Thanks to the continued dominance of the home video market and digitization of cable TV, horror’s identity in the ’90s was doomed to be tricky to nail down, thanks to the vast sea of options beyond theatrical releases. For every Candyman or Scream released in theaters, there are dozens more of straight-to-video or made-for-cable horror movies.
This week, we’re diving a little deeper into the ’90s catalog, spotlighting underseen ’90s horror movies that flew under the radar. These streaming picks run the gamut in style and tone, from esoteric extreme French horror to gonzo Hong Kong cinema and beyond.
Here’s where you can stream them this week.
For more Stay Home, Watch Horror picks, click here.
Baby Blood – AMC+, Kanopy
Well before the rise of New French Extremity horror, there was 1990’s bizarre Baby Blood. Yanka is a circus performer stuck in an abusive relationship until a strange snake-like alien parasite finds her and crawls into her uterus. It then demands that she embark on a murder spree, devouring the blood of her victims so that the parasite can be nurtured and grow. Throughout their extraordinarily bloody journey, Yanka finds herself bonding with the creature inside her. Yes, this is essentially pregnancy horror at its most esoteric and revolting, but with a pitch-black comedic undertone. Baby Blood is as thoughtfully touching as it is gory, which is saying a lot.
The Boneyard – Prime Video
This straight-to-video 1991 proved why having a decent cover box was extremely important. The monstrous poodle with a pink bow meant I passed this up over and over as a child, until finally giving in to discover a surprisingly creepy story at the heart of the film. With a very atypical protagonist, the film follows a depressed psychic as she works with detectives to get to the bottom of the mystery behind a funeral home owner with three corpses of mummified children in his possession. Only, these aren’t dead children, but “kyoshi,” or undead cursed children that must feed on human flesh. They’re very creepy, and yet they still don’t prepare for the wild finale teased on the VHS cover box. Though, it does take its time getting there. The Boneyard was written and directed by James Cummins, the creature designer behind the inventive apparitions in 1986’s House.
The Cat – Criterion Channel
For those who know and love the insanity of director Ngai Choi Lam’s Hong Kong Category III gems The Seventh Curse and Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky, do not miss this one. Set in the same universe as The Seventh Curse, The Cat is an adaptation of the novel Old Cat by Ni Kuang, part of the Wisely series. Here, Wisely is now played by Waise Lee, who finds himself teaming with a young girl and her alien cat to stop a grotesque killer from another planet. Ngai Choi Lam delivers another gonzo piece of cinema that blends sci-fi with goopy practical effects-driven horror. Come for the gore, but be prepared to find yourself head over heels for one of the zaniest extended brawls since John Carpenter’s They Live. You’ll know it when you see it.
Cemetery Man – AMC+, Shudder
Otherwise known as Dellamorte Dellamore, this quirky horror-comedy follows Rupert Everett as cemetery caretaker Francesco Dellamorte. He and his mute sidekick Gnaghi spend their days ensuring the new revived dead are put back in their graves. All is going well, if a bit mundane, until Francesco falls hard for a young widow (Anna Falchi) and Gnaghi falls for the mayor’s daughter. Things get crazy and very surreal, not least of which is Death incarnate visiting Francesco to demand he stop killing the dead. There’s a wry tongue-in-cheek, dream logic approach in director Michele Soavi’s work. Between the unique plot, characters, and style, there’s nothing like Cemetery Man.
Screamers – freevee, the Roku Channel, Shout TV
Based on Phillip K. Dick’s “Second Variety,” Peter Weller stars as Commander Joseph A. Hendricksson. The Alliance officer travels dangerous terrain to secure a truce between long-warring factions. However, peace negotiations don’t stand a chance, thanks to machines created as covert weapons turning sentient. Known as “Screamers,” the devices have evolved and are plotting to destroy both sides. Borrowing a page from The Thing, paranoia becomes the name of the game when the core party discovers that Screamers can look like anything or anyone. In this ’90s sci-fi creature feature that occasionally shows its dated seams, the antagonistic creatures often mimic humans as a lure to painful demises.
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