While retro horrors «MaXXXine» and «Longlegs» are successfully winning audience sympathy at the box office, we recalled a few more horror films saturated with the lush atmosphere of the VHS era.

«The House of the Devil» (2008)

One of the first horror films by the clever cinephile — Ti West, who successfully completed the trilogy about the girl Maxine and the maniacs pursuing her this year. At the center of «The House of the Devil» is also a young girl named Samantha, who wants to earn some money. She takes a job as a babysitter in a strange house, whose owners go to a party and strictly forbid her from entering just one room. Soon the girl realizes that pure evil lives there, and she must spend the whole night with it.

«We Are Still Here» (2014)

An elderly couple is grieving the loss of their son in a car accident and, wanting a change of scenery, moves to a new home in New England. After some time, the spouses notice strange things happening in the house: voices are heard, objects disappear on their own. After a little investigation, they learn that a terrible fire once occurred in this house, and now something evil and extremely dangerous dwells there.

Director Ted Geoghegan, like West, still supports the fashion for retro horror and tries not to deviate from it. One of his latest works is the film «Brooklyn 45», which incorporates a bit of spiritualist cinema in the spirit of «The Witchboard» from 1986. As a proper film buff, Geoghegan strictly follows the well-studied classics and carefully quotes them in each of his works. «We Are Still Here» is not only like a lost film shot in the 80s but also a tribute from Geoghegan to both the suffocating atmosphere of horror like «Don't Look Now» and sleaze horror like «Re-Animator». From there, for example, actress Barbara Crampton migrated into Geoghegan's film.

«Caveat» (2020)

A slightly lost young man named Isaac agrees to look after a friend's niece, who lives alone in an empty house after her mother's death and father's suicide. But there are a couple of nuances: the dwelling is located on a remote island, and the night watchman must wear a special suit with a chain. He can move freely around the house, but he is forbidden to enter one room. The chain, by the way, doesn't reach there. That's where the unfortunate niece lives, who also has mental problems.

The film by Damian McCarthy meticulously recreates the viscous and anxious atmosphere of retro horror, using absolutely minimal means, adding a couple of detective moves here as well. McCarthy was quite deservedly praised by critics.

«Malignant» (2021)

The main character of this horror is an unfortunate girl named Madison, who suffers from an abusive husband but is ready to endure everything for the sake of her future child. But the consciously postponed tragedy inevitably happens, and Madison returns to her childhood home hoping to establish a normal life. However, there she begins to be haunted by terrifying visions, as if some entity is committing terrible murders. Soon the girl realizes that all this is happening in reality and is directly connected to her.

The director of «Malignant», James Wan, has often turned to the past in his plots. But if in the «Conjuring» duology evil spirits dominated, in «Malignant» Wan turned to the organic feel of the 80s, paying homage to John Carpenter, David Cronenberg, and James Cameron. The latter received a particularly fiery salute in the scene of the police station shootout in the spirit of the first «Terminator».

«Hider in the House» (2020)

Bobby, along with a friend, is kidnapped by a mysterious maniac terrorizing the entire area. He locks the teenagers in his house, but Bobby manages to free himself. However, getting out of the house, which resembles a hellish labyrinth, is not so easy. Moreover, Bobby cannot abandon his friend in trouble and begins a dangerous quest to find a way out.

The film by directors David Charbonier and Justin Powell is a minimalist and virtuoso retro horror that raises the level of suspense with every step Bobby takes through the mysterious house. Particularly creepy is the scene where the antagonist speaks to them using fragmentary phrases from a constantly running television.

«Censor» (2021)

Enid, an employee of the censorship committee, spends her time watching films. Mostly B-horrors. Her task is to cut out all the most indecent scenes so as not to traumatize British youth unnecessarily. One day, in another horror film, she suddenly sees scenes that happened to her in real life when her sister was kidnapped and has not been seen since. Now the girl urgently needs to find the filmmakers and figure out what it all means.

The film by British director Prano Bailey-Bond not only reconstructs the era of the 80s with riots on the streets of London and Margaret Thatcher's appearances on television. «Censor» also closely examines consumers hungry for shock content and reflects on the boundaries of what is permissible. And also about how one might accidentally end up in those very scenes carefully cut out by a strict censor.

«When Evil Lurks» (2023)

An Argentine horror film by director Demian Rugna about two brothers who must rid a village of a devil-possessed person. In the world of this film, the presence of such «patients» is presented as a given, long-established and even tiresome. The main thing is not to catch the «infection» that is transmitted almost by airborne droplets. Which, of course, happens to one of the brothers.

A rather creepy film with borrowings from the best works of Sam Raimi. There are shocking scenes and quite original moves that help to look at the genre differently. A gloomy, sullen, and harsh film.