Bloodsuckers (leeches) and vampire bats have always intrigued and frightened people from cultures around the world. Demonic or supernatural possession was often juxtaposed with blood-drinking, sex, and corpses. Many religions, myths, folk-tales and cults espoused the idea of obtaining the life-essence from blood – in its extreme was the practice of cannibalism. Vampires began to emerge in popular fiction of the 18th and 19th centuries, during which time Anglo-Irish writer Bram Stoker's 1897 vampire novel Dracula was written. It has become the most popular, influential and preeminent source material for many vampire films. Sheridan Le Fanu's 1872 lesbian vampire tale Carmilla came a close second to Stoker's writings. Stoker's seminal book hatched all the elements of future vampire films -- predatory female vamps who kissed the neck of male victims for their human blood, an elderly Count who vied for their prey, and a vampire hunter with garlic to ward off the "Prince of Darkness" and with a wooden stake to drive through Dracula's heart.

Download The Earliest Horror Films: Vampires (Vamps), Monsters, and More

The first war film to be documented was a one-reel, 90-second propagandist effort - the Vitagraph Company's fictitious Tearing Down the Spanish Flag (1898), produced in the year of the Spanish-American War. It portrayed a faked, reconstructed version of the seizure of a Spanish government installation in Havana by U.S. Army troops, the removal of the foreign flag, and its replacement by the Stars and Stripes.

One of the first to show the necessity for preparedness during the Great War's European conflict, thereby demonstrating the propagandistic power of the new medium, was Vitagraph's silent film drama The Battle Cry of Peace (1915) with Norma Talmadge. It proposed the idea of what would happen if America was invaded on its own soil by a hostile European power and taken over, with an invasion of New York City. In 1918 in particular, many films documented the momentous sinking of the Lusitania in May of 1915 by a German U-boat and argued for US entrance into the war, such as Vitagraph's Over the Top (1918) (with its hero James Owen joining the British army after the Lusitania's sinking) and Winsor McKay's short animated film The Sinking of the Lusitania (1918).

Download Earliest War Films

Sleeper (1973) is Woody Allen's science-fiction satirical comedy classic and screwball comedy about the future - with Dixieland and swing music. The film's poster stated: "WOODY ALLEN TAKES A NOSTALGIC LOOK AT THE FUTURE." This film was from Allen's earlier period, when he was known for appearing in or directing lightweight comedies, such as Take the Money and Run (1969), Bananas (1971), Play It Again, Sam (1972), and Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* But Were Afraid to Ask (1972).

Filled with one-liners, Allen's film both satirizes the 1970's and parodies sci-fi books and past classics, such as Buck Rogers "Serial" (1939), Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and A Clockwork Orange (1971), George Lucas' THX 1138 (1971), George Orwell's futuristic novel 1984, and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. It also evokes such slapstick comedy classics as Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton films, the Keystone Kops, Chaplin's Modern Times (1936) and the Marx Brothers' Duck Soup (1933). Like Chaplin in many of his films, Allen directed, wrote, starred in, and composed the soundtrack for this film.

Download Sleeper (1973)

Stars: Max Ryan, Maria Conchita Alonso and Chris Mulkey

Review:

One flick we've been talking about for a while now is Dana Mennie's werewolf driven love story Dark Moon Rising. Don't let the love story part fool ya, though; the movie features Sid Haig fighting werewolves! That premise alone is enough for me to get my ass into a seat to watch it.

Download Wolf Moon / Dark Moon Rising

Ultimately, it's of minor import how much of Rob Roy is based upon historical fact and how much has been embellished by the pen of screenwriter Alan Sharp. As a hero of 18th century Scotland, Robert Roy MacGregor is known to have walked through the mists of the Highlands, living by the code that made his name a legend. This film takes the skeletal myth and builds a real person around those bones. As embodied by Liam Neeson, Rob Roy is a tremendous protagonist -- a naive man whose belief in honor and whose love for a woman, family, and clan make him a figure to cheer for.


Download Rob Roy

Starring Jessica Lowndes
Julianna Guill
Ryan Donowho
Landon Liboiron
Jake Weary
Mike Dopud
Chelah Horsdal

Review:

When five friends decide to take a trip out of town to see a concert, rookie pilot Sara (Lowndes) offers to fly them there in a rented plane. However a few minutes into their ill-fated flight a mechanical failure results in the plane stuck in a steady, unstoppable climb, a climb that sees the plane headed into a massive storm. With their fuel rapidly running out and emotional tensions inside the aircraft beginning to rise it seems nothing else can go wrong. But the problems in the plane prove to be the least of their worries. Outside, hidden in the ominous storm clouds, a mysterious supernatural force is lurking, a force which seems intent on destroying the plane and its passengers…

Download Altitude

Cast
Elle Fanning as Mary
Nathan Lane as Uncle Albert
John Turturro as The Rat King
Frances de la Tour as The Rat Queen
Shirley Henderson as the voice of The Nutcracker
Aaron Michael Drozin as Max
Charlie Rowe as The Prince

Download The Nutcracker in 3D

Cast:

Julianne Moore, Xander Berkeley, Peter Crombie, Peter Friedman, Kate McGregor-Stewart, James LeGros

Download Safe

Jessica Chastain made a splash earlier this year at Sundance in director Jeff Nichols’ fantasy drama Take Shelter starring Michael Shannon and kept the momentum going by earning strong reviews for her performance as a fifties housewife in Texas opposite Brad Pitt as her stern husband in director Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life.

Download Jessica Chastain In Talks for Horror Pic MAMA!

We went ape for a chance to have a chat with the extremely talented Andy Serkis, frequent collaborator with Peter Jackson as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings trilogy and now starring as the ape Caesar alongside James Franco.

Download Comic-Con 2011 - RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES Press Conference Images with Andy Serkis and Director Rupert Wyatt