Told in the now-pervasive “found-footage” format, Lake Mungo is as much a psychological thriller as a horror movie. The film has a strong reputation among those in the know. It’s a favorite of horror-movie maven and series presenter Eric Ford, who says “Unlike other found footage horror films like Blair Witch or Paranormal Activity, Lake Mungo doesn't rely on jump scares, it creeps ever so slowly under your skin, staying there long after the credits roll.”

In precolonial Senegal, members of the Ceddo (or “outsiders”) kidnap Princess Dior Yacine (Tabata Ndiaye) after her father (Makhourédia Guèye), the king, pledges loyalty to an ascendant Islamic faction that plans to convert the entire clan to its faith. Attempts to recapture her fail, provoking further division and eventual war between the animistic Ceddo and the fundamentalist Muslims, with Christian missionaries and slave traders from Europe caught in the middle. Yet when the victor prevails, conflict still doesn’t end—and the return of the princess and her still-revered power may very well topple the new order. 

“Who doesn't love a Christmas horror movie?” offers our host Eric Ford, asking a question we’d never actually pondered before. “This Norwegian Krampus tale is totally unique, off the wall, and over the top, but built around great story and characters. It's funny and has a bloody heart.”

As visually staggering today as it must have been on its release 98 years ago (!!!), Lotte Reiniger’s The Adventures of Prince Achmed is the oldest surviving animated feature film…and it’s a doozy, sure to stagger all newcomers, adults and children alike. Visionary in oh-so-many ways, Reineger’s film is based on several tales from Hanna Diyab’s One Thousand and One Nights, featuring all sorts of visual conjuring, such as flying horses, magical transformations, demons, witches, hydras and so much more. 

n the cult favorite Viva, Anna Biller takes the ‘auteur’ concept to the next level.  In addition to starring, writing, directing, editing and producing the film, she also wrote the music, painted the paintings, designed and made the costumes, and created the production design, down to sewing the pillows for the sofas. She puts these efforts into a high-concept, evisceration/satire of the sexual revolution of the ‘70s – or, at least, the male-gaze version of it. And she does it by dropping us right in the middle of it. She plays Barbi, who is abandoned by her husband, then dragged into trouble by her girlfriend, who spouts women's lib as she gets Barbi to discard her bra and go out on the town.

Hong Kong, 1962: Chow Mo-wan (Tony Leung) and Su Li-zhen (Maggie Cheung) move into neighboring apartments on the same day. Their encounters are formal and polite—until a discovery about their spouses creates an intimate bond between them.  At once delicately mannered and visually extravagant, Wong Kar Wai’s In the Mood for Love is a masterful evocation of romantic longing and fleeting moments. With its aching soundtrack and exquisitely abstract cinematography by Christopher Doyle and Mark Lee, this film has been a major stylistic influence on the past two decades of cinema, and is a milestone in Wong’s redoubtable career.