The 50 best and most obscure horror and thriller movies worth watching by Melpomene
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- DirectorAlfred SoleStarsLinda MillerMildred ClintonPaula E. SheppardIn 1961, a divorced Catholic couple's life is turned upside-down when one of their two adolescent daughters is suspected of her younger sister's brutal murder during her First Holy Communion and a series of subsequent stabbings.
- DirectorBuzz KulikStarsScott JacobyPippa ScottJohn LarchA perverted teenage boy who lives in the walls of a house finds the house sold to a family after his mother dies, then he falls for one of the new residents.
- DirectorRichard FleischerStarsRichard AttenboroughJudy GeesonJohn HurtWhat happened to the women at 10 Rillington Place? The story of British serial killer John Christie, who committed most or all of his crimes in the titular terraced house, and the miscarriage of justice involving Timothy Evans.
- DirectorNicolas GessnerStarsJodie FosterMartin SheenAlexis SmithA thirteen-year-old girl, who lives with her absentee father, befriends a disabled teenage amateur magician and invites him, gradually, into her tenuous struggle against a predatory local neighbor.
- DirectorFrancesco BarilliStarsLuc MerendaLeonora FaniFrancisco RabalA mother and her daughter run a hotel during the late stages of WWII. The mother suddenly dies, and the daughter finds herself alone with her sleazy guests.
- DirectorPaul WendkosStarsAlan AldaJacqueline BissetBarbara ParkinsAn old, dying satanist arranges to transfer his soul into the body of a young concert pianist.
- DirectorBrian De PalmaStarsKirk DouglasJohn CassavetesCarrie SnodgressA former CIA agent uses the talents of a young psychic to help retrieve his telekinetic son from a shadowy secret government agency.
- DirectorSergio BergonzelliStarsEleonora Rossi DragoPier AngeliFernando SanchoThe guests of a villa are killed off one by one by their hosts. Incest, decapitations and a cyanide bath feature amongst the other bizarre delights.
- DirectorWilliam A. FrakerStarsRobert ShawSally KellermanMary UreA disturbed young girl starts believing that there is something very sinister at work after her estranged father visits her at her mother and grandmother's house with the woman he plans to marry.
- DirectorJack StarrettStarsPeter FondaWarren OatesLoretta SwitTwo couples vacationing together in an R.V. from Texas to Colorado are terrorized after they witness a murder during a Satanic ritual.
- DirectorPaul BartelStarsAyn RuymenLucille BensonJohn VentantonioYoung Cheryl moves into her estranged aunt Martha's rundown King Edward Hotel. One of its offbeat residents, disturbed photographer George, takes special interest in her. Cheryl begins suspecting that a resident was murdered.
- DirectorCurtis HarringtonStarsAnn SothernJohn SavageRuth RomanA young Terry Lambert returns home after serving a prison sentence for a gang rape he was forced to participate in. He seeks revenge on his lawyer and the girl who framed him.
- DirectorPeter CarterStarsHal HolbrookLawrence DaneRobin GammellFive doctors on a wilderness outing are stalked by disfigured, crazed killers.
- DirectorJeff GillenAlan OrmsbyStarsRoberts BlossomCosette LeeLeslie CarlsonA deranged rural farmer becomes a grave robber and murderer after the death of his possessive mother, whose corpse he keeps, among others, as his companion in a decaying farmhouse.
- DirectorJames KelleyAndrea BianchiStarsMark LesterBritt EklandHardy KrügerA wealthy author's second wife begins to suspect that her 12-year-old stepson may have murdered his mother, who mysteriously died in a bathtub accident.
- DirectorMassimo DallamanoStarsRichard JohnsonJoanna CassidyLila KedrovaThe titular medallion is a gift presented to young Nicole Elmi. Once the girl places the gift around her neck, she is possessed by the spirit of a dead child who was a murderess.
- DirectorNarciso Ibáñez SerradorStarsLilli PalmerCristina GalbóJohn Moulder-BrownA strict headmistress runs a secluded school for wayward girls in 19th century France, whose students are disappearing under mysterious circumstances.
- DirectorNarciso Ibáñez SerradorStarsLewis FianderPrunella RansomeAntonio IranzoA couple of English tourists arrive on an island where all the children have gone crazy and are murdering the adults.
- DirectorTed PostStarsAnjanette ComerRuth RomanMarianna HillA social worker, still reeling from the loss of her architect husband, investigates the eccentric, psychedelic Wadsworth Family, consisting of a mother, two daughters, and an adult son with the apparent mental capacity of an infant.
- DirectorJeff LiebermanStarsGeorge KennedyMike KellinChris LemmonFive young people venture into the backwoods of Oregon to claim a property, and find themselves being stalked by a hulking, machete-wielding psychopath.
- DirectorJack StarrettStarsBonnie BedeliaKen HowardAnthony ZerbeA traveling salesman gives a pretty female hitchhiker a ride to her home, a run-down shack in the desert. She then injures his leg in order to hold him captive.
- DirectorMiguel MadridStarsDavid RochaInma de SantisHelga LinéA groundskeeper's son, who is mentally unstable due to childhood trauma, goes on a murdering spree where his perception of reality is distorted by imagining people as mannequins and vice versa.
- DirectorBob ClarkStarsJohn MarleyLynn CarlinRichard BackusA young soldier killed in the Vietnam War inexplicably shows up at his family home on the night of his death.
- DirectorRoy BoultingStarsHayley MillsHywel BennettBillie WhitelawMartin Durnley (Hywel Bennett) is a troubled young man. With a mother who insists on treating him like a child, a stepfather who can't wait to see the back of him, and a brother with Down's Syndrome shut away in an institution, is it any wonder he retreats into an alternate personality - that of six-year-old Georgie? It is Georgie who befriends Susan Harper (Hayley Mills), but friendship soon turns into obsession. When Susan begins to distance herself, something inside Georgie snaps and he embarks on a killing spree, with Susan as the next target.
- DirectorBryan ForbesStarsKim StanleyRichard AttenboroughMargaret LaceyA medium and her husband stage a kidnapping in order for her to pretend to solve the crime and achieve fame.
- DirectorGordon HesslerStarsTed BessellBette DavisSian Barbara AllenA sculptor hires young college girls to take care of his elderly mother and his supposedly insane sister, both of whom live in the old family mansion with him.
- DirectorPaul NicholasStarsAnthony FranciosaSybil DanningIsabelle MejiasA teenage girl whose inaction caused her mother's death arranges a similarly gruesome fate for her stepmother and brother.
- DirectorWilliam AsherStarsJimmy McNicholSusan TyrrellBo SvensonAn orphaned teenager finds himself being dominated by his aunt who's hell-bent on keeping him with her...at all costs.
- DirectorBo Arne VibeniusStarsChristina LindbergHeinz HopfDespina TomazaniA young woman, rendered mute after a childhood sexual assault, is trained to seek violent revenge on those who kidnapped and forced her into prostitution.
- DirectorJack ArnoldStarsGrant WilliamsRandy StuartApril KentAfter Scott Carey begins to shrink because of exposure to a combination of radiation and insecticide, medical science is powerless to help him.
- DirectorLynne StopkewichStarsMolly ParkerPeter OuterbridgeJay BrazeauOver the years, a child's romantic ideals about death blossom into necrophilia, the study of embalming and the most profound relationship of her life.
- DirectorClaude MillerStarsLino VenturaMichel SerraultRomy SchneiderA police inspector, suspecting an attorney of two child sex murders, has him held for a questioning session that goes on for hours.
- DirectorGeorges LautnerStarsAlain DelonOrnella MutiStéphane AudranOne early morning deputy Philippe Dubaye wakes up his old friend Xavier Maréchal with disturbing news: he has just killed Serrano, a racketeer with extant political connections. Serrano kept proofs of Dubaye's involvement in corrupt dealings and was poised to use them against the deputy. Xavier readily agrees to cover up for his old pal Philippe, but he soon runs into difficulties. Nobody believes Dubaye's alibi. And everybody -- influential personalities, powerful businessmen, dubious go-betweens and the police -- wants to get hold of the documents that served to blackmail Dubaye; by all possible means.
- DirectorGeorges LautnerStarsJean-Paul BelmondoJean DesaillyCyrielle ClairVictim of a plot which has resulted in his imprisonment in a Central African jail for two years, a French secret agent arrives in Paris to settle accounts.
- DirectorJean HermanStarsAlain DelonCharles BronsonBrigitte FosseyAfter an overseas deployment, two former French Foreign Legion members plan to break into the vault of a French corporation.
- DirectorJosé GiovanniStarsAlain DelonJean GabinMimsy FarmerA former bank robber is released after 10 years in prison. He gets help from a social-worker, but gets harassed by an old cop from his past.
- DirectorHenri VerneuilStarsJean GabinAlain DelonLino VenturaAn ambitious young mobster plans an elaborate diamond heist while seducing the daughter of a ruthless mob patriarch as a determined police commissioner closes in on all of them.
- DirectorHenri VerneuilStarsYves MontandMichel AlbertiniRoland AmstutzConspiracy thriller inspired by the conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination of JFK. After a fictional president is assassinated, a determined, tough prosecutor investigates the emerging conspiracy behind it.
- DirectorAlan J. PakulaStarsWarren BeattyPaula PrentissWilliam DanielsAn ambitious reporter gets in way-over-his-head trouble while investigating a senator's assassination which leads to a vast conspiracy involving a multinational corporation behind every event in the world's headlines.
- DirectorWilliam FriedkinStarsRoy ScheiderBruno CremerFrancisco RabalFour unfortunate men from different parts of the globe agree to risk their lives transporting gallons of nitroglycerin across dangerous Latin American jungle.
- DirectorYves BoissetStarsGérard LanvinMichel PiccoliMarie-France PisierIn a futuristic society, contestants pit their survival skills against each other in a fight to the death for cash prizes, and the contest is aired live on television.