Abertoir — A–Z of films

Although there are grand themes at work here, the real power of the piece – as often in the Gothic, comes from the ways in which they clash, rather than from something built out of their unity.

The simplicity of the location, with its gentle green hills and thin woodland, makes it feel as if it could be anywhere, yet Romero positions his camera so as to generate maximum tension from it.

Franju is carefully slicing along the line where the concrete rigours of modern science intersect with the abstractions of youth, beauty and ephemerality.

One of the most impressive films of the year to date.

The way the sound designer creates a landscape of silence is particularly impressive.

Although Whale is working with clichés, many of them were only established in literary form in 1932, and are presented on film here for the first time in forms that continue to be imitated to this day.

This rarely seen Argento gem has it all. We're on ground he's covered before, but it's constantly shifting beneath us.

Tina Romero is in her element.

For something so lovely, it is hard-edged, and it sparkles with visual wit.

It’s the situation that delivers the strangeness – and charm – mediated by Dudley’s performance as a woman who is self-deprecating and messy but lively enough to root for.