A list of already released Euro horror movies. Hope you enjoy.

SHREW’S NEST

This is a new claustrophobic horror movie from Spain.

The reviews that I have read for this movie have been really strong. It recently played at this year’s Fantasia International Film Festival. It also features a performance from my favourite Spanish actor, Luis Tosar.

OFFICIAL PLOT

Spain, 1950s. Montse’s agoraphobia keeps her locked in a sinister apartment in Madrid and her only link to reality is the little sister she lost her youth raising. But one day, a reckless young neighbour, Carlos, falls down the stairwell and drags himself to their door. Someone has entered the shrew’s nest… perhaps he’ll never leave.
Shrews Nest

Sleep Tight 

Sleep Tight would be described best as a psychological thriller. There isn’t a lot of horror going on, but there is a serious amount of creeping which makes for some really uncomfortable viewing,

Sleep Tight stands as one of my all-time fave movies in the last ten years. The film is so simplistic that there is no need for gore or crazy special FX – or even a huge budget. The powerful script, clever camera work, and an unnerving performance from Luis Tosar are enough to send a thousand chills down your spine.

Sleep Tight is directed by {REC} helmer, Jaume Balagueró and is written by Alberto Marini (Marini has just released his directorial début called Summer Camp)
Sleep Tight (Blu Ray) [Blu-ray]

 Cannibal: A Love Story

The film is about a man called Carlos who works as a tailor and owns an expensive shop in Granada. By day, Carlos will measure you to see what suit fit’s just right; At night, Carlos will kill you, cut you up, put you in little snack boxes and keep you in the fridge and feast on your flesh throughout his working week.

Director Manuel Martin Cuenca takes an unusual approach for a cannibal movie. Instead of having blood and guts and grossness –  he gives us a distinguished cannibal that would remind you of Hannibal Lector. There is one scene when we see him carry a female corpse to some sort of workbench (pic above). We don’t see him cut her up, but we see just how disturbed he is, as he takes a giant sniff at the freshly killed corpse, which is very creepy.

The film does have some pacing issues but overall I thought it was a great, and definitely something different and original for a cannibal movie.

Official Plot 

Carlos is the most prestigious tailor in Granada, but he’s also a murderer in the shadows. He feels no remorse, no guilt until Nina appears in his life and love awakens.
Cannibal [DVD]

Frostbitten

One of my favourite vampire films. The movie would have a similar plot to that of 30 Days Of Night (although released before). There is also some comedy thrown in to liven things up a bit.

I haven’t seen this in years, maybe it hasn’t aged well, but I can remember enjoying a lot more than any other vampire movie that was around at that time.

The vampires were really well done and the FX was top-notch. 

Official Plot

During World War II  in Ukraine, 1944, the remnants of 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking are fleeing from The Red Army. Using the protection of the woods and the dark, a platoon partly made up of Swedes escapes the massacre. They seek shelter in an abandoned cabin, but as darkness falls they are attacked by vampires inhabiting a hidden crypt under the cabin.

In present-day Sweden, doctor Annika and her teenage daughter Saga are moving to a town in Lappland, so Annika can work close to the famous Swedish geneticist Gerhard Beckert. Since Lappland is located above the Arctic Circle, the polar night has begun. With one month until dawn, there are only a few hours of sunless twilight each day before complete darkness.
Frostbitten (2006) (Import)

INSIDE

The great thing about French shocker Inside is that it doesn’t pretend to be anything else other than shocking. This is a film for the gore-hound, for the person that likes their films a bit twisted.

There is enough gore in this movie to satisfy any horror lover’s hunger.

Directors Julien Maury and Alexandro Bustillo give us a brilliantly directed tale of terror. Inside put the directors on the map.

Straight forward storyline brought to life by two brilliant performances from Beatrice Dalle and Alysson Paradis 

Official Plot

Four months after the death of her husband, a woman on the brink of motherhood is tormented in her home by a strange woman who wants her unborn baby.
Inside [DVD] [2007]

MARTYRS

I write about Martyrs so much that I feel that I should be asking for a cut of the profits.

It’s no surprise that Martyrs stands as a lot of people’s favourite horror movie from the last ten years. An extremely violent and well put together story about the endurance of pain and sufferance

Official Plot

A young woman’s quest for revenge against the people who kidnapped and tormented her as a child leads her and a friend, who is also a victim of child abuse, on a terrifying journey into a living hell of depravity.
Martyrs [Blu-ray]

COLD PREY I, II, III

I thought I would just mention the 3 of these. It is a rare thing in cinema that a low-budget horror movie that spawns a trilogy, and all of them are REALLY good.

I am not a huge fan of slasher movies in general, but Cold Prey offers something unique.

Official Plot for part 1 (IMDb)

Jannicke, Morten Tobias, Eirik, Mikael and Ingunn are on a snowboarding vacation in Jotunheimen. They are forced to take shelter in an abandoned hotel when Morten Tobias breaks his leg and their car is too far away for them to reach within nightfall. They quickly discover that the hotel was closed in the seventies due to the disappearance of the managers’ son. Unknown to them, someone is still living in the hotel, and getting home, or even surviving the stay, isn’t as easy as they believe.

ROVDYR

Cold Prey 1 & 2 (BR)
Cold Prey/Cold Prey 2 [DVD] [2006]

Rovdyr offers nothing new in regards to storyline. We have a bunch of teens that go on the usual camping trip into the dreaded woods. They become the latest playthings for a group of mad Norwegian woodsmen, who begin to hunt them down one-by-one.

What I loved about Rovdyr was the way it is shot. The look and feel of the movie was just fantastic. It reminded me of The Devil’s Rejects with a blend of Texas Chainsaw Mmassacre

The gore is really well done – it is as vicious as horror gets. The film has some mixed reviews but I really enjoyed it. If you know what you’re going to get and you’re not expecting some really intelligent mind-fuck of a horror movie then give it a shot. I highly recommend it.

 

Official Plot (IMDb)

The summer of 1974, four young people are all ambushed and left unconscious. They wake up deep in the woods with no one around but the sound of a hunting horn.
Manhunt [DVD] [2007]

NEXT PAGE FOR MORE