Movieline Online

If there’s one thing horror nerds love it’s passing on their appreciation for the genre to the next generation…preferably their own kids.  But finding the right content for the right age can be a challenge (full disclosure: my children are quite well adjusted despite hearing a cacophony of screams at all hours coming from  daddy’s basement ).  Twisted family fare like  Willy Wonka  and  Coraline  are excellent barometers, but, if your kids are good readers, you don’t need to limit yourself to English speaking fare.  Making its home video debut outside of Japan,  The Snake Girl and the Silver Haired Witch  (1968) is full of creepy imagery, supernatural mysteries and one instance of shocking violence.   You know,  for kids ! After growing up in an orphanage because of a clerical error, Sayuri is reunited with her birth parents and welcomed into their home.  But the fairy tale is just beginning....

Time marches on.  And as collectors of physical media will tell you, there’s a sense of urgency to preserve films that are being pushed into the dusty corners of history.  I would imagine that fans of ‘50s horror and science fiction are becoming a more exclusive bunch.  But those who remain will be thrilled by Arrow’s new limited edition Blu-ray set  Cold War Creatures:  Four Films from Sam Katzman , the prolific low-budget producer who made the most of the timely atom-age trend.   Creature with the Atom Brain  (1955) combines a few genres to showcase its titular menace, a small army of undead errand boys sent out to get revenge at the command of a bitter gangster.  The man-made zombie versus the cops is a familiar trope that dodges out of fashion supernatural elements.  And writer Curt Siodmak ( The Wolf Man ) has fun playing with the reanimated corpses’ impressive indestructibility, even while the script’s sexi...