Antlers (2021)
Wendigo Creature
A wendigo film, this comes with impressive prospect and backed by no less names than Guillermo Del Toro and David S. Goyer
American Indian Mythology
American Indian (these days the preferred term Native American is used) mythology is occasionally used in genre cinema. What should be said is that there is no singular mythology common to all Native Americans – it consists of a variety of myths that greatly vary from tribe to tribe. These range from creation myths to stories of the afterlife for great warriors to legends about buffalo and trickster spirits.
All of that said, most screen depictions of Native American mythology is woefully uninformed. In 99% of the cases listed here, the writers and filmmakers have done little to no research on the mythology and instead used commonly held ideas. Thus genre works are filled with stories about haunted Indian burial grounds, Indian medicine men (which can be either good or evil), curses, wendigo spirits, or general all-purpose Indian artefacts that may serve as the fantasy equivalent of a McGuffin in a story.
Atlantis: Milo’s Return (2003)
Disney Animation Sequel
Another shabby Disney video-released sequel, in this case to Atlantis the Lost Empire. The result looks like three episodes of an unsold tv series slapped together to sell as a film
Avalanche Sharks (2013)
Sharks Attack a Mountainside Ski Resort
In the same vein as Sharknado, another absurdly entertaining gonzo shark attack film concerning sharks that swim through the snow to attack skiers at a mountainside resort
Blood Quantum (2019)
American Indians vs Zombies
This had me sold from its premise of American Indians vs zombies. Made by Canadian First Nations people, this features an Indian reservation as the last refuge against the zombie apocalypse
The Capture of Bigfoot (1979)
Bigfoot
From Bill Rebane, this was a cheap and dreary Bigfoot film, one of a spate of similar low-budget efforts made for drive-in audiences during the 1970s
The Cellar (1989)
Native American Demon
A low-budget 1980s film where a family buy a house in the desert only to find that there is a Native American demon imprisoned in the cellar
Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice (1992)
Pagan Child Cult
The second of the films spun off from the Stephen King short story. This is better that its predecessor, premised around a series of novelty deaths and offering some explanations for what is happening
The Chosen One: The Legend of the Raven (1998)
Superheroine/White Trash Melodrama
Hilarious film in which Carmen Electra gets resurrected as a superheroine via American Indian magic. Filled with hilarious white trash bitcheries
Claws (1977)
Killer Bear
This was made as a fairly blatant mockbuster copy of Jaws. This is basically Jaws on dry land with a bear instead of a shark and an assonant soundalike title Claws instead of Jaws
Cowboys vs Vampires (2010)
Vampires Haunt a Western Recreation Town
A horror movie set around a modern day Western recreation town that was quickly retitled on the tail of Cowboys vs Aliens. It’s debatable though whether it does actually feature any vampires
The Curse of the Clown Motel (2023)
Haunted Clown Motel
This was the second film set around the real-life Clown Motel in Nevada. Despite which this is not another killer clown films and is focused around the awakening of vengeful Native American spirits
The Darkness (2016)
Haunting/Native American Demons Awakened
Greg McLean has made an impressive name with the Wolf Creek films and Rogue. In his first US film, he delivers a disappointing and utterly generic haunted suburban house film
Dreamkeeper (2003)
American Indian Myths and Legends
Beautifully made and written Hallmark tv mini-series directed by Steve Barron that brings to life a variety of different Native American myths and legends
Fear Runs Silent (1999)
Backwoods Horrors
Backwoods horror that starts well, keeping its menace ambiguous but collapses into a mishmash of pretensions and amateurish symbolism
Forest Warrior (1996)
Environmental Ghost Warrior
Near laughable film in which Chuck Norris is cast as the guardian spirit of a forest preaching eco-friendly attitudes to kids and inspiring them to stand up against loggers
Ginger Snaps Back: The Begining (2004)
Teenage Girl Werewolves
Third of the Ginger Snaps films, a prequel set during the pioneer era with Emily Perkins and Katharine Isabelle again as sisters taking refuge at a fort under attack by werewolves. The scene-setting and atmosphere of foreboding is superlative
Grim Prairie Tales (1990)
Anthology of Wild West Horror Tales
An interesting, if not completely successful, attempt to revive the horror anthology – in this case with four tales that all take place in a Western setting
House IV (1992)
Haunted House/Horror Comedy
The fourth and last in the series of 1980s horror comedies that began with House produced by Friday the 13th director Sean S. Cunningham. This brings the first film’s William Katt back to round the series out
Imagine That (2009)
Stock Predictions from a Child's Invisible Companions
Eddie Murphy in another of the lame flops that marked his career in the 2000s where he plays a stockbroker who gets stock tips from his daughter’s imaginary companion
Jonah Hex (2010)
Western Comic-Book Adaptation/Supernatural Bounty Hunter
This is an adaptation of the DC comic-book character of a supernatural avenging Western gunslinger that fails to burn with the grim mood it should have
Like Father, Like Son (1987)
Father-Son Bodyswap Comedy
An entry in the spate of 1980s bodyswap comedies with Dudley Moore and Kirk Cameron as father and son who swap bodies. Enjoyably silly with good performances from both.
Magic in the Water (1995)
Children Discover Sea Monster
Likeable Canadian-made children’s film where Mark Harmon and kids come to rescue of a lake monster
Man-Thing (2005)
Marvel Comics Adaptation/Creature in the Swamps
The bastard child among the spate of pre-MCU Marvel Comics adaptations during the mid-2000s, a film based on their swamp-dweller that throws out most of the comic-book
The Manitou (1978)
Reincarnated Indian Medicine Man
The one moment of triumph from director William Girdler who takes a work that sits just on the threshold of schlock and transforms into something incredibly eerie with an injection of H.P. Lovecraft and American Indian mysticism
The Minion (1998)
Body-Hopping Demon
Low-budget action film with Dolph Lundgren as a modern-day Knights Templar tasked with preventing The Devil returning to Earth at the millennium
The Missing (2003)
Western/American Indian Sorcerer
Ron Howard makes a Western that has some horror overtones featuring an evil Indian sorcerer. In the hands of a classic director like John Ford this could have been an epic work but Howard’s plodding predictability kills interest
New Moon (2009)
Twilight Sequel/Vampire Romance
The second of the Twilight films where the moderately grounded original is blown up into the near laughable with the ridiculously over-the-top hyper-sexualised posturing of its male leads
The New Mutants (2020)
Comic-Book Superheroes
What will be the very last of 20th Century Fox’s X-Men films, this is more like a superheroic version of The Breakfast Club than any of the other X-Men films
Nightwing (1979)
Killer Vampire Bats
Adaptation of a Martin Cruz Smith novel about an Indian reservation under attack by hordes of vampire bats. The Nature Amok theme suffers terrible effects and plays subordinate to a polemic about the state of the modern Indian
The Patriot (1998)
Action Film/Biowarfare Outbreak
Steven Seagal action film in which he plays a former virologist fighting a militia group threatening to unleash a deadly virus
Pet Sematary (2019)
Resurrection of the Dead/Stephen King Adaptation
Remake of the Stephen King novel that opened to very divided reaction. The surprise about the film is bar one central aspect it is surprisingly faithful to the book. On the other hand, the changes make the crucial difference
Pet Sematary: Bloodlines (2023)
Resurrection of the Dead
A sequel, or more correctly, prequel to the recent remake of the Stephen King novel. This has some legitimacy in that it is adapted from a story recounted in the book
Pet Sematary (1989)
Resurrection of the Dead/Stephen King Adaptation
An okay Stephen King adaptation that does nothing particularly wrong but lacks the impact that has caused people to regard the novel as one of the best of King’s works
Pet Sematary II (1992)
Resurrection of the Dead
Sequel to the 1989 Pet Sematary that reverses the sympathies of the original – now it is a child that resurrects a parent – but this never quite finds the same effectiveness
Pocahontas (1995)
Disney Animation/Historical Meeting Between English & Native Americans
Disney bases an animated film on the historical character but warps the story considerably. It feels that this is a Disney animated film made more to adhere to Political Correctness than it is a good one
Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World (1998)
Disney Animation/Pocahontas Goes to England
One of the better among the cheap video-released sequels to their animated films Disney released during the 1990s/2000s, this actually works better than the original
Poltergeist (1982)
Haunting
Debate will always rage as to whether this was directed by Tobe Hooper or executive producer Steven Spielberg. It doesn’t alter the fact that it is a superlative rollercoaster of a ghost story that doesn’t always make sense but pulls its effects off flawlessly
Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986)
Haunting
Sequel to Poltergeist that without Tobe Hopper in the director’s seat is an unimaginative by-the-numbers effort
Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead (2006)
Zombie Chicken Mutations/Troma Film
Troma film that has maybe the silliest movie title ever. This sets out to be so persistently moronic and wilfully offensive that it eventually attains a delirious absurdity
Primal Rage (2018)
Bigfoot Film
Strong and effective Bigfoot horror film from makeup effects artist Patrick Magee. The film is never better than when Magee is in his element, creating a uniquely designed Bigfoot that is capable of blending into its surroundings unnoticed
Ravenous (1999)
Cannibalism
Film about the soldiers at a fort on the American frontier who have descended to cannibalism. A good set-up falls apart due to a comedy treatment
Scalps (1983)
Cursed Indian Burial Ground
Fred Olen Ray is one of the most prolific genre directors. This film about a cursed Indian graveyard was made earlier in his career. Olen Ray hasn’t exactly become a good filmmaker since but his subsequent films are at least made with a overall competence and a sense of humour, which this lacks
Shadow Hunter (1993)
Detective Tracks American Indian Sorcerer
Directed by the underrated J.S. Cardone, this features Scott Glenn in a fine performance trying to track Indian sorcerer Benjamin Bratt
Shadow of Chikara (1977)
Western Quest/Cursed Mountain
This is nominally a Western – one of the harsh and realistic ones made at the end of the 1970s – and quite a good one too. It comes with a real surprise ending that takes it over into fantasy
Shadow of the Hawk (1976)
War Between American Indian Sorcerers
Jan-Michael Vincent plays a young man who is reluctantly drawn in by his Native American grandfather’s war against a black sorcerer
Silent Tongue (1994)
Western/American Indian Ghost
A directorial outing from actor/playwright Sam Shepard set in the West as Richard Harris buys an Indian daughter for his son River Phoenix
Turok: Son of Stone (2008)
Animation/Comic-Book Adaptation/Indian Warrior in a Prehistoric Lost Valley
Animated adaption of the comic-book about a Native American warrior stranded in a prehistoric lost world
Twilight (2008)
Vampire Romance
Before the teen idol phenomenon took over, the original in the massively popular Young Adult series works as an earnest romance where all involved are clearly making an effort to play with a conviction
Wendigo (2001)
Backwoods Stalking/Native Indian Spirit
Early film from Larry Fessenden about a family and a Native American spirit. Much brooding build-up but not much payoff (*)
The White Buffalo (1977)
Western/Hunt for a Mythic Buffalo
Probably the strangest film that Charles Bronson ever made – a retelling of Moby Dick where he plays the real-life figure of Wild Bill Hickok hunting a mythic white buffalo instead of a whale. This was a big financial flop but is a not unworthwhile film
White of the Eye (1987)
Psycho-Thriller
Dazzlingly stylish psycho-thriller from the underrated Donald Cammell with David Keith as a serial killer in a small Arizona town
Wolfen (1981)
Intelligent Wolves
Adaptation of a Whitley Strieber book about intelligent wolves hunting in New York City from Michael Wadleigh, the director of Woodstock … The film tends to bury Strieber’s straightforward horror story under social concerns as though wanting to distance itself from the horror label
You Might Be the Killer (2018)
Slasher Deconstruction/Possession by Indian Mask
There have been some clever and witty deconstructions and parodies of the slasher film in recent years. This starts in with an immediately captivating hook where the title phrase is turned around on the protagonist