame designer is transported into the digital world and must fight hostile programs to escape. Hopelessly dated, yet still undeniably cool CGI pioneer. TIL: The Vatican's original website went live in 1997 on three servers nicknamed Gabriel, Raphael and Michael.
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Tinseltown Testaments: Tron (1982) "All that is visible must grow beyond itself, and extend into the realm of the invisible."
The Carpet of Horror (1962) Alas, no rampaging rugs to be found, just a guy using gas-filled floor coverings for murder. Wall-to-wall boredom. TIL: One legend (not in Scripture) says King Solomon owned a flying carpet 60 miles long and 60 miles wide, and able to carry 40,000 men.
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One Sheet Words of Wisdom: Terror From the Year 5000 (1958) "Fear of the future is worse than one's present fortune." - Quintilian
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Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary (1975) Blood-addicted artist tries to elude the police and maintain a love-life. Laid back or just lackadaisical? You judge. TIL: Like the other kashrut requirements Jesus negated, the prohibition against partaking of blood is not binding on Christians.
Dad Rock Diary: The Sonics - Here Are The Sonics (1965) Raw, fast , and viscous. Punk done right years before it was a thing. Lamentable Lyrics: I hung my stocking on a wall, I didn't get a thing at all... I don't believe in Christmas 'cause I didn't get nothin' last year.
Mad God (2021) Starts with the Tower of Babel, gets worse for mankind from there. Stop-motion masterwork is like Harryhausen & the Quay Brothers dropped acid together. TIL: Some have suggested the sin of the Tower of Babel was the attempt to create a heaven on earth without God.
Now Showing at a Blog Near You: My latest for Aleteia is a look at the Hulu miniseries 'Under the Banner of Heaven' and what it gets wrong about Mormonism (and all religions).