We are back! With a lot more horror films starting with P to return to, we thought it was a better idea to truck along with the rest of the alphabet and return to those letters with multiple parts later on (hopefully completed by months end. So without further ado, lets see what Q has in store for us. (Note, not adding the films that started with A so I could put A Quiet Place and its films here is in retrospect a mistake…)

The Quiet Family (1998)

A horror comedy about an oddball family who buy a lodge to make into a BnB for weary hikers. Only there is one major issue, their customers keep dying! This fun as hell Korean flick is the debut film from Kim Jee-woon (director of I Saw The Devil, A Take of Two Sisters etc) and boy does he revel in the absurd while toeing the line to not be too over the top. The ability for such an unfortunate circumstance to escalate in the manner that it does is a joy to watch.

If you are a fan of The Happiness of the Katakuri’s then this is most definitely the film for you. The Quiet Family is a film that is an absolute must to watch in a group setting, once it gets going it just refuses to let up.

The Quartermass Xperiment (1955)

The first manned spacecraft’s mission goes awry when its signal is lost and upon its return only one of the astronauts is in the craft. Soon he begins to go through a horrific metamorphosis that could put the entire Earth in danger. The Quartermass Xperiment is a wonderful 50s sci-fi horror monster movie filled to the brim with suspense and while it has as good as a “monster” as 50s Hammer could produce, there is still so much to love in this one.

Yet, it is the use of atmosphere and shadow that makes the film work even to today’s standards. You fear what could be lurking behind in the darkness, what new changes have occurred. That doesn’t stop the film from having some deliciously 50s ridiculousness with its characters and their performances. Richard Wordsworth breaks your heart as the unfortunate astronaut Victor Carroon.

Quartermass 2 (1957)

Having not learned his lesson two years earlier with the shambles of a project that almost ruined England, Bernard Quatermass is hell bent on developing plans for the first Moon colony. Unbeknownst to him, the Government have also had the same stupid idea and Quartermass discovers that extraterrestrial Life has already made its way to Earth.

Who knew England was such a hotbed for alien activity and general alien shenanigans? With a strong thread of paranoia set throughout the sequel returning director Val Guest leans heavily on his cast to do a lot of the heavy lifted as the film goes for a purposely slower pace. Luckily this time more money has been saved for our finale at the expense of the film being more of a talking piece than fun horror sci-fi jaunt. It works though as threat running through the film only increases the suspense.

Quartermass and the Pit (1967)

People near a London subway station are getting affected by a strange psychic phenomenon that is discovered to be a mysterious artefact. In comes Bernard Quartermass who believes that these artifacts are in fact from space. As their digging continues they encounter a horrible discovery.

A remake of the successful series from 1958, Quartermass and the Pit is a bit of a 1960s reboot and a mighty good one at that (even if it is a touch more ambitious than it needs to be). If there is one thing that you cannot deny, it is that Hammer weren’t afraid to go bigger with this one. The effects in modern times are a bit dated, but if you let yourself get fully immersed into the story, then there is a great plot that awaits you as this film continues that wonderful trend of these Quartermass films of unsettling the life out of you.

Qodrat (The Unholy) (2022)

Recently released former clergyman (out titular Qodrat) returns to his old community to find not only are the crops failing, but that young people (including his young son have passed away in disturbing circumstances, he knows he must make a stand to save those still there.

There are some truly great moments in this action exorcism horror (yes you read that right) with one around 40 minutes in that just causes that involuntary wincing that horrors love to cause. You never knew until Qodrat came into your life that you needed an exorcism film that had some martial arts in it. Not only does Qodrat have to conduct exorcisms, he has to fight those inflicted and also those who have been conjuring demons to destroy the community. There is more than enough fresh moments here to enjoy and with the coolest exorcist on the planet around, you will have a grand old time with this one.

Queen of Black Magic (1981)

When you get married, do not hallucinate, otherwise your new husband might throw you off a cliff. Poor Murni falls victim to her stupid husband and thanks to a mysterious man, she decides to enact her revenge on all of the male population who lead to her impromptu cliff dive.

Want a film with some great low budget self decapitations? Then Queen of Black Magic will surely be your jam. A slow paced blast of a film that doesn’t let up and gives you everything your disgusting little heart wants. Exploding men and body parts a plenty are to be found here. One to sit back and revel in the madness of a woman wrongfully scorned.

Queen of Black Magic (2019)

The loosest of remakes of the 1981 original, to the point the only similarity is the name and someone with black magic is involved. A group of friends with their wives return to the orphanage they grew up in to bid farewell to the patron who raised them. As their stay continues, memories return that can only spell (get it? Yeah you get it) trouble for them and their families.

Queen Crab (2015)

When you are a scientist who conducts growth experiments, the absolute best thing to do is to leave said growth experiments (in the shapes of grapes for added good idealism) around your nosey as hell kids. Well, wouldn’t you know it and suddenly the family pet crab is hundreds of times bigger and messing up everything it see’s. Scientists need to be smarter.

Listen, I never said every single film on these lists were going to be utter classics. My criteria was whether these would be fun as well as good and reader this stupid bloody film is on my list of so bad its good. If you want to watch a very low budget film where a stop motion giant crab is shot at by an AK-47 wielding child then folks Queen Crab is for you. This is almost certainly a film to watch to have a daft old throwback of a time where films had nonsensically long scenes with dialogue to streeeeeetttttcchhhh out that run time with pure madness interspersed inbetween to keep us entertained. This is the epitome of the drive thru film and if made in the 1950s, it would have been a smash.

Queen Doll (1972)

Carlos returns to his home town and is soon overcome with memories of his childhood sweetheart (This is Where I Leave You, this is not). As he searches for her he discovers that she has sadly passed off this mortal coil, but luckily for him, her weird parents have made a life sized doll of her to remember her. As we all know nothing says aww I miss my dead adult daughter than a liftsized doll in a glass coffin. Soon the spirit of his dead sweetheart begins to bleed into his real life.

A film all about the dangers of nostalgia. Queen Doll is a reminder that just because your childhood was simpler and easier, doesn’t necessarily mean it was better, so returning to it like it was the best thing ever, often isn’t the smartest idea. This sad tale is a secret little gem of a film that has our lead slowly lose himself and though the horror is on the surreal and subtle side, seeing someone lose themselves how Carolos does is still frightening.

Queen of the Damned (2002)

Vampire Lestat (yes Interview With a Vampire Lestat) has just woken up from a good old nap and suddenly decided that being a rock star is clearly the way to go with his undead life. But he is so damn good at the old rock n roll that he awakens/resurrects vampire Queen Akasha who wants him to be her king, while the rest of the vampire world wants him dead (well deader than he is).

If I accidentally broke your neck from you thinking about Interview With a Vampire (the book or movie) and how this is a loose sequel after reading that synopsis, then oops, sorry, but yeah, utter 2000 brilliantly stupid madness. This is a trash film, but like Queen Crab, you can’t help with how much fun this horny pile of nu metal vampirism is. The film is rightfully not fleshed out, but goodness is this an entertaining watch.

The Queen of Spades (1916)

Hermann never bets, doesn’t believe in it, but he is down on his luck and when he hears about how Countess Fedotovna won her fortune by playing three cards, well he gets invested and thinks that it might be his way to his own fortune and out of the military.

Fun fact that could probably be disproved in seconds, there has been a version of this story released in almost every decade since 1910 with multiple per decade if you count worldwide productions, except for the 1950s and 1990s (lazy). This adaptation is actually the second of the 1910s and the far superior of the two. So for those who complain about remakes nowadays, calm down until you have seen your 10 iteration of Nightmare on Elm Street.

Anyway! This is a great supernatural tale that really utilises the frame in ways not many films did in the 1910s, there is a moment where director Yakov Pratazanov messes around with lighting and how our characters look and goodness even if something similar was done today you would applaud its inventiveness. Once Hermann learns the Countesses trick the lighting which was already atmospheric becomes its own character, shadows are large and booming over the walls, everything feels like it closes in on Hermann and verges on being German Expressionism, long before it came to be. If you enjoy your silent films, this is one to add to your list.

The Queen of Spades (1949)

A similar synopsis as the 1916 version above, (it is a remake afterall) only this time we learn a bit more about what the Countess did to ensure she won her fortune by knowing those three cards. After reading a book (sometimes it isn’t good to read) he plots to manipulate the Countess via her ward Lizaveta.

An apparent trend with these films it to make them as gorgeous as possible, as if that was the one requisite for the filmmakers. Tweak the story a touch sure, but make sure that thing looks beautiful. There is an intriguing emptiness to Anton Walbrooks performance here, as if once he finds out how he can get rich, all normal emotions evaporate from his soul and we are just left with a haunted broken man wanting that fortune.

This is a gothic ghost fable takes its time to build (much like its 1916 version), but when the story kicks on into that final act, it becomes a riveting piece of cinema. This is one all about the details, in the set designs, in the way it tries to build that suspense and Herman’s obsession. It’s a wonderful and one of the best of the decade.

Queens of Evil (1970)

After trying to help a stranded motorist, David gets into an altercation with him and said motorist dies, so that’s his AA roadside assistance career out the window. As he tries to evade the police, he finds himself down an unknown road and reaches the lakeside home of three sisters, who, you guessed it are not who they are pretending to be.

Other than accidentally killing someone, rocking up to a house with three beautiful women who are all attracted to you is the dream right? WRONG, David should run for the hills, run so far his legs burn. Life is never that good for anyone, so if you fall into the same path as David, just know those women are going to kill you and have a good old jolly as they do it.

Tonino Cervi, lures the audience into a falls sense of security here and while we all know there is going to be a turn at some point, it is just a matter of when. Luckily the when takes its time and lets us know something isn’t right, but between the weird nature of the sisters and that home that an interior designer would cry at. What Queens of Evil has is mood for days upon days and it leads to a great little finale. Best of all is the soundtrack which you will immediately try and hunt down afterwards.

A Quiet Place in the Country (1968)

Some people love a project and for artist Leonardo (not Da Vinci, don’t get excited) he decides to buy and renovate from top to bottom a rural villa. Seems like a fun idea until he discovers the tale of a Countess who was murdered there years before. Soon his project stops being the house, but the dead countess.

It was pretty bold of Elio Petri to give us a lead character who you actively hate, but here we are. As you would expect with an Italian horror film from this time period, A Quiet Place in the Country isn’t exactly a film that holds its story together well and can be on the more disjointed side of things. That is most likely due to how the film has this dreamlike surrealist nature to it, there is a psychedelic nature to it that you can only appreciate. It goes where few would consider and goodness does it pay off.

What you cannot escape, is just how hypnotic the film is, Elio Petri has done something wonderful here that can barely be explained. Couple that with a great performance from Franco Nero and the underutilised Vanessa Redgrave and we have something special on our hands. With a score from Ennio Morricone that only adds to the maddening surreal nature of the film it becomes a movie that is severely underrated and one that will surprise you with just how good it is. Certainly, for me this is a one off type of film, you couldn’t replicate it if you tried.

Q: The Winged Serpent (1982)

As a pair of New York detectives are investigating a ritualistic Aztec murder (pretty good research department in the NYPD to know that), something large is attacking (read, biting off people’s heads) throughout the city. Together with an ex con who is the only person who knows where its lair is, they must find it, before it finds them.

So daft is this film, director Larry Cohen filmed all of his helicopter and action scenes without said winged serpent and gave it to the stop-motion effects team to work out. They had to politely inform him, that he had made their job harder as usually this set up is done in reverse. You see the stop-motion team typically make the monster the animations first, as that is the longer of the tasks on the production. Then after seeing what the stop motion team are done. The director can then have his actors and cinematographer work around that to save production time and costs.

A film from Larry Cohen starring Michael Moriarty, David Carradine and Richard Roundtree is always going to be an automatic yes for those of us with a certain love for 70s and 80s trash. Add in a Quetzalcoatl, or Q for our characters sakes (imagine this lot trying to pronounce that word throughout an entire film), and we have a lot to love. As entertaining as it is absurd, this is just a daft ride of a film that takes no prisoners.

To check out our previous letters have a click below! Come back for the letter R, tomorrow.

Horror films to watch: Letter A

Horror films to watch: Letter B

Horror films to watch: Letter B (Part 2)

Horror films to watch: Letter C

Horror films to watch: Letter D

Horror films to watch: Letter E

Horror films to watch: Letter F

Horror films to watch: Letter G

Horror films to watch: Letter H: Part 1

Horror films to watch: Letter H: Part 2

Horror films to watch: Letter H: Part 3

Horror films to watch: Letter I; Part 1

Horror films to watch: Letter I – Part 2

Horror films to watch; Letter J

Horror films to watch; Letter K

Horror films to watch: Letter L

Horror films to watch: Letter M

Horror films to watch: Letter M (Part 2)

Horror films to watch: Letter M (part 3)

Horror films to watch: Letter N

Horror films to watch: Letter N (Part 2)

Horror films to watch: Letter O

Horror films to watch: Letter P (Part 1)

Horror films to watch: Letter P (Part 2)

Horror films to watch: Letter Q

Horror films to watch: Letter R (Part 1)

Horror films to watch: Letter S (Part 1)

Horror films to watch: Letter T (Part 1)

Horror films to watch: Letter U

Horror films to watch: Letter V (Part 1)

Horror films to watch: Letter W (Part 1)

Horror films to watch: Letter X

Horror films to watch: Letter Y

Horror films to watch: Letter Z

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