A new, twenty-film watch-a-thon, this time looking at horror films from around the world. The rules are the same — they must be films I haven’t seen before, and they must be free to stream.

With a bit of luck, this new watch project will feature a lot more quality films as I unearth horror from around the globe. With that said…

Clementina – Argentina (2017)

I’m starting this new 20-film watch-a-thon with this masterful exploration of the trauma associated with domestic violence.

The true horror in this film from Jimena Monteoliva is the understanding that domestic violence in Argentina has escalated, with the perpetrators often escaping justice by fleeing the region.

The film begins with Juana, played with extraordinary rawness and vulnerability by Cecilia Cartasegna, laying curled up on the floor in a pool of her own blood, clutching her pregnant belly. We soon learn she has lost the baby, and her neighbour saw her husband, Mateo, running from the apartment.

Despite this tragic loss and her injuries, Juana refuses to turn Mateo in, and returns to their apartment to continue some ongoing renovations. As she recovers from the attack, she starts to hear strange sounds and witness shapes and movement, and she begins to question her sanity. The superstitious neighbour puts it down to restless spirits seeking closure, and when the apparition fully forms as a young girl, Juana starts to understand what that closure might entail.

For the viewer, the situation becomes even more horrific when Mateo worms his way back into her life, gaslighting her, belittling her, and finally returning to his violent ways. An unsettling scene involving a pair of scissors punctuates the climax, and a final sweeping shot over the city leaves no doubt that this same scenario is being played out in multiple homes.

The film is well shot, though dark, which is a choice. The apartment is spacious and potentially well-lit, and yet Juana remains shrouded in the gloom. It’s a fascinating film, putting me in mind of Repulsion, and could be a hard watch for some, but worth it.

Find it on YouTube.

The Wailing – South Korea (2016)

If you know me, then you know that my perfect length of any sort of film is 90 minutes or less. Why then, am I happy to ignore my ridiculous, self-imposed restriction when it come to this South Korean horror that clocks in at 2 hours and 36 mins?

Because it’s very good.

Taking the best of Korean folklore and supernature, and injecting elements of western zombie tropes, The Wailing tells a dark tale of demonic possession, paranoia and raging murder, all against the beautifully lush backdrop of a mountainside village a fair distance from the nearest city.

Shortly after a Japanese traveler arrives on the outskirts of Gokseong, the village’s population suffers a brutal wave of familial murders, the perpetrators covered in pustules and frothing pink spittle at the mouth. Jong-goo, one of the local police officers, is up to his elbows in mysterious violence, but when his young daughter, Hyo-jin, is seemingly infected by the Japanese stranger’s presence, Jong-goo must dig deeper into demonic lore, finally recruiting the help of a shaman, in order to stop his own child becoming a killer.

Despite its grim theme (and a word of warning to dog, goat or chicken lovers), the first half of the film has many hilarious moments, mostly down to Kwak Do-won’s bumbling police officer. His ineptitude continues throughout the film, and you’ll find yourself screaming at him for making the wrong decisions. Kim Hwan-hee as his daughter is brilliant — seriously one of the best child actors I have ever seen. The pace is mesmeric, the music is jarring (in a good way) and the entire mood of the piece is pitch-perfect.

Recommended — you can find it on Netflix.

The Conference – Sweden (2023)

I’m a sucker for dysfunctional office worker horror (see Mayhem, The Belko Experiment, and my favorite, Severance), and this old-school slasher from Sweden hits the spot beautifully.

A group of municipal employees has traveled to a remote cabin site for a team-building weekend on the eve of breaking ground for a wholly unwanted shopping mall, a mall that would destroy the beauty of the surrounding woodland communities. Not even a few hours manage to pass before the cabin staff start getting bumped off, and within a day the excursion has turned into a bloodbath. Along the way we get to know the employees, and they feature the usual types; the corrupt ladder-climber, the toady, the abusive boss, the new worker, the neurotic one, and a couple that just want to have a drink and chill.

The deaths that occur in this group are extremely satisfying, having been built up with skill, and you’ll find yourself rooting for the nicer characters on multiple occasions. The killer gets more inventive as the film progresses, and has a simple yet believable motive. It’s gory, hilarious, and ever so slightly thought-provoking.

Bottom line — I had an absolute blast with this one. Find it on Netflix. Recommended!

Home For Rent – Thailand (2023)

I’ve written before about films that feel like a game of two halves, and this one really leans into that generalization, with a hefty dollop of Rashomon-style story-telling.

Married couple Ning and Kwin are living in Kwin’s house, while Ning is renting out her condo. After the condo is trashed by her previous tenants (who have run off), the couple decide to move into it and rent out Kwin’s house to make some more income.

The new tenants are a mother and daughter doctor duo, seemingly the perfect types, but when strange occurrences start happening, and her husband and daughter, Ing, seem to have fallen under a spell, Ning is convinced the doctors are actually part of a sinister cult. Ning then attempts to discover the truth, and is soon embroiled in a supernatural mystery that will surely end in horror.

So far, so good — it’s a decent story and as it unspools there are many twists and turns and shocking revelations. Unfortunately, the first half of the film is way too clunky for my liking — ponderously paced and cluttered with tropes. It turns around halfway through its two-hour runtime, when we start to get some backstory and new perspectives from another character, and this is where things get interesting.

I had clocked out by this point though, and despite some nifty ideas, I was never at risk of being gripped. Shave 30 mins off this one, and you would have a tight and infinitely more interesting movie.

It’s on Netflix if you want to see for yourself.

Child of Peach – Taiwan (1987)

One of those bonkers wuxia flicks that I’ve always meant to watch, and now I finally have.

Did I say bonkers? I meant utterly, feverishly, insane.

At the top of the Himalayas live the king and queen of the peach garden and their baby boy. When the devil attacks and steals the sword of the sun, killing baby Peach’s parents in the process, the baby is packed into a giant peach and sent to the land below in a Superman-inspired scene. Meanwhile, down below, an old couple pray for a baby despite being in their 80s, and end up finding the peach. Soon the baby pops out, and they christen him ‘Peach Kid’.

Peach Kid grows rapidly due to some help from Tiny Fairy, undergoes a gender-swap, and leaves to become a knight. While all this is going on, Prince Melon, corpulent ruler of the land, is on a quest to save the Apple Princess from Devil’s Island — and when he crosses paths with Peach Kid, they go off together to rescue the princess and avenge Peach Kid’s parents.

I should point out, this is an extremely basic summary, because I don’t have the energy to go into the assortment of characters that end up spinning around on wires and getting singed in some truly impressive fire stunts. Peach Kid is helped along the way by ‘Tiny Monkey,’ Tiny Dog,’ and, um, ‘Tiny Cock,’ and the fights are riddled with physics-defying action, fart jokes and inappropriate moments for what is supposedly a kids film. Oh, and Vangelis and Jean Michel Jarre tracks pop up too. Utterly mad.

You can find a terrible copy on YouTube, or a cleaner version on the Internet Archive, although both have white subtitles that are illegible 50% of the time. To be honest though, it doesn’t matter.

Errementari – Spain (2017)

Here’s a fun one, mainly presented in Basque, with a jolly nice bit of production design and a lovely aesthetic.

It is 1835 and the First Carlist War is in full swing between supporters of either Carlos V or Maria Christina (on behalf of Isabella II of Spain). A bunch of rebels have been captured, and are being summarily executed, until one of them, Francisco Patxi, goes berserk and kills his captors (despite being shot). Apparently, he has made a deal with a demon, hence his superhuman actions.

Fast forward to 1843, and Patxi is an outcast in the town of Araba. Known simply as ‘the mad blacksmith,’ he keeps himself to himself inside a heavily fortified compound, in the center of which sits his ramshackle smithy, festooned with spikes and crucifixes. Into this nightmare environment wanders Usue, a picked-upon young girl who is looking for one half of her doll, which was torn apart by a town bully. She inadvertently finds herself inside the foreboding smithy, and there she finds a boy locked in a cage, whom she promptly helps to escape.
Ah, but that was no boy — and so the demonic shenanigans begin.

I really enjoyed this film. It is based on a Basque folk-tale, and encompasses all of the trappings of a legend mired in religious overtones and child endangerment. The cast were all great, and the demon was particularly enjoyable. Not only that, but the entire depiction of Hell was huge fun and would have made Dante giddy.

Well worth a look. You can find it on Netflix

The Entity – Peru (2015)

Ten minutes in and I already hated this film.

“Hold on, old chap,” my inner voice gently murmured, “I know you are not the biggest fan of found footage flicks, but give this one a chance. Perhaps it won’t all be moronic youths shouting at each other for 80 minutes, all captured on unlit shaky-cam.”

80 minutes later.

“Yeah, screw this shit.”

Apparently this was released in 3D — if I had watched that version I would have probably ended it there and then.

You can find it on Tubi.

Previous Murky Movie surveys from Neil Baker include:

Mummy Issues
Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes
Monster Mayhem
It’s All Rather Hit-or-Mythos
You Can’t Handle the Tooth
Tubi Dive
What Possessed You?
Fan of the Cave Bear
There, Wolves
What a Croc
Prehistrionics
Jumping the Shark

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Neil Baker’s last article for us was Part III of Mummy Issues. Neil spends his days watching dodgy movies, most of them terrible, in the hope that you might be inspired to watch them too. He is often asked why he doesn’t watch ‘proper’ films, and he honestly doesn’t have a good answer. He is an author, illustrator, teacher, and sculptor of turtle exhibits. (AprilMoonBooks.com).