J-horror's long-haired ghosts are older than the videotape
From kabuki ghosts to cursed VHS tapes, how Japanese horror cinema reached the world, plus eight films a newcomer should watch first.
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Film.
Moving images, memorable scenes and the craft of telling stories on screen.
Dystopian films from Metropolis to Mad Max: where to start
Fritz Lang's Metropolis set the template in 1927, and Kubrick, Miller and Cuarón built on it. How screen dystopias grew, and nine films to start with.
Hollywood made film noir before anyone named it
Director Edward Dmytryk said he had no idea what film noir was. Émigrés such as Billy Wilder and cameramen such as John Alton built it. Eight films to watch.
Why horror fell for found footage, and eight films to start
From a 1980 Amazon reel to Blair Witch and Backrooms, how fake recovered tapes became horror's favourite trick, plus eight films for Halloween.
The horror of the body, from The Fly to The Substance
Cronenberg made audiences fear their own flesh. Julia Ducournau and Coralie Fargeat took it to Cannes. Where body horror began, and 10 films to watch.
Before Halloween, a British flop wrote the slasher's rules
Peeping Tom and Psycho started the slasher in 1960. Follow it from Texas to Scream and beyond, then pick from eight films for Halloween night.
Eight werewolf films to see first, and how the genre grew up
From a lost 1913 silent short to Rick Baker's Oscar-winning 1981 transformation, the werewolf film took decades to learn its craft. Start with these.
Harrison Ford swept a floor, then landed Han Solo
Harrison Ford was a carpenter when George Lucas cast him as Han Solo. The piece traces his career through its directors, then picks ten films to watch first.
Guillermo del Toro, the monster maker who wanted Frankenstein
Guillermo del Toro spent 50 years on Frankenstein, and his other 12 films each carry a piece of it. Here is his career and the eight to watch first.
David Lynch: the Eagle Scout who made his name an adjective
Lynch built his films on dread beneath the picket fence. Follow the Montana painter from Eraserhead to Twin Peaks: The Return, plus 8 works to watch first.
Universal's first monster wore a face Lon Chaney made himself
Lon Chaney's Phantom set the template and Karloff and Lugosi made it a genre in 1931. Here is who made the monsters, and eight films to start with.
The Wicker Man still burns: where folk horror came from
Nobody called it folk horror until decades later. Here is how folk horror grew from three British films, and nine films to watch this Halloween.
Why Italy's giallo thrillers still haunt horror films
Mario Bava's black gloves and Dario Argento's blood-red colour taught the slasher its tricks. Here is where giallo came from, and eight films to start with.
How horror film scores learned to scare, and eight to hear first
From Herrmann's Psycho strings to Carpenter's Halloween piano and Goblin's Suspiria, how horror scores learned to scare, plus eight to hear first.
A German court ordered every Nosferatu print burnt
Bram Stoker's widow sued over an unlicensed Dracula film and won. The studio went bankrupt, but a few prints survived abroad and the film lived on.
Audiences who fainted gave The Exorcist its cursed name
IndieWire says cinemagoers fainted and fell ill in 1973, which fed talk of a curse. William Friedkin says he made a film about faith, not horror.
Carpenter made Halloween for $300,000, and slashers followed
John Carpenter and Debra Hill made Halloween on a tiny budget. Carpenter says its low cost is why other producers copied it.
Nitrate film burns underwater, so its reels get their own vaults
Nitrate film resembles guncotton and burns even underwater. US venues keep the reels in fireproof rooms, and a new Los Angeles vault meets NFPA 40 rules.
Joe Russo called it a passion project. Critics called it a dud.
Netflix spent a reported $320 million on The Electric State. Three much cheaper films each beat its three-day viewing figures.
Mickey 17 needed $300m to break even. It was never close
Warner Bros gave Bong Joon Ho final cut, $118m and a $4m playoff ad for Mickey 17. The film he wanted reached cinemas, and it lost money.
Ne Zha 2 took $2.26bn, almost all of it in China
Ne Zha 2 became 2025's biggest film and the top-grossing animation ever, yet about 1% of its $2.26bn came from outside China.
Why did critics split so sharply on The Whisper Man?
Netflix's Robert De Niro thriller drew harsh pans from the Guardian and Roger Ebert, but Variety and Empire called it solidly entertaining.
UK National Cinema Day came back in 2026 as a £4 weekend
After a year off in 2025, the UK's National Cinema Day returned on 5 and 6 September 2026 as a two-day weekend of £4 tickets. Here is why it changed.
Amazon MGM has yet to cast a new James Bond
No actor has been named as the next James Bond. The Guardian put Amazon MGM's control deal at $1 billion, and the BBC at $20 million on top of $8.5 billion.