Richard Stanley

It’s one of the most controversial, influential and groundbreaking horror satires of the 1980s. Brian Yuzna’s SOCIETY told a terrifying surreality of what the rich were doing to the poor in shocking, sexual detail. But did you know it was based on truth and took inspiration from the satanic ritual abuse carried out by the Beverly Hills elite Keith family? Or that son Woody Keith changed his name to Zeph E. Daniel and co-scripted SOCIETY to exorcise the demons from his violent youth? This is the full, appalling story of how Daniel’s autobiography became a classic chiller for the ages.

A cathartic journey that Qais, a Pakistani-Canadian filmmaker embarks on as he traces the life of H.P. Lovecraft, from woodland cemeteries in Rhode Island, to the docks of New York and on to the cobbled stoned streets of Quebec City. A documentary that proves that the truth is weirder than fiction.

With free eyes, an open heart, good friends and a handful of luck, Gurcius Gewdner revisits some of his adventures of the past five years, survives the relentless Russian winter and asks the following question: How far can an underground Brazilian film go?

David Gregory and Kier-La Janisse take a detailed look at the history of horror anthology films with the help of more than sixty writers, genre specialists, and members of the film industry.

The Gardner family moves to a remote farmstead in rural New England to escape the hustle of the 21st century. They are busy adapting to their new life when a meteorite crashes into their front yard, melts into the earth, and infects both the land and the properties of space-time with a strange, otherworldly colour. To their horror, the family discovers this alien force is gradually mutating every life form that it touches—including them.

The Gardner family moves to a remote farmstead in rural New England to escape the hustle of the 21st century. They are busy adapting to their new life when a meteorite crashes into their front yard, melts into the earth, and infects both the land and the properties of space-time with a strange, otherworldly colour. To their horror, the family discovers this alien force is gradually mutating every life form that it touches—including them.

Clark Ashton Smith was a poet, fantasist, sculptor, and painter. This lyrical documentary explore's Smith's work and life as a solitary artist living in Auburn, California. It features interviews with leading scholars such as S. T. Joshi, Scott Connors, Ron Hilger, and legendary writer Harlan Ellison. Donald Sidney-Fryer is featured as a sort of tour guide to Smith's Auburn.

A journey of years through many countries and film festivals; a nostalgic, adrenaline-fueled and rock-spirited immersion into the universe of cinephilia, in search of genre specialists, fans and filmmakers who speak of their shared passion for fantastic cinema; a whole international spiritual community united under the cathartic shadow of horror.

The most famous murder scene in movie history comprises 78 camera settings and 52 cuts: the shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. 78/52 tells the story of the man behind the curtain and his greatest obsession.

Kira's skin starts to age rapidly, dry out and crumble away. But then she discovers that she can replace her own skin with somebody else's.

Feature-length in-depth documentary by High Rising Productions chronicling the Giallo film genre from its beginnings as early 20th century crime fiction, to its later influences on the modern slasher film genre. Featuring interviews with Dario Argento, Umberto Lenzi, Luigi Cozzi, Richard Stanley, and more.

The story of the insane scandals related to the remake of “Island of Dr. Moreau” —originally a novel by H. G. Wells—, which was brought to the big screen in 1996. How director Richard Stanley spent four years developing the project just to find an abrupt end to his work while leading actor Marlon Brando pulled the strings in the shadows. Now for the first time, the living key players recount what really happened and why it all went so spectacularly wrong.

Shot in France, England, Switzerland and the United States, this documentary covers director Alejandro Jodorowsky (El Topo, Holy Mountain, Santa Sangre) and his 1974 Quixotic attempt to adapt the seminal sci-fi novel Dune into a feature film. After spending 2 years and millions of dollars, the massive undertaking eventually fell apart, but the artists Jodorowsky assembled for the legendary project continued to work together. This group of artists, or his “warriors” as Jodorowsky named them, went on to define modern sci-fi cinema with such films as Alien, Blade Runner, Star Wars and Total Recall.

Hidden deep in the south of France, practically untouched by the modern age, is a place known by many as 'the Zone'. In this space, the supernatural is an everyday reality of life. Magic is everywhere. It is reason. It is currency. It is unquestionable fact. Prepare yourself for a journey into life on the other side of the mirror. Legendary filmmaker Richard Stanley (HARDWARE, DUST DEVIL, as well as a string of stunning documentaries) has never been under spoken about his studies in mysticism and the occult. A trained anthropologist whose brain glows with secret knowledge and forgotten histories, Stanley has spent decades exploring the literal fantastic.

Down a seedy city street in her neighborhood, young Enola Penny is obsessed with what appears to be a long abandoned theatre. One night, she sees that the front door is slightly ajar and impulsively decides to sneak inside. But there in the dark, decrepit auditorium, a show unlike any other unfolds before her eyes. Its host is an eerie human puppet named Peg Poett who will introduce Penny to six tales of the bizarre: A couple traveling in a remote part of the French Pyrenees cross paths with a lustful witch; A paranoid lover faces the wrath of a partner who has been pushed to her limit; The Freudian dreams of an unfaithful husband blur the lines between fantasy and reality; The horrors of the real world are interpreted through the mind of a child; A woman addicted to other people's memories gets her fix through the vitreous fluid of her victims' eyeballs; And a perverse obsession with sweets turns sour for a couple in too deep.

Down a seedy city street in her neighborhood, young Enola Penny is obsessed with what appears to be a long abandoned theatre. One night, she sees that the front door is slightly ajar and impulsively decides to sneak inside. But there in the dark, decrepit auditorium, a show unlike any other unfolds before her eyes. Its host is an eerie human puppet named Peg Poett who will introduce Penny to six tales of the bizarre: A couple traveling in a remote part of the French Pyrenees cross paths with a lustful witch; A paranoid lover faces the wrath of a partner who has been pushed to her limit; The Freudian dreams of an unfaithful husband blur the lines between fantasy and reality; The horrors of the real world are interpreted through the mind of a child; A woman addicted to other people's memories gets her fix through the vitreous fluid of her victims' eyeballs; And a perverse obsession with sweets turns sour for a couple in too deep.

This thirty minute documentary features interviews with Giovinazzo's key contemporaries discussing the continued impact and influence of Combat Shock twenty-five years later.

They say that in 1600s, long before the invention of photography, a scientist named Fumagalli, was obsessed with the idea of reproducing images. He discovered that by killing a victim and removing his eyeballs it was possible to reproduce on paper the last image imprinted on the person's retina. He named such tecnique "Thanatography". Today, the same kind of gruesome ritual and abominable crimes r

Whilst making a documentary, filmmaker Holly meets the highly enigmatic and beautiful Vicki who claims she is a real-life vampire.

A Warren Comics style short portraying a stranded cosmonaut on Mars.

Marie, a film producer, returns to her native Russia to find her birth parents. She quickly learns they are dead, and she has inherited their long-empty farmhouse. At the farm, she meets Nicolai, who claims to be her twin brother. Events take a terrifying turn when the two spot a pair of ghastly doppelgangers and the house itself seems to propel them toward a fate they should have met 40 years earlier.

A documentary about voodoo in modern-day Haiti.

A documentary about voodoo in modern-day Haiti.

A British-produced documentary about the bizarre life of Nazi SS officer Otto Rahn, focused on his search for the mystical Holy Grail of Christ.

A British-produced documentary about the bizarre life of Nazi SS officer Otto Rahn, focused on his search for the mystical Holy Grail of Christ.

A British-produced documentary about the bizarre life of Nazi SS officer Otto Rahn, focused on his search for the mystical Holy Grail of Christ.

For 11 years, the FantAsia Film Festival in Montreal has been the premiere showcase in North America of fantasy, horror and action films from around the world. Every July, sold out crowds of 900 line up around the block before each screening; the festival itself lasts approximately 3 weeks. Shot during the 2 year of the festival in 1997, In the Belly of the Beast chronicles the intense struggles that five filmmakers in attendance went through to complete their films. Crew rebellions, corporate embezzlers and bankrupt studios are just a few of the memories conjured up during candid interviews, while the camera captures the latest challenge: the public acceptance - or rejection - of their films.

A shipwrecked sailor stumbles upon a mysterious island and is shocked to discover that a brilliant scientist and his lab assistant have found a way to combine human and animal DNA—with horrific results.

A shipwrecked sailor stumbles upon a mysterious island and is shocked to discover that a brilliant scientist and his lab assistant have found a way to combine human and animal DNA—with horrific results.

Cult director Richard Stanley brings Marillion's music to the screen in the 50-minute BRAVE. A teenager believed to be suicidal is discovered wandering near the Severn Bridge. Suffering from severe memory loss, she seeks information about the mysterious events that led to her condition. This work of fiction was inspired from the true story of an amnesiac woman found at the bridge.

Cult director Richard Stanley brings Marillion's music to the screen in the 50-minute BRAVE. A teenager believed to be suicidal is discovered wandering near the Severn Bridge. Suffering from severe memory loss, she seeks information about the mysterious events that led to her condition. This work of fiction was inspired from the true story of an amnesiac woman found at the bridge.

Cult director Richard Stanley brings Marillion's music to the screen in the 50-minute BRAVE. A teenager believed to be suicidal is discovered wandering near the Severn Bridge. Suffering from severe memory loss, she seeks information about the mysterious events that led to her condition. This work of fiction was inspired from the true story of an amnesiac woman found at the bridge.

A woman on the run from her abusive husband encounters a mysterious hitch-hiker.

A woman on the run from her abusive husband encounters a mysterious hitch-hiker.

A woman on the run from her abusive husband encounters a mysterious hitch-hiker.

Mark 13 is a government-built killing machine programmed with artificial intelligence, able to repair and recharge itself from any energy source. Through a series of coincidences, the cyborg's head ends up in the home of a sculptress as a bizarre Christmas present from her boyfriend. Once inside its new home, the cyborg promptly reconstructs the rest of its body using a variety of household utensils and proceeds to go on a murderous rampage.

Mark 13 is a government-built killing machine programmed with artificial intelligence, able to repair and recharge itself from any energy source. Through a series of coincidences, the cyborg's head ends up in the home of a sculptress as a bizarre Christmas present from her boyfriend. Once inside its new home, the cyborg promptly reconstructs the rest of its body using a variety of household utensils and proceeds to go on a murderous rampage.

Mark 13 is a government-built killing machine programmed with artificial intelligence, able to repair and recharge itself from any energy source. Through a series of coincidences, the cyborg's head ends up in the home of a sculptress as a bizarre Christmas present from her boyfriend. Once inside its new home, the cyborg promptly reconstructs the rest of its body using a variety of household utensils and proceeds to go on a murderous rampage.

An experimental documentary on the Russian invasion of Afghanistan.

The year 2037. Rugged soldier Max and weary sculptress Nicky try to sustain a relationship in a bleak totalitarian future plagued by war, nuclear fall-out, and overpopulation. Flashbacks show Max and Nicky's doomed romance throughout the years as things get worse and the world deteriorates all around them.

The year 2037. Rugged soldier Max and weary sculptress Nicky try to sustain a relationship in a bleak totalitarian future plagued by war, nuclear fall-out, and overpopulation. Flashbacks show Max and Nicky's doomed romance throughout the years as things get worse and the world deteriorates all around them.

The year 2037. Rugged soldier Max and weary sculptress Nicky try to sustain a relationship in a bleak totalitarian future plagued by war, nuclear fall-out, and overpopulation. Flashbacks show Max and Nicky's doomed romance throughout the years as things get worse and the world deteriorates all around them.

A disillusioned modern man is haunted by memories of a previous life as a primitive caveman who lived in a hostile past world. The caveman walks across a harsh landscape, hunts animals for food, battles savage apes, and scales a deep cliff.

A disillusioned modern man is haunted by memories of a previous life as a primitive caveman who lived in a hostile past world. The caveman walks across a harsh landscape, hunts animals for food, battles savage apes, and scales a deep cliff.

A disillusioned modern man is haunted by memories of a previous life as a primitive caveman who lived in a hostile past world. The caveman walks across a harsh landscape, hunts animals for food, battles savage apes, and scales a deep cliff.

Second part of a short film project, where every single short film is only allowed to cost 99 Euros. This time there are not only German filmmakers, but directors from all over Europe involved...

Wilbur Whateley, the son of a disfigured albino mother and an unknown father, is indoctrinated into the world of the occult and the forbidden by his sorcerer grandfather. As Wilbur performs these dark rituals, and begins to mature at an alarming rate, he begins to learn of the morbid and bizarre secrets behind his conception and birth. An adaptation of the story by H.P. Lovecraft.

A noir thriller set in a near-future, post-truth environment, retelling the story of Dante's Inferno.

A noir thriller set in a near-future, post-truth environment, retelling the story of Dante's Inferno.

Exploring Michael Mann's 1983 film adapted from the F. Paul Wilson novel and its impact.

After the huge financial and cultural success of WOODSTOCK (1970), filmmaker and political activist Michael Wadleigh spent many years in Hollywood writing scripts that were never produced. However, WOLFEN (1981), his only other major motion picture, was. After that he would never complete another feature film again. This is the story of that film.