Having progressed from the ’70s through the ’90s, the Criterion Channel can only make the logical next step in October programming with “2000s Horror,” which comprises mainstream favorites (The Others, What Lies Beneath), arthouse material (Trouble Every Day, May), and some late-style maudits (Ghosts of Mars, Toolbox Murders). Ghosts will also appear in Criterion’s career-spanning John Carpenter program, which offers an opportunity to reconsider his 2001 film, Vampires, and Memoirs of an Invisible Man––all worthy of the man’s name. Meanwhile, “Body Horror” features the requisite Cronenberg, plus Hiroshi Teshigahara, Ishiro Honda, and William Friedkin’s Bug.
Horror continues in a six-film Jean Rollin set and Criterion Editions of The Others and Altered States; that series also features To Sleep with Anger, Pierrot le fou, A Woman is a Woman, My Winnipeg, and––two titles out-of-print longer than some people reading this have been alive––John Woo’s The Killer and Hard Boiled. Those are also in what’s indisputably the month’s best program: “Hong Kong Action Classics,” which folds a number of recent Shout! restorations of Woo, Tsui Hark, Ringo Lam, and the Chinese Ghost Story trilogy (the latter in a larger program of Hong Kong horror) with films by Yuen Woo-ping and Johnnie To. All of these films in one package is probably the best use of the streaming model since… well, I don’t even know.
Meanwhile, recent restorations of Edward Yang’s Mahjong and A Confucian Confusion will stream alongside Yi Yi, A Brighter Summer Day, and Taipei Story. Restoration-wise, October also offers several Charles Burnett films, Christiane F., Robina Rose’s major discovery Nightshift, and Claire Denis’ lesser-seen, great No Fear, No Die.
See the full line-up below and more at Criterion Channel:
[•REC], Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza, 2007*
Altered States, Ken Russell, 1980
Among Grey Stones, Kira Muratova, 1983
The Annihilation of Fish, Charles Burnett, 1999
Assault on Precinct 13, John Carpenter, 1976
The Asthenic Syndrome, Kira Muratova, 1989
A Better Tomorrow, John Woo, 1986
A Better Tomorrow II, John Woo, 1987
A Better Tomorrow III: Love & Death in Saigon, Tsui Hark, 1989
Big Trouble in Little China, John Carpenter, 1986
Brief Encounters, Kira Muratova, 1967
Bug, William Friedkin, 2006
Bullet in the Head, John Woo, 1990
By the River, Sofía Camargo, 2019
Les carabiniers, Jean-Luc Godard, 1963
Change of Fate, Kira Muratova, 1987
A Chinese Ghost Story, Ching Siu-tung, 1987
A Chinese Ghost Story II, Ching Siu-tung, 1990
A Chinese Ghost Story III, Ching Siu-tung, 1991
Christiane F., Uli Edel, 1981
Christine, John Carpenter, 1983
City on Fire, Ringo Lam, 1987
The Cockettes, David Weissman and Bill Weber, 2002
A Confucian Confusion, Edward Yang, 1994
Dahmer, David Jacobson, 2002
Dark Star, John Carpenter, 1974
Daughters of Darkness, Harry Kümel, 1971
The Descent, Neil Marshall, 2005
The East Is Red, Ching Siu-tung and Raymond Lee, 1993
Escape from L.A., John Carpenter, 1996
Escape from New York, John Carpenter, 1981
Evil Cat, Dennis Yu, 1987
Fascination, Jean Rollin, 1979
The Fly, David Cronenberg, 1986
Ganja & Hess, Bill Gunn, 1973
Ghosts of Mars, John Carpenter, 2001
The Glass Shield, Charles Burnett, 1994
The Grapes of Death, Jean Rollin, 1978
Hard Boiled, John Woo, 1992
Heroes Shed No Tears, John Woo, 1984
Hooligan Sparrow, Nanfu Wang, 2017
In the Mouth of Madness, John Carpenter, 1994
The Killer, John Woo, 1989
Lake Mungo, Joel Anderson, 2008
Lips of Blood, Jean Rollin, 1975
The Living Dead Girl, Jean Rollin, 1982
The Long Farewell, Kira Muratova, 1971
Lost in New York, Jean Rollin, 1989
Mahjong, Edward Yang, 1996
May, Lucky McKee, 2002
Memoirs of an Invisible Man, John Carpenter, 1992
Milisuthando, Milisuthando Bongela, 2023
My Winnipeg, Guy Maddin, 2007*
Nat Turner: A Troublesome Property, Charles Burnett, 2003
Nightshift, Robina Rose, 1981
No Fear, No Die, Claire Denis, 1990
Nostos, Sofía Camargo, 2024
Once a Thief, John Woo, 1991
The Others, Alejandro Amenábar, 2001
Peking Opera Blues, Tsui Hark, 1986
Pierrot le fou, Jean-Luc Godard, 1965
Prince of Darkness, John Carpenter, 1987
Prison on Fire, Ringo Lam, 1987
Prison on Fire II, Ringo Lam, 1991
Requiem for a Vampire, Jean Rollin, 1972
Rogue, Greg McLean, 2007
School on Fire, Ringo Lam, 1988
Shanghai Blues, Tsui Hark, 1984
Shivers, David Cronenberg, 1975
Starman, John Carpenter, 1984
Stuck, Stuart Gordon, 2007
Swordsman, King Hu and Tsui Hark, 1990
Swordsman II, Ching Siu-tung, 1992
Teeth, Mitchell Lichtenstein, 2007
They Live, John Carpenter, 1988
Three Stories, Kira Muratova, 1997
To Sleep with Anger, Charles Burnett, 1990
Toolbox Murders, Tobe Hooper, 2004
Triangle, Christopher Smith, 2009
The Tuner, Kira Muratova, 2004
Vampires, John Carpenter, 1998
We Were Here, David Weissman, 2011
What Lies Beneath, Robert Zemeckis, 2000
A Woman Is a Woman, Jean-Luc Godard, 1961
*Available in the U.S. only