The goal here is simple: To make comprehensive lists of every single horror film made between 1950 and 1990. I'm going to try to hunt down and review as many of these as I can. Just click on one of the letters below to start browsing. Reviewed titles will be linked and I do a rough color coding of country by region, which is explained on each page. As always, if you happen to see something missing from these lists that's made in the time frame covered, please let me know and I'll add it. Beneath these indexes is a little more about which titles - granted there are multiple ones - I prioritize, as well as how I go about anglicizing films with no official English title.
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Because we're dealing with thousands of foreign language movies here, this proves to be rather tricky when it comes to indexing. For these I'm using the most commonly-known English language release title first and foremost. This may be the first English title it was given or perhaps a later one, as long as most people will know it by that title. If there are two common English titles, I basically just pick the one I happen to like the best. In some instances, the best-known title here in America IS the foreign-language title (i.e. Kwaidan, Santa sangre). In those cases I use the original title as the primary one instead of the English translations ("Ghost Story," "Holy Blood").
In cases where there is no official English release title because it's never been officially released with one, here's what happens and in the order in which it occurs...
1. Sometimes a small English title appears on the poster even if the movie itself was never officially released by that title and never made available in an English language version. Other times, there's an English translation under the film's original title right on the actual title screen. This is a fairly common practice in Asian markets and also sometimes occurs with European releases.
A few examples:
The Thai film ภัยมืด (1976) was never released in English or with an official English title. But, as you can see on the poster, right under the original title in small writing, is the title "Nightmare." Even though I'm not sure WHY they bothered putting it there as Thai films hardly ever left their country, it makes my job a lot easier!
I could do my own translation of the Hong Kong Exorcist wannabe 女魔 (1974), which translates to Nu mo, or "Female Devil." But seeing how they were kind enough to include one right on the title screen, I don't have to. But then they pissed me off by NOT including English subs with the rest of it, but that's another story for another day.
If there's no English title on the title screen or any of the advertising materials then...
2. The informal / unofficial English-language title is used. An unofficial title refers to one assigned the film by a vendor or bootlegger, not by a legit DVD distributor. Sometimes these releases come with a DVD case featuring the English title, sometimes not. The unofficial English-language title also applies to films with available fan-made subs. These are almost always translations of the original title or at least a close translation. If there is no unofficial English title, then...
3. I translate the foreign-language title myself using a translator. I then compare that to an outline of the film's plot to make sure it fits. If so, great. Good enough for me. However...
4. In cases where the foreign translation makes no sense (it happens more than you'd think, especially with Asian films!), I'm just going to stick with the original title in the original language unless I find a more accurate translation to use.
However, we won't run into this problem a whole lot. In most cases, there's either an official or unofficial English title. The biggest problems I've run across thus far is dealing with Thai titles. I'm basically at the point where I'm about to advertise for a multi-lingual Thai friend to help me translate some of these damn things.
