Lesser Known Paranormal Movies

[EllJay]

I wanted a thread where we could post some of the lesser known - but also fairly good - paranormal movies, that one might have missed. I don't mean blockbuster, top-shelf, Hollywood movies, but instead  those that might have passed you by, but nevertheless is worth a watch.

I start out with a few

This is an Iranian paranormal horror movie. Not many of those around, I tell ya. It was pretty OK, and it was fun to see how they used the genre.

The trailer doesn't do it justice though...It's far better than that.

Under The Shadow

 

[EllJay]

Gallows Hill (The Damned) (2013)

Evil Dead & The Exorcist, in Colombia

Also a better movie than the trailer let you believe....

Quote

After a family is involved in an accident, they take refuge in a secluded inn where they free a girl locked in a basement without knowing she's an ancient evil spirit.

 

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Edited April 29, 2018 by EllJay

[EllJay]

A Dark Song (2016)

 

Quote

A bitter Sophia rents an isolated house in rural Wales, in order to help convince short tempered, occultist Joseph Solomon to lead her in a grueling, months-long rite in the old mansion, which will eventually summon her guardian angel. They will then both be allowed to ask the angel to grant them a special favor. A visibly grieving Sophia will ask her angel to be able to speak to her dead seven year old son. The serious and demanding Solomon explains to Sophia that once they begin, if they leave the house before the ritual is culminated they will be in grave peril. He says she must spend months of punishing exercises, in which they will be dealing with real demons and angels; she agrees. Over months she complies methodically with dozens of harrowing and painful exercises, but refuses to do the forgiveness ceremony. Grudgingly they get to know one another.

 

 

[EllJay]

Emergo - Apartment 143 

Quote

A parapsychology team is asked to investigate the White family in Apartment 143. Alan White  has lost his wife initially explained as being to an unspecified illness, but later clarified as an automobile accident during a psychotic episode. The family started to experience strange events shortly after the death, and relocated from their prior home to the apartment to escape them. The move was initially successful, but after about a week strange incidents resumed in the new location.

A fairly good poltergeist movie.

 

 

 

[EllJay]

The Abandoned (2006)

Quote

A film producer who was adopted as a baby and sent to America, returns to her native Russia and the family farm. Once there, strange things begin to happen including the disappearance of her guide, the manifestation of ghosts (including her own!) and the appearance of another man who has been drawn to the farm for the same reasons.

 

 

[EllJay]

The Objective (2008)

Quote

A military special operations team, led by a CIA case officer, are on a mission in the harsh and hostile terrain of Afghanistan where they find themselves in a Middle Eastern "Bermuda Triangle" of ancient evil.

 

 

[MissJatti]

Jinn (2014)

A man (Dominic Rains) turns to a mysterious pair (Ray Park, William Atherton) and a shackled mental patient for help in combating an ancient family curse.

[oldrover]

6 hours ago, EllJay said:

A Dark Song (2016)

 

 

 

I saw this a few months ago, all I'll say is that the last scene was unexpected to say the least. 

[oldrover]

I quite enjoyed this film. 

[EllJay]

12 hours ago, MissJatti said:

Jinn (2014)

A man (Dominic Rains) turns to a mysterious pair (Ray Park, William Atherton) and a shackled mental patient for help in combating an ancient family curse.

I haven't seen that one. Have to check it out. Thanks.

[EllJay]

11 hours ago, oldrover said:

I saw this a few months ago, all I'll say is that the last scene was unexpected to say the least. 

Yeah, it was quite impressive and unexpected really. I liked that flick.

[EllJay]

11 hours ago, oldrover said:

I quite enjoyed this film. 

Great, I'm gonna check that one out. Thanks.

[EllJay]

Verónica (2017)

This one is a Spanish movie based on the real case of the paranormal events that happened to the Spanish girl Estefanía Gutiérrez Lázaro back in 1991.

Here is an article about her case:

Quote

Verónica is based on the true story of 18-year-old Estefania Gutierrez Lázaro, who tragically passed away in August 1991. Her story begins with her taking care of her three siblings, twin girls Lucía and Irene and the youngest Antoñito. But the daily monotony is getting to Verónica, who feels she needs a break from the regular.  Estefania is calling up two of her friends, Rosa and Diana, so the trio can mess around with an Ouija board.

Alone in the cellar, the girls try to contact Diana's recently deceased boyfriend but mistakenly contact a much more malevolent spirit. This marks the beginning of a turbulent and hellish six months for Estefania, whose physical and mental health begins to rapidly deteriorate, She begins seeing 'strange people' inside the house, shadowy beings that appear on a whim and haunt the terrified girl. Estefania is scared that these spirits are out to harm her siblings but continues to hide the event from her mother.  Her hallucinations begin to worsen, her macabre visions project themselves in the form of violent outbursts, and soon, the entire house turns into a nightmare where no one is safe.

The teen soon began going into fits of rage, snarling and barking at her younger brother and sisters. Scared, her mother decided to take her to the hospital. But extensive testing and examination revealed that there was nothing physically wrong with her, leading doctors to believe that she had had some sort of a psychotic breakdown.

For six months, Estefania was taken from hospital to hospital, but none could figure out what was wrong with her, all the while her physical and mental health taking a turn for the worse.

A few months later, she was found dead in her bedroom - her death completely unexplained.

However, the story does not end there. According to one file reported by the Spanish corp of Policía Nacional and witnesses to numerous supernatural events at Estefania's house, the paranormal activity only got worse after her death.

Her parents began experiencing the same supernatural phenomena that had plagued their daughter. The doors slammed of their own volition, electric appliances had a mind of their own, faint whispers echoed through the rooms, and shadowy monstrosities plagued the residence.

Unable to take any more and desperate for help, the couple called the Vallecas police and informed them of the happenings in their home. Inspector José Negri takes up the case, assembling a small squad of police officers and detectives to help the family deal with that believed was an intruder at their home.

Upon arriving at the scene, the Negri finds the couple to not be in their apartment but standing outside in the frigid cold. They tell the officers that they heard loud banging noises and that the doors of their house continued to slam at all hours of the day. They also explained the presence of mysterious shadowy beings in the apartment that walked past the hallways, peered through the doors, and once, tried to strangle Mrs. Gutierrez in her sleep.

A few of the officers make their way into the master bedroom while the others waited outside, and they heard a loud noise emanating from the balcony; a sound that mimicked that of a large boulder being dropped to the floor. But upon inspection, they found nothing. Furthermore, the officers outside the room had heard no sound, adding to the dilemma further.

 

As they stood discussing the recent puzzling event, one of the officers yelled for his partner standing near a large pine armoire to duck. The officer obliged, and just in time as well. One of the heavy doors swung open from its hinges, hurtling through space where the officer had been standing just moments ago. The men were left baffled, with there seemingly being no explanation to these bizarre events.

Scared, two of the officers decided they had had enough of the haunted home and went to wait outside. The remaining ones were told by the Gutierrez's of the tale of their daughter's sudden and inexplicable death. It was midway through this tale that they heard loud bangs from Estefania's room. The officers cautiously made their way in. Inside, was a crucifix lying in the middle of the floor which had reportedly fallen from a nail that was hanging on the wall. One of the posters that hung from the same nail as the crucifix had been mauled and shredded. A loud pounding then began echoing across the girl's room, but the officers once again failed to find a source.

The couple said that their son had been pushed by an unseen force in the room and that their daughter's photograph had fallen off the table and spontaneously caught fire. Eerily, only the photograph had burned, leaving the frame perfectly intact. Outside the bedroom, there was an unidentifiable goo on some of the furniture.

Finally, the officers were told of the bathroom that the couple used only for washing closes and storing dishes because of some odd happenings inside the room. When they went to check for themselves, they reported that they heard disembodied voices and experienced sudden, drastic drops in temperature.

With the officers helpless to aid them with their problem, the Gutierrez's had little choice but to vacate the insidiously haunted apartment.

To their express relief, the torment and the paranormal activities ceased and they could return to living a normal life. Since that day, no other strange events have been reported inside the apartment at Calle Gerardo Nunez number eight.

https://meaww.com/the-true-story-of-estefania-gutierrez-lazaro-the-girl-behind-netflixs-latest-horror-flick-veronica

 

 

 

[oldrover]

12 hours ago, EllJay said:

Yeah, it was quite impressive and unexpected really. I liked that flick.

It was completely unexpected, visually and thematically.  

[oldrover]

This is another one, quite modest but definitely well done and enjoyable. Unless you're a peat cutter, if you're a peat cutter I'd say look elsewhere really.

 

[oldrover]

There's also this. Very much of its time, but for nostalgia for a different era of TV and a fairly serviceable story I'd say it's worth a watch. 

 

[EllJay]

3 hours ago, oldrover said:

This is another one, quite modest but definitely well done and enjoyable. Unless you're a peat cutter, if you're a peat cutter I'd say look elsewhere really.

From the Dark - Official Trailer - (2015)

 

 

 

 

I will check that one out.

Got me thinking of this one; The Ritual

Quote

"The film adaptation of The Ritual is effective and exceptionally creepy, despite its fair share of clichés and standard storylines.

After the death of a best friend of theirs, a group of four Englishmen venture out on a hiking trip, into the woods in the far north of Sweden, in hopes to relax, forget about the past, and to spend quality time together. Sooner rather than later however, the band of friends begin to get lost in the winding forests and stumble upon a creepy abandoned cabin which they are forced to sleep inside due to harsh outdoor weather conditions. After that night, things will never be the same, as an ominous entity hunts them down one by one in the dark and seemingly inescapable forest."

 

It's a bit of a cliché movie, but it manages to stay quite creepy throughout - even when the "villain" is revealed. I wont spoil to much of it, but `weird´ is the phrase I would use. Pretty suspenseful at parts.

The Ritual (2017)

 

 

[EllJay]

The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016)

Quote

In Virginia, on the crime scene in the brutally murdered Douglas' basement, the Forensics crew find the body of an almost intact, exceptionally preserved, young woman in her mid to late 20s. Furthermore, equally puzzling is also the fact that even though the house of the loving couple is riddled with evidence of mayhem, still, the cause of her death is not apparent. With the Press on his back, urging him for answers, Sheriff Sheldon seeks for help in the coroners Tommy Tilden and his son Austin, assigning them with the emergency autopsy of this beautiful, yet, enigmatic Jane Doe with the grey, cloudy eyes.

In the hope that this will be just another easy case, Austin stays to help his father during the night, but then again, the peat under her fingernails, paired with her severed tongue and shattered joints strongly imply that this will not be an ordinary night. The two coroners begin to work, only to plunge themselves deeper and deeper into a world of strange occurrences and inexplicable findings.

 

 

[LV-426]

It's hard to know what's considered "lesser known", as this one is an absolute classic outside of Hollywood fare...

 

[LV-426]

Especially scary for me, as caving is a hobby for complete nutcases!

 

[LV-426]

Not too shabby. It has its moments...

 

[EllJay]

41 minutes ago, LV-426 said:

It's hard to know what's considered "lesser known", as this one is an absolute classic outside of Hollywood fare...

 

Well it's a kind of term used loosely, since everything is objective depending on if one is a movie-buff or not. When we talk about "known" paranormal/horror movies I think of films like "The Ring" (2002), "The Conjuring" (2013), "IT" (2017), "Annabelle" (2014) etc.

On the other hand, people who watch horror movies kinda regularly knows, probably have seen, movies like; The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016) , Verónica (2017), and A Dark Song (2016) that I have recommended here. But for people who watch movies kinda sporadically instead, I would think they are considered "lesser known".

Suspiria was a great film and well worth a watch.

Edited April 30, 2018 by EllJay

[EllJay]

19 minutes ago, LV-426 said:

Especially scary for me, as caving is a hobby for complete nutcases!

 

 

Yeah, and for me, having mild claustrophobia, it was a horror to watch.

Another underground/cave/claustrophobia-inducing movie was; 

As Above So Below (2014)

 

 

...also; Sanctum (2011)

This is not a horror movie per se - though it was a horror to watch for me.

 

[EllJay]

29 minutes ago, LV-426 said:

Not too shabby. It has its moments...

 

I liked that one. Some people thought it was ridiculous, but I think they managed to make it suspenseful.

[LV-426]

3 minutes ago, EllJay said:

Yeah, and for me, having mild claustrophobia, it was a horror to watch.

Another underground/cave/claustrophobia-inducing movie was; 

As Above So Below (2014)

 

I watched this again just last week, funnily enough

And yeah, anything with people getting trapped in tight underground tunnels, or even worse... buried alive... has me squirming