Spine Tingler: The William Castle Story (2007)
This documentary celebrates the work of independent horror movie producer William Castle, who marketed his 1950s-era films with gimmicks such as giving audience members life insurance vouchers in case the movie frightened them to death. Featuring interviews with director Roger Corman and other colleagues of the gleefully shameless promoter, this tribute from filmmaker Jeffrey Schwarz also examines Castle’s later mainstream career.

Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead (2009)
A group of friends heads for the woods, only to end up on the menu for a cannibalistic mutant known as Three Finger. Only Fonda (Janet Montgomery) manages to survive, and she’s soon joined by a truckload of escaped convicts also fleeing the ravenous freak. Throw in a cache of stolen money to distract the escapees and an unsuspecting search party, and it’s a virtual smorgasbord for Three Finger. Tom Frederic and Tamer Hassan co-star.

Hardware (1990)
A wandering soldier (Dylan McDermott) finds a robot head in the post-apocalyptic desert and brings it back to his girlfriend for use in one of her sculptures. When he investigates the origin of the head, he discovers it’s from the Mark 13 project, which was canceled because of unreliability. The couple (and everyone else) are in for a heap of trouble when the robot puts itself back together using spare sculpture parts!

Last of the Living (2008)
As the rest of humankind succumbs to a virus that turns them into flesh-eating zombies, three pals (Morgan Williams, Robert Faith and Ashleigh Southam) not only survive but thrive — enjoying the easy pickings of a deserted landscape. All of that changes, however, when they meet a pretty girl. Now, the guys’ inner heroes get a chance to emerge in this zombie comedy from New Zealand as they help the lovely young scientist in her race to find a cure.

Blood Ties (2009)
When a group of Hollow’s Pointe University graduate students writes a thesis posing a theory about the still-unsolved slayings that took place there decades prior, they suddenly find their own lives in danger. Twenty years after the original crimes, conspiracy is afoot and student sleuths are turning up dead in this Nathaniel Nose-directed thriller starring DJ Perry, Jason Carter and Anthony Hornus.

Blood: The Last Vampire (2009)
In post-World War II Japan, a top secret government agency sends the teenage katana-wielding half-vampire Saya (Gianna Jun) to an American military base with the assignment of routing out a demon who’s masquerading as a student. A series of violent swordfights leads our heroine to a confrontation with the formidably deadly vampire Onigen (Koyuki). Based on the anime film and TV series, this live-action horror thriller also stars Allison Miller.

Freaky Faron (2009)
After shooting and nearly killing a weatherman when she was 11 years old, Faron Hallowell (Courtney Halverson) claimed that alien beings ordered her to murder him. Now, fresh out of a five-year stay in a mental hospital, Faron finds herself beset by unexplained events. She’ll have to use her supernatural powers to protect herself and those around her — and to finally learn the truth about her identity — in this sci-fi spine chiller.

The Torturer (2008)
Rick (Andrew Walker), an American military interrogator working on contract during the Iraq war, resorts to extremes while questioning a Muslim female detainee (Mahsa Masoudi) in the high-stakes atmosphere of the war on terror. Now, he’s suffering the consequences. Returning to the United States with severe post-traumatic stress disorder, Rick must turn to a clinical psychiatrist (Nichelle Nichols) to get healthy enough to resume his grim work.

P (2004)
When a young witch from a remote village in northeastern Thailand travels to Bangkok in hopes of raising the money to care for her ailing grandmother, her breaking of the witch’s sacred code soon leads to disaster in this frightful tale of magic from director Paul Spurrier.

Ravage the Scream Queen (2009)
When two guys discover a DVD-R containing an amateur snuff film, one is inspired to become a murder movie auteur. Luring aspiring scream queens to his lair with the promise of appearing in a film that will launch them to super-stardom, he then proceeds to systematically torture and slaughter the would-be starlets.

Homicidal / Strait-Jacket (1961)
It’s kill and be killed in this deadly double feature: In Strait-Jacket, Lucy (Joan Crawford) tries to prove herself after spending 20 years in an asylum for murder; in Homicidal, heiress Miriam Webster (Patricia Breslin) fears for her life when a blond bombshell (Jean Arless) plots her demise. Both femme fatale flicks are from iconic horror maven William Castle, a director with a reputation for low-budget B movies and nifty marketing gimmicks.

Mr. Sardonicus / The Old Dark House (1961)
William Castle presents two classic screamers: Mr. Sardonicus, the tale of a man whose face is frozen into a horrifying grimace, and The Old Dark House, in which an auto salesman (Tom Poston) delivers a car to his client, only to find the man dead on arrival. The producer of Rosemary’s Baby, Castle began his career as an iconic director of gimmicky spine tinglers with notoriously low budgets, and this double dose of death delivers on his reputation.

13 Frightened Girls / 13 Ghosts (1960)
Several diplomats’ daughters are drawn into international intrigue and murder in 13 Frightened Girls. Then, in 13 Ghosts, a man (Charles Herbert) inherits his uncle’s mansion and stumbles upon spirits that are only visible to guests who wear special goggles. Horror maestro and iconic showman William Castle stirs a splash of comedy into his suspenseful concoctions in this pair of classic 1960s chillers.

The Tingler / Zotz! (1959)
This double feature pairs a classic horror flick — about a pathologist (Vincent Price) who experiments with a parasite that clings to the spinal cord of victims — with a classic comedy about a professor (Tom Poston) who discovers the zotz, a coin with magical properties. William Castle, who directs both films, initially introduced The Tingler in theaters with electrically “enhanced” seats that delivered a mild shock to audience members.

Drag Me to Hell (2009)
After denying a woman the extension she needs to keep her home, loan officer Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) sees her once-promising life take a startling turn for the worse. Christine is convinced she’s been cursed by a Gypsy, but her boyfriend (Justin Long) is skeptical. Now, her only hope seems to lie in a psychic (Dileep Rao) who claims he can help her lift the curse and keep her soul from being dragged straight to hell.

iMurders (2008)
When a cunning serial killer begins picking off the disparate users of a popular Internet chat room, it’s up to FBI agents Otis Washington (Tony Todd) and Lori Romano (Brooke Lewis) to bring him — or her — down. This suspenseful thriller also stars Gabrielle Anwar (“Burn Notice”) as reclusive former model Lindsay Jefferies, William Forsythe as the calculating professor Uberoth and Billy Dee Williams as the enigmatic Robert Delgado.

The Objective (2008)
Two months after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, CIA agent Ben Keynes (Jonas Ball) journeys to Afghanistan to lead an elite special forces team across the barren desert sands in search of a mysterious man named Mohammed Aban. But as the crew slowly divines the real purpose of the mission, they are drawn into a stranger, darker and deadlier world than they had expected in this wartime thriller from the director of The Blair Witch Project.

The Killing Room (2008)
Hoping to make some quick cash, four ordinary citizens volunteer for a run-of-the-mill paid research study only to discover that it’s actually a nightmarish government experiment that threatens their sanity — and their lives. As the subjects try to obtain the correct answers for a series of devious tests, they are forced to make unthinkable choices with terrible consequences. Jonathan Liebesman directs this dark psychological thriller.

Oral Fixation (2009)
Rachel Marks (Emily Parker) has developed an unhealthy obsession with the most unlikely of targets — her dentist (Kerry Aissa) — and like many a sexy stalker, she’ll stop at nothing to make the object of affection hers, and hers alone. As the blood flows and the body count mounts in this dark suspense thriller, you can bet that the dentist won’t be the only one doling out the pain. Writer-director Jake Cashill makes his feature debut.

The Stepfather (1986)
In this acclaimed horror classic, Jerry Blake (Terry O’Quinn) expects only one thing from his family — perfection — and when he doesn’t get it, he doesn’t just get angry, he goes mad: completely, psychopathically, homicidally mad. After brutally dispatching one clan, Jerry sets up shop with a single mom (Shelley Hack) and her brooding teen daughter (Jill Schoelen), who immediately suspects there’s something not quite right about her dear old stepdad.

Satanic Panic (2009)
Inspired by true events, this bloody chiller tells the story of young Toby and Cindy Richards, who are abducted by a satanic cult. Although Cindy escapes, Toby is never found, and Cindy remains haunted by the ordeal. Twenty-five years later, a group of friends reunites for a camping trip, which goes horribly awry when they’re stranded near the site of Cindy’s abduction and terrorized by fiendish satanists looking for sacrificial victims.

Infestation (2009)
Prepare for global swarming. The innocent slacker Cooper (Chris Marquette) begins a new job and shortly enters a mutant nightmare, waking up to find himself trapped inside a gooey cocoon spun by a gigantic mutant insect. After freeing himself, Cooper must find a way to rescue the other people trapped with him and team with them to battle flying, flesh-eating bugs and human hybrid mutants in order to save the planet.

Gnaw (2008)
Six friends head for a holiday in the English countryside. From outside, their remote cottage seems drawn from a picture book. But inside is another matter, as the vacationers find they’re on the menu for the dwelling’s resident family of cannibals. Sara Dylan, Oliver Lee Squires and Rachel Mitchem star in this tongue-in-cheek British chiller, an official selection at Portugal’s 2009 Fantasporto festival.

How to Be a Serial Killer (2008)
Meet Mike Wilson (Dameon Clarke). He’s charming. He’s smart. He’s a serial killer — and a very happy one, too. Determined to share the secrets of his satisfying career, Mike enlists sad-sack video store clerk Bart (Matthew Gray Gubler) as his star pupil. Mike enlightens Bart on the finer points of body disposal and other tricks of the trade, but it’s not long before Mike’s girlfriend catches on to his very odd job in this hilarious dark comedy.

I Spit Chew on Your Grave (2009)
A group of buxom prostitutes under the employ of a warlock pimp lands in big trouble when they accidentally rape the wrong man. And it isn’t long before our chesty heroines must suffer the consequences of their misdeeds. Director Chris Seaver puts the 1970s grindhouse experience through the grinder in this low-budget, over-the-top spoof, which takes aim at such exploitation gems as I Spit on Your Grave and Poon Academy.

Happy Birthday to Me (with restored score) (1981)
Certainly the low point in Glenn Ford’s acting career, this Canadian production is, nevertheless, one of the slickest-looking slasher films from that subgenre’s early-’80s heyday. The plot (what one can make of it) involves an unseen killer stalking a group of college students at the prestigious Crawford Academy. The well-staged murders are mysteriously linked to the slightly off-kilter Virginia (Melissa Sue Anderson, formerly of Little House on the Prairie), whose disturbing past holds the key to the killer’s identity.

Trick ‘r Treat (2008)
The usually boisterous traditions of Halloween turn baleful, and everyone in a small town tries to survive one night in pure hell in writer-director Michael Dougherty’s fright fest. Several stories weave together, such as a loner fending off a demented trick-or-treater’s attacks, kids uncovering a freaky secret, a school principal — who moonlights as a serial killer — poisoning his candy, and more. Dylan Baker, Anna Paquin and Brian Cox star.

Offspring (2009)
Dead River, Maine, sets the scene for a gruesome dinner party when a pack of feral, flesh-eating kids and a demented, bloodthirsty woman threaten to devour a local couple and their horrified houseguests. While hostess Amy (Amy Hargreaves) fights to stay alive and save her children, a retired sheriff (Art Hindle) mounts his own rescue in this finger-licking-good cannibal tale based on the novel by Jack Ketchum.

Seventh Moon (2008)
Blair Witch co-creator Eduardo Sanchez continues to strip away his characters’ sense of ease and confidence in his third film, which captures the horrors that befall a pair of newlyweds honeymooning in China. Melissa (Amy Smart) and Yul (Tim Chiou) are enjoying the Hungry Ghost Festival immensely, but their hosts think they’re enjoying it too much. Soon, the couple is abandoned in the middle of nowhere — but they’re far from being alone.

The Children (2008)
It’s a classic English Christmas in the countryside — snow on the ground, turkey in the oven, the laughter of frolicking children — until the fun and games take a dark and deadly turn. Is something in the woods spurring the kids to murder? And why are grown-ups always the last to notice when things go horribly awry? There are no easy answers in this nasty little horror flick, but you’ll never see Christmas the same way again.

The Thaw (2009)
When a team of ecology students assisting an environmentalist (Val Kilmer) in the Arctic uncovers the frozen body of a woolly mammoth, they unwittingly release a parasite in need of a new host — and, in the process, unleash a prehistoric terror. The ante is significantly upped when the parasite takes refuge inside the students’ warm-blooded bodies and leads the group to a heart-wrenching decision.

The Gate (Special Edition) (1987)
During a boring, routine weekend, young Glen (Stephen Dorff) and his best buddy Terry (Louis Tripp) decide to explore Glen’s backyard. Before long, the boys come across a strange hole in the ground which yields all manner of sinister prizes. Consulting one of his heavy-metal record albums, Glen comes to the correct conclusion that the hole is actually the Gate to Hell. Offering a sacrifice in the form of a dead dog, Glen further opens the portals of Hades, through which pass some of the most hideous demons imaginable.

Children of the Corn (2009)
In an effort to bring their marriage back from the dead, Burt (David Anders) and Vicki (Kandyse McClure) take a second honeymoon, but their road trip takes an unexpected detour when they get stuck in an empty farm town, where the tall rows of corn hide a horrifying secret. The Sci Fi Channel’s remake of Stephen King’s scary tale also stars Preston Bailey as child preacher Isaac and Daniel Newman as his brash sidekick, Malachai.

Deadly Little Christmas (2008)
Based on a true story, writer-director Novin Shakiba’s slasher flick introduces us to the charming 8-year-old Devin Merriman, who, after celebrating a homey Christmas with his family, brutally murders his dad along with the housekeeper. It’s an escaped lunatic free-for-all as, after a 15-year hiatus, the now-institutionalized Devin (Samuel Nathan Hoffmire) busts out of lockup to satisfy his bloody holiday cravings.

100 Feet (2008)
After killing her abusive cop husband, Mike (Michael Paré), Marnie (Famke Janssen) returns to New York to serve the remainder of her manslaughter sentence under house arrest. But Mike’s vengeful ghost isn’t done taunting her in this gripping supernatural thriller. Meanwhile, Mike’s ex-partner (Bobby Cannavale) keeps close tabs on Marnie, who must wear an ankle bracelet that doesn’t allow her to escape — let alone move past a 100-foot radius.

Feeding Grounds (2006)
Their collective sights are set on a fabulous weekend away in a remote desert cabin. But when eight friends take a detour en route to their destination, they unwittingly invite an otherworldly danger into their midst. Whatever it is, it’s hungry. And they’re unfortunate enough to look pretty delicious. Alex Ballar, Jamie Gannon and Kiralee Hayashi star in this independent horror-thriller with a sci-fi twist from director Junior Bonner.

It’s Alive (2008)
After participating in a series of seemingly safe drug testing experiments, grad student Lenore (Bijou Phillips) endures some horrifying side effects when her new baby turns out to be a natural born killer, leaving a trail of dead in its tiny wake. As the death toll mounts, the doting mom can stay in denial for only so long in this chilling remake of Larry Cohen’s 1974 cult horror hit, also starring James Murray as the proud papa.

It’s My Party and I’ll Die if I Want To (2007)
Some 70 years after Jacob Burkitt snapped and killed his entire family, thrill-seeking teens crash the allegedly haunted Burkitt Manor to give their friend Sara (Adrienne Fischer) a spooky surprise for her 18th birthday. But as the night drags on — and her friends start dying off, one by one — Sara begins to realize that an unspeakable evil is throwing her a killer party. Alicia Kenney and Oliver Lucach co-star.

Senseless (2008)
Ambitious young businessman Elliott Gast (Jason Behr) is violently knocked off the corporate ladder when he’s kidnapped by political terrorists, who torture him for crimes he unknowingly committed. What’s worse, his torment is being streamed live online. An unwilling contestant in a sadistic reality show, Elliott fights for survival, hoping that someone in the home audience will come to his aid in this tense, probing thriller.

Skull Heads (2009)
The eccentric Arkoff family shuns society to preserve the secrets of their castle home in Italy. Along with great treasures, they guard the “skull heads,” mysterious beings that have power over life and death. When the castle is raided by art thieves, violence erupts, endangering the Arkoffs as well as the criminals. Noted horror director Charles Band presents this creepy thriller, which features eerie marionettes along with a live cast.

Splatter Movie: The Director’s Cut (2008)
Armed with a killer script, an up-and-coming cast and a gung-ho crew, low-budget filmmaker Amy Lee Parker (Amy Lynn Best, who also directs) storms into Pittsburgh’s allegedly haunted Hundred Acres Manor ready to make horror movie magic. Unfortunately for Amy and company, the line between reality and fiction becomes terrifyingly blurred when a real killer starts taking out members of the production one by one.

Staunton Hill (2009)
When a group of hikers heads into the mountains of Virginia for some weekend R & R, their pleasant trek goes off the rails when they run into the Stauntons, a deranged family who will do anything to get the interlopers off their land. Now the friends are in a desperate fight for their lives in the isolated backcountry. Cameron Romero directs this horror film that stars Kathy Lamkin, David Rountree, Kiko Ellsworth and Cooper Huckabee.

The Seamstress (2008)
After vigilantes torture and kill a seamstress, she becomes a horrific spirit, hungry for vengeance — and when a group of young friends are trapped on the island where she died, she comes after them with her razor-sharp needles. But as one of the friends, Allie (Kailin See), searches for her missing father, she learns a terrible truth about him while her friends begin dying one by one. Lance Henriksen co-stars in this gory spine-chiller.

Dark Country (2009)
“Hung” star Thomas Jane directs and stars in this thriller that follows the hellish adventures of a newlywed couple who rescue a wounded stranger on the side of the road on their way back from their Las Vegas nuptials. When the almost-dead man goes berserk on them, the couple’s nightmare is just beginning. Ron Perlman (Hell Boy) and Lauren German also star in this chiller penned by Guerillas in the Mist writer Tab Murphy.

Audition (Collector’s Edition) (1999)
Controversial Japanese director Takashi Miike creates this unnerving horror film about a widowed TV producer auditioning prospective wives. In his search, one candidate particularly stands out, a lovely ex-ballerina dressed in white. The widower cannot believe his good fortune, until he starts looking more closely at his potential bride-to-be: her autobiographical details don’t quite check out, she has a number of ugly scars on her legs, and he learns that people in her life have a habit of disappearing. When he discovers a man trussed up in her living room with his tongue and feet lopped off, he concludes that she is perhaps not the woman of his dreams.

Possession (2007)
An adaptation of the 2002 Korean film Addicted, this thriller stars Sarah Michelle Gellar as a young woman whose husband and brother-in-law each fall into comas. When the brother-in-law comes back to consciousness first, he acts as if he is her husband, making her more and more uncomfortable. Soon she begins to suspect that unnatural forces are working against her.