SKELETONS (UK/2010/NICK WHITFIELD)

Davis and Bennett are agents for a company known as Veridical, whose business it is to remove skeletons from people’s closets, performing a new age ritual before embarking upon a time-travelling fact-finding mission. One such assignment puts the boys to work at the countryside house of Jane Baron, a presumed widow who has resorted to digging up the grounds to find her missing husband. Jane’s taciturn daughter Rebecca, upset by the men’s presence, tries to disrupt the procedure to preserve the memory of her father, while Davis’ prickly disposition and preoccupation with a snapshot of his own past keep him from doing the job properly. When the investigation comes to a head, both men realise how much of themselves they sacrifice by exploring other people’s pasts.

Developed from a ten-minute short, Skeletons is a surprisingly successful mix of uniquely British humour and sincere existentialism, fostered by a team of people who clearly cared for their creation. First-time director Nick Whitfield is cautiously subtle with the set-up and the eventual pay-off, and the motif of Davis’ treasured memory is a sentimental touch, rather than the fairground attraction it would have been in Inception. Comic duo Ed Gaughan and Andrew Buckley, in the roles of Veridical’s metaphorical ghostbusters, work brilliantly off each other, both rotund (in conflict with the film’s title) but vastly contrasting in personality. There are points in the film where one wishes the edits would slow down, but ultimately the film affords enough room for every type of moviegoer.

CREEPY HIDE AND SEEK (JAPAN/2009/MASAFUMI YAMADA)

Belatedly riffing on the Japanese horror craze for technology, Creepy Hide and Seek follows curious teenager Ryoko as she saunters down the rabbit-hole of a new craze – online hide and seek. The rules of the game are revealed to us at the beginning through a girl named Mai-Mai. Slavishly obeying a set of instructions on a chatroom, Mai-Mai performs a voodoo ritual with a doll, then finds a hiding place in her own house. A string of messages persuades her that she is winning the game, before a mysterious hand strangles her from behind. Ryoko, as it is revealed, was a close friend of Mai-Mai’s, and is not satisfied with the popular explanation that she simply ‘disappeared’. Determined to unravel the mystery herself, Ryoko plays the game herself, not realising she is soon to face the intangible terror that has claimed so many victims before.

As the title suggests, it’s not a particularly cerebral piece of work, nor is it in any way original. Whatever this film might have wanted to say about the internet and Japanese folklore in modern culture has most likely been articulated better in another horror film – Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Pulse comes to mind, as does Noroi: The Curse. Even more disappointing is that the film’s central concept is half-baked, and the lure of this hide and seek game is pretty unclear. But as simple as the film appears, it is still worth watching, if only for the accomplished sound design which almost creates music from fear.

ANTI-CLOCK (UK/1979/JANE ARDEN, JACK BOND)

Joseph Sapha is a non-descript young man who is somehow roped into a terrifying programme of constant scrutiny. CCTV cameras watch his every move; tannoyed voices shout instructions over the radio. Joseph is repeatedly put through brief experiments which ask him to watch videos of himself engaging in different activities, and is informed of his emotions at the time. As aspects of his psyche are exposed, we learn that Joseph is here by dint of his ability to see into the future. A group of parapsychologists presents their findings to nobody in particular, the boundaries of this experiment imperceptible to the audience. The project’s leader, Professor Zanov, is unrelentingly intrusive in his examination techniques, and his determination to essentially map out his subject’s brain soon pushes Joseph over the edge.

Both nightmarish and enchanting, Anti-Clock is a brave work, one of few films to actually explore the very concept of the future as part of the plot. Directors Jane Arden and Jack Bond appear to have had some prescience about the potential of surveillance – although CCTV was almost unheard of at the time of the film’s production, their prediction of a world where identity is under frequent risk of exposure seems to harmonise with most modern-day meditations on the same subject. Sadly, the film is largely inaccessible, employing parapsychological rhetoric and theatrically impassive performances to create a deliberately cold, uncaring feel. Anti-Clock should without a doubt be seen by more people, but perhaps mass exposure would violate the film’s message.

PITFALL (JAPAN/1962/HIROSHI TESHIGAHARA)

Set in an impoverished mining complex, Pitfall tells the story of a close-knit community torn apart by the activities of a mysterious serial killer dressed in white. The murderer’s first victim is an unemployed miner, whom he chases out to a marsh before stabbing him to death. To cover his tracks, he pays the only witness to run to the village and claim that the deed was carried out by the trade union leader of the mine’s newer pit. Naturally, the union leader is distraught and enlists the help of his counterpart from the old pit to investigate. Before long, both are also dead, along with the witness of the first murder. Throughout the film, the deceased return as ghosts, in the state they were in when they died. These ghosts roam the community in pursuit of their killer, but are naturally incapable of alerting the locals or calling for help.

Social realism sits abreast with surrealism in director Hiroshi Teshigahara’s chilling debut. Meditations on mortality quickly outgrow the murder mystery premise as the ghosts of the past literally hang over the present. Hiroshi Segawa’s inventive cinematography rhymes vividly with acclaimed composer Toru Takemitsu’s penetrative soundtrack. The film shares a lot of its themes (death, absence, identity) and atmosphere with Teshigahara’s monumental second film Woman of the Dunes, and the two work splendidly as parallel stories. Less forgiving viewers may complain about the lack of conclusion, but it is otherwise impossible to fault Pitfall, yet another Japanese New Wave classic.

THE ASTRONOMER'S DREAM (FRANCE/1898/GEORGES MÉLIÈS)

Sat alone in his study, an astronomer falls into a deep sleep. In his dreams, he is paid an unwanted visit by the devil who summons an evil demon in the form of a large full moon with a grotesque face. The demon consumes the astronomer and his life’s work, before spitting him back out in a cloud of smoke. As the face retreats into the night sky, a crescent moon nears the astronomer’s window, atop of which is sat an ethereally beautiful woman. She is Phoebe, the benevolent goddess of the moon. As she pieces the astronomer back together, he tries to reach out to her, but before he can make contact, he is shaken out of his dream.

The film was one of a few early films Méliès produced that showed his keen interest in all things astrological, a fascination he would eventually become celebrated for, culminating in the all-time classic A Trip to the Moon. It might seem like a throwaway curiosity to a generation of people for whom Avatar is the apex of cinema, but The Astronomer’s Dream is a sophisticated piece of work that deserves to be remembered 112 years later. Though composed of three disparate shots, the film flows seamlessly, and Méliès employs various cinematic tricks, including some subtle animation on a chalkboard, to create a wonderfully phantasmagorical nightmare. At the risk of sounding flippant, this writer would be much more content to watch 160 minutes of Méliès’ sci-fi shorts than sit through Avatar.

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY (USA/2007/OREN PELI)

Opening with a thank-you to the characters who purportedly provided the footage in the film, Paranormal Activity comprises realistic DV footage shot by young couple Micah and Katie as they try to track down the ghostly entity that has been following Katie all her life. The couple are visited by psychic Dr. Fredrichs, who believes that Katie will never be able to shake off the haunting visions and suggests that they contact a demonologist. Micah becomes dismissive of the whole scenario, which frustrates Katie and becomes the catalyst for some intense arguments, something that Dr. Fredrichs warned would fuel the ghost. Indeed, the couple bear witness to some frightening goings-on, from small objects moving on their own to footsteps and growls. Out of desperation, Micah purchases a Ouija board, an act that is to lead to unpredictable chaos.

The film inevitably invites comparison to the likes of Cloverfield and The Blair Witch Project, and it certainly shares some of those films’ flaws. The shooting style stops being realistic after about ten minutes of nauseating romantic exchanges, and the camerawork suddenly becomes more professional whenever a character has an important line to deliver. One also wonders why, as with Cloverfield, the couple felt the need to film absolutely everything, particularly the moments when the two are simply watching back footage. But all things considered, Paranormal Activity is not a bad film, delivering scares at a sensible pace and subtly surprising the viewer. A recommended watch for those tired of blood-and-guts horror.