Horror has always been a prolific genre, and as such, it has its good moments, bad moments, and forgotten moments. With so many A-list horror films, big studio films, and independent horror movies coming out every year, some are bound to be eventually forgotten in the pages of film history.
From American and Japanese to Italian cinema, the 90s was a good decade for horror, and from renowned directors, like Scorsese and Carpenter, to more niche ones, like Anthony Waller, many talented people have dabbled in the genre.
Kolobos (1999)
While this film is not excellent by any means, it is just so entertaining and unpredictable at times that it has to be included on this list. Kolobos represents its era of horror quite well, an era that carried forward many changes in the genre.
The movie follows five young people who agree to be locked in a remote house and have their every word and move recorded for three months. Sounds like Big Brother, right? Well, it’s worse because the house is full of traps, and that's not the only issue … an entity is living there with them.
The Devil's Daughter (1991)
This movie, also known as The Sect (from the original Italian title, La Setta) was written by famous (or infamous) Italian horror director and screenwriter, Dario Argento.
In the film, a series of gruesome murders is committed in Frankfurt by a cult of Satan worshippers. In the meantime, school teacher Miriam almost hits an old man with her car and invites him to stay with her, unaware of his true intentions. It was not by chance that the old man appeared in her life, and it rapidly becomes clear that he is anything but innocent. He has schemes that include an eternal future with the Satanic sect.
In The Mouth Of Madness (1994)
If you are a diehard fan of John Carpenter you will have probably seen this one. For those who are not, this film is not so well known. When horror author Sutter Cane goes missing, insurance agent John Trent inspects the claim made by his publisher and starts to recover an unreleased manuscript and determine the writer's location.
Escorted by the writer's editor, Linda Styles, and distressed by nightmares and ominous visions caused by reading Cane's books, Trent makes an uncanny nocturnal journey to a ghostly town in New Hampshire.
Mute Witness (1995)
This co-production between Russia, England, and Germany garnered positive reviews and was praised for its intriguing premise and slick, fast-paced, suspenseful narrative.
The story follows a mute woman, Billy, a special effects make-up artist, who is working on a film in Moscow. One night, she is accidentally locked in the studio after hours and she witnesses the covert shoot of a low-budget porn. At first, she finds it harmless and amusing, until things take a disturbing turn. It turns out that what she is witnessing is a snuff film.
Jacob’s Ladder (1990)
This movie was directed by British director Adrian Lyne, also famous for Indecent Proposal, Flashdance, and Fatal Attraction, to name a few. Rotten Tomatoes calls the film “an engrossing, nerve-shattering experience,” and for good reason. Vietnam war veteran Jacob Singer suffers from hallucinations and flashbacks, slowly doubting his own sanity.
He witnesses weird things and goes to his regular hospital to be checked, only to be told that he was never a patient there and that the doctor he knows died in a car explosion. He comes into contact with his former unit members and they all describe similar experiences, but it seems like someone wants to prevent them from discovering the cause.
The Ninth Gate (1999)
Johnny Depp stars in this weird supernatural horror/mystery film, directed and co-written by Roman Polanski. Depp plays Dean Corso, a rare book expert and dealer, who has no problem dabbling in cons to buy precious antique books on the cheap and then resell them at a huge profit.
He is hired by Balkan, a rich collector who has recently acquired one of the three remaining copies of The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows, a book fabled to be the means to summon Satan and acquire immortality. Balkan hires Corso for a simple mission: find the other books and confirm or reject their authenticity, as only the real one can summon the Devil …
Cube (1997)
This Canadian horror film received mixed to positive reviews, but everyone praised its intriguing and somewhat Kafkaesque premise.
Six strangers wake up in a weird, cube-shaped room and quickly discover that they are trapped in a maze of cube rooms, each one with a potential booby trap and no way of knowing exactly how it might be triggered. Joan Leaven, a mathematics student, believes she determined a way to find out which rooms are safe, only for one member of the group to be killed. As tensions rise, it is revealed that one of them may know a lot more about this maze than they let on.
Cronos (1993)
This is one of Guillermo del Toro’s less known, but still very important, masterpieces. It seems peculiar how this film is hardly mentioned today, as it received enthusiastic reviews and acclaim upon its release. It was del Toro’s first feature and it propelled him into international praise and fame.
Antique merchant Jesus Gris happens upon Cronos, a Renaissance scarab that injects him with an elixir that gives youth and immortality, but also an appetite for blood. As Jesus relishes his brand-new vivacity, he's oblivious to how a sick old man, Dieter de la Guardia, wants the scarab for himself. But Jesus will not hand over eternal life easily.
Cape Fear (1991)
Even though Cape Fear was directed by the legend that is Martin Scorsese and it starred Robert DeNiro, it does not come up a lot in discussions about their work these days.
The film was the seventh collaboration of the director-actor duo. The narrative follows Sam Bowden, a lawyer who, 14 years ago, withheld evidence that would have earned a lighter sentence for his client, Max Cady (DeNiro), because he considered Max’s crime of battery and rape too heinous for leniency. Now, Max is released and he relentlessly comes after Sam and his family, held back by no moral code, and with a thirst for revenge.
Audition (1999)
Have you ever felt concern, even apprehension, about what kind of person your blind date is going to be? Well, this film takes that premise to its extreme. Audition was directed by Takashi Miike, a Japanese director notorious for his extreme horror films and his love of gory aesthetics (known especially for Ichi The Killer). Shigeharu Aoyama, a widower, is encouraged by his son to start dating again.
With the help of his friend, a film producer, he plans an “audition,” in which women vie for the "role" of Aoyama's bride. Aoyama is instantly captivated by Asami Yamazaki, fascinated by her outward emotional profundity, but he has no idea what darkness lies beneath her charming façade. Fair warning, this movie is seriously disturbing.